Chapter 524 - First in the Team, Captain Doofus (Part 1)

[You have received the Super Trait Crystal: Tyrant (A familiar fused with this trait will possess the qualifications of a monarch. The more it critically injures or kills subordinates, kin, or teammates, the stronger its monarchic power becomes. Note: Monarchic power can amplify intimidation and be used to amplify the pressure of various skills.]

[The next bracket will begin in 5 minutes.]

Lu Ran and Six-Path Flower stood side by side on top of the Asura. To be honest, Lu Ran hadn’t expected the Divine Throne to receive investment from the Wishful-Dream God.

Damn... No wonder the Divine Throne leveled up so quickly.

The abilities of the Wishful-Dream God were indeed more suited to nurturing humans than those of the divine dragon kin. After all, as the founding god of the Beastmaster Empire, the Dream God had ample experience in cultivating humans.

But didn’t this Dream God lose all faith in humanity?

Perhaps it was due to overwhelming curiosity about Limitless City and a renewed willingness to believe in humans once more.

If Lu Ran were the Dream God, he’d probably be just as curious about why Limitless City exclusively chose humans for cultivation. But regardless, with Lu Ran here, the Dream God’s plans were doomed to fail. It wasn’t that he was deliberately sabotaging them, but it was just a happy coincidence.

On the Blue Planet side, countless beastmasters on Blue Planet trembled as they stared at Lu Ran and Six-Path Flower. It was all too sudden. As far as Blue Planet was concerned, they had already won. Even if Stellar Moon had the Ice Emperor, it didn’t matter.

With an Intermediate Legendary like the Six-Path Reincarnation God on their side, it was impossible to imagine how they could lose.

On the Stellar Moon side, whether spectators or participants, the mood was grim. The Ice Emperor stood on the defender platform. His face was dark as he exhaled deeply, glancing at the Sprite Queen, the Mechanical Leader, and the Divine Throne, who had been reduced to a near pulp and were barely clinging to life after being teleported back.

“

Heh...

There’s nothing to be done.”

At this moment, the Mechanical Leader felt nothing but resignation and despair. After all the effort Stellar Moon had poured into this, they had ended up facing a monstrosity like Lu Ran.

Everything was about to crumble into nothingness. The Stellar Moon Limitless City was already low-leveled. If it were downgraded further, who knew how many facilities would vanish? With a freak like Lu Ran emerging from Blue Planet, there was simply no way forward.

The Ice Emperor looked at the group and said solemnly, “No. You’re giving up too soon. There’s still a chance.”

“What?” The Sprite Queen turned to the ancient Legendary with blue hair, surprised.

To be honest, after learning that Lu Ran was the Beastmaster King and that his familiar was the reincarnated Intermediate-Legendary Six-Path Flower, she had already given up.

Even if the Ice Emperor’s sister, the Legendary elementalist, was considered a top-tier powerhouse among humans, she paled in comparison to Six-Path Flower, who had the potential to become a Primary Divine.

Under these circumstances, the Sprite Queen couldn’t fathom how they could turn the tide.

Unless... the Ice Emperor has some hidden trump card?

The Ice Emperor said, “I can’t fight him now. Lady Kongkong Yi has already presented the best option. The optimal move right now is to surrender.”

Everyone was taken aback.

“Don’t forget, the tournament format is double-round! Based on our side’s defensive situation, Limitless City typically assigns stronger beastmasters to later-stage brackets. After this round ends, Blue Planet will become the defending side. At that point, given Lu Ran’s strength, Limitless City will likely place him as the 10th defender. And the first nine will serve as nourishment!

“If I conserve my strength and take the first slot, defeating nine consecutive opponents, I can use the dropped trait crystals to strengthen my Winter Knight. There might still be a chance.

“Lu Ran has undoubtedly acquired many Super Traits by now, but these traits won’t benefit him in the short term. His familiars’ trait slots are surely already full. He’ll need to wait until he becomes a Legendary beastmaster to digest these traits.

