Chapter 554 - Brother, You Smell Good (Part 2)

The Stone Essence was something Lu Ran had obtained after hunting Zhu Yan in a Blue Planet ascension realm. At the time, besides this, he had also obtained a War Token, which he had long since given to Dark Crow as a gift.

As for the Stone Essence, Lu Ran had kept it, waiting for Captain Doofus’ fourth kinship slot to open so he could forge a stone sword for it. Zhu Yan’s stone club weapon was made from this material. Lu Ran thought its power was decent.

Baby Cloud silently stared at the Stone Essence, seemingly understanding Lu Ran’s intentions. After Lu Ran fused it with the Sprite trait, awakening its Sprite attribute, Baby Cloud had gained the Sprite of Enlightenment ability, which could enlighten elemental sprite lifeforms.

Similar to how Six-Path Flower could enlighten ordinary plants into intelligent Transcendent plants, Baby Cloud could now enlighten ordinary stones, water, sand, or even a breeze into elemental lifeforms. Essentially, Lu Ran wanted it to become this stone’s mother.

After seeing Baby Cloud’s dazed expression, Lu Ran knew it had guessed correctly. “Exactly. Originally, I planned to have #18 upgrade the Elemental Life Creation Device to nurture this stone into life, but it’s too busy. Every day, it’s swamped with endless tasks. This matter kept getting delayed.

“But now that you have the ability to enlighten elemental lifeforms, there’s no need to trouble #18. It’s much more convenient for you to handle it.”

Baby Cloud pondered for a moment, then transformed into its angelic worker form, patting its chest proudly.

Pfft, as if this little task is any trouble...

“Don’t take it too lightly. This stone is of Epic grade. Based on the quality of Zhu Yan’s weapon, the stone elemental lifeform it forms will at least be of quasi-Legendary. Enlightening it won’t be easy. Remember, when you experimented with your Sprite of Enlightenment talent on Blue Planet, the highest you managed was a King elemental lifeform.”

As for the enlightened elemental lifeforms, they were listed on the Beastmaster Empire’s familiar shop website and sold to Xia’s beastmasters.

Baby Cloud argued vehemently, claiming that it was just because it had just acquired the talent and wasn’t proficient yet, having only casually tested it a few times.

Although elemental familiars were more valuable than plant familiars in the Beastmaster Empire, scarcity drove prices. Lu Ran didn’t let Baby Cloud enlighten them too frequently, planning to position elemental familiars as a premium market. Plant familiars were several times more expensive than animal familiars, and elemental familiars were several times more expensive than plant familiars.

Lu Ran looked at Baby Cloud. “No, you don’t understand what I mean. Enlightening a quasi-Legendary stone sword is just the baseline. I want you to refine its bloodline during the enlightenment process. Let me put it this way: a stone elemental lifeform’s attribute isn’t necessarily just rock. Understand?

“For example, a flame ore’s evolved elemental lifeform would be fire and rock, while an electric ore’s would be lightning and rock. Or take you, for instance. As a cloud, your core is water, but you can have nine elemental attributes. So for this stone, I want you to use rock as the core and sword as the base, enlightening it into a rock sword with nine elemental attributes just like you.”

“

Huh?

” Baby Cloud was taken aback..

“Although Captain Doofus has abandoned all attributes, its Nature Manipulation trait remains. Its control over natural forces, combined with its comprehension, allows it to perfectly wield elemental sword intent despite having no elemental attributes itself. Pairing that with a rock sword possessing all elemental attributes would further amplify this advantage.”

Baby Cloud fell silent. Now it understood how #18 felt.

A nine-element rock sword, huh...? I might as well become Captain Doofus’ kin directly. Skip straight to the endgame. Speedrun the hell-level mission.

Lu Ran chuckled. “I’m not asking you to enlighten it now. I’m also worried you’d end up creating some abomination. First, practice with the ordinary stones from these mountains. Once you evolve to Legendary, then enlighten this Stone Essence.”

With that, Lu Ran kicked a hard, ordinary rock out from the snow at his feet.

The carefree Sudden Death King and Dark Crow, who were busy snacking, shot amused glances at Baby Cloud.

***

Two days passed, and Baby Cloud had been practicing its enlightening, while Lu Ran adapted to the limits of his beastmaster skills in his new body.

In the capital of the Ice Nation, Lu Ran’s eyes snapped open as he sensed a powerful aura deliberately unleashed. Unlike Lu Ran and his group, who concealed their auras with the Time Shield, this aura’s owner was flamboyant, radiating power that likely reached every corner of the Ice Nation.

High above the capital, standing on top of an ice phoenix, Hel, with her purple hair fluttering, wore a calm expression masking deep resolve.

