Chapter 157 – The Smoke Dragon of Destiny

Seven months ago.

Liszt woke up in the dark. He immediately understood his situation, accepted his predecessor's memories, and knew that the former Liszt already saw the smoke mission from a very young age.

But at that time, the smoke was faint and could not be seen clearly.

It wasn't until he crossed over and merged with this body that he really saw the composition of the smoke, which turned out to be written tasks.

Liszt was taken by surprise when he saw the words.

It looked like a cheat, but the smoke was in Snake Language, not in Chinese characters.

He didn't recognize it as a cheat since it was not written like it was on Earth.

He could only convince himself that he hasn't actually transmigrated, and he's just seeing cheats. There must be a black hand at work or a conspiracy for him to see these smoke missions. But after Glanny Truth told him the existence of the five Sacred Dragons, he now understood that the smoke dragon represented fate.

It was a huge shock.

"Then perhaps my cheat, the smoke missions, is not some kind of conspiracy?", he thought. It didn't appear as though he was forced to finish the tasks. From the start and up to now, the smoke only released simple tasks for him to follow.

Sometimes, the reward is already existing, and can be easily looked over.

This must be the reward system of the smoke missions.

If one would think deeply about it, there is a strong sense of destiny- whether you brush past or embrace it fully ,it would lead to a different paths.

Ordinary people believe that one cannot change their destiny, or that their destiny is unknown and full of uncertainty.

But with the smoke missions, it seemed like Liszt has a choice.

Glanny was still with Liszt at this point, talking about magic.

But Liszt wasn't paying attention to his surroundings anymore and was lost in his thoughts. He lowered his head and looked at his body: “Representing destiny … a cloud of smoke … Is there a smoke dragon in my body? Since the smoke dragon is possessing me, do I get the right to choose my fate? “

All of these were against Glanny's denial of the Sacred Dragons' existence.

However, he believed in the existence of the Invisible Dragon – he knew he saw the dragon eat two cows in front of him, and left a s.p.a.ce gem behind. This was undeniable.

 Since the invisible dragon exists, why can't the Smoke Dragon exist as well?

Elemental Dragons, Gem Dragons and Metal Dragons are magnificent creatures, but dragons and sprites are already extraordinary by just considering the things they are capable of. This is a world completely different from the earth, an extraordinary world full of magic.

Liszt thoughts continued to wander. He has to find a solid proof of the Smoke Dragon's existence.

“It's not impossible that a smoke dragon lives in my body, after all, I can often see the smoke task. However, the smoke only takes the form of a snake, never that of a dragon, and I've never had any communication with it….I don't understand it, I'm just being influenced by it, you know?”

"Think about it this way, dragons can infiltrate ordinary animals into becoming a dragon-type species. Although there are no dragon-type humans, it's hard to say whether it is an accident that Smoke Dragons can invade an organism and make it a smoke dragon-type species. 

Liszt didn't know if he should feel happiness or regret.

While others have never seen a dragon, he has already encountered two of them and each has left him a valuable gift – the smoke of destiny and the s.p.a.ce gem. Unfortunately, the close contact between the two dragons did not make him a dragon knight or a dragon companion.

“Baron Liszt.”

“Baron Liszt!”

Glanny's shout brought Liszt back from his trance: “What?”

"I'm teaching you the basics of magic. Were you listening? ". It was clear that Glanny was upset. "Learning magic requires concentration and eagerness to pursue the truth! Although isolating and boring, the joy of gaining knowledge of  magic can make your heart full."

"I apologize, Mr. Glanny. It's not that I'm not interested in magic, but I think we learned enough for today. I haven't had a chance to get my afternoon nap and I feel tired now. We'll continue tomorrow. Thomas, please go with Mr. Glanny around Flower Town."

“Yes, sir.” “Mr. Glanny, this way.”

With that, both men left the castle.

After Glanny left, Liszt stayed in his study and looked out the window, meditating to the sound of the wind.

Smoke dragon.

Smoke task.

Fate.

Many thoughts went back and forth in his mind.

The smoke appeared in front of him, twisting and changing shape, but the text is always the same. "Task: The commercial district of Flower Town has gradually flourished, but the workshop area has been idle for a long time, and there is not enough workshop support. Why are craftsmen wasting their lives cutting trees and planting fields when they are capable of building three new workshops to make the town more prosperous? Rewards: A bottleneck of qi. "

No matter how much he tried to communicate with the dragon behind the smoke, the contents of the smoke mission has not changed.

