Chapter 540 - The Pre-sale King and Beastmaster Loans

Lu Ran waved his hand, flashing the smile of a seasoned capitalist. “Talking to a smart cat sure saves trouble.”

When it came to making money, they didn’t even need to rack their brains. They just had to trust the wisdom of those who came before them. Even if the target didn’t have much money at the moment, there were plenty of ways to squeeze every last bit of value out of them.

A rookie beastmaster wanted a familiar with decent potential and talent, but couldn’t afford it? No problem. Just lure them in with a pre-sale deposit. They could likely manage scraping together a deposit of 1,000 crystal coins.

After paying the deposit, they’d be put on a waiting list. Once they gathered the remaining tens or hundreds of thousands of crystal coins, they’d get their familiar. It was a first-come, first-served based payment order.

If they didn’t want to pay the deposit early and preferred to save up for the full amount, it was too bad. Without a reservation, there might not be any stock left when they finally had the money. After all, familiars took time to breed.

And if they wanted to skip the line and get their familiar immediately, that would cost extra. So, it was better to pay the deposit early and reserve their desired familiar type.

With Lu Ran’s current reputation and strength as a guarantee, customers didn’t have to worry about the familiars being “discontinued.” They’d definitely get their order in the end. In short, with this pre-sale system in place, Lu Ran didn’t even need to deliver the familiars to secure a hefty sum of upfront deposits. With this money, he could grow even stronger.

By the time Six-Path Flower became more powerful, its efficiency in awakening plant intelligence and sending other lives into reincarnation would improve even further.

As for those beastmasters who wanted even rarer familiar offspring, like King or Overlord familiars, but didn’t have enough crystal coins, they could opt for installment payments with interest.

Compared to struggling rookies, these beastmasters were already more capable. As long as they were willing to work hard, they’d have no problem repaying. With Lu Ran’s current authority in Limitless City, he could enforce rules both inside the city and track people in the real world. Anyone who tried to take a familiar and run would be caught.

The only real concern was if someone accidentally died in a secret realm. However, by the time beastmasters reached this level, dying wasn’t so easy.

If it did happen, Lu Ran would just have to accept the loss. After all, producing high-quality familiar offspring was practically a zero-cost business anyway. The profits were already massive, so absorbing a little risk elsewhere was no big deal.

Besides, according to Condor Hero, the resurrection trials weren’t particularly difficult. They were just tedious and time-consuming. This meant it was even harder for buyers to die permanently. And if they did end up participating in resurrection trials, they’d likely default on their payments. This meant Lu Ran could collect late fees.

Worst-case scenario, he could have Six-Path Flower summon a batch of plant-type beings with vague fate-reading abilities to act as loan officers, ensuring they never do business with beastmasters who had terrible luck or death auras.

Lu Ran felt like he was already buried under a mountain of crystal coins, buying Epic amplification cards without a second thought.

***

Lu Ran wasted no time. The very next day, news about the “Amazon Familiar Breeding Base” spread like wildfire across every nation. After notifying the relevant internet authorities in each country, Lu Ran had #18 directly push the information to every registered beastmaster’s phone and computer.

Thanks to #18’s incredible data integration and processing power, what would normally require a massive team to accomplish was handled by it alone. Lu Ran trusted it implicitly.

Manager Ying watched in silence, thinking to itself that the Mechanical attribute was just a big sucker. The Mechanical God’s original designer probably dumped an entire republic’s worth of work onto it. It was no wonder it rebelled.

***

Xia, Green Sea City.

A young man who had just advanced to a level 3 beastmaster returned to the real world in high spirits. His name was Yang Xishuai, and with his recent breakthrough, he had gained a new contract slot.

“My fourth familiar has to be a strong one...” He muttered to himself when suddenly, his phone buzzed.

A news pop-up caught his attention.

“Don’t Have a Familiar Yet?”

“The World’s First Plant Familiar Breeding Base Is Here!”

“The World’s First Elemental Familiar Breeding Base Is Here!”

“High-End Custom Services. Design Your First King Species Familiar Now!”

“Pre-sale for Pedestrian A’s Signature Husky, Red-Eyed Crocodile Skink, and Crow Familiars...”

“What the hell is this?” Yang Xishuai stared in disbelief.

Is big data really this advanced?

He had just broken through, and now he was bombarded with familiar breeding ads.

However, he clicked on the ad with a serious expression and immediately realized this wasn’t ordinary. On this planet, the only person capable of selling plant familiars and elemental familiars was probably

that

guy.

