Chapter 803: Emerald Dream

This chapter is an extra update for the "Radish Geng 01" sponsorship reward.

"The reward for mining the Lightgreen Gemstone ore is actually a broken piece of jade?"

In this world, jade exists as a type of gemstone with an emerald-green hue, and many spirit bugs enjoy consuming its powdered form. However, a mere broken piece of jade hardly seems worthy of being a reward from the Smoke Mission—even when the mission occasionally offers readily available resources as rewards, none have been this trivial before.

"So, this broken jade isn’t ordinary. It’s very likely..."

Liszt’s heart pounded wildly, unable to suppress the wild thought in his mind: "It’s very likely... a clue related to the Jade Dragon!"

The Jade Dragon, one of the five Sacred Dragons, represents the power of dreams. Legend has it that it can infiltrate the dreams of any creature.

All Sacred Dragons truly exist—Liszt firmly believes this—so the Jade Dragon must be real. He has fantasized countless times about the unique abilities of the Sacred Dragons: the Invisible Dragon functions like a special Gem Dragon, capable of producing space gems; the Smoke Dragon wields the power of fate, altering destiny at will.

The Pixie Dragon likely possesses eternal life, while the Twilight Dragon can manipulate time. As for the Jade Dragon’s abilities, Liszt has pondered many possibilities.

There are roughly two directions for speculation.

One is the dream world, connecting the dreams of all living beings, much like the *Emerald Dream* guarded by the green dragons in *World of Warcraft*, serving as a reflection of the real world.

The other is mental power, manipulating thoughts through dreams, akin to the legendary nightmare that traps people in inescapable horrors.

"Broken jade, Soul Island, the Soulfruit Tree, the Milon Mind Fruit!" Riding his chocobo-like Loki, Liszt muttered like a fortune-teller, counting on his fingers. "I should have realized it sooner—the Soulfruit Tree, such an extraordinary plant that even space gems can’t immobilize it, must have an extraordinary origin!"

A dragon’s magic power possesses a unique, supreme quality—transcendent-tier magic.

Ordinary items could never defy such supreme magic; only magic of the same level can counteract it. The Soulfruit Tree is clearly a transcendent-tier creation on par with space gems.

"Could the broken jade refer to the remains of the Jade Dragon? Perhaps the Soulfruit Tree grew from its remains, and the Milon Mind Fruit, infused with the Jade Dragon’s immense mental power, is what binds a dragon’s mind!"

Based on the current clues, this is the most plausible deduction.

Having settled his thoughts, Liszt returned to Thorn Castle and found Acher, who was busy drawing nautical charts. "Acher, pause your work for now. Come with me to Soul Island."

"Big brother, is it urgent to mine the gemstones on Soul Island?" Acher was reluctant to leave, currently enthralled by the Magic Teleportation Circle.

"Extremely urgent, because Soul Island might hold clues to another dragon!"

Acher also loved dragons. Hearing about a new lead, she immediately set aside her work. "Another dragon? That’s wonderful! Big brother can ride a new dragon."

Dragons are creatures that mages can’t ride, yet everyone shares a love for them.

Moreover, for Acher, dragons are excellent research material. The near-death Lightgreen Gem Dragon—Ethan—had provided her with vast insights into the mysteries of magic power. To this day, she still occasionally asks Liszt to lend her Rio for study.

Without delay, they set off. Only on the way did Acher ask, "Big brother, what dragon’s clue is it?"

"The Jade Dragon."

"The Jade Dragon representing dreams?" Acher wasn’t overly surprised, as she already knew about the Invisible Dragon and had long been mentally prepared for the Sacred Dragons.

"It might just be the Jade Dragon’s remains."

"Remains?"

"Yes. Even dragons die. I just don’t understand why they didn’t perish in the legendary Dragon Valley but instead in these jade-green seas." Liszt was genuinely curious. What had happened to these powerful dragons? First, the Smoke Dragon, seemingly deceased, its power fused with him.

Then there was the Invisible Dragon, possibly a young dragon or a reincarnation. Next, from the Fire Dragon’s remains emerged the fledgling Fire Drake Rio.

And now, the potential remains of the Jade Dragon.

By his count, a total of four dragons converge in the Sapphire Sea—three Sacred Dragons and one Elemental Dragon. There are far too many unknown mysteries that remain puzzling, to the point where Liszt even wonders if the Sapphire Sea might be the legendary Dragon Valley. But he quickly dismissed the idea.

The Fire Dragon had died millennia ago, as even its dragon bones—materials that rarely decay—have decayed into mundane bone.

Lost in thought,

he arrived at Soulfruit Island. From afar, Liszt immediately understood what was meant by the "anomaly of Soulfruit Island." A layer of faint green, smoke-like magic aura hovered above the island, unmistakably the power of the pale green gemstone ore resonating with the ambient magic power in the air, forming a misty glow.

The Sapphire Duchy had mentioned to Liszt that gemstone ores sometimes create such gemstone haze under special weather conditions.

"We must mine it as soon as possible to prevent others from discovering Soulfruit Island!" Such an anomaly could be spotted from a great distance, making it too easy to spot.

Soon, he set foot on Soulfruit Island.

Liszt immediately took out a dragonbone shovel and began digging at the spot where the Soulfruit Tree once grew. After excavating a meter of soil, he gradually reached the rock layer. With forceful strikes, he broke through the rocks and discovered clusters of pale green crystal ore embedded within, glowing faintly green.

Upon closer inspection, he could even see fist-sized pale green gemstones inside some of the raw crystals.

These raw crystals would need a gem cutter’s skill for careful cutting to extract the embedded gemstones without damaging their structure.

Liszt simply stored the raw ores in his spatial storage ring and continued digging.

After chiseling through three meters of rock and extracting dozens of pale green crystal ores, he still hadn’t found the shattered jade he had speculated about.

But he wasn’t worried. Though tiny, Soulfruit Island rose dozens of meters high. The shattered jade might be hidden deep within the thick rock layers...

From daybreak to nightfall, he dug tirelessly, pausing only for a brief rest before resuming, progressing from three meters to ten.

Despite a dragon rider’s endurance, the labor exhausted him, and over a dozen dragonbone shovels and chisels—crafted from Fire Dragon bones—were shattered in the process.

Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, he broke through the layer of pale green gemstone ore.

Beneath it lay stacked layers of jade-like emerald-green shale. After brushing away the powdered debris, a vivid, living emerald green was revealed.

Though both were green, the shale above was merely jade-grade, while this hue was an indescribable, living green.

"It’s like the tender sprout of a young tree, brimming with vibrant life! Acheronides, come see—I’ve found the remains of the Jade Dragon!" Liszt gripped the bone shovel, his exhaustion vanishing instantly. "The Jade Dragon’s remains really were buried under Soulfruit Island!"