Chapter 50 - Shackles Remove

The next day, when the morning light was still dim.

Lu Ran was sprawled out on a big bed like an octopus.

Woof!

Captain Doofus, who had woken up a while ago to watch the sunrise with its face pressed against the window, turned to wake him up.

Its joyful eyes were filled with anticipation.

Get up! It's time to take revenge!

The sleep-deprived Sudden Death King got woken up first in displeasure instead of Lu Ran.

"Mmmph."

Lu Ran dawdled for a while, stretched his waist, and then got up.

There are important things I need to do today!

After dazedly going through his morning routine, Lu Ran spoke to Sudden Death King.

"You have the day to yourself. Captain Doofus and I are going to Limitless City later."

Manager Ying told him yesterday to collect his reward at noon today from the Cat Maid Cafe in Limitless City #3!

I won't be able to spend time with Master today. Collecting money is more important!

Sudden Death King remained silent. It planned to stay in the safety of this corner of the room and bid Lu Ran farewell. Sudden Death King’s brain was programmed to prioritize safety, so it hoped that Lu Ran and Captain Doofus would have a safe journey.

I need my protector to be safe because I’m too afraid of dying.

"Don't worry, we are not going anywhere dangerous." Lu Ran smiled.

***

Limitless City, Pedestrian A's private room.

Although they agreed to collect the money at noon, Lu Ran and Captain Doofus arrived earlier. Returning to Limitless City for the second time, Lu Ran felt relaxed, as if a weight had been lifted.

During his time in Golden Hill, Lu Ran's most important harvest wasn’t the bounty from the necromancer nor his senior brother's notes from which he decided which secret realm to grind next. The real harvest was knowing that the cat knew about his ability.

Lu Ran knew that it was only a matter of time before his telepathy was exposed. Although no human knew that he had an ability, a bunch of animals did. In Green Sea City, at least tens of thousands of animals knew about it, including wild animals, people's pets, zoo animals, and more. However, animals weren’t smart enough to matter before evolving, even if they did know.

However, their intelligence would naturally increase if someone contracted one of them. At that point, if they still remembered Lu Ran, then the fact that Lu Ran could communicate with them would inevitably get leaked.

In reality, this wasn’t a big problem. Limitless City had been around for three years, so if his secret ability were uncovered, most people would assume that Lu Ran had obtained some kind of special beastmaster skill or some sort of communication tool.

Lu Ran wasn’t overly concerned about it, but he didn’t want to stir up any trouble either. He was glad to discover he was not the only one with special abilities! According to Manager Ying, beastmasters with abilities all had great talent.

He could just use his ability to cover up the existence of the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer.

His talent was something other people couldn’t easily take away once, even after being exposed. He just needed to watch out for necromancers. On the other hand, the pendant still hadn’t been exposed and was an item that anyone could use. A powerful beastmaster could easily snatch it away.

Obviously, the latter was more dangerous to expose. Many powerful individuals have fallen in recent years, so it was always better to be careful.

If an ordinary beastmaster grew quickly, others would become suspicious, but if someone with an ability grew quickly, others would assume it was natural. There were plenty of precedents.

His ability was a great cover for Lu Ran. He could just be identified as someone extraordinary, which in turn meant that he could use the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer to clear secret realms without worries. Everyone would assume his success was due to his ability since no one would know what happens in secret realms.

This weight was finally lifted off his chest.

Lu Ran smiled. The real reason they had come early was to finish clearing Demon Cat Forest!

"Captain Doofus."

Woof!

Yesterday, Captain Doofus learned what they would do today, so it couldn't wait as it circled the pillar with the secret realm selection screen.

Gotta look sharp!

It's time to finish this!

"Let's go get revenge." Lu Ran was also excited.

The Grass-attribute demon cat wasn’t as strong as that undead cat. After seven days of training, Captain Doofus, who crushed the undead cat, would naturally have no problem dealing with the Grass-attribute demon cat!

The only thing they had to do now was to take fewer hits so they could get a higher score.

Generally, in secret realm missions, if one wanted to get a high score, it depended on the overall damage taken and how efficient they were in the boss battle.

***

[Teleportation completed.]

[Current location: Demon Cat Forest (Beginner Secret Realm)]

[Difficulty: Easy]

[Mission: Kill the leader of the Demon Cat Forest.]

After the transfer completed, the familiar announcement came again.

Lu Ran stood on the wet ground, looking into the forest's depths. Captain Doofus followed on Lu Ran’s right as its nose twitched.

This was the third time Lu Ran’s team entered the Demon Cat Forest, and as they say, the third time’s the charm. This time, they were going to take down the Demon Cat leader.

When he stopped by the cafe later at noon, he needed to buy some information about the Normal and Hard-ranked secret realms. He also needed information on the Hell-ranked Abandoned Laboratory to get the weapon control trait so that he could take on bigger challenges.