“However, we’re different. Stellar Moon beastmasters’ familiars have never fused traits before. If we can secure several powerful, suitable traits to temporarily enhance our familiars, their strength will multiply. It’s possible that my Winter Knight could achieve a new evolution and reach Intermediate Legendary status.

“With the advantage in level and attribute, I might stand a chance against Lu Ran’s Six-Path Flower in the second round, dragging the match to a third-round 1V1. The final victory could still belong to Stellar Moon.”

After the Ice Emperor finished his analysis, the group fell silent.

He was right. For Stellar Moon to secure ultimate victory, given the current circumstances, the Ice Emperor’s plan to conserve strength, exploit the rules for temporary power-ups, and then face Lu Ran in an all-out battle seemed like the only hope.

After some thought, the Mechanical Leader sighed. “I agree with this strategy.”

At this point, there was no other choice. Sending the Ice Emperor out now would be pure suicide. However, if the Ice Emperor’s Winter Knight could defeat nine Blue Planet defenders in a row and fuse several elite traits, there might still be a sliver of hope. Even though it was similar to gambling, Stellar Moon had no other options left.

Kongkong Yi scoffed when she heard the Ice Emperor also planned to surrender.

I told you surrendering was the best tactic. See? Now everyone’s on board with the surrender strategy.

Bai Lu and the others also remained silent, never imagining things would come to this, having to rely on temporary power-ups for even a glimmer of hope against Lu Ran, this boss-like figure.

Would this strategy even work, though? After all, Lu Ran still has another familiar stronger than the Star Vortex Dragon...

Everyone waited for the Ice Emperor to make his move. However, when the Ice Emperor stood up, he delivered one final blow to Stellar Moon’s morale.

“I forfeit this round. We’ll meet again in the second round.”

The moment the Ice Emperor spoke, the audience erupted. While Stellar Moon spectators didn’t hold much hope for the Ice Emperor’s victory, given the close gap in strength and the attribute advantage, why not at least try? But soon, the sharper audience members guessed the Ice Emperor’s tactical intent.

Rather than gambling on an uncertain fight and wasting his advantage, it was better to exploit the rules, absorb several powerful traits to maximize his strength, and then crush Lu Ran with overwhelming force.

With all hopes pinned on the Ice Emperor, no matter what choice he made, Stellar Moon’s ordinary beastmasters could only support him.

After all, aside from Kongkong Yi, the Ice Emperor was the only one with his strength still largely intact. The others had suffered severe injuries. And according to the rules, Limitless City hadn’t specified whether it would heal participants between rounds.

[Battle concluded.]

[Winner: Pedestrian A.]

[Combat Score: SSS.]

[Scoring Reason 1: Forced a Legendary elementalist contracted to a Legendary elemental god to surrender without a fight!]

***

[You have received the Super Trait Crystal: Abandonment (A familiar fused with this trait can abandon its current life, entering a state of self-sealing. In this state, its power will not diminish, and it can survive harsh external environments with the highest probability, enduring for hundreds of thousands, millions, or even billions of years before being reborn. Upon rebirth, it will evolve and grow stronger.]

***

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

[World War, Round One Concluded.]

[Winning Side: Blue Planet.]

[Congratulations to Pedestrian A for becoming the MVP Beastmaster of Round One.]

[World War, Round Two Begins.]

[Current Blue Planet Bracket List: 1. Five Poisons Saintess, 2. Blue Planet Psychic Queen, 3. Snow Maiden, 4. Medusa Queen, 5. Demon King, 6. Drought Demon, 7. Xia Witch, 8. Gu Qingyi, 9. Retiring After This Fight, 10. Pedestrian A]

[World War, Round Two Countdown: 10 minutes.]

Lu Ran had to admit that he was impressed by the Stellar Moon beastmasters. If he were in their shoes, he’d probably do the same.

