Chapter 457 - The Evil Little Beastmaster (Part 2)

Several days later, during Lu Ran’s training, he sensed the imperial seal’s XP skyrocketing and couldn’t help but smile.

It’s so effortless. Maybe even too effortless.

With Six-Path Flower and Dark Crow handling things, he didn’t need to lift a finger. His empire’s foundation just kept growing. He took a peek and saw Dark Crow’s tactic in luring quasi-Legendaries to their turf.

After that, whether they liked it or not, it would be too late to escape. Once on land, with Six-Path Flower, Lu Yao, the Divine Fox, and the minotaur ready to roll, there would be no turning back. From there, it was all about brainwashing.

Dark Crow would likely say things like, “Join now, or there won’t be any leadership spots left... Plenty of quasi-Legendaries would kill for your position... Join us, and reincarnation awaits you... Believe in Lu Ran and gain eternal life... Follow our Legendary being and ascend to divinity!”

“It feels a bit shady, but if it turns out good, it doesn’t matter. We are the villains after all. Methods don’t matter; only results do.” Lu Ran accepted his empire’s expansion without a second thought.

And indeed, that progress soon brought him another breakthrough. Before him, a soul clone in the form of a dog demon struggled against a contract chain. After a long standoff, a radiant light enveloped the clone, and it vanished.

At the same time, Lu Ran collapsed to the ground, grinning from ear to ear.

“

Hahahahahahaha!

Manager Ying, I did it!”

“We saw, we saw.”

Inside the closed-door chamber, a few cats looked on, wincing.

Lu Ran had actually succeeded in using Super Beast Mimicry to replicate Manager Ying’s clone technique and turning his soul clone into a contractable familiar. Even Manager Ying hadn’t imagined this path.

“Summon!”

After Lu Ran checked his beastmaster space, he could see that all six slots were full. Five held Manager Ying’s clones, and the last held a calm, humanoid dog demon soul.

[Species: ?]

[Attribute: Undead]

[Species Rank: ?]

[Level: ?]

Sadly, despite the successful contract, his Eye of Detection displayed nothing. There was no way the soul clone was on par with a Legendary being. Lu Ran assumed the Eye of Detection had glitched, as Limitless City probably never anticipated anyone would contract themselves.

“What will you do next?” Manager Ying asked.

“Now that it’s a familiar, things get much easier. I can strengthen it using beastmaster skills. Most beastmaster skills only affect contracted familiars, like my Soul Amplification skill. Now that this soul clone is mine, I can boost it every day. In time, it’ll grow incredibly strong.

“Besides that, I can also use Fusion, Possession, and other beastmaster techniques on it, maybe even as a link between the dog demon soul and Captain Doofus. Not via skill books, but by studying training manuals, learning them within the beastmaster space, and blending them.

“Oh, right, I also inherited a Sealed Transformation skill manual from one of my master, the city lord. I’ll try that next. It should work with the soul clone.”

[Skill: Sealed Transformation]

[Effect: Seals a familiar’s power, forcing it to maintain a weak form. The longer the seal, the more power it releases when unsealed.]

Since the soul clone didn’t fight regularly, it could stay sealed and store power for its eventual evolution.

Lu Ran rubbed his chin and mused. “The plan is to learn every skill possible to enhance and modify this soul clone until it can achieve soul resonance evolution with Captain Doofus. Even if it gets sacrificed in the process, it’s just a clone. As long as it helps Captain Doofus grow stronger, it’ll be worth it.

“According to history, Mythical beastmasters used their divine beastmaster skills to elevate Overlord or quasi-Legendary familiars to Low or Intermediate Legendaries. So, my soul clone mustn’t fall short!”

As he spoke, Lu Ran pulled out a skill book. Manager Ying peeked at it, and its eyes widened in shock.

“Holy shit. You evil little beastmaster.”

[Skill: Life Devour]

[Description: A special beastmaster skill created by a Legendary dark practitioner. Allows a familiar to temporarily boost power by devouring the life of another contracted familiar.]

Lu Ran said, “I got the Fusion, Possession, and Life Devour manuals from Shi Zhen. They’re either from NPCs in ascension realms or were discovered by Blue Planet participants. Beastmaster University’s training department studies these.

“Since Blue Planet beastmasters lack beastmaster space, they can’t use them. However, I’m different. I do have a beastmaster space. So, besides fusion and possession, I also snagged this gem, the Life Devour. It was one of the department’s secret treasures.

“I’ve said before that if ordinary fusion doesn’t help Captain Doofus evolve, I’ll go to the extreme. I’ll feed him my soul clone, and make the clone his evolution resource.

Hehehe.

”

Manager Ying closed its eyes.

Lu Ran wanting to become a Mythical necromancer would be no problem at all.

Lu Ran was clearly destined to be a necromancer. He was probably more evil than the original creators. Feeding one’s own soul to a familiar—now that’s necromancy.

Besides Lu Ran progressing with his soul clone, #18 had finally completed Sudden Death King’s shield kin.

“

ROAR!

”

Above the Amazon, Sudden Death King, in its compact two-meter dragon form, flew in excitedly, holding a black shield with red markings. This shield had eye and mouth slits on its face, resembling a smug emoji. It was a shield lifeform.

[Species: Star Dragon Shield Spirit]

[Attribute: Mechanical, Undead, Dragon]

[Species Rank: Low Overlord]

[Level: 10]

[Species Talent 1: Don’t Hit the Face (When attacks strike the shield’s face, damage is reduced by a percentage based on level. Higher levels mean greater reduction.)]

[Species Talent 2: Dragon’s Shield (Defensive effects are enhanced when used by Dragon-attribute familiars.)]

[Species Talent 3: Armored (Can arm itself in mechanical form to greatly enhance defense.)]

[Species Talent 4: Possession (Can possess the user in undead form to greatly enhance defense.)]

[Description: Forged from Star Iron and Shieldwing Dragon King scales using soul forging and mechanical crafting. It’s a hybrid mechanical-undead shield.]

“

ROAR, ROAR, ROAR!

”

Sudden Death King landed beside Lu Ran, buzzing with excitement. It had learned Planet Intent and mastered Drunken Dragon Mode. After Dark Crow subjugated two deep-sea quasi-Legendaries, it looted several dozen Nine-Colored Meteorite Fragments from their homes.

The kinship shield also looked promising. Once contracted, Sudden Death King’s defense would skyrocket. With Bloodline Dominance and Dragon King Bloodline Fusion, Sudden Death King felt it might even surpass Captain Doofus after evolution.