Chapter 102 - Decisions Before the Breakthrough

Lu Ran put down the phone and glared at Captain Doofus. If it dared to hit the TV, between the two, one of them was destined to die today!

"Woof~"

Captain Doofus hit the brakes in the nick of time and didn't dare to get too wild at home. It stuck out its tongue at Captain Lu, telling him to not be so anxious. It at least had some degree of awareness.

"I would hope so," Lu Ran said.

Ten days later, Captain Doofus finally had some initial mastery of energy projection.

Captain Doofus could control the trajectory of its sword qi and Wind Roar with much greater ease now, which greatly improved its accuracy with those skills. However, it was still a bit difficult for it to wrap Wind-attribute energy around an item to control and fly it. It couldn't really be considered as “under control”.

In other words, the sword control technique that Lu Ran imagined was still a rough theory and couldn’t be used in actual combat. From his research, Lu Ran found that the Wind attribute was one of the best attributes for using energy to control an item and make it fly.

Wind was innately related to flight. Using Earth or Rock-attribute techniques to make something fly was much harder. The only attribute superior to Wind when it came to flight as the Spirit attribute.

Lu Ran didn’t rush it as the sword control technique was finally taking shape. Once Captain Doofus had more proficient control, it would just become a matter of time.

Captain Doofus ate multiple Soul Cleansing Fruit these past ten days and improved in areas other than just controlling projection skills. It finally had a breakthrough in energy compression.

This was in part thanks to their daily trips into secret realms. It killed several bosses a day with its 10x Storm Slash, thus becoming increasingly proficient.

After repeatedly training in secret realms and braving through the repeated backlash, its energy compression skills finally underwent a qualitative change. It was now aiming to compress its energy twenty times.

Currently, Captain Doofus could only compress its energy eleven times. Although it was only a small improvement, the extra compression gave a significant boost to the skill. It wasn’t as simple as a 10% increase in power.

It was almost accustomed to the ten-fold compression, but with the advent of the 11x Storm Slash, even the teeth of a Champion species couldn’t stay intact. Using the attack would feel like a bomb went off in its mouth.

No wonder energy compression was considered the most dangerous technique to practice. Of the four advanced energy techniques, energy acceleration was the only one that Captain Doofus only mastered to the first stage.

Normal energy acceleration simply cloaked the body in rapidly flowing energy to increase attack, defense, and speed. Advanced acceleration went beyond just applying energy to the outside of the body. Rather, it utilizes a holistic approach. It circulates the energy within the body to nourish it to improve much more than just attack, defense and speed.

Not only did this technique not consume too much energy, it could even be used to restore energy. The essence lies in having robust internal energy much like the "Divine Art of Nine Yangs" [1]. When the familiar’s energy circulated throughout its body, it would also speed up the body’s natural energy recovery.

Lu Ran regretted not being able to help Captain Doofus comprehend the second stage of all the four advanced energy techniques before entering the ascension realm. However, having already mastered three while still at level 10, Captain Doofus’ foundation was leagues ahead of many other familiars.

"Most importantly, I have finally comprehended the blizzard sword momentum using Super Beast Mimicry!"

On the sofa, Captain Lu revealed a satisfied smile, enjoying the fruit of many days of hard work. His appreciation of Super Beast Mimicry rose once again and was glad that he learned it early on.

However, there was still a gap between Captain Doofus’ and Lu Ran's blizzard sword momentum. Captain Doofus’ sword momentum directly added a freezing effect to its attacks and was capable of even freezing the sea.

Since Lu Ran didn’t have an innate attribute and used an ordinary sword, the effect of his sword momentum wasn’t so exaggerated. At most, it made the enemy hallucinate falling into an ice cave. An even more useful effect of the blizzard sword momentum was that it had a chilling effect when it was used on fruits.

It was no longer just the air conditioning sword momentum that Captain Doofus thought it was. It was now also the refrigeration sword momentum.

This made Lu Ran even more eager to learn a beastmaster skill that let him borrow a familiar’s attribute. It could augment his Super Beast Mimicry or be used to learn forging.

That night, quite a few people called him. It seemed that they all knew that Lu Ran was about to enter the ascension realm and reached out to wish him well.

Even Dr. Gu, as busy as she was, contacted him. Lu Ran thought she was just asking about the ascension realm, but unexpectedly, she gave him a big surprise.

"Lu Ran!" Gu Qingyi's vibrant voice rang out.

"I have been looking for the association president and couldn’t find him for the longest time. I finally ran into him a couple of days ago.

"I told him about your situation and he tasked me with studying the Undead attribute. This means that I am going to contract an Undead familiar to raise later on."

"Really?" Lu Ran was surprised. "So those Undead Resurrection skill cards will be yours to distribute?"

"That's right, but the Undead attribute is still considered evil and not publicly accepted. Therefore, whether it’s the research and cultivation of Undead familiars, or the development of necromancers, they must be carried out in secret,” Gu Qingyi warned.

