Chapter 670: Clearing the Port

The three great magicians had to toil relentlessly to solve the problems posed by Acheronides in order to obtain Old Phil, the Sun Descendant. Cris coordinated the overall efforts, proving that this magical research team remained indispensable.

Mortal strength is finite. Even if Acheronides were to be promoted to Archmage in the future, she would still need a group of magicians to assist her in completing various detailed experiments.

Over the next three days, apart from training, Liszt had little else to do.

He only bound the newly hatched peanut bug, and along with the oat bug he had bound a few days earlier, he now possessed a total of 64 spirit-bugs.

"It feels like the birth rate of spirit-bugs in the territory isn’t keeping up with my expansion pace. There’s no longer that regular emergence of new spirit-bugs every few days... Could it be that the destiny force of the Smoke Dragon is too heavily tied to dragon-riding, leading to a weakening of its influence?"

In reality, the birth rate of spirit-bugs on Black Horse Island wasn’t slow at all. Most plants were only in their first or second planting cycle and might not yet have adapted to the local soil.

But Liszt still felt it was too slow. If he didn’t collect a spirit-bug every day, he felt itchy all over.

This proved the saying: "It’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality."

Though he hadn’t collected many spirit-bugs, he had gathered plenty of pearls. Near the waters of Boulder Island, he cracked open golden-lipped clams and retrieved four decent-sized golden pearls. At the Pearl Lake of the Ring Reef, he unexpectedly encountered a few deep-dwelling black clams that had drifted in. After prying them open, he obtained a batch of satisfying black pearls.

Additionally, craving pink conch, he butchered two and unexpectedly found a pink pearl inside.

Golden pearls and pink pearls were both vanishingly rare, so he kept them all for personal use. The larger black pearls were also retained, while the smaller ones were handed over to Gloria, who handled sales. The profits were split 70-30, with Gloria taking 30% and Liszt keeping 70%.

It wasn’t Liszt who proposed the uneven split—Gloria had suggested it herself.

Liszt greatly appreciated this gesture. Compared to Levis’ greed, Gloria understood the principle of give-and-take much better. Though the income from black pearls no longer mattered much to him, her gesture still warmed his ego, as it showed respect for his power.

What was the point of working so hard to become a dragon knight if not for status and authority?

"Levis married a fine wife. Though his talent is mediocre—still just an elite Earth Knight—he can still be considered life’s victor... His father is about to be promoted to Marquis and will eventually pass on the title, his wife is noble and sensible, his son is healthy and adorable, and most importantly, his brother is a dragon knight!"

...

October 11th.

Drizzling rain misted the sky, and Black Horse Harbor erupted in chaos from the morning onward. Countless ships waited to dock, but the harbor was too small to handle the volume. Gort and other officials had to organize a fleet of ships to reroute to the new port on Black Horse Island.

These ships belonged to the Tulip family’s fleet transporting serfs and grain—over 500 vessels in total.

Among them, 200 were slave ships, each carrying 200 serfs, totaling 40,000 serfs. This would push the population of Black Horse Island’s territory beyond the 100,000 mark.

The remaining 300 were grain ships, each carrying 50 tons of grain, totaling 15,000 tons. Combined with the territory’s own production and purchases from nearby islands, this would ensure enough food to sustain Black Horse Island for a year.

Liszt’s flagship, the Sunset, also returned.

After several major voyages, this stitched-together sky vessel held up remarkably—the repairs using rubber water, rockwood, and Thorn Ironwood had proven highly effective. However, once docked, the Sunset was immediately sent to the shipyard for another round of upgrades and outfitting.

First, the cabins were to be outfitted, with comfortable quarters added for Liszt’s entourage.

Second, the ship was to be equipped with the Tearing Staff. From now on, Virginia, transformed into the Undead Yuchou, would make the Sunset her new home, riding the waves and safeguarding voyages. Liszt no longer stored the Tearing Staff in his gem space, granting Virginia the freedom she desired.

Third, the Sunset needed a new paint job. As the maritime flagship of a dragon knight, it had to exude quiet opulence.

"Lord Viscount, I feel I can do more," said the Undead Yuchou Virginia, standing by the shore and gazing at her phantom hands. "The undead are quite different from wraiths. I only need to concentrate my essence to make my hands touch physical objects."

As she spoke, she effortlessly lifted a one-ton boulder from the shore. "The Undead Yuchou’s strength in life was immense. Objects weighing several tons pose no obstacle to me."

Seeing this, Liszt’s eyes lit up.

Without a doubt, an Undead Yuchou capable of grasping physical objects was a spectral workhorse, capable of handling Herculean labors.

"Indeed, you can do many things now. The key advantage is the Undead Yuchou's ability to move freely underwater. Virginia, the depths of Black Horse Port and the new port are too shallow. Could you clear the seabed of debris and silt to deepen the ports?"

"At your service, Lord Viscount." Virginia, naturally gentle in temperament, was deeply grateful to Liszt after gaining her freedom. She had already shifted from addressing him as "Viscount Liszt" to "Lord Viscount," the new title reflecting her changed attitude—she now considered herself his subordinate.

Liszt's satisfaction with the Undead Yuchou grew.

But then he sighed, "It's a pity that you can only control the Undead Yuchou for half an hour, with a full day's rest required between each half-hour session. This severely limits how much this Undead Yuchou body can achieve."

A shadow passed over Virginia's eyes.

Yet she quickly regained her spirit, saying, "Being able to see the light for half an hour each day is already a great happiness."

Her optimism made Liszt smile. "I will organize the territory's mages to research ways to extend how long undead can remain active. Perhaps one day, you'll have half your time free to move around, spending the other half resting inside the Tearing Staff."

Virginia said happily, "Thank you, Lord Viscount."

"Don't mention it," Liszt waved his hand dismissively, as if it were no trouble. In truth, his proposal served two purposes: first, to thank Virginia for recently organizing the Undead Yuchou's magic casting methods; second, the longer the Undead Yuchou could remain active, the more work it could accomplish.

Ten-meter-tall laborers didn't grow on trees, especially ones that operated underwater.

With the power of the Undead Yuchou, he might even be able to construct an underwater castle—after all, the Yuchou Temple was clearly built by this very race.

...

Thus,

Over the next few days, dockworkers and sailors at Black Horse Port often witnessed the water bubbling with mud for half an hour at a time, the silt turning much of the port yellow. Thanks to warnings from officials, they weren't overly shocked.

Still, gasps of awe were unavoidable, often accompanied by chants like "Praise the Lord Viscount" and "This land is blessed by the glory of knighthood."

The commotion was, of course, caused by Virginia working underwater in the port.

She dredged up rubble and silt, transforming the port into a deep-water harbor with a depth of at least ten meters, allowing even the largest ships to pass freely. The width of the port also expanded continuously, increasing the number of vessels that could dock simultaneously.

"The efficiency is astounding! In just a few days, Black Horse Port has completely transformed!" Liszt, riding the Rainbow Whale Rosi, inspected the progress of the port's renovation underwater and praised sincerely. "If only we could capture a few more Undead Yuchou to serve as laborers—no underwater project would be beyond us!"