The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 151: The Thorn Bug’s Fat Pupa Stage

The discovery of Rapid Growth Iron Thorns was as significant to Fresh Flower Town as a catalyst to a chemical reaction, or an athlete taking a stimulant.

Although they would still have to wait for the Thorn Bug chain mission to be fully completed before they could start planting on a large scale,

it didn’t hinder him from bringing the trunks of the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns back, and during the dinner, he gathered the officials of the town to study and discuss its uses.

“If it can grow to two meters high, it can be used to build houses, it’s much harder than the fir wood we use, and I bet that houses built with it would be safe and sound in a storm.”

“Blair, you’re not considering everything, wood has to not only be firm but also waterproof, termite-resistant, and rot-resistant.”

“I don’t think I’m missing anything, look how compact its wood is, it’s nearly the same as the rockwood cut by the Lumberjack Team, and rockwood never gets bugs,” Blair countered, speaking of rockwood, which is a tree known as rock tree that likes to grow in rock crevices.

Rockwood is precious, a two-hundred-year-old rock tree can fetch a price of fifty silver coins.

They only found fewer than ten rock trees when they cleared Thorn Ridge, of which only three were two hundred years old; the rest were younger.

Another type of wood of the same nature as rockwood is stonewood, which is also extremely rare.

Goltai came up with an idea, “Let’s sink it in water, if it sinks, it means it’s almost like rockwood, if it doesn’t, then it’s not as good.”

“Right, let’s try it.”

So the servant brought over a basin of water.

After some effort, they took a section of the trunk and threw it into the basin, and the trunk sank straight to the bottom.

Seeing this, Blair said proudly, “Look, everyone, I never tell a lie, Rapid Growth Iron Thorns are as excellent as rockwood!”

The usually quiet Marcus also spoke up, “Its texture is sturdy and the trunk is straight, it’s suitable for making Knight Spear shafts, and also for arrow shafts, it should be more suitable than birch wood.”

Ordinary Knight Spears’ shafts and arrows’ shafts are all made of birch wood.

Coral Island’s Birch City specializes in planting birch trees and producing birch wood for weaponry. The Tulip Family even has a Little Minor Elf of the birch tree.

“If it is really better than birch wood, we can supply Tulip Castle with it, I am sure the Earl would like better spear shafts and arrow shafts.”

“Especially since it can grow rapidly, this advantage is incredible. A rock tree only grows to the thickness of a palm in two hundred years, and this one is just a young sprout and it’s already as thick as a wrist.”

“I seem to see a bush of gold coins.”

“Haha, it’s a tree that bears gold coins.”

“Who would have thought the most useless thorns would turn out to be the most useful wood.”

The banquet was filled with laughter and good spirits, all expressing anticipation for the morrow of the Rapid Growth Iron Thorns.

After Liszt and others had finished their discussion,

they raised their glasses, full of high spirits, “We can’t be sure it’s a money tree yet, but you can keep an eye on it and study it, to unearth its full value completely. If it really is a money tree, we’ll have to plant it on a large scale, it would be best to plant Rapid Growth Iron Thorns everywhere on Thorn Ridge where the land can’t be cultivated.”

Everyone raised their glasses and responded loudly, “As you wish, my lord.”

After dinner,

Liszt, slightly inebriated, walked around the castle’s estate and played with Douson for a while before planning to return to the study to read. He was preparing to learn a new foreign language—Wind Language, the language of the Eagle Kingdom.

Old Geronte, a well-traveled man who knows both Serpent Script and Wind Language, is the only one in Fresh Flower Town for now; therefore, he temporarily handed the management of the Fresh Flower Caravan to Abagon. He himself returned to Fresh Flower Town to serve as a translator, coordinating the officials in managing the new 476 serfs, and also undertaking to teach Wind Language.

Mastering a foreign language is indeed somewhat useful.

However, Old Geronte was too busy with tasks to teach individually, so he contributed a notebook from his early years of learning Wind Language to Liszt.

In this notebook, there were records of rather everyday Wind Language and how to pronounce them using Serpent Script.

Learning is tedious, and although interesting at first glance, after two days, his patience wore thin. While passing by the Worm Room, he simply went in to tease his Elf Bugs.

All nine Elf Bugs were kept in one large box.

It was like raising silkworms, except these “worms” were colorful and competed in beauty. He reached in and touched each one; Elf Bugs had smooth exteriors which felt nice to the touch. Some were lethargic, not moving at all, while others were energetic, roaming about, including the Thorn Bug.

The gray-white Thorn Bug was not exactly eye-catching, originally the least conspicuous among the group of Elf Bugs.

But now, he always felt that this Thorn Bug stood out from the rest.

“This is…” The effect of alcohol made his brain react a bit slow. After pausing, he suddenly jerked awake, “It’s gotten fat, the Thorn Bug has gotten fat! It’s obviously larger than the other Elf Bugs! This is a signal of evolution!”

Tulip Castle bred over a hundred Elf Bugs.

He often played with Elf Bugs as a child, even witnessing firsthand two of them break through into Little Minor Elves. The biggest change in Elf Bugs before their breakthrough was “getting fat,” a phenomenon usually referred to as the Fat Pupa Stage. Little Minor Elves, unlike butterflies, do not undergo metamorphosis by cocooning; they simply get fat directly.

During the process of getting fat, Elf Bugs slowly decay and age.

If unlucky, they simply die of old age and turn to dust.

If lucky, one day, the Little Minor Elf will break through its exterior and emerge, spreading its wings to fly.

“It’s the Fat Pupa Stage!”

Liszt was now fully sober, his entire body overtaken by tense emotions that mingled with a hesitant excitement. The Fat Pupa Stage was indeed a signal of evolution but also a signal of death. Elf Bugs wouldn’t last long at this stage; at most, one to two months. Failure meant death; there was no third option.

“Only one or two months left. This little time might not even be enough to complete the Thorn Bug’s chain tasks. I must help it!”

The plump Thorn Bug scuttled around the box non-stop.

From time to time, it would lift its head and gaze at Liszt with eyes like black sesame seeds, expressing affection. At the same time, Liszt could feel a restlessness in its emotions—perhaps a longing and impulsion for evolution. Counting them up, it had already affected four types of mutated thorns.

No detailed documentation explained the impact of Elf Bugs on plants, but Liszt was convinced it definitely had to do with the Elf Bugs’ moods.

The thorns had been extremely violent lately, continuously mutating.

“How am I to help it?”

“Provide it with nutrition, fertilize the Cordyceps every day?”

“Expand the area of the thorn bushes?”

“These seem like common methods. They may be effective for evolution but not determinative… The chance of evolving mostly comes down to luck.” Adequate nutrition, to a large extent, is capable of breeding Elf Bugs, but it cannot ensure their breakthrough.

After much thought, it seemed that only the Smoke Mission might truly help the Thorn Bug.

“I must complete the Thorn Bug’s chain tasks as soon as possible, starting with the ‘Bottleneck of Dou Qi’ task at hand. Starting tomorrow, I will personally supervise the construction of the workshop!”

His mind was made up.

Liszt let go of his tension and smiled as he watched his Elf Bugs, especially the Thorn Bug.

The decisive moment that would determine fate had arrived: “Little guy, you need to work hard.”

As if sensing Liszt’s encouragement, the Thorn Bug propped up half its body, locking eyes with Liszt with its sesame-seed eyes, full of emotion.

It was brimming with confidence!

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