September 21.
It had been nine days since Levis's wedding.
After extracting all the Fire Dragon Magic Power on Black Horse Island, Liszt took a ship back to Fresh Flower Town, preparing to spend a leisurely life in Fresh Flower Town.
It was mostly to prepare for the upcoming Pioneer Mandate—soon after the Earl's birthday, he would head to The Court to attend the Grand Duke's followers eting to officially discuss this year's Pioneer Mandate.
The footsteps of war were approaching.
Liszt, who had already decided to go to battle for the second ti, was not nervous, only excited. He was excited for the impending military achievents, for setting foot in new lands, and for the plunder of population and resources. It was hard to imagine that he, who once loved peace, would beco soone yearning for war.
Perhaps he was also scared of poverty.
Not long after returning to Fresh Flower Town, a knight from Tulip Castle galloped over and delivered a package. The package, which had been sent from Red Crab Island, contained several piano scores—ioubao had indeed sent his treasured piano scores that he had collected over the years to Liszt, along with a book on his own experience of playing the piano.
When he received the piano scores,
the Smoke Mission also imdiately changed.
"The mission has changed."
As expected, after receiving the reward in advance, the Smoke Mission automatically changed.
The new Serpent Script quickly coalesced, "Mission: The craftsman Atest from the Fire Dragon Brick Factory has revealed clues to quartz mines, showing you a glimr of hope in glassmaking. Please explore how quartz mines can be used to make glass, and successfully craft an ordinary glass product. Reward: Collapsed Sinkhole."
"Collapsed Sinkhole?"
"What kind of reward is this?"
Liszt looked at the Smoke Serpent Script's reward content, puzzled. It seed that a sinkhole was about to collapse and reveal itself in a corner of his domain.
Speaking of sinkholes.
There are many sinkholes on Earth, often appearing very mysterious. Liszt had watched a docuntary where they talked about the formation of sinkholes, usually related to underground rivers. In karst areas, the underground rivers continuously erode the surface to form caves, and after multiple collapses of the cave ceiling, sinkholes form.
"It seems that Fresh Flower Town has no connection to karst landforms, and Black Horse Island is irrelevant to karst landforms as well..." Liszt's geographic knowledge was not good—he only knew that karst landforms, also known as karst topography, are related to caves, underground rivers, stalactites, and sinkholes.
But these landforms were not present on Coral Island or Black Horse Island.
So he couldn't figure out how this Collapsed Sinkhole was going to appear on his land, and he could only wait. Fortunately, the wait was not long. The Thorn Caravan had already brought in a large number of yellow-white stones—these stones ca from the Viscount Jonas's territory of Serpent Spear City.
There was a low hill around Serpent Spear City, all made of this kind of stone.
Whether or not it was quartz, a test would tell.
Liszt, having nothing else to do at the ti, went back to Black Horse Island by ship and observed the workers at the Fire Dragon Brick Factory burning these stones. Through the Eye of Magic's vision, the Magic Little Fire Dragon continuously blasted onto the stones, quickly burning away the impurities within them.
Then the remaining part began to soften and lt, eventually forming blobs of liquid resembling sunlight.
Calling it a liquid wasn't quite accurate; it was a soft semi-fluid, like a piece of play-dough.
"When the temperature is not too high, this kind of stone only softens, then lts, and finally becos a true liquid," Atest explained. "However, liquid isn't suitable for blowing glass objects, so we start blowing them when they beco soft."
They had already been using volcanic glass, painstakingly forging the craft of glassblowing.
Seeing the stones lt into a fiery mass, they imdiately scooped out this semi-fluid, inserted it into an iron pipe, and began to blow air into it. They even used special high-temperature-resistant beast skin gloves to knead the glowing mass of molten glass—a world filled with magic power often imparted unique properties to many materials.
The gloves that Liszt distributed to the craftsn were made from the hide of a magical beast, able to withstand temperatures of several hundred degrees.
Originally they were intended to prevent burns during brick firing, but now they were being used to make glass.
As the craftsn kneaded and worked the material, the blob that had initially been blown into a ball gradually turned into a cylindrical jar. With the help of a bellows to blow and cool it down, a glass jar with so colorful patterns quickly ca into being—not entirely pure, but very clear.
"Indeed, this ore is quartz, capable of being made into glass... The quality isn't very high; both the craftsmanship and the raw materials need to be improved."
The glass jars were uneven in thickness, asymtrical in shape, and their colors were ssy, and even their hardness could not be guaranteed.
Liszt only played with a glass jar for a little while before accidentally breaking it, probably due to uneven stress distribution during cooling.
Regardless.
Glass had been born in his hands, and that exquisite clarity was sure to set off a trend in this world, bringing a steady stream of wealth to the territory—but before selling glass products abroad, they would need further improvents in the process and mass training of the workers.
The process of making a finished glass product was complicated, and relying on just the few craftsn from the Fire Dragon Brick Factory was severely insufficient.
Just as he was about to personally blow a presentable glass piece, a Retainer Knight hurried over to report, "My lord, an accident has occurred at the Burial Ground; serfs were stacking volcanic glass ore when the ground in the centre of those five large bones suddenly collapsed, revealing a huge pit. Four serfs have fallen into the hole."
"A pit?"
Liszt had to interrupt his plan to blow glass himself and head to the Burial Ground. He had already understood that this was a reward from the Smoke Mission—the Collapsed Sinkhole.
On the way, he summoned the Smoke Mission: "Complete the mission, reward Collapsed Sinkhole."
Then, a new mission was released.
"Mission: The Collapsed Sinkhole has exposed the bases of five reviving Dragon Bones, and sothing seems to be brewing. As a mber of the Magic Goat Family, Virginia Truth may have the clues you need. Reward: A fire seed composed of magic power."
"The Collapsed Sinkhole exposes the bases of five Dragon Bones, it seems that this is another part of a series of connected missions about Fire Dragons. Virginia Truth... I'll ask her later. But what is this reward, a fire seed composed of magic power? What does it an, or what is it?"
In the midst of his thoughts.
He had arrived at the Burial Ground.
Many people were gathered around the five Fire Dragon Bones, discussing animatedly. When they saw Liszt arrive, the official overseeing the work imdiately dispersed the serfs and welcod Liszt.
"What happened, what's down in the pit? Have the fallen serfs been rescued?" Liszt asked as he walked.
"My lord, four serfs fell down; three are dead, only Sean is still alive. But his leg is broken, and he lies on a pile of stones at the bottom of the pit. We are looking for ropes to get him out. As for what's down there, we're not yet sure, the pit is very dark."
Soon.
Approaching the edge of the Collapsed Sinkhole, Liszt looked carefully—the opening was not very large, at most a hundred square ters in a circle.
Standing at the edge of the hole and peering down, it was pitch black and hard to see, but he could hear the serfs' cries and Sean's moaning from below.
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