Chapter 331 - The Ten Great Beastmaster Kings of Blue Planet

The Alliance Tournament was this month. Not all participants from other countries were like Lu Ran and needed more time to develop. As soon as the Alliance Tournament commenced, they immediately started fighting for resources.

During this period, Lu Ran, as the focal point of the tournament, remained unusually silent. Everyone knew that the strongest fourth generation must have been actively preparing for the Alliance Tournament.

Over twenty days passed before a lone figure, with a weary expression, stepped out of the ruin space. Since Lu Ran had made bold claims in front of the old president, he dared not be careless.

First, he was motivated by the resources promised by the old president. Second, his pride was on the line.

After creating so many miracles on Blue Planet, Lu Ran had undeniably reached a high standing. Although this challenge was difficult and not meant for beastmasters of his level, he had no intention of failing.

Thus, over the past few days, he had devoted himself entirely to training and nurturing his familiars, investing in himself even more than before. He hadn’t even taken the time to cut his hair.

In Green Sea City, when the time arrived, Lu Ran looked at Manager Ying, who had just arrived, and grinned. “So, it's you picking me up, huh?”

“Damn... Why do you look like a wild person?” Manager Ying was speechless after seeing Lu Ran in a disheveled state.

“A battle that I absolutely cannot lose requires full preparation...”

Lu Ran meant that he had even participated in the training alongside his familiars.

As someone who had mastered a domain, he was undeniably a unique combat force. He could certainly catch his opponents off guard.

Over these past days, other than Captain Doofus, none of his other familiars had comprehended a domain, which was somewhat disappointing, but not entirely. After all, even if they couldn’t master a domain, he could. When the time came, he could just lend them his domain.

So what if level 5 beastmasters had two more beastmaster skills than him? He would just enhance his familiars with his domain.

“Looks like you really went all in. Well, that makes sense. You’ve requested quite a lot of resources from the association recently. If you perform poorly, the old president will definitely beat you up.” Manager Ying clicked its tongue.

Lu Ran chuckled. “That won’t happen.”

If Manager Ying could see the details of Captain Doofus' contract card right now, it would definitely be shocked at his current list of familiars.

[Species: Sword Domain Dog]

[Attributes: Wind, Ice, Space]

[Species Rank: Intermediate Overlord]

[Level: 40]

[Kin: Sword Spirit (level 40), Swordgrass (level 40)]

These two kin couldn’t be leveled up through the arenas, but that wasn’t a big problem. Lu Ran rapidly boosted them to level 40 by using the resources provided by the association.

Unfortunately, while Lu Ran initially thought Captain Doofus’ kin could surpass Captain Doofus’ level, they were similarly restricted by the contract, unable to level up further. Otherwise, he would have requested even more resources.

What reassured Lu Ran the most was that after Captain Doofus awakened the Space attribute at level 40, its species rank unexpectedly increased again. Its base species rank had evolved from Low Overlord to Intermediate Overlord.

It was undeniable that the Space attribute was one of the strongest attributes. It could even enhance Overlord potential—though, Lu Ran suspected this was also due to Captain Doofus’ species being inherently linked to the Space attribute.

Regardless, now that Captain Doofus had awakened the Space attribute and could fight alongside its two kins, its strength had become extraordinary. Lu Ran could hardly wait to test its strength against the second- and first-generation beastmasters from other nations.

Although he had been training relentlessly, he hadn’t completely cut himself off from the outside world. He had still been keeping up with the progress of the Alliance Tournament. Over the past twenty days, while only beastmasters from smaller countries had been challenging, the battles still provided Lu Ran with a lot of intelligence and broadened his perspective.

It was worth mentioning that, after more than 20 days of challenges, the best record so far was only clearing the fourth stage. There wasn’t any second-generation beastmaster that had managed to defeat a first-generation gatekeeper. This made Lu Ran even more excited.

Will I be the first?

“Alright, go get ready. We should get going soon. The day after tomorrow is our challenge,” Manager Ying reminded him.

Dean Qin and Youxiong had already traveled to Antarctica to spectate the battles firsthand. They were also making preparations in Limitless City.

Meanwhile, thanks to his ruin space, Lu Ran could remain in Green Sea City. It was more convenient to observe the progress of Dark Crow’s legion and Mystic Turtle’s growth from there.

Over these past days, most of Dark Crow’s legion had successfully converted to the Poison attribute with Fang Lan’s help. The Ten-Thousand Poisons Mother Tree played a crucial role in this process.

After mastering the Poison attribute, Dark Crow’s mastery of Legion Transformation and curses improved drastically. Its curses could directly extinguish enemy life forces. It was far more brutal than before.

As for Mystic Turtle, with the enhancement of the Dragonstone Tablet and Dark Crow’s assistance, it had become a true deep-sea lord. It even helped Lu Ran acquire a Treasure-grade resource, the Nine-Colored Meteorite Fragment.

Mystic Turtle and its forces had seized a Nine-Colored Meteorite Fragment from the deep sea. However, Lu Ran didn’t retrieve it immediately, instead allowing Mystic Turtle to carry it to increase its level.

Now, under Manager Ying’s escort, Lu Ran set out for Antarctica. Although he could have gone alone, with representatives from numerous countries gathering, having a bodyguard was a necessary precaution.

***

Antarctica, Alliance City.

Despite being in an extremely harsh environment, the International Alliance had successfully built an international metropolis here with the power of familiars.

Upon learning that Lu Ran was arriving today, Dean Qin, Youxiong, and Senator Zheng, who was stationed in Alliance City, immediately welcomed him.

