The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

At Tulip Castle, Liszt quickly immersed himself in preparing for the wedding.

However, he didn't have much work to do, as Tulip Castle had hundreds of servants who could manage tasks smoothly. Besides the Earl, Lady Marie also held decision-making power; there was no need for family members with their own fiefs to come and make decisions.

Liszt didn't want to compete with Lady Marie for power in the castle either; he just occasionally supervised the progress of the wedding preparations to ensure everything was in order for his brother Levis.

Most of the time, he was remotely directing the development of his territory.

Knights traveling between Fresh Flower Town and Tulip Castle reported to him the progress of the territorial development every day. They also brought fresh foods such as Dragon Breed Milk.

The Mangrove and Pearl were undergoing major repairs at Fresh Flower Port. The process mainly involved removing the damaged wooden planks and replacing them with new Thorn Ironwood, then using Rubber Tree wood to glue them together—this repair method was low-tech but highly effective, as the adhesive strength of rubber was formidable.

Even without removing the old wood and simply using rubber and wood to fill the holes, the two old sailboats could be as good as new.

In fact, with the reinforcement from rubber, the performance of the former Fresh Flower Vessel and Thorn Number had already surpassed that of new ships, with no wear and tear.

News about the Rubber Trees arrived three days later.

After Captain Kostor returned to Black Horse Island, he didn't find any fruit-bearing Rubber Trees, but near that new Cordyceps, he saw many Rubber Tree saplings just sprouting. Following Liszt's previous instructions, Administrative Officer Blair organized a workforce to dig out these saplings and replanted them in rows around the Cordyceps.

It could be confirmed that these saplings were indeed the Rubber Fruit Trees rewarded by the Smoke Mission.

On another note, Chris Truth also had good news. In the letter delivered by the knights, she explained that she had figured out the effects of the Pink Pearl—it could disperse the surrounding water-attribute magic power.

The Black Pearl from the Hei Chequ could disperse the surrounding wind attribute magic power; the Pink Pearl from the Fen Hai Luo could disperse the surrounding water attribute magic power.

Once that egg-sized Pink Pearl was turned into magic equipment, it could roughly disperse all water-attribute magic power within a hundred-meter radius. Such an effect combined with a Calming Sea Pearl made from a Black Pearl could almost negate all storms and sea waves at sea, allowing ships to sail smoothly.

"To think it has such a powerful effect. Is this specifically prepared for my upcoming era of navigation?" Liszt, looking at the content of the letter, was overwhelmed with excitement.

The Calming Sea Pearl was already strong, suppressing all storms, and now with the Pink Pearl, suppressing all the sea waves as well.

So, apart from sea monsters, what else could be fearsome at sea—the most crucial point is that Virginia Truth, residing within the Soul Storage Vessel, had already described the Dragonbone Stabilizer Technique. When this technique is used in future shipbuilding, even sea monsters need not be feared at sea.

"With this, the obstacles of storms, waves, and sea monsters are all eliminated. Can I lead a fleet, leave the Sea of Azure Waves for the Devil's Sea where devils lurk, cross the Devil's Sea, and explore further worlds?"

What lies beyond the Devil's Sea?

Liszt had a vague guess—he surmised that on the other side was where the Children of the Sun lived, as mentioned in the drifting bottle. It was also the world described in the diary of Old Phil from the Tanners' Shop, who was the ancestor of his friend, Philip, Descendant of the Sun.

It's worth mentioning that Liszt had already learned all of the Sun Script recorded in the diary.

Though complex, it contained a set of patterns, convincing him that such sophisticated and regular script could only be created by a highly developed civilization.

Unfortunately,

The amount of Sun Script recorded by Philip was too limited, and this vocabulary was not enough for reading and writing.

"Once I figure out the Magic Power drive and how to harness the fore-and-aft sails, along with the Dragonbone Stabilizer Technique, as well as the 'Calming Wind Pearl' and 'Calming Water Pearl,' nothing in the Devil's Sea will stop me!" He had already decided to turn the Pink Pearl into a new Calming Sea Pearl, using "Wind" and "Water" as suffixes to differentiate from the Black Pearl products.

Feeling cheerful, he sent a letter back to Chris, asking her to continue the research on the Pink Pearl to see if she could create a Calming Water Pearl following the Calming Wind Pearl's example.
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Chris wasn't very skilled at making Magic Equipment, so if it didn't work out, Liszt would still have to invite Granney Truth to do the job.

The letter was handed to a knight to deliver back.

Liszt sat by the round table in the Tulip Castle garden, feeling that his transmigrated life was essentially worry-free, aside from being a bit poor.

Ever since the Smoke Mission began, good news kept coming.

He couldn't help but marvel at the mighty force of fate; with just a small nudge, he really became like the Son of Glory.

However, before he could finish his reflection, another knight from Fresh Flower Town came with more good news, "Lord Landlord, Consultant Gao Ertai has sent a letter."

He opened the letter.

The contents were straightforward; after discussions with Viscount Jonas, Gao Ertai had finalized the prices for the Dragon Kui Bug and the Venus Flytrap Worm. He had managed to get the Dragon Kui Bug's price down to eleven hundred Gold Coins and the Venus Flytrap Worm's price down to seven hundred Gold Coins, which was two hundred Gold Coins less than Liszt's bottom line.

Of course, it was actually one hundred and eighty Gold Coins less, since he had to give Gao Ertai a commission of twenty Gold Coins.

After reading the letter.

Liszt immediately took the two thousand Gold Coins he had borrowed from his grandmother and rushed to Shattered Stone City. Upon arriving, he was promptly welcomed by Viscount Jonas into Shattered Stone Castle.

"If it weren't for the tight turnover of funds, I would really hate to sell these two Elf Bugs. It's rare for the knight's glory to shine upon us, spawning two Elf Bugs in a month, and yet they have to be sold for cash." After the courtesy, Viscount Jonas complained directly, "It's truly heart-wrenching!"

"With this year's Pioneer Mandate, we can go to the Eagle Kingdom to plunder resources and make up for the losses."

"Are you also taking part in the Pioneer Mandate?"

"That's what I'm preparing for."

"Without any surprises, since you have the Intermediate Magic Beast Dorsen, you can work with the Earl to be invincible in warfare. Gaining military exploits should not be difficult for you. I can't even begin to guess how far you'll go in the future," Jonas exclaimed in amazement.

Liszt smiled: "Let's take it one step at a time. My territory is still in very poor shape, to tell you the truth. To buy your two Elf Bugs, I had to borrow the Gold Coins from my grandmother."

They engaged in a brief exchange of laments about their financial woes.

The transaction formally took place.

After paying the agreed amount of one thousand eight hundred Gold Coins, Viscount Jonas took Liszt to the Elf Bugs' Cordyceps site, allowing Liszt to form contracts successfully. Once the Cordyceps were collected, he stayed at Shattered Stone Castle for lunch. In the afternoon, Liszt hurried back to Tulip Castle.

His brother Levis had returned from the outer islands, and accompanying him was the eldest legitimate son of the Golden Wheat Sheaf Family, Roger Golden Wheat.