Chapter 251 - Armored Beast

"Huh?”

Lu Ran and Youxiong Anlin were about to start fighting but ended up just staring at each other.

"What’s wrong, Guardian?" Youxiong asked.

"Didn't you say that the dog can use weapons? Give it one," Guardian Panda instructed.

"For the sake of fairness, both sides can’t pull any punches and should go all out!

"Right, Lu Ran? You can’t throw the fight."

Hmm...

Lu Ran wasn’t convinced.

"Can I really? The weapon is pretty high quality."

"Of course. If it can control high-quality weapons, then that's part of its abilities." The Guardian Panda was very confident.

"I’m good either way." Youxiong Anlin agreed. Since Captain Doofus had the Weapon Control trait, to not use a weapon was equivalent to throwing the fight.

"Alright, we’ll go all out." Lu Ran finally gave in.

He stretched out his hand and summoned the newly forged Winter Fang which materialized a freezing blizzard. The temperature immediately began to drop sharply.

"Catch!"

Lu Ran threw the sword as the blizzard rampaged. Captain Doofus jumped and caught the sword in the air with its mouth. Its body straightened out after a graceful landing as its aura rose steadily. Its eyes cast a cold gaze at the giant panda in front of it.

Boom!

Captain Doofus with and without a sword was clearly two different dogs.

Roar!

Feeling Captain Doofus’ powerful aura and the cold sword momentum, the giant panda wasn’t the least bit afraid. It stood up and roared. It seemed that the training from Guardian Panda was really effective.

"That is a Treasure-grade sword," President Youxiong warned Anlin.

"Gravity!"

Anlin engaged in some unsportsmanlike conduct as soon as he heard the warning by immediately ordering his Dark Light Panda to attack.

Treasure grade was treasure grade, but wasn’t like his familiar never ate one before.

The giant panda pointed its palm at Captain Doofus, quickly forming a black hole and generating a powerful gravitational force. The field descended into chaos as a huge cloud of dust kicked up. As the target of the skill, Captain Doofus felt a strong gravitational pull towards its opponent.

It was difficult for Captain Doofus to resist as it was dragged forward.

Youxiong Anlin’s panda was born with both the Light and Dark attributes. Its first trait was Adaptation, which allowed it to adapt to the opposing forces within itself as it grew stronger. Its second trait was the Dark-attribute trait, Gravity. The trait gave it the ability to manipulate powerful gravitational forces.

It was a great crowd-control technique.

Captain Doofus wanted to break free of the gravitational pull at first but suddenly decided that it was too lazy to fight back. It went limp and let the gravity pull it toward its opponent.

Captain Doofus was lifted off the ground and quickly approached the panda under the Gravity traits effect. As it soared through the air, it gripped down on the sword, intending to deal a fatal blow at close range.

Youxiong Anlin obviously saw through Captain Doofus’ intentions right away and smirked.

The Dark-Light Panda raised its other palm, and golden light flashed.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless Light-attribute energy blasts flew out. Light-attribute skills were known for their speed. Now that Captain Doofus was pinned down and was at such a close distance, Youxiong Anlin believed that the attack was guaranteed to hit.

"Not bad." The Guardian Panda nodded at Anlin’s panda’s skillful use of energy application.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The blasts reached Captain Doofus in the blink of an eye, but Captain Doofus narrowed its eyes, thinking that it had been underestimated.

Awoo~!

With a howl, a terrifying sword intent burst forth. The fierce Blizzard Sword Intent that was reminiscent of a raging winter storm, transformed into a blue tidal wave that radiated out of Captain Doofus.

The Light-attribute blasts all froze in midair and split into two. The area between Captain Doofus and the panda was then engulfed by the blizzard.

Extreme cold seeped outward, and the Dark-Light Panda’s palm with the blackhole frosted over. The skill was forcefully terminated as the panda felt a stabbing pain.

Yip!

The Dark Light Panda let out a sharp cry.

Youxiong Anlin's expression sank. He never thought that Light-attribute energy could be frozen and cut. Even his familiar palm was frozen from a distance. How could that dog be so powerful?

Youxiong Anlin still wasn’t ready to give up. Captain Doofus broke free from the gravity and began to charge at the panda.

"Don't be afraid. Dark-Light Palm!" Anlin instructed.

The panda shattered the frost on its palm. Light and Dark energy then intertwined within its paw as it slapped toward the charging Captain Doofus.

Light-attribute familiars were undeniably fast. In a flash, it was already about to land a hit on Captain Doofus, but Captain Doofus wasn’t going to just take the hit. It quickly defended with the sword.

Boom!

The collision between the Winter Fang and Dark-Light Palm triggered a violent explosion. Both familiars pushed their attacks forward, deadlocked.

Youxiong Anlin could only purse his lips.

Lu Ran, on the other hand, smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Youxiong, is this all you’ve got? I suggest that you go all out. Don’t say that I didn't give you a chance."

