Chapter 567 - Divine Dragon Envoy (Part 2)

With that, all of the Divine Dragon kin left to find ways to help Lu Ran recruit more citizens for his empire.

The only one that stayed behind was Manger Ying, who gave Lu Ran a suspicious look.

"Did the four Divine Dragons really say what you told us?"

"Yeah, they totally did!" Lu Ran held up the Stone of the Other Shore again. "The Death Dragon was afraid that the kin wouldn't believe me, so it gave me the power to use this stone as proof. The kin have done so to maintain the stability of the continent. While they've offended some Legendary creatures, they've also befriended quite a few.

“Previously, their status prevented them from forming factions, but now I am here to lift those restrictions. Many powerful individuals will answer their call. When that happens..."

"Fine, I'll trust you this one time, but you better not screw me over. Since the Time Dragon has spoken, I’ll need to actually put in some real effort," Manager Ying responded.

"Even if everything you said is true, are you really planning to challenge the final secret realm? Six-Path Flower will be fine since it is one of the top-three plants throughout history when it comes to talent and potential. It can definitely reach Primary Divine.

"The main concern is Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Dark Crow. Given their natural ability, do they really have any hope of becoming a Primary Divine?"

Creatures were ranked Transcendent, Champion, King, Overlord, Legendary, Primary Divine, and finally, Cosmic, which existed even beyond divinity.

Low to Superior Legendary were only sub-stages of a single rank, and Primary Divine was leagues above it. Across the entire distant Elemental Era, only two Primary Divine creatures existed. The countless animals and plants that lived throughout history were also only able to produce another two.

All of mankind’s ingenuity and technology were only able to culminate into a single Mechanical Primary Divine, the Mecha God.

Manager Ying believed that Lu Ran was overreaching if he wanted to cultivate a whole team of Primary Divines.

"I don't know. We'll just take it one step at a time," Lu Ran said as he gazed up at the sky.

"Luckily, I don’t have to worry about Six-Path Flower, Baby Cloud, or #18."

Six-Path Flower already had the innate potential to rank up to Primary Divine. Baby Cloud could farm an infinite number of elemental cores in Limitless City to fuel its growth. Finally, #18 could follow the path of the Mecha God.

Each of them had a bright future ahead of them.

“My current plan for Dark Crow is to push it into the Superior Legendary level by stealing the power of the Evil God. Then, we’ll turn its eyes into soldiers, which will buff it into the Primary Divine rank using the Legion trait. We’ll start by gouging out ten thousand of its eyes. If that isn't enough, then we’ll do a million. If that still isn’t enough, we can gouge out ten million. Quantity makes for better quality in this case.

"The only problem is that gouging out so many eyeballs and creating soldiers out of them will take a long time. Dark Crow’s regenerative ability won’t be fast enough to make it an efficient process."

Manager Ying: -.-!

"My Time domain can't support a Superior Legendary creature for too long!"

"You’ll be fine if you reach Superior Legendary yourself. Also, we can exploit sister Tree Monarch as a team."

"Exploit! You just said exploit! You know that what you’re doing is exploitation!"

"My plans for Captain Doofus are the simplest, but I’m not sure if it’ll work. I just need a Divine-ranked sword. Sword Domain can utilize swords of any quality. A suitable weapon could easily give us the power of a Primary Divine.

"I wonder if the Chaos Dragon God and the Light and Dark Gods will drop Divine-grade resources...

“Of course, this method is just speculation. If I can’t control such a powerful weapon, then I’ll have to take it more slowly. We’ll start by raising its kin some more and collecting more swords.

"Pretty much it's the same strategy I’m using for Dark Crow. Power in numbers."

"That sounds like it holds water. What about Sudden Death King?" Manager Ying asked. "It lacks Captain Doofus and Dark Crow’s ability to grow through numbers.”

"That’s where I think the problem is. If we can defeat the Chaos Dragon God, then we can use its blood to evolve Sudden Death King's bloodline. Once it eats the Nine-Colored Meteorite and utilizes Sun-Moon Fusion, it should have no problem reaching Superior Legendary.

"As for reaching Primary Divine, we’ll let its five Primary Divine teammates pummel it day and night. That should help it forge a Primary-Divine level defense. People dream about training Primary-Divine creatures, but never have the opportunity. Training is an orthodox path to evolution as well."

"...Is Sudden Death King adopted?”

Ahem.

"The main issue is, six Primary Divines aren't enough for a surefire victory. Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King's kin will never reach Primary Divine. Bai Ze isn't a combat-oriented creature either. It's time to choose a new familiar."

Lu Ran pulled out a super trait crystal he won in the World War.

[You have received the Super Trait Crystal: Law of Surrender (Familiars fused with this trait will transform into law-bound lifeforms, becoming part of the world’s laws. After surrendering, if the enemy continues to attack, they will suffer backlash from the world’s laws and divine retribution.]

