Chapter 835: The Volcanic Cluster

The previous task's objective was to uncover the origins of the indigenous tribes' cultivation system and clarify their current developmental state. Liszt felt he hadn't fully grasped either aspect.

Thus, completing the task was unexpected.

"Or perhaps, what Kui spoke of was the true history?"

Ancient Wizards arrived at Fire Island, fought alongside dragons, and slew many evil dragons, including one named Moon. Then, they too likely perished and were buried in a mountain called the Sacred Mountain. The descendants of these wizards began spreading from the Sacred Mountain into the forests, becoming the present-day Moon Killers.

The natives were divided into various tribes, some larger, some smaller. In each tribe, the leaders were always wizards, though their skills were rather mediocre.

Liszt stroked his chin: "So, Jade Dragons, Fire Dragons, and even the serpentine smoke participated in that ancient war?" He suddenly recalled the Jade Dragon's hind leg—could the smooth, severed wound on such a Jade Dragon have been inflicted by the Moon Dragon?

But then another question arose: What exactly was the Moon Dragon? If there was a Moon Dragon, could there also be a Sun Dragon, or even dragons representing various stars?

Could these dragons be classified under the stellar dragon category?

Of course, this was merely a wild guess. He didn’t even know whether the Moon Dragon had any connection to the actual moon. His gaze shifted to the newly transformed serpentine smoke script.

"Task: You have gained some understanding of the indigenous tribes. Now, the foremost priority is how to develop them. Before that, why not locate the Sacred Mountain and investigate the secrets of the Ancient Wizards? Explore the Sacred Mountain. Reward: Entrance to the ruins."

"The Sacred Mountain!"

Kui had never been to the Sacred Mountain, nor did he know its location, but that didn’t matter.

The knight order was already prepared for a large-scale sweep of Moon Killer tribes, and Liszt himself was ready to act. Knowing oneself and the enemy ensured victory in a hundred battles. Now that he understood the Moon Killers posed no real threat, as a Dragon Knight, he could traverse all of Fire Island unhindered.

However, Liszt didn’t immediately begin searching for the Sacred Mountain.

He decided to first complete a long-overdue task—mapping the terrain of Fire Island. Currently, only the island’s outline had been sketched by Acheronides, with no data on its internal topography. This was a hindrance to the island’s overall development.

No time like the present.

After assigning the task of capturing Moon Killer tribespeople, he mounted the Invisible Dragon Bard and began exploring outward from the Whirlpool River basin. Instead of flying close to the ground, he flew at high altitude, using a sextant to measure his position and charting the topography against Fire Island’s outline.

First was the island’s southeastern region, characterized by hills and plains with few mountain ranges. The Whirlpool Mountains were among the scant few, the rest being low hills.

Thickly forested, nearly the entire area was blanketed in dense, primeval forest.

A small number of Moon Killer tribes were scattered across this vast region, but their activity zones were limited, likely because they hadn’t yet established a foothold in this untamed forests. The forest’s magic power was highly active, suggesting an abundance of magical beasts, making it difficult for the Moon Killers to compete for living space.

Preliminary mapping of the southeastern terrain took five days. Aside from the Whirlpool River, two slightly smaller river basins were identified—potential sites for future settlements.

Next, he surveyed the central region of Fire Island. Here, the forests gradually thinned, giving way to flat terrain with sparse trees in some areas, exposing barren land. Aside from two east-west mountain ranges at the center, the topography was uncomplicated, with a river even larger than the Whirlpool flowing through.

Scattered across the land were small Moon Killer tribes, none forming cities—just primitive village clusters.

By the time the central terrain was mapped, it was already late September.

Without pause, Liszt continued to the island’s northwest. Only three days into his search, he suddenly spotted a cluster of smoking volcanoes.

Through the Crystal White Trace, he saw these volcanoes brimming with intense volcanic magic power—active volcanoes.

"One, two, three, four... a full nine active volcanoes!" A wave of excitement filled Liszt. He had been worrying about Leo’s delayed volcanic training, never expecting to find nine thriving volcanoes here, each radiating potent volcanic energy.

"Bard, let’s head to the largest crater!" Without alerting the sleeping Fire Drake Leo inside him, he urged the Invisible Dragon onward.

The volcanic cluster was spread across a vast plain, each crater a classic conical volcano.

Volcanoes rose in varying heights and sizes, some lush with trees, others barren. Surrounding them were numerous extinct volcanoes, weathered and broken, now part of the forest. Only the nine interconnected active volcanoes still spewed thick plumes of smoke, stretching across the horizon.

Bard the Invisible Dragon strained as he soared, arriving above the largest of the active volcanoes. Below, the gaping maw of the crater yawned open, filled with churning magma—as if it might erupt any second.

"Damn, that's huge!"

Liszt gasped.

This crater stretched over two kilometers across, slightly elliptical—broader along its east-west axis than north-south. The volcano's exterior was barren, stripped of all life, just jagged black stone. The inner walls sloped toward the center, where the crater's magma channel lay, its diameter at least a hundred or two hundred meters.

Compared to the volcano Liszt had seen on Dodo Island, this one was countless times larger.

Especially when he guided Bard to fly into the crater, he felt like an ant in a canyon—suddenly realizing how vast the world was and how small he was. After circling the inner walls once, Liszt steered Bard back to the crater's rim.

He dismounted from Bard's back, perched on the knife-edge rim of the crater.

To his left was the bottomless crater, and to his right, the steeply descending slope. The scars hinted at an eruption just a year or two back. The cracked and fissured ravines across the mountain were the clearest evidence of past lava flows.

"If this volcano erupted, how powerful would it be?"

Liszt couldn't even imagine.

After taking in the view for a while to calm his astonishment, he signaled Bard to turn invisible. "I'm going to release Leo here for its training, Bard."

"Woo-yah!" Bard wasn't one to fuss over a rival.

It had no interest in the reckless Fire Drake Leo and immediately concealed itself, flying toward other craters.

Thus, Liszt summoned the Fire Drake Leo.

Boom!

Fire erupted, coalescing into the black-and-red-scaled Fire Drake Leo, with a wingspan and body length of twenty meters each—already as big as a full-grown Invisible Dragon, though still young.

"ROOOAR!" Leo's thunderous cry filled the air, only for the dragon to freeze the next moment, gaping at the colossal pit beneath him.

"Leo, I promised you I'd find a volcanic crater for your training. Time to make good on that promise," Liszt said calmly, hands behind his back. "Make this place your forge. I'll visit often and bring you the food you need."

"ROOOAR!"

Leo glanced at Liszt, rumbling a warm reply before folding its wings and tucking its wings and dive-bombing into the crater.

The next moment—

It disappeared into the molten fury below.