Chapter 364 - The End of the Elemental Era

Lu Ran hummed a tune as he stored his rewards and familiars, exiting the secret realm and returning to reality. To be honest, the rewards from this secret realm weren’t quite what he had imagined. But Lu Ran was an easily satisfied person.

“I thought it would be Time-related upgrade resources... But the Time Fruit isn’t bad either. It’s perfect timing. Heading to the Stellar Moon Federation alone, with only Manager Ying as a bodyguard, makes me a bit uneasy.

”With the Time Fruit, whether I boost Manager Ying to level 100 in a pinch or feed it to Captain Doofus and the others, I can instantly create an overwhelming combat force. Too bad it only lasts a few minutes.” Lu Ran shook his head regretfully.

If only I could get dozens more of these.

In his room, Lu Ran slowly rose from his wheelchair before lying down on his bed with a contented expression.

Ah, lying down is so much more comfortable.

“Now I have two top-tier beastmaster skills—Reincarnation and Time Shield. That healing and purification beastmaster skill can’t compare to these two. Which one should I learn after breaking through to the next level?” Lu Ran fell into deep thought.

The newly acquired Time Shield seemed incredibly useful. If he had possessed this skill back in the Beastmaster Empire, the Beast God might not have detected him and the six paths flower.

“Reincarnation only takes effect after a familiar dies. It’s too restrictive. Time Shield is clearly more suitable for my current situation. With it, whether I enter a new ascension realm or travel to the Stellar Moon Federation, the limitations will be much fewer...”

Sometimes, beastmaster skills didn’t all have to focus on strengthening familiars or boosting combat power. The main issue was that beastmasters consumed stamina when using skills. During actual combat, a beastmaster could only stack two or three skills at most. Any more, and the beastmaster would collapse from exhaustion.

So, rather than stacking only combat-oriented skills, it was better to have a mix of flashy and versatile abilities—at least, that was Lu Ran’s view.

“The Foresight trait crystal is similar to Manager Ying’s ability. Hmm, I’ll save it for the Six-Paths Flower. After awakening its memories, I’ll see if it needs it. If not, Dark Crow might be a good candidate for it. Its Evil God’s Eye seems unable to detect Time-attribute creatures. Pairing it with Foresight might elevate its scouting abilities to the next level.”

These were all quite useful in Lu Ran’s eyes. However, the last item, the time worm egg, left him baffled.

[Name: Time Worm Egg (Low-Transcendent species, no-attribute Transcendent lifeform)]

[Description: A unique insect lifeform, extremely weak but capable of feeding on Time and Space. After consuming enough Time-Space energy, it can transform into a Time Worm Cocoon. Even in its cocoon state, it retains the ability to absorb Time-Space energy. Once it absorbs sufficient nutrients, it will emerge from the cocoon and evolve into a Time Butterfly or Void Butterfly, depending on the ratio of Time-Space energy absorbed.

It was absurd that a Legendary secret realm would reward a Low-Transcendent familiar. However, this worm seemed unique. It didn’t require traits or evolution resources. It could evolve naturally just by eating and growing. Moreover, it was a rare Time-Space-attribute larva. And its final evolution stage was directly at the Overlord level.

Lu Ran’s expression turned serious. Even so, raising this thing wouldn’t be easy. It would likely require massive amounts of Time-Space resources to evolve.

“I can’t sell this one to the cat. The previous ones I gave to the cat were fine, but this one has a chance to become a rare Time-attribute familiar. Although I’ve already planned for the Six-Paths Flower to awaken the Time attribute, keeping a butterfly as its subordinate wouldn’t be bad, right?

“I remember it once controlled a butterfly for itself. When it comes to raising butterflies, the Six-Paths Flower is definitely the expert.”

Lu Ran quickly assigned the time worm egg’s future. At the same time, a message arrived from Manager Ying.

Manager Ying: That fast? Going into battle while injured—how inspiring. So, any eggs to sell?]

Lu Ran: No. I’m keeping this one as a subordinate for my familiar.

Manager Ying: Tch. By the way, aren’t you planning to evolve Baby Cloud? I’ll send you the intel Blue Planet has gathered from the Stellar Moon Federation participants about the Elemental Era. Study it.

Shortly after, Manager Ying sent over a document. Lu Ran, still lying in bed, blinked in surprise and opened it.

“Latest Discovery by Stellar Moon Federation Archaeologists: The Secret Behind the End of the Elemental Era! Compared to Transcendent animals and plants, the earliest elemental lifeforms possessed even more innate talent. By the end of the Elemental Era, each elemental attribute had its own Elemental God.]

