Chapter 130 - Intensive Training

The freshman competition at Beastmaster University was set to begin its preliminaries in two days. When it came to the preliminaries, Lu Ran was confident there wouldn’t be any issues.

After all, there’s no need to defeat the examiner; it’s enough just to have one’s strength acknowledged.

With the prowess of Sudden Death King and Captain Doofus, getting stuck at this stage seemed highly unlikely.

However, the main competition was where Lu Ran needed to direct his focus. By now, the rewards for the freshman competition at Beastmaster University had already been made public.

Aside from a large number of crystal coins, the resources being offered were enviable enough to stir jealousy even among second and third-generation beastmasters.

The first-place reward included 1 million crystal coins and a King Species familiar egg from an ascension realm with an unknown species, attribute, and gender.

Second place came with 1 million crystal coins and a Treasure-class resource known as the Ethereal Flower. The Ethereal Flower was a resource capable of granting familiars a second attribute, with the potential to awaken a space-type attribute. This made it incredibly rare.

Just like Trait Crystals, which could awaken second, third, or even fourth attributes in familiars, such specialized resources only dropped in Hell-difficulty secret realms. Most were Rare resources, but those capable of awakening something as powerful as space-type attributes were typically Treasure-class resources.

Since awakening a new attribute didn’t confer any innate species talents and merely granted an additional attribute, most beastmasters preferred fusing traits instead.

However, if one were to compare Rare attributes like time or space with traits, any beastmaster would undoubtedly choose the time or space attributes without hesitation, making this reward particularly enticing.

For third place, the reward consisted of 600,000 crystal coins, a Superior-Champion species familiar cub, and two chances to select a Trait Crystal or beastmaster skill within designated parameters. Fourth place was similar, but only included one chance to select a Trait Crystal or beastmaster skill.

From fifth to sixteenth place, participants received one opportunity to select a resource and were each awarded a Champion species familiar cub, though the cub’s species rank decreased with lower rankings.

Those further down the rankings only received Low-Champion species familiar cubs, and the crystal coin rewards decreased accordingly. This opportunity for customization was noteworthy.

At the time, the university planned to hire elite members from the Secret Realm Raid Team to procure the specific traits or beastmaster skills desired by the freshmen.

It was similar to when Lu Ran asked Gu Qingyi to acquire the Endurance Trait and the Nature Manipulation Trait for him. Exceptionally considerate and tailored to individual needs. As for the Champion species familiar cubs, they didn’t come from an ascension realm like the first-place reward.

With the revival of spiritual energy, extraordinary creatures evolved across the globe. Just as talent disparities among humans could sometimes be greater than the differences between humans and dogs, extraordinary creatures also saw the emergence of a subset called rare breeds.

Even without consuming resources, merely by basking in natural energies and undergoing the baptism of spiritual energy, these creatures achieved a species rank of Champion. Such rare creatures were incredibly scarce, and nations actively sought to capture and tame them.

Undoubtedly, Xia had put significant effort into this as well, likely having captured numerous extraordinary creatures of the Champion species. After undergoing taming by professional beastmasters, these innately talented familiars were destined to be contracted by promising beastmasters.

Outstanding students at Beastmaster University thus had the chance to secure these contracts. These natural Champion species familiars were highly coveted not just by fourth-generation beastmasters, but even by the second and third generations.

After all, with such an excellent starting point, advancing to being a King species after one evolution was almost guaranteed. Such generous rewards were precisely why Gu Qingyi had insisted Lu Ran not miss this competition.

“Even the second-place Ethereal Flower looks so tempting,

”

Lu Ran remarked.

After having dinner with Fang Lan’s family, Lu Ran excused himself to give them some private time. Though he wasn’t exactly an outsider anymore, he still wanted to return and focus on his training.

Like most beastmasters, Lu Ran wasn’t particularly keen on awakening a second attribute for his familiars. To him, quirky and unique traits were far more interesting, especially now that he had the Flame Spirit.

This allowed him to imbue any contracted familiar with the fire attribute. His need for a second attribute was even lower. However, if the second attribute were time or space, that would be a different story.

Awakening a space-type attribute for Captain Doofus, for instance, would mean replacing mere wind-type sword qi with something like dimensional slashes, which was a substantial upgrade. Unfortunately, Lu Ran could only claim one of the top two rewards. The first-place egg intrigued him as well.

After all, Dr. Gu had mentioned it wasn’t from an animal species. That alone made it fascinating.

Could it be a plant-based lifeform, an elemental entity, or something else entirely?

For now, Lu Ran could only comfort himself with these thoughts. Securing first place would be ideal, but if an unforeseen, formidable opponent emerged and he couldn’t claim the top spot, the second-place reward was still acceptable. After all, globally, only a few dozen beastmasters owned space-type familiars.

