Chapter 190 – Leaving the Black Dragon Horses

Lightning was a stallion, no doubt.

To know how old it was, Liszt forced his mouth open and let Marcus look inside.

A normal male horse has 40 teeth, including 12 incisors, 4 canine teeth and 24 molar teeth. A mare has no canine teeth, therefore only 36 teeth.

It was possible to determine a horse's age by only looking at its teeth.

“The incisor teeth are divided into the central, intermediate and corners teeth. The main incisors are the central incisors, the corners teeth are the incisors at the edge, and the intermediate  teeth are the incisors between the central and corners teeth. There are two stages of incising, one is the deciduous teeth, which we call milk teeth, and the other is the permanent teeth.”

Marcus explained while Liszt and the other knights observed. He did not forget his duties as Liszt's tutor and the knight's instructor.

Within one year of age, the foal grows deciduous teeth in 1-2 weeks, intermediate milk teeth in 3-6 weeks, and the corners in 6-8 months.

At two and a half years old, the central incisors fall off and permanent incisors grow. At the age of three, the upper and lower permanent front teeth contact, as the saying goes.

At three and a half years old, the intermediate milk teeth fall off and the permanent middle teeth grow out. At the age of four, all  the intermediate teeth are permanent. At four and a half years old, the corners teeth are removed, and the permanent corners grew out. At the age of five, all corners teeth will be permanent.

Marcus pointed an incisor, saying, “The incisors of Lightning are neatly in contact. These are permanent teeth, so it is over five years old. After five years of age, we need to determine the dark cups of the tooth, which is in the middle of the tooth."

Depending on the depth and the duration of wear and tear, the dark cups can be used to determine the age between 6 to 11 years old. After the dark cups have completely disappeared, according to the shape, size, and position of the incisor marks of the incisors, the age could be between 13 to 18 years.

 “If Lightning is an ordinary war horse, it should be about 8 years old.” Marcus made his own judgment after the observation was over.

He also added, "However, there are many excellent dragon horses who are a mix of magical beasts and dragon stallions. Determining their age by teeth will not be as accurate. But counting in such errors, Lightning could be ten years old or older."

A magical beast and dragon stallion mix horse was not much different from that of a normal horse, but the enhanced bloodline makes their teeth better and wear-resistant.

The rate of the dark cups grinding and the rate of the disappearance of the tooth marks would also slow down accordingly.

Marcus did not know that about the dragon horse lineage so he presumed it was 10 years old. Liszt quietly corrected him and said that Lightning should be around 12 years old.

The horse was in its youth and still  had great strength.

"Lightning is mine to mount, Mr. Marcus. You will have the pick of a dragon horse that you want to tame." Liszt watched, reluctant to leave the Dragon horse herd.

Marcus took a deep breath and knelt down, “Thank you, my Lord!”

In its present condition, a dragon horse would perhaps be worth more than a hundred gold coins, which is a huge gift. If he knew it was a dragon horse breed, he would've exploited its breeding ability and the gains would be calculated in terms of dragon currency.

Marcus dropped on his knees and paid respect.

After being bowed to by Marcus, Liszt said, "The blood of the dragon horse is very strong. Before going to the battlefield, they will be kept as stallions for the time being to continue to expand the herd.”

"As it should be, Sir! " Marcus thought deeply.

Then, with legs shaking, he walked towards the dragon horses. He has always wanted to tame a dragon horse and now one belonged to him!

The knights looked at Marcus with envy. They were not qualified to ride such valuable horses and could only ride the ordinary horses.

——–

The breeze was blowing, the sun was warm.

Riding another horse, Liszt let Lightning walk beside him.

His mind jumped on another matter, “My stallion in the castle, since I thought it was only one, I named it ‘Blackdragon' based on its sheer darkness. Now there are so many Black Horses, is Black Horse the name of a horse or the name of a bunch of horses?”

Eventually, his bias for Blackdragon prevailed.

“Blackdragon is a separate horse name, just like my Firedragon horse … the current horse group should have a new breed name … The Sapphire Duke maybe has a blue race dragon horse herd, maybe I can have a group of black race dragon horses?”

Everyone could be likened to a dragon-breed horse. No one is more n.o.ble than anyone else.

“But it looks like the blue race horses are not blue……Anyway, black race dragon horse is still very nice, it's the name that top-tier horses deserve.”

In that fas.h.i.+on, the black race dragon horse got its official name.

Blackdragon still belonged to Liszt, but in the foreseeable future, it's status will fall as it gives way to Liszt's new ride, the King of the Dragon Horses, Lightning!

Lightning was technically not pure black, as its forehead has a small amount of purple hair.

It was as big as a palm and shaped like a flash of Lightning.

It had the look of prestige.

Liszt didn't know if Lightning was a smart horse when he tamed it, but it seems to have deducted that Tremblingwoods and Liszt has a connection. It's fear of Tremblingwoods soon disappeared. Even with Tremblingwoods' big mouth and loud roar, Lightning did not run away.

It even raised its head and snorted at Tremblingwoods.

Tremblingwoods was almost two meters high while Lightning was at least four meters high ,which was double the height. One had to look up to face Lightning. This undoubtedly made Tremblingwoods  feel humiliated, and coupled with the resentment of being “robbed” of his master, it made Tremblingwoods anxious to bite the black horse, but it couldn't.

"Woooof! Woooof!"

“Pooh-pooh!” 

A dog barking, and a horse neighed. It was unclear whether they were really communicating.

————

The first expedition to Black Horse Island has come to an end since Lightning's capture.

Liszt and Marcus, and one black race dragon horse, rushed back to the rocky pier along with the knights and sailors. Unexpectedly, the dragon horse herd followed along to the dock.

They were still bonded to their Horse King.

 “The Black Race Dragon Horse herd has been found. This voyage's mission is completed. We leave tomorrow." Liszt ordered, "From now on, we will add the development of Black Horse Island to our agenda. We will first need to establish a temporary base. For now, while it's still not dark, we will clean up the pier."

“Yes, Sir!”

The temporary base will be established first. Sailors and their families will be relocated to Black Horse Island to prevent news leaking about the island.

Once the news of Black Race Dragon Horses is revealed, it is likely to attract spies.

If others discover the value of Black dragon horses, they will definitely spare no time to steal it. The reveal of Black Horse island's value can only be revealed when Liszt has completely learned fighting skills and has the t.i.tle of Viscount and the corresponding fiefdom. For now, Black Horse Island will develop slowly while being secretly funded by Flower Town.

Time went by in a flash. The night came and went quickly.

The next morning, Liszt was riding Lightning in circles near the pier. It was eager to return to the herd while he was not prepared to bring the black dragon horse herd back.

So did Marcus, who let go the horse he named “Black Magic”.

Lightning and Black Magic quickly merged into the horses, but they would raise their heads, look at the seaside, watch the sailing s.h.i.+p slowly turn around and eventually disappear into the skyline.