Chapter 62 - Fellow Villagers from Lu Village

This was completely unexpected. He worked hard to comprehend the blizzard sword momentum, wanting to use it to show off in front of the dog. But Captain Doofus didn’t react like he expected, and just treated it like some kind of air-conditioning sword momentum!

"I knew it. As soon as I try talking to it like a normal person, it turns out like this!"

Lu Ran was devastated and blamed himself for expecting too much. Why did he have to show off to a husky? Even though he was upset and it was already late, Lu Ran still went to prepare the Heart of the Insect for Captain Doofus to eat. Captain Doofus liked warm food, so Lu Ran went to cook it.

The only thing that made Lu Ran feel better was that Captain Doofus knew that sharing was caring. It decided to share the stir-fried and roasted Heart of the Insect with Lu Ran and Sudden Death King.

Obviously, Lu Ran didn't eat any, but Sudden Death King had a taste and was immediately touched beyond words. After being ignored all day, Sudden Death King felt like Captain Doofus was the only one who still remembered it.

“Since you’ve eaten this Heart of the Insect, one day, we’ll clear secret realms together. Don't try to run away when that time comes,”

Captain Doofus lectured.

Sudden Death King had a mouthful of the Heart of the Insect and could only choke it down in tears.

This is my last supper. T.T

That night.

Lu Ran was lying on the bed, scrolling through his phone as usual, when he realized that he had missed an important piece of news today. Fortunately, the news clip was online, so he opened it to take a look.

"Currently, the number of registered beastmasters in our country has exceeded 150,000. Among them, youths between the ages of 18 to 25 constitute the majority. Therefore, our country has decided to establish a beastmaster university to systematically train young beastmasters.

"Once again, we recommend that all new beastmasters do not enter secret realms recklessly. According to official data, over the past month, over 1,000 new beastmasters that passed the beginner trials have died in secret realms. Among them, some even scored an S in the beginner secret realm."

When Lu Ran saw this news, he could tell that the government was at its wit's end. He felt a little anxious hearing that so many new beastmasters had died.

Beastmasters were undoubtedly the hot strategic resource right now. For every one that died, there would be one less available. Rather than letting these new beastmasters run around blindly, the government hoped to round them up and provide them with quality education to fully unlock their potential.

This way, beastmasters suitable for exploring secret realms could increase their survival rate, while those that were not could find a more suitable profession.

Since the dawn of the Beastmaster Era, the government had been dissuading newcomers from casually challenging secret realms, but there were always those who didn't listen to good advice, such as Lu Ran. Lu Ran had Epic equipment and powerful people who nurtured him, but not everyone could be so lucky. A single misstep could end in death.

The government’s stance was obviously that they were not in a hurry to let the fourth generation of beastmasters immediately become independent. Rather, they hoped that they would grow up safe and sound.

"Beastmaster University is recruiting beastmasters between the ages 16 and 25 from across the nation. Whether you have already entered the workforce, still in high school or college, you can choose to study at Beastmaster University."

Lu Ran went through the comments as he continued to watch the clip, and sure enough, he saw a lot of angry comments. Most of them were from people over 25.

Lu Ran ignored them. The government’s explanation was that resources were limited, so young people were given priority, but the quota would be gradually expanded later. Lu Ran’s theory was that younger beastmasters had higher potential, leading to them being favored.

What really surprised Lu Ran was that some elderly people were still chosen. Although it was extremely rare, after browsing the comments, Lu Ran found out that some of them were over 60 years old. This meant that age wasn’t a criterion for becoming a beastmaster, although the chances were slim.

There were even rumors the strongest beastmaster in Xia was an old man. Of course, this unconfirmed rumor wasn’t popular amongst fourth-generation newbies. Nevertheless, who the strongest beastmaster in Xia was had always been a hot topic.

Everyone’s eyes were glued to the King Heavenly Familiar Ranking, but after more than a week, not a single first-generation beastmaster made the list. Only the second, third, and fourth-generation beastmasters appeared.

Besides the first-generation, fourth-generation beastmasters were the most popular. The strongest fourth-generation newcomer was also a hotly debated subject. Seven names, including Pedestrian A, stood out from the seventy people who made the rankings.

However, Pedestrian A's reason for being on the list was too abstract, and he contracted a husky, so he wasn’t a popular choice for the strongest.

"This is lame. I'll continue clearing secret realms tomorrow."

Lu Ran yawned and turned off the light.

Before enrolling in Beastmaster University, it looked like he would have to continue training in secret realms. However, instead of clearing secret realms, he actually wanted to learn a secondary profession like forging as soon as possible. This way, he wouldn't need to find someone else to process his gathered materials.