Facing Hel in the sky, every capital’s factions were familiar with her. The new king, installed by the Legendaries in the royal palace, stared at her in shock, never expecting the former Ice Nation princess, who had stirred storms in other nations, to return here.

Above the capital, space froze, and the sky shattered like a mirror, revealing a corner of a deep secret realm connected to the city. The icy void parted as a humanoid goddess of ice emerged, her massive crystalline wings glinting. Her bare feet froze the air with every step, her blue form mostly shrouded in icy mist, obscuring her full appearance.

Yet as she descended, every being in the capital knelt, bowing their heads. None dared look directly at her except the Mythical elementalist Hel.

[Species: Ice Goddess]

[Attribute: Ice]

[Species Rank: Superior Legendary]

[Level: 100]

No one knew what Hel said next. With a ripple in space, both figures vanished from the sky. It was a long time before anyone dared to look up at the empty heavens. Although no one knew what had happened, many swallowed hard as a sense of foreboding settled over them.

This premonition didn’t take long to materialize. Terrifying energy fluctuations erupted in the distance, causing minor earthquakes and spatial tremors across the Ice Nation. Countless icy structures cracked, and the sky darkened from a pale to deep blue.

As these shockwaves spread, the rulers of the other nine elemental nations stirred from their slumber. However, they showed little interest in the Ice Goddess’s domestic affairs and had no intention of intervening.

“The hunt begins!”

While Hel and the Ice Goddess battled, Lu Ran finally sprang into action. Wearing a cloud-element bracelet and leveraging Six-Path Flower’s spatial mastery, he arrived at Frostprison City, adjacent to the capital.

Frostprison City was the Ice Nation’s divine prison. On the surface, it appeared to be an ordinary prison city, but its deeper space imprisoned an elemental god that was a Low-Legendary fire elemental god.

The reason for its imprisonment was unknown. It had been sealed here even before Hel’s birth, and she had only learned of it by chance.

Even though Lu Ran didn’t know this god, it was likely the easiest elemental god to hunt in the Ice Nation. He decided to start with this one. With all the elemental gods’ attention focused on Hel and the Ice Goddess’s battle, as long as he acted discreetly, no one would notice his movements.

In the depths of Frostprison’s space, Lu Ran tore through the spatial barrier, entering the freezing underground prison. At its center stood a frozen statue of a flame giant. This was also a humanoid flame elemental being. The ice sealing it was extraordinarily potent, capable of freezing even legendary flames.

Lu Ran stroked his chin and said, “Six-Path Flower, it’s your turn.”

Beside him, Six-Path Flower in its Mortal Path form calmly observed the imprisoned elemental god, as if seeing through its entire life. It shook its head slightly.

Then, it extended a hand, and a seed materialized in its palm. Bathed in golden-green light, the seed rapidly sprouted and grew toward the ice sculpture. The next moment, the tiny shoot pierced the incredibly hard ice, causing the sculpture to crack with countless fissures. It was a display of exquisite power.

“Impressive.” Lu Ran nodded, realizing that even if Captain Doofus and the others could match Six-Path Flower in raw power through Limitless City’s resources, they still had a long way to go in terms of skill refinement.

As the ice shattered, the flame giant slowly awakened.

“This guy’s an oddball. A fire elemental god, yet it pursued the Ice Goddess, so she sealed it away.” Six-Path Flower shared even the details Hel didn’t know, leaving Lu Ran stunned.

“

Ah,

so it wanted to play ‘ice and fire,’ huh? How despicable.”

Before the flame giant could fully regain consciousness, Lu Ran’s arm ignited, merging with Baby Cloud in its Fire Cloud form. Using Baby Cloud, wrapped in sword intent, Lu Ran thrust his arm like a blade into the flame giant’s body, searching for its elemental core.

BOOM!

Excruciating pain jolted the flame giant awake. It glared furiously at the figure before it, but its heart trembled the next instant. The being before it was wreathed in black flames, and only its crimson eyes were visible, radiating death and malice.

The flame giant couldn’t even categorize it as human. It had never encountered such a terrifying existence. The malevolent aura alone threatened to corrode its soul.

“Who... are... you...?”

It tried to resist but found itself immobilized by another overwhelming presence. It was Six-Path Flower’s Celestial Path gaze, assisting Lu Ran.

“A passerby of this era... just a nobody.”

The next moment, Lu Ran raised his arm, smiling brightly at the flame giant as he crushed its elemental core.

Brother, you smell so good...

Baby Cloud, who was coiled around Lu Ran’s arm, couldn’t resist adding, its fierce cat eyes gleaming hungrily at the terrified flame giant.