The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Many times, Liszt was an ordinary person who liked to dream about the future but had no long-term plan. He was a bit like the monkey in primary school language textbooks, picking up sesame seeds while losing the watermelon.

Of course.

He wouldn't actually do something as foolish as losing a watermelon, but he continuously picked up things along the way, wanting to collect everything. The number of projects underway in his territory was incredibly large, almost more than those of the Earl's Coral Island domain, but the problem was that none of the industries were seriously developed.

They all started off well but were then left to the side, maintaining a state just above decline.

Admittedly, this was because he was poor and didn't have the manpower to develop them, and it also had to do with his lack of long-term planning and not knowing how to prioritize the distribution of industries. Plus, he liked to find new projects but lacked the patience to perfect them, leading to the current situation. Despite holding good cards in his hand, he couldn't put together a winning combination.

However.

Liszt also had virtues in his character—being content with his lot and able to quickly adapt to new environments; diligent and hardworking, mainly when it came to practicing Dou Qi and taking medicine; standing by his convictions, never turning back until he hit a wall; and bravely moving forward, immediately acting once he'd made up his mind.

For instance, right now, he fully exhibited his character of bravely moving forward and standing by his convictions.

He released all of the recently extracted large quantity of Fire Dragon Magic Power, watching them being continuously devoured by the Fire Dragon Bones. Even though his heart was bleeding, there was no hesitation in his actions.

"Just do it, I refuse to believe I can't conjure a Little Fire Dragon!"

With each jar of Fire Dragon Magic Power poured out, the Fire Dragon Bones seemed to be bottomless pits, endlessly consuming the Fire Dragon Magic Power. On the ground, the Retainer Knights broke open bubbles in the newly mined Volcanic Glass, also releasing Fire Dragon Magic Power, allowing the five Dragon Bones to greedily absorb it.

The collection took nearly a week.

The release took only a short two hours.

All the Fire Dragon Magic Power was depleted.

The so-called Dragon Bone Magic Array still had not condensed the "seed of magic" that he had imagined. This was part of the Smoke Mission reward content, and Liszt believed it had a significant connection to the Little Fire Dragon, likely being the "seed" that nurtured the Little Fire Dragon. The function of the Dragon Bone Magic Array was probably to condense such a kind of fire seed.

"The Smoke Mission is not yet complete, which indicates the Fire Dragon Magic Power is still insufficient," Liszt said, taking out a Bone Hammer and forcefully striking the Fire Dragon Bones.

Nearly every hit made the crimson magical filaments densely appear.

The Fire Dragon Bones seemed to catch fire, becoming five towering pillars of flames, a magnificent sight. However, the flame never rose, and the magic filaments remained just that.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"But, it's still missing something!"

"Keep mining the Volcanic Glass!"

Liszt, while commanding his subordinates to continue mining the Volcanic Glass, called upon Virginia Truth and explained his actions in detail—handing over almost all the Fire Dragon Magic Power in hopes of getting useful clues—since the Smoke Mission hinted that Virginia held the clues.

Virginia walked around the Dragon Bones, pondering deeply, and she too could not come up with any explanations, "Viscount Liszt, when I was alive, I was just an ordinary magician, working in the family on Dragonbone Stabilizers, mainly following the orders of the Grand Magician."

Liszt was not satisfied, "Think harder."

She sighed, "I don't want to bring it up, but if my sister, Curtis Truth, were still here, she would definitely know what's going on with these five Dragon Bones, as she was most passionate about researching dragons." Experience new tales on empire

Curtis?

An idea flashed sharply through Liszt's mind, "Curtis has passed away, but she left behind a relic! Yes, she left behind a book—"To Prince Annuette—Curtis Truth"."

He dismissed Virginia.

Quickly, he took out this book of Magic Notes and began flipping through it, trying to find useful information.

However, the entire book documented a large number of experiments for creating Liches and researching Ghost Ships, but did not mention any information about dragons.

He closed the notebook.

Liszt furrowed his brow, "There is no information about dragons in the book, and Virginia has no further clues. Is there really no other way than to keep adding Fire Dragon Magic Power? I always feel that there's already enough magic power within the Fire Dragon Bones; it just lacks a little something."

What was missing?

As his gaze swept over the cover of the Magic Notes, suddenly, a flash of insight struck him, a realization dawned on him, "I know! What's missing is a soul!"

The Magic Array can no doubt gather Fire Dragon Magic Power and use it as fuel to condense the Magic Fire Seed, even nurture a Little Fire Dragon.

But it lacked a soul.

