The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

“The reason why John Bian Dan’s tomatoes are both large and good is very simple, because in his tomatoes, a Tomato Worm is being nurtured!”

Upon reading the task and the reward given, Liszt made the judgment above.

Tomatoes are the main vegetable here, and without the Elf Bug, the tomato production in Fresh Flower Town isn’t high. Now that a Tomato Worm is finally about to be born, it’s truly a cause for celebration, “After returning, I’ll investigate the Tomato Worm right away, we must ensure nothing goes wrong with its nurturing process.”

He stretched out his left hand, holding the Formless Dragon gemstone in his palm.

The light was flickering.

Liszt took a deep look, clenched his hand shut, and tucked the gemstone close to his body. Then, he left the farmer’s house, mounted his Fire Dragon Horse, and departed from the dairy farm—the matter had concluded, and all traces of the Formless Dragon had vanished.

A moment later.

Butler Carter came out with the servants to greet him at the Castle gates, “My lord, knowing you have returned safely puts my mind at ease,” he said, exhaling a long breath of relief.

“No need to worry, what could happen to me?” Liszt nodded, “Thomas, go to the town and inform Teacher Goltai that the confinement is lifted, and let Fresh Flower Town return to its original order. Mrs. Morson, prepare the bathwater, I’m covered in sweat and in need of a good bath.”

“As you wish, my lord!”

The oppressive atmosphere was swept away, and the Castle suddenly bustled with activity.

Thomas rode to town with the news, Tom had the new manservant busy feeding horses and tending to Douson, the maids needed to do laundry, and the kitchen was busy preparing lunch. Just for Noble Liszt, fifteen servants had to work nonstop to ensure Liszt could enjoy everything.

He bathed frequently, but never for more than five minutes at a time, that was Liszt’s principle.

He changed into his home clothes and went to his study, locking the door behind him.

He took out the Formless Dragon gemstone and began to study it.

Just by appearance, it was impossible to divine any mysteries about the gemstone. Even with the Eye of Magic activated, he could only see countless specks wandering in the gemstone’s magic vortex; aside from the different colors, the Formless Dragon Gem under the Eye of Magic didn’t differ much from the Ruby on the Crimson Blood Sword.

“So, how is it connected to the Space Ring?”

“Or rather, how do I open the space inside the gemstone? Do I need to perform a blood oath, or should I infuse it with magic power?”

Performing a blood oath required self-harm, which Liszt was somewhat apprehensive about, so he first tried to channel his Dou Qi into the gemstone—when his Dou Qi made contact with the gemstone, he immediately felt a subtle connection akin to forming a contract with an Elf Bug being rapidly established, and then the gemstone began to vigorously absorb his Dou Qi.

After absorbing about one-tenth of the Dou Qi from his body, the gemstone stopped absorbing, and the subtle connection had expanded into an invisible portal.

Following the sensation connected by Dou Qi, Liszt suddenly discovered he could sense a space that was neither large nor small.

The space was irregularly spherical, with no clear distinction of top, bottom, left, right, nor the cardinal directions, surrounded by “walls,”—the unknown sturdy structures like walls had no gaps and were indestructible.

“Overall, it’s like a sphere, about five meters in diameter, which is roughly the size of a studio apartment,” Liszt’s eyes looked intently at the shining gemstone in his hand.

Yet, his mind was simultaneously able to feel this space.

A very wondrous sensation.

He found that this state could continue as long as he had Dou Qi to replenish, keeping the magic power to maintain the open portal constantly present, with consumption that was not significant, roughly equivalent to the speed at which his body naturally recovered Dou Qi.

He tried cutting off the supply of Dou Qi.

Soon, the gateway to the space dissipated, the marvelous feeling in his mind vanished, and the spherical space disappeared without a trace, “Relying on Dou Qi, or magic power to open the space, it consumes magic power to maintain the space opened, and once the magic power is cut off, the space immediately closes. The gemstone of the Formless Dragon is indeed a Space Ring.”

It’s the right size to be made into a ring.

More importantly, it requires a constant supply of magic power, and the hand is the best position for supplying Dou Qi.

“However, I don’t plan to set it in a ring; it’s too ostentatious, and I don’t need to use it all the time for now. For safety, I should make it into a pendant and hang it in front of my chest.”

The Space Ring is a priceless treasure, especially for the Nobles, as it’s too important for hiding secrets.

But for Liszt, there wasn’t much of value to store in the Space Ring at the moment, and it wasn’t an urgent need for him. Honestly, if he could get a Greater Elf, he would definitely trade the Space Ring without hesitation—the Space Ring is good, but not as important as increasing productivity.

In any case, research must continue.

He reopened the Space Ring and began trying to store things inside, which wasn’t difficult for him. After some simple exploration, he understood the method of storing things—wrapping them with magic power.

Left hand holding the Space Ring, right hand releasing Dou Qi to envelop the object he wanted to store, a book.

In an instant, the book disappeared from the table and appeared inside the Space Ring. It seemed to move according to his will; he could make the book appear anywhere he wanted in the space, and so he joyously stored all the books in his study into the Space Ring, floating and stacking them as if there was a bookshelf there.

The books remained motionless in the space, not moving in the slightest.

“Is this like a vacuum environment?” He lit a candle, then stored the candle inside, and what he saw was incredible—the candle remained lit and motionless.

He distributed a bit of Dou Qi to maintain the gateway, moving the candle and bringing the flame close to a book. Though the flame was tilted by the cover, it neither went out nor ignited the book’s cover. It was as if everything that entered the space became completely and utterly still.

“Is it that even the movement between atoms has been halted?” Liszt tried to explain it scientifically but soon gave up. Although this world seemed to have a scientific foundation, anything related to magic power had already gone beyond the scope of science—there was nothing scientific about the Space Ring.

Enveloped in Dou Qi, with a thought, he retrieved the candle.

Only then did the flame continue burning.

After several experiments, Liszt could confirm that the interior of the Space Ring was relatively still.

“I wonder what would happen if live creatures were placed inside?” He wanted to try, but his Dou Qi had already been depleted.

Opening the space consumes magic power, storing things consumes magic power, retrieving things also consumes magic power. With his Earth Knight’s level of Dou Qi, it was still a bit stretched.

For lunch, Goltai, Marcus, and others came over.

“Teacher Goltai, has the order in the town been restored?” Liszt sat in the main seat, cutting a piece of roast meat with a knife; he had already adapted to the style of Western dining.

Goltai took a sip of beer, “Just a morning’s confinement had no impact on the town. But Liszt, two cows are missing from the dairy farm.”

“So, the eight cows have come back?”

“Yes, they actually ran out from Thorn Ridge, which is crazy. Instead, we just found the carcasses of two old cows.” Goltai was obviously curious about the situation but didn’t dare to ask since Liszt had previously said not to ask or think about what happened at the dairy farm.

Liszt still had no intention of explaining, “Well, let the farmers take the bones of the old cows back for stew. Fill in the tunnel there, and restore the dairy farm to its original state.”

Goltai shrugged, “As you wish.”