Chapter 103 - The Goddamned Ascension Realm

Lu Ran carefully considered it and believed that the Fusion skill was most suitable. If he contracted a Fire-attribute familiar down the road, not only would he be able to fuse with it to acquire its Fire-attribute abilities, he would also synergize it with Super Beast Mimicry.

Once I fuse with my familiar and become one with it then that should be “mimicking” it completely, right? My proficiency with Super Beast Mimicry should shoot through the roof.

"Okay. I will have everything ready for you by the time you’re done with the ascension realm." Gu Qingyi understood that Lu Ran was one of those that believed in strengthening the beastmaster.

Whether it was Super Beast Mimicry or Fusion, both skills were aimed at augmenting the beastmaster’s strength. This was in line with Lu Ran's journey so far. Dr. Gu had gone through Lu Ran's resume.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Lu Ran has never been an indoor kid. He was trained in both swordsmanship and marksmanship. Countless children were envious of his upbringing.

Now that he entered the world of transcendence, there was no way that he would sit back and just watch his familiar fight by itself.

"Thank you." Lu Ran smiled. He felt a lot better about accepting Dr. Gu's gift this time around since he had given her so many Undead Resurrection skill books.

"Judging by the time, you will enter the ascension realm tomorrow, right? Be careful," Gu Qingyi warned.

"If you have enough time after completing the ascension mission, then you should go explore the Stellar Moon Continent.”

"Okay." Lu Ran nodded.

The Stellar Moon Continent was part of the beastmaster world. The Beastmaster Empire, which Lu Ran had already had some contact with, was one of the powers that controlled it.

The secret realms and the mission within that beastmasters challenged during the early stages were mostly from certain parts of the Stellar Moon Continent’s history. After a few history lessons, Lu Ran had a basic understanding of the Stellar Moon Continent as well as the Beastmaster Empire’s history and development.

During ancient times, the Stellar Moon Continent was a wilderness inhabited by humans and many transcendent creatures. Inspired by the stars, sun and moon that hung in the skies above them, the continent was hence named “Stellar Moon”.

The trajectory of the human race drastically shifted when a tribal chief discovered beast taming. Originally, humans were at the bottom of the food chain and could only hunt some weaker creatures to survive.

However, with the advent of the first beastmaster, humans developed rapidly, and gathered many powerful familiars as they continued to hunt.

Their newfound ability led to the meteoric rise of the Beastmaster Tribe. The chief spent the next sixty years recruiting more manpower, and eventually conquered the vast continent and established a flourishing human empire.

To commemorate his power, the empire was named the Beastmaster Empire, and the chief, with the support of his followers, was given the title “Beastmaster King.” He was truly worthy of the title as the first human emperor to rule over the continent and usher in a new era.

After the first emperor passed, many generations of emperors succeeded him. The empire only fell after enduring more than three thousand years of wind and rain.

During this period, the human fully developed the scope beastmaster capabilities. Countless spectacular historical events occurred throughout the Beastmaster Empire and the Stellar Moon Continent.

Based on historical records, the most powerful familiars were able to reach up to level 80 while their beastmasters achieved level 8.

Compared to the beastmaster civilization of the Blue Planet, the Beastmaster Empire was still an insurmountable behemoth.The Blue Planet beastmasters have continuously explored the Stellar Moon Continent, and learned many useful skills there.

"I don't know which historical era I will end up in, or what ascension mission I will receive," Lu Ran pondered after hanging up.

Can I accidentally end up in a different beastmaster civilization?

Lu Ran heard that a high-level beastmaster entered a world of a technologically-advanced civilization filled with mechanical familiars. In that world, people explored space with their mechanical familiars.

Too bad the beastmasters that discovered that world weren’t able to reverse engineer mechanical familiars. Otherwise, the current beastmaster system of Blue Planet would definitely be more diverse

Lu Ran fell asleep in anticipation of the next day.

