Wild Corn is Delicious

A set of Battle Qi cultivation methods, detailing how to refine, strengthen, condense, release, and imbue Battle Qi. A set of combat techniques containing sixteen moves.

Five movement techniques: Dragon Charge, Dragon Leap, Dragon Jump, Dragon Flight, and Dragon Dive.

Five basic moves: Fire Dragon Stab, Fire Dragon Ram, Fire Dragon Smash, Fire Dragon Twist, and Fire Dragon Drill.

Five fierce moves: Fire Dragon Tail Whip, Fire Dragon Sweep, Fire Dragon Gale, Fire Dragon Roll, and Fire Dragon Assault.

One ultimate mystery: Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill.

This was the entirety of the Fire Dragon Drill. The names of each move were quite interesting, as if they were part of a series designed for his Dragon-Blood Horse mount.

At this moment.

Liszt was mounted on the Fire Dragon Horse. As the horse galloped, his body rose and fell slightly, nearing a state of perfect harmony between man and beast. His left hand held a shield forged from refined steel, protecting his front and partially shielding the body of the Fire Dragon Horse. His right hand held a knight's lance over three meters long, leveled straight ahead.

On the wasteland near the castle, the grass had been cleared away, revealing the yellow earth—a barren, yellow soil.

The hooves of the Fire Dragon Horse struck the still-damp ground, leaving behind hoofprints of varying depths, while its body transformed into a ball of red fire, galloping rapidly into the distance. Liszt, atop the horse, was surrounded by surging Battle Qi, which was imbued into the shield, the knight's lance, and the Fire Dragon Horse itself.

Soon, the horse and rider were completely enveloped in flames.

Accompanied by a roar from Liszt: "Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill!"

The Fire Dragon Horse leaped high, and the knight's lance thrust forward with ferocious speed. In an instant, countless afterimages of man and beast merged together, flashing past with the attack as it slammed straight into a massive boulder ahead.

A heaven-shaking strike!

Boom!

The boulder, as tall as a man, was instantly blasted into smithereens. Flames scattered in all directions, falling like rain alongside the stone fragments. When the dust settled, Liszt, riding the Fire Dragon Horse, had already moved out of the blast radius. He was encased in full-body armor, and the Fire Dragon Horse was likewise covered in plate armor.

The silver-white armor was covered in numerous scratches and black scorch marks.

Pushing up his visor, Liszt revealed his handsome face, his lips curled into their usual faint smile: "Not bad power. If this move lands, it should be enough to leave a Magic Beast like a Violent Earth Dog half-dead."

Clop, clop, clop, clop.

The sound of hooves approached from afar. Marcus and Gortai arrived on their respective horses, followed by Liszt's four squire knights.

"Oh, heavens, Liszt, you truly are a genius. I have seen it—is this move the ultimate mystery of the Fire Dragon Drill, the Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill? You learned this entire manual in less than a week?" Gortai always loved to speak in a tone of astonishment.

Marcus circled the area of scattered rubble, equally surprised: "The impact is very uniform; not a single fragment is larger than a fist. This proves you have mastered this move to maturity. Even an average Earth Knight would find this difficult to achieve."

Having said this, he looked at Liszt with a sense of disbelief.

In the past, this third son of the Count was a standard good-for-nothing. He had been provided with plenty of chicken, fish, eggs, and milk, and had even eaten Magic Beast meat, yet his Battle Qi cultivation was inferior even to that of commoner knights. He never expected that after advancing to an Earth Knight, Liszt would fully master an Intermediate Battle Qi Manual in less than a week.

It reminded him of when he practiced the Wind-Breaking Strike, taking a full month and a half to master the final ultimate mystery.

A complex mix of emotions stirred in his heart: Could this be the true gap between commoners and nobles?

Liszt handed his shield and knight's lance to his squire knights and took off his helmet, breathing in the fresh air, his excitement still lingering: "I originally thought a manual like the Fire Dragon Drill would take me several months to master; I didn't expect it to be so easy. It seems I can find time to learn Flame Wave as well. One can never have too many skills."

"With such talent, you should certainly learn more manuals. Liszt, I have said it before: you have the bearing of your father. In the future, you will surely make the Tulip Family shine brilliantly."

"I'll take your word for it, Master Gortai."

On the way back, Gortai and Liszt engaged in a lively discussion; it was his specialty. Marcus, however, had his thoughts drifting elsewhere, wondering about something.

It wasn't until they entered the castle for dinner, finished his meal in a daze, and were seen off by Liszt that he finally snapped back to reality.

As Gortai rode away, humming a little tune.

He looked at Liszt, who was still standing at the castle gate as if waiting for him to speak, and his tone turned solemn: "My Lord Baron, may I know where your gaze is fixed?"

"My gaze, you ask..."

Liszt thought to himself that Marcus was asking if he had the ambition to achieve great things. Marcus, who desperately wanted to become a noble, would naturally not be content to wither away in a rural town, following a Baron with no aspirations.

However, Liszt did not answer directly: "Master Marcus, one should not listen to what a person says, but watch what they do. Words can be true or false, but actions are plain to see, are they not?"

"I understand!"

Marcus suddenly knelt on one knee, his right hand over his chest, performing a vow of fealty: "I am willing to be your vanguard!"

"Please rise, Master Marcus. The territory is still weak and needs your help to build it up." Liszt calmly helped Marcus up, feeling a sense of accomplishment. To have an Earth Knight pledge loyalty—this was personal charisma.

Back inside the castle.

After a bath.

He saw the Smoke Serpent Script again: "Task completed. Reward: a Dragon-Blood Horse with thin bloodline."

A moment later, the smoke twisted, and a new task was issued: "Task: Fresh, tender alfalfa is loved not only by cows but also by horses. This is the foundation for establishing a horse farm and the first step toward achieving great things. Please settle the Alfalfa Bugs for the alfalfa. Reward: three stalks of wild corn."

After reading the serpent script, Liszt was quite excited.

The Dragon-Blood Horse had already arrived, though he didn't know where it was or who had discovered it. He prepared to go searching for it first thing tomorrow morning. However, what excited him now was not the horse, but the corn from the new task reward.

This world had no such crop as corn; at least, there was absolutely none on Coral Island, and there were no plants related to corn in the memories of his predecessor.

Corn—this is a high-yield crop. They say it has the highest yield in the world, right? And it doesn't require much management; you plant it, and it grows on its own. It's said to be a god-given plant, naturally C4, easy to detassel. In the future, grain will be the domain of corn. In 'Interstellar', the humans on the verge of extinction only grew corn.

Liszt had farmed when he was young and knew that corn had a high yield, even if it didn't taste as good as wheat or rice.

But here, it didn't need to taste good; as long as it could fill stomachs, it was the best crop. The wheat in Flower Town only yielded one or two hundred jin per mu. Once corn was planted, it didn't need to yield thousands of jin—as long as it exceeded five hundred jin per mu, it could support a larger population, and they would have no worries about food or clothing.

By that time.

Planting corn extensively to provide the commoners with coarse cornmeal, while planting a small amount of wheat to provide himself with fine wheat flour—wouldn't that be wonderful?