Chapter 300 - Lu Ran Goes to Sea

Gu Qingyi was surprised by Lu Ran’s efficiency. He had just returned, and his fourth familiar was already contracted. In reality, Lu Ran had no choice. There were just too many baby familiars at home. The decision to contract the Weather Sprite had been made long ago.

At this point, there was no reason to back out. Not only was the Weather Sprite extremely attached to them, but elemental lifeforms were also quite rare in today’s Blue Planet and even within the Stellar Moon Federation.

The Stellar Moon Federation still preserved the inheritances of beastmasters, plantmasters, and mechanics, but there was no elementalist legacy at all.

Elemental life had ceased to be born even before the Beastmaster Era began. Now, the only way to obtain an elemental familiar seemed to be through rewards from Limitless City.

Excluding beings like the Four Supreme Divine Dragons, the first generation of Legendary beings were all born from elemental lifeforms. Since elemental life emerged so early in history, their hierarchy should logically be far superior to animals and plants. It’s strange that the theoretically strongest race disappeared from history.

Lu Ran shrugged.

Perhaps, in some distant past, the gods of the elemental species and the Legendary creatures of the animal races had clashed in a great war.

That being said, elemental beings were indeed powerful. That was why the moment Captain Doofus merged with Nature Manipulation, it awakened the Gale Swordsmanship talent.

However, the talent also placed certain limitations on Captain Doofus. For one, its sword techniques had to align with the Wind attribute to maximize the talent’s potential. If it used Ice-attribute sword techniques, it had to execute them with a Blizzard Sword Intent. If it used Grass-attribute sword techniques, it had to create Swordgrass Storms.

Even if it awakened the Space attribute in the future, its strongest sword techniques would still need to have some connection to Wind, such as the Spatial Blade Storm. This was the only way for it to fully activate the Gale Swordsmanship talent and unleash the most powerful attacks. Such sword techniques would also feel more natural and effortless for Captain Doofus to execute.

While focusing on Wind-attribute sword techniques wasn’t exactly a waste of talent, it still wasn’t as perfectly suited as the Weather Sprite was to Nature Manipulation.

The Weather Sprite's newly awakened Adaptive Transformation talent greatly expanded its potential. Each time it gained a new nature attribute, it would acquire a corresponding special cloud form, allowing it to control weather phenomena more effectively.

Lu Ran had initially debated whether to train it for specialization—focusing on one or two weather types to the extreme—or to broaden its development by acquiring multiple weather forms.

Now, there was no need to struggle with that decision. The Adaptive Transformation talent made it clear that Lu Ran should help Baby Cloud awaken more attributes and develop more weather forms. By pairing that with the Weather Blessing talent, it could then provide even greater support to other familiars.

***

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

After leaving the secret realm, Lu Ran rode Baby Cloud toward the coastal waters. During his flight, the citizens of Green Sea City witnessed a spectacular sight: the clouds at the horizon were ablaze in deep red, like a sky set aflame. It was as if a volcano was erupting beneath them, casting a breathtaking glow.

On the streets, beastmasters walking their cats and dogs all stopped in their tracks, mesmerized by the stunning phenomenon. Many took out their phones to snap pictures.

“Fire clouds?”

“Where did those come from? They look amazing.”

The stunning images quickly spread online, prompting discussions. Some netizens even left flippant comments.

└Why are you still taking photos? Run! It’s only noon. Fire clouds usually appear at sunrise or sunset. I bet this is some ancient creature awakening, causing a supernatural event!

Due to the increasing awakening of ancient beings across the world, many people developed heightened vigilance. Even the slightest anomaly put them on edge.

After this reminder, Green Sea City authorities also noticed the abnormality. The fire clouds had lingered for a while, during which the temperature had risen by several degrees. The city became noticeably hotter, and the sunlight more intense. Normally, fire cloud was just a name. But this time, it truly felt like fire—which was anything but natural.

Fortunately, within two minutes, the Green Sea City Alliance issued an official statement, explaining that a powerful beastmaster and their familiar had simply passed through, triggering the phenomenon.

“What familiar could cause that...?”

Instead of calming the discussion, the announcement only intensified the speculation. To affect the weather over such a wide area, the familiar had to be at least level 50 or above.

Of course, the culprits were none other than Lu Ran and his team.

After contracting Baby Cloud, Lu Ran suddenly recalled an old idea about using Flame Spirit to enhance the Weather Sprite. Flame Spirit was a beastmaster skill that could temporarily grant a contracted familiar the Fire attribute.

Lu Ran had previously used it to lower Captain Doofus’ intelligence, ignite Sudden Death King, and give Dark Crow a soul-fire effect.

Now that he had contracted the Weather Sprite, he experimented once more, which then led him to a discovery.

[Name: Weather Sprite (Sunlight Form)]

[Attribute: Fire (Water, Ice, Lightning)]

[Species Rank: Intermediate King]

[Level: 21]

[Species Talents: Weather Blessing, Adaptive Transformation]

[Skills: Rain Prayer, Snowfall, Lightning Strike, Sunlight(Can harness solar energy to control sunlight intensity.)]