***

The next morning, Lu Ran, with renewed spirits, did the final check before heading out. He double checked Captain Doofus’ condition and the items in his Storage. After making sure he had everything, he breathed a sigh of relief, and finally sent a text to let everyone know that he was heading out before returning to Limitless City.

The duo stood in front of the secret realm selection pillar, and Lu Ran pulled up the information for the ascension realm that appeared since Captain Doofus reached level 10.

[Name: Ascension Realm]

[Grade: Beginner]

[Difficulty: Unknown]

[Entry Fee: 0 cc]

[Introduction: You will enter an unknown world to complete your ascension mission.]

Lu Ran glanced at Captain Doofus.

"You should return to the card first. The ascension realm is different, and it won’t let you in otherwise."

Woof!

Captain Doofus nodded.

Once it was back in the contract card, Lu Ran clicked on the ascension realm.

[Do you want to enter the ascension realm?]

Yes.

[Searching for a suitable ascension realm.]

[Matching.]

[Please wait.]

[Estimated wait time: 3 minutes.]

About 2 minutes later, the voice finally continued.

[Match found.]

[Realm type: Multiplayer]

[Teleportation countdown: 10...9...]

Ten seconds later, a white light flashed in Pedestrian A’s private room, and his figure slowly disappeared.

Boom!

It’s dark and cold.

That was Lu Ran's first reaction to the environment. The teleportation made him particularly dizzy this time, and he opened his eyes with great difficulty. He looked around and found that he was in a luxurious courtyard that was built in an ancient architectural style. A huge tree bearing red fruits that he’d never seen before quickly caught his attention.

He had no idea where he was.

He was surrounded by a group of three men and two women around his age. Lu Ran had opened his eyes, but the others had yet to awaken. He took a closer look and couldn’t recognize any of them.

However, the fact that they were strangers wasn’t nearly as important as how they all spawned next to each other! In most ascension realms, people were teleported to different locations since they meant to be competitors.

This situation was clearly different.

Soon, a young man wearing a green explorer’s outfit opened his eyes, and saw Lu Ran looking at him with curiosity.

"Where am I? What's going on?" he asked reflexively, obviously still disorientated.

Lu Ran didn’t respond, and waited for the system message.

Hearing the young man speak, the other four people opened their eyes one after another.

One of them wore casual clothing and looked like a college student. After waking up, he was looking around cautiously and was surprised to discover that he was surrounded by other beastmasters.

Of the two women, one looked to be about 27 or 28 years old and wore fancy attire. She had an exquisite custom-made black dress.

Compared to the two people whose identities were difficult to gauge, the last two people were easier to determine. The man wore a white lab coat, and looked like a veterinarian. However, no normal person would wear a white lab coat into a secret realm, unless it was customized equipment.

The last girl looked more domineering. She actually entered in a suit of white armor that covered her chest, forearms, calves, and shoulders. Her pale thighs and smooth abdomen were left exposed. She looked very unique, like a valkyrie from an anime. She was essentially otaku-bait.

Under her short black hair, her keen eyes were also observing the group. Compared to the caution exhibited by the others, she was clearly more confident. Only she and Lu Ran were relatively calm.

Before the six people had a chance to talk to each other, a familiar voice sounded again.

[Transfer completed.]

[Current location: Stellar Moon Continent, Beastmaster Empire, Heavenly Tide Province, Ningchuan (Beginner Ascension Realm)]

[Historical context: Not long after the death of the Beastmaster Empire’s first emperor, every tribe eyed the territory of the empire, but didn’t dare to act rashly because they were afraid of the contingencies left by the first emperor.

The Beastmaster Empire, which had lost its top combatant, was now facing both internal and external turmoil. In addition, its rise to prominence was too bloody, which was suspected to have angered the gods and resulted in constant natural disasters.

It didn’t dare to launch any large scale wars, so the second emperor, Yan Sizhen, vigorously developed the agricultural sector which allowed the development of the empire to gradually stabilize.

