Chapter 565 - Return 8! (Part 2)

Although the collapse of the ascension realm had prevented Lu Ran from obtaining more elemental cores, he gained something that was even more valuable than the core of one of the major Elemental Gods.

The Stone of the Other Shore was absurdly overpowered. Even though it didn’t grant immortality, its effects made death seem like an insignificant matter.

Lu Ran realized that he could use the Stone of the Other Shore to strengthen his soul clone. With a Superior Legendary soul clone, he would be able to evolve Captain Doofus’ soul to the next level. His soul might even become capable of harming a Primary Divine. That would guarantee Captain Doofus reaching Superior Legendary at a minimum.

Lu Ran could also start researching tailored soul clones for evolving Sudden Death King and Dark Crow. This stone was going to be a game-changer.

While he was still daydreaming, a halo of light enveloped him. The ascension realm finally completely shut down, and the four Divine Dragons had disappeared.

The world went dark, and when Lu Ran opened his eyes again, he was already back in his residence in Limitless City. Once he was back on his feet, he immediately activated the reward for his Legendary mission.

[Would you like to use the resurrection authority?]

“Yes.”

[Please select a projection you encountered within the ascension realm for resurrection.]

“The Divine Dragons!” Lu Ran declared.

[The Divine Dragons have been detected as alive in reality. Please choose again.]

“Ugh, fine. Limitless City, I know you’re sentient. How are you going to compensate me for how this ascension realm panned out? As a Super Administrator, I should have a dedicated customer service line.”

[A serious error has been detected in the user’s ascension realm. Assessing corrective measures...]

“Huh?”

[Assessment complete.]

[To prevent similar errors from recurring, the following resolutions will be implemented:

1. Cosmic-level beings will no longer be manifested as part of ascension or secret realms.

2. Time periods where Limitless City previously had to intervene are now prohibited from being chosen as the setting for future ascension realms.

3. Trial takers are prohibited from entering time periods from their own past.

4. Time periods predating the first transcendent lifeforms are prohibited.

5. ...]

Lu Ran: ?

[Issuing compensation rewards. Super Administrator Pedestrian A will be granted access to an exclusive AI assistant that will be allowed to answer certain questions pertaining to Limitless City.]

Once the announcements were over, a display screen appeared on the wall in his room.

The screen flashed and booted up much like how a computer would, and a white "∞" symbol appeared. The symbol disappeared a moment later, and a smiley face took its place.

Lu Ran had long been aware that Limitless City was sentient. He got his first clue shortly after his arrival, when White Dragon first told him that it would choose secret realms suitable for the participants' abilities and punish those who violated its rules.

However, no one had previously been able to directly communicate with Limitless City. He once again did something unprecedented that led him closer to success.

"Are you the consciousness of Limitless City?" Lu Ran asked.

[Hello, Pedestrian A. I am not a piece of Limitless City. I'm only responsible for answering questions within your clearance level.]

"Okay. My first question is, what is the origin of Limitless City?"

[Sorry, insufficient clearance. You need to be a level 9 Super Administrator and challenge Limitless City's final secret realm to obtain that information.]

Lu Ran: ?

"How did the Tree King challenge the final secret realm? Her death predated Limitless City."

[Sorry, insufficient clearance.]

Lu Ran did his best to keep his patience.

"Then, can you tell me what the secret realm entails? Death is quite a high price to pay for failure. You should at least provide a summary or a preview so that I can prepare, right?"

[This question is within the scope of my authority. The final secret realm is a combat-based secret realm. To clear it, the challenger must defeat the four bosses. The bosses of the final secret realm are the four Divine Dragons.]

“I have to fight who? Are you shitting me? Didn’t the system just say that it won’t manifest anything over the Primary God rank anymore? Do y’all really expect anyone to beat them?"

[In the final secret realm, the Divine Dragons are suppressed to the Primary Divine rank and have a preset intelligence to make the secret realm more reasonable.]

"Fine..." Lu Ran felt a headache.

He knew that the final secret realm would be a bit difficult, but he hadn't expected it to be this outrageous. The bosses are the four Divine Dragons! Limitless City has to be on drugs. For a beastmaster to stand a chance, they would have to have at least four Divine-ranked familiars.

Well, it was always good to have a dream to chase after. Even if the four Divine Dragons were capped at the Primary Divine rank, they weren’t going to be some run-of-the-mill creature of that rank like the Divine Tree and Chaos Dragon God.

For a guaranteed victory, he would need at least eight Primary-Divine familiars.

"One last question. My parents were also beastmasters, but they died in a secret realm. They should have received a resurrection trial mission, right? Can you tell me their current situation? That shouldn’t be too hard, right?" Lu Ran asked with a glimmer of hope.

The latest Limitless City update gave Lu Ran a glimmer of hope where he previously didn’t have any. He wasn’t able to choose time settings that predated Limitless City or in which he already existed, which put a wrench in some of his plans.

