The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The conch that produces pink pearls has not yet been reported by fishermen, so Liszt does not know where to find this kind of conch and can only wait.

Having stayed on Black Horse Island for a week, he was preparing to return to Fresh Flower Town.

By the way, complete a new Smoke Mission.

"Mission: The fishermen of Oyster Village are no longer afraid of the shallow areas near the shore and dare to dive to the seabed to gather seafood, but they do not recognize all the seafood. As a seafood enthusiast, why not guide the fishermen in identifying the delicacies of the sea? Reward: Mutated Rubber Tree."

The carpentry workshop used thorns and rubber to produce many high-quality sampans, arming the fishermen to fish in the near sea.

However, upon encountering numerous marine creatures at the sea floor, they were not easily able to identify which ones were edible, mainly sticking to the few kinds of seafood they could pick up on the beaches.

"I don't seem to know many kinds of seafood, I know how to eat them but not how to catch them." He thought for a moment and decided to take a dumb approach, letting the fishermen bring up everything they could gather from the seabed, and then he would select and test for poison to verify what was edible.

Just as he was preparing to leave Black Horse Island, a sudden urge struck him.

A faint restlessness transmitted to him, causing him to quickly open his eyes wide: "It's the Rubber Bug triplets." He immediately had the manservant bring the three Rubber Bugs to him.

At this moment, one of the triplet Rubber Bugs that normally loved to line up and move in sync, left the formation and scurried around inside the Jade Box.

It was feeling extremely restless, even more so than the other two.

It was a rare situation.

"Little guy, what's wrong with you?" He carefully established a deeper spiritual communication with the Rubber Bug, a capability supported by the contract.

Soon, he discerned a unique emotion from the Rubber Bug's restlessness—it was actually about to spit out its own cordyceps.

"The cordyceps of the Rubber Bug has been planted in the rubber garden since the contract, and it hasn't been moved since then; what does this Rubber Bug mean?" Liszt suddenly raised an eyebrow, "Could it be that it has been brewing a new cordyceps inside its body?"

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Perhaps this was the reward from the Smoke Mission—the restlessness of the Rubber Bug.

Since the Rubber Bug was about to spit out cordyceps, Liszt certainly would not refuse. He quickly mounted the Landwalker Bird Loki and rushed to the rubber garden. The temporary plan for the rubber garden was a thousand acres, aiming in the end for ten thousand acres, or even a hundred thousand acres—the more of this miraculous crop, the better.

But the rubber garden at the moment didn't have many Rubber Trees, only a sparse few in number.

The original Rubber Tree cordyceps still stood in the center of the garden. Liszt roughly estimated its radiation range and then went further out to find a flat terrain suitable for planting more Rubber Trees. He held the very restless Rubber Bug in his hand: "Little guy, spit it out."

The Rubber Bug crawled on Liszt's palm, raised its head, and opened its mouth.

It spat out a faint green light that contained a small seed. Once the seed hit the ground, it quickly germinated and grew.

In three minutes, visible to the naked eye, it grew into a Rubber Tree as tall as the previous Rubber Tree cordyceps.

However, the difference was quite conspicuous. This Rubber Tree cordyceps was laden with dense white spherical fruits. Ordinary Rubber Trees, including the first Rubber Tree cordyceps, showed no signs of bearing fruit. Moreover, the propagation of Rubber Trees relied on adventitious bud reproduction from their roots.

It was common to find new seedlings growing around Rubber Trees—all originated from the roots of the Trees.

Liszt ordered the serfs to dig out these seedlings and to cultivate them in rows in the rubber garden, constantly expanding the scale of the Rubber Trees.

Therefore.

This was a plant that reproduced asexually.

Thus, Liszt was now surprised to find the rubber tree cordyceps, which had neither flowers nor fruits, had actually borne fruit. He pondered for a moment and, risking damage to the cordyceps, plucked one fruit—once the fruit or leaves of the cordyceps were picked, they would quickly lose their magic power and become ordinary plants, at most superior ones.

Plucking just one fruit from a tree full of rubber fruits was not a big problem.

Turning the magic power-draining rubber fruit in his hand, Liszt couldn't help but reflect, "Elf Bugs really are full of wonders, a cordyceps which has borne three elf bugs, and now, the three elf bugs have given birth to a new cordyceps... Does this mean that the next time the Rubber Bugs become restless, they will give birth to a new cordyceps? Or a mutated cordyceps?"

Problem solved.

He returned to the port town and boarded the Fresh Flower Vessel, already laden with cargo, set off towards Fresh Flower Town—The Fresh Flower Vessel was fast, his own designated ship.

During the dull moments of sea travel, aside from teasing the Blizzard Beasts,

He spent most of his time studying the rubber fruit. When he drilled a hole through the hard-shelled rubber fruit, he found that it was filled with rubber.

"So, the new variety of rubber trees concentrates the rubber into its own fruit?" he exclaimed with joy, "Does this mean that rubber can be easily collected from the new varietal rubber trees without harming the trees themselves? As soon as the new seedlings emerge, I'll have the serfs try to grow them immediately!"

Rubber collection was cumbersome and harmful to the trees, but if the rubber was concentrated in the fruit, it would not only be convenient to harvest but also easier to store.

Such a rubber fruit could be preserved just like Fragrant Coconut Fruit for several years without spoiling.

The value was higher.

...

After arriving at Fresh Flower Port,

Liszt's anticipation for the rubber fruit was already under control.

He headed straight for the office to meet with Administrative Officer Isaiah, "The sampan fleet of Oyster Village is now familiar with shallow-water fishing. However, their knowledge of seafood is still too limited. Isaiah, you must immediately issue an order to the oyster sampan fleet to search the seabed for all kinds of creatures."

"My lord, what do you mean?"

"We need to develop new seafood to recapture the market on Coral Island, and not just rely on oysters and minor oily captures. I need to restore a seafood market even more booming than last year."

"Yes, my lord. I will immediately give the orders to Oyster Village to dredge up every creature they can find."

"Additionally, you need to send someone to purchase a batch of ship nets and fine nets in Coral City. There should be schools of fish near Fresh Flower Town, and we can try to fish for them." Explore more at empiren/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

So far, the seafood harvested by Fresh Flower Town consisted mostly of shellfish, mollusks, and crustaceans. Seldom were fishes caught.

But the most abundant creatures in the sea were surely the many kinds of fish, a resource that Liszt would not overlook. If this year's Pioneer Mandate goes according to plan, he would definitely bring back tens of thousands of serfs, and the grains alone would not be enough. He would need to mix sea fish with their grains to fill the serfs' stomachs.

"I understand," replied Isaiah and added, "My lord, concerning the Corn Grass fields you instructed me to pay attention to, there has been a new discovery."

"Oh? What kind of discovery?"

"We've found a patch of mutated Corn Grass, with thick stems and leaves as well as large ears of grain that could be pinched to release a thick oil with a delicious fragrance, very much like the butter we eat."

Liszt's eyebrows twitched.

Without a doubt.

The oily mutated variety of Corn Grass, a reward from the Smoke Mission, had been discovered.