Chapter 284 Rubber Tree Elf Worm

A flash of magical light, pale yellow and seemingly of earth attribute, appeared at the crown of the tree. The tree wasn’t very tall, and Lister could clearly see the crown. A large, round growth had formed on one of the branches, emitting magic. There was no doubt that a spirit bug was being nurtured inside.

In other words, this tree was insect-grass!

Realizing this, Lister felt a pang of regret. Lassie had chopped off a thick branch, and Griffin had slashed the trunk. They were essentially working against the spirit bug.

"Master Marcus, Lassie, Griffin, this tree is insect-grass." He touched the slightly rough bark. "My spirit bug is being nurtured inside. I sense its presence. You must protect it at all times. Once it's born, I will come to form a contract with it."

"Is there really a spirit bug?" Lassie clicked his tongue in surprise.

Marcus, however, wasn’t shocked. He knew that Lister had sharp eyes: "Please rest assured, my lord. I will arrange for people to patrol this tree at all times. Once the spirit bug is born, I will notify you immediately!"

Griffin said excitedly, "Lassie, you chopped off a branch of the insect-grass, and I slashed the trunk! My lord is indeed the son of glory, favored by the glory of knighthood! We, Flower Town, will have another spirit bug!" It was unclear whether he was excited about the spirit bug or the fact that he had slashed the insect-grass.

In any case, the three who had been confused about the rubber now quickly realized its importance.

A plant that could nurture a spirit bug was valuable. To them, the spirit bug symbolized nobility and adorned power.

Lister felt much better and said, "Although sixteen serfs died because of the poisonous bees' nest, which is truly heartbreaking, there is gain in loss. We have gained a new crop and a spirit bug. I hereby name this tree the 'Rubber Tree'!"

This rubber tree was not the same as the rubber tree on Earth; the name was merely borrowed.

The spirit bug that was about to be nurtured would become the Rubber Tree Spirit Bug.

It was already dark.

They collected some rubber samples, carried the bees' nest, and collected some of the bees' corpses to take with them. Upon arriving at Port Town, they immediately found wooden planks to make a box and placed the bees' nest inside.

"Master Marcus, the poison sacs of the bees can be extracted. Concentrating the venom could produce a powerful poison."

Speaking of poison, the fast-growing poisonous thorns of Flower Town were truly deadly. The thorns could cause ulcers and leave scars if they pierced the skin, but they wouldn’t kill. However, when refined and applied to weapon blades, the venom could be deadly to ordinary beasts, causing them to convulse and die quickly.

Even against magical beasts, it could deal heavy damage, weakening them for a prolonged period, and their recovery ability would decrease for a long time afterward.

It had the same effect on knights.

Using poison wasn’t a noble act and went against the knightly virtue of charging head-on.

But a poison that only weakened wasn’t too bad; wars required all sorts of tactics, not just blind courage. The loser would end up as a bandit, bankrupt, or a serf, and certainly wouldn’t be associated with nobility.

Marcus understood this principle and nodded immediately: "I will gather all the bees' corpses, extract the poison sacs, and refine the venom."

"Good."

The next morning, Lister boarded a ship back to Flower Town, leaving Marcus and the others to continue overseeing the construction in Port Town.

The first thing he did upon returning to the castle was to order the servants to deal with the bees' nest: "Mrs. Abby, have your people remove all the larvae from the bees' nest and scrape out the honey. Test it on small animals first to check if it's poisonous. If it’s not, add it to my menu."

"Oh, my, what a huge wasp nest, sir. You're in for a treat with some delicious larvae. I didn’t raid wasp nests much as a child, using those lovely, tasty larvae to create dishes. And look at this honey, so golden and tempting!"

Mrs. Abby circled the enormous bees' nest, examining it excitedly.

Since arriving at Flower Town's castle, with Lister’s subtle guidance, she had become a renowned top chef, famous for her ingenuity and astonishing dishes. People often praised Mrs. Abby’s culinary skills and the amazing dishes she created, which delighted her endlessly.

She had become obsessed with the innovative task of developing new dishes and couldn’t stop.

To this end, the castle not only recruited a new chef from among the serfs to assist her but also hired two additional kitchen maids.

The chef, Yulia, was a serf bought from the Kingdom of Eagles and had no surname.

The two kitchen maids, Orie and Kelsey, were also serfs purchased from the Kingdom of Eagles and lacked surnames.

Unlike the Sapphire Duchy, many serfs in the Kingdom of Eagles did not have surnames. They had been tilling the land for generations with little mobility, making surnames largely unnecessary. For example, sisters Parris and Maggie had no surnames, nor did Bordin and Hunt, who assisted Frank in brewing wine.

In the history of the founding of the Sapphire Duchy, there was a significant purchase of serfs. To facilitate census-taking and strict control over the serfs, all serfs were forced to adopt surnames.

Noble words were forbidden, leading to the common people's surnames being a mix of lowly and vulgar terms.

Before becoming nobles, Liszt's ancestors bore the lowly surname "Tile." After rising to prominence alongside the Great Tulip Elf, their surname was changed to the noble word "Tulip."

While Mrs. Abby was busy stirring up the nest of venomous bees,

Liszt began training eight young blizzard beasts. As per his instructions, new nameplates had already been hung around each blizzard beast's neck.

"Storm, Flame, come!"

"Bark bark!"

"Whine!"

Using jerky as a lure was the quickest way to build affection.

The plump blizzard beasts were powerless against the jerky, quickly pouncing on Liszt, licking his hands and the jerky. Storm wore a green nameplate around its neck, while Flame had a red one.

Following the methods he had summarized while training Hiddleston, Liszt put the two young blizzard beasts through their paces.

He continued to rush to the other three doghouses.

The one with the yellow plaque was Rock, the one with the deep blue plaque was Wave; the one with the purple plaque was Thunder, and the one with the white plaque was Light; the one with the light blue plaque was Snow, and the one with the black plaque was Shadow.

The names of the eight Blizzard Beasts corresponded to the eight magical attributes: Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Thunder, Light, Ice, and Darkness.

There wasn't much significance to these names, nor did they match their physical characteristics; they were merely for differentiation.

After a round of training, an hour and a half had passed. Liszt took the milk tea from the butler and drank it in one go: "The workload is too heavy; training these dogs is such a waste of energy and time!"

He had a feeling that during the growth of the Blizzard Beasts, he would have no spare time left to write *Dragon Battle in the Wilderness*.

"It seems this will really become a series of unfinished works."

Even though there won't be any more updates, Lao Bai will still burst out with enthusiasm!

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