Chapter 841: Dreaming of Sudden Wealth

The first journey beyond the material world gave Liszt plenty to think about. He didn’t linger long at the great whirlpool and flew directly to the nearby Whirlpool Islands.

Due to the lack of support from Flame Territory resources, the development of Whirlpool Town had been extremely difficult. So far, it remained only a small settlement.

Counting all the mages who had built their towers here, the total population didn't even reach two thousand.

Thus, they could only sustain a small coastal town, not daring to explore deeper into the forest where powerful magical beasts lurked. A knight squad from Whirlpool Town had once encountered a pack of social Split-Foot Lizards—a highly suitable, earth-attribute mid-tier magical beast, ideal for family use. Liszt had once captured one in Fireburn Mountain.

He'd meant to gift it to Marquis Niuwei as a mount, but that Split-Foot Lizard escaped.

"When I have time, I’ll capture all the Split-Foot Lizards here and see if they can be domesticated. Raising them as transportation would be quite comfortable."

Many ships docked at the port of Whirlpool Town. Aside from those flying the Flame banner, there were also ships bearing the red tulip flag of the Tulip family. After Marquis Merlin’s funeral, the Tulip family had begun organizing knights and serfs for a grand voyage to develop Tulip Island.

A pioneering team had already landed on Tulip Island, though Liszt hadn’t paid much attention.

Whirlpool Town in the Whirlpool Archipelago served as a mid-voyage resupply point for seafaring expeditions. The pioneers would conduct large-scale hunting here to replenish food and fresh water. Additionally, Greenlight Town on Midway Island, Moonlight Town on Crescent Island in the First Chain, and Mangrove Town on Three-Island-One were all supply points for fleets.

Unfortunately, the 3,000-kilometer journey from the Whirlpool Archipelago to the Flame Archipelago had no other islands for resupply.

After circling briefly above Whirlpool Town, Liszt avoided alerting the guards.

After some thought, he decided against stopping and instead headed north to Midway Island, intending to take the Lightgreen Gem Dragon, Ethan, to Flame Island. The dragon's future lair would undoubtedly be on Flame Island, so not a single trace of its presence could be left behind—every trace must be preserved for gem production there.

"By my estimate, the Sapphire family should already know the Lightgreen Gem Dragon has come under my control. In that case, I might as well stop keeping it a secret and use the Sapphire family’s channels to sell the batch of lightgreen gems mined from Mind Island."

Even with the trade profits from sea salt, paper, and glass,

the Flame Territory was gradually struggling to sustain the development of Flame Island. The resources accumulated over three to four years were nearly exhausted, and Flame Island had yet to produce anything. On top of that, Acheronides’ development of the magic door consumed astronomical amounts of magical materials. Liszt, who once thought making money was easy, was now feeling the financial strain.

Indeed,

sea salt, glass, and paper were all highly profitable industries, monopolized with exclusive technology, bringing in floods of gold coins.

But the expenses—buying serfs, magic potions, food, metals, jade, and magical materials—money flowed out just as fast.

"Earning through trade is too slow. Maybe I should just find an opportunity to raid the Kingdom of the Eagle instead!" The thought began tempting him.

Having three dragons and not plundering resources was simply wasteful.

...

By the time he reached Midway Island, it was already night.

Sensing the Lightgreen Gem Dragon Ethan’s location, he flew straight there. Under the hazy moonlight, Bard and Ethan met for the first time.

Bard maintained its usual aloofness.

Whether toward the Fire Dragon Leo or the Lightgreen Gem Dragon Ethan, it showed no hostility—but a dragon’s pride meant it would never extend goodwill to others. In its mind, only itself was the most noble existence. Liszt and Acheronides were the only ones it acknowledged—strictly speaking, Liszt only half-earned its approval.

Ethan couldn’t see the intentionally invisible dragon, but the dragons' natural awareness of each other made it acutely aware of Bard’s presence.

As an experienced adult dragon, having dealt with many others during its time in the Kingdom of the Eagle, it maintained an attitude of studied indifference—as if it hadn’t seen Bard (and indeed, it hadn’t).

"Ethan, Midway Island is too cramped for you. I’ve found a limitless island with enough space for you to roam. As for your lair, I’ll start building it soon."

Ethan growled in response.

"Firebone wine will be provided, and magic potions and jade won’t be lacking either!"

"Growls in agreement!" Ethan agreed to Liszt's relocation request; in truth, it wasn't fond of the environment on the midway island either. With just a bit of effort, it could fly from one end of the island to the other, all while avoiding the swarming ant-like humans of Greenlight Town—life was quite stifling. Though it was a defeated and captured dragon, it still deserved basic draconic rights!

As night fell.

The two dragons rested several kilometers apart, each in their own space, while Liszt chose to sleep on the Lightgreen Gem Dragon, Ethan—it had been a long time since he had been close to Ethan.

A crisp autumn breeze blew, though the exact latitude was unclear, the temperature dropped day by day.

With a green silk blanket draped over him, he began to reflect on the dimensional travel he had performed with Bard: "From the current situation, entering the immaterial world seems quite simple for Bard. But finding the way back from that world is extremely difficult."

Recalling the peculiar, lightless, soundless void without boundaries of the immaterial world, even the brief moment he spent there astride the dragon left him with a suffocating dread.

One could only imagine how terrified Bard must have been when it first got lost in that world.

No wonder that upon emerging, its first instinct was to seek a rider—to bolster its courage and prevent future disorientation. Even after Liszt's initial failure and Acheronides' refusal due to the language barrier, Bard relented in its requirements, allowing Liszt to succeed on his second attempt.

At this moment.

He suddenly thought of the smoky mission again: "Is this the power of fate? Always nudging subtly in the most unexpected places, not even a divine dragon like the Invisible Dragon can escape its arrangement... Terrifying indeed, yet fortunate that the one wielding fate's power is now me."

His thoughts briefly strayed before returning to the original line of reasoning.

Continuing his contemplation: "The immaterial world is peculiar, easily disrupting perception and cognition, making exits hard to find... Using Mana Positioning can only locate anomalies at the material boundary. Does this mean even the Invisible Dragon cannot traverse space at will?"

Without locating the material boundary, no amount of effort by the Invisible Dragon would suffice.

Unless a positioning device was used for positioning.

"I wonder if a marked position can be found again?" He envisioned a scenario where the Invisible Dragon could mark different locations, eventually forming a transportation network exclusive to it, allowing travel to any signal-bearing spot at will.

For instance, he could fly to the royal treasury of the Kingdom of the Eagle, then traverse space-time back to Flame Island.

Thereafter, by shuttling between the two nodes, he could continuously transport resources from the Kingdom of the Eagle's treasury to Flame Island—a fortune beyond imagining would be within reach!

Alas, this fantasy was shattered by the dimensional journey he embarked on early the next morning.

When he and the Invisible Dragon entered the immaterial world, apart from a single beacon behind them, none from the previous day remained.

After brief consideration, he understood the reason: "Acheronides inscribed a special magic array in the positioning device, one that maintains a connection to the material world. Even when entering the world beyond, this array remains linked to the material realm, serving as a signal."

But upon returning to the material world, the position linked by the magic array swiftly changed.

Thus, the original coordinates vanished.

"What a pity, my dream of sudden riches was dashed before it could even take flight."