Chapter 448: The Burial Ground Collapses into a Sinkhole

September 21st.

Nine days had passed since Levis's wedding.

After extracting all the Fire Dragon's magic on Black Horse Island, Liszt returned to Flower Town by boat, planning to live a leisurely life there for a while.

More importantly, he was gearing up for the upcoming expedition decree—shortly after the Earl's birthday, he would attend the Duke's follower meeting at the court to formally discuss this year's expedition decree.

The shadow of war loomed closer.

Having decided to go to the battlefield for the second time, Liszt felt no tension, only excitement. He was excited about the upcoming military achievements, about stepping into a new country, and about the plunder of population and resources. It was hard to imagine that he, once a peace lover, would crave war.

Perhaps it was also due to his past poverty.

Shortly after returning to Flower Town, a knight from Tulip Castle galloped over and delivered a parcel. The parcel was sent from Red Crab Island and contained several piano scores—Meopo had indeed sent Liszt his treasured piano scores, along with a book of his own piano-playing insights.

When he received the piano scores, the serpentine smoke mission immediately changed.

"The mission has changed."

As expected, the serpentine smoke mission automatically changed after receiving the reward in advance.

New serpent tongue text quickly condensed: "Mission: Brick factory craftsman Atest has revealed clues about the quartz mine, offering a glimpse into the dawn of glassmaking. Figure out how to make glass from quartz ore and craft an ordinary glass product. Reward: Collapsed Sinkhole."

"Collapsed Sinkhole?"

"What kind of reward is that?"

Liszt looked at the reward content of the serpentine smoke, quite puzzled. It seemed that a sinkhole would collapse and appear in some corner of his territory.

Speaking of sinkholes, there are many on Earth, often appearing quite mysterious. Liszt had seen a documentary explaining the formation of sinkholes, usually related to underground rivers. In karst areas, underground rivers continuously erode the surface, forming caves. After multiple collapses of the cave roof, a sinkhole forms.

"Flower Town doesn't seem to have any karst landforms, and Black Horse Island also has no connection with karst landforms..." Liszt's geographical knowledge was not great, only knowing that karst landforms are also known as karst topography, related to caves, underground rivers, stalactites, and sinkholes.

But these landforms are absent in Coral Island and Black Horse Island.

So he couldn't figure out how this collapsed sinkhole would appear in his territory and could only wait. Fortunately, the wait wasn't long, as the Thorn Merchant Team had already brought a large amount of yellowish-white stones from elsewhere—these stones came from Viscount Yunas's domain, Snake Spear City.

There is a low mountain near Snake Spear City, all made of this kind of stone.

Whether it was quartz ore or not, a test would tell.

With nothing better to do, Liszt followed the boat to Black Horse Island again, observing the craftsmen at the Fire Dragon Brick Factory as they heated these stones. Through the Magic Eye, the magic Fire Dragon continuously washed over the stones, quickly burning away the impurities.

Then the remaining parts began to soften, melt, and eventually form lumps of liquid that looked like sunlight.

Calling it liquid isn't quite right; it's more of a soft semi-fluid, akin to clay.

"When the temperature isn't high, this stone just softens, then melts, and finally becomes a true liquid," Atest explained. "But the liquid isn't suitable for blowing glass products, so we start blowing when it becomes soft."

They had been struggling with the glass-blowing process using volcanic glass.

Seeing the stones melted into a ball of fire, they immediately picked out these semi-fluids, inserted them into iron pipes, and started blowing. They even used special high-temperature-resistant animal skin gloves to knead the still fiery glass solution—in a world filled with magic power, many materials have special properties.

The gloves Liszt provided for the craftsmen were made from the skin of a magical beast, capable of withstanding several hundred degrees of high temperature.

Originally intended to prevent burns during brick firing, these materials are now being used to make glass.

As the craftsmen kneaded and shaped the fiery blob, it gradually transformed from a ball-like form into a cylindrical jar. Using bellows to continuously cool it, a glass jar with colorful textures soon emerged—imperfect but strikingly translucent.

"Indeed, this ore is quartz ore, capable of producing glass... though the quality isn't high, both the process and raw materials need significant improvement."

The glass jar was uneven in thickness, asymmetrical in shape, and had a chaotic color, with even its hardness being unreliable.

Liszt briefly handled the jar before accidentally breaking it, likely due to uneven cooling stresses.

Still.

Glass had been created under his guidance, and its exquisite translucence would surely set off a trend in this world, bringing continuous wealth to the territory—though before selling glass products externally, the process needed further refinement, and workers needed to be trained in large numbers.

The process of making a single glass product was quite intricate, and relying solely on the craftsmen at the Fire Dragon brick factory was severely insufficient.

Just as he prepared to blow a decent piece of glass himself, a squire knight rushed in to report: "My lord, an accident has occurred at the Burial Grounds. While the serfs were stacking volcanic glass ore, the ground in the center of the five large bones suddenly collapsed, revealing a huge pit. Four serfs have already fallen into the pit."

"A pit, you say?"

Liszt had to set aside his plan to blow glass himself and head to the Burial Grounds. He already understood that this was the reward from the Smoke Mission—the collapsed sinkhole.

On the way, he summoned the Smoke Mission: "Mission complete. Reward: a collapsed sinkhole."

Then, a new mission was issued.

"Mission: The collapsed sinkhole has exposed the roots of five reanimated dragon bones, and something seems to be brewing. As a member of the Magic Goat family, Virginia Truth likely holds the clues you need. Reward: a spark composed of *magic power*."

"The sinkhole exposed the roots of five dragon bones, marking another step in the Fire Dragon mission chain. Virginia Truth... I’ll check with her later. But what is this reward, a spark composed of *magic power*? What does it mean, or what is it?"

While pondering.

He had already arrived at the Burial Grounds.

Many people were gathered around the five *Fire Dragon bones*, pointing and discussing. When Liszt arrived, the official in charge quickly dispersed the serfs and greeted him.

"What happened, what's down in the pit? Have the fallen serfs been rescued?" Liszt asked as he walked.

"My lord, four serfs fell down, three died, and only Sean is still alive. But his leg is broken, lying on a pile of rocks at the bottom of the pit. We are looking for ropes to rescue him. As for what's down there, we don't know yet, the pit is very dark."

Soon.

Approaching the edge of the collapsed sinkhole, Liszt looked carefully; the entrance wasn't large, at most a hundred square meters in a circular shape.

Standing at the edge of the pit, he peered down into the darkness, unable to see clearly, only hearing the cries and groans of the serf Sean below.