Chapter 88 - Initial Team Determination (Part 2)

"Have you met a beastmaster called Pig Farmer in the arena recently?" Lu Ran asked.

"Pig Farmer... Why does that name sound so familiar?" Fang Lan wondered as she continued sipping her honey tea.

"Out of my past opponents, I remember trouncing someone by that name. Oh, yeah, I remember now. He seems to have made tenth place on the Heavenly Familiar Rankings several times recently, but didn't stay long before being squeezed out again."

"He made the Heavenly Familiar Rankings?" Lu Ran couldn’t believe his ears. Although Pig Farmer was stronger than the average beastmaster, he should still be quite a bit short of making the rankings.

"I should be right, since it’s a memorable name. His familiar is a wild boar, right?"

Lu Ran still couldn’t quite believe it. What had Pig Farmer been doing? After thinking for a while, Lu Ran decided to call White Dragon.

"Mr. Pedestrian!" White Dragon picked up the phone nervously. He had assumed that Lu Ran was definitely calling with bad news. Now that Lu Ran was a powerful figure, he should be contacting people higher up the chain. Why was Lu Ran calling him instead?

"Hey, White Dragon!"

"I just want to ask you for Sister Hua’s contact info. Do you remember the newcomer she brought in before? Pig Farmer. I heard he made the rankings."

"Oh, that’s what you’re calling about?" White Dragon said. "Are you looking for that new guy?"

"Yeah, we’re actually friends, but I forgot to ask him when we were in Limitless City. I’m guessing Sister Hua would have his info since she was in charge of him."

"You asked the right person! He did make the rankings recently!" White Dragon confirmed. "When I saw it, I checked with Sister Hua as well, and guess what?"

"What?"

"Our department did a background check when he got registered. He was born in a rural area. His family was originally pretty well-off. They bred and raised a large herd of pigs in the local village, but unfortunately, there was a wave of swine flu, and almost all their pigs died."

"His family had to declare bankruptcy. They somehow ended up owing the villagers millions. His parents almost committed suicide under the pressure. Just when things seemed hopeless, Pig Farmer got the black contract card. He contracted the only pig they had that didn’t contract swine flu. Luckily, it evolved into a wild boar with decent combat power.

"Once he got to Limitless City, Pig Farmer started following Sister Hua and learned that being a beastmaster was very profitable. So, he came up with the idea of making some quick money to help relieve the pressure on his family and repay the villagers. That’s also why he didn’t accept Sister Hua's invitation to join the alliance and instead joined the Galaxy Guild, since they offered him a hefty signing bonus."

"I know he went to Galaxy Guild’s entrance assessment. What happened after that?" Lu Ran asked.

"After that? Well, with the arrival of the fourth-generation beastmasters, the major guilds had an abundance of new blood. So, besides those with extremely high potential, everyone else’s benefits were cut. I heard from Sister Hua that when Pig Farmer found out his benefits were getting slashed, he didn’t want to stay with the Galaxy Guild anymore and reached out to her again."

Lu Ran was shocked. Nebula and Pluto were quite calculating. Pig Farmer had been stressed about the assessment for nothing.

"Sister Hua recently told him that the prize money for the freshman competition at Beastmaster University is quite substantial. So lately, he’s been grinding secret realms by himself. He’s been stressed, but his strength is improving rapidly. Even then, he’s still far from the threshold for the Heavenly Familiar Rankings, so Sister Hua asked him how he made it."

"After the spiritual energy revival, Pig Farmer found a rare resource near the village. Pig Farmer wasn’t paying attention, and his wild boar ate it by accident and got much stronger. When he found out, the kid was green with regret. If he had sold the resource then, not only would he have paid off their debts, but he would have had tens of millions left over. Since then, they’ve been challenging secret realms more aggressively. After pushing himself to the brink multiple times, he occasionally made the Heavenly Familiar Rankings briefly."

"I guess everyone has their own path in life," White Dragon sighed.

Originally, his family was on the verge of collapse, but because they had a talented beastmaster, their fate was about to change.

