Chapter 553 - Brother, You Smell Good (Part 1)

“This time, the target, ascension mission, and Legendary mission are all intertwined.”

After seeing the Legendary mission, although Lu Ran wanted to complain about its high difficulty, it seemed that whether or not the mission existed, he would inevitably provoke the Light and Dark Primary Divines.

After all, Baby Cloud was a multi-elemental attribute being, and even though all of its elements had been unified under the Sprite attribute, balanced development was still necessary. Thus, the Light and Dark Primary Divines were also targets to hunt.

As Lu Ran rubbed his temples, Limitless City began its teleportation, and light instantly enveloped his entire body. Soon, a cool breeze brushed past him, and Lu Ran found himself standing on top of an icy great wall, surrounded by snow and devoid of life.

“Frostplain City, Ice Nation...”

While confirming his destination, Lu Ran’s contract space stirred violently as Captain Doofus leaped out. Its eyes were shining, and spirits were high as it surveyed the surroundings.

Captain Doofus drooled, the saliva freezing into icicles midair.

“

Woof, woof!

”

Although it had abandoned its Ice attribute, it still loved snowy environments as much as ever.

“

Ah,

first love...” Lu Ran sighed.

The Ice Nation of the Elemental Era was different from the winters Captain Doofus had experienced, the polar regions of Blue Planet, or the snowy secret realms it had visited. The concentration of ice elemental energy in the air here was unprecedented, giving Captain Doofus a completely new experience.

“According to intel, the Elemental Era was the time when the natural energy of the Stellar Moon World was at its peak. That’s why this era had so many Legendary elemental beings, and the average strength of ordinary elemental creatures far surpassed that of the animals from the Beast God Era or the Transcendent plants of the Divine Tree Era...

“This is still within the Ice Nation, where ice elemental creatures are everywhere, so it’s normal for ice energy to be dense.”

“

Woof!

”

Captain Doofus indicated that it didn’t want to return.

It shrank its body into a puppy form, leaped onto Lu Ran’s head, and clung to him like a husky plush hat.

Lu Ran chuckled. “Suit yourself. But we won’t stay in the Ice Nation for too long. Later, we’ll head to the Fire Nation and other places...”

Captain Doofus nodded obediently.

Lu Ran turned his attention back to the surroundings.

This city... seems devoid of life. The entire place is sealed off, and a blizzard is raging endlessly in the sky. The temperature is terrifyingly low. It’s enough to freeze weaker Transcendent creatures to death... What happened here?

“Never mind these details. Let’s organize our goals.”

“The main mission is to find the Death Dragon and make contact with it. The side mission is to strengthen Baby Cloud and to complete the ascension mission and the Legendary mission.

“For the main mission, we’ll wait patiently. As long as nothing unexpected happens, the Four Supreme Divine Dragons will inevitably appear in this timeline if Limitless City can manifest their historical projections. Once they appear, all the elemental gods, including the high-ranking ones and the Primary Divines, will be finished...

“So even if we provoke them, as long as we survive until the Four Divine Dragons show up, there’s no real danger. Therefore, from now on, we can start thinking about hunting elemental gods for Baby Cloud to consume. With the Time Shield and Six-Path Flower’s help, it won’t be easy for the Primary Divines to track us down quickly.

“At the same time, extracting Hel’s blood is also a must. With that in mind, the initial plan becomes clear. In two or three days, Hel will engage in her final battle and perish in the Ice Nation. This battle shook the entire world, marking the complete collapse of the resistance faction against the elemental faction.

“And our ascension mission is to do something world-shaking. So, saving the Mythical elementalist Hel from the hands of the Ice God and slaying a few Ice elemental gods along the way should count as world-shaking, right?” Lu Ran turned to Captain Doofus, only to find that it hadn’t been listening at all.

“

Grrr~!

”

Captain Doofus tilted its head, sticking out its tongue to catch snowflakes.

—

The snow here tastes different from the snow you can find in Stellar Moon World and Blue Planet!

