Chapter 896: Spear of Revenge

This chapter is an extra update for the patron reward for "100,000-Year-Old Salted Fish".

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"My Lord!"

Liszt, who had been dozing inside the tent, immediately awoke the moment Emily called out—he was a light sleeper. When the knight arrived to summon him, he lifted the tent flap and stepped out. Without mounting his dragon, he flew straight into the sky, becoming a streaking shooting star.

He landed among the last cluster of carnivorous trees. Activating his Magic Eye, he noticed that the previously magic-aura-less carnivorous trees were now all faintly glowing with yellow magical auras.

These carnivorous trees had originally been burrowing underground, but Emily had detected them and struck the ground with her lightning-attribute Dragon Aura, disrupting their movements. As a result, they had been struggling to dig deeper but failing. However, Emily and the others dared not attack the carnivorous trees recklessly, fearing they might harm the hidden Dragon Spirit among them.

This led to a stalemate.

By the time Liszt arrived, he saw the carnivorous trees desperately trying to burrow but unable to do so.

With a few quick strides, he rushed to one of the trembling carnivorous trees and firmly gripped its soft trunk. Then, he unleashed Dragon Fear, quickly subduing all the carnivorous trees. The faint yellow magic aura faded, and the trees rapidly reverted to their original, motionless forms.

"Got you, little one. Stop resisting and reveal yourself," Liszt said with a smile. The seemingly ordinary carnivorous tree in his grasp exuded intense magical energy—clearly, it was the hiding place of the carnivorous tree Dragon Spirit.

*Thud.*

As if realizing escape was impossible, a tall, crystalline spirit suddenly leapt from the carnivorous tree. It had a humanoid shape, although its body was semi-transparent, making it difficult to determine its gender at first glance—it showed no clear gender traits.

Its body was pale yellow, about a meter tall, and slender.

A pair of transparent wings fluttered, lifting its feet slightly off the ground. Its face was delicate, with lively pitch-black eyes.

On its head sat a single leaf, beneath which sprouted a few tiny rootlets.

"Jiguruguwadaxia!" The carnivorous tree Dragon Spirit trembled slightly under Liszt’s overwhelming Dragon Fear but still bravely shouted at him.

It was a language Liszt had never heard before—somewhat similar to Moon-Tongue, yet different, as it lacked any identifiable patterns.

Most likely just nonsense.

"Stop shouting, I don’t understand. Here, let’s make a pact first, and then we can communicate properly." Liszt extended his hand, signaling the Dragon Spirit to hurry and form the pact without delay.

"Urasika, Bongshakaraka!" the Dragon Spirit yelled.

Unlike the cute little spirit bugs or Grand Sprites, this Dragon Spirit, which was gradually becoming more humanoid, wasn’t as adorable—but it was undeniably more beautiful. However, this particular carnivorous tree Dragon Spirit appeared quite fierce, still daring to resist even under the pressure of Dragon Fear.

"So, do you want jade dust? All flavors available," Liszt said, pulling out a large bag of jade dust and waving it in front of the spirit.

"Uh…"

The Dragon Spirit’s eyes lit up instantly, but it quickly glared at Liszt again. "Bilopdavarishi!"

"After the contract, all of this will be yours. Don’t worry, little one—with me, you’ll never be harmed again. Neither the Moon-Slayers nor the Flame-People can reach you. Because I am the master here, and everything on this land belongs to me."

"Dasvidaniya!"

"You're making this difficult. You should know I’ve already thought of names for you. How about 'Twisted Treant—Maokai'? No? Then 'Void-Burrower—Rek'Sai'? Still no? Or maybe 'Emerald Father—Ivern'? Judging by your expression, you don’t like that either?"

Liszt listed three names before offering a fourth: "How about 'Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance,' or 'Kali' for short? No more refusals—you're Kali now. Kali, my patience is running thin. Looks like I’ll have to handle this the hard way."

Seeing that the carnivorous tree Dragon Spirit, Kali, remained uncooperative, he stepped forward and grabbed her.

