The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

The value of the Sky-Cleaving Greatsword was hard to judge.

Considering the gemstone settings, the price difference between sapphires and rubies was not significant. Seen purely as a gemstone weapon, it was on the same level as the Crimson Blood Sword.

Compared to the Earl's longsword, which had two gems embedded, there was quite a gap—setting a single gemstone was manageable, but embedding two required much more skill to coordinate without interference between the stones.

However, the Sky-Cleaving Greatsword was not a standard gemstone weapon.

The hilt was carved with a magic array, a feature of magic equipment, which, with the blessing of the array, allowed it to better leverage the power of the sapphire.

In addition, the sword's blade was made from the bones of an intermediate magical beast mixed with magic metal fine gold. This material was significantly better than the fine steel of the Crimson Blood Sword, which had been mixed with mithril.

"In my opinion, its value might be a bit less than the Swift Shadow Bow, but more upscale than the Crimson Blood Sword," Liszt had already decided to replace his Crimson Blood Sword with it.

As for the Crimson Blood Sword, he planned to keep it as a spare weapon in the Gemstone Space.

...

After the meeting was over.

Liszt quickly oversaw the allocation of battle achievements for the Black Knight Order, mainly distributing magic equipment. There were a total of eleven pieces of magic equipment, and he picked out two for himself.

One was an Amplification Bracelet that could slightly enhance the level of Dou Qi.

After replacing the Crimson Blood Sword with the Sky-Cleaving Greatsword, he needed a piece of magic equipment to replace the function of the Crimson Blood Sword. The bracelet, which could boost Dou Qi, had a slight effect, but it was better than nothing.

The other was a Stabilizing Ring, worn on the thumb, which could stabilize the Dou Qi in the hands when shooting an arrow, thereby improving archery precision.

He wasn't very reliant on this magic equipment.

But since he had acquired them, why not use them? Even if they weren't used, it would be good to keep them in the Gemstone Space as a collection.

All knights participated in the allocation of this batch of resources, which could be privately divided: Gold Coins and magic equipment, as well as a few common Dou Qi Manuscripts. A clerk recorded the distributed resources, and after returning to Coral Island, these pre-distributions would be taken into account when allocating battle achievements.

Subsequently.

Liszt began his new task—training the landwalker bird Loki.

This was a critical period for taming. The landwalker bird was on the verge of transformation, its magic power ready to burst forth at any moment. Thus, Liszt planned to quickly establish a conditioned reflex with Loki, solidifying their riding relationship. Previously, the landwalker bird had already helped him participate in Sky Knight battles effectively.

Next, he wanted to charge into battle shoulder to shoulder with the landwalker bird.

Ordinary warhorses charged at around 60 kilometers per hour, which was precisely the most common speed at which a landwalker bird could run, and it could maintain this pace for most of the day.

He tamed Loki until late into the night and then personally fed it before returning to the castle.

He couldn't sleep yet, as he had to take potions and practice "Breath Decay"—regardless of how difficult the conditions were, his training routine could not be neglected. In fact, the conditions weren't too difficult; everything he needed—magical beast meat, magic potions, dragon breed milk—was all stored in the Gemstone Space.

Not long after taking the potions, just as he was about to take a bath, someone knocked on his door.

"My lord, the armor for Douson has been crafted, but Douson doesn't want to wear it," entered Zavier, a retainer knight with a quick wit, who was held in high esteem by Liszt.

"Let me have a look."

Arriving at Douson's tent, it was gnawing on a large bone, while a few retainer knights stood by, holding the armor. They dared not force Douson to wear the armor as it was unwilling.

Now that Liszt had arrived, soon Douson was forced into dog armor. The armor protected its neck and upper body, which were the most vulnerable to attack.

As for the helmet, they didn't create one for Douson. Firstly, there was no blacksmith to forge a suitable helmet, and secondly, the helmet might have interfered with Douson's magic casting.

Dressed in the dog armor, Douson felt uncomfortable and constantly tried to take it off.

Liszt had an idea.

Thinking back to the initial teaching of the new magic "Rock Wall" to Douson—simulation, demonstration—he found a rock and smashed it in front of Douson.

Douson looked on, puzzled, and decided to lower its head to continue gnawing on its big bone.

Quickly, Liszt put a set of fine steel armor, dismantled by half, atop the rock and struck it again. With two clangs, the rock, protected by the armor, did not shatter. He shook the rock in front of Douson, repeating the routine, trying to get Douson to understand that armor could protect it.

Nevertheless, Douson still refused to wear the armor.

After persisting for an hour, and the night having grown deep, it still refused to wear the dog armor. Just when Liszt was getting impatient, Douson suddenly opened its mouth, and the next moment, a layer of cracked rock quickly surfaced on its body, wrapping itself—only partially, as most of its torso remained uncovered.

"Hm!"

Liszt raised an eyebrow, "Good, it seems the magic you've learned can completely replace this set of dog armor, so... Douson, take a few steps to try it out!"

The cracked rock armor, distributed across the neck, forehead, shoulders, back, and thighs, looked like it was adhering to the body, not hindering movement as it cracked or contracted with its steps.

"Woof woof!"

Douson barked proudly, showing off its new armor.

Liszt hammered the rock armor, finding it very sturdy, and unlike ordinary rock, it seemed to have reached a crystalline level. Under the illumination of candlelight, it even had a faint translucency. With effort, he could break off a piece.

Then, he thrust violently with a spear, and with a loud thump, the rock was sent flying but didn't immediately crack.

"With the force I just used, even fine steel armor would have been pierced, but the rock didn't crack. Its hardness is almost catching up with mithril armor!"

Liszt was quite astonished.

He then summoned the Smoke Mission.

"Complete the mission, reward Douson with new magic—Firmstone Armor."

"Firmstone Armor? I remember now, Elkerson mentioned that within the Earth System magic, there is a spell that only a grand magician can master, called Firmstone Armor. It can arm oneself like armor, defending against attacks, many grand magicians proficient in Earth System magic like to research Firmstone Armor."

However, very few grand magicians successfully learned this magic—of course, magicians were already rare to begin with.

"My Douson is growing stronger." He used Eye of Magic to gauge the level of magic power consumption and found that Douson's magic power had thinned significantly, suggesting that Firmstone Armor was highly demanding of magic power, and he couldn't help patting the rock on Douson's body, "Douson, take it off, can you remove it?"

He made several gestures.

Douson quickly understood, shaking its body as if shaking off water, and the yellow-gray rocks were flung in all directions, not a single one remaining.

"Very good, now let's learn a new command—Douson, Firmstone Armor!" Liszt decided to strike while the iron was hot and get Douson accustomed to its new magic as quickly as possible.

Lest it forget.