Chapter 484 - The Bold Feast, The Timid Starve (Part 2)

Several days later, in a vast forest in Asia, a young man, followed by numerous totemic beasts, paused as a system prompt chimed in his ear.

[Ascension mission evaluation...]

[Rank in hunting ferocious beasts: 3rd!]

[You did not meet the breakthrough criteria.]

[Congratulations, your mission has failed.]

Huh? Congratulations my ass!

As Bai Qi sighed, he continued picking mushrooms. Failing the mission was expected because this secret realm had a monster in it. Still, with Lu Ran’s totemic puppets, he had defeated several boss-level creatures obstructing his plant transfers. Yet, he’d only ranked third. He didn’t know who was second, but first was undoubtedly Lu Ran.

Poor second place...

“Lu Ran could probably take down Superior Overlords above level 80 with ease. No... maybe he even hunted a quasi-Legendary from ancient times!” Bai Qi mused.

Unbeknownst to him, the “invincible” Lu Ran in his mind was currently recuperating in Lu Village, the entire team lying weak and exhausted.

The same system announcement played in Lu Ran’s head. They had won the battle against Zhu Yan, but it had been gruesome. Under normal circumstances, they would’ve lost.

By the end, Six-Path Flower and Captain Doofus were spent, and Captain Doofus’ evolution time was nearly up. However, with Zhu Yan on its last legs, Lu Ran refused to give up. He shouted at Squirrel God to intensify the seals.

Reluctantly, Squirrel God agreed after Lu Ran’s promise, and sacrificed a Legendary spatial crystal to reinforce the seal. Only then could Six-Path Flower and Captain Doofus finish Zhu Yan off in time.

I knew it. Squirrel God was holding back.

During Stellar Moon’s reconstruction, it had sealed a Superior-Legendary Spatial Demon God. It definitely had hidden cards. Apparently, Squirrel God could enhance seal strength by using powerful artifacts as focal points, although it preferred not to use them.

This time, it had only agreed because Lu Ran, in Manager Ying’s name, promised to repay the resources threefold within a year.

“Are all Intermediate Legendaries this insane?” Lu Ran lay on a straw mat, sighing.

Avenging himself against the war god under the Chaos Dragon God’s command seemed like a distant dream. Even with two Low Legendaries assisting, they had barely defeated an Intermediate Legendary. To fight alone, he’d likely need to reach Mythical himself.

“Let’s see what rewards Zhu Yan dropped, besides ascension mission loot.”

[Ascension mission evaluation...]

[Rank in Hunting Ferocious Beasts: 1st!]

[Congratulations on completing the ascension mission.]

[Score: SSS!]

[You have received 40,000,000 Crystal Coins]

[You have received a contract card (bound)]

[You have received an Advanced Eye of Detection (Can view detailed attributes of creatures above Legendary rank.)]

[You have received an Epic resource: Stone Essence (A supreme material for forging weapons or armor. May also nurture life within.)]

[You have received an Epic item: War Token (In legion battles, raises all members’ levels by +10 within range, capped at 60. Effect scales with morale.)]

[Trait Crystal: Three Heads, Six Arms (Grants familiars this form, drastically boosting power.)]

[You have received a beastmaster skill: Hunting Instinct (Defeating stronger foes grants significant EXP boosts.)]

[You have received a Mountains and Seas beast egg (A lost ancient egg, possibly containing a Legendary descendant.)]

[You meet the criteria for level 6 beastmaster. Would you like to break through now?]

“Holy shit.”

As the ascension mission rewards finished tallying, Lu Ran felt all his exhaustion instantly wash away, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

He received so many rewards this time, and just as he’d expected, most of them were related to Zhu Yan. What a shame he wasn't strong enough to hunt the mighty Torch Dragon, but even so, these rewards were more than enough to thrill him.

“Advanced Eye of Detection... Finally, you're here. However, right now, you’re the least important.”

His gaze shifted to the Stone Essence. According to the description, it was a forging material. It was likely the same substance Zhu Yan had used to condense its massive stone weapons.

Lu Ran’s first thought was to forge a sword or a set of armor from it, but then he reconsidered. In this battle, Captain Doofus had dealt the second-highest damage to Zhu Yan, right after Six-Path Flower’s Hungry Ghost absorption.

Now that Captain Doofus had the Sword God talent, the more weapons it wielded, the better. However, forged weapons had their limits.

Lu Ran stared at the line, “May also nurture life within,” and fell into deep thought.

“An elemental lifeform? It can’t be the Monkey King, right? It most likely was a primordial rock with the potential to develop intelligence. That would most certainly happen if it were placed in Stellar Moon’s Elemental Era. Maybe I can have #18 awaken it into a Rock-type elemental lifeform, permanently shape it into a sword, and make it Captain Doofus’ fourth kin.”

However, that wasn’t the main prize. What really made Lu Ran’s heart race was the War Token and the Mysterious Beast Egg. The Three Heads, Six Arms trait and Hunting Instinct beastmaster skill were decent, but not groundbreaking.

In fact, the Three Heads, Six Arms trait wasn’t even unique because someone else on Blue Planet had obtained it from an ascension mission before.

As for Hunting Instinct, while it could rapidly level up familiars by defeating stronger foes, Lu Ran had to consider whether it was worth wasting a skill slot just for guaranteed max-leveling. Neither of these excited him much.

“Zhu Yan, oh Zhu Yan... As the War God, you finally dropped something war-related.” Lu Ran examined the War Token.

If I give this to Dark Crow and let it command the Dark Crow Legion, it’ll be unstoppable.

Sure, the level cap of 60 might not seem impressive, but even in the Amazon Rainforest, one of the most beast-infested regions, only a few creatures surpassed level 60.

Right now, even Dark Crow itself was only level 60. And with hundreds of thousands of crows in Green Sea City averaging below level 30. He could only imagine how much this War Token could amplify Dark Crow’s power.

What a shame he couldn’t bring those crows into the ascension realm. Otherwise, Dark Crow wouldn’t have been relegated to a mere support role against Zhu Yan. However, the War Token wasn’t even the biggest prize from this hunt.

Lu Ran’s attention locked onto the Mysterious Beast Egg in his inventory.

This ascension realm gave me an egg! This might be the most valuable thing from the entire secret realm.

According to its life fluctuations, it seemed to be a Legendary descendant.

Could it be a Zhu Yan egg?

Given how Limitless City had turned Six-Path Flower into an egg before, Lu Ran suspected it might have condensed Zhu Yan into one as well. However, he thought it was more likely to be a different beast.

He’d chatted with the old president before. Back in the Elemental Era secret realm, the old man had never encountered weather sprites, yet the elemental egg he obtained had hatched into Baby Cloud.

Similarly, Lu Ran had never come across the Silk Tree Albizia in the plant secret realm, yet his plant seed had hatched into Six-Path Flower. This egg might simply be another ancient Legendary from Blue Planet’s past, not necessarily Zhu Yan.

However, whatever it was, one thing was certain. At the very least, this egg was a quasi-Legendary. Lu Ran wasn’t keen on raising a familiar from scratch again, but if this thing hatched into a top-tier species like a Legendary from birth, he wouldn’t mind eating his words.

“Could it be the Torch Dragon? Xi Wangmu? Daddy Limitless City, Mommy Limitless City... Say something!”