The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The amber containing magic power was quickly delivered into Liszt's hands without requiring his concern. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

"Viscount, this is a peculiar stone that the serfs responsible for the expansion of Fresh Flower Port Square found while leveling the Rocky Beach," Isaiah personally brought a transparent yellow stone to the castle, "It is as transparent as a gemstone, and there is actually an Elf Bug inside it!"

An Elf Bug?

Liszt swiftly took the palm-sized flat stone, its yellow color bright and decidedly transparent.

Most wondrous was that inside it was a plump Elf Bug, curled up into the shape of a doughnut, looking vividly lifelike. There were bits of leaves and other impurities around it, and the overall shape confirmed that this was indeed amber, a reward from the Smoke Mission.

"Is this the amber that contains magic?" Liszt quickly cast the Eye of Magic, examining the piece of amber.

He immediately saw a faint swirl of Magic Radiance, chaotic in color, and it was actually emanating from the Elf Bug. The Elf Bug wrapped in amber had stripes of yellow and black on its body—it was unclear if that was its original appearance or if it changed color within the amber.

This surprised him: "An Elf Bug turned into amber can still possess magic power?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

As far as he knew, amber was the result of pine resin falling and being buried underground for millions of years, fossilizing under heat and pressure to form a gem-like stone. Many insects caught on the trunk of pine trees when the resin fell become encased and form exquisite fossils.

However, amber on Earth usually forms between forty to sixty million years ago, because it takes a very long time for pine resin to fossilize.

How long it takes for amber to form in this world was unknown to Liszt.

But it certainly couldn't be a brief process; otherwise, it would merely be rosin, not amber.

After playing with the amber for a while, Liszt asked Isaiah, "Apart from this stone, have any other stones been found at the site?"

"Not so far."

"Continue the search, it's best to turn over all the sand and stones in that area, to see if there are any other similar stones."

Isaiah asked, "Viscount, what kind of stone is this? I've never seen it before."

"Amber is a stone formed from pine resin after tens of millions of years of change. Do you see this Elf Bug? I suspect it's an Elf Bug from tens of millions of years ago."

"Tens of millions of years ago?" Isaiah exclaimed in astonishment.

Human history in this world was unclear even a few hundred years back; the sparse early records that did exist were all attributed to the Moon Empire, confusing and unclear. The idea of what this world was like tens of millions of years ago was simply unimaginable. Even Liszt was puzzled about whether humans here had evolved or not.

To say they evolved, then how did magical creatures like Elves and Dragons evolve?

And Sea Serpents, according to Ach, she was born within a shell—there seems to be no apparent evolutionary link between shell-dwelling Sea Serpents with a humanoid form and humans.

Therefore.

No one knows what this world was like tens of millions of years ago.

"Have the serfs continue to search for amber like this, perhaps they will find more things from tens of millions of years ago encapsulated within... The falling pine resin wrapped up things from that time, and then it was preserved indefinitely, just like this Elf Bug preserved in the amber," he told Isaiah.

Curious as well, Isaiah replied loudly, "Yes, Viscount, I will personally supervise the serfs in their search for amber!"

After the Administrative Officer left, Liszt continued to toy with the amber.

And he began to ponder.

He always believed that each reward from the Smoke Mission was valuable—except for that Wind Falcon, Juan Fu, that damned bird that never returned. He should have slaughtered and eaten it when he had the chance.

"Since the Smoke Mission has delivered this piece of amber and specifically mentioned that it contains magic power, what exactly does that mean? Could this be a piece of natural magic equipment, like the Black Pearl? No, that's not right; the magic doesn't come from the amber itself but from the Elf Bug within it. Yet, the Elf Bug should have already merged with the amber, right?"

Tens of millions of years of immersion.

The amber and the object it encloses have long since become inseparable, leaving only the original structure behind.

"So, what use is this chunk of amber, as an ornament?" Li Si Te shook his head, making a decision, "Better let Chris study it and see if she can find any valuable clues... It's perfect timing since she's about to become the second Grand Magician under my command!"

The advancement of Chris to Grand Magician had not yet occurred, but it was imminent.

Because the Smoke Mission had already tugged at the thread of fate.

"Mission: Chef Bawel from Fresh Flower Town Tavern is very interested in the 'tofu' reward issued by the Landlord, but despite trying various bean products, he cannot produce tofu, which has exhausted all his savings. However, he is not disheartened and plans to continue his research on tofu. Reward: One Grand Magician."

Tofu was one of Li Si Te's great frustrations.

He knew tofu was made from beans, but what exactly is gypsum; he never understood. He had issued a reward early, hoping someone could make a soft jelly-like food from beans.

However, more than a year had passed, and still no chef had completed this research. Yet it had led to many pleasant surprises—fermented bean curd, soy milk, bean sprouts.

Now.

It seemed that the dawn of tofu production had arrived, and without hesitation, Li Si Te supported Bawel with ten Gold Coins to continue his tofu research. He also shared all his knowledge about tofu with Bawel, hoping this would help him produce the long-awaited tofu sooner.

And that Chris Truth would advance to Grand Magician all the sooner.

Among the magicians in his territory, apart from Chris, there was only Paris—and Paris clearly was not ready yet, leaving Chris the one about to advance.

...

In the Magic Workshop.

Due to the scarcity of magic potion raw materials, Chris only needed to set aside seven or eight days a month to produce the Magic Potions from the local output. She spent the rest of her time studying Advanced Magic and Magic Arrays—essentially, Advanced Magic is just more complex Magic Arrays.

"Viscount, what brings you here?" Chris seemed surprised; Li Si Te had only recently collected magic potions before the New Year.

Li Si Te smiled, "Are you still working on Advanced Magic?"

"I am studying the Black Pearl and Pink Pearl. Both types of pearls are natural Magic Arrays, which provide a lot of inspiration for me, and I have begun to try making them into Magic Equipment."

"The Black Pearl and Pink Pearl are indeed excellent research materials, but I've brought you another type of precious material that might give you new insights."

With that, Li Si Te took out the palm-sized, flat, round piece of amber and handed it to Chris.

Just at first glance.

Chris exclaimed in amazement, "What is this, a gemstone? It's so beautiful! I've never seen such a gemstone before, and it even has an... Elf Bug inside?"

"This is amber, a wonderful mishap from tens of millions of years ago that formed a treasure," Li Si Te explained the origin of the amber.

To call the amber a treasure was not an exaggeration.

For enclosed within the amber was not merely some kind of bug, but the essence of an era.