Matter, spirit, magic power—these are the three foundations that make up the world in the magician's cognition. Now the Dragon Bone Magic Array had magic power and the Dragon Bones as a material basis, only lacking spiritual support. Legend has it that a dragon's soul resides in its teeth, but Liszt couldn't find any Fire Dragon's teeth.

But he remembered.

In his Gemstone Space, he had several items related to souls—the Sapphire Dragon Ship Figurehead, the Goat Head Flag, and the Soul Submerged Wood.

All existed between reality and illusion.

"Can these things, through the Dragon Bone Magic Array, condense out a soul?" He decided to give it a try, taking out a piece of Soul Submerged Wood first.

The Soul Submerged Wood was intact in the Gemstone Space.

As soon as it was taken out, it immediately began to tremble and collapse as though it had never existed. However, after Liszt activated his Eye of Magic, he noticed a faint stream of magic power flowing through the air into the Fire Dragon Bones.

"It really works! The Dragon Bone Magic Array can absorb this kind of material. The Soul Submerged Wood is a material made from the souls of an entire ship's crew sacrificed by Curtis the Truth, and it is closely related to the soul."

Next.

He kept taking out Soul Submerged Wood. All materials were devoured by the Fire Dragon Bones. When he hammered the bones again, he felt clearly that when the magic silk threads appeared, they seemed to have an added liveliness, but they were still not at their limit. They couldn't converge into a magical fire seed.

At this point, only the Goat Head Flag and the Sapphire Dragon Ship Figurehead remained. He took out the Goat Head Flag first, which quickly collapsed and was absorbed.

Still not enough, but it felt like it had reached a critical point.

Finally.

He took out the Sapphire Dragon Ship Figurehead, and as it collapsed, the Dragon Bone absorbed it. Liszt took a deep breath, raised the Bone Hammer, and struck hard on the Dragon Bone.

With each hammer blow.

With each strike, the magic became more spirited, no longer fleeting, but remaining on the surface of the Fire Dragon Bones, forming complicated fiery red patterns. This change filled Liszt with great joy, and as he continued to hammer, the fiery red patterns kept accumulating on the surface of the Dragon Bone.

Eventually.

On the twenty-fourth hammer stroke,

Boom! A loud explosion!

The Fire Dragon Bones blazed up in a fierce inferno, with the flames from the tips of the five bones quickly converging to form a bright little fireball.

Then, the flames on the Dragon Bones all moved toward the small fireball.

Below the Collapsed Sinkhole, the temperature of the cavern shot up suddenly.

Liszt had to dodge to the side.

He then saw the originally thick Dragon Bone shrink as if scorched, as though it had turned into flame and burned away, ultimately converging into the small fireball.

The flame came quickly.

And it dissipated just as quickly.

In less than half a minute, the roaring fire was extinguished. The five Dragon Bones had vanished, leaving only five barely visible light passages leading straight to the ground. At where the tips of the Dragon Bones once were, a small Magic Fire Seed hovered, emitting a flame about the size of a candle flame.

"Is this a Magic Fire Seed made of magic power?" Liszt approached cautiously.

He couldn't feel any heat, and the temperature from the previous burning had also rapidly decreased; the cavern quickly returned to its normal temperature. He wasn't concerned about where the Dragon Bones had gone but circled around the tiny Magic Fire Seed, observing it continuously.

From every angle, it looked like an ordinary flame.

Bright inside like sunlight, fiery red outside like fresh blood.

"Is it really nurturing a Little Fire Dragon?" wondered Liszt, increasingly curious. He knew this Magic Fire Seed was extraordinary, but it looked the same even when he used the Eye of Magic, just a simple flame resembling that of a candle.

He cautiously extended the handle of the Bone Hammer to let the fire seed scorch it.

But.

After the flame's scorching, the handle of the Bone Hammer remained undamaged as if the flame had no power at all. Liszt also tested other concentrated materials, likewise bringing no harm, not even singeing thick parchment. He even touched the flame with Volcanic Glass, and saw it wasn't dispersed.

This was utterly different from the previous Fire Dragon Magic Power.

"With no temperature and no ability to scorch, what exactly is it?" After repeated experimentation and confirming it was almost harmless, Liszt couldn't suppress the impulse to touch it himself.

He really couldn't control his curiosity.

So he carefully extended his finger, and just as the fingertip touched the fire, his vision blurred for a moment, and the Magic Fire Seed had already penetrated his finger.

Frightened, Liszt hurriedly shook his hand, trying to throw the fire seed out.

But the fire seed moved rapidly through the channels of Dou Qi within his body and in the blink of an eye, he could feel it in his heart.

Then, searing pain struck him as if his heart was ablaze.

His head buzzed... and he lost consciousness.

Before passing out, his mind lingered on a single thought, "It's over, I'm finished, my heart has been burned away!"