The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

After Captain Kostor and the other young men completed their swimming lessons, they immediately set sail, steering the Fresh Flower Vessel unsteadily towards the cave. As they approached the cave, which was not far away, they could clearly see its appearance—it was not very big, as the mountain ridge was not high, and the flat entrance of the cave resembled a large mouth.

The inside wasn’t deep either; they could see clearly into the cave with just a glance.

Especially since Captain Kostor was using a telescope, his view was even clearer, “Oh, my God! There are bones!” He saw several decaying human skeletons lying inside, as well as various tattered items, and even the wreckage of a small boat.

“Drop anchor!”

“Launch the canoe!”

He shouted, preparing to disembark in the canoe to get a closer look at what exactly was inside the cave.

The Castle.

The nearby Dragon Kui Fields.

Liszt was inspecting his Dragon Hollyhocks.

“It’s about to be born, Mr. Carter, my ninth Elf Bug,” he said, caressing the soon-to-bloom large flower bud, using the Eye of Magic to see clearly. A pale blue magic power was converging from all around the Dragon Hollyhock’s branches and leaves towards the special flower bud, nurturing the Dragon Kui Elf Bug.

“It is indeed a knight’s glory that watches over us! We all thought it wouldn’t survive, but it has stubbornly held on. My lord, Mr. Goltai says you are the Son of Glory, and I firmly believe that. It’s your glory that has shone upon the Dragon Kui Elf Bug!”

“Perhaps, I am indeed very lucky.”

The title of Son of Glory, like “Descend of the star of literature” from his hometown on Earth, was a descriptive honorific. Liszt didn’t know if he was the Son of Glory or the son of something else, but the Smoke Mission had brought him luck far beyond the average person, which probably qualified as the “knight’s glory that watches over us.”

He didn’t dwell on this point.

He simply ordered, “Make sure to check on it often, and notify me immediately once the Dragon Kui Bug is born.”

“Rest assured, aside from nighttime, a manservant from the Castle will come check on the Dragon Kui every hour,” Carter replied.

“That reminds me, is it time to water the Earth Matron?”

“It was nearly one o’clock in the afternoon when we set off, now it indeed is time for watering,” Carter responded.

“Then let’s head back.”

Returning to the Castle, Liszt led Douson along with the servants to begin the watering.

The Fierce Earth Dog, named Earth Matron, now had a specially made iron cage located about 500 meters from the Castle. Centered on the cage, a foundation was being dug twenty meters around, with plans to build a three-meter-high wall. The top of the wall would have inclined shields installed to prevent Earth Matron from escaping.

However, the Earth Matron hadn’t eaten for three days.

Liszt waited to be present to oversee the situation, instructing the servants to give it a little water to prevent it from dying of thirst.

“Woo!”

Seeing someone approach, the Earth Matron lying on the ground weakly got up, glaring fiercely at Liszt and his party. Its violent temper was clearly unmitigated.

“Woof woof!”

Douson sprinted over, circling the iron cage and wagging his tail enthusiastically, barking at the Earth Matron.

Earth Matron, however, had no affection for Douson, turning its head to glare at Douson and continuing to emit low, threatening growls.

“Hasn’t the feeding device arrived yet?” Liszt glanced at the cage and asked Thomas, who was following behind, “The posts aren’t even in place yet, the work is too slow.”

The feeding device was a special contraption designed for the Earth Matron’s feedings.

After all, the Earth Matron was not like Douson, it could become violent and injure someone at any moment. To prevent this, they kept it caged. But it still needed to be fed – they couldn’t really let it starve. Hence, they designed a set feeding device, which allowed them to feed the Earth Matron from outside the wall using a system of ropes that slid food into the cage.

At the same time, the cage was movable. Once there was a significant accumulation of feces, they would drag the cage, along with the Earth Matron away. After cleaning the ground, they would pull it back into place.

It sounds complicated.

But in reality, it’s quite simple; just a basic application of a few ropes.

In order to design his future army of Fierce Earth Dogs, Liszt put in a lot of effort.

“It doesn’t have any magic power left. The fact is, even Magical Beasts can’t gather magic power when they are starving,” thought Liszt.

A Magical Beast’s magic power is half produced by its body and half absorbed from the outside.

But when starving, not only can the body not produce magic power, it also lacks the strength to absorb it from the surroundings, rendering it completely useless—thus highlighting the importance of nutrition for training.

“Thomas, give it water.”

“Yes, Master,” said Thomas carefully carrying the bucket of water to the side of the Fierce Earth Dog’s iron cage, his movements shaky even though he had done this a few times before.

“Woo-woo!”

The Earth Matron roared at him with increased volume in its deep growl.

Thomas’s hands trembled violently, spilling half of the water he scooped up. When he tried to pour the water into the cage, the Earth Matron stuck its head out again, and all the water ended up spilling.

He lowered his head and hurriedly apologized: “I’m sorry, Master.”

“Keep feeding it. The Earth Matron can no longer cast magic; it’s now equivalent to a wild dog. Remember that,” said Liszt.

“Yes, Master.”

The second time, with preparation, Thomas finally managed to pour the water into the basin. After the Earth Matron roared for a while and saw that it couldn’t scare Thomas, it began to drink.

After the Earth Matron finished drinking, Douson was already anxiously circling outside.

It had acquired a taste for it.

Liszt cleared his throat and said, “Thomas, bring over that iron cage.” Two cages were prepared: one for the Earth Matron to live in, and one to hold Douson.

In fear of the Earth Matron escaping, the cages would be connected together before opening their doors.

Since the process had been done once the day before, Douson cooperated and crawled into the smaller cage, which Thomas and other servants pushed to the front of the larger cage’s door. The iron door of the cage was pulled out, and the two cages were connected. Douson quickly darted in and pounced on the Earth Matron, starting to violently thrust.

The Earth Matron, having starved for three days, was truly unable to resist.

Half an hour later, it was all over.

The Earth Matron lay in the cage, its dog eyes half-closed, dully looking at the sky divided into sections by the bars, clouds drifting freely in the distance.

On the other hand,

Douson was full of energy, carefree and frolicking in the horse field, getting it on every day, utterly blissful.

Its body grew stronger, a strength that could be felt every day. The muscles were no longer as swollen as they were at first, slowly reverting to the normal physique of a Fierce Earth Dog, a slightly overweight streamline form. But its current body length and height had clearly surpassed that of a grown tiger.

Its magic power was also on the rise, now able to cast Rock Spike forty-five times a day.

Liszt became increasingly convinced that Douson might indeed have a chance to evolve into an Intermediate Magical Beast. Thus, he improved its diet, almost exclusively feeding it Magical Beast Meat—this was akin to feeding Douson gold coins, as its daily intake surpassed that of seven Liszts combined.

“A diet costing at least one Gold Coin per day, Douson, you must not let me down,” Liszt murmured to himself, then gave an order, “Douson, cast magic!”

“Woof!”

As it ran, Douson let out an instinctive bark and simultaneously cast magic.

Pfft! Pfft!

Two Rock Spikes shot up from the ground in front of it.

“Hm? Two Rock Spikes released at the same time?” Surprised by the sight, Liszt noted that simultaneously casting two spells was equivalent to a brand-new type of magic.

Only Intermediate Magical Beasts are capable of casting multiple spells!

Before Liszt could snap out of his surprise, Butler Carter’s voice came from behind him: “Master, Captain Kostor requests to see you. He says he has found a treasure in a cave near the docks.”