"This time, I’m not giving you a weapon. The Cascading Wind Sword will raise the bar for making the Heaven Familiar Ranking, but I’ll still use the Divine Deer Pendant since getting hurt will reduce our score.

"You can use Wind-attribute energy to form wind blades for killing monsters and enemies. Captain Doofus, let’s see what you can do!"

Aooo!!!

Captain Doofus’ expression was firm as if it were saying, ‘no problem.’

[Species: Husky]

[Attribute: Wind]

[Species Rank]: Intermediate Transcendent

[Level: 6]

[Skills: Haste, Sword Qi, Wind Roar, Wind Blade]

"Then let's go straight for the boss and head deeper into the forest. You still remember the scent of the demon cat leader, right?"

Captain Doofus nodded and began sniffing. It set out with Lu Ran, closely following behind.

This time, Lu Ran was much calmer despite Captain Doofus being only level 6 in a secret realm full of level 10 monsters.

Levels were just one measure of strength. The demon cat leader only had one skill, while Captain Doofus could already use skills from three different categories! Besides the different energy-related skills, it also had sword momentum!

Its sword momentum could be used as a crowd-control skill, similar to mental pressure.

In summary, with such a big advantage, Lu Ran couldn’t lose even if he tried!

***

Limitless City, Beastmaster Square.

This was the most lively place in Limitless City. After all, it was the central business district of each Limitless City, and the Heavenly Familiar Rankings stood there. Ever since the rankings appeared, it attracted a lot of attention. The changes to the rankings were very frequent, especially on the Transcendent Heavenly Familiar Rankings.

The number of fourth-generation beastmasters increased every single day. So far, no one has been able to keep their spot on the Transcendent Rankings. Everyone got replaced by a stronger newcomer every few days. There were hundreds of beastmasters competing.

The Transcendent Rankings of Limitless City #3 was no exception. The top of the list had experienced three changes since the Dark-attribute bear, Rock-attribute tiger, and Lighting-attribute eagle were on it.

Among them, the identity of Lightning-attribute eagle's beastmaster, Pluto, had been exposed. This super newbie from the elite guild, Galaxy, was the younger brother of the guild master. He had been preparing to be a beastmaster for the past two years.

This year, he finally achieved his dream of becoming a beastmaster, and with ample preparation, he became the longest-lasting leader of the Transcendent Heavenly Familiar Rankings of Limitless City #3.

"In Limitless City #3, Pluto should be a permanent fixture on the rankings, right? He has a high-level familiar with powerful attributes, and he also has a powerful second-generation beastmaster as a brother. He has too much of an advantage, so I don't know how anyone can beat him."

A beastmaster team gossiped as they passed by the Heavenly Familiar Rankings.

"There’s still a chance. Maybe someone's familiar will reach level 10 and obtain traits, allowing it to temporarily surpass it. After all, the rankings are based on potential. After obtaining traits and awakening new attributes, potential will definitely go up dramatically. But Pluto is also in the top echelon, currently sitting at level 9. When he reaches level 10, he will definitely obtain a powerful trait immediately. The Galaxy Guild definitely has something prepared for him."

"There is no comparison. I heard that the Galaxy Guild is a real estate consortium in reality. Why are these capitalists everywhere? Damn, when will our Lu Village be able to become famous?"

This new beastmaster team consisted of three relatively young men and a woman dressed in hunting attire. The men were strong, and the woman had a wild appeal.

"The Five Poisons Saintess has been pushed down to seventh again. She seems to never go into secret realms and always stays in the arena," the only female team member commented.

"It's not easy to stay in the top ten. We go into secret realms so frequently, but we never made the rankings. The species rank of my hound is still too low."

"Dogs can’t compare to other animals."

"I still remember that a husky briefly climbed to the top ten using sword qi, but it was eliminated in less than two days."

"I also remember that they said that person climbed to the top with the help of transcendent weapons on the first day of the list opening. It was just a brief flash in the pan. However, I still think that he must have real strength to have made it on the list. Unfortunately, as the rankings get more competitive, it is difficult to rely on an Intermediate-Transcendent husky to make a comeback. After all, that monkey also dropped out of the top ten. Now, the top ten are basically all Superior-Transcendents.”

Only a few dozen people had been on the rankings in the last week. Even though Pedestrian A only briefly made the rankings on the first day, he was still being talked about to this day.

However, most people stopped caring about Pedestrian A, whom they had assumed rose to fame by relying on sword qi to climb the list, until...

[Regional Announcement: Heavenly Familiar Rankings, Transcendent Species Rankings Updated.]

[Heavenly Familiar added.]

