Chapter 763 Dragon Fire Roasted Bird

"Acher, have Yevich send over the details about the new island, and intensify the search in the surrounding waters to check for an archipelago. Once we confirm the location, we'll head there tomorrow." Liszt instructed before taking Ai Ni to the Phoenix Perch Tree.

In the Flame Dragonbird's nest, three massive eggs lay undisturbed.

With Magic Eye activated, he could see the flickering red glow inside the eggs, outlining the shapes of curled-up chicks—a sign they were nearing hatching. When he channeled Dragon Aura to conjure flames and scorch the eggs, he distinctly sensed the excitement of the tiny lives within.

Ai Ni danced gleefully beside them.

It was hard to explain the mutually beneficial relationship between Ai Ni and the Flame Dragonbird. The only link was that both were fire-attribute creatures.

"Flame Dragonbird," Ai Ni practiced some halting words, "Phoenix Perch Tree, Fire Dragon Leo, Liszt, Acher, Pyke, Ash, Jie La... Haha, the eggs are hatching, Liszt! The little Flame Dragonbirds are coming!"

But to Ai Ni's dismay, the eggs suddenly stopped absorbing fire-attribute mana just before hatching—they'd hit their daily intake limit.

"Too bad we couldn’t hatch all three at once." Liszt shook his head.

Just then, he felt a stir and turned toward the volcano.

A pillar of fire shot skyward, morphing into Leo's form before swooping down to Liszt with a mighty bellow.

Despite the volume, Liszt sensed frustration. "What’s wrong, Leo?"

"Bellow!"

Leo conveyed that the crater’s magma had drastically receded, producing almost no volcanic supercharged mana—its feeding ground was drying up.

"Take me to see."

"Me too!" Ai Ni waved.

"Come." Liszt scooped up Ai Ni, leaped onto Leo’s Dragon Tooth Platform, and soared toward the crater. Ai Ni stretched tiny hands to touch Leo’s scales, its face flashing blissful expressions. If not for its cuteness, the behavior would’ve seemed crude.

Circling the crater, they surveyed the changes.

Once split between magma and a hot lake, now the steam had waned, and only faint streaks of glowing red remained—the magma cooling faster than Liszt expected.

"The Dodo Island volcano is going dormant." Liszt frowned, irritated.

Without magma to fuel Leo’s supercharged mana, relying solely on potions would slow its growth and drain magic reserves, hampering the territory’s progress.

But complaining wasn’t his style.

If this volcano cooled, they’d find another. "Leo, don’t fret. I’ll ask the Sapphire Duke to scout for a magma-rich crater in his domain." Renting one shouldn’t be hard—if any existed.

Leo gave a grudging bellow but acquiesced.

Then its eyes lit up with an idea, mentally urging Liszt: "I want the Flame Dragonbird remains—there’s one left! And those six Phoenix Feathers—all of them!"

"You can have the remains, but not the feathers." Liszt said flatly. The meat was nutritious but middling in taste—wasted on his human digestion.

Giving it to Leo was far more efficient. He had no idea how a dragon’s stomach functioned, but food seemed to vanish instantly inside.

Human bodies couldn’t match that efficiency.

So the meat was Leo’s—but the feathers were off-limits. Liszt planned to study them, maybe hand them down as family treasures.

After bargaining, they agreed Leo could eat the meat, not the feathers.

But soon, Liszt saw Leo’s greedy, draconic cunning in action—it veered toward the Phoenix Perch Tree, intent on devouring the three bird eggs.

"Absolutely not!"

"Rawr!"

The man and the dragon stopped by the big tree, gazing eagerly at the nest in a tense standoff. Ai Ni, unaware of what was happening, continued to stroke Leo's scales in delight, giggling in joy—getting to touch her favorite Fire Dragon up close was simply unimaginable.

Their mental battle was over in a flash—though only a second passed outside, dozens of clashes had already occurred within.

Liszt finally managed to suppress Leo's greed, making it give up its craving for the Flame Dragonbird eggs: "Let's go, hurry back and take your meds!"

"Rawr!" Leo turned away.

Yet at that very moment, it suddenly twisted its head back and, taking advantage of Liszt's momentary distraction, let loose a blast of fire directly at the nest. The scorching dragon's breath instantly enveloped it. Though the nest and tree trunk were fireproof, the outer layer was scorched black by the heat.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The sound of three eggs splitting apart was unmistakable amidst the dragon's breath.

"How dare you!"

Furious, Liszt's will surged forth, instantly forcing its way into Leo's mind. Inside, there was still a volcano, and at its crater sat a small Fire Drake—its eyes gleaming with wickedness.

Without a word, Liszt coalesced the smoke around him into a five-meter-long dragon spear, then merged with it like a shooting star, piercing straight through the Fire Drake's skull.

One strike—straight through its skull!

The Fire Drake had no chance to resist.

The volcano crumbled, the scene rapidly shifting as a new dragon was born.

Liszt then withdrew from Leo's mind. Now, Leo let out a soft "rawr," expressing its grievance, all defiance gone—its wicked thoughts had just been severed by Liszt's spear, reborn into purity.

Having successfully slain the dragon's malice, Liszt felt no joy, for the dragon's breath had already roasted the three eggs to the point of cracking.

All for nothing!

Yet suddenly, Ai Ni flew forward, pointing excitedly at the scorched nest and shouting, "Liszt! The Flame Dragonbird eggs—they're hatching now!"

"Huh?"

Only then did Liszt refocus on the nest, astonished to find that the three eggs were not roasted but instead pulsed with fierce life.

Through his dragon-eye vision, he saw the hatchlings inside fighting to burst free from their shells.

Their movements grew stronger, their efforts more forceful—the already cracked shells could no longer hold them back.

Witnessing this, Liszt opened his mouth, at a loss for words: "Could it be that Leo wasn’t trying to kill the eggs but was actually helping them hatch? No, no—that can’t be. An evil dragon only cares about eating eggs. Slaying Leo’s malice was the right thing to do!"