Chapter 721: The Shell of the Sub-Dragon Turtle

This chapter is a bonus update sponsored by “Han Xiaoxiao.”

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They didn’t ride a dragon this time.

Instead, they climbed straight onto Acheronides’ shell and roared toward Mind Island. A night’s rest had already restored both him and Acheronides, and Leo had also recovered his strength.

To prevent trouble, they decided to immediately capture the Lightgreen Gem Dragon—even though it bore the soul imprint of the First Dragon Knight and might be unrideable. Liszt still couldn’t allow it to heal or escape freely—failing that, he’d just slaughter it for meat.

He’d never heard of anyone eating dragon meat before; he wasn’t even sure if dragons were edible.

Would the flesh turn into flames, gemstones, or something else entirely once cut? Hard to say. But the bones were simple—they remained intact. That’s why weapons like dragon-bone soldiers and dragon-tooth soldiers existed in this world.

Even a Fire Dragon, capable of elemental transformation, would leave behind its bones after death.

At the very least, the spilled blood alone could turn the entire Mind Island into a Lightgreen Gem deposit. Lightgreen Gems were valuable stones that boosted both mana and magic power—in fact, every kind of Gem Dragon produced highly prized gems.

Magic items are always valuable.

As they sailed, they chatted.

Liszt was curious about the dragon blood Acheronides had collected: “Acher, have you studied how that dragon blood might change?”

“I’ve only used a tiny amount so far. The blood remains in liquid form without any changes. Conditions here aren’t suitable for proper experiments, and I worry we won’t get enough data. I’ll do more detailed tests when we return.”

With a dimensional ring, Acheronides stored all the collected dragon blood inside, keeping it fresh.

The Lightgreen Gem Dragon, Blue Gem Dragon, and Bronze Dragon had all shed large amounts of blood. Though much was diluted by the sea, most of it was quickly extracted by Acheronides using her water-control abilities as soon as it spilled. It filled a seventh of the ring’s space.

“Too bad Leo’s blood turns into flames once it leaves his body. Otherwise, it could’ve given you plenty of experimental material,” Liszt remarked.

A furious roar echoed in his mind: “Raaargh!”

Liszt paid it no mind. By the time he reached the Perfection Stage, his soul imprint would be permanently etched into Leo’s mind—once he mounted the dragon, Leo would be bound by fate, destined to be ridden by Liszt until death.

“By the way, Acher, how do you think we should deal with the Lightgreen Gem Dragon if we manage to capture it?”

“According to *The Dragon Knight Mana Manual*, the Lightgreen Gem Dragon bears the soul imprint of a dragon knight from the Eagle Kingdom. It might be hard to tame directly,” Acheronides mused before answering. “If we can find a way to imprison it, perhaps Brother could use it as a resource for founding a kingdom.”

“And if we can’t?”

“Well then… kill it,” Acher said casually.

Liszt was momentarily speechless. “Let me think about it some more. You go ahead with your work.”

He rummaged through Ka Erluo Violet’s belongings, searching carefully for clues. Ka Erluo didn’t carry much—aside from *Wrath of Thunder*, there was a set of silver armor. The armor was primarily forged from mithril and orichalcum, with intricate inlays of gemstones and magical beast materials.

Counting them, there were nine gemstones in total: five Lightgreen Gems, one Blue Gem, one Ruby, one Topaz, and one Amethyst.

The Blue Gem enhanced strength, the Ruby boosted combat energy, the Topaz increased durability, and the Amethyst sped up healing.

All nine gems were embedded on the inner side of the armor’s waist.

“Too bad the armor’s a bit small. I’d need to modify it to wear it,” Liszt lamented. Silver armor paired with the silver *Wrath of Thunder* would’ve looked seriously cool.

But he stood at 6'3", while Ka Erluo was at most 5'8"—a full head shorter. Without adjustments, the armor wouldn’t fit.

“I’ll just call this armor *Thunder’s Roar*. No particular reason—just to match *Wrath of Thunder*.”

Apart from Wrath of Thunder and Wrath of Thunder, Ka Erluo also carried an exquisitely crafted pendant in the shape of a tortoise shell. About the size of a palm, it shimmered with a purple luster, its patterns strikingly vivid, as if not man-made.

At first glance, Liszt felt a sensation akin to encountering the Phoenix Feather.

Upon casting Magic Eye, he could see the pendant brimming with tangible thunder-attribute magic power, truly comparable to the fire-attribute magic power of the Phoenix Feather.

“So, could its composition be a body part of some dragonkin? Given its tortoise-shell shape, it must be the shell of a dragonkin tortoise? A palm-sized dragonkin tortoise?” Liszt couldn’t wrap his head around it—dragonkin, though not as massive as true dragons, were certainly never as small as household pets.

“Unless it’s a newly hatched hatchling.”

He recalled watching documentaries about leatherback turtles on Earth. While adult leatherbacks could grow up to 1.5 meters—the largest sea turtles in the world—their hatchlings were only a few centimeters long.

Thus, he provisionally identified this translucent, jewel-like purple carapace as belonging to some thunder-attribute dragonkin tortoise hatchling, its value equivalent to that of the Phoenix Feather. However, its effects were limited to thunder-attribute knights, offering no benefit to fire-attribute knights.

“Speaking of thunder-attribute knights, my young disciple Emily seems perfectly suited for this pendant… Should I give it to her to aid her training?” Liszt's lips curled into a faint smile. “That once-awkward, scrawny girl has truly blossomed now.”

Soon, he suppressed his restless thoughts and turned his attention to another clue—the dragonkin phoenix likely dwelling within the Fireblaze Mountains of the Kingdom of the Eagle.

He would need to find time to investigate. The hints from the Smoke Quest wouldn’t lead him astray.

There really was a dragonkin phoenix in the Fireblaze Mountains!

……

Before he knew it, they were nearing Psyche Isle.

At this moment, through Leo, Liszt sensed the presence of a dragon in the distance—dragons emitted auras that spread far, undetectable by normal beings but easily detectable by other dragons, unless, like Leo, they concealed themselves within a human body.

The sensing range extended for miles.

In the blink of an eye, Liszt spotted Psyche Isle in the distance, along with a massive, recumbent Lightgreen Gem Dragon occupying nearly a third of the island’s modest area.

“Its posture doesn’t look like it’s sleeping—more like it’s unconscious?” Noticing this, Liszt smirked and signaled Acheronides to stop the seashell vessel before summoning Leo.

Leo burst forth from his chest.

“Roar!”

In an instant, he transformed into a majestic Fire Dragon. Liszt mounted him and began scouting the Lightgreen Gem Dragon from above, wary of a sudden attack.

Yet, when he observed the dragon’s trajectory through its eyes, his scalp prickled—countless iridescent tendrils of magic power, like roots, were burrowed into the Lightgreen Gem Dragon’s body, seemingly draining its magic. The once-vibrant lightgreen magic aura had dimmed to near-extinction.

The once-sturdy Lightgreen Gem Dragon had wasted away to mere skin and bones.

Liszt couldn’t help but exclaim, “What the hell is this?!”