Chapter 855: Dragon Beasts

The volcanic crater natural node, the natural node in the sea, and the Jadeite Mountain natural node—on a single return trip, Liszt discovered three natural nodes, among which the volcanic crater and Jadeite Mountain natural nodes were both exploitable.

When the invisible dragon saw the Great Vortex Magic Teleportation Circle, it immediately opened a passage back to the vortex mountain cave entrance before returning to Ember City.

He told Acheronides about the discovery of the three natural nodes.

However, Acheronides was still summarizing information about the portal and had not yet formulated a plan for its development. Moreover, she needed time to train her spatial elemental avatar. Once she mastered it perfectly, it would greatly benefit the development of the portal—because then she could freely teleport alongside Liszt and the invisible dragon.

By that time, having Acheronides personally set up the portal would be much easier.

"Brother, the more natural nodes we control, the better. Only then can we select the most suitable one to establish the portal and complete the Magic Teleportation Circle."

"Understood. I'll handle it!"

Just as Liszt was gearing up, ready to explore the world beyond matter again, the Smoke Mission brought good news.

"Mission completed. Reward: cement."

Clearly, Liszt's idea of using volcanic ash had helped the craftsmen at the Fire Dragon Brick Factory successfully develop cement. With cement now successfully created, construction would boom. Most importantly, Fire Island had endless volcanic fields, where volcanic ash was inexhaustible.

For future island construction, cement would hardly be in short supply.

"A great achievement, but Black Horse Island probably won’t need cement. I no longer plan to continue developing the Fire Territory, just maintaining its current industrial structure and focusing entirely on supporting Fire Island’s development." Liszt’s thoughts were clear, and he planned to issue instructions via the magic console.

He would get the Fire Dragon Brick Factory ready for relocation. The next time he returned to Black Horse Island, he would move all its craftsmen to Fire Island.

He also planned to relocate the Magic Guild entirely and assign mages to the Fire Dragon Brick Factory to collaborate with the craftsmen in developing new types of cement—volcanic ash could serve as a cement material, and other ashes might also be viable.

However, when he saw the new Smoke Mission, he suddenly felt his idea might be unnecessary.

"Mission: The transportation between Black Horse Island and Fire Island is the biggest obstacle to the development of the Fire Archipelago. However, the preparation for the portal offers an alternative to sea voyages. Why not find natural nodes around Black Horse Island in preparation for the portal’s establishment? Reward: Intermediate dragon beast herd."

This hinted at building a portal between Black Horse Island and Fire Island. Once established, wouldn’t Fire Island and Black Horse Island effectively merge?

"If we truly build a portal, with Black Horse Island as our foothold, we could fully absorb the Sapphire family as my followers and make the Sapphire Duchy a vassal state of the Fire Kingdom!"

He rubbed his chin.

For now, he suppressed this thought and checked the mission’s reward: "It actually rewards an intermediate dragon beast herd—not just one, but a whole group. This is a jackpot!"

So far, he had encountered quite a few draconic creatures.

Dragon-blooded beasts included blue-blooded horses, black-blooded horses, hillside cows, and estuary pigs.

Low-level dragon beasts included the Rainbow Whale Rosi and the ground-strider Loki, the latter of which had evolved into an intermediate dragon beast due to Bloodline Fruit.

Wild intermediate dragon beasts had not been seen.

Advanced dragon beasts hadn’t been encountered either, though it was said that the pegasi of the Kingdom of Steel Ridge and the Flying Horse Forest counted as advanced dragon beasts, among which even a Supreme Dragon-Beast—the unicorn—had emerged. Liszt had always wanted to seek out a unicorn to witness this legendary creature said to appear only to pure maidens.

Supreme Dragon-Beasts included the Flame Dragonbird and the Thunder Dragon Turtle.

"I wonder what kind of intermediate dragon beasts this herd will be. Hopefully, they’re a breed suitable for mounted combat, allowing me to establish a dragon beast knight order and bolster the Burning Knights."

...

Liszt spent several days searching for new natural nodes, and the results were indeed remarkable—he found three more.

However, two of them were in the middle of the sea. He didn’t dare venture out, afraid of drowning.

The other one was above the sea. After locating it with a sextant, he discovered that this node was situated between the Flaming Archipelago and the Vortex Archipelago, surrounded by vast open waters, rendering it nearly worthless for development. If the natural node had been near the coast, with Acheronides' powerful water control abilities, perhaps another Great Vortex could have been constructed.

But out in the open ocean, the risks were too great.

As time wore on, Liszt did not discover any new natural nodes. The days drew closer to the New Year festival.

After another unsuccessful search, he found the Great Vortex Magic Teleportation Circle. Mounted on Bard the Invisible Dragon, he traversed the passage and returned to Ember City.

Back in Ember City, he got good news—a knight squad on an expedition had found a crumbling idol venerated by a large Moon Killers tribe. Since this Moon Killers tribe numbered over thirty thousand, the knight squad opted to subvert an ancient sorcerer to recruit the indigenous Moon Killers to work outside the forest.

Seeing no need for haste, the idol remained in this large tribe called "Xia."

"Where is the location of the Xia Tribe?" Liszt inquired.

"Here," the squad captain replied, pointing to a spot on the Flaming Island map—within the Vortex Great River basin, but along another tributary.

The map markings were precise, thanks to the efforts of the knight order and the mages. Not only did they explore new lands, but mages would accompany them to survey and document the terrain. By now, the whole Vortex River basin on the new Flaming Island map had been thoroughly charted.

The next step for the expeditionary knights was to advance into the vast forests south of Vortex Mountain.

"You'll lead the way, and select a mage who has learned the Lunar Language to accompany me. We will go to the Xia Tribe!" Liszt decisively ordered.

Word about the invisible dragon had gotten out, so when the knight and mage sat in prepared baskets, Liszt had Bard lift the baskets and fly toward the Xia Tribe. He and the invisible dragon stayed cloaked at the edge of visibility, with only the baskets visible outside.

It looked as though the baskets were flying on their own—a downright weird sight.

Yet the Earth Knight Dennis and the mage Harold, seated inside the baskets, weren't embarrassed by the ridiculous situation, only uncontrollable excitement.

"It's a dragon!"

"An invisible dragon!"

"Even His Highness is invisible—this is unbelievable!"

Dennis mused inwardly, "So His Highness really does have a second dragon. What a magnificent Dragon Knight I have pledged myself to! Once the kingdom is established, I'm bound to become a high-ranking noble!"

Harold dreamed, "The formidable Dragon Knight His Highness, and the great Archmage... I wonder if I can one day become a member of the royal court mages?"

Not every mage shunned fame and fortune, devoted solely to the pursuit of truth. Many were just as eager for worldly power, which was why so many became retainers of great nobles or even entered court service, catering to the aristocracy.

Before they knew it,

the valley where the Xia Tribe dwelled had arrived.

https://

Please remember the first URL of this book: . Mobile version reading URL: