Chapter 42 - Maxing Out Defense to Avoid Pain

"Sword intent..." Lu Ran nodded.

That's right. Before the world changed, this realm might have been a legend. But now, it may not be beyond reach.

Senior Brother Jiang Man wrote that sword intent seemed to be related to advanced applications of Energy Formation techniques. Energy Formation appeared to be the key to understanding sword intent. He also mentioned a familiar name: Gu Qingyi.

"I understand, Master. I will definitely comprehend sword intent."

"Good! Little Ran, why don't you move into the dojo? This way, we can spend more time together training."

Old Man Jiang Dou tried to persuade Lu Ran to stay.

"Uhhh... okay."

Lu Ran was surprised but still decided to stay. Green Sea City was not far from Golden Hill City, and both fell within the range of Limitless City #3. It was not a big problem. He could continue to visit Limitless City from Golden Hill.

"He Dali!"

"Yes, Master," Senior Brother He answered.

"Go and prepare a room for your junior brother, Lu Ran. Find a bigger one because he has a pet."

"I’ll get started right away," Senior Brother He said as he left.

Lu Ran had a question for Master Jiang Dou: "By the way, Master, besides Senior Brother Jiang Man, are there any other people in the dojo who were chosen to become beastmasters?"

"No." Jiang Dou shook his head. "The number of beastmasters has only increased recently."

"Soon, you might be able to take in more beastmasters as disciples. There are two types of beastmasters; one focuses on raising familiars while the other focuses on strengthening themselves. Senior Brother was of the latter. Down the road, there will probably be a lot of this type of beastmasters. When that day comes, weapons such as swords and blades will have a resurgence."

"You're right!"

Jiang Dou's eyes lit up.

With examples like Jiang Man and Lu Ran, he realized that beastmasters would have a huge advantage in practicing swordsmanship! Things such as sword momentum could be comprehended with ease! Perhaps, through ancient martial arts, the Xia Empire would be able to enter a new golden age.

"By the way, I wonder what it would be like to infuse guns with a familiar’s elemental power. It would be so cool to have elemental bullets," Lu Ran contemplated.

Jiang Dou was infuriated, and his eyebrows shot up as he had a bad premonition.

Damn, this Lu Ran brat. Is he going to ditch swordsmanship for guns again? I’m feeling a serious sense of Deja Vu!

***

Lu Ran didn't know what Old Man Jiang Dou was thinking. Since he decided to live at Rainbow Dojo for a while, he wanted to check out the surroundings. Lu Ran used the excuse of finding a good place to walk his dog to leave with Captain Doofus.

"Is he a beastmaster?"

"So handsome!"

As Lu Ran left the dojo, he let Captain Doofus walk with him. Many of the apprentices were stunned by the majestic husky following Lu Ran.

Beastmasters were the center of attention right now, including Lu Ran ever since he arrived at the dojo. When they found out that their senior brother, Lu Ran, was also a beastmaster, the other apprentices wanted to learn even more about him.

"No wonder he’s so powerful..."

As several female apprentices recalled Lu Ran's initial outburst of sword momentum, their heartbeats quickened.

"If I let you out to hunt on your own for a few days, do you think you can find your way back?" Lu Ran asked Sudden Death King.

He originally didn’t plan on staying in Golden Hill for a long time, so he didn’t bring any food for Sudden Death King. It only liked eating live insects, and the storage space couldn’t hold any living things. If Sudden Death King wanted to eat, then it would have to hunt on its own.

The extraordinary resources of Limitless City were too expensive for Lu Ran to support two familiars right now, so he had to let Sudden Death King temporarily continue eating ordinary food.

The Rainbow Dojo was located near the wilderness at the foot of the mountain. Insects should be all over the place, more than enough to feed Sudden Death King.

Hunting by myself!? So scary! I’m dying!

Sudden Death King’s eyes rolled back as it fainted.

"You bum!" Lu Ran snarled. "You're a Superior-Transcendent species. Don’t be a wuss. Those insects can't hurt you."

Captain Doofus looked at Sudden Death King in contempt.

Coward.

Soon enough, Lu Ran brought Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King into the mountain. He took Sudden Death King out of his pocket and put it on the ground. Looking into the eyes of the Red-Eyes B. Chick, Lu Ran said, "I’m giving you some grazing time. Captain Doofus, keep an eye on it."

"Woof!"

Captain Doofs nodded as it turned into a lizard-herding dog.

Meanwhile, Lu Ran took out his phone to check for news from the world of beastmasters.

[The beastmaster-only public transit has been operating for three days...]

[In the past week, many pet stores in multiple cities have been sold out...]

[A large number of black card holders have gone into the countryside to try to catch wild animals. Experts recommend not to blindly seek out powerful animals...]

[Currently, Xia has initially established Beastmaster Towers in 34 cities. They will become the administrative center for beastmasters in various provinces...]