Under the overwhelming might of a Dragon Knight, Kali stood no chance, even as she tried to unleash her innate magical power. Liszt’s surging Dragon Aura dispersed her efforts, leaving her unable to channel any magic at all.

Nearby.

Emily watched Liszt quietly, coveting the Sky Knight's formidable power. Though Liszt had promised her that she would have the chance to bond with the Light-green Gem Dragon Ethan when the time came, she was still only a standard-rank Sky Knight, far from reaching the pinnacle.

Of course, she had no idea of Liszt’s true intentions.

Liszt didn’t care when Emily would reach the pinnacle. He only needed to first leave a mental imprint in Ethan's psyche before letting Emily attempt to ride the dragon. Given their relationship, the mental imprint shouldn’t trouble Emily too much.

This would significantly lower the challenge of dragon-riding for Emily.

While she was momentarily lost in thought, Liszt had already seized Kali and forcefully pried open her mouth with his finger.

With a slight push against Kali’s jaw, her teeth pierced his skin.

As blood met teeth, a peculiar sensation instantly enveloped both him and Kali—the familiar power of a spirit bug contract. However, compared to the contracts with spirit bugs, spirit bugs, and Grand Sprites, the bond with the Dragon Spirit felt much weaker, barely noticeable.

"*Urakiya Brusta!*" the Dragon Spirit continued to shriek.

But now, Liszt could understand its emotions—it was cursing him for his roughness and condemning all humans as evil beings who deserved death.

"This Dragon Spirit had heavy killing intent. The contract’s power can’t reshape its worldview at all—at best, it might reduce its hatred of me to mere unfamiliarity… Grand Sprites and spirit bugs are much better. Once contracted, they become completely devoted. Taming a Dragon Spirit is a bit troublesome."

For the next while, Liszt focused on soothing Kali.

He simply repeated his earlier words through emotional communication, luring Kali with large amounts of jade powder until her hostility toward him faded. Combined with the subtle influence of the contract, by nearly noon, Kali finally acknowledged Liszt.

She called his name: "Liszt…"

"Good, Kali. From now on, take your fungal grass and these man-eating trees to the plantation I’ve prepared." He had many questions about Dragon Spirits, but now wasn’t the time for research—Kali was still deeply wary.

She had indeed been harmed by the Moon Slayers.

Through emotional communication, he learned that her fungal grass had once nearly been severed by them.

From that moment on, she began her revenge, slaughtered thousands of Moon Slayers, burying them among the roots of the man-eating trees, and drawing nutrients from them—much to Liszt’s surprise, the man-eating trees truly possessed the ability to consume decay. They emitted a scent that attracted dying creatures.

When an animal collapsed beneath them, roots, trunks, or even leaves would sprout tendrils to pierce the corpse and absorb its nutrients.

"Remarkable plants. Once Kali lowers her guard, I’ll study Dragon Spirits and man-eating trees in detail." Watching Kali quietly eating jade powder in the tent, Liszt mused.

Regardless of the spirit type, their greatest value always lay in the crops they cultivated.

After a simple outdoor lunch of ten dishes and a short rest, he spent the afternoon convening the mages who had arrived to identify the ores—four types already discovered, plus a fifth found that morning.

"Your Highness, after examination, these five ores are undoubtedly—blackheart iron ore, bronze ore, lead ore, mercury ore with quicksilver surface, and titanium ore."

"Mercury ore and titanium ore?" Liszt was genuinely surprised. "The so-called non-magical metals that are actually magic metals—quicksilver and titanium?"

Quicksilver, the only liquid metal at room temperature.

It was an extremely valuable magical material, crucial for constructing magic arrays and crafting enchanted equipment.

Titanium, equally precious, was also known as "lesser mithril."

It shared properties similar to mithril—lightweight yet incredibly hard. Alloying titanium with steel armor could elevate its quality by two or three tiers.

Neither Mercury Dragons nor Titanium Dragons existed within the Three Kingdoms or their vassal states. The limited supplies of quicksilver and titanium were imported from distant kingdoms across the Legendary Continent.

Yet here on Flame Island, they had discovered deposits of both.

The rewards of the Dragon Pit Grand Mine truly deserved its 'grand' designation.

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