What really helped Captain Doofus turn a new leaf and dedicate itself to rigorous training was actually the demon cat.
Once Lu Ran and Captain Doofus formed a contract and entered Limitless City, Captain Doofus’ fighting spirit was fully unleashed. However, when it went toe to toe with the demon cats in their first secret realm, Captain Doofus realized that brute strength was nothing. It was only able to come out victorious thanks to the Divine Deer Pendant!
Although training sucked, it helped it defeat various opponents!
Just like that, several days quickly passed. After the preliminaries, Lu Ran was notified that he was a seeded contestant and was automatically admitted into the top 100. This didn’t actually matter that much to Lu Ran, though.
After several days of training, he finally had some confidence in roasting the Dragon King Bird.
"Are you sure you can do this? You don’t want to practice a little longer?" Manager Ying pestered with anxiety as it got closer to mealtime.
"It's OK. I’m pretty sure that it’ll be fine. I've been grilling for the past few days to the point that it feels like my head is full of smoke.”
Lu Ran didn’t think that he could’ve survived the heat from all that grilling if not for the Blizzard Culinary Intent.
Once he was done comforting Manger Ying, he conjured a flame using Flame Spirit.
The Flame Spirit skill had two key benefits. First, it had a large range of applications, and second, it aided in the improvement of cooking and forging skills.
A fire made using Flame Spirit could sense the optimal temperature for ingredients and minerals to a certain extent, which made cooking and forging a lot easier.
Emperor Yan Sizhen was worthy of his title as the ancestor of cooking and forging. This skill was created specifically for those two born for those two professions.
Lately, Lu Ran focused on controlling rapid temperature changes, trying to separate the Flame Dragon Intent back into its separate components: Flame and Dragon Intent.
Lu Ran observed that it was a bit difficult for Sudden Death King to fully comprehend the Flame Dragon Intent. As such, he wanted to ease it in with basic Dragon Intent.
"Alright, let's try it out on one piece first."
Manager Ying finally took out a palm-sized orange slice of Dragon King Bird meat. The meat was still extremely fresh, and must have been specially preserved in something on par with the Soul-Converting Pot.
Under Manager Ying's control, the slice of meat floated in the air as Lu Ran reached out his hand to start a fire. Together, they began to roast the Treasure-grade meat.
Juices collected on that slice of meat, making it seem all the more tempting and delectable.
There was also the mouthwatering aroma that began to linger in the air. It was faint yet it permeated in the surroundings.
It was mind-blowingly mouthwatering!
Manager Ying was shocked. It erected a barrier to help Lu Ran concentrate, but the aroma from Dragon Bird meat actually formed an aerial phenomenon.
The smoke turned into a dragon and ascended beyond the barrier without facing any resistance.
Manager Ying wasn’t worried since there wasn’t anyone of notable power in the city at the moment. It looked at Lu Ran, who was sweating profusely, with a gleam in its eye.
Roasting Treasure ingredients with the Flame Spirit skill exerted great pressure on Le Ran. In order to extract as much flavor as possible, Lu Ran had to go through eleven temperature changes in just a single minute.
During this process, Lu Ran's brain felt like it was getting fried and his nerves were strung tight. While Lu Ran and Manager Ying were focused on the meat cooking in front of them, they didn’t notice that the transcendent creatures in Green Sea were on the verge of revolting!
On Emerald Mountain, a Fire-attribute snake’s head suddenly perked up as it gazed into the distance, and caught a whiff of a certain aroma. It fell into a trance, and envisioned itself evolving into a dragon and dominated the nine heavens.
A treasure has appeared!
It began to drool with its tongue hanging out of its mouth.
On a frost-tea tree, an Ice-attribute bird that looked like a crystalline phoenix was also enraptured by the aroma. It looked toward the distant horizon as its blood boiled. Its instincts told it that an opportunity of evolution has come.
All around Green Sea City, any creature above level 10 sensed the incredible fragrance wafting through the air and charged towards the source.
"Dark Crow Legion! A treasure has appeared and all members are to assemble immediately!" Dark Crow commanded as it rapidly soared through the air.
"Notify the other six generals! Such a treasure must be presented to the king!"
When the hoard of creatures arrived, they found their paths blocked by a barrier, and they couldn’t even see what was inside.
"Damn it!" Dark Crow attacked the barrier with its wings.
Inside the barrier, a golden piece of meat was glittering like a gem as it floated in the air, basking in its juice.
It was so exquisite, as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world. When they breathed in its fragrance, Manager Ying and Lu Ran visualized a creature undergoing evolution.
It was a giant bird with the wings of a dragon that exceeded the limits of a Transcendent species and set out on the path of becoming an Overlord of the skies.
The pair was completely captivated.
Manager Ying’s mouth couldn't stop watering.
"Half a piece! You promised me half a piece!" Lu Ran's eyes turn into meat slices.
Seeing Lu Ran's greedy expression, Manager Ying curled its lips in disdain and said, "I’ll give you the whole piece. You should try some too. Taste it to see if it’s missing anything. I want you to roast the other nine pieces even better!"
Lu Ran regretted asking as soon as he spoke. He slapped himself to prevent any more stupid questions from popping out. He took out the kitchen knife, and split the meat into three pieces, before summoning both of his familiars.
He and Captain Doofus each took a quarter piece and the rest went to Sudden Death King. The three of them couldn’t wait to experience the heavenly bliss that was Treasure-grade food.
The Dragon King Bird meat finally entered their mouths, it burst with flavor. Lu Ran could only describe it as nirvanic. The taste simply couldn’t be put into words. Now that he had the privilege of tasting this piece of meat, he could’ve died that instant without a single regret.
It was so great that Captain Doofus fell over and began to roll on the ground. It felt as if its soul left its body.
It was actually a bit of a waste of food for those to eat something so precious. For them, it only served to sate their stomachs, and they couldn’t enjoy its benefits to the fullest.
Sudden Death King was the real winner here. Upon eating the meat, its entire body froze, and a burning sensation radiated from its back as if something was about to burst out of it!
Sudden Death King suddenly felt like it was melding with the sky, as if it had grown wings and was soaring through the clouds.
Unfortunately, it didn't actually sprout wings, but meat managed to stimulate the power that accumulated inside its body from all the dragon food it had been eating. Sudden Death King started to tremble as if it was about to explode!
A power more intense than a volcano erupted from its body. It was extremely afraid and felt that its body was about to break apart.
However, what Sudden Death didn't know was that it had finally achieved something that was previously impossible.
Sudden Death King appeared to have fused with a new trait from eating the Dragon Bird Meat. A shadow over ten-meters tall emerged from its body and enveloped it.
This was different from the first time it fused with a trait. Last time, it was just a phantom formed from energy and appeared translucent. This time, the phantom became increasingly substantive, and it didn’t look like Sudden Death King either.
On the contrary, it looked vividly like a black dragon covered in red lightning scales. The phantom didn’t look like just any dragon. It was one with wings spread out behind it like one would see depicted in mythology.
It was the perfect union between the pinnacle of evolution and augmentation.
At the same time, Sudden Death Kings contract cards underwent changes as well.
[Skill: Lightning Shield, Discharge, Lightning Dragon Armor (Dragon Intent Formation: temporarily imbues energy with draconic powers.)]