In addition to its original three attribute forms and weather skills, the Weather Sprite had now awakened the Sunlight Form thanks to the Flame Spirit effect. This was undoubtedly a perfect fusion of the newly awakened Adaptive Transformation species talent and the Flame Spirit skill.

Flame Spirit had also enhanced its power, allowing the level 21 familiar to alter the weather of half of Green Sea City. Although the Weather Sprite was still weak, Lu Ran was not.

“Flame Spirit is such a miraculous skill. Emperor Flame Quake was truly a genius.”

Only now did Lu Ran fully appreciate the wisdom of Emperor Flame Quake. In the Divine Tree Continent, most skills were species-restricted. Even the Sealed Transformation technique, which was passed down in the City Lord’s family, could only be used on animal familiars.

But Flame Spirit didn’t only work on animals, the undead, and humans, but also on elemental lifeforms. This alone proved Emperor Flame Quake’s unparalleled brilliance.

If there was one downside to Flame Spirit, it was that it could only be used on contracted familiars. It couldn’t be applied to other people or random creatures—a common limitation for most beastmaster skills. Otherwise, its potential could have been even greater.

“Alright, I’ll play around with this later.”

Reaching the coastal waters, Lu Ran dismissed Flame Spirit, returning Baby Cloud to its original white mist form.

“

Plip...

”

The Weather Sprite tilted its head, confused about what Lu Ran was planning.

Lu Ran rubbed his temple, feeling like Baby Cloud’s intelligence wasn’t that high either. It was almost as bad as Captain Doofus. Had it been Dark Crow, it would have already figured out his plan just from his earlier phone call.

“You dummy, didn’t you hear my call earlier? I said I was going on a deep-sea expedition. Now, come teach me how to swim.”

The Weather Sprite pouted.

Lu Ran wasn’t actually asking the Weather Sprite to teach him how to swim in the literal sense. Back in the day, he had learned swimming and diving from his dad while vacationing, so he had a decent foundation.

However, this was a deep-sea expedition. His basic skills weren’t cut out for it. Forget about him, even Olympic athletes wouldn’t stand a chance down there. He needed extraordinary abilities.

Earlier, when he had casually mentioned the idea of finding a suitable Water-attribute trait to Dr. Gu, it was more of an offhand remark. Finding something like that wouldn’t be easy. But failing to find a trait didn’t mean he had no way to acquire Water-attribute abilities. After all, he still had Super Beast Mimicry.

Since Baby Cloud was a Water-attribute elemental lifeform, it could naturally move effortlessly underwater. That meant Lu Ran could just follow its lead. Wherever Baby Cloud moved, he would move alongside it.

Soon, he would adapt to underwater survival through Super Beast Mimicry, just like how he had previously learned Dark Crow’s scouting skills. Through this method, he would gain the confidence to accompany Dr. Gu into the deep sea.

Lu Ran retrieved a swimsuit from his storage space and had Baby Cloud create a mist barrier for privacy. He then quickly changed. After that, he performed a fancy dive from mid-air and plunged into the ocean without hesitation.

“

Caw...

”

As Lu Ran began his underwater survival training, the Dark Crow Legion suddenly emerged from the secret realm, swarming out in large numbers. At the center of the flock, Dark Crow fixed its sharp gaze on the vast ocean, its expression turning serious.

***

Lu Ran swam skillfully through the ocean, easily adapting to the water. Nearby, Captain Doofus was happily paddling around, thoroughly enjoying itself. Only Sudden Death King seemed to be struggling. Due to its massive body, it was flailing awkwardly like a drowning fool.

Lu Ran found it odd. It used to be fine before, but it looked so dumb now. Even though it had awakened Rock-attribute powers, which were countered by Water, this guy had survived direct hits from Water-attribute attacks before. It made no sense for it to suddenly forget how to swim.

“You better train. And don’t you dare panic and start discharging electricity.” Lu Ran kept a close eye on Sudden Death King.

“

RAWR!

”

Sudden Death King groaned in frustration.

Can’t I just jump in instead?

Lu Ran shot him a glare. “Are you trying to cause a tsunami and drown Green Sea City?”

If this idiot used its Meteor Drop Technique here, it would definitely trigger an earthquake...

“

Woof.

”

Captain Doofus glanced at Sudden Death King with undisguised contempt and then casually froze the water beneath it, standing effortlessly on the icy surface. Meanwhile, Weather Sprite and Corpse Dog swam deeper into the ocean.

Ever since they started living together, these two baby familiars had been competing over everything, constantly trying to one-up each other. Captain Doofus had noticed this trend long ago. Now, he glanced at Lu Ran with a provocative glint in his eyes.

“

Woof, woof, woof.

”

Lu Ran turned his head, confused. Captain Doofus was challenging him.

Wanna compete and see whose familiar turns out stronger?

“Are you trying to start a rebellion?”