The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

“Baron Liszt,” he said with a bow, “based on my judgment, these are remains of a skeleton from a gigantic creature, ancient in age. The magic power that was once attached to the bones has completely dissipated… Therefore, they can probably still be used to craft bone utensils, with a hardness quite decent, not much less than iron tools.”

He gracefully performed a bow: “Additionally, thank you for your generous hospitality. I have already finished making the next batch of Flame Mushroom Magic Potions, so I bid you farewell.”

“Alright then, don’t forget to continue purchasing magic books for me when you come next time.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

Elkerson left as if floating on air, probably back to Coral City to live it up—a magician is human too, not bound by marriage but free to visit brothels and continue their quest for the truths of life.

On the apple table laid several portions of snack pastries.

Douson was lying on the edge of the table, dog eyes fixed on the pastries, wanting to eat but not daring to reach out.

Swinging on the apple tree was the beautiful Minor Elf Jela, white as snow. With Liszt watching by, she didn’t bind Douson but instead dozed off in boredom on the tree.

Occasionally, as leaves fell, she would woosh out to chase after them, amusing herself.

Leaning against the chair under the tree, Liszt twirled a piece of Fire Dragon Bone fragment in his hands, looking rather disappointed: “It seems they really can only be used to make bone utensils, for the serfs to use in farming… Sigh, such precious Dragon Bones reduced to farming, what a waste of natural resources!”

Butler Carter approached and reported: “My lord, a total of twenty carts of bone fragments have been neatly stacked in the warehouse. Do you need to count them personally?”

“No need, Mr. Carter, I trust you to handle this sort of matter for me.”

Carter smiled modestly: “Thank you for your trust, my lord. It’s my honor to serve the castle.”

“Don’t forget to assign the task of finding a bone craftsman to Abagon and Sherlock. The Bone Craftsman Shops are starting to take shape, but we are still waiting for the craftsmen to arrive. Also, help me keep an ear out for any signs of competition between them. I don’t want conflicts to arise between the two trading crews over the sales of Fresh Flower Soap.”

“You can rest assured, I will keep a close eye on Abagon and Sherlock.”

Liszt nodded, musing to himself: “Merchants need control. Once given too much power, they forget themselves, which is not good.”

He was beginning to dislike merchants. Indeed, well-behaved farmers were the type of populace a lord favored most. Active merchants always had ambitions that swelled from time to time—due to the limited supply of Fresh Flower Soap, in an effort to restrict the other, they even bribed Bunier, oppressing their opponent.

They had cast aside Liszt’s instructions for them to cooperate.

Punishment was necessary. He planned to coax Old Geronte out of retirement to consolidate the two trading crews and cut down on their independent autonomy.

And he was ready to promote a few natives from Fresh Flower Town to take up key positions in the trading crews.

To supervise and limit Abagon and Sherlock.

“If only I had the Three Corpses Brain God Pill, one pill for each of them, and without any need for political maneuvers to restrain them, they would obediently listen,” he thought nostalgically. In Sun Moon Cult’s techniques of controlling subordinates, fear of force wasn’t as effective as medication. “Without the Three Corpses Brain God Pill, if only I could learn the Sky Mountain Child Granny’s Life and Death Symbols as well.”

His mind raced with possibilities; the martial arts books had internal energies, and this world had magic power. Could it be possible to develop magic or Dou Qi to achieve the effects of the Life and Death Symbols or the Three Corpses Brain God Pill?

At the very least, magical contracts in some sense did have the property of partially controlling life and death.

He pulled out a piece of thick parchment.

On it he heavily wrote down a few Serpent Scripts: “Life and Death Control Magic, Dou Qi, or Contracts, Development Plan!”

Then he stuffed the thick parchment into the Space Gem, it was merely a thought for now, without the ability to develop, perhaps when the ability was possessed, it would not be too late to develop.

The Fresh Flower Vessel brought back an entire half ship of bone fragments on this voyage.

These were just a small part of the fragments cleared from the Burial Ground, and they filled up a newly-built large warehouse, with such an abundant supply of raw materials, an immense number of bone utensils could be crafted. The primitive farming civilization of Fresh Flower Town would leap to a new level of civilization once the farming tools were in place.

In time, a single serf would be able to till more farmland, utilizing all the spare wastelands of Fresh Flower Town.

…

By the time the last batch of bone fragments were delivered to the town by the Fresh Flower Vessel, it was already close to mid-December.

A bone craftsman from Coral City, Blaice Bone, finally agreed to head over to Fresh Flower Town to oversee the Bone Craftsman Shop, to craft bone utensils for Fresh Flower Town and to teach apprentices, lured by a hefty sum.

Coming along with him were his family members. His wife, two sons, daughters-in-law, and a newborn grandson. This whole family possessed the bone craftsman heritage skills. Of course, they weren’t exquisite, that’s why they couldn’t compete with the other Bone Craftsman Shops in Coral City and were willing to come to the small rural town.

“Blaice, work diligently for me, and the rewards you receive will far outweigh your contributions,” Liszt met with Blaice, “Your two sons are already set in their ways, with no potential for growth, but your grandson, when he grows a bit older, I can make an exception and have him train with the knights and become one of my Retainer Knights.”

Offering a chance for a leap into nobility was an unbeatable move.

Sure enough, Blaice knelt down excitedly, “I am willing to work for Lord Landlord, giving my utmost effort.”

“Very well, in the future, you’ll feel proud of the choice you’ve made today.”

He had successfully sweet-talked Bone Craftsman Blaice.

Isaiah brought more good news—the scale of chicken farming in Fresh Flower Town had officially surpassed a thousand, and upon hearing the benefits of chicken farming, the farmers eagerly signed up, all knowing the value of eggs.

But the chicks were not easy to buy, most of them were gathered one by one from rural farmers, barely managing to gather a thousand before the coming of winter snow.

“Mission completed, reward: Fire Attribute Condensation Core Vein.”

The Smoke Mission promptly followed up with the reward for the mission, a type of ore vein that Liszt had never heard of.

“Fire Attribute Cores, what kind of gemstone is that? It sounds very valuable, seems like it’s related to that perished Fire Dragon? It should be on Black Horse Island, most likely Marcus and his team discovered this Fire Attribute Condensation Core Vein underground while they were excavating the fragments.”

Fire Dragon, Fire Attribute Cores, Liszt couldn’t help but connect the two.

However, in the information on dragons, Elemental Dragons do not produce minerals, and he had never heard of Fire Dragons producing such a Fire Attribute Condensation Core Vein.

“When Marcus returns, I’ll ask him what kind of vein they found; if they haven’t found it yet, we must send someone to search for it and excavate immediately… I always feel like the Fire Attribute Cores will be very important to me, after all, my Dou Qi is of the Fire Attribute!”

In the midst of his racing thoughts.

The smoke before him changed, forming new Serpent Script.