Chapter 461 - One Month Later, Full Team Power-Up (Part 2)

Compared to Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Baby Cloud, Dark Crow was a special case. Its attribute, Spiritual Speech, didn’t quite align with the four major energy techniques. Dark Crow tried improving through energy compression, but that didn’t really enhance its spiritual speech.

Instead, improving its base soul strength and base spiritual strength had far more of an impact. Gaining mastery over the Time attribute also significantly enhanced its power.

Thus, Dark Crow’s training became more specialized. It constantly consumed eyeballs and received healing to raise its base stats. At the same time, it trained within Six-Path Flower’s Time Hell, learning how to manipulate time.

Inside a tenfold accelerated Time Hell, it had to adjust the time ratio using its spiritual speech by saying things like “Time flows too fast, slow it to nine times!” or “Time flows too slow, speed it to eleven times!”.

Although it sounded simple, the training was anything but. Six-Path Flower’s Time Hell was too powerful. Even with its unique attribute, Dark Crow struggled to speak its commands.

When it forced the words out, its throat suffered, and it coughed up blood. Clearly, spiritual speech had limits.

Still, with Lu Ran’s healing, none of them had anything to worry about. Of course, it did leave Lu Ran very exhausted. Between his own training and the constant healing, his mind started to go blank. However, he chose this path. No matter how hard it got, Lu Ran gritted his teeth and endured.

As a result, Dark Crow made huge strides. It could now partially manipulate the Time Hell, adjusting time independently from Six-Path Flower. In fact, if asked to create a time domain with a custom flow rate, it could likely pull it off.

Intense training and enhancements pushed Lu Ran’s squad to a whole new level. But clearly, this wasn’t their final form yet.

“Let’s go.”

On that day, after arranging everything, Six-Path Flower finally felt reassured enough to leave. It didn’t trust leaving just the humanoid deer and a bunch of Manager Ying’s clones behind to guard the Amazon, so it left a few wood asura guards it created using life formation, each imbued with independent will. Only then did it feel comfortable enough to accompany Lu Ran.

Their destination was the Stellar Moon Federation. The day of Sudden Death King’s evolution was drawing near.

As they made their way toward Stellar Moon, Six-Path Flower asked, “How’s #18’s Heroic Spirit Summoning Device research coming along?”

This past month, #18 had been solely focused on developing the Heroic Spirit Summoning Device. Lu Ran had spared no expense to help it. He’d provided a stack of Treasure-grade amplification cards to upgrade its core components and enhance its research capabilities.

Moreover, after acquiring a Space-attribute awakening resource, #18 added another modification based on Lu Ran’s Soul Forging Technique, giving itself an Undead attribute to better understand the Undead attribute.

Having used the Star Dragon Shield Spirit as a test subject, it had grown quite skilled at self-modification.

[Attribute: Mechanical (Space, Undead)]

It successfully integrated the Space and Undead attributes into its mechanical nature. However, this modification led to an unexpected event. #18’s undead enhancement triggered the contract card system into recognizing it as a stage one evolution.

Completely caught off guard, Lu Ran was fortunate that Six-Path Flower had been nearby. Using its divine blessing, it prevented any potential waste of #18’s potential. As a synthetic humanoid with a developed mental domain, #18’s transformation was massive. Six-Path Flower used a huge amount of power to enhance it further.

Its profile changed again.

[Attribute: Mechanical (Space, Undead, Spirit)]

It went from a dual-attribute mechanical researcher to a triple-attribute researcher with stronger mental faculties. Its species grade also rose from Intermediate Overlord to Superior Overlord.

Lu Ran replied, “It’s not great. There are too many technical roadblocks. It has only managed to collect, amplify, and convert faith energy so far. While it can summon a heroic spirit phantom, that phantom has no memories and no power. It’s just a puppet. Completely useless.

