Chapter 317 - Mystic Turtle Being Manipulated

“Huh?”

King of the Vast Sea?

At this moment, Mystic Turtle felt dizzy as there was simply too much information to process. It took a moment to sort things out. Lu Ran and his team had eliminated both the Black Dragon King and the Dragon Palace’s general just to bring it back to Green Sea?

Although Mystic Turtle found this hard to believe, it felt that Dark Crow wouldn’t deceive it. After all, if this were a lie, it would be far too easy to expose since it was currently inside the Dragon Palace.

If things had only progressed to this point, Mystic Turtle would have been overwhelmed with gratitude, at a loss for words. After all, it would soon be able to return to Green Sea and retire in peace, as that was the life it truly desired.

However, Dark Crow clearly had no intention of taking it back. Every word it spoke hinted at something else. It wanted Mystic Turtle to stay in the Dragon Palace.

“General Mystic Turtle, you still remember your past, don’t you? The king and I both know that you also want to retire in Green Sea. But have you forgotten? You had already achieved your dream of retirement, and yet, external forces refused to let you live in peace.

“First, you were captured by the Merfolk Kingdom. Then, you were taken by the Dragon Palace. You had no way to resist! The perfect retirement must be secured by your own hands! The Dragon Palace is in chaos right now. If we simply leave, can you guarantee that another ocean faction won’t seize it and grow even stronger?

“If that happens, our peace could still be disrupted even if you return to Green Sea.

“In my opinion, we might as well go all the way. Just like when you once pacified the coastal waters of Green Sea, you should take action again! Seize the Dragon Palace, rule over it, and dominate this entire sea.

“That way, if you wish to retire even in a chaotic world, you’ll have a powerful ocean force to shield you from the storm...”

Dark Crow continued analyzing the pros and cons, causing Mystic Turtle to fall into deep thought.

“You make a good point, but... I’m just a turtle.”

It could handle pacifying the coastal waters of a city, but the deep sea was filled with terrifying creatures.

Dark Crow flashed a sinister smile. “Don’t worry! The king will prepare Treasure-grade resources and a Treasure-grade weapon to strengthen you!”

“Huh?” Mystic Turtle was confused.

Dark Crow glanced at the battered stone tablet on Mystic Turtle’s back and shook its head. “It’s time for an upgrade for this thing. The king will provide you with a Treasure-grade stone tablet weapon to assist you.

“Your task is to climb step by step within the chaotic Dragon Palace, using the resources the king provides, until you rule over the vast sea! Don’t worry! I’ll leave a clone here to fight alongside you. You won’t have to struggle alone.” Dark Crow noticed Mystic Turtle’s hesitation and quickly reassured it.

Mystic Turtle cursed internally.

“With both of us generals working together, placing the king on the throne of the vast sea will be as easy as flipping a coin!”

“Ah...” Mystic Turtle’s expression turned to despair.

This cunning crow had already said everything... What else can it do...

“After this mission, you can retire for good!” Dark Crow added.

“Really...?”

“If you don’t trust me, at least trust the king. There are many talented and promising sea beasts out there. If the king didn’t see you as one of his own, why would he go to such great lengths to invest in you?”

Mystic Turtle froze.

That... is true. Thinking back, Lu Ran didn’t treat me poorly at all. He clearly had many better choices, yet he chose an old turtle like me. Yeah! There are so many young sea beasts with potential. Why is he always dragging me into this? Damn it!

The old turtle sighed.

Forget it. Since Lu Ran trusted me so much, I might as well see if I could lend a hand.

***

Green Sea.

Dark Crow had returned from reconnaissance. Through its scouting, Lu Ran confirmed that the Dragon Palace was indeed in chaos, and a large number of vicious sea beasts still remained. Even though the Black Dragon King led dozens of level 40 to 50 sea beasts in an invasion of Xia, this number was far from the Dragon Palace’s full strength.