He couldn't communicate with the dragon, whether or not it existed on his own body.

It was also impossible to change the smoke tasks. The so-called fate choices had endless options. It was like building a road in a land with wonderful scenery where you can choose to build a straight road to from beginning to end. The smoke task will remind you where the attractions are, but it is one's choice to include it in the attractions.

However, the option to build a toilet or parking lot along the way is not part of the feature.

"So, as far as I can tell, there are four possible explanations as to what happened to me.

First, when I was a child, I had my first close encounter with the Smoke Dragon. I was influenced by it and I became a smoke dragon-type species, this enabled my fate selection ability.

Second, the Smoke Dragon hid and hibernated somewhere inside me, and the little smoke emissions I see are little parts of it that escaped, therefore allowing me to choose my fate.

Third, the Smoke Dragon may just be a baby dragon with weak abilities, hiding and waiting to grow.

Fourth, I am thinking too much. The smoke task had nothing to do with the Smoke Dragon and the cheats are just part of a transmigrators' perks."

All four explanations were plausible, and with the little information available, it was impossible to tell which one is more likely. He tried hard to remember the memories of his predecessor as a child, trying to remember a physical encounter with the smoke dragon.

There was a good chance that he has already come into contact with the Smoke Dragon before.

"From what I can remember, I haven't been to many places. On Red Crab Island, the only place I've stayed on there is Long Taro Castle. The rest of my life I've been on Coral Island. I visited some Coral Island cities with the Count for holidays and spent a few days in each city. "

A n.o.ble's second son has always led a plain life, with no waves to shake it.

After half an hour, he gave up digging through his memories.

 He stopped meditating and exclaimed. "Never mind, the smoke dragon will reveal the truth to me one day! I'll just do what I need to do, the rest destiny can choose for me. If  there really is a Smoke Dragon representing fate, then I believe it is destined for me!"

Liszt stretched his body.

The idea of the Smoke Dragon was buried in his heart.

Chapter 158 – Meditation, Abstraction, Characterization and Release

For the two to three days that followed, Liszt's schedule was full.

In the morning, he was cultivating qi and supervising the workshop construction. In the afternoon, he was studying magic with Glanny Truth, focusing mainly on the magic Glanny has mastered, which was limited to fire and water magic. He had very little mastery of wind and earth magic and has no idea at all about thunder and ice magic.

“It's much harder to practice magic than to practice fighting.”

“The steps of magic are meditation, abstraction, characterization and release.”

"Meditation means mobilizing your spiritual power, connecting with magic; abstraction means activating the magical connection, start forming a bridge between the magic in the surroundings and inside you;  characterization involves the use of inner magic to strengthen the bridge; and release means the bridge is complete,the channel is strong, and by guiding the spiritual force, the magic is released. "

“Every type of magic has a fixed model and character, and it takes time to master it. For example, I can instantly release two types of magic, Fireball and Water Arrow, then after thousands of releases, the details of the magic are completely characterized in the body and brain, and it can be released naturally. 

I spent a lot of time developing the earth magic Flying Rock Technique  and the wind magic Wind Blade technique, and by characterizing it, I am now able to release it with ease.

I cannot reveal all my spells to you, but I can show you the Fireball, Water Arrow and Wind Blade technique.

Every magician can easily conjure a magical equipment simply because making a magical equipment only requires a cast model. The core material can be regarded as a rough cast model, while the other materials are the symbols that make up the model. In addition, the core material provides the characterization.

"Your dog beast is extraordinary. I bet if it's slaughtered and added to the black pearl, it can produce a great magical weapon called a "sprite armament".

Glanny exclaimed with his eyes s.h.i.+ning.

Sprite armaments are magical equipment more precious than gem weapons.

As the name implies, a sprite armament is a weapon casted using sprites – sprite blood to be exact – the weapon is soaked in it hence fueling its power. Despite having laws that prohibit the slaughter of sprites to be used for such reason, the killing of sprites and casting of sprite armaments has continued.

After all, there are some sprite species not useful in agriculture.

