The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 725: Chapter 0722: Choice (First Update)
 

The Light Green Gemstone Dragon lay dying, Liszt quickly discovered that those colorful roots were emanating from a small shrub.

The shrub had grown out of a small pit located right beside the head of the Light Green Gemstone Dragon.

“If I remember correctly, I left this small pit. There was once a Mind Fruit Tree growing here, and to prevent the Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruit from losing its magic power, I transplanted the whole withered Mind Fruit Tree away. I didn’t expect another small tree to grow in the pit, and it’s absorbing the magic power of the Light Green Gemstone Dragon.”

After confirming that there was no danger coming from either the Light Green Gemstone Dragon or the small shrub,

Liszt then leaped off the back of Leo and jumped onto the body of the Light Green Gemstone Dragon. This dragon was a skeleton of skin and bones and not yet dead, but its breath was severely weakened, and death was not far away. There was no blood flowing from its wounds, nor were they healing, just streaks of split white flesh.

That was what muscles looked like after all the blood had been drained.

“No wonder the Smoke Mission indicated that I could obtain a dragon, this Light Green Gemstone Dragon is practically on its deathbed, and there’s no difficulty in obtaining it,”

Liszt muttered to himself.

He knew that securing a dragon wouldn’t be that easy; at least a series of Smoke Missions would need to be issued, gently tugging at the Threads of Destiny of a dragon, before it would completely fall into his hands—Leo came to him in this way, and the Formless Dragon also completed several looped missions.

He stepped down from the body of the Light Green Gemstone Dragon and slowly approached the small shrub. After making sure it truly was not dangerous, he abruptly gestured for Ach to come over.

As for Leo,@@novelbin@@

it seemed rather irate after seeing the dire state of the Light Green Gemstone Dragon and was very wary of the shrub in the pit on Mind Island.

But Liszt didn’t have time to console it at the moment.

He squatted by the pit, carefully observing the small shrub within, and noticed that the whole tree was suffused with colorful magic power—magic power he had only seen once before.

“The Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruit is charged with this color of magic power!”

“So could this be a new Mind Fruit Tree?”

“The location of growth is the same, the color of magic power is the same, and this tree is also absorbing the dragon’s magic power to grow—it’s obviously gearing up to cultivate the Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruit!”

With this realization, he noticed something different.

On the branches of the small shrub, he found between four forks of the branches some buds, tiny and unopened, but seemingly expanding very slowly.

Comparing it to the Mind Fruit Tree’s withered wood within his Space Ring, he observed that both trees were very similar in shape, the twist of the branches and the structure were identical. The only difference was that the withered tree had already shed its bark and couldn’t return to its true posture during growth.

Ach had already leaped off the Water Tornado and joined the research contingent.

Liszt softly called upon the Smoke Mission, “Complete the mission, and be rewarded with a Light Green Gemstone Dragon.” As expected, the mission was accomplished.

Immediately afterward, a new mission was presented.

“Mission: You have now gained temporary ownership of a Light Green Gemstone Dragon. However, its physical condition is poor, and life hangs by a thread. You possess the power to choose its fate: let the Light Green Gemstone Dragon be consumed by the Mind Fruit Tree to cultivate new Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruit, or remove the Mind Fruit Tree and thus save the Light Green Gemstone Dragon. Reward: a Light Green Gemstone Mine.”

“Can’t I choose both?”

Liszt inwardly lamented. He wanted both the Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruit and the Light Green Gemstone Dragon! The Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruit was the assurance for future Dragon Riding, almost ensuring victory in every Mind Battle; whereas the Light Green Gemstone Dragon could be considered an immediate combat force, a resource production unit that could be promptly put to use. Flesh on the palm or back of the hand, he was unwilling to let go of either.

“Frustrating!”

“Why, after you’ve promised me a dragon as a reward, would you choose to take it away?”

He turned around, entangled in his thoughts, and asked, “Ach, the situation is quite clear now. One one hand, there’s the Light Green Gemstone Dragon—just by removing this Mind Fruit Tree, it could save the Light Green Gemstone Dragon; on the other hand, there are the Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruits—if we let the Mind Fruit Tree consume the Light Green Gemstone Dragon, it would bear four Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruits.”

He paused, then asked, “What do you think I should choose?”

“Brother, Ach thinks we should let the Light Green Gemstone Dragon be consumed to cultivate the Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruits.”

“Hmm?” Liszt was surprised, as it seemed Ach’s decision was a bit too decisive.

Yet Ach said earnestly, “The Light Green Gemstone Dragon bears the Mind Branding of the First Dragon Knight, and even if its injuries heal, it’s not certain you could ride it, brother. Moreover, the Eagle Kingdom would not simply let its dragon be lost to the outside world; imprisoning it would come with great risk. The most profitable trade would be to exchange it for four Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruits—then you could ride four more dragons in the future!”

It made a lot of sense.

Liszt didn’t know how to refute at that moment.

He wanted a dragon, and he wanted one now, especially with the dragon right before him, arousing his desire even more. But as Ach had said, it’s not as if the Light Green Gemstone Dragon would willingly become his just because he wanted it. Mind Branding is hard to erase unless he was willing to pay the price of a Bewildering Dragon Mind Fruit.

Clearly, that was not an option; saving a four-hundred-year-old critically injured dragon and then losing out on a future dragon was not worth it.

But to give up on it was also a difficult decision to make.

After all, the dragon was right before him, the very creature countless knights went mad over, tantalizingly within reach—even though he already had Leo, he still couldn’t make up his mind.

Ach spoke again, “Brother, the Light Green Gemstone Dragon looks like it won’t last much longer; you’d better make a decision quickly. If you give up the Light Green Gemstone Dragon, Ach would like to experiment on it before it dies, witnessing a dragon’s death will definitely enrich Ach’s understanding of the essence of magic power!”

He looked at the Light Green Gemstone Dragon, barely clinging to life.

He looked at the blooming Mind Fruit Tree.

Then he looked at Ach’s expectant expression, and Liszt finally made his decision, “I give up the Light Green Gemstone Dragon, Ach, go ahead and experiment.” He kept reassuring himself that it was for Ach’s sake, for her experiments, that he was painfully forgoing a dragon—Ach was more important than a dragon!

“Hehe, Ach will start the experiment then!” Ach was very happy. She liked dragons, but after becoming an Archmage, she was more interested in studying them, “It’s really such a big, beautiful dragon. Ach never thought that one day she would have a dragon as experimental material; it feels so fortunate!”

Liszt looked skyward.

He sighed softly at a 45-degree angle.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Leo circling Mind Island, full of wariness towards the Mind Fruit Tree, sensing instinctively the immense threat the tree posed to dragons.

Liszt suppressed the sorrow in his heart.

He went straight to the cliff’s edge and waved Leo into his body to sleep, to prevent Leo from being unable to resist and destroying the Mind Fruit Tree—an Evil Dragon when confronted with something threatening its existence would not flee easily but would rather face it head-on to destroy it as the best response.

He called Leo back.

Then he returned and watched how Ach collected samples, manipulated her experimental apparatus, and provoked physiological responses from the Light Green Gemstone Dragon.

The more he watched, the more uncomfortable he felt.

So he sat down on the edge of a small pit, staring blankly at the four half-blossomed buds, falling into a daze—the dragon, a dragon, just giving up like that!

“No! ”

“I’m doing this for the future of an entire forest, giving up just one tree!”