"Come to think of it, I haven't cultivated a law-bound lifeform yet. I think the reason behind the Divine Dragons’ power and their ability to defy Limitless City isn’t just brute force. It must have something to do with their ability to control the power of laws. Specifically, they have power over the laws governing life, death, time, and space."

"So your plan is to cultivate a Primary-Divine law-bound lifeform and then have it surrender in the final secret realm. With that, you hope to trigger a backlash against the Divine Dragons...

"Let's skip over whether or not the final secret realm will have laws governing it to begin with. The entire Stellar Moon World was created by the Divine Dragons to begin. Will a rebound of the laws from the Stellar Moon World even affect them?"

"Wrong." Lu Ran smiled.

"It would be nice if a law-bound familiar could play a role in the fight, but it’s fine even if it doesn’t. I can have it surrender to Captain Doofus or one of my other familiars to trigger a backlash against them.

"If we do this on the Stellar Moon World to trigger a rebound of the laws here, and the Stellar Moon World was once the inner world of the Genesis Dragon, then the rebound should contain the Genesis Dragon’s core power.

"This will help the team get a quick preview of the Divine Dragons’ power. I can turn it into an endurance training regimen.

"Also, I don’t know anything about law-bound lifeforms’ weaknesses, so I’ll just have to fight fire with fire. This new familiar will be my Hail Mary.

"I also have the Instant Amnesia trait, which will optimize its existing abilities at the expense of developing new ones. This will help me build a familiar solely specialized in the Law of Surrender. I’m just still deciding on a familiar." Lu Ran contemplated, stroking his chin.

"Can you help me research a good location and find a good familiar for me?” he asked Manager Ying.

Manager Ying rolled its eyes.

"How about that turtle?"

"Its foundation sucks. Next."

***

Once Lu Ran issued his special request, Manager Ying left as well, but Ice Emperor still hadn’t arrived.

Does this guy want to see his sister or not?

Lu Ran brought out #18 to summon Hel’s heroic spirit, who didn’t have any memories of the ascension realm.

"You became a level 8 beastmaster?"

"Yes. I summoned you to ask if you want to be resurrected, senior Hel."

"Huh?" Hel's expression changed. "You have the ability to fully resurrect me?"

"Yes."

"Who are you?" Hel questioned.

"I will revive you from the river of time, and you’ll know who I am once you fuse with your body."

Hel was stunned.

[Would you like to use the resurrection privilege?]

“Yes.”

[Please select a historical projection encountered in a mission realm to resurrect.]

“Legendary Elementalist, Hel!”

As soon as Lu Ran made his choice, Limitless City’s power began to distort the world in front of him. Colorful elemental particles appeared in the air and gathered into a human figure.

Lu Ran froze when he realized that he had forgotten something. Fortunately, #18 acted fast. Before Hel could react, it reached out and covered Lu Ran’s eyes.

Hel's heroic spirit watched in stupor as her body took shape. The problem was that resurrected bodies didn’t come with clothes, unlike heroic spirits.

"What are you doing?" she yelled as her spirit and body reunited. She hurriedly condensed a set of clothes over her naked body. #18 only uncovered Lu Ran’s eyes once she was completely ready.

Hel stood there in a dress made from the elements and stared at him with a complex gaze as her new and old memories merged. She was supposed to die, but right before she did, Lu Ran appeared and saved her.

Then...

"My blood—" Hel's face paled as she recalled a disturbing memory.

Finally, she remembered the shocking scene of the Divine Dragons descending upon the world.

"You..." Hel struggled to process the sudden influx of information, but she realized something very quickly.

"We were in a projection of the past. According to the real path of history, the Divine Dragons annihilated the ten kingdoms."

"Correct, but I went to that time period to resurrect you. Don’t let dwelling on the past dull the present." Lu Ran comforted.

"I am willing to give you all my blood as you promised to save the people of the Ice Kingdom," Hel said after a deep breath.

"Actually, your blood is the price your brother promised to pay for your resurrection." Lu Ran corrected. "That promise was only an illusion, don’t take it too seriously. You ended up a little haggard in the ascension realm, but you’re alive and kicking now, aren’t you?"

“...”

Right on cue, a light flashed in the distance. Ice Emperor finally arrived on his horse.

"Sister!" He was overjoyed to see Hel standing beside Lu Ran.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw her naked except for a dress made from elemental energy. His heart sank.

Wait, what’s happening?

Hel looked up at Ice Emperor without any expression. She knew that he was the one who never gave up hope and sought a way to resurrect her, even after countless years.

"Sister, you're back." Ice Emperor could barely contain his emotions. "This is wonderful!"

"You asked Lu Ran to resurrect me?" Hel asked.

"Yes... but..." Ice Emperor struggled a bit to get his words out. "But, it might cost you, sister. Lu Ran wants all your blood."

Hel's blood pressure, which had just calmed down, spiked again at Ice Emperor’s words.