BXBX NOVEL Chapter 40 - 0040: Why Wild Corn Looks Like This
Just as Liszt had properly settled the little wheat bug’s cordyceps, suddenly the steward Gejir from Little Wheat Village told him something, “Lord Landlord, I don’t know if I should mention it.”
“What is it, please tell me.” Liszt’s eyes lit up, thinking that the other party might be about to reveal information about the formless dragon to him.
Yet, Gejir said, “Lord Landlord, I’ve found three very strange plants on the wasteland of Little Wheat Village. They’re exceptionally tall, about two to three meters, and lush green. Our chickens are very fond of eating their leaves.”
“It’s corn!”
Liszt immediately realized that the lead given by the steward wasn’t about the formless dragon, but about three wild corn plants. He promptly ordered the steward to take him there—corn, the anticipated corn.
However, once they arrived before the wild corn plants, Liszt was plunged into confusion.
“Gejir, how long ago did you find these three plants?”
“It’s been three months now.”
“Have they always looked like this?”
“Yes, Lord Landlord.”
Liszt habitually touched the Crimson Blood Sword hanging at his waist.
He had kept the sword with him at all times; the magic power of the ruby constantly stimulated his fire attribute Dou Qi, nourishing and growing it. In other words, with the sword, he was always in training. Eat a little more magic potion in the future, and it wouldn’t be impossible to become a Sky Knight.
He kept examining the three wild corn plants.
The corn in front of him wasn’t a single straight stalk with a few leaves and a bunch of flowers on top, with one or two ears of corn in the middle. Instead, it was a messy cluster of several stalks, each tipped with a bunch of flowers, and where the ears of corn should’ve been growing in the middle, there were a few tiny toothpicks.
The toothpicks were segmented, each segment was a grass seed.
“Don’t tell me wild corn looks like this. This isn’t corn; it’s wheat!” Deep down, Liszt was hurt. He knew very well that the three wild corn plants were these three plants in front of him.
But he couldn’t accept it.
What happened to the large, plump ears of corn that were promised?
“This is simply grass for livestock to eat Ah, I remember now, these three wild corn plants should probably be called Mexican corn grass?”
Liszt, who had experience growing crops in his hometown, recalled that someone in the village had planted a certain pig grass, which was fed to pigs, known as Mexican corn grass. It was said to be a very high-yield forage, particularly favored by pigs, cows, and sheep.
“That must be it. If it were real corn, there would be no need to use the word ‘wild’ before it, as it seems corn does not have wild varieties, it’s the result of millions of years of human cultivation.” With this understanding, he could only sigh inwardly and console himself, “At least I’ve obtained a high-yield variety of forage, not a loss.”
He composed his disappointed feelings.
Liszt put on a noble’s restrained and subtle smile anew, “Gejir, based on my judgment, this grass is called corn grass, and it’s a highly productive forage that livestock are fond of. Chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cows, and sheep all like to eat it. From now on, you need to take good care of it; I need its seeds.”
“Yes, Lord Landlord! Gejir will make sure to protect the corn grass, not allowing any serf or any livestock to get close to it!”
“Very good. I will inform Teacher Goltai, and when the time comes, he will make further arrangements. You just wait to cooperate.”
“Yes, Lord Landlord.”
After one last look at the Mexican corn grass, Liszt took a deep breath and lifted his riding crop, “Let’s go back!”
The placement of the little wheat bug’s cordyceps went very smoothly, and thus the peanut bug, alfalfa bug, tulip bug, and little wheat bug had all been adequately settled.
Only the placement of the thorn bug was still uncertain, and the millet fields for the millet bug were still being planned.
Nevertheless, the elves would be given the best care.
On the way back, Liszt bumped into Marcus, who was on his way to see him at the castle.
“Teacher Marcus, what’s the matter?”
“My lord, I heard from Sir Goltai that you were inquiring about the Formless Dragon?”
“Oh, you know about the Formless Dragon?”
“I’ve heard of it,” Marcus said seriously. “It was mentioned in a knight’s novel that had been torn in half, a book I read when I was very young. I don’t know the name of it.”
“Is that so? How was the Formless Dragon described in it?” Liszt knew that the reward for completing the Little Wheat Bug task had come.
Marcus explained, “The novel said that apart from the Gemstone Dragon, Metal Dragon, and Elemental Dragons, there is another type of dragon called the Sacred Dragon. The Formless Dragon is a type of Sacred Dragon; it is transparent, and no one can see its form. Wherever it goes, it brings endless disasters.”
“Disasters? Then why is it called a Sacred Dragon?”
“Because it can produce a very special gemstone.”
“A special gemstone? It should be categorized with the Gemstone Dragons then, right? And what’s this special gemstone, does it possess any different powers?”
“This gemstone is related to a legendary piece of equipment. Have you heard of a Space Ring, my lord? It’s a small ring that can hold a lot of things.”
This world also has Space Rings?
Liszt searched his predecessor’s memories but hadn’t heard of it. He then said, “No, so, do Space Rings really exist? Or rather, can the gemstones produced by the Formless Dragon be used to craft Space Rings?”
“I don’t know whether Space Rings exist or not, and even if they do, they would be priceless treasures that only true Nobles could possess,” replied Marcus. “The knight’s novel I read indeed stated that wherever the Formless Dragon went, in addition to endless disasters, it would also leave behind gemstones it produced. Whoever found them would possess a Space Ring.”
“What happened then?”
“That’s all there was.”
“Doesn’t the book contain any more information about the Formless Dragon?”
“No, and I believe it’s just a story fabricated by people. You know how those novels that inspire our knightly glory are often just full of fabrications by the authors with their eyes wide open.” Marcus had come specially to tell Liszt this information, but clearly, he didn’t believe in the existence of the Formless Dragon himself.
Liszt couldn’t confirm or deny this and continued to ask, “Then, are there any other Sacred Dragons?”
“I don’t know, the book was missing half, and the part I read only introduced the Sacred Dragon, solely focusing on the Formless Dragon.”
After Marcus left.
Liszt still didn’t understand.
What exactly was the meaning of the task reward, the information on the Formless Dragon?
Was it simply to inform him through a task that he now had knowledge of the Formless Dragon? Or did it imply that there was a Formless Dragon nearby that he could go and capture? Or perhaps it meant that a Formless Dragon was going to attack Fresh Flower Town, and he should be on guard? Of course, there was also the possibility that a Formless Dragon might come to deliver equipment, maybe even a Space Ring?
While pondering, the smoke in front of him appeared again.
“Task completed, reward: Information on the Formless Dragon.”
After a twist in the air, a new task was issued: “Task: The sudden appearance of wild corn in Little Wheat Village has caught your attention, hasn’t it, my lord? You need to consider why wild corn is growing in Little Wheat Village. Perhaps there is more wild corn nearby. Please find the original habitat of the wild corn. Reward: New information on the Formless Dragon.”
Quickly, Liszt focused his attention on the reward for the new task.
“Again with information on the Formless Dragon, what in the world is this, how much information about the Formless Dragon are they going to tell me?”