Captain Doofus could compress energy down to thirty to forty times density and just now its attack wasn’t even at ten times density. In addition to the Blizzard Sword Intent, it only relied on its raw power and the weapon to suppress its opponent.

"What do you mean by ‘is this all I got’?" Youxiong Anlin's mouth twitched, clearly unhappy.

The two familiars finally separated at this point.

Youxiong Anlin threw a dissatisfied glance at the Guardian Panda and saw his uncle winking at him like crazy.

Ahem.

This can't go on.

"Fine. In that case, I’ll have to get serious,” Anlin said, looking back at Lu Ran.

"Lu Ran, do you know why that although there were so many real secret realms during ancient times, the Youxiong clan only took a fancy to this secret realm?"

"Why?" Lu Ran asked.

Was it for the bamboo?

"I’m not telling you~. You’ll have to find out."

Huh? Why, I oughta smack this kid.

Lu Ran gave Captain Doofus a look to tell it to stop holding back. Captain Doofus responded with a domineering glare.

Anlin and his panda were already prepared to unleash their next skill—Fusion!

Lu Ran wasn’t surprised as Youxiong Anlin used the Fusion skill during the freshman competition. Because there was a steady supply of the skill card, it was relatively common, but it was by far one of the most cost-effective skills.

Even some Unique skills weren’t as powerful.

It allowed the beastmaster to gain powerful abilities and could be used with any familiar. It was a favorite amongst beastmasters.

Roar!

With a flash, Lu Ran watched Youxiong Anlin and the Dark-Light Panda merge into one.

Youxiong Anlin's hair turned half black and half white, he acquired a set of panda eyes, and his limbs became bulkier. Their fusion form radiated power.

"We’re not done yet," Youxiong Anlin said.

A black substance materialized over his body and shaped into armor. This actually startled Lu Ran.

Is this the armor skill from the real secret realm? It was no wonder he mentioned it just earlier.

"Wait..."

At first, Lu Ran didn't care too much about Anlin’s overlapping skills, but he began to feel that something was wrong.

He watched as Anlin’s fused form blurred. He was finally able to discern that the armor Anlin materialized was different from what the skill normally produced.

In fact, he looked like an entirely different beast altogether. He was still bear-like, but instead of fur, he appeared to be wearing metal armor. The only part of his body that remained visible were his eyes.

"What do you think?" Youxiong Anlin asked in a gruff voice, sounding very proud of himself.

Lu Ran narrowed his eyes.

"So that's what you’re hiding. I got it."

Lu Ran felt a unique aura from him and looked over at the Guardian Panda.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is a type of body modification—a subtype of intent formation.

"The Youxiong clan once came into contact with a powerful bear-like creature clad in armor, and formed a close relationship.

"Its species rank was high. Although it wasn’t a Legendary creature, it was most likely at least quasi-Legendary. By imitating it, you can transform into a terrifying monster. It’s along the same vein as the Dragon-Phoenix intent formation.

"The Armor skill can help greatly improve the rate of comprehending the ability. That’s why the Youxiong clan chose to occupy this particular real secret realm.

"There is even a possibility that the secret realm key is a part of the mysterious monster’s body."

Lu Ran looked at the Guardian Panda with a burning gaze.

The Guardian Panda narrowed its eyes, but didn’t say anything.

Lu Ran guessed that he had more or less hit the nail on the head.

Youxiong Anlin in all likelihood comprehended this creature's form by relying on the secret realm key.

It was too bad he didn’t have a deer familiar, or Lu Ran would’ve given it the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer for it to comprehend the powers of the Divine Deer.

The power of a Legendary creature was greater than that of dragons and phoenixes—not to mention some armored beast.

When Youxiong Anlin entered his most powerful state, Lu Ran understood the source of his confidence. In his current state, Anlin was on par with a Superior-King rank familiar.

The commotion of the match finally drew the attention of nearby beastmasters.

"What’s going on here?"

Many of the beastmasters in the town keenly detected the battle fluctuations from earlier. They rushed over as quickly as they could. When they arrived, they saw Youxiong Anlin’s complete his transformation and confront Captain Doofus who was wielding a sword in its mouth!

"What is that?”

The crowd was astonished by Anlin’s armored form. Even many of the beastmasters that had the Eye of Detection couldn’t clearly see his information.

Seeing that the crowd was still growing, President Youxiong turned to address them.

"If I can ask everyone to keep it down. Professor Lu is sparring with my nephew, Youxiong Anlin.

"Anyone who wants to watch is welcome to stay, and those who don’t are free to leave."

Youxiong Jiyuan's words startled the crowd which finally realized that the situation was special. Besides President Youxiong, the clan guardian was there as well!

A boy wearing a husky-themed t-shirt was commanding a sworddog. Who else could that be besides Lu Ran?

The Guardian Panda watched Youxiong Anlin complete his transformation in addition to the growing crowd and subtly smiled.

Alright, Youxiong Anlin. Show them the true power of the Youxiong clan!