Lu Ran soon arrived home. After taking a brief rest, he teleported directly into Limitless City. Upon entering Limitless City, he headed straight for the secret realm pillars and activated a brand-new secret realm interface.

This time, all the beginner-level secret realms had disappeared, replaced by level 1 ascension realms and dozens of level 1 common secret realms.

Secret realms like the Beast Corpse Cavern and the Dragon's Roar Cliff, categorized as level 1 secret realms of the Hell difficulty, sounded intimidating at first glance.

However, the bosses inside weren’t as terrifying. At most, they were level 20 Superior-Champion species. With some additional nurturing for Sudden Death King and Captain Doofus, combined with the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer, Lu Ran still believed solo-clearing them was feasible.

However, if the boss was a King species, there would be no hope. But King species bosses shouldn’t appear in level 1 secret realms. Currently, Lu Ran’s goal in Limitless City wasn’t to farm secret realms.

Short-term gains from farming wouldn’t bring significant improvements, especially since he wasn’t lacking in Trait Crystals, crystal coins, or resources at the moment. Instead, he activated a Unique secret realm.

[Activate Training Secret Realm?] [Fee: 10 crystal coins/day.]

“Yes,” Lu Ran responded.

What he selected was a level 1 Training Secret Realm. The cost remained affordable: just 10 crystal coins per day. For comparison, the Beginner Training Secret Realm only cost 1 crystal coin per day, making this a negligible expense for Lu Ran.

However, the Training Secret Realm itself didn’t provide any additional resources. It was purely a natural environment with a relatively high concentration of natural energy and the ability to automatically repair itself.

This space was clearly a designated training ground provided by Limitless City specifically for beastmasters to train their familiars. Currently, the fastest way for Lu Ran to improve his combat strength was through foundational training.

Upon entering the Training Secret Realm, Lu Ran noted that its size had significantly increased compared to the Beginner Training Secret Realm. The concentration of spiritual energy was also higher. Aside from that, there weren’t any major differences.

Lu Ran retrieved two contract cards and summoned Sudden Death King and Captain Doofus. Once summoned, the two familiars displayed contrasting expressions.

“

Rawr!

”

“

Woof!

”

Captain Doofus was already highly familiar with everything in Limitless City, while Sudden Death King was still in its curious phase, eagerly inspecting its surroundings.

“Sudden Death King, you’ll undergo intensive training here,” Lu Ran announced.

“Compared to sending you to the power plant for electric shocks, let’s focus on learning new skills first.”

“

Rawr!

” Sudden Death King nodded enthusiastically.

It glanced at Lu Ran with bright orange-red eyes filled with anticipation. Its thoughts were unmistakable. It was ready to study the robust energy projection from before, which it imagined was stronger than the Lightning Armor it had been using.

“Not defensive skills! Attack skills!” Lu Ran corrected sternly.

“You can dedicate most of your effort to honing defensive techniques, but foundational energy manipulation like Projection, Acceleration, and Compression, must be mastered as soon as possible.

“Otherwise, if someone immobilizes or repels you with long-range methods, you won’t even be able to fight back.”

Lu Ran couldn’t resist poking fun at its earlier encounter with Captain Doofus.

Sudden Death King was internally crying.

“First, you need to learn the basics for lightning-type attributes such as Discharge, Lightning Flash, and Energy Compression techniques!”

Discharge was essentially the same as Flame Breath, Water Blast, or Captain Doofus’s Wind Roar. It simply involved releasing lightning energy outward. As simple as it sounded, Sudden Death King hadn’t mastered it yet.

Lightning Flash, on the other hand, was similar to Haste. By accelerating the flow of lightning energy over its body, it created a flickering lightning shroud, hence the name Lightning Flash.

Mastering this skill would not only improve Sudden Death King’s ability to generate and repair its Lightning Armor or Lightning Shield, but it also could have reduced the freezing effect during its previous encounter with the Blizzard Sword Intent.

As for Energy Compression, Lu Ran wasn’t aiming for Sudden Death King to enhance its attack power with this technique, as it didn’t align with its nature and would impact training efficiency.

Instead, Lu Ran intended to combine Energy Compression with Lightning Armor, condensing ten times the lightning energy into a single piece of armor. This would undoubtedly boost its defensive capabilities significantly.

Of course, if Sudden Death King loses control and the armor explodes, the resulting destructive power will also be greatly enhanced. But that’s its own problem. What I’m teaching is clearly a defensive enhancement technique.

By mastering these foundational skills, Sudden Death King’s abilities would reach another level. At level 20, it would be nearly invincible except against opponents like Captain Doofus, who had already advanced their energy techniques to the second stage.