Senator Zheng was a retired first-generation beastmaster from Xia. After stepping away from frontline combat, his main role was representing Xia in the International Alliance and handling various affairs. Many other countries had similar officials permanently stationed at the Alliance Headquarters.

This time, he was responsible for receiving Xia’s participants. Although Senator Zheng held a high position, he always remained courteous when meeting Dean Qin, Youxiong, and Lu Ran, personally welcoming them every time.

“Hello Professor Lu, Manager Ying. We’ve prepared a welcome banquet, and Dean Qin and Youxiong are also invited,” Senator Zheng greeted warmly.

After a brief exchange, Lu Ran followed the arrangements and joined the banquet with Manager Ying. The banquet hall was a private setting. Since every conversation here could become sensitive information, no outsiders were present.

Dean Qin, Youxiong, and Lu Ran were already familiar with each other. As soon as they met up, they started chatting and laughing.

“Lu Ran, you arrived pretty late. Looks like you’ve been preparing a secret weapon?” Dean Qin laughed.

“Have you been keeping track of the gatekeepers in the Alliance Tournament? Need any intelligence?” Youxiong asked.

“Youxiong, there’s no need to ask that. With Manager Ying around, how could Professor Lu lack intelligence?” Senator Zheng chuckled, glancing at Manager Ying.

“

Tch,

he hasn’t even asked me for anything yet. I’m not involved. You guys continue. I’m going to enjoy some food.” Manager Ying pouted, uninterested in chatting with a bunch of old men.

Instead, it focused on the lavish buffet prepared exclusively for them.

The food here is way too much for just a few people. Well, someone has to deal with it.

“I’ve been following the matches via livestream, but I wonder if the alliance will manipulate the competition behind the scenes,” Lu Ran said.

Senator Zheng’s expression turned serious. “That’s a legitimate concern. Even with international oversight, the Alliance Tournament still has hidden forces at play. If anything unusual happens during the tournament, my advice is to prioritize safety. If necessary, don’t hesitate to forfeit.

“With first and second-generation beastmasters fighting, the power imbalance is severe. Over the past few days, we’ve already seen casualties. Many familiars have been killed on the battlefield, and there have even been beastmasters who died from their injuries.”

Dean Qin, Youxiong, and Lu Ran exchanged glances.

Dean Qin said, “We’ll stay alert. As long as the gatekeeper in the fifth stage isn’t one of the Ten Great Beastmaster Kings, we should be fine.”

“That won’t happen. The Ten Great Beastmaster Kings are too strong. They’re banned from competing.” Senator Zheng reassured them with a smile.

Lu Ran took a sip of juice and asked, “I’ve been so focused on the Alliance Tournament that I haven’t been keeping up with the World War. What’s the progress there?”

Youxiong sighed. “Same as before. The ten champions remain undefeated. No one has been able to dethrone them. I have a feeling it’ll stay that way until the end.”

Dean Qin nodded. “Those ten are absolute monsters. Each of them has reached the pinnacle in their respective domains. They’re all level 6 now, and every one of them has at least one Overlord familiar, which is just their baseline.

“One of them has mastered energy flow techniques at an unprecedented level. Another has refined energy projection techniques to perfection. Some have unmatched special abilities, though I’m not talking about Lin Nian.

“Her telekinesis is strong, but the real threat is an Indian beastmaster who can control ancient creatures. He can even hypnotise his enemy’s familiars. While he isn’t as destructive as Lin Nian, in the special abilities ranking, he ranks even higher.

“Basically, whether it’s species, domain techniques, energy projection, energy compression, energy formation, energy flow, special abilities, or beastmaster combat skills, each of these ten has an area where no one can rival them. Calling them the world’s strongest beastmasters isn’t an exaggeration.”

Dean Qin’s eyes gleamed with admiration. “That’s crazy.”

Although he was Xia’s strongest second-generation beastmaster, he was still far from reaching the level of those ten.

“The world record for energy compression is still held by that Snow Federation powerhouse, right?” Lu Ran asked.

Dean Qin nodded. “Yes, but rumor has it that after his ace familiar evolved into an Overlord, he pushed energy compression to over fortyfold, which is hard to imagine... A level 60 Overlord familiar with a fortyfold energy compression technique. Just how destructive would that be? Could it wipe out an entire city?”

Lu Ran sipped his juice through a straw, deep in thought.

Fortyfold energy compression... Maybe I underestimated the first-generation beastmasters. But this record isn’t going to last long. Once the Alliance Tournament ends, Captain Doofus will break it.

While they were deep in discussion, Manager Ying suddenly shouted from across the room, “Holy shit... Lu Ran, look at the International Alliance Forum!”

Following its cue, Lu Ran pulled out his phone and opened the International Beastmaster Forum, only to see a trending post directly related to him.

Does Lu Ran’s Twin Crows count as one familiar or two? If he summons the Twin Crows in battle, will the alliance disqualify him for breaking the rules? LOL.

The post was buzzing with comments, but Lu Ran fell silent. He had been so focused on Captain Doofus and its kin that he hadn’t even considered the Twin Crows issue.

But what truly caught his attention was that someone had already asked the alliance about this, and they had responded officially.

Twin Crows is a unique split-evolution phenomenon. Since it remains a single entity under one contract card, it complies with tournament regulations.

Lu Ran was taken aback. “Who posted this? I swear, once the tournament is over, the alliance is definitely going to fire them.”

Only Lu Ran knew why Manager Ying was laughing uncontrollably in the distance.