“Really?” Lu Ran also looked up and stuck out his tongue. “It does! It has a hint of vanilla fragrance... but that’s not the point!”

He quickly shook his head and summoned another familiar. With a puff of white smoke, a nine-tailed cat made of mist appeared on the snow. Baby Cloud had already developed something similar to muscle memory. Before Lu Ran could even speak, it transformed into a cloud and floated up, while a misty staircase formed beneath Lu Ran’s feet.

Lu Ran stepped onto the cloud, sat cross-legged, and Baby Cloud immediately soared into the sky, disappearing from sight.

***

Above the icy clouds, Lu Ran lay down, gazing at the sky as he recalled the details. According to the heroic spirit Hel’s account, her initial attempts to change the will of the elemental gods didn’t attract the attention of the rulers of the nations. This was because the elemental gods were too busy breaking the world’s rules to bother with a weakling like her.

It wasn’t until she reached the Mythical level and gained the power to defeat Legendary elemental gods that the Ice God of the Ice Nation began to take her seriously. Subsequently, a great battle erupted between Hel and the Ice God.

Hel, who had only just reached the Mythical level, was no match at all. In this battle, Hel barely escaped with her life. After failing to change the Ice God’s will, Hel traveled to the other nine nations, hoping to sway the will of their gods and bolster her faction’s strength.

However, as Hel realized the gap between herself and the high-ranking legendaries, she changed her strategy. Instead of confronting the rulers directly, she cultivated her strength while secretly building forces to influence the beliefs of the gods’ followers. She was hoping to sway the decisions of the elemental rulers through their followers. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t work.

Although she gained a group of loyal followers and formed a larger resistance army, she failed to persuade even a single elemental ruler. At this point, Hel abandoned these methods, realizing that only force could make the elemental gods stop their destructive actions.

Her travels through the nine nations had also elevated her strength to the peak of the Mythical level, granting her numerous Legendary elemental beasts. This gave her the confidence to face a Superior Legendary.

In the end, Hel returned to her homeland, the Ice Nation, intending to defeat the Ice God first to gain the right to negotiate with the other gods on equal footing.

If she were facing only the Superior-Legendary Ice God alone, a well-prepared Hel might have had a chance at victory. But unfortunately, the Ice God commanded numerous Low and Intermediate-Legendary elemental gods, as well as hundreds of millions of ice elemental creatures.

The accumulated ice legions and believers of the long-standing Ice Nation were far beyond what a single Mythical elementalist could challenge. Faced with such a massive elemental army, no matter how strong Hel was, she ultimately couldn’t win and perished from exhaustion.

Not long after, it seemed the persistent efforts of the elemental gods finally shook the world’s rules, prompting the Four Divine Dragons to descend and suppress them all.

“According to Hel, the Elemental Era didn’t yet have any of the Four Dragons’ kin. But legends of the Four Supreme Divine Dragons’ creation were widespread, and many species spontaneously built temples to worship them.

“Hel’s maternal family had a tradition of worshipping the Divine Dragons, and their family history recorded many miracles of the Four Divine Dragons. Growing up surrounded by these stories, Hel developed a deep faith in them. It was stronger even than her faith in the Ice God.

“It was this upbringing, combined with the world’s disasters caused by the elemental gods’ rebellion against the dragons’ rules, that made Hel resolve to stop the elemental gods. In her view, the Four Divine Dragons possessed the power to annihilate the world with a single thought. It was far beyond what the elemental gods could resist.

“Their wrath was something the world couldn’t endure. Whether by coincidence or not, Hel was indeed doing something beneficial for the world’s inhabitants at the time. Sadly, the elemental gods didn’t heed her warnings and were crushed by the Four Divine Dragons, leading to the complete collapse of the Elemental Era.

“After a long era of natural disasters, the continent gradually recovered, giving rise to an environment suitable for life again. However, from the perspective of the elemental gods, while the Four Divine Dragons had created the world and given them the chance to exist, rebelling against the restrictions wasn’t an unusual reaction.” Lu Ran yawned.

