Chapter 55: Stealing Leisure

"Even the sweetest songs and the most beautiful dances become tiresome when seen and heard too often," Muria mused from his throne, watching the siren-like sea nymphs sing and the mermaids, transformed into human form, dance to the music.

"Don't you think so, Terence?" Muria turned to look at the storm giant commander standing behind him.

"Your Highness, if you tire of the songs of the sirens, you might enjoy the music played by the cloud giants and my kind. They excel in different instruments and their music will surely not disappoint you."

"Is that so?" Muria, intrigued, stroked his chin then ordered a storm giant in the great hall, "Go outside and gather the most musically gifted cloud giants to perform for me. And send someone to the Five-Color Dragon Fortress to bring the best musical storm giant to the White Jade Palace."

"Muria, don't you plan to return to the Five-Color Dragon Fortress?" Claudia, the white dragon who had implemented a mechanical mindset in herself, asked. "You have spent twenty days here at the White Jade Palace this month."

"I'm not going back," Muria waved dismissively. "The giants have asked me to stay at the White Jade Palace, and frankly, I've grown quite fond of it here. Don't you like it here?"

Muria gestured around the grand hall of the White Jade Palace, its floors paved with silver, ceilings gilded with gold, and various precious stones embellishing the space. Huge magic crystals, carved into exquisite artworks by cloud giant craftsmen, adorned the hall as decorations.

The entire hall shimmered with the dazzling light of magic, exuding an atmosphere of extravagant luxury. Indeed, not just this hall, but all buildings of the White Jade Palace boasted this opulent style.

"I don't like it," Claudia stated after scanning the lavish hall, much to Muria's surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Muria looked at the small white dragon in disbelief. Was he seeing things, or hearing things? A dragon that didn't like a place adorned with gold and gems?

"I don't like it," Claudia repeated her earlier statement.

"Are you even a dragon? How can you not like this place? Every dragon in the Dragon Fortress wants to be here."

"What's the point of all this?" Claudia challenged Muria, pointing at a statue made from wind-element crystal, "Magic crystals should be used as materials for studying spells and enhancing strength, not as useless ornaments."

"I have so many of these things I couldn't possibly use them all up. Carving a few as decorations—what's the harm in that? Whether they're stored in a warehouse or displayed here, it's all the same," Muria replied with a helpless glance at the lifelike statue of a blue wolf.

"Muria, you didn't use to be like this," Claudia looked at him disappointingly. Since Muria had defeated thirty storm giants, he had increased the time he spent enjoying songs and dances of the mermaids.

And since the time he overwhelmingly defeated Terence, the soul intent level storm giant, he had grown even more arrogant, now setting aside time daily to revel in the sirens' songs and mermaids' dances.

"That was then," Muria reclined in his throne, enjoying the graceful movements of the mermaids below, responding lazily, "Back then, my power wasn't strong, so I had to train hard. Now, no one on Taiji Island can match my power. I must enjoy life to its fullest; otherwise, what's the point of living?"

"Muria, don't you find studying magic more interesting than these frivolous songs and dances?"

"Magic, is there anything more tedious and headache-inducing in this world?" Muria looked at Claudia in horror, "You actually find studying magic interesting?"

"Of course, each magical model is so enchanting, so tempting, they symbolize the truths of the world," Claudia's eyes lit up as she spoke of magic.

"Indeed, Claudia, you are the most unique among all the dragons in Dragon Fortress, a true scholar dragon." Muria stared at Claudia intently, "If you don't like gold and gems, what do you like? Or rather, what do you consider the most precious thing on this island?"

"Of course, it's the library in Dragon Fortress!" Claudia responded without hesitation.

"The library I established with books borrowed from my mother," Muria mused, looking around the resplendent hall and chuckled softly, "In your eyes, is knowledge the most precious thing?"

"Claudia, you're right, the most valuable thing on Taiji Island is that library," Muria acknowledged, looking down at Claudia, "But compared to those books, I still prefer to enjoy life. And besides, Claudia, I still study spells and practice martial arts daily, not spending too much time on leisure."

"Muria, don't you realize how far you are from the true powerhouses? How can you indulge in leisure at a time like this?" Claudia, unable to hide her disappointment, transformed back into her true dragon form and flew out of the hall toward the Five-Color Dragon Fortress to return to her books, unwilling to waste more time with Muria.

"I just have to wait and I will achieve legend. I'm still studying hard every day, not slacking at all, and yet I'm criticized. Really," Muria murmured as Claudia flew away, "I will never understand the world of a scholar."