The Dragon Palace still had at least a few hundred level 40 to 50 sea beasts. However, these weren’t the Black Dragon King’s loyal subordinates. Most of them were simply beasts it had subdued through brute force. Now that the black dragon had been suppressed by Xia, they likely wouldn’t seek revenge for it.

However, just because they wouldn’t rescue the Black Dragon King didn’t mean they wouldn’t fight for its throne.

During its conquest, the Black Dragon King had plundered many resources. Many of those resources likely remained hidden within the Dragon Palace. For these riches, many sea beasts would soon converge on the Dragon Palace.

This would be the most chaotic phase for the Dragon Palace. And it wouldn’t just be sea beasts; even human nations would want a piece of it.

Although Lu Ran had yet to receive concrete intelligence, he speculated that Xia and the Merfolk Kingdom would soon form a deeper alliance. Most likely, the Merfolk Kingdom would provide sea beasts, which Xia beastmasters could contract to rapidly form an Ocean Special Operations Team.

This wouldn’t be a naval force for surface combat. It would be a special operations team capable of deep-sea warfare. This meant that Xia would be able to secure some gains during this chaotic period.

As for exploring the ocean, Lu Ran had no intention of cooperating with the Beastmaster Association as he planned to go solo using Dark Crow’s abilities. Mystic Turtle was weak, but those feudal sea beasts weren’t particularly strong either.

With some investment, Mystic Turtle would soon have the strength to compete with them. And with Dark Crow’s ability to eliminate strong enemies, even if it costs some eyeballs, the losses would be within an acceptable range. It wouldn’t take long before Mystic Turtle made a name for itself in the deep sea, gathering a large number of subordinates.

Once that happened, Lu Ran could send the Flood Dragons he was nurturing in Green Sea into the ocean, gradually establishing his influence. With that in place, Dark Crow could expand its operations, conquering more territories and gathering resources for Lu Ran.

Lu Ran shook his head. “Old turtle, this is for your own good. The world is in chaos. Cities and even nations are being wiped out at a moment’s notice. How could you possibly retire in peace? Listen to me. There’s only one right path. First, achieve unrivaled power, then you can retire in peace.”

After reconnecting with Mystic Turtle through Dark Crow, Lu Ran checked his phone. Following the black dragon incident, messages flooded in from Pluto, Master Lin, and Jiang Dou.

Pluto: You’re strong.

Master Lin: 6![ref]In Chinese slang, it means cool or awesome, mostly used to praise someone’s skills, like saying “nice play!” in gaming[ref]

Jiang Dou: You brat... impressive!

Lu Ran smiled slightly, responding briefly to most of them before opening a more important message.

Lu Bing: Chief, you’re so strong! I love it! Too bad we didn’t see the Divine Deer appear! By the way, reporting in. Flood Dragon Squad is now qualified for a four-person team challenge in a Legendary secret realm. As for their first level 1 Legendary secret realm, they’d like to hear your opinion. Do you have any urgent need for a specific trait or skill?

“It’s starting...” Lu Ran exhaled deeply.

The Flood Dragon Squad, nurtured with massive resources, was finally preparing to challenge a Legendary secret realm. They were smart. They knew their current strength came entirely from Lu Ran’s investments, so their first Legendary secret realm wasn’t about what they needed. It was about what Lu Ran needed.

For example, if Lu Ran required a Fire-attribute trait, they would challenge a Fire-type Legendary secret realm. This way, there was a high probability of obtaining the exact resources he needed. What they needed personally only came after that.

“What a shame.”

Lu Ran looked slightly disappointed after seeing the message.

Over the past few days, he had conducted an experiment by testing whether non-contracted familiars like Sword Spirit and swordgrass could fuse traits. The results were a failure.

Traits seemed to be exclusive to familiars contracted through contract cards. This was a major regret for Lu Ran. If Sword Spirit and swordgrass could fuse traits for evolution, he would have full confidence in developing Captain Doofus’ familiars into Overlords. If that happened, Captain Doofus’ power would become even more terrifying.

