The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Emily was assigned to a Knight Squad. As a female knight, especially such a young one, it certainly brought some trouble.

She lacked the independent financial means to buy weapons and hire retainers, so all the arrangements were made by Li Si Te (Liszt).

Had it not been for the hint of genius indicated by the Smoke Mission, merely based on the potential she had shown, it wouldn't have been worth Liszt's trouble—by his current status, he no longer needed to treat his followers with special favor. Instead, it was the followers who had to strive to prove themselves before him.

It was clear to everyone that following Liszt meant a guaranteed share of military exploits.

This was the most promising viscount in the Grand Duchy. Becoming an earl was the minimum expectation, and a marquis was also within the normal realm of possibility.

However, Emily was specifically named by the Smoke Mission. It was believed that the power of destiny wouldn't haphazardly pull strings to have Liszt take notice of a good-for-nothing.
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Perhaps, Emily would become the Grand Duchy's first female Sky Knight in the future.

From then on.

Emily and her Knight Squad trained relentlessly at Black Horse Ranch on Black Horse Island. They rehearsed knightly charge formations, ready to confront enemy knights in a charge at any moment. She had to continually improve her combat strength; even on the battlefield where the advantage was great and the protection thorough, there still existed the possibility of death.

She wasn't like Liszt at the beginning, who had the Black Dragon Childe Paris secretly protecting him. Once on the battlefield, Liszt would not go out of his way to protect her.

Surviving meant growth.

Dying only signified Liszt's failed investment, nothing more.

"Charge!"

Ma Ku Si (Marcus), riding his warhorse, commanded half of the Knight Order to a thundering impact across the field, their Dou Qi forming an unbroken front. Had Liszt used the Eye of Magic to observe, he would have seen a colorful mist of magic power enveloping the knights. This surging Dou Qi disturbed all the stray magic power in the air.

Making magicians seem redundant.

The powerful elite Knight Orders, when bursting with waves of Dou Qi, could drown even a Sky Knight in a continuous sea of energy, leaving them to be tragically trampled to death under the horse hooves.

Of course, a Sky Knight would not be foolish enough to confront a charging Knight Order head-on.

Sky Knights have their own way of combat—Sword Fight.

"Ha!"

"Ah!"

Emily, amidst the squad with her armor soaked by sweat underneath, maintained an utterly focused expression. When she practiced Dou Qi alone, she felt her training was stalling without the previous exhilaration. But charging with the knights, in addition to the exhilarating feeling,

she also felt new Dou Qi continuously emerging in her body. That was the nourishment provided by Lord Landlord through the food he supplied incessantly.

"For Lord Landlord's cultivation!"

"Charge!"

With a surge of high spirits, Emily suddenly lunged forward with her spear, her Thunder Attribute Dou Qi becoming even sharper under the enhancement of the battle formation, piercing the air and producing a cracking sonic boom.

This charge let her distinctly feel her power increase by another half again.

"This is progress. Even the charges on the training ground can give me such great improvement. When issued with a Pioneer Mandate, on the real battlefield, what kind of force will that pressure give me?"

She was not sure at the moment.

But she looked forward to it.

...

Dodo Island, Volcano Crater.

Liszt was also cultivating. The Little Fire Dragon Leo transformed into a mass of magic power, condensing at its chest area.

One magic potion after another was popped into Liszt's stomach, then absorbed by Leo, transforming into impure magic power, enhancing the quality of his Dragon Dou Qi—Liszt thought, although the magic power lifting his own Dou Qi was considered impurity after Leo's absorption, it was far more condensed in quality than the magic of the magic potions.

As long as he kept transforming and enhancing it steadily, sooner or later, his Dragon Dou Qi would synchronize with Fire Dragon Magic Power, reaching the same limit quality.

At that time, perhaps one of his attacks would last for thousands of years without fading: "Just like in some novels, where the sword intent of an unparalleled expert remains in the air, and even after tens of thousands of years, can still kill. Perhaps sooner or later, I will become an expert who comprehends the 'sword intent' of the Fire Attribute," he speculated.

Of course.

To unleash "sword intent," which is the magic of ultimate quality, there might be many restrictions.

Based on the magic that Leo was currently releasing, every time it exhaled flames or flapped them, it was just turning ordinary levels of magic into reality, only slightly stronger than the Fire System magic of a magician. That real Fire Dragon Magic Power was all stored within its body, not casually leaked out.

Even its body was made up of the ultimate quality Fire Dragon Magic Power—that's why it could switch between a corporeal body and a magical form at will.

Therefore.

Dragons usually hunt and fight.

They likely use ordinary attacks, and only in a life-or-death battle would they release "sword intent."

For example, in the Neverfall Empire, there is a Windhowl Valley, where the magic power of a Wind Dragon had been permanently inscribed. It was the remnant of a life-or-death battle between a Wind Dragon and an Archmage, and even after thousands of years had passed, it could still stir up ferocious winds. An ordinary Wind Dragon roaming freely certainly would not leave magic behind at will.

Otherwise, wherever it went, there would certainly be storms non-stop.

Sooner or later, the entire continent would be contaminated by these Elemental Dragons, Metal Dragons, Gemstone Dragons, and even Sacred Dragons. Yet, traces of their existence are rare, and most people would die for the metals and gemstones formed by their magic power.

...

Dragon Magic Refining Qi.

Continuously ongoing.

Liszt could feel his Dragon Dou Qi growing stronger unceasingly.

As his emotions surged, his thoughts flew: "If the ultimate quality Dragon Magic Power is the key for dragons to freely switch between magic form and a corporeal body, then once I cultivate to where my body also fills with ultimate quality Dragon Dou Qi, might I be able to transform as well?"

In a vague sense, he felt he had stumbled upon much content regarding the cultivation of Dragon Knights.

The cultivation continued, as did his thinking: "Can all dragons freely switch forms, or is the Little Fire Dragon Leo just an exception?"

Unfortunately, without a benchmark, Liszt was uncertain.

But as far as he could tell, Leo hasn't shown too many abnormalities and seems to be rather like the proud dragons described in knight novels—resistant to being ridden, except by those with a protagonist's halo; many knight novels depict dragons proactively sticking to the protagonist to be ridden.

By that standard, Liszt did not have a protagonist's halo.

"Without more evidence to prove that Leo is a mutation, I should treat it as a normal Fire Dragon… According to the theory I just finished writing in 'The Conjectures on the Nexus of the Magic Net, Elves, and Dragons,' within the Magic Net system, dragons are a crossroads between magic rules and physical rules."

Freely switching between magic form and corporeal body.

That obviously represents the transformation between magic and matter, fitting with his theory.

Thus he pondered further: "Perhaps the path of a Dragon Knight's cultivation is to turn oneself into a node within the Magic Web? Mastering both physical rules and magic rules?"

It was a bold conjecture.

He needed more clues to verify it, for now he could only come up with a name for this form of Dragon Magic Power: "Dragon's Intent?"