Chapter 674: The Giant Shell

The ten-minute dragon knight resonance allowed Liszt to experience so much wonder and disbelief—it turned out that magic power was omnipresent in this world, and all matter was composed of it.

This fundamentally negated his original worldview.

However, the matter transformed from this magic power still retained certain physical laws of the material world, which was why many familiar phenomena could be observed. The cycle of seasons, the existence of mountains and oceans, thunderstorms, plants and animals, even the movement of the sun, moon, and stars—all resembled those on Earth.

After exiting the dragon knight resonance, he felt deeply exhausted. Leo was similarly fatigued, mainly mentally, though physically, both remained healthy and energetic...

Still, it didn’t stop Liszt from continuing to ride Leo through the skies while slowly pondering: *"According to Earth’s physics, the faster particles move, the higher the temperature, and vice versa. In other words, particle motion is temperature at the microscopic level, while temperature is particle motion at the macroscopic level."*

Whether it was Earth’s physical laws or this world’s triangular theory of magic power, matter, and spirit, there were points of convergence that could be cross-referenced.

After all, the outward manifestations of both worlds shared too many similarities.

What he possessed beyond this world’s natives was the knowledge from Earth: *"Then, does the microscopic motion of magic particles manifest as phenomena formed by magic power, such as magic and mana techniques...? Forget it, this is too brain-melting. I’ll just describe these ideas to Acheronides and let her figure it out."*

Not overthinking things was one of his strengths.

Dismissing these tangled thoughts, his mood instantly lightened as he enjoyed the thrill of dragon riding.

*"Let’s rest for a bit and explore when we can enter dragon knight resonance again."* He took out several magic potions and downed them right away. In this state, whether he or Leo ingested them made no difference—their mana and magic power had already blended perfectly. *"Dragon knight resonance is a training method, but the state I enter might as well be called *Dragon Knight Mode*."*

Under normal circumstances, when riding a dragon, he could utilize techniques like dragon force focus to unleash the formidable combat power of a dragon knight. But such fighting methods were essentially still separate battles between man and dragon, just boosting each other at best.

However, upon entering *Dragon Knight Mode*, man and dragon merged deeply, becoming indistinguishable from one another—inevitably leading to a surge in combat power.

*"I can even cast the mana technique Magic Eye on Leo... Is this because Leo’s magic power flow, under *Dragon Knight Mode*, simulates the effects of mana techniques? Or is Magic Eye still cast by me, but its effects amplified due to dragon knight resonance?"*

Whether it was the former or the latter,

this was a tremendous revelation: *"If I can cast Magic Eye, does that mean I can also use mana suppression? If I master this mana technique, could it reduce Leo’s consumption? Furthermore, could I cast it through Leo?"*

All of this awaited his experimentation.

High above the blue skies and white clouds, man and dragon consumed potions while waiting for their spirits to recover. Liszt could feel the overwhelming power of *Dragon Knight Mode*, and Leo was equally captivated by the wondrous experience it offered.

Both were too excited to hold back.

...

While Liszt and Leo were lost in the joy of flying,

the mermaid Acheronides sat quietly indoors, deep in thought. The rarely seen Nami, the *spirit bug*, sat on her shoulder, munching noisily on peanut nougat.

Among the *spirit bugs*, Nami was one of the few sociable and hardworking ones. She proudly earned every piece of candy through hard work. Not only did she care for the mangroves on Red Crab Island and the estuary’s green-headed ducks, but she also frequently visited the flamingoes in the mangroves of Seagull Island.

Though the serfs now handled much of the work, introducing artificial incubation for both green-headed duck eggs and flamingo eggs, Nami still had to continuously plant mangrove saplings to maintain the groves’ healthy growth.

Without this cute little *spirit bug*,

the green-headed duck eggs and flamingo eggs Liszt loved so much wouldn’t have been so easily enjoyed.

*"Squeak."*

Having finished her peanut nougat, Nami gave a happy little squeak—careful not to be too loud and disturb Acheronides’ contemplation.

But just then, she noticed Acheronides extending her right hand, seemingly staring at her flawless, pale palm. The next moment, those slender fingers began to emit a faint blue-white glow. Then, her skin’s natural color faded,

replaced by a translucent, pale-blue tint.

Then the entire hand lost its flesh-toned color, as if transforming into blue-white crystal.

"Jigu?"

Nami flew up in alarm, trying to warn Acheronides about what was happening to her hand. But sensing Acheronides' calm emotions through their mental connection, she couldn't speak, only hovering wordlessly before her. She watched as Acheronides' hand lost its color, followed by her entire arm.

Then half of her body—her chest and abdomen—all turned pale.

Next were her hips and legs; the seawater below her ankles blended into the fading color until even her entire shell completely lost its hue. Finally, Acheronides' neck began to fade, and everything below her head turned into a blue-white crystal form.

At this moment, Acheronides lifted her head, seemingly noticing Nami's concerned expression, and responded with a faint smile.

The next second, her entire body faded—from her shell to her hair—all becoming blue-white crystal. This crystal form didn't last long, gradually growing fainter and fainter until, as if dissolving into the air, she disappeared completely before Nami's eyes.

"Jigu!"

"Jigu!"

"Jigu!"

Nami could still sense Acheronides' presence through their mental link, but she was nowhere to be found. Its limited intelligence couldn't comprehend this situation, leaving it to shriek in panic.

Suddenly.

Acheronides' voice echoed in Nami's mind: "Nami, don't worry. Acheronides is just using the Magic Web to reconstruct her body. You know, the Magic Web is truly amazing—it lets Acheronides transform into the most basic magic elements. The Acheronides you'll see soon will be a brand-new Acheronides!"

"Jigu?" Nami turned her head, still unable to find her.

But Acheronides' voice continued: "Do you know the first thing Acheronides will do after touching the Magic Web and using its elements to reconstruct her body? It's to remove her shell. Though the shell is nice, big brother always said it was in the way... and Acheronides agrees."

Nami thought the shell was fine and didn’t want Acheronides to discard it: "Jigu."

Acheronides, reconstructing her body within the Magic Web, immediately laughed: "Of course not throw it away! Acheronides' shell is part of her body, just like your spirit bug's wings. Acheronides can now retract it inside or release it like magical gear, always protecting her!"

As she spoke.

The air before Nami shimmered like water, and faint blue-white lines began overlapping, quickly outlining a massive three-meter-wide scallop shell. As the lines filled in every trace of the shell, the color gradually solidified into white.

It was unmistakably Acheronides' former giant shell.

Seeing the shell reappear, Nami squealed excitedly: "Jigu! Jigu! Jigu!"