Perhaps this is Stellar Moon’s only shot at defeating me?

“Boring... It’s a pointless struggle. Six Flower, let’s go.”

Having successfully taken down 10 opponents, though two had surrendered, Lu Ran had completed his mission for the first round and returned to the Blue Planet contestant area. However, the Blue Planet side was in an uproar.

“King Lu, you’re insane!”

“Your Majesty is unstoppable!”

“Your Majesty, I love you!”

These weren’t Dark Crow’s words. Snow Maiden and Medusa Queen stared at Lu Ran with starry eyes, like fangirls.

This is the power of the king who commands the level 100 Zhu Yan corpse, recognized by the Bai Ze God!

Contracting an Intermediate Legendary like the Six-Path Reincarnation Flower was beyond incredible. Forcing the ancient Ice Emperor, contracted to a god, to surrender without a fight was unthinkable before the World War began.

“Rather than focusing on me, you should think about what you’ll do next. If I’m not mistaken, their first challenger will undoubtedly be that Ice Emperor. If he’s stronger than the Divine Throne, old president, do you think you can take him?” Lu Ran glanced at the old president.

The old president chuckled, stroking his beard. “You’re overestimating me. I’ll surrender when the time comes. I don’t want anything happening before I retire. Even if it’s just catching a cold, I can’t afford it.”

Lu Ran laughed helplessly.

Fang Lan said, turning to Lu Ran. “That Ice Emperor plans to farm us for traits to strengthen himself before facing you. By the way, after Kongkong Yi and the Ice Emperor surrendered, did you get any traits?”

“Yes.”

“Then even if I surrender, he’ll still get traits...” Fang Lan sighed.

“But surrendering might yield non-combat traits.” Lu Ran rubbed his nose and shared the traits he’d obtained from the surrenders.

After hearing them, the group fell silent. They were powerful traits, but for the World War stage, they were practically useless.

“My advice is not to push yourselves. Surrender if you don’t want to fight. No need to risk injury, or worse, death, if the opponent loses control. I don’t care about the others, but if the Ice Emperor is your opponent, Fang Lan, you surrender immediately.”

After speaking, Lu Ran sat down to rest. Although the Happy Beastmaster skill had made his offensive rounds enjoyable, standing for so long was exhausting.

“Got it.” Fang Lan pouted but agreed to surrender.

It might embarrass Lord Squirrel God... After all, Limitless City loves exposing people’s secrets...

The World War then entered a bizarre phase. As expected, the Ice Emperor was the first to challenge. And on the Blue Planet side, no one seemed interested in competing with Lu Ran for MVP, or rather, they knew they couldn’t.

Fang Lan simply strolled onto the stage and, before the countdown even finished, declared, “I forfeit. I surrender.”

The Ice Emperor remained silent. As for the audiences of both worlds, they weren’t surprised.

“Surrendering won’t help. From Lu Ran’s expression earlier, I know surrendering still grants trait crystals,” the Ice Emperor said to himself.

[Battle concluded.]

[Winner: Ice Emperor.]

[Combat Score: A.]

[Scoring Reason 1: Made a messenger forced trained by the God of Sealing to surrender!]

The crowd froze.

Fang Lan is also a divine messenger? No wonder she’s so strong, representing Blue Planet at just level 5. But...

what does “forced trained” mean?

Meanwhile, the Ice Emperor, eagerly awaiting his trait, was stunned.

[You have received the Super Trait Crystal: Poison Surrender (A familiar fused with this trait can secrete venom or toxic gas far exceeding its normal potency when surrendering to a powerful enemy, reducing the opponent’s aggression.]

Ice Emperor was taken aback.

What kind of garbage trait is this?!

Furious, the Ice Emperor found this trait useless. Could he really rely on poison to defeat Six-Path Flower? Unlikely, even if one of his familiars did possess frost poison.

“Whatever.”