Chapter 753 Rockwood Spirit Bug

Here’s the refined translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

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Burning Mountain is a vast mountain range, possibly larger than Coral Island in area, with undulating terrain that makes it difficult to survey the entire forest.

After five consecutive days without any trace of the Wyvern Phoenix, Liszt could no longer bear wasting time here. He resolutely decided to ride Leo and use his draconic vision to meticulously search every corner of the forest. Riding the dragon might expose his presence, but he was confident no one could lay a finger on him.

His mindset had grown increasingly cocky—he felt that even if he flew over the capital of the Kingdom of the Eagle on his dragon, no one would dare to stand in his way.

Such was his unshakable self-assurance.

Once mounted on the dragon, his draconic vision activated, revealing the forest of Burning Mountain in an entirely new light. Countless flickers of magic auras filled his vision, most belonging to magical beasts—wild forests had always been their domain. Ignoring these creatures, Liszt focused on two types of magic signals.

The first was the glow of plants. Any plant emitting a glow was undoubtedly a spirit bug or a magical herb, though the latter would always be surrounded by spirit bugs.

The second was a blazing magic aura, indicating either an advanced magical beast, a super beast, or even the Wyvern Phoenix he sought.

"Whoa—that tree’s lit up like a beacon!"

Liszt’s eyes lit up.

Leo immediately flapped his wings and dove toward the tree. The tree emitted a chaotic magic aura, and upon arrival, Liszt realized it was a rockwood tree—rockwood and stonewood were common hardwood timber on the Legendary Continent. However, their glacial growth made them impractical.

Some rockwood and stonewood spirit bugs could nurture spirit bugs, but these bugs only lived for ten years, limiting their influence to a mere decade. Meanwhile, rockwood and stonewood took centuries to mature, rendering their impact a drop in the bucket.

"Could this be a rockwood spirit bug?" He scanned carefully and spotted a quivering spirit bug hiding on a branch.

The spirit bug was pale yellow, with a thin twig-like protrusion on its head.

Jumping off the dragon’s back, Liszt skipped the usual jade powder ritual and simply extended his finger for the terrified spirit bug to bite. The contract was instantly sealed, and Leo withdrew his draconic pressure. The spirit bug regained its liveliness, tilting its head curiously at Liszt.

"Bugu?" (it chirped)

"Gather your plant and follow me. I’ll take you to a place with plenty of jade powder to settle down." Liszt pulled out a small bag of jade powder and handed it to the rockwood spirit bug.

The tasty jade dust quickly won the spirit bug over. After a few eager bites, it accepted Liszt. With a quick inhale, the massive fifty-meter-tall rockwood tree shrank rapidly, transforming into a seed that flew into the spirit bug’s mouth—leaving behind a yawning crater in the ground.

"Bugu."

"Good, let’s go." Liszt handed the rockwood spirit bug to Acheronides to hold.

Finding a spirit bug for free should have been a joyous occasion, but Liszt’s excitement was lukewarm.

The rockwood spirit bug’s value was disappointingly low, mainly due to the tree’s snail’s-pace growth cycle—decades before maturity. With spirit bugs living only a century and rockwood trees being sparse in distribution, their numbers and yield were severely limited, making it hard to put them to work farming.

Most rockwood and stonewood used by humans were harvested from primeval forests rather than cultivated.

Still, finding a spirit bug was better than nothing. Even influencing a few extra rockwood trees counted as a win. Liszt quickly adjusted his mood: "Just one dragon ride, and I found a spirit bug. Maybe I should make daily dragon flights into the forest to make a living off spirit-bug hunting."

Acheronides giggled. "But brother, wild spirit bugs aren’t very valuable. Spirit bugs nurtured from cultivated crops are the ones worth more."

"Fair point."

Spirit bugs from cultivated plants held far greater value because those plants were usually high-yield crops like magical herbs, grains, fruit trees, vegetables, or raw materials. The bugs’ perks naturally amplified their worth. ---

Here's the edited translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

Most plants in the forest are wild, so even with spirit bugs, they can't do much.

Take any wildflower's spirit bug—even a Grand Sprite—can at most make more wildflowers grow. When wildflowers are worthless, the spirit bug naturally loses its worth too. Unless a magical herb variant is found, in which case the spirit bug's value would shoot up instantly.

Currently, spirit bugs commonly seen in the market are mostly sold alongside magic herb seeds.

Thus, before anyone knew it,

the rockwood spirit bug became synonymous with cheap.

...

Once again man and dragon united,

Liszt continued searching for traces of the Wyvern Phoenix. Half a day later, as he rounded a mountain peak, a glow of fire suddenly appeared in his vision.

"Huh?"

He widened his eyes and saw, halfway up a distant mountain, a rather unremarkable tree standing tall, glowing like flames—a reflection of magic power.

"A fire-attribute tree!"

"Spirit bugs!"

Leo descended rapidly, closing in on the flaming tree. At this moment, the dragon-eye's tracking vision revealed a different sight within the fiery glow—three clustered scarlet points, exceptionally bright.

"Could it be another set of spirit bug triplets?"

The thought flashed through his mind as he and Leo dove into the forest. Just before brushing the treetops, Liszt leaped off, landing near the three bright red dots. Up close, he realized these weren't spirit bug triplets but a bird's nest.

Inside lay three eggs, each covered in red markings and as large as ostrich eggs.

With Magic Eye still active, he could see an extremely dense concentration of fire-attribute magic power within the eggs. Judging by the hue, this wasn't low-grade but high-grade magic power.

In an instant,

Liszt understood: "Phoenix eggs!"

Only the Wyvern Phoenix could possess such intensely concentrated fire-attribute magic. Though he didn't know where the Wyvern Phoenix was, these three eggs and this nest were undoubtedly something it would never abandon. Guarding this spot meant the Wyvern Phoenix would soon be his.

He snapped his fingers.

Leo, carrying Acheronides, flew over again. Acheronides jumped to the ground while Leo transformed into flames and disappeared into Liszt's chest.

"Acheronides, we've found the Wyvern Phoenix's nest and eggs. Now we just wait here for its return!"

"Mm-hmm."

"Rawr!" Leo, in his magic form, let out an eager cry—he wanted to eat the phoenix eggs, reminding Liszt of his earlier promise.

"Patience. The eggs are bait—bait, understand? We're fishing for the Wyvern Phoenix!"

"Rawr!" Only then did Leo calm down.

His intelligence matched an adult's, so he naturally understood that catching the Wyvern Phoenix was far more worthwhile than a few eggs. Who knows? Maybe, like the chickens in their territory, it would lay eggs daily. Wouldn't that be perfect? "A phoenix egg every day, and my power will be unstoppable!"