At its core, it was a matter of perspective. From Lu Ran’s viewpoint, there were still many mysteries surrounding this event. For example, why did the Four Divine Dragons limit the levels of Stellar Moon’s lifeforms? Even the levels of lifeforms on nearby planets, including Blue Planet, were restricted.

It couldn’t possibly be because they feared other species would also produce Primary Divines and threaten their status, like the Chaos Dragon God. Lu Ran doubted that it was the reason.

Also, what about the false universe theory mentioned by the Golden Toad and the Lunar Rabbit? Could it be related to the Four Divine Dragons? With so many unanswered questions, Lu Ran suspected that only by encountering beings on the level of the Four Divine Dragons could he uncover some of these secrets.

***

Soon, as Baby Cloud flew, Lu Ran arrived at the capital of the Ice Nation. Unlike other places, although the environment here was harsh, there were signs of life. Along the way, Lu Ran even spotted many of Captain Doofus’ relatives from the air.

In the snowy terrain, snowfield dogs pulling sleds were a common sight, helping the people of the Ice Nation traverse the land. Among them, many resembled huskies, and their species ranks were similarly low, only at the Transcendent level.

This meant that when Lu Ran appeared in the capital with Captain Doofus, it didn’t raise any eyebrows. Even without Limitless City’s adjustments, his outfit wouldn’t have seemed out of place. However, compared to the elementalists accompanied by elemental beasts, Lu Ran, with just a husky, looked rather shabby.

In this capital, where towering statues of ice elemental gods stood like skyscrapers, elemental beasts were clearly the most mainstream and prestigious companions.

“Two more days.”

The prelude to the final battle was Hel’s arrival in the capital to challenge the Ice God openly. The conflict would then escalate, so Lu Ran only needed to wait here for the protagonists to appear.

The script Lu Ran obtained from the heroic spirit Hel was that Hel initially challenged the Ice God to a one-on-one duel. Their battle would start as a personal confrontation. Only after the Ice God was pressured would it summon its kin, subordinates, and armies. Hel’s resistance forces would then emerge, escalating the conflict into a full-scale war.

In other words, during Hel and the Ice God’s duel, the Ice Nation’s defenses would be at their weakest. Although not entirely defenseless, the absence of Superior-Legendary protection made it the perfect time for Lu Ran to act. Then, when the time was right, he could save Hel and finish off the wounded Ice elemental gods. It was perfect.

Until then, Lu Ran decided to explore the culinary delights of the Elemental Era with Captain Doofus. Even though his own cooking was more nutritious, every era and place had its unique flavors. Since he was here, he might as well indulge.

Captain Doofus was also eager, but it soon bared its teeth in frustration. The Ice Nation had no Ice-based cuisine. Instead, spicy and hot dishes dominated the scene, and dog meat restaurants were abundant.

After eating his fill, Lu Ran found a random icy mountain to sit on. He unpacked snacks to share with the others who hadn’t eaten yet, like Sudden Death King, Dark Crow, and Six-Path Flower.

“Baby Cloud, stop eating.”

Among them, Baby Cloud was enjoying itself, savoring a bizarre dish called Stir-Fried Flame Stones for the first time. For humans, this dish involved sucking the seasoning off the stones before spitting them out, but for Fire and Rock elemental beasts, the stones were entirely edible.

Baby Cloud tried a few pieces. Even though the taste and nutritional value were lacking, stir-fried stones were something Lu Ran had never prepared for it before. It was a novel experience. In addition, stir-fried ice cubes and stir-fried sand also opened Baby Cloud’s eyes.

However, before it could indulge further, Lu Ran called it over. “The others can eat, but if you fill up now, how will you have room for elemental gods later? Time to work.”

Baby Cloud froze.

I have been the transportation all this time; what more do I need to do?

Lu Ran then took out a stone. “Here.”

[Stone Essence: An Epic-grade resource naturally formed by the world. A top-tier material for forging weapons and equipment, it seems capable of nurturing life within.]