The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

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In the Worm Room of the Nameless Castle.

Liszt stood in front of the box covered in Jade Powder, watching the Tulip Bug lying lazily and feeling the little guy's inner anxiety, doing his best to encourage it with his own emotions.

Beyond that, there were no more effective ways.

It was just an Elf Bug after all, possessing simple emotions and not any real intelligence or comprehension. Communication was limited to the instructions Liszt could deliver through emotions.

Otherwise, it was simply patting it, expressing care.

"Wuwah." On the edge of the box, Thorn Minor Elf Jela yawned out of boredom and made a sound; it ruled the Worm Room.

In the box to the right of Liszt, Mickey was counting its collection of corn kernels.

It didn't like Jela, nor did it like clinging to Liszt—perhaps not as irritable as Jela was, but relatively more independent, immersed in its own little world.

Jela, Nami, Mickey, and also Fizz, Tam, Eddie, these Lesser Elves were all adorable, embodying the essence of heaven and earth. They were each an independent entity, with their own personalities and thoughts. In fact, they had no concept of "kin," even elves of the same type didn't see each other as kin.

Like the Giant Algae Greater Elf Pike, who had a probably "blood" connection with the three Giant Algae Lesser Elves—Fizz, Tam, and Eddie—it was highly likely they all had sprouted from Pike's cordyceps, which gave birth to the Lesser Elves.

Yet Pike was just as ferocious to the three Giant Algae Lesser Elves, showing absolutely no elder's affection toward the younger generation.

In Liszt's view,

Elves inherited the "individuality" of plants, growing independently and quietly, unlike humans and animals that have companions, family, and other emotional bonds. Take Nami, for example, a Lesser Elf with an outgoing personality; it certainly loved making friends, but its approach to making friends was the same whether with humans, elves, Rainbow Whales, or little ducks.

It wouldn't befriend someone just because they were an elf and, therefore, think that they should be closer friends because they were the same kind.
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"Wuwah!"

Jela called out again, it was terribly bored and wanted Liszt to play with it. But Liszt simply waved his hand, indicating it should play by itself.

He was implementing the "stimulate Jela" plan, deliberately being cold to Jela.

To evoke anger in it and then unleash its potential for evolution—although being cold one moment and warm the next was cruel to Jela, Liszt believed this was the best way to help it evolve.

The pheromones from new plant species greatly aided the evolution of elves. He was also using trade caravans to continuously collect plants of the same kind as different Elf Cordyceps, trying to help elves obtain more pheromones. But that alone was not enough; often, the elves needed to strive on their own.

Like this Tulip Bug, born in Tulip Castle, it could be said to have all the pheromones that other Tulip Elves possessed.

But whether it could evolve still required its own effort.

If it lacked sufficient will to advance, it might not even enter the Fat Pupa Stage by the end of its ten-year life span.

Jela, seeing that Liszt always paid attention to the Tulip Bug, gradually grew discontent and loudly called out, "Wuwah!"

"Go away!"

"Wuwah!"

Liszt ignored it again.

After calling out a few times and receiving no response, Jela flew around the Worm Room in anger. At this point, Mickey, who was counting corn kernels, probably felt annoyed and yelled at Jela, "Jiggle!"

This immediately ruffled Jela's feathers.

It flew right up to Mickey's face, fists clenched, and shouted, "Wuwah!"

"Jiggle!"

"Wuwah!"

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"Chirp!"

"Wah!"

The two Little Minor Elves didn't lay hands on each other, but the argument was quite fierce, with saliva spraying out.

"Both of you, shut up, get back into your boxes, and don't make a sound!" Liszt glared and commanded the two Little Minor Elves loudly.

They dared not defy the command.

Minor Elf Jela flew back to her box with a pout and even covered it, sulking inside. But it wasn't long before she fell asleep--Minor Elves indeed have abundant emotions but are also simple-minded little creatures. On the other side, Mickey went back to counting his corn kernels as if nothing had happened.

Each time he returned from an outing, Liszt would bring him a corn kernel, which Mickey loved to study as if he had a collecting habit.

...

Whenever he was free,

Liszt would enter the Worm Room to encourage the Tulip Bug, inspiring it to bravely evolve.

During this period, the rewards from the previous Smoke Mission soon appeared, with news coming from the construction site of Thorn Castle.

Consultant Gao Ertai sent someone to report to him, "Lord Landlord, Mr. Fred the Driller led the drilling team to drill for the castle, and after breaking a rock piece, water began to spout from the ground. Along with the water, plenty of small fish surged out of the spout, with thousands of pounds being caught and still more fish coming out."

"Are there really fish coming out?"

Liszt, even though he knew about the reward, was still somewhat surprised.

Drilling a well had actually yielded a fish spring, with fish spouting out like a fountain--this was indeed an unusual event. Therefore, he immediately rode on Rainbow Whale Rose to head for Black Horse Island.

Upon arriving at the construction site, Gao Ertai quickly took him to the well that had already been fenced off.

"My lord, this well is truly miraculous. I sent people to fish continuously for over three thousand pounds, and the number of small fish inside has not decreased at all." Gao Ertai took over a fishing net handed to him by a Clerk, filled with several lively little fish, "These are the small fish that spouted out of the well, previously unseen by anyone."

The little fish resembled the carp but were a bit more slender and their color was a pale golden yellow, which made them look quite pretty. Their sizes ranged from about 15 centimeters to 25 centimeters, with the longest not exceeding 30 centimeters, and the average weight of each fish was around four or five liang.

"Are they sea fish?"

Liszt looked at the small fish and asked. He suspected that a passage in the well's spring might connect to the ocean, bringing the small fish up.

Otherwise, he couldn't explain the appearance of the fish spring.

Gao Ertai replied, "They should be freshwater fish. The well water is drinkable, and the small fish are well adapted to it. Chefs from the town's tavern have taken some samples, and after cooking these small fish, they're not toxic and actually have a very nice taste—delicate flesh and more delicious than sea fish by a lot."

"Freshwater fish, you say. This suggests there might be an underground river beneath the Basalt Columns of Black Horse Island, where these small fish dwell," Liszt speculated. If it wasn't a passageway connected to the ocean, it could only be an underground river—likely formed by rainwater erosion.

However, Black Horse Island is a volcanic island, its main structure composed of Basalt Columns. The formation of an underground river beneath Basalt Columns is indeed extraordinary.

It prompted him to consider the plan to delve into the underground river and explore its secrets.

"Consultant Gao Ertai, let's not use this well for water. Instead, dig a sloping tunnel directly and guard the fish spring for fishing. Also, dispatch knights with strong diving abilities to follow the spring down and explore, to see if this spring is connected to an underground river."

"An underground river?" Gao Ertai was puzzled.

"Some land has cavities underneath with flowing water that come together to form an underground river. Just send someone to investigate and report the findings to me."

Gao Ertai suppressed his curiosity and accepted the order.

Afterwards, Liszt went to the tavern and tasted several dishes made from the little fish from the fish spring. The taste was indeed much fresher and more delicate than fish caught in the ocean. He immediately declared this kind of small fish a staple on his daily menu and bestowed the name "Well Fish" upon them.