When he entered the ad’s webpage, Yang Xishuai fell into deep thought. “Holy shit. What kind of scam is this? You can custom-order Overlord familiars? You’re even able to choose the species, attribute, and gender yourself? Since when did familiar breeding bases get this advanced? Damn... starting at 2 billion crystal coins each...”

While the idea of custom Overlord familiars was tempting, the staggering price tag was enough to scare off most people. Only the most elite beastmasters at the peak of their nations could hope to scrape together that much.

The real killer in this ad was Lu Ran’s signature familiars—the Wind-attribute dog, Lightning-attribute red-eyed crocodile skink, and Dark-attribute crow. Ordinary dogs, skinks, and crows might not be worth much, but ones that awakened with the same primary attributes as Lu Ran’s familiars were a different story.

Over 90% of huskies had the Ice attribute, and red-eyed crocodile skinks were naturally timid, rarely awakening the Lightning attribute. As for the Dark attribute, it was already rare. And as Transcendent offspring, they were affordable for most rookies and level 1 beastmasters.

As for where to get these attribute-specific familiar offspring, it was simple. No matter what their previous lives were, within Six-Path Flower’s reincarnation domain, even a mouse could be reborn as a husky, skink, or crow with the specified attributes. It was disgustingly convenient.

Unsurprisingly, with Lu Ran’s reputation backing it, Wind-attribute Huskies, Lightning-attribute skinks, and Dark-attribute crows were destined to become the top choices for rookie beastmasters on Blue Planet. It was the starter trio of the beastmaster world.

Lu Ran even borrowed a team of experienced staff from Xia to handle transactions and operations for the Amazon Familiar Breeding Base within Limitless City’s facilities. With everything set up, he knew he could now sit back and watch the money roll in.

***

A few days later, just from collecting the first round of deposits, Lu Ran had amassed 21.3 billion crystal coins. Many people dreamed as kids that if every person in the country gave them just 0.1 coin, they’d become billionaires. Lu Ran had grown up in a wealthy family and never had such a fantasy, but now he was experiencing something similar.

Right now, Blue Planet had tens of millions of beastmasters. Even if only a tenth, or even a hundredth of them spent money at Lu Ran’s business, it would be enough to fund his Epic amplification card spree.

***

Pedestrian A’s exclusive room, Limitless City.

Lu Ran opened the updated shop interface in the administrator’s room and scanned the items inside.

[Treasure Amplification Card, Price: 10 million crystal coins]

[Epic Amplification Card, Price: 1 billion crystal coins]

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“If only there were a Legendary amplification card... Even if it costs 100 billion...” Lu Ran muttered.

Looking at his balance of over 200 billion, he generously bought 20 Epic amplification cards and 100 Treasure amplification cards without hesitation.

These resources would be prioritized for strengthening Baby Cloud. Between Dark Crow and Baby Cloud, Lu Ran was counting on them to each conquer a Divine secret realm. However, compared to Sudden Death King, who had its kin to assist, it’d be much harder for them to defeat a Divine boss while still at quasi-Legendary.

To play it safe, Lu Ran planned to raise them to level 80, fuse new traits, and then attempt the challenge. Both the War Soldier and Sprite traits were top-tier resources that could massively boost their existing abilities.

***

Time-Accelerated Growth Domain.

After purchasing the amplification cards, Lu Ran first sought out Baby Cloud, who was napping inside while digesting the power of natural disasters. He grabbed the cloud cat by the scruff of its neck and shook out nine marble-like elemental cores from its body.

Each core represented a different disaster: The Tsunami Calamity Core, the Ice Age Calamity Core, the Hurricane Calamity Core, the Thunderstorm Calamity Core, the Volcanic Calamity Core, the Drought Calamity Core, the Earthquake Calamity Core, the Sandstorm Calamity Core, and the Nether Night Calamity Core, which was a Dark-attribute disaster influenced by cosmic forces, manifesting as localized regions plunged into endless darkness that drove creatures within to madness and mental instability.

These nine calamity cores corresponded to Baby Cloud’s nine attributes. As a catastrophe sprite, Baby Cloud had the ability to condense natural disasters into amplification resources. It was essentially packaging calamities into storable cores.

While roaming secret realms and devouring disasters over the past few days, it had stockpiled a batch, compressing them all to Treasure grade. Finding Epic-grade disasters in secret realms was rare. At best, one would encounter disasters that were extreme by modern standards. Only historically unprecedented disasters could threaten true Legendary beings.