While it wouldn’t guarantee victory in all battles, it would at least ensure survival in most encounters. Naturally, there was a limitation.

Sudden Death King’s aptitude was heavily focused on defensive skills, like forming Lightning Armor and Lightning Shields. Expecting it to become as versatile as Captain Doofus, adept in all Energy Manipulation techniques, was unrealistic.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Using Soul Cleansing Fruits to boost its comprehension was too extravagant as well.

“

Luckily, I’m a genius.

”

Lu Ran couldn’t help but marvel at his ingenuity.

It was a stroke of brilliance to develop Super Beast Mimicry to version 2.0.

Super Beast Mimicry 2.0 not only allowed Lu Ran to learn combat techniques from his familiars but also enabled him to share his own skills and experiences with them.

This kind of feedback, presented in the form of spiritual and mental memory, greatly enhanced a familiar’s comprehension.

“I’ll demonstrate properly this time. Watch closely.”

Summoning the Flame Spirit, Lu Ran was soon enveloped in flames. The flames surged and flowed like a flame shroud, turning his hair and pupils a brilliant red.

During his time at the Dragon’s Valley, Lu Ran had consumed a substantial amount of Soul Cleansing Fruits. Although they didn’t contribute much to understanding the Flame Dragon Intent, they significantly enhanced his mastery of the Flame Spirit.

Previously, Lu Ran, like Sudden Death King, couldn’t perform many energy manipulation techniques.

However, through Super Beast Mimicry and the effects of the Soul Cleansing Fruits, Lu Ran had now become adept at performing Energy Acceleration, Projection, Formation, and Compression with the Flame Spirit, techniques originally mastered by Captain Doofus.

Although the attributes were different, the techniques were universally applicable. Lu Ran now planned to reverse-engineer the knowledge he had acquired from Captain Doofus through Super Beast Mimicry and transfer it to Sudden Death King.

This process was akin to spoon-feeding the techniques. If Sudden Death King failed to master all of these within a month, Lu Ran would be out of words.

“

Rawr!!!

”

As a vast amount of skill knowledge was forcibly transmitted into its mind, Sudden Death King froze in place, its brain overwhelmed by a storm of insights.

“

Woof!

”

Meanwhile, Captain Doofus sat nearby satisfied, and displayed a smug, knowing expression.

This house would fall apart without me!

Though it appeared as though Lu Ran was teaching Sudden Death King, Captain Doofus knew better. It was the true mastermind behind the training chain.

However, as Lu Ran’s entire body flared with fire, Captain Doofus’ wise demeanor slowly gave way to a muddled daze. It eventually stopped thinking altogether, its gaze turning blank.

“Let Sudden Death King figure things out here for now,” Lu Ran muttered to himself.

“In the meantime, I need to restock resources. From now on, I’ll have to raise two familiars simultaneously.”

He stood still, observing Sudden Death King’s changes. Additionally, it was time to expand the scope of his Super Beast Mimicry.

Currently, his synchronization was limited to Captain Doofus, with whom he practiced sword techniques and ate meals together. For Sudden Death King, however, things might be different.

Lu Ran was confident that his most successful decision was correcting Sudden Death King’s personality. It no longer cowered before certain opponents but instead, under his and Dark Crow’s guidance, had even picked up a knack for trash-talking and taunting.

This made everything so much smoother. Now, Lu Ran could sync with it not only in combat but also in dialogue, delivering psychological blows to opponents with minimal effort.

Aside from that, it was time for layered armor. Lu Ran channeled flames outward, carefully forming them into the form of a dragon-shaped flame armor that encased his body.

“If it layers armor, then I’ll layer armor too. The Red Lightning Trait allows it to endure electricity and strengthen its physique. Additionally, Red Lightning can also enhance the bodies of other living beings through electric shocks.

“So, once Sudden Death King gains better control over energy, I can undergo lightning enhancement as well. This way, the synchronization between me and the Sudden Death King will increase significantly.

“Before long, my defensive capabilities should see a qualitative improvement through Super Beast Mimicry.”

By learning energy manipulation techniques from Captain Doofus and defensive techniques from Sudden Death King, Lu Ran felt himself steadily advancing down the path of becoming a humanoid beast of destruction.

So later on, should I get a pet beast that excels in speed... to make me more versatile?

Lu Ran started to ponder. Though Captain Doofus wasn’t slow, its speed was constrained by its species. There were faster attributes than Wind, such as Light.

Additionally, to handle aquatic environments in the future, Lu Ran would need a Water-attribute familiar. By syncing through Super Beast Mimicry, he could gain the ability to move freely underwater.

With these considerations in mind, Lu Ran realized he might never have enough contract cards!