Chapter 728: The Astrologer

Obtaining a Milon Mind Fruit, successfully riding the Lightgreen Gem Dragon, and pacifying the Fire Drake Rio—this journey to Mind Island has been perfect.

When Acheronides informed Liszt that all branches of the Soulfruit Trees had withered and died,

he summoned the Misty Task, and this time, the task was finally complete: "Task complete. Reward: a Lightgreen Gem Mine." Truly, only one could survive—the Lightgreen Gem Dragon or the Soulfruit Tree—for this to succeed.

"Now, this Mind Island must have already begun transforming into a Lightgreen Gem Mine. I wonder how many qualified gems and associated crystal veins can be mined..."

Unlike the invisible dragon, which produces gems by spitting them from its mouth, gem dragons infect the earth with their aura, eventually forming crystal veins. Within these veins, fully developed gems are sporadically distributed, alongside many flawed ones.

The associated ore of Lightgreen Gems is Lightgreen Crystal. Given the amount of blood the Lightgreen Gem Dragon shed this time, it could easily infect the entire Mind Island.

After all, gem dragons usually only need their aura to infect deposits, but this time, the Lightgreen Gem Dragon was using its very life to do so.

No small sacrifice!

"Rest well and recover, Lightgreen Gem Dragon." Liszt, sensing the still-slumbering dragon’s mind, sighed deeply. "Never thought I’d be a guy who owns a mine!"

Nation-building resources—now his for the taking.

The only downside was that Mind Island’s location wasn’t ideal—too close to both the mainland and the Sapphire Duchy. Fortunately, it wasn’t along any major shipping routes, or its position would be easily exposed. Now, with both a mine and a recovering dragon on the island, keeping it hidden was critical.

After a moment of reflection, he turned his attention to the new Misty Task.

"Task: The Lightgreen Gem Dragon has nurtured a Milon Mind Fruit and a Lightgreen Gem Mine with its life force, but the residual magic power has also altered the island’s environment. The trees here may have quietly undergone changes—keep a close watch on them. Reward: A whole grove of mutated trees."

"Are they referring to these cycad-like trees?" Liszt glanced around the island’s grove, where a quarter of the trees had already been flattened by the fallen Lightgreen Gem Dragon.

These trees had no name yet.

They simply resembled the tall, straight-trunked, oddly leaved fern plants from Earth’s dinosaur era. On Earth, most ferns had evolved from towering woody plants into low-growing herbs, with the only remaining woody fern being the textbook-famous, protected cycad.

"Should I just call them cycads?"

He liked equating this world’s plants with Earth’s, naming similar species after their terrestrial counterparts.

Thus, he quickly decided to name the grove’s plants "cycads."

With his Magic Eye active, while Acheronides busied herself with experiments, he scanned the grove, tracking every shift in the cycads. Before the task’s hint, he hadn’t known what purpose they served—they bore no fruit, weren’t magical flora, and their wood wasn’t particularly sturdy.

But now, infected by the dragon’s magic power, maybe something miraculous was brewing.

Of course, Liszt didn’t devote all his attention to the cycad grove. He still had to assist Acheronides with experiments and plot the next moves for both the Lightgreen Gem Dragon and Mind Island.

Mind Island needed protection—left alone for the Lightgreen Gem Mine to develop and, possibly, a third Soulfruit Tree to grow. The Lightgreen Gem Dragon also required safeguarding. Leaving it here to recuperate wasn’t safe; if the Eagle Kingdom came sniffing around, exposure was likely.

One could only imagine the kingdom’s frenzy after losing both a dragon and its rider.

The seas were about to get rough. In fact, the situation might even spark a chaotic war among the three great kingdoms in the northeastern corner of the legendary continent. The death of Karllo Violet, the rise of Dragon Rider Liszt and Archmage Acheronides—all were earth-shaking events.

Of course,

Liszt felt no fear.

If he and Acheronides couldn’t win, they could bolt. On these seas, nothing outpaced her, and she could even help him dive into the ocean’s depths. His family was his only real worry—but thankfully, he had already been enfeoffed. While not yet fully independent, his ties were no longer tight.

Under normal circumstances, he’d be seen as a separate entity, and no one would take it out on his family.

"Still, the Lightgreen Gem Dragon must be protected. It can’t stay here unconscious forever, or some random magic bird could pick it apart... Perhaps it should be moved to Dodo Island for concealment rather than left on Mind Island."

Dodo Island is far from the mainland and the Sapphire Duchy, so the Kingdom of the Eagle would never spot such a small island.

They wouldn’t easily sense the aura emitted by the Lightgreen Gem Dragon either.

"That settles it."

"When Acheronides finishes her experiments, she can help move the Lightgreen Gem Dragon to Dodo Island."

Acheronides can control a waterspout to lift the Lightgreen Gem Dragon and whisk it away to Dodo Island. Otherwise, Leo couldn’t possibly keep flying while carrying several hundred tons. No ship is large enough to transport a 45-meter-long adult dragon—the sheer force of its aura alone would make the crew foam at the mouth.

...

Night fell.

The tree fern forest still showed no visible changes, and Acheronides remained busy with her experiments. Both the dragon and the Soulfruit Tree held countless secrets waiting for her to unravel.

However, after finishing a hearty meal, Liszt directly interrupted Acheronides’ work: "Balance is everything."

"But Acheronides still has many urgent experiments to complete," she grumbled reluctantly.

Yet she couldn’t resist Liszt’s insistence: "Just store the unfinished experimental materials in the dimensional ring. If yours is full, use mine. No more experiments tonight—get some rest early." He remained wary of spellcasters and didn’t want Acheronides to lose herself in the pursuit of truth.

Lately, he had vaguely noticed her growing obsession with magic, which wasn’t a good sign. As an underage young siren, her worldview needed proper shaping.

Acheronides whined, "But brother, Acheronides can’t sleep without doing experiments."

"Then let’s stargaze. Come, I’ll teach you something new—how to observe the stars. The Moon Empire era supposedly had astrologers, and the calendar we use was left by them. I plan to rebuild the astrological system, and perhaps you can help me achieve this."

Acheronides nodded. "Okay."

The lesson began, with Liszt using scraps of TV-learned knowledge to lay the foundation for astronomy.

"The stars in the sky are divided into two types: stars and planets. Most of what we see with the naked eye are stars, though planets may be mixed among them. Stars remain almost stationary, while planets constantly shift. By observing their orbits and calculating with universal gravitation, we can deduce whether we’re in a vast star system."

Yet Acheronides suddenly asked, "But what’s the use of knowing these planets?"

Liszt went quiet, thinking.