For example, one of his ideas was to go back and have Sudden Death King eat the original Nine-Colored Meteorite. The latest resolutions crushed all of those dreams.

[Sorry, insufficient clearance. You cannot inquire about other people. Please keep your questions relevant to Limitless City-related matters. If you acquire higher-level privileges, then you can revive anyone who had previously died in Limitless City.]

"How do I acquire higher-level privileges? Is it even possible?"

[Sorry, insufficient clearance. You need to be a level 9 Super Administrator and challenge Limitless City's final secret realm to obtain that information.]

“Goodbye."

***

Due to the unexpected incident, Lu Ran was kicked out of the ascension realm before the month was up. It was a bit of a shame that he didn't get to farm as many resources as he might’ve wanted to; he was still glad that he cleared both the ascension and Legendary mission. Now that he was a level 8 beastmaster, he was just one level away from having to face the final secret realm. He was also one level away from becoming the fifth Mythical beastmaster in human history.

After exiting Limitless City, Lu Ran entered the rear palace gardens of the Beastmaster Empire and summoned his familiars.

Captain Doofus and Dark Crow chattered about what just happened in the ascension realm. This was the first time they had seen Limitless City malfunction, and they were quite worried.

They didn’t think they'd make it back alive when they lost contact with Lu Ran while the ascension realm was shutting down.

"Captain Doofus, level 82. Sudden Death King, level 81. Dark Crow, level 81. Six-Path Flower, level 83. Baby Cloud, level 87, #18, level 80."

Lu Ran took a quick inventory of his familiars.

Hmm...

Besides Baby Cloud, his other familiars’ levels were still in the low 80s. They still needed some work before they could reach level 90 for their third evolution. The only reason Baby Cloud was able to make such fast progress was that it gorged itself on a pile of Legendary resources.

The elemental cores’ main function was to improve Baby Cloud’s potential, but the sheer number inadvertently raised its level as well.

“What do you want to do next?" Six-Path Flower asked Lu Ran. "If you don’t have anything planned, then I'll keep expanding my territory. I want to make the most of Blue Planet’s power to reach the Primary Divine rank. If you want to challenge the final secret realm, you should have at least four Primary-Divine familiars. You don’t have to worry about me, so focus on the other."

As it said this, it looked at Lu Ran’s other four familiars that were each up to their own antics. When it first joined the team, it would’ve never imagined these idiots could reach the Primary Divine rank. It was even skeptical about them reaching Legendary.

“Looks like I won’t be returning to the Elemental Era again. I can use the Stone of the Other Shore now, so with your help, most Superior-Legendary creatures won’t be able to do a thing to us.

"I want to unseal the Elemental Gods so Baby Cloud could eat them a second time in the real world. After being sealed for so long, they should be in a severely weakened state, so hunting them should be a breeze."

At his current level, Low and Intermediate-Legendary Elemental Gods no longer held any allure for him. Baby Cloud was about to have its cake and eat it, too. The ascension realm also dropped an amazing trait to boot.

Elemental Law (Allows the user to better control the natural laws of the world. As long as the laws are not otherwise being manipulated, the user will be able to utilize the power of laws against enemies.)

During the Elemental Era, the eight Superior-Legendary Elemental Gods were so powerful because they were capable of manipulating the fundamental laws of the world that governed the world, and no one could overpower them.

Now that their era has passed, and since then, the Beast God and Plant God rose to power successively, they shouldn’t be able to do much in the modern world.

With the Elemental Law as Baby Cloud’s ninth trait, coupled with three Elemental Gods’ elemental cores, Lu Ran was confident that Superior Legendary was a given. If they were in the Elemental Era, Baby Cloud might even be able to compete for the position of Elemental God and reach for Primary Divine. It could’ve perhaps been crowned the most powerful elemental lifeform in history.

Baby Cloud’s eyes lit up when it heard Lu Ran’s plans.

"What a shame..." #18 muttered. "I barely got any blood from Hel before we left."

Lu Ran nodded in agreement.

"A shame indeed. I didn't have time to get Ice Emperor's spatial equipment either. We got kicked out too suddenly. It’s ok. Once we revive Hel, we’ll be able to exploit the hell out of those two siblings to make up for the loss. We actually have a more pressing matter."

"Hmmm?" Lu Ran’s familiar looked at him in confusion.

“I, Lu Ran, am just a random pedestrian. In the ascension realm, I encountered the Divine Dragons and was entrusted with an important mission. To aid me in my mission, they gave me command over their future kin. I am the envoy of the Divine Dragons that have been tasked with maintaining the peace and order on Stellar Moon.

“As such, by the powers vested in me by the four Divine Dragons, I shall rule over Stellar Moon henceforth and integrate them into the Beastmaster Empire!"

His familiars were flabbergasted.

Did the Divine Dragons really say that?