[Breaking news! An eight-year-old child was selected to become a beastmaster, and his familiar is a dinosaur...]

"Why am I getting spam?"

Lu Ran was confused by something he saw.

However, it did happen to be the most eye-catching headline. He couldn't resist clicking it and immediately regretted it. It turned out to be the usual clickbait. A father made a black card and bought a dinosaur toy for his child to cosplay as a dragon master and posted it online.

Damn!

After Lu Ran finished catching up on the news, Fang Lan sent him a message.

[Fang Lan: Have you arrived in Golden Hill?]

Lu Ran sighed before replying.

[I have. I might actually end up staying here for a few days before going back.]

[Fang Lan: Up to you, I just want to let you know that the government beastmaster forum uploaded a lot of basic beastmaster information today. It’s quite comprehensive. You can take a look at it when you have a moment.]

[Lu Ran: Okay.]

The Beastmaster Forum was an online forum created after the government announced the start of the Beastmaster Era and was directly managed by the government.

Lu Ran had visited it several times before. The majority of its content consisted of random posts and inquiries. The few posts going over strategies weren’t very helpful to him, so he stopped paying attention.

However, considering what Fang Lan had just told him, he got on the forum again. This time, he found it a lot more useful. The advice section was greatly expanded and included many strategies for Easy-Beginner-ranked secret realms and how beastmasters could level up safely.

For example, some of the content from the Basic Beastmaster Manual that Lu Ran bought could easily be found in this section.

"Huh?"

After flipping through it, Lu Ran found an interesting strategy post titled:

[What Direction Should You Cultivate Your Familiar In?]

The content was also very intriguing.

[Author: Opportunist (third-generation beastmaster), from the Observer Guild.]

[Today, I’ll teach y’all a little trick for training your familiar. In case you didn’t notice, after contracting a familiar, it becomes stronger in all aspects. However, most familiars have one stat–-strength, defense, or speed—that becomes the main attribute and gets strengthened more than the others. This main stat does not necessarily correspond with a familiars strong point before evolving.

I’ve talked to many people and discovered that they all experienced this phenomenon, so I read some guides left by the first and second-generation veterans. This is what I was able to gather:

During first awakenings, familiars will have certain stats enhanced due to their own internal needs.

For example, let’s take a stray dog that often wanders the streets and is constantly bullied by its own kind. If it has ever thought about how great it would be to run faster to avoid getting bullied and has that thought deeply rooted in its mind, then its speed might improve greatly after it is contracted. This will make it stand out amongst other canine familiars!

Of course, this manifestation doesn’t happen to every familiar and is very random. However, without a doubt, this is a very interesting topic. If an animal desires a certain stat, then that stat might become more prominent after it evolves.

I posted this to tell beginner friends that if you are confused and don’t know how to train familiars, you can focus on the main stat of your familiar. In addition to their own innate advantages, there is also a secondary advantage brought on by their desires! In short, this is a way for beastmasters to have a deeper understanding of their familiars!

Follow me for more guidance. I will post a new training trick every week!]

"This post is pretty good." Lu Ran felt enlightened.

This explained the situation with Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King perfectly.

For example, before Captain Doofus came into contact with supernatural powers, Lu Ran had taught it all kinds of strange skills, such as swordsmanship, which was extremely grueling for it. Therefore, it was completely reasonable for it to desire higher comprehension to adapt. After evolution, its comprehension became much more prominent.

As for Sudden Death King, that guy was timid and afraid of death. To put it bluntly, its talent was playing dead to escape dangerous situations. Of course, this particular lizard played dead a lot more often than others. It was a mark of individuality!

If you asked which stat became the lizard’s main stat after evolving into a transcendent species, Captain Doofus would confidently say defense! Captain Doofus had already tested it out. Although this guy was small, its defense was comparable to Pig Farmer’s wild boar infused with Rock energy.

This was terrifying. Sudden Death King hadn’t awakened its attributes yet and was still only level one. Although its species rank was higher, how high its defense was was absolutely outrageous.

After reading the post, Lu Ran felt that this was probably what happened to Sudden Death King.

First, its defense was innately high. Red-eyed crocodile skinks were also known as armored lizards. Their scales were similar to armor. Although they weren’t comparable to animals like turtles, their defense ranked high among small-sized lizards.

However, even under such circumstances, Sudden Death King wasn’t satisfied. Because of its fear of death, it was still extremely eager for higher defense. Therefore, after eating the Awakening Leaves and evolving, it once again gained an incredible defense bonus.

Its body was concentrated on defense!

It was a prime example of "I don’t want to get hurt, so I’ll max out my defense."

Lu Ran looked at Sudden Death King scouring the bushes for insects and scratched his head.

So should I focus on defense to double down on its advantage? If I do that, Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King will become my sword and shield. I will be able to attack and defend at the same time. However, Sudden Death King is afraid of death, and it would be a bit inhuman to turn it into a meat shield.