The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

And he began his own experiments.

First was the experiment on releasing and collecting Fire Dragon Magic Power.

How to release the magic power contained within the bubbles of the volcanic glass ore was discussed with Goltai and Marcus, and they decided to adopt a drilling method. This meant drilling holes into the bubbles of the volcanic glass so that the volcanic glass would not need to be shattered to release the Fire Dragon Magic Power contained within. Brad, unaware of the full picture, was assigned the drilling task.

After releasing the Fire Dragon Magic Power, it gathered together, forming a Magic Little Fire Dragon that was invisible to the naked eye.

The next step was to recollect this Magic Little Fire Dragon and infuse it into the vessels carved from volcanic glass. As for how to carve the vessels, Liszt ordered, and Brad got to work. Since there was no need for exquisite carving, the work progressed very rapidly, thanks to Brad’s dextrous hands.

The irregular volcanic glass, under his carving, turned into variously shaped components.

Then the components were assembled, and the gaps were filled and glued with volcanic glass powder, thus creating a watertight glass vessel, a cylindrical jar as thick as an arm— the Fire Dragon Jar.

To verify the sealing properties of the Fire Dragon Jar, Liszt purposely released a bit of Fire Dragon Magic Power into it.

He sealed the jar.

Not a trace of Fire Dragon Magic Power leaked; the property of the volcanic glass countered the Fire Dragon Magic Power, preventing it from solidifying or escaping.

“Next is to fill it with magic power to use as an energy source,” Liszt said, handing a diagram of a glass vessel’s construction to Brad.

Brad looked at it for a long time, not understanding: “Baron, what is this? Could you explain it in detail, please?”

“Can’t see clearly? It’s a large syringe. See this outer cylinder here? This is the syringe cover. This elongated rod with a pot lid on the front is the syringe plunger. The plunger and the cover must fit tightly to ensure a good seal, so that by pushing on the plunger, the contents of the syringe can be squirted out through the needle at the front,” explained Liszt.

Since no one here used syringes, it took Brad quite some time to understand the structure of the bucket-sized syringe designed by Liszt.

Next came the carving and assembling to complete this large syringe.

The largest piece of volcanic glass was only as big as a basketball, so the syringe needed to be pieced together with a lot of material. Brad had been carving crystals for many years and had extraordinary skills; because the hardness of volcanic glass was far less than that of crystal, he was able to work very quickly. In two days, he fashioned the large syringe with interlocking connectors.

Liszt took the large syringe and began the next phase of the experiment.

He put the cover of the syringe over the Magic Little Fire Dragon, which had solidified to half the height of a person, and pressed down. As the Magic Little Fire Dragon was dispersed, some of the magic power also entered the syringe. Then he quickly covered it with the plunger that resembled a pot lid, and a syringe “filled” with Fire Dragon Magic Power was created.

He inserted the needle into the Fire Dragon Jar through a round hole, then pushed the plunger, continuously compressing the magic power inside the syringe and injecting it into the Fire Dragon Jar.

A small amount of Fire Dragon Magic Power leaked from the gap.

But the majority of the magic power was successfully poured into the Fire Dragon Jar.

Repeating this process over and over, he soon packaged all the released Fire Dragon Magic Power into three Fire Dragon Jars. In the vision of the Eye of Magic, when the Fire Dragon Magic Power within the Fire Dragon Jar condensed to a light from red shifting to gold, no more Fire Dragon Magic Power could continue to be bottled, reaching its limit.

A rough estimate suggested that one ton of volcanic glass ore could release about the amount of Fire Dragon Magic Power contained in two Fire Dragon Jars.

Marcus brought with him about six tons of volcanic glass ore, so it was possible to fill twelve Fire Dragon Jars: “Brad, make me twenty of these standard jars, another five larger jars, and twenty smaller jars,” he instructed.

Twelve standard Fire Dragon Jars were used to encapsulate the Fire Dragon Magic Power, with the remaining eight set aside as spares.

The five larger and twenty smaller Fire Dragon Jars were also meant for backup.

He then gestured to the large syringe, which, like the Fire Dragon Jar, was actually called a Dragonfire Syringe: “Furthermore, for this model of syringe, make two more, and then another two of a smaller size.”

…

Brad continued to craft glass vessels.

Liszt, on the other hand, continued his research into Fire Dragon Magic Power. With the Dragonfire Syringe and the Fire Dragon Jars, he was able to freely move, divide, and recover the Magic Little Fire Dragons.

His research found that a Magic Little Fire Dragon the size of a palm could boil a bathtub of cold water.

A Magic Little Fire Dragon half the size of a palm could keep a bathtub of water at forty degrees Celsius in subzero temperatures, which was just right for bathing. However, the bathtub hot springs had separate bathtubs and heating tanks, so it was optimal to place a Magic Little Fire Dragon larger than half the size of a palm in the heating tank.

After five days, the Castle successfully had its very own bathtub hot springs. That very evening, Liszt soaked in the bathtub for over an hour.

Only when he felt he was close to dehydration did he reluctantly leave the bathtub hot springs.

He loosened the valve of the heating tank and the hot water flowed out continuously, carried away by the servants with buckets. The leftover bathwater could be taken downstairs by the servants for their baths…

Opening the window of the bathroom and also the lid of the heating tank, Liszt did not reclaim the Little Fire Dragon but let it fly around in the heating tank. The heating ability of the Magic Little Fire Dragon on the air was not very strong, so even if left unattended, it wouldn’t burn down the bathroom.

Moreover, he had his bedroom covered with a box, in which a small Magic Little Fire Dragon was placed.

Similar to heating, it kept the room temperature comfortably around twenty-four to twenty-five degrees Celsius. Adding a basin of water to prevent dryness, the bedroom became as warm as spring.

Fire Dragon Brand Thermostat Air Conditioner.

“Mr. Carter, these boxes have all been set up with Magic Arrays. Tell the servants in the Castle that they mustn’t touch them carelessly. When dusting, they can only wipe the outside of the boxes,” he said.

“Understood, my lord,” replied Mr. Carter.

Admiring his work from the past few days, he couldn’t help but feel sentimental: “The modernization of the Castle has made initial progress, with lights, air conditioning, overhead heaters… If I could get the Ice Dragon’s Magic Power, I could make a refrigerator; if I could get the Wind Dragon’s Magic Power, I could make an electric fan…”

Thinking of the Wind Dragon, he suddenly remembered that in the Neverfall Empire’s Windhowl Valley, there was indeed Wind Dragon Magic Power.

“I wonder if volcanic glass can encapsulate Wind Dragon Magic Power?” he pondered.

Unfortunately, the Neverfall Empire was on the other end of the distant continent; even setting out on a Li Dragon Horse, it would probably take half a year.

Beyond this, he didn’t know of any other locations where the Dragon’s residual Magic Power might be found. Probably only upon its death, or when injured and bleeding, would a Dragon leave behind residual Magic Power — the Formless Dragon that passed over Fresh Flower Town and ate two cows left behind nothing but a Space Gem, without any trace of Magic Power.

Thus, with the bathtub hot springs completed, it was time to move on to the Smoke Mission, which required the construction of two bathhouses.