Chapter 758 -0755: Tail Feather Transformation (First Update)

The two phoenixes, as large as elephants, were all bound to the ground, giving Liszt the opportunity to closely examine the phoenixes, which are known as Sub-dragons.

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Sub-dragons are considered Super Dragonkin Magical Beasts.

Theoretically, they are second only to dragons in strength, but Liszt felt they did indeed possess some power, yet to claim they were second only to dragons seemed to somewhat underestimate the gap between magical beasts and dragons. The disparity was vast, akin to the chasm between ordinary knights and Dragon Knights, or perhaps a rift.

No wonder even Noble Landlords who aren’t Dragon Knights also think of venturing into the mountains to capture phoenixes; it seems these Nobles have an understanding of Sub-dragon magical beasts.

They know that the power of a Sub-dragon is limited, belonging to a capture-able category.

However, for Sub-dragons to be known as creatures second only to dragons, they must possess some magic — their magic power is of a High Magic level, which is quite rare. After all, even Archmages like Ach are only of the High Magic level, while only dragon’s magic power belongs to Superior Magic.

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“Their shape and contour are similar to wild chickens, with red and yellow feathers, and the most concentrated area of magic power in their bodies is the seven feathers at the tail-end. Each tail feather is about three and a half meters long, with a color closer to fire-red and slightly deeper than the feathers on the body,” he described, while Ach took notes.

What a pity there wasn’t a camera, or else taking a photograph for record would be more accurate.

Now they could only use text and drawings to document these magical creatures.

“The head lacks the legendary crown of the phoenix, sporting only a tuft of upturned feathers, without too many fantastical elements. The eyes are very bright, equally abundant in magic power, the bird’s beak is sharp and curved… Overall, it’s like a luxurious and strengthened version of a wild chicken. I am now going to pluck a tail feather to observe.”

He grabbed one of the phoenix’s tail feathers and, with both hands, yanked it out with a snap, pulling it off from the phoenix’s rear.

However, what was strange was that once the tail feather detached from the phoenix, it rapidly shrank, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a twenty-centimeter-long fire-red gemstone-like feather.

“This… The Phoenix Feathers sent by Marquis Merlin and the Envoy Group look just like this!” He handed the feather to Ach, then took out two more from his Space Ring, “Take a look, isn’t it peculiar? I have two identical Phoenix Feathers in my Space Ring.”

“Truly amazing, Ach can feel the solid concentration of the phoenix’s magic power within the feathers.”

“Let’s test it again,” Liszt said, and plucked another phoenix tail feather, observing it closely with the Eye of Magic, examining the minutest changes.

It was a peculiar transformation, with Fire Attribute High Magic undergoing a series of changes at the microscopic level.

But the range of the Eye of Magic was not detailed enough to observe all these.

Liszt directly handed the Phoenix Feather to Ach: “Hold onto this for now. When I enter Dragon Rider Mode and activate the Dragon Eye Trajectory, you pluck a new Phoenix Feather, and let me observe closely!”

“Okay.”

With a call.

Leo made a glorious entrance, the flames of the Fire Dragon igniting instantly, suppressing the flame from the phoenixes that had been burning the ground by themselves and retreating back into the body without even daring to emit smoke.

“Oh!”

As soon as Leo landed, he wanted to eat the phoenixes.

But he was mounted and promptly stopped by Liszt: “Easy there!” The pair of phoenixes were clearly one male and one female; perhaps capturing and taming them, they could breed more phoenixes in the future. It would be too wasteful to eat them. Moreover, he didn’t want Leo to be dominated by desire. The only one who could control it was Liszt himself.

The Dragon Eye Trajectory unfolded.

Ach quickly conjured water to pluck a phoenix tail feather, and the instantaneous changes all became visible within the field of the Dragon Eye Trajectory, revealing every minutest detail, with even the smallest magic particles exposed.

Liszt became deeply immersed in it but couldn’t grasp that flicker of inspiration: “Ach, pluck another one!”

A moment later: “Another one.”