***

A week went by in the blink of an eye. Since Lu Ran had comprehended the initial stages of blizzard sword momentum, he entered the Blizzard Mountain secret realm more frequently. He hoped that the environment there would help him develop his blizzard sword momentum even further.

Captain Doofus naturally followed along and learned blizzard sword momentum from Lu Ran. For a week, Lu Ran and Captain Doofus maintained running Mantis Jungle once a day and Blizzard Mountain twice a day.

During this time, Captain Doofus used up all the useful resources that dropped, and Lu Ran sold the miscellaneous resources to recoup some money. After all their hard work, Captain Doofus underwent a complete transformation.

It finally hit level 10 on the seventh day. Not only that, but because of all the Heart of the Insect it ate, the quality of its teeth greatly improved.

[Name: Wind Hound Fang]

[Grade: Advanced]

[Description: The fangs of a wind hound are very hard and sharp and have good Wind-attribute energy conductivity!]

This change made Lu Ran very happy. Captain Doofus’ teeth weren’t garbage anymore. The improvement also allowed it to have better control over Storm Slash. Now, Captain Doofus wouldn’t end up with a mouthful of blood unless it used Storm Slash at max power.

In short, Captain Doofus’ Storm Slash was increasingly formidable. In contrast, after frequently swapping out teeth, Heart of the Insect no longer had any significant benefits for Captain Doofus. His teeth probably needed rarer resources to grow any further.

The constant use of mantis wings in large quantities also increased Captain Doofus’ sensitivity to changes in airflow. Now it could predict changes in the weather. Like some animals, it could instinctively tell if it was about to rain. This became apparent in Blizzard Mountain, where it helped Lu Ran avoid hail.

Still, none of these was their biggest gain. After a week of consuming cold wind seeds, Captain Doofus’ Wind-attribute energy now carried a bone-freezing chill.

This was a major factor in its rapid comprehension of blizzard sword momentum. With Lu Ran's reverse Super Beast Mimicry, Captain Doofus had already achieved an initial understanding of blizzard sword momentum two days earlier. Despite being at the initial stage, thanks to the support of its elements, Captain Doofus’ blizzard sword momentum was actually more powerful than Lu Ran's.

It managed to completely freeze the alpha mantis in mid-air for three seconds. After a week of training, the duo achieved triple S ratings in both secret realms. However, even with a perfect score, Lu Ran still couldn’t unlock a Wind-attribute beastmaster buff skill.

That kind of skill worth tens of thousands of crystal coins really wasn’t that easy to pull. Now that the drops were no longer effective on Captain Doofus, Lu Ran debated whether he should continue to run these secret realms.

After all, Captain Doofus was already level 10 and could fuse with a trait. Should he tackle a hell-difficulty secret realm next? Lu Ran felt that they were ready. Nothing else posed a challenge.

There was no movement on Limitless City #3’s Heavenly Familiar Rankings for a week.

Captain Doofus, who cut apart a blizzard, maintained first place. Even though all ten names had reached level 10, and most of them had fused a trait or awakened their secondary element, they still couldn’t surpass Captain Doofus.

Hell-difficulty secret realms seemed to be the only thing left for Lu Ran to challenge. Once a trait crystal dropped, he could finally break through!

"To celebrate reaching level 10, I'll take you to a restaurant."

Lu Ran smiled at Captain Doofus as they returned to their private room.

"Woof, woof!"

Captain Doofus was suspicious. It suspected that Lu Ran was just hungry himself.

"How dare you! You can sleep in the black card while I eat alone." Lu Ran pouted.

If you’re going to call me out, then I’m going to be petty.

...

What?

Lu Ran gathered everything and prepared to sell them before having a good meal. However, he was startled when he passed by Beastmaster Square. He frowned when saw the four people across the street.

They were wearing matching hunting garb. Hunting outfits weren’t uncommon in Limitless City, but what stood out was the orange fur they wore.

This getup...

Lu Ran believed that he’d seen it multiple times before.

He remembered seeing his grandfather wearing it frequently when he was a child, but his grandfather died when he was in elementary school. He mostly saw it in photographs. These were hunters from his hometown, Lu Village.

Are they from Lu Village?

Lu Ran didn't expect to meet people from his hometown in Limitless City.

He thought about it and quickly caught up to them, hoping to ask some questions about Lu Village. As a village of hunters, they should be flourishing in the Beastmaster Era, right?

The group also happened to be going to a restaurant. Just as the four of them sat down, a voice sounded from the side.

"Excuse me, are you hunters from Lu Village?"

The three men and the woman raised their heads and saw that the person who asked them the question was someone younger than them, wearing a black windbreaker and carrying a sword.

The guys went on alert, but the hot-tan huntress saw Lu Ran's handsome face and replied, "Who are you?"