While developing the agricultural sector, Emperor Yan simultaneously developed the mining sector as well. Thanks to the development of both, he developed the “cooking system" and "forging system", becoming the empire’s "father of cooking" and "father of forging."

Cooking delicacies could give incredible buffs to beastmasters and familiars while equipment forged from ores better armed them.

Under the rule of Yan Sizhen, not only did the Beastmaster Empire, which was constantly plagued by natural and man-made disasters, not decline, it actually flourished.

Today, it is the 265th year of the Beastmaster Calendar, and Yan Sizhen has been dead for many years. In order to commemorate his great achievements, the Beastmaster Empire has established the "Gourmet Hunter Society".

Even the most common ingredients were a delicacy in the hands of a talented chef. Many beastmasters that were proficient in cooking could use amazing techniques to greatly increase the nutritional value of ingredients.

The empire controlled the mineral veins and the forging system while cooking flourished amongst the populace, and becoming a gourmet hunter was a hot profession amongst beastmasters.]

[Mission: Pass the gourmet assessment of the Gourmet Hunter Society.]

[Tip 1: The chefs and food in the Beastmaster Empire are divided into Common, Advanced, Unique, and Treasure.

Common: The ingredients are processed to improve the taste without losing the nutritional value.

Advanced: The ingredients are processed and paired appropriately to improve the taste and nutritional value.

Unique: The ingredients are processed and paired appropriately to greatly improve the taste and nutritional value. To make Unique dishes, high-quality ingredients or superb cooking skills are needed.

Rare: Currently, only very few chefs can cook such desirable dishes. Rare dishes have a “food spirit” and can provide unimaginable benefits to the user. ]

[Tip 2: This secret realm is a projection of the past. Lifeforms here cannot be taken away or contracted.]

[Tip 3: The time limit is 30 days. Different levels of rewards will be awarded depending on how the trial taker scores on their mission.]

[Tip 4: The trial taker will temporarily obtain a valid local identity. You will become proficient in the local language, and your clothing and familiar will not arouse suspicion.]

[Tip 5: Beginner bonus: Trial takers will temporarily obtain Eye of Detection which can reveal the information of resources and life forms within the secret realm. ]

[Tip 6: ...]

After the messages stopped, Lu Ran and his companions were all bewildered.

Did they hear correctly? The ascension mission was to become a top-grade chef? Was this a joke?

Lu Ran and the sexy armored lady were originally confident in their strength, but now they were both stunned.

"Damn it! I've been preparing for so long!" the armored woman yelled angrily. "How the hell did I enter an ascension realm designed for civilian-type beastmasters!!"

"Damn it." The man in the white coat was also surprised. "Does that mean that we don't have to compete with each other during this ascension realm, and as long as we can complete the mission, everyone can pass? Wait, what if the number of slots for top-grade chefs is limited?"

"Miss, are you the number one from the Heavenly Familiar Rankins in Limitless City #5?” the mature woman asked the armored lady softly. She thought that the other woman looked very familiar, and could be White Tiger from Limitless City #5.

"I thought we would be tasked with a difficult mission to hunt down a boss, but we are supposed to cook. I can make french fries and egg fried rice." The young man in the explorer’s outfits was dumbstruck.

"Is grilling ok? I always end up burning it though. It might not even pass as Common.”

Several people were muttering in confusion, while Lu Ran remained speechless. Was he about to follow the path of Master Lin?

He remembered that Master Lin was also a combat beastmaster, but he landed in an ascension realm focused on forging. Here he was, in an ascension realm that focused on cooking.

This is a problem. He planned on acing the ascension mission to get better rewards. What should he do now?

As the king of the Green Sea City, #1 of the Heavenly Familiar Rankings, and a genius acknowledged by the first-generation bigwigs, I am not going to fail in a beginner ascension realm.