“Another one!”

“Another one!”

“Continue plucking!”

“Don’t stop!” He had an intuition that as long as he deciphered the nature of the Phoenix Feather’s change, he would unlock a huge secret!

It was as if a new world lay before his eyes, yet blocked by a door, desperately in need of a key.

“Pluck another one!”

“…”

Ach helplessly spread his hands, “Brother, the tail feathers of both Phoenixes have been stripped bare, there are no more tail feathers to pluck.”

“Uh…” Liszt was left wanting more, “Then pluck some feathers from the wings, I want to see if they undergo the same kind of change as the tail feathers.”

The Phoenixes, their rear ends now embarrassingly bald, stared resentfully at the two people and one dragon, utterly powerless against the indignity of being plucked.

However, after the feathers from the wings were plucked, there was no change in their nature; they remained one meter long. Not just the feathers from the wings, but also those from the back, head, belly, and other areas showed no change. Only those seven tail feathers possessed a distinct nature change.

Looking at the Phoenixes, plucked of many feathers and looking utterly miserable, then at the sixteen Phoenix Feathers in Ach’s hands, Liszt shook his head, “I’m just a bit of inspiration away from capturing the nature change of the Phoenix Feather… Anyway, let’s record the information for now and continue researching later.”

“Oh ho!”

Leo roared impatiently, it wanted to eat Phoenix meat.

“Hmm?” Liszt, however, kept staring at the Phoenixes, as he noticed their lifeforce begin to slowly decline. This wasn’t due to injury, but seemed to be due to the tail feathers being plucked, causing a decline in vitality.

Over the course of the next ten minutes, no matter how Liszt and Ach tried to save them, the two Phoenixes’ lifeforce gradually dwindled until they finally died.

Leaving behind two carcasses still abundant with magic power.

“Such a pity, such a pity!”

Who would have thought that plucking a few tail feathers would result in the Phoenixes breathing their last.

Although it was regrettable that he couldn’t domesticate the Phoenixes and embark on a sustainable development path, Liszt meticulously collected the Phoenix carcasses. He stripped the Phoenixes of their eyes, beaks, claws, and feathers in the order of the richness of magic power. The rest of the meat, which he intended to put into the Space Ring, was unexpectedly snatched away by Leo in a single bite.

Then, flying to one side, Leo devoured it with great relish.

Liszt was furious, “Impudent!”

Ach tried to mediate from the side, “Brother, let Leo have some meat, it’s in its growth stage.”

“If it weren’t for you holding me back, I would give it a thrashing today,” muttered Liszt, quickly stowing the other Phoenix carcass into the Space Ring to prevent Leo from stealing it again, “We’ll examine the Phoenix specimens once we get back. But what about the three Phoenix Eggs in the tree now?”

With the Phoenixes dead and the Phoenix Eggs without the female Phoenix to incubate them, it seemed likely that artificial intervention would be necessary for them to continue incubating.

The egg incubation technology of Black Horse Island was not bad; Flamingo eggs and Green-headed Duck eggs could be incubated artificially. However, each type of bird egg required strict standards, and the standards took multiple attempts to master within the Landlord’s domain.

“Forget it, let’s collect them for now, and find a way to incubate them artificially once we return,” decided Liszt. He simply took down the nest from the tree, along with the eggs, and put them into the Space Ring.

Before incubation, bird eggs could be placed into the Gemstone Space without harm and without destroying their vitality—either because the unincubated eggs had not yet nurtured a soul, or because the eggs could resist the inactivating effect on the soul by the Gemstone Space. Either way, the Space Ring was harmless to the eggs.

No sooner had the nest been put away than Leo nearby suddenly let out a deep roar, turning its head, fixing its gaze in a certain direction within the darkness.

Liszt, feeling something amiss, activated his Eye of Magic, directing his gaze toward where Leo was looking.

Instantly, he spotted a bright Fire Attribute light, the light sketching out the form of a creature resembling a tiny human infant—sure enough, it was a Greater Elf!