[Species: Husky]

[Attribute: Wind]

[Species Rank: Intermediate-Transcendent]

[Level: 6]

[Beastmaster: Pedestrian A]

[Reason for Inclusion: Evolved and mutated from a highly intelligent husky, it awakened the Wind attribute and unleashed sword qi in the Easy-Beginner secret realm, Demon Cat Forest. It instantly wiped out a group of demon cats, including the level 10 Intermediate-Transcendent demon cat leader, in seconds!]

[Ranking set at first place of the Transcendent Heavenly Familiar Rankings!]

The Heavenly Familiar Rankings had been updated again! Once the announcement ended, Beastmaster Square fell silent. Countless eyes suddenly looked at the drastic changes on the Transcendent Rankings in shock and awe.

What happened?

"Fuck, it's that Pedestrian A from the first day!"

"Number 1? Are you kidding me?"

"Level 6... A Level 6 familiar killed the demon cat leader in seconds!? What in hell!?"

Sword qi again. Was its ranking contingent on sword qi this time as well? A group of passersby were at a loss.

***

While all this commotion was happening, Lu Ran and Captain Doofus, who had fought in Demon Cat Forest for half a day, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the demon cat leader's guards and the Grass-attribute demon cat leader get killed instantly by sword qi.

Woof!

Captain Doofus panted as it dissipated the wind blades in its mouth. It was filled with excitement and looked at the Grass demon cat in disdain.

I, Captain Doofus, said that I would return, and now, that promise has been fulfilled!

"Haha!"

Captain Doofus wasn’t the only one happy. Lu Ran was also very excited. It was his first time clearing a secret realm! This time, the rewards that kept popping up in front of him made him very excited.

[Congratulations on completing the secret realm mission!]

[Score: SSS]

[You’ve received 200 crystal coins.]

[You’ve received an advanced resource: Demon Cat Heart (Grass).]

[You’ve received an advanced resource: Demon Cat Claw (Grass).]

[You’ve received an advanced resource: Demon Cat Catnip.]

[Would you like to return to Limitless City? Yes/No]

I scored an SSS on a solo run!

He didn't let Captain Doofus get hit even once by capitalizing on its speed advantage. This outcome was completely different from his embarrassment in the beginner trial.

He killed any enemy he encountered in seconds. His combat efficiency was extremely high, and the final result was a perfect score! This SSS score was completely based on the experience of his previous two attempts.

Lu Ran's heart was racing, but he fell into deep thought when he saw the reward for scoring an SSS.

The heart of the demon cat leader. It was a Grass-attribute resource that could enhance Grass-attribute energy after consuming it. The nails of the demon cat leader were also precious and could be used as the core material for forging Grass-attribute equipment.

The demon cat catnip was planted by the Grass-attribute demon cat leader to manage its tribe. It was highly attractive to cat monsters.

Why do I feel that these three Superior-grade resources are not as good as the resources he got with an S score in the beginner trial? Why are they all garbage!?

Lu Ran's face darkened.

Damn.

Sure enough, although Easy-beginner secret realms were easy, the drops weren’t that great.

Although I didn’t lose money on this trip, I didn't make any money either.

Woof?

Captain Doofus looked up at Lu Ran.

"All we got was garbage."

Captain Doofus was aghast. It looked at the corpse of the demon cat leader angrily.

Your minions dropped a bunch of garbage. Why are you so stingy?

"It seems that if we want to get rare rewards such as beastmaster skills and trait crystals, we will have to challenge high-difficulty secret realms."

Lu Ran decided to try one in the afternoon. He was very confident now. After all, when he challenged the Demon Cat Forest this time, he didn't even have to use the Cascading Wind Sword or Divine Deer Pendant.

***

In Limitless City #3, the news that Pedestrian A topped the Transcendent Heavenly Familiar Rankings took the city by storm. All the major guilds and official organizations were talking about his name, and the number of posts about Pedestrian A suddenly increased by a dozen, even on the beastmaster forums on the Blue Planet. Everyone was discussing who Pedestrian A was and how he had appeared briefly before suddenly reappearing now.

Outside, Fang Lan, who was scrolling through her phone, was a little confused. Didn’t Lu Ran go to Golden Hill? How did he suddenly rank first on the Heavenly Familiar Rankings?

“No, I have to go to Limitless City for special training!”

Fang Lan threw away the milk tea in her hand. She didn’t dare to keep slacking off, in fear that Lu Ran would get too far ahead of her.

She wasn’t alone. Manager Ying had come to Limitless City #3 to investigate Captain Doofus’ information and was just about to contact Lu Ran. It was also a little confused when it heard the news.

“First on the Heavenly Familiar Rankings. As expected, he really didn’t make the rankings before by chance. But killing an undead cat yesterday wasn’t enough for him? Today he goes and kills a demon cat leader? What is he trying to say? Does he have a grudge against cats?”