Chapter 895: Battle of the Five Dragons

This chapter is an extra update, a patron reward for "Ascending the Azure Court."

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Emily continued leading the team in felling trees, while Liszt circled the giant pit without detecting any magic power feedback, unsure just how well the maneating tree’s Dragon Spirit was hiding.

After over a month of hide-and-seek, it still hadn’t shown itself once.

During a break in the tree-cutting, he sent a group of serfs to another pit and began digging at its center, suspecting these pits might be the dragon pit mega-mine promised by the Smoke Mission.

The serfs labored hard, but after digging only two meters deep, they hit a rock layer. The broken stones were brought before Liszt.

The stone was heavy and a dark red.

"What kind of stone is this? Does anyone recognize it?" Liszt weighed it in his hand, sensing it might be some kind of ore—especially with the Smoke Mission’s hint, making him even more certain.

Vernal Ink, standing beside Liszt, replied, "Your Highness, if I’m correct, this is iron ore."

"Iron ore?" Liszt examined it closely. It differed from the iron ore he had seized from the Dragon-Trapping Mountain Mine, mainly in color. "What kind of iron ore is this? Why is it different from what I’ve seen before? The iron ore from Dragon-Trapping Mountain was pitch black."

"It might be poor-quality ore, with lower iron content. Such ores usually appear in the upper layers of a deposit," Vernal said excitedly. "Your Highness, there could be an iron mine beneath this pit!"

If this truly was iron ore, then without a doubt, this was the dragon pit mega-mine—a massive iron deposit. Staring at the countless pits dotting the valley, Liszt’s eyes gleamed. "Send workers immediately! Dig in every pit, three feet down if necessary, to uncover the ore below. I want to know just how vast this iron mine is!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Vernal sprang into action. Iron was far too crucial for the kingdom—knightly equipment, everyday tools—all relied on it.

Not only did the serfs dig with fervor, but even many knights took up shovels, hoes, and picks to join the effort.

Around the pits where iron ore was found, several adjacent pits soon yielded iron ore as well, differing in color and quality. One pit, in particular, produced pitch-black iron ore after digging just half a meter deep—a high-grade deposit, likely with an iron content of ninety percent, and could be forged into tools with little work.

"It seems this really is a supermassive iron mine. Excellent, excellent." Liszt’s spirits lifted. With such a mine and the grey cast iron dragon, the Fire Kingdom would never lack iron again.

However, as digging expanded to more distant pits, new ores were soon brought before him.

"Your Highness, these ores aren’t iron ore. They look more like copper ore," Vernal explained. As a veteran knight involved in daily territorial affairs, he had experience in ore refining and recognized many types. "They’re likely bronze ore. The earlier iron ores might have been blackheart iron."

He speculated: "It’s possible that in ancient times, a blackheart iron dragon and a bronze dragon battled here, forming this massive mine."

The theory was logical.

Yet soon, another knight arrived with a new stone—one that appeared to be made up of small square chunks. Upon seeing it, Vernal exclaimed, "This is galena ore!"

"Galena ore?"

"Ore from lead dragons! The Kingdom of the Eagle has a lead dragon. I once purchased a batch of galena ore to refine lead metal!"

Shortly after, more pits yielded galena ore. This meant the valley held not just blackheart iron and bronze deposits, but also lead. By Vernal’s reasoning, perhaps in ancient times, a bronze dragon, a blackheart iron dragon, and a lead dragon had engaged in a three-way fight.

But Liszt and his team, already thrilled, had underestimated the dragon pit mega-mine’s richness.

By nightfall, another knight arrived with a new ore—a reddish, brittle stone that crumbled into sand-like particles. Vernal didn’t recognize it, nor did Liszt, but it was clearly a new type of metal ore. The Magic Guild had already been called to send mages specializing in metallurgy. Soon, they would know exactly what this was.

"Your Highness, this is truly unbelievable! There are actually four types of metal ores buried in this valley!" Farnell couldn't contain his excitement.

Under the glow of the campfire, his face was flushed red, as if he had been struck on the head by a gold ingot.

Liszt, however, remained much calmer. He had long known of the existence of the Dragon Pit Deposit, though the sheer variety of ores was somewhat unexpected. "Keep calm, Farnell. We've already mapped the ore distribution in the pits within the valley, but there’s still an area of pits on the outskirts that haven’t been excavated yet. There might be new ores there."

"New ores? That would make five types!" Farnell grew even more excited.

Unlike Farnell, who was thrilled by the ores themselves, Liszt was pondering another question: "If five dragons fought here, could one have died and been buried deep underground? The new smoke mission's reward is 'Dragon Fear from the bones'—could this mean there’s a dragon lying beneath, waiting to be reborn?"

Just like Leo, a dragon’s death could nurture a spark of rebirth, awaiting the right opportunity for rebirth.

Metal and gem dragons were improbable candidates—they lacked the potential for elemental transformation, and their draconic magic wasn’t enduring. Only the magic of an Elemental Dragon could persist indefinitely.

He kept these thoughts to himself.

Instead, he speculated alone: "Perhaps it wasn’t just four or five metal dragons fighting here—maybe an Elemental Dragon was involved too... though whether any gem dragons participated remains unknown."

They would develop the Dragon Pit Deposit eventually, and whether an Elemental Dragon slumbered here would soon be revealed.

But tonight, he still had work to do.

As the serfs continued felling trees, within a day and night, all the trees in the pit above the Blackheart iron ore had been cleared, leaving only a scattered few hundred maneating trees clustered in the northwest corner.

"Your Highness, should we start digging now?" Emily inquired.

"Go ahead."

The refreshed serfs, returning to work, began digging through the open spaces between the maneating trees. Based on the distribution of the Blackheart iron ore, the soil layer was less than two meters deep. By digging up the soil here and transplanting the maneating trees one by one elsewhere, they would surely find the Dragon Spirit controlling them.

Soon.

The moon set, and the sun rose.

Sunlight broke through the predawn darkness as the maneating trees were being uprooted one by one. Just as the last few dozen were about to be removed, the trees suddenly began to tremble. Their branches softened, and the entire trees bent toward the ground, ready to dig their escape.

Emily, who hadn’t slept all night, her eyes bloodshot, immediately shouted to the knights behind her, "Wake His Highness!" Then she charged toward the last few dozen maneating trees, hunting for the Dragon Spirit secretly controlling them.