Chapter 794: Spirit Bug’s Great Harvest

"Mission: May is the season of vigorous plant growth. The crops on Black Horse Island are thriving, yet as the lord, you have long neglected your duty to inspect the territory. Why not take a tour to check the growth of the crops? Reward: A large number of spirit bugs."

No sooner had Nami's evolution task concluded than a new mission brought Liszt a bounty of spirits.

After years of cultivation and soil enrichment, Black Horse Island's crops far surpassed those of other islands in lushness, leading to a denser emergence of spirit bugs.

This time, Liszt and Acheronides worked together, activating Magic Eye and Magic’s Eye to meticulously survey both the land and sea of the island.

They found three Wheat Bugs, one Barley Bug, one Thorn Bug, one pea bug, one rubber bug, one peanut bug, one mangrove bug, one corn bug, one millet bug, one Fragrant Coconut Bug, two Giant Kelp Worms, and two unknown algae spirit bugs.

He named them black algae bug and brown algae bug, and had Acheronides contract them. Liszt himself was no longer keen on contracting spirit bugs, finding them troublesome.

A total of sixteen spirit bugs—this was the reward for Black Horse Island's over three years under Liszt's leadership, thanks to scientific farming, widespread latrine construction, manure accumulation, canal building, artificial irrigation, seed selection, meticulous cultivation, weeding, pruning, and proper lighting.

The Magic Guild had a dedicated research team studying the relationship between scientific farming and the birth of spirit bugs, having already drawn preliminary conclusions through big data.

Spirit bug births are probabilistic events, meaning they are related to genetic mutation.

It has no direct correlation with whether plants grow well or poorly. However, maintaining vigorous and healthy plants greatly protects the gestation of spirit bugs. A malnourished plant might mutate and conceive a spirit bug, only to miscarry immediately, whereas Black Horse Island's healthy crops rarely miscarry.

Thus, scientific farming is the most effective way to significantly increase the number of spirit bugs.

At present, with the secrets of spirit bugs still unsolved, this is the only means to promote their growth.

"Mission complete. Reward: A large number of spirit bugs."

Most of the sixteen spirit bugs were still gestating, but the territory soon welcomed another wave of spirits. The sky knight followers who surrendered to Liszt relocated their families to Black Horse Island, while the two who refused to surrender paid ransoms and left.

The ransoms included three small spirit bugs: one oat spirit bug, one peanut spirit bug, and one sisal spirit bug.

As for the eleven followers' spirit bugs, they handed over a total of twelve small spirit bugs. Among them, Count Durt·Red Apricot Fruit contributed two millet spirit bugs, three barley spirit bugs, one orange spirit bug, one mango spirit bug, one magical herb-type Licorice Spirit Bug, one glutinous rice spirit bug, and one apple spirit bug.

Unexpectedly, they also obtained one black nightshade spirit bug and one thorn fairy.

Originally, two sky knights intended to trade grain-type spirit bugs, but Liszt discovered they had contracted black nightshade and thorn fairies. Without hesitation, he swapped them for these two as ransom.

These sky knights were quite pitiful, not even one Grand Sprite among them.

Their remaining spirit bugs were temporarily put to work farming for Liszt on Black Horse Island, though he would compensate them based on the spirits' contributions. In short, during this transitional phase, this arrangement would stand. With the dream of founding a nation to sustain them, no one raised major objections.

...

"Now the territory's spirits seem to have exploded overnight. War is truly the quickest path to riches. My trade business can’t compare to war profits—the key difference being that trade yields slow but steady profits, while war brings instant benefits."

After tallying the spoils of the great sea battle, Liszt was in high spirits and turned his attention to the new smoke-generated mission.

"Mission: With the war over, the sky knights have nothing to do. Rather than letting them idle in the territory, why not find them some work? The influx of shipwrights has spurred a boom in Black Horse Island's shipbuilding industry. Please construct standardized three-masted sailing ships. Reward: Peculiarities of Heart Island."

Building three-masted ships to occupy the knights was easy.

Liszt had long planned this. He had ordered ten Fast Royal Yachts from the Sapphire family, intending to deploy six more to form two new exploration fleets for searching islands in the southern seas. Currently, Yevich's exploration fleet's progress disappointed him.

Equipped with Wind-Calming Pearls and Water-Calming Pearls, the fleets could navigate coastal waters freely, yet their discoveries remained limited.

To be fair, it wasn’t entirely Yevich's fault. With limited ship speed and the vastness of the ocean, finding islands was inherently difficult.

"Adding two more exploration fleets, bringing the total to three fleets and nine Fast Royal Yachts, should greatly expand the search scope... Discoveries should be made quickly for early development, or else the search should shift promptly to the Kingdom of Steel Ridge’s waters."

With that, he concluded his thoughts.

His gaze fixed on the "strange occurrences on Soulfruit Island."

"Soulfruit Island indeed still has issues. The Lightgreen Gem deposit seems ready for mining. It's time to start extraction and investigate the true secrets within Soulfruit Island." Liszt, being a doer, decided immediately, prompted by the smoke mission, to launch an investigation.

The investigation team was limited to just him and Acheronides.

The Flame roared across the sea, reaching Soulfruit Island in a few hours. This island, stripped of all Crystal Cyathea and purged by Acheronides' seawater ritual, was now barren with nothing left. Even the spot where the Soulfruit Tree once grew showed no signs of new saplings.

"Acheronides, check if there's any abnormality on Soulfruit Island." Upon landing, Liszt immediately began the investigation, though without expecting to find anything unusual—the smoke mission wasn't complete yet, meaning the island's weirdness might not have started yet. This was merely a precaution.

Or perhaps they could detect the abnormality early, directly altering the mission and moving on to the next one.

Unfortunately, after a thorough inspection, no abnormalities were found on Soulfruit Island. However, beneath the soil layer, a faint layer of greenish crystals had already spread. Liszt excavated a section of the crystal deposit and found two fist-sized Lightgreen Gems scattered here and there.

"Is this the Lightgreen Gem produced by the Lightgreen Gem Dragon Ethan? The output seems pretty low. Even if the entire island becomes a Lightgreen Gem deposit, the reserves wouldn't be substantial... It's a shame compared to the blood essence the Lightgreen Gem Dragon once leaked. But then again, perhaps the Soulfruit Tree absorbed too much."

Soon, however, he noticed that the magic power within the crystal deposit was still slowly flowing, as if nurturing new Lightgreen Gems.

"Does this mean this Lightgreen Gem deposit hasn't fully developed yet?"

"Ah well, we can wait. No hurry!"