Chapter 853: What’s Mine is Mine

The natural node was deeply hidden, yet it could not escape the powerful search capability of Spiral Positioning. The Invisible Dragon swiftly approached the natural node and began relying on its innate abilities to break through the already fragile "thin" material boundary.

The moment the boundary was torn apart, Liszt got a glimpse of the outside world.

It was a secluded space dense with vegetation. Only after he and the Invisible Dragon fully emerged from the natural node did he realize they were inside the crater of a dead volcano. Flying out of the volcano, the high vantage point revealed the nearby volcano where the Phoenix Perch Tree stood to the left.

The Endless Volcano Range had nine active volcanoes and many dead ones, most of which remained unnamed.

This dead volcano was also unnamed.

"Having the natural node inside the crater makes transportation inconvenient unless... we carve out a volcanic tunnel. Hmm, if Acheronides selects this as one of the magic doors, we can gather a group of Ancient Wizards to bombard their way through to complete the tunnel as soon as possible."

With Thorn Ironwood, rubber water, and the soon-to-be-developed cement, they already had the resources to build the tunnel.

Though wizards weren’t the best in combat, their magic had clear civilian uses. Even if the Ancient Wizards couldn't penetrate the rocky layers within the mountain, there was still Acheronides, the Archmage, with her super-spell: Spiral Ultra-High-Pressure Water Drill, capable of crushing even metal, let alone mere mountain rock.

With that settled,

Having found the first natural node, Liszt's enthusiasm burned bright. Together with the Invisible Dragon Bard, he pressed on, venturing back into the world beyond material reality to search for new natural nodes.

At this point, the formidable search ability of Spiral Positioning was fully demonstrated.

It didn’t take long before he discovered a second natural node. Breaking through, however, revealed churning seawater slammed against the boundary, unable to enter the world beyond.

"Too bad. This node’s deep underwater—useless." He didn't even dare to venture out.

Bard couldn't swim, and drowning would be a bad joke.

So, leaving the natural node behind, they continued flying through the world beyond the material realm, searching for more nodes. The material world was vast, but the world beyond had no concept of size—everything was squeezed into a jumble. Think of it like this: the material world was like a massive sheet of paper.

Each point on the paper could only move along its surface.

The world beyond the material realm was the empty space surrounding the paper. Under normal dimensions, the shortest distance between two points on the paper was a straight line.

But in the dimension of the world beyond, it was as if the paper had been crumpled into a ball. Moving along the paper's surface wouldn't change the distance, but traversing the void outside could easily connect two otherwise unreachable points. Natural nodes acted as gateways between these points.

There were no boundaries, no distances, and even the concept of time was blurred. To ordinary creatures, the world beyond the material realm was a place beyond comprehension.

Only the Invisible Dragon could navigate it freely.

"Found another natural node. Let's go!" Liszt urged, and the pair shot toward the third natural node. Moments later, they opened it.

A forest sprawled before them.

As Liszt emerged from the natural node, he realized with amusement that he had arrived near Flame Mountain, a branch of the volcanic range. The Lightgreen Gem Dragon Ethan had been left there, and as if sensing his presence, Ethan flapped his broad wings and flew over from a distant valley in Flame Mountain.

"Roar!"

The dragon's roar was a greeting.

"Ethan, the environment in Flame Mountain suits you well, doesn't it?" Liszt revealed himself, watching the approaching Lightgreen Gem Dragon and communicating through Dragon Heart Code.

"Roar!"

When Ethan reached the mountainside nearby, he stopped, unwilling to approach further due to his dislike for the Invisible Dragon. However, the spot he chose was unstable—the rocks on the slope couldn't support his hundred-ton weight, causing a landslide.

Fortunately, Ethan reacted swiftly and took flight again.

Yet Liszt noticed the exposed milky-white rock where the slope had collapsed. At that moment, both he and Bard still had their crystalline vision active, and in that sight, the milky-white rock pulsed with a chaotic, otherworldly glow—the glow of magic power feedback.

In a flash, the man and the dragon flew over.

Liszt jumped straight from the dragon's back and climbed to the landslide site. At a glance, his eyebrows arched: "Jade!"

In an instant, he realized this must be the jade vein rewarded by the previous Smoke Mission.

He took out a bone hammer and chipped away at the rocks surrounding the jade. As the rocks shattered, ribbons of milky-white jade veins were indeed exposed within.

Bard showed no interest in the jade vein, napping lazily nearby.

But Ethan excitedly rushed over: "Roar!" The sight of the jade traces exposed by the landslide sent the dragon into a frenzy—a thrill like striking gold in a dump.

Originally thinking Liszt had casually placed him in a desolate wilderness, he never expected a jade vein to be buried beneath.

"Roar!"

It extended its foreclaws, lightly scraping the jade vein beside Liszt. Instantly, a section of the vein was shattered, scattering raw ore, half rock and half jade, in all directions and revealing even richer jade veins deeper within the mountain—what had been exposed earlier was merely the outer layer.

"Alright, Ethan, don’t waste it recklessly. I’ll send people to mine the jade, and you’ll get your share—you can gorge yourself!"

"Roar!"

"Here’s a task for you: go claw at a few other spots on the mountain and see how extensive this jade deposit is."

With jade as incentive, Ethan was very cooperative. It immediately took flight, landing halfway up a neighboring mountain. With casual swipes of its claws, it uncovered new milky-white jade veins. It repeated this across ten peaks, all of which contained jade deposits—a whole stretch of the mountain range was underlain with jade.

Conservative estimates placed the reserves at over 100,000 tons.

In the market, jade was traded by weight. Suddenly acquiring a 100,000-ton jade vein made Liszt feel like hitting a jackpot.

"If this entire jade vein is mined, it’ll likely last me a lifetime!"

"Roar!"

Ethan roared to express its thoughts—it wanted Liszt to immediately build its dragon lair here, where it would settle on this "Jade Mountain." As an adult dragon, it cleverly added that as long as the jade supply was sufficient, creating pale green gemstones wouldn’t be a problem.

"Fine, your lair will be built here. I’ll send people right away... though it’ll have to wait until after the New Year festivities. The path between Vortex Mountain and Flame Mountain isn’t cleared yet."

Ethan nodded in understanding.

Then it simply sprawled atop the exposed jade vein, basking comfortably in the sunlight, likely thinking—Mine, mine, all mine!