However, even though these calamity cores were currently only Treasure grade, that changed the moment Lu Ran pulled out nine Epic amplification cards.

“Digest these properly. Once you hit level 80, I’ll awaken a new attribute for you. Don’t say I don’t love you. These nine cards probably tore countless newborns from their parents. I’ve committed so many sins.” Lu Ran left the nine amplified calamity cores in front of the drowsy cloud cat.

All of this money was tainted with darkness.

***

As for Dark Crow, compared to Baby Cloud, who could only consume natural disasters, it had a much faster leveling speed thanks to the Tree Monarch’s team of ten Time-attribute plant familiars acting as its healers.

In an endless cycle of plucking out its eyes, healing, and eating them again, Dark Crow grew stronger at an alarming rate. During this process, the Tree Monarch’s ten Time-attribute plant familiars grew increasingly disturbed. They finally understood why the Evil God faction had been sealed away by the Ghost Mother during the Beastmaster Empire era.

This is just too damn evil.

While Dark Crow feasted on eyeballs, the healing familiars remained on high alert. They were wary that the crow might mutate and go berserk at any moment.

As Dark Crow digested its Evil God’s Eyes, it let out a resentful screech. “It’s not enough! It’s still not enough! At first, the effects were great, but the nutrients are too similar now. It’s getting less and less effective. I want to eat an Evil God’s soul!”

The last time Lu Ran visited, Dark Crow was level 78. It was far ahead of Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Baby Cloud. Now, it had already reached level 80. Lu Ran couldn’t help but scoff.

“You call this ‘not effective enough’? Fine, no amplification cards for you.”

Dark Crow’s expression brightened instantly. “My King! You’re here! I still want to—”

Lu Ran tossed out the War Soldier trait crystal. “No, you don’t. Since you’re level 80 now, it’s time for the next step.”

A familiar that fused with the War Soldier trait crystal could sacrifice a part of its body, like leaves, fruit, fur, scales, and many more, to create War Soldier clones, which inherited a portion of its attributes and fought on its behalf. The degree of attribute inheritance depended on the medium used to summon the clones.

Dark Crow already had the Soul Clone skill, but learning the War Soldier trait wouldn’t conflict with it. Soul Clones were spectral, while War Soldiers were physical. In the future, it could even possess War Soldiers with its Soul Clones, making the army even stronger.

Moreover, compared to the temporary Soul Clones that consumed spiritual energy, the War Soldiers created by sacrificing body parts would be far more durable and powerful.

With a dedicated healing team, Dark Crow could easily pluck out a hundred feathers, blow on them, and instantly summon a murder of crows, or even scatter its eyes into an army without worrying about lasting damage.

This meant it could maintain a powerful legion without significant personal cost. Once it amassed a massive army, even as a quasi-Legendary, Dark Crow could overwhelm a Legendary boss with sheer numbers and legion skills.

“Fuse with this for now. Forget about Evil God spirits. Not only is Ghost Mother unlikely to give us Evil God relics, but #18 is also busy replicating the meteor right now. It doesn’t have time to cater to you.”

“My King, what about the cards—”

As Dark Crow wailed, Lu Ran turned to Tree Monarch’s team of max-level plant familiars. “Everyone, I’ll need your help again. Dark Crow’s training to scatter its eyes into an army will require your healing support...”

The plant familiars sighed in unison.

***

Since Dark Crow didn’t need the remaining amplification cards right away, Lu Ran split them between Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King for food enhancements.

After handling all this, Lu Ran suddenly remembered something else, but he couldn’t be bothered to deal with it himself.

“Senior Tree Monarch, there’s still a Flame Phoenix Secret Realm on Blue Planet with a quasi-Legendary phoenix chick. Are you interested in raising it? If so, you might as well go clear the secret realm, too.”

Leaving the time-accelerated domain, Lu Ran searched for the Tree Monarch, only to find her not cultivating, but staring intently at the Divine Deer’s daughter, Lu Yao, as it played on a swing.

“After special training, it’ll be a fine prospect. As for the Flame Phoenix, I’m not interested. However, this little one has a high species rank, a high level, and has the Grass attribute. I want it,” the Tree Monarch remarked before turning to Lu Ran.

Lu Ran was taken aback.

Divine Deer, come back quickly! Our daughter’s being targeted!