“#18 even wants me to find it a Time-attribute awakening resource, but there are only a handful of those on Blue Planet. Any that existed have already been used. Where am I supposed to find one?” Lu Ran shrugged. “We’ll check in the Stellar Moon Federation this time.”

Six-Paths Flower asked, “If Sudden Death King or Captain Doofus evolves during this trip, with your enhancements, they might qualify to challenge a Mythical secret realm. Are any of the Twelve Zodiac Secret Realms Time attributed?”

Manager Ying’s clone answered, “No, but they’re all faith gods. With Lu Ran’s luck, one of them might drop a faith skill-related resource. If that happens, #18 might break through its technical bottlenecks.”

Lu Ran chuckled. “That’s what I’m hoping for, too. We’ll see whether Sudden Death King or Captain Doofus gets to challenge the Mythical secret realm first. Even if their power falls a bit short, I’ve got Flame Spirit for healing, and Baby Cloud’s stocked up plenty of bombs. Some of those bombs even contain toxins.”

Together, the trio plotted out their plan to tackle the next Mythical boss. Soon after, Lu Ran returned everyone to the contract space, traveling alone from Blue Planet to Stellar Moon.

Upon his return, Squirrel God opened its eyelids slightly but didn’t acknowledge Lu Ran. Although this time, Lu Ran didn’t immediately leave.

Instead, he said, “Lord Squirrel God, Lord Squirrel God.”

“What?” Squirrel God finally opened its eyes.

“It’s nothing big. I just wanted to ask whether Lord Divine Deer, Lord Divine Turtle, Ghost Mother, the Void God, and the Underworld God have all selected human messengers to explore Limitless City. Don’t you have any plans to choose one as well? If you’d like, I can help you find a talented beastmaster.”

Squirrel God pondered for a moment and then shook its head. “My main body is in a complicated state. It’s currently sealed and immobile. When I sealed the Space Demon God, the Space Dragon God had already gone missing. I had to rely solely on myself to trap that Superior Legendary, and I paid a heavy price for it.

“Unlike Ghost Mother, who used the Death Dragon God’s power to seal the Evil God and could still leave freely, I have to remain behind to strengthen the seal regularly. So even if I picked a messenger, I wouldn’t be able to give them anything.”

Lu Ran replied, “I understand, but not all humans want to be messengers just to gain blessings from Legendaries. Your name as the God of Sealing is widely respected in Stellar Moon. You have many worshippers who would willingly dedicate their lives to you, even without reward.”

Squirrel God crossed its arms. “Well, of course. However, sending someone off to work without compensation isn’t my style. If I can’t ensure their safety and just throw them into danger, my conscience wouldn’t be clear. Their lives matter too.”

Lu Ran was amazed.

You’re a good perso—no, a good-hearted squirrel. That’s for sure.

“No problem. Just pick someone strong enough that danger won’t be an issue.”

“Is there such a person?” Squirrel God looked surprised.

Lu Ran patted his chest. “

Ahem.

If you don’t mind...”

“Hold on. You’re not suggesting... yourself to be my messenger, right?”

Lu Ran grinned. “Whaaat...? But if you don’t mind, I can help you find one. I helped Divine Turtle and Ghost Mother find theirs.”

Squirrel God fell into deep thought. “

Oh...

is that so?”

“Of course.”

Squirrel God said. “In that case... fine. Find me one. Make sure they’re strong enough. I don’t want to train them myself. Thanks for the help, Divine Deer’s messenger. I won’t make you do it for nothing.

Hmm,

how about this? You tell me what you want, and I’ll write you a promissory note. Once I’ve sealed the Space Demon God completely and my main body is free, I’ll repay you.”

Lu Ran gave a wide smile. “I’m not that kind of person. There’s no need for a promissory note... But Lord Squirrel God, you know the Void God, right? You’re both colleagues under the same Dragon God, so you must be close. How about this... write me a letter of introduction. I’ll tell you what to write.”

Squirrel God was taken aback.

What?