"I forbid you from talking about these sprite armaments ever again." Liszt abhors it, for sprites are gentle creatures and should not be exploited. "And don't even think about harming Tremblingwoods, I don't mind him going near you. "

Glanny gave Liszt a scornful look.

But in this situation, Liszt was being hypocritical. Many n.o.bles talk of banning sprite killings, but secretly use sprites to cast sprite weapons – not just sprite armaments, but also great sprite armaments and dragon sprite armaments.

The mage licked his lips and said, "You would let me study the great beast, Tremblingwoods, right? "

"I advise you not to entertain the thought. Tremblingwoods is dangerous."

"All magical beasts are dangerous."

"This one is extremely dangerous." Liszt lightly warned him, and if the mage won't back down, he won't mind letting Tremblingwoods have some fun. "Let's discuss about the black pearl instead, the task which I originally hired you for. I ordered you to design a device that allows me to easily control its powers like a switch."

If it's clear that a voyage cannot be completed by oars alone, the Black Pearl would be useful in suppressing the storm.

When there are no major storms, the black pearl's powers can be contained. But if storms are encountered, its power can be easily released.

Granny thought about it. “No problem, it's very simple. I already have enough ideas on how to make an extraordinay magical equipment. In fact, I can't wait. If you give me another Tremblingwoods, the black pearl will be more excellent! ” Glanny was bringing back the subject.

 Liszt picked up the cold drink on the table and ignored him.

Glanny waited for a moment and said, “I saw inside the castle, there was a cage and in it was another dog magical beast, we can use that instead.”

"Don't."

"There was another creature, it was chirping. It must be a falcon. Just let me try."

Blessedcurls?

Liszt stopped and refused to talk anymore.

He still had no idea how to train Blessedcurls. He first planned to starve it so it can be tamed. But this was a bird, and birds are made to fly, so it was let out. The first falconer couldn't find it anywhere and found out that it has returned to the castle by itself. Now, Blessedcurls has to learn how to use the Wind Blade technique before it can hunt.

"Do you know any falconer?"

“You want to tame it?”

"I picked it up when it was only an egg. It can recognize people, but I'm afraid without training, it won't be able to release magic."

"Better kill it then, wind-type beasts make the best kind of magical runes. It can greatly a.s.sist the black pearl in suppressing storms."

"I asked you if you know of any falconer."

Glanny nodded in silence for a moment, “I know of one, but I still suggest you slaughter it directly as a supplement to black pearls.”

Liszt repeated the question until Glanny revealed the name of the falconer – Elkson Truth, another mage residing in Coral Town.

He now knew of a falconer.

Liszt was desperate of having the other mage in, so he forced the reluctant Glanny to write a letter of invitation since both mages already knew each other.

"Blessedcurl's destiny is about to change."

He was now in a very good mood.

The letter was sent out immediately.

Now, they have to wait for the arrival of the falconer, Elkson Truth.

The crystal craftsman Brad finally arrived at Flower Town and worked with Glanny on making the crystal lamps.

On the fourth night of workshop construction, Gort rode off to the castle  and reported to List, “My Lord, the workshop has been completed!”

"Good! You exceeded my expectations by finis.h.i.+ng it in four days! As promised, adviser Gort, I will give the working serfs trice their pay."

"Do you wish to visit the workshop in person, Sir?"

“No need.”

Liszt has no time to inspect, he was waiting for the smoke mission to appear.

—

"Task completed. Reward: Bottleneck of qi."

"No matter how many candles are lit, the shaking flames will still hurt one's eyes. Now that you are studying up to the late hours of the night, you need to take care of your body by finding a new stable light source. Install ten crystal lamps inside the castle. Reward: New thorn variety."

Whenever he finishes a task, he was always looking forward to the task that follows.

"Another variation of thorns again. Looks like I won't be cutting any fast-growing thorns anytime soon. "

Everytime a thorns serial mission is completed , the probability that the thorns will evolve into sprites increases.

"The ten lamps task are for my own benefit. I have to urge Brad and Glanny to finish them as soon as possible."

Immediately after, his attention s.h.i.+fted to his own body, "When will this bottleneck of qi arrive? I haven't received it yet but I feel that my qi is slowly growing. "

Moments later he called for Mr. Carter, the house butler. "Mr. Carter, for tonight, please have Mrs. Abby prepare me a meat steak, I'm starving. "

His plan was to eat, sleep and wait for the bottleneck qi.