"In fact, I share your mother’s views on this. There is no distinction between good and evil attributes. I became a beastmaster three years ago and I have seen too many beastmasters develop a deep bond with their familiars only to be heartbroken by the death of the familiar, ultimately giving up on the profession.

"If the necromancy system can really be popularized and improved to be without any side effects such as memory loss, perhaps it can really revolutionize the beastmaster world."

"Yes, I think so too!" Lu Ran agreed. This was what attracted him most about the Undead attribute.

If possible, no one wanted to die, but accidents were inevitable. The Undead attribute was a way around that, giving many beastmasters a second chance. This was also how many people were bewitched into joining The Other Shore.

"While studying the Undead attribute, I plan to set up a local version of The Other Shore. The Undead Resurrection skill can transform familiars that died within 24 hours into ghosts by using the contract card. The initial candidates are some beastmasters with good talent and character, and familiars that met an unexpected end in a secret realm.

"I will contact them as soon as I find a good candidate. Do you want to join by chance?

"As the provider of the Undead Resurrection skill cards, whether the Undead attribute will be popularized one day, you have made a great contribution! I can make you my deputy," Gu Qingyi offered.

"I also asked the association president about a reward for you, and he left it up to me. I thought about it, what you lack most right now should still be crystal coins."

"Yes." Lu Ran smiled bitterly. The crystal coins he earned recently were all used to buy Rare dog food and Soul Cleansing fruits. They were almost completely gone again.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He was about to enter the ascension realm, so he was spending all of his money, but he would strike it rich once he cleared it. Ascension realms, like the beginner trial secret realm, gave much better rewards than ordinary secret realms, so Lu Ran was eagerly looking forward to it.

"However there are some resources that money can’t buy. How about this, forget about the debt you owe me. On top of that, I will give you three more resources. What do you think?

"You can pick any three trait crystals and beastmaster skills that could drop in a Hell-difficulty secret realm. No matter what level the secret realm the resource is in, I’ll get it for you before you come out of the ascension realm. This way, you’ll be at full power as soon as you become a level 1 beastmaster.

"This should also help improve your performance in the freshman competition."

"Really!?" Lu Ran was pleasantly surprised.

He had been struggling to decide on Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King’s second trait, as well as a second skill for himself! Beginner secret realms didn’t drop Rare traits, and it was too expensive to buy them outright, not to mention that they weren't any even on the market.

As for himself, although he had the Undead Resurrection skill card, Lu Ran wanted to save it for when he ran into an Undead-attribute familiar that Manager Ying mentioned. His second skill slot should be used to help him with learning forging.

It takes too long to collect these things by myself, so it would be great if Dr. Gu could give me a hand.

"Of course," Gu Qingyi said. "So, do you already have your eyes on any traits?"

Lu Ran quickly replied, "Then I won't be polite. I want the Endurance trait with the ability of reducing damage that we talked about."

This was for Sudden Death King. The Red Lightning trait was a growth-type trait that enhanced physique, and the Endurance trait was a trait that further developed the advantages of a strong physique. With these two traits, Lu Ran felt that it would be very difficult for even Captain Doofus to break through Sudden Death King’s defense.

"No problem. This is the second trait for the red-eyed crocodile skink, right? What about the second trait of your husky? Do you have a plan?"

"Yes, I want the Nature Manipulation trait."

Gu Qingyi didn’t react right away and just automatically replied, "Okay, no problem. Wait, why did you choose that trait?"

Nature Manipulation was one of the top-tier traits at the moment. In addition to the energy generated by the familiar’s body, it allowed the familiar to control the energy in the environment around it that corresponded to its own attribute to a certain extent.

"Captain Doofus’ species talent is Sword Sovereign. Using a sword condensed from its own energy can help it improve further, but condensing an Advance wind sword from its own energy wastes too much stamina.

"It would be much more energy efficient If it can use Wind-attribute energy from the surroundings to condense an Advance wind sword instead."

"Besides that, my biggest headache right now is that Captain Doofus’ endurance is too low. He has great comprehension and mastered a bunch of advanced skills, but at its current level, it runs out of stamina after two or three attacks.

"With the Nature Manipulation trait, it can use some energy from the environment when unleashing a skill so that should make it easier to use its big moves!"

Lu Ran thought it through. The healing ability of the Divine Deer Pendant combined with the endurance of Nature Manipulation trait and high energy compression meant that it could unleash its ultimate moves as many times as it wanted. Who could stand up to that? They could even face off against bosses from Hell-difficulty level 1 secret realms!

This was the perfect trait!

"I see." Gu Qingyi thought it was feasible so she agreed.

"No problem, I will find a way to get it for you. What else?"

"I also want a Fusion skill card?" Lu Ran tried to push his luck.

1. Technique from the Legend of the Condor Hero. It focuses on supporting the body with qi to be invulnerable to attacks. ☜