“But perhaps due to the excessive accumulation of power, or some other hidden reason, these Elemental Gods attempted to overthrow the absolute rule of the Four Supreme Divine Dragons. The result was obvious—some Elemental Gods were annihilated, while others were sealed away.

“Ordinary elemental lifeforms could no longer be born after this divine war. This also marked the rise of the Animal Gods. Countless animal lifeforms began to dominate the continent. It was likely during this period that the Four Supreme Divine Dragons began nurturing their subordinates, which is why their subordinates were all Animal Gods.

“While humans and plant lifeforms had their limits imposed by the Animal Gods, elemental lifeforms were outright forbidden existences. Even now in the Stellar Moon Federation, aside from elemental lifeforms being brought back from secret realms, no other elemental familiars exist.”

Lu Ran was slightly taken aback.

So the Elemental Gods were crushed by the Four Supreme Divine Dragons? But how does this relate to Baby Cloud’s evolution?

Confused, he asked directly.

Lu Ran: What’s the point of this?

Manager Ying: How should I know?! I’m just curious why the Elemental Gods opposed the Four Divine Dragons. Since Baby Cloud is one of the few elemental lifeforms in both worlds now, this mystery is yours to solve. I suspect that evolving an elemental lifeform to its peak might involve uncovering this secret.

Lu Ran was speechless.

Great, the cat has thrown another problem at me. Even if I asked the Divine Deer about this, it might not know. Unless those Elemental Gods sealed by the Four Supreme Divine Dragons broke free and reappeared, I’ll remain clueless.

“I’ll keep resting.”

Lu Ran chose to continue lying down, hugging Baby Cloud as he recovered from his injuries.

Now that Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King had mastered body control, there was enough space at home for them to move around freely.

While Lu Ran rested, Captain Doofus, in its normal husky form, trotted off to its room to sleep. As the main force in the recent secret realm run, it was exhausted and needed rest. Although the recovery effects of the contract card and the ruin space were better, Captain Doofus still preferred the dog bed it’d slept in for years.

Sudden Death King, in its mini dragon form, went to watch TV, accompanied by the swordgrass on the left and the sword spirit on the right. It was as though Captain Doofus was being cheated on.

As for Dark Crow, it was the busiest. After clearing the secret realm, it immediately flew off to the crow’s secret realm without stopping, continuing to inspect the growth of its underlings.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere abroad, in an underground altar.

Manager Ying firmly placed its paw on its clone and activated the cross-world teleportation array, feeding it the required Space resources.

“It’s up to you now,

meow

.”

“

Wuwu...

”

The clone cat shed tears, then stepped into the teleportation array.

In the next moment, light flashed, and Manager Ying’s clone was the first to teleport to the Stellar Moon World.

***

“Fuck! Where am I?”

After enduring a teleportation even more nauseating than the one to Limitless City, Manager Ying’s clone finally felt itself land steadily.

But as soon as it arrived, it was surrounded by endless darkness, giving it a bad feeling. Before it could even observe its surroundings, light suddenly filled the space. Manager Ying looked around and realized the environment was no different from the underground altar before the teleportation.

Has the teleportation failed? No!

“Finally, a lifeform has arrived,” a faint voice rang out.

Manager Ying turned to see a squirrel standing beside a lantern on a high platform, squinting at it.

“Who are you?” Manager Ying instinctively asked.

“I am the kin of the Space Dragon, Squirrel God. However, I’m but a clone.”

Manager Ying’s eyes widened.

A kin of the Space Dragon?

“Wait, something’s off.” The squirrel stared at Manager Ying, looking surprised. “You’re also a clone? How can a clone stably teleport through a cross-world teleportation array? What’s up with you?”

“Huh?” Manager Ying, seeing the divine dragon’s kin’s erratic behavior, grew suspicious.

“Why can’t a clone teleport? What’s so strange about that?”

“Of course it’s strange. Teleportation arrays can’t teleport clones; isn’t that common knowledge? Even if you’ve mastered energy formation to the third stage and achieved life formation, you still can’t withstand space teleportation. It’s a world rule.”

“What?” Manager Ying scratched its head, utterly confused.

After a long pause, the squirrel looked at Manager Ying gravely and said, “You... You probably don’t belong to the Stellar Moon Continent or Blue Planet. You’re an outsider. Or maybe you’re the reincarnation of some Legendary divine beast, which is why you can ignore such rules.”

“Are you for real?” Manager Ying, hearing that it might have such an impressive background, immediately widened its eyes in delight.

“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. You look so clueless that you’ve probably forgotten everything and started anew. Whatever. Let’s get to the main point.” Squirrel God gritted its teeth.

Manager Ying was confused.

“You came from Blue Planet, so you must already know the relationship between the lifeforms of Blue Planet and the Stellar Moon World, right?”