Chapter 402 - A Full Harvest Shakes the Federation

The Six-Paths Flower and the Divine Deer had once said that having multiple attributes was useless unless one core attribute could unify the others, transforming them into a higher-level attribute. Only then could one progress further.

Unifying attributes was something most Legendary beings needed to accomplish. The Wind Dog God was no exception. Its Legendary wind seed had unified the attributes of Dark and Space. Combined with its innate skeletal species talent, its bone-corrosion effect was extremely potent. Even breathing near it would cause bones to decay.

The Wind Dog God had been active during the Beast God Era. It was a time when elemental, plant, undead, and mechanical lifeforms were nearly nonexistent. Thus, its Legendary wind seed had held significant combat value.

Unfortunately, times had changed. Lu Ran and the Six-Paths Flower had stumbled upon an easy victory. The Six-Paths Flower, who lacked bones, remained entirely unaffected by the Legendary wind seed. As for Lu Ran, while he was impacted, the Six-Paths Flower possessed the ability to purify the air in order to prevent any fatal consequences.

The Wind Dog God had dropped a Legendary resource known as the Wind God’s Heart. This meant that Captain Doofus could follow its example and fuse his own attribute powers.

Lu Ran had already envisioned Captain Doofus’s Wind power being fused with Ice and Space, transforming into a frigid northern gale capable of freezing and shattering space itself.

Although it might not compare to something like the World attribute or Chaos attribute, Lu Ran was more than satisfied. After all, if left to Captain Doofus to unify these attributes on its own, it could take who knows how long, and they’d likely miss the window before the World War.

This fusion of attributes would give them a massive advantage over the Legendary beastmasters of Stellar Moon, allowing them to harvest even more resources.

“What did it drop? You look pleased,” the Six-Paths Flower asked.

“All good stuff. There’s a Legendary resource, the Wind God’s Heart, which can fuse attributes with Wind as the core!”

“Legendary, huh? Limitless City is truly impressive. Normally, a Low Legendary being would only have one core resource worthy of being called Legendary. Yet, Limitless City not only manifested Legendary beings but also extracted their core organs as rewards.

“Using a Legendary resource doesn’t guarantee a 100% chance of strengthening a lifeform to Legendary, but reaching quasi-Legendary shouldn’t be too difficult. Back when I was unifying my attribute powers, it took me decades, and that was only after all my powers had matured. It seems your dog can skip decades of trial and error,” the Six-Paths Flower said.

Lu Ran nodded while grinning. “Exactly. This feels great. And besides the Wind God’s Heart, none of the other resources are below Epic grade! You really are my lucky flower.”

The Six-Paths Flower crossed its arms.

“

Hmph

. I suggest you let that dog cultivate a couple more attributes before fusing them. Using a Legendary resource to unify just three attributes is a bit wasteful. Now, what else?”

“An Epic-grade amplification card! It can enhance any low-grade resource to Epic grade! Damn, my first thought was an Epic-grade Soul Cleansing Fruit. Never mind that for now, though. There’ll be better options later. There’s also the Divine Bone left behind by the Wind Dog God. It says refining it grants defensive capabilities,” Lu Ran added.

The Six-Paths Flower nodded. “That’s good. That dog’s skeletal defense was ridiculously strong. By using it as a protective item, you could even withstand attacks from that black dragon.”

“Nah, as a beastmaster, I don’t deserve something this good. An Epic-grade Divine Bone? I’m not keeping it for myself.” Lu Ran waved it off.

“

Oh?

”

“I plan to forge it into a bone sword later and let Captain Doofus’ kin, Corpse Dog, fuse with it for evolution. Kin can’t evolve through traits, so they have to rely on cultivation. And undead creatures can evolve by attaching themselves to external objects. This seems perfect for it.

“This way, we retain the Divine Bone’s power while giving the sword spirit even greater potential. And with this addition, Captain Doofus will grow stronger, too,” Lu Ran explained.

The Six-Paths Flower agreed. “That’s not a bad idea. But last time, you couldn’t even forge a single feather from an Overlord creature. This is a Divine Bone from a Legendary being. Are you sure? Even Emperor Yan Sizhen in his prime wouldn’t dare guarantee success.

“Little Lu, don’t mess this up. If the Divine Bone explodes, you’ll have nowhere to cry. Its value isn’t much lower than the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer.”

Lu Ran’s expression turned serious.

“Just trust me. Now, what else did we get? A bone bracelet with the Dog God’s blessing, huh? It can turn a person into...” He explained its effects to the Six-Paths Flower, who stared blankly. “What kind of nonsense is this? Did the Wind Dog God actually give something like this to humans?”

The Six-Paths Flower said, “Maybe... Dogs were made to evolve from wolves by humans, tracing back to the Elemental God Era. The Wind Dog God wouldn’t normally hold hostility toward humans. If it took a liking to someone, gifting them a treasure is possible.