Still, Lu Ran wasn’t greedy. The fact that Sword Spirit and swordgrass could even be placed in a contract card with Captain Doofus was already a huge bonus. Besides, while they couldn’t evolve through Limitless City’s benefits, it didn’t mean they couldn’t evolve at all.

Beastmaster Yu Rui from the Stellar Moon Federation had once mentioned that a beastmaster in their country had evolved a swordgrass into an Overlord without Limitless City’s help. That beastmaster had relied purely on their own secret evolution methods.

Similarly, even without Limitless City’s benefits, wildlife on the Blue Planet could still evolve using special evolutionary resources. Thus, the sword spirit and swordgrass still had a chance to become Overlords, but it would just be more troublesome.

Without the shortcut of trait fusion, Lu Ran couldn’t send the Flood Dragon Squad to farm traits for the sword spirit and the swordgrass. This significantly narrowed down the options for the Flood Dragon Squad.

“Captain Doofus is already level 40, fused with the Space attribute. Pass. Dark Crow is also level 40 with no urgent needs. Pass. That leaves only Sudden Death King and Baby Cloud. Let’s prioritize Sudden Death King first.”

Lu Ran: See if you can find a secret realm with a boss that is proficient in support defense.

Lu Bing: Support defense? Got it!

Lu Bing understood immediately. Support-type familiars were incredibly valuable in secret realm raids. A single buff could massively boost a team’s attack power, defense, or speed.

Lu Ran planned to stick to his previous strategy that at level 40, Sudden Death King would gain an additional support trait. This way, its already immense defense would extend to the entire team. No more complaining about tanking damage alone.

After finishing his discussion with Lu Bing, Lu Ran called Professor Ye. Professor Ye was the Beastmaster University professor who had gifted him the swordgrass and the one responsible for modifying Green Sea City’s real secret realm.

Now, Lu Ran planned to relocate the vicious plants he had obtained from the ascension realm to Green Sea. He might need Professor Ye’s help.

The Death Forest had been transplanted into the ruin space, where it thrived in perfect conditions without risk of dying. But in Green Sea, careful expert supervision would be required. As for why he couldn’t just leave it in the ruin space, it was because Captain Doofus and the others’ training had become increasingly intense.

Sooner or later, their training impacts would wipe out the plants. Ultimately, the ruin space was more valuable as a portable beast storage for familiars.

After securing Professor Ye’s assistance, Lu Ran grinned and called Fang Lan.

“Sister Fang Lan, I need a favor!” As soon as she picked up, Lu Ran spoke.

“

Pfft,

what’s with that tone?”

“What tone?” Lu Ran feigned innocence.

“Forget it. What do you need?” Fang Lan pouted.

Dark Crow’s feat had turned it into Xia’s guardian beast, and Lu Ran had ascended to Legendary status. Fang Lan felt helpless, even though her own ascension realm conquest had been exceptionally successful.

She had even encountered foreign beastmasters, poisoned them all, and earned an SS-rank evaluation. She thought this was already incredible. But one secret realm later, Lu Ran had become Xia’s guardian.

Lu Ran chuckled. “I need your expertise in poison research. You’re at the university, right? Find Professor Ye and return to Green Sea with her. You’ll understand when you get here.”

“

Huh?

”

“

Huh

, what? There’s a surprise waiting for you!”

While developing the Dark Crow Legion, Lu Ran had encountered a major problem. Dark and Spirit-attribute resources couldn’t both be standardized for common crows. And other attributes didn’t provide strong enhancements to curse power.

Through extensive experimentation, Lu Ran discovered that a subset of Poison-attribute crows actually had great synergy with curse power. They could amplify Dark Crow’s most potent curses.

Thus, Lu Ran decided to make the Poison attribute the primary specialization of the Dark Crow Legion. This attribute was relatively inexpensive yet highly effective. However, he knew nothing about Poison-attribute abilities. That’s why he planned to have Fang Lan oversee the Death Forest’s vicious plants while researching Poison-attribute powers suitable for the crow species.

And of course, giving her such a big gift would make her too embarrassed to refuse. If she got too touched and insisted on repaying him with herself, that would be troublesome.