The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

"Five Elf Bugs?"

Liszt almost exclaimed in surprise. He had already been astonished when he was rewarded with three Rubber Bugs and four Serpent Blood Fruit Sprite Bugs. Yet, unexpectedly, now he was being rewarded with five Elf Bugs at once—and crucially, each of the five Elf Bugs was different.

"Just the day before yesterday, I was complaining that I hadn't found a single Elf Bug for over a month, and now here comes such a concentrated surprise!"

"The Smoked Grass Elf Bug will definitely be in the Smoked Grass Field, easy to find; the Green Tea Tree Minor Elf must be from one of those three Green Tea Trees; the Fig Elf Bug... Fresh Flower Town and Black Horse Island don't seem to have any figs, right, didn't grandmother just give me a potted plant that looks like figs?"

He quickly made his way near the carriage and instructed the Retainer Knight, "Open the carriage door, let me have a look at the potted plant."

Once the carriage door was opened, within the vision of the Eye of Magic, the potted plant indeed showed a magical response, and on one of the purple-red fruits, there were evident signs of red Magic Power converging.

"Take good care of this potted plant, don't damage a single leaf!"

"Yes, my lord."

His gaze left the fig potted plant, and Liszt suddenly didn't know how to describe his feelings—he had just been complaining that his grandmother always loved to give away potted plants, which seemed meaningless.

But this turned out to be the second potted plant she had given away that contained an Elf Bug.

"It seems I should often stroll through grandmother's balcony to see if a third Elf Bug will pop up." His mood was very cheerful; he had just been ennobled, and here were five Elf Bugs as a celebration, "With this, the whereabouts of the Fig Bug, Smoked Grass Bug, and Green Tea Bug are confirmed, leaving only the Blackberry Bug and the Pea Bug unaccounted for."

Blackberries are a very common wild shrub on Coral Island and are also a wild fruit often eaten by commoners, similar to raspberries and mulberries, with a taste both sour and sweet. Perhaps it is due to the abundance of wild blackberries that no commoners choose to cultivate them.

However, Mrs. Abbie does make a dish called blackberry pancakes, which is just pancakes sprinkled with a layer of blackberries.

The taste is... passable.

"Both Fresh Flower Town and Black Horse Island have an abundance of wild blackberries. If no one provides clues, it won't be easy to find the Blackberry Bug." Liszt frowned slightly, then started thinking about the other Pea Bug.

Peas are a common food for commoners.

Every commoner's household grows peas in their yard, and ripe peas can be ground into flour and mixed with wheat flour to make dark grain bread—the staple food for commoners. Tender peas can be eaten as a vegetable side dish along with bread—Liszt quite liked peas.

Especially stir-fried green peas.

It was just like the "American peas" he often ate before he crossed over, with a great taste.

"Nearly every commoner's house grows peas, but there are no large-scale pea fields. I wonder which family's peas will give birth to the Pea Bug. I hope that family is smart enough to notice the anomaly of the Pea Cordyceps early on and report it to the administration—hopefully, they won't damage my Pea Bug."

The policy in the domain is that there are high rewards for discovering Magic Potions, Elf Bugs, devising new technologies, etc.

It encourages the townspeople to explore the new world.

Yet, the number who actually receive this reward is not many. Nevertheless, this award is still enthusiastically endorsed by the townspeople, with everyone hoping to become that lucky person.

So.

Liszt wasn't worried about his Elf Bugs; what was meant to come would always come. He admired the scenery along the road, which seemed exceptionally beautiful today no matter how he looked at it.

Perhaps only the poetry of Meng Jiao could describe his current mood—"The spring wind puffs my cloak as I ride proudly, and in one day I have seen all the flowers of Chang'an."

He couldn't help but run his hand over the Viscount Medal hanging on his chest before taking it off. The time for ostentation had passed, and now it was better to be more composed. There was no need to continue wearing such a redundant decoration like the Viscount Medal.

"Made of brass, I wonder how many copper coins it could be turned into,"

Liszt thought.

The material of the medals was different according to the ranking of nobility. It was said that when the King conferred the title of Duke, the medal awarded was made from Magic Metal Fine Gold; Marquis medals were crafted from gold, Earl medals from silver, Viscount medals from brass, and Baron medals from Fine Steel.

As for the Honored Knight medals, they were made from refined iron.

These medals were only used once during the investiture ceremony or worn at high-level banquets. They were seldom taken out on ordinary days and not used as tokens of identity.

In Liszt's castle, there was also a Fine Steel Fresh Flower Town Baron Medal that he had never worn.

He handed the medal over to a Retainer Knight for safekeeping.

Liszt continued to review the Smoke Mission, and a new mission had been posted.

"Mission: As the new Viscount Lord with an independent island as your fiefdom, what you need next is a castle befitting your status that has a name. Please choose a suitable construction site for the castle. Reward: Advanced Dou Qi Manual."

When he first saw the reward for the mission, his eyes immediately blazed with excitement, feeling wrapped in knightly glory. But after cooling down and thinking, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

He understood where this mission reward came from—in the battle of Iron Hoof Island, when looting spoils of war, he found the Advanced Dou Qi Manual "Thousand Thunderstrike Sky Flash" in Celery Fort. Accordingly, he asked the Earl to use this manual in a trade, exchanging it for an Advanced Manual suitable for Fire Attribute Dou Qi.

The Earl would naturally not refuse a request from his son, and besides, the family indeed had no Knights capable of Thunder Attribute Dou Qi.

"Although I know that Smoke Missions don't fabricate rewards out of thin air, still... this kind of reward, which I could have obtained without the mission, is indeed a bit awkward."

Like the cultivation of Elf Bugs, he very much needed the hints from the Smoke Mission to stir the strings of fate.

In the current situation, there was absolutely no need for the Smoke Mission to interfere—but since the Smoke Mission had intervened, Liszt found it rather helpless.

He now had two choices: wait for the Advanced Dou Qi Manual to arrive in his hands, which would change the mission and trigger the release of a new one, or complete the current mission.

"The mission just asks me to choose an appropriate site for building the castle, not to start the construction now, so it's not difficult." Since there was no difficulty, he naturally chose to complete it, to doubly ensure the appropriateness of the Advanced Dou Qi Manual for his use.

For he had gradually come to feel that his progress in potion-taking was going smoothly, his strength improving rapidly, far surpassing his brother Levis.

He had compared the total amount of Dou Qi between himself and Levis and discovered his own Dou Qi had clearly surpassed that of Levis.

Levis had been taking potions for several years, whereas Liszt had not yet reached one year.

"In one year of potion-taking, I've already surpassed Levis. I fear that in another year or two, I could really advance to Sky Knight before the age of twenty! Scientific potion-taking, it really works... Plus, I have Dragon Breed Milk for added nutrients, Green Tea to aid digestions of food, a constant supply of Magical Beast Meat, and I haven't even finished the meat of the Six-Headed King Serpent."

It could be said that, relying on his own gains, his potion-taking methods were now no less than those of large Noble scions.

"Right, I also have Dragon Hollyhock, an Auxiliary Magic Medicine. I wonder if it will enhance my potion-taking."

Lost in thought,

he had already returned to Fresh Flower Town.