Anyone who had a contract card could establish a mental link with it, allowing them to use it telepathically. This was the crux of capturing familiars!
There were three steps to contracting a familiar. First, a beastmaster would have to hold their card. They would then picture their target in their mind and convey their desire to form a contract with it. Lastly, they had to hold the contract card close to their target.
Once the contract card was near the target, it would attempt to capture the creature. If it succeeds, the contract will be complete.
Lu Ran completed those three steps smoothly. Captain Doofus didn’t resist the approaching light since it felt like Lu Ran’s aura. With a confused cry, it turned into a beam of light and got sucked into the card.
At that moment, a roar went off in Lu Ran's mind. A warm and comfortable sensation washed over him, melting away the mental fatigue from using the card.
More importantly, he could feel that the bond between him, the card, and Captain Doofus had grown stronger!
"Amazing..." Lu Ran muttered.
His eyes flashed as he telepathically made the contract card, which he had thrown out, disappear in midair and reappear in his hand. The completion of the contract had truly bound him to the card, which in turn gave him this ability.
A picture of Captain Doofus replaced the original black background of the top half of the card. Right under the image were a few lines about it.
[Attribute: Unawakened]
[Species Rank: Intermediate-Transcendent]
"It’s just like a trading card."
While looking at the image and information on the black card, Lu Ran became even more confused about its origin.
Who invented this thing, and for what purpose?
However, the most pressing matter to Lu Ran was that a countdown had replaced the prompts that he had first seen on the card.
[Beginner Trial Secret Realm Teleportation Countdown: 59 minutes and 59 seconds]
Lu Ran fell silent, but he wasn’t really surprised. This was all within his expectations.
The OP of the post that he had seen earlier had gone through this previously, hadn’t he? Hence, Lu Ran was already expecting a beginner trial to begin once he had completed the beginner mission.
"Come out, Captain Doofus."
Summoned out of the card, Captain Doofus howled. "Awooo!"
A large summoning circle appeared on the floor, and the light from the array burst out. As it dissipated, Doofus appeared, now a size bigger than before.
Dumbfounded by this whole ordeal, Doofus frantically ran around in circles in an attempt to get a good look at its enlarged self. The changes to its body confused it a little.
Doofus could feel that it had grown stronger and that its vision, nose, and other senses had heightened. More importantly, its appetite had also increased.
After spinning around two more times, its stomach growled. Famished, it shot Lu Ran a pitiful look.
"Let's eat. We still have plenty of time," Lu Ran said.
Since they were about to enter a dangerous place, Lu Ran had to let Doofus eat and drink its fill first. Hence, he threw together some pig trotters, minced meat, salad, and soup. He tried to keep everything relatively simple, mainly because there wasn’t much time to cook anything too fancy.
Captain Doofus let out an excited bark before burying its head in the food bowl.
Lu Ran watched Captain Doofus scarf down his food without a break. The medium-sized dog was much bigger now. No wonder that familiar cat from before was so big.
When a beastmaster’s familiar evolved, it became significantly stronger!
"I feel more powerful too. It doesn’t look like I got any taller, though."
While Captain Doofus was eating, Lu Ran measured his weight and height. He then went to his room, took out a one-handed sword, and swung it a few times to get used to it.
Since his parents were renowned zoologists, Lu Ran's family was quite well off. In addition to inspiring his interest in various animals, his superior family background allowed him to explore various other hobbies.
For example, like most teenagers, Lu Ran was interested in swords and guns, and his parents were very supportive of his interest. When Lu Ran was a child, he went to a well-known kendo dojo to study swordsmanship. Once during the holidays, he even went to Hawaii with his father and learned how to shoot.
Though useless before, his hobbies had become a lot more practical. Since he was about to be teleported to the Trial Secret Realm, he’d at least try to bring a weapon for self-defense.
Back when Captain Doofus was still extremely aggressive, Lu Ran was sure that he could easily subdue it with a weapon in hand.
But now, due to the contract’s enhancement, he could vaguely feel that Captain Doofus' combat power exceeded an ordinary dog’s. Having evolved into a superior species, its combat power was now on par with lions and tigers.
In comparison, although Lu Ran had also gotten a boost in strength, it wasn’t as drastic as the changes to his familiar. The main ability he acquired was better control over Captain Doofus.
However, since he couldn’t entirely rely on his familiar, he needed to have a handy weapon to protect himself with. Unfortunately, he didn't know if he could teleport a weapon with him.
Lu Ran put down his custom-made sword and took out an item from a drawer. "I’ll take this with me too."
It was an old, white pendant in the shape of a small horn. It was made from a cracked deer antler and tied to a string.
Since it was supposedly a family heirloom passed down from generation to generation from his mother’s side of the family, Lu Ran attached a lot of sentimental value to it.
Thinking about his parents made Lu Ran feel a bit downcast. They had died while researching a previously undiscovered species abroad and their remains were never found. All they had left behind was a recording of their screams as they were attacked.
Deep down, Lu Ran never believed his parents were dead. He had always wanted to go to the jungle to personally search for them.
Hence, when Fang Lan heard Lu Ran say that he was interested in hunting, she immediately thought that Lu Ran was considering going to the jungle again. However, As Lu Ran had mentioned before, if he really wanted to go to such a dangerous place, how could he rely on a dog like Captain Doofus and just walk to his own death? It would be much easier for him to spend some money and hire a team of specialists.
By the time Lu Ran returned to the living room with the antler pendant and steel sword, Captain Doofus had already finished the bowl of food and was lazily sprawled out on the floor.
When it saw Lu Ran come out, it stood up, panting and smiling.
Lu Ran's expression sank.
Doofus had just told him that the feeling earlier was amazing and wanted him to do it again! It seemed that it wanted to become stronger.
"You’re way too greedy! I can’t do that again, but you will soon be able to fight to your heart’s content. If you can defeat your opponents and come back alive, you might become stronger."
Though stunned at first, Captain Doofus’ expression soon turned serious. It walked a few steps, put on the sunglasses that were under the coffee table and began to show its arrogant side.