With that, Muria bowed his head and resumed his enjoyment of the siren and mermaid performances. When a group of cloud giants and storm giants carrying musical instruments entered, he dismissed the sirens and mermaids and began to appreciate the giants' performance.

From that day on, Muria pursued greater pleasures in his limited free time. He fancied wearing lavish clothing, so numerous female cloud giants skilled in weaving worked day and night to craft new garments for him.

In terms of cuisine, Muria became somewhat picky, recalling many exquisite dishes from his previous life. Each time he remembered a dish, he described its taste and some recipes to the cloud giant chefs.

They tried to replicate the dishes, and while not always successful due to the different ingredients available, this prompted many cloud giants to seek out and cultivate new edible plants...

Muria pursued finer pleasures, and no one around him, neither the giants nor the leaders of the sea tribes, saw anything amiss with his indulgences given his status. What did it matter if he dressed a bit fancier or ate more exquisitely?

"Hmm, the shape of these eight islands is not regular enough," Muria observed a scaled-down model perfectly representing the island's shape and terrain. "Ask the mountain giants if they can reshape the eight islands surrounding Taiji to be uniform rectangles."

"Your Highness, isn't that project too massive?" Finally, a storm giant spoke up to advise against it. It seemed unreasonable to have mountain giants reshape islands just because their shapes displeased him.

"I'm asking if the mountain giants can do it. If they can't, then never mind. I'm not insisting they must do it," Muria explained to the storm giant who had cautioned him.

Muria looked towards the mountain giants in the hall, "Can you reshape these eight islands into identical rectangular forms?" He wished to make Taiji Island and its surrounding

 islands resemble the Taiji Bagua map from his memories.

"Your Highness, as long as you give us enough time, we can do it," a mountain giant representative responded softly.

"Good, I'll leave it to you mountain giants then. I won't impose any strict deadlines; just try to complete it as soon as you can," Muria concluded, giving a somewhat absurd order. He couldn't help his perfectionism.

"Did my cloud giant chefs make that dish I thought of the other day?" Muria recalled another matter after giving his orders and asked the cloud giant commander by his side.

"They made something similar, Your Highness."

"Then why not bring it up for me to taste?"

"Your Highness, there are a few aspects that don't meet your standards."

"Bring it here first so I can taste it and see exactly what doesn't meet my standards."

"As you command, Your Highness." Soon, a simple white porcelain bowl was brought forth, filled with quivering, white chunks.

"Bean curd pudding, it's been a while," Muria sighed as he looked at the familiar dish, then used a transformation spell to shift into a smaller human form.

To fully savor the food, he had to be in human form; his Titan form was too large, making it impossible to truly enjoy the delicacies as they would be gone in just a few bites.

"Hmm, this..." Muria took a spoonful of the bean curd pudding and tasted it. It melted in his mouth, and while the texture seemed similar to what he remembered, the flavor was "very sweet."

"How much sugar did you put in this?" Muria queried, smacking his lips. He liked sweets, but the pudding in front of him was too sweet, cloyingly so.

"Your Highness, we didn't add any sugar," the cloud giant chef who had brought the bean curd pudding knelt down, looking somewhat anxious.

"How can it be so sweet without sugar?"

"Your Highness, after trying all the plants on the island, we only found a plant called 'sugar bean' that could produce the white, tender food you described."

"Sugar bean, that's the plant you use to make sugar, right?" Muria slapped his forehead. This world was entirely different from his previous one; there were no soybeans, no sugarcane, but there was a sugar bean that combined the characteristics of both.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Just a slight sweetness would be enough; what you made is too sweet. Try to reduce the sweetness."

...

Every day, Muria persisted in practicing the martial techniques from the Titan heritage knowledge, constructing memory spells, and studying magical arrays without interruption.

He delegated the task of teaching the Five-Color Dragons to Claudia. The dragons, having had their nature twisted by their grandfather Demos, had all developed strong self-learning abilities—a surprise gift from the Dragon King to Muria.

When Muria felt weary from his practices, he had the sirens sing, the mermaids dance without their tails, and the musically talented giants play for him. In his spare time, Muria had the cloud giants research gourmet food and the young female giants craft various ornate robes for him...

As time passed, Muria's power slowly grew, his influence over the giants steadily strengthened, and following storm giant commander Terence, more giants began to break through the shackles of their bloodlines, not just one or two.

Like bamboo shoots after rain, giants began to advance en masse, no longer confined to their original levels. Even among the storm giants, Terence was no longer the only one at the soul intent level; more were advancing to that level in pairs and groups.

The overall martial power of Taiji Island multiplied several times under the influence of Muria's bloodline.

All afternoon was spent revising.