“However, giving humans the ability to turn into dog demons? That’s just bizarre. It probably thought humans were too weak, but by borrowing its power to become dog demons, they could avoid danger.”

Lu Ran sighed. “Right. And you’d turn into a quasi-Legendary dog demon at that. Does that mean if I use this, Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Dark Crow wouldn’t normally stand a chance against me, their beastmaster?”

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

“That’s possible. A Mythical secret realm really does have amazing loot!” The Six-Paths Flower admitted.

Lu Ran fell silent.

The item is indeed incredible, but... Why does it have to be a dog demon?

The Six-Paths Flower smirked. “Come to think of it, weren’t you researching soul clones and soul evolution? That exclusive beastmaster skill you were conceptualizing? With this item and your Super Beast Mimicry, you might gain a deeper understanding of the dog race. It will help you and your dog achieve soul resonance and synchronized evolution!”

The Six-Paths Flower had excellent comprehension. It quickly deduced how Lu Ran could use this item to strengthen himself.

Lu Ran groaned. “Well shit. So it’s come to this. This is the true pinnacle of Super Beast Mimicry. From mimicking a familiar’s behavioral traits to actually becoming the same species to understand it...”

Lu Ran shook his head violently. With this item, his Super Beast Mimicry of Captain Doofus might reach peak perfection. He doubted even the creator of Super Beast Mimicry had ever gone so far as to transform into the same species as their familiar to push the skill to its limits.

The Six-Paths Flower wasn’t interested in this topic. “Anything else? If you ever feel like it, you could try reincarnating. Being reborn as a crow or a dragon is possible. Though if you reincarnate, your contracts will break, and Super Beast Mimicry will be useless.”

Lu Ran decided to change the subject. “Let’s not talk about this. The last item is a beastmaster skill. Honestly, it’s incredibly strong—probably the highest value-for-effort skill I’ve ever seen.

“It can upgrade a normal contract with a familiar into a Guardian’s Contract. As long as the beastmaster doesn’t die, the familiar is extremely hard to kill. Even if the beastmaster dies, it triggers a berserk state in the familiar, allowing it to annihilate the enemy. Of course, it’s best not to need the latter effect. But just the base effect alone multiplies each familiar’s vitality several times over.”

The Six-Paths Flower nodded after hearing this. It seemed the rewards from a Mythical secret realm could indeed cause a qualitative leap in a beastmaster’s strength, even for a Legendary or Epic-Legendary beastmaster.

The Six-Paths Flower clapped its hands, taking one last look at the battlefield. “Alright, alright! All in all, it was pretty easy. Now I’ll just wait for you to cultivate the others to Legendary. Don’t slack off.”

Lu Ran crossed his arms. “Don’t worry. Let’s exit the secret realm!”

***

The moment he returned to Limitless City, Lu Ran noticed a message from Bai Lu.

Bai Lu: ?

Lu Ran: OvO

Then, he exited his private room to find Manager Ying silently staring at him.

“No need to explain. I already know what happened.”

Manager Ying held its phone in the air with telekinesis.

The screen displayed trending news headlines. Lu Ran didn’t even need to look to guess their contents.

“But why did it take so long? The Divine Throne Cup has already started.”

Lu Ran froze. “Fuck, I almost forgot about that. The Legendary boss was just too tanky. Six Flower had to fight nonstop for ages to take it down.”

Manager Ying said, “So, are you still going?”

Lu Ran pondered before saying, “Nah. I’ll leave the intel gathering to you. Right now, I just want to complete the Divine Deer’s mission as soon as possibleASAP and enter the ascension realm to become a level 5 beastmaster! We’re leaving immediately!”

Only at level 5 could a familiar’s level cap reach 60. That stage was the core of familiar cultivation because it involved second-stage evolution.

Summoning Baby Cloud, they set off for the Endless Sea without delay. Unbeknownst to Lu Ran, factions across Stellar Moon were frantically searching for Beastmaster King.

***

Stellar Moon, Astral Tower

The federation’s greatest astrologer and prophet, Merlin, had received urgent orders. For the government, not knowing the identity of Beastmaster King was unacceptable. To find Lu Ran, they were willing to employ any means.

In a video call, a robed elder addressed a man on the screen. “Leader, matters involving Limitless City and Legendary entities are beyond my ability to predict accurately.”

“Proceed with the divination. This Beastmaster King left no traces in the Federation or in Limitless City before. Conventional methods won’t uncover his identity. We must rely on the stars.”

“Very well.” The elder sighed and began his divination.

Half a day later, the federation was shaken. Astrologer Merlin’s divination revealed that Beastmaster King was the emperor of the ancient Beastmaster Empire, which had fallen two eras ago.

The moment this result spread, the higher-ups were stunned. While the divination hadn’t pinpointed his location, his identity alone sent chills down their spines. Some even wondered if Master Merlin had made a mistake.