"So, you're saying he's currently not a member of any guild, and he didn’t join the alliance either? But he still plans to apply for Beastmaster University?" Lu Ran asked with a strange expression.

"It seems so. After all, with his current strength, it shouldn’t be difficult to pay off his family’s debts. Next, he’ll be looking to develop himself," White Dragon replied.

"Okay, I understand now. Thank you," Lu Ran said.

"You're welcome." White Dragon smiled. "See you at Beastmaster University."

Fang Lan, who had been listening in, finally asked, "Are you close with this Pig Farmer?"

"The Awakening Leaf I used on Sudden Death King came from him. He’s one of Sudden Death King’s angel investors," Lu Ran explained.

"This guy is pretty lucky. He actually encountered a rare resource in the wild. I’ll contact him when I get back to Limitless City and ask if he wants to join the team."

Although Pig Farmer was also broke, Lu Ran felt that what he lacked more was experience, which was harder to come by.

"We still need one more person," Fang Lan reminded him.

"Let me ask someone else," Lu Ran said, taking out his phone and dialing a number from memory.

Luckily, the person on the other end wasn’t in Limitless City, and a hearty female voice came through the phone.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Who is this?"

Fang Lan's ears perked up at the sound of the female voice.

"Sister Lu Bing, it’s me, Lu Ran."

"Lu Ran?! Brother Lu Ran, what’s up?" Lu Bing responded, clearly surprised. They had seen each other relatively recently.

"Haha, I need a quick favor. I owe some seniors a large sum of crystal coins, so I’m in urgent need of money. Although I can earn crystal coins by clearing secret realms on Hell by myself, the drop rate for one person is too low. I want to form a team, but I don’t know many fourth-generation beastmasters, so I want to borrow one or two people from Lu Village."

"I will carry the team through Hell-ranked secret realms, and in return, I will have the right to distribute the drops. Don't worry, I won't let my teammates suffer or waste too much of their time and energy. I’ll pay them a share of the drops. Can you help find out if anyone in the village is interested?"

"Are you running a charity event?" Lu Bing asked, puzzled.

"People would pay you to carry them through a secret realm on Hell, but you’re actually going to pay your teammates? Sign me up!" Lu Bing was astounded.

Doesn’t Lu Ran know that most beastmasters are limited to the Normal difficulty? On Hell difficulty, they can’t even handle the mobs! If they can get carried on Hell difficulty to gain some experience, it will be considered a rare opportunity.

A newbie beastmaster who can beat a secret realm on Hell is rare, to say the least. Even if some large guilds wanted to challenge Hell-difficulty secret realms, they would need the cooperation of multiple people.

"Based on what you’re telling me, people from the village will be lining up to join."

"No, we don't need that many people," Lu Ran said. "It's good that you’re willing to join. I’ll contact you when I’m ready to go."

"Okay, no problem." Lu Bing readily agreed.

Lu Ran looked at Fang Lan.

Looks like we have a full roster.

Pedestrian A, Five Poisons Saintess, and two substitutes who could be chosen from Pig Farmer and the villagers of Lu Village. The personnel for Lu Ran's secret realm team was tentatively set.

"Alright, then I will go and tell Xiao Wu, Ding Ding, and the others. Don’t worry, the beastmasters from our village won’t hold you back!" Lu Bing assured him, fearing that Lu Ran wouldn’t bring them along.

Lu Ran smiled in confidence. The most common hunting dogs in Lu Village were mastiffs [1]. As the saying went, a mastiff could fight three tigers, three mastiffs would sink an aircraft carrier, five mastiffs could fight a god, and ten mastiffs could take over the world. This kind of dog was much stronger than the pet dogs from the city.

Lu Village was fierce. Now that Lu Ran would lead a team to clear secret realms, the overall strength of the village would improve even faster!

1. https://preview.redd.it/5h3lhai0mwz51.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=553a3f63d09b9c19981633c546f9ef61a6b3a7aa ☜