“Finally, it’s time to settle the score.”
In his private room, Lu Ran stretched lazily, having waited what felt like forever. He was currently ranked first on the Heavenly Familiar Ranking of Limitless City #3, undoubtedly still holding that position. Second place was occupied by Pluto.
After confirming that Lu Ran would head to Limitless City #5, Pluto had felt relieved and made his way there. However, shortly after reaching the top of the rankings, White Tiger Sis from that city surged ahead, directly knocking Pluto down to second place again.
He struggled for a long time but couldn’t reclaim the top spot. It must have been frustrating for him. After circling back and forth, he returned to his home base, focusing on maintaining harmony between the two cities.
Among the top ten, only the identity of Pedestrian A remained somewhat mysterious, as the other nine were not exactly secrets. Pluto, for example, was from one of the four major guilds in Limitless City #3, the Galaxy Guild.
In tenth place was Fang Lan, a freelancer from Green Sea City, known for her background in veterinary medicine and as a famous familiar blogger. She was the only beastmaster in the top ranks of Limitless City #3 whose familiar hadn’t undergone trait fusion.
This, of course, was largely because she controlled a poison-type territory in Green Sea, using abundant resources from the wilderness to continually strengthen her familiar.
The remaining members of the top ten were from the four major guilds. The guilds in Limitless City #3—Galaxy, Dragon Palace, Circus, and Mountain River—each claimed one spot in the top ten. The other guilds, lacking the influence of these four, couldn’t attract enough talent or train fourth-generation beastmasters strong enough to make the list.
The rest of the top ten were individuals who had joined the government’s Secret Realm Raid Team as probationary members. These were talents with ties to animals even before they became beastmasters.
The main purpose of the Secret Realm Raid Team was to conquer newly-appeared, unexplored secret realms and to tackle the highest-level secret realms, pushing the limits of Limitless City.
Since the information about these realms was largely unknown, they were extremely dangerous. As a result, the Secret Realm Raid Team suffered a high casualty rate, necessitating a constant influx of new members.
Currently, of the 70 individuals on the Heavenly Familiar Ranking across the seven Limitless Cities in Xia, at least half were probationary members of the Secret Realm Raid Team.
For these exceptional fourth-generation beastmasters, the government had long established a training system that allowed them to team up and hone their skills within the realms.
Had Lu Ran and Fang Lan not met Gu Qingyi, they likely would have joined the Raid Team, given their strength. However, with a top-tier figure like Gu Qingyi guiding them, their options for the future had expanded significantly.
Limitless City #3, Beastmaster Square.
The system was broadcasting the results of the various rankings.
Countless people cast envious glances at Pedestrian A, the top-ranking beastmaster on the Heavenly Familiar Ranking. They were all fourth-generation rookies, so why was he so exceptional?
"Of course, Pedestrian A still took first place in the end. No surprises, no suspense."
"That's right, his swordsdog skill is explosive, even across all seven Limitless Cities."
"It’s just that Pedestrian A is so mysterious. Hasn’t he even been to the arena?"
"Plus, it seems he hasn’t joined a guild or the Raid Team. A lone wolf? That’s terrifying."
"I wonder if he’ll apply to Beastmaster University. I heard there's a competition among freshmen there! Curious if he'll cross paths with other top-ranked players from different cities!"
These kinds of discussions were always popular among fourth-generation beastmasters. Meanwhile...
[Congratulations on defending the top position on the Heavenly Familiar Ranking.] [Reward distribution: 100,000 Crystal Coins.]
Lu Ran froze for a moment, and upon hearing the reward for being first on the Heavenly Familiar Ranking, his body shook.
He quickly checked his storage. Sure enough, his balance had jumped from 29,878 to 129,878. How could it be this much!? Lu Ran was stunned. Originally, he thought twenty or thirty thousand coins would be a good reward. He had even prepared himself for ten thousand crystal coins, thinking that wouldn't be too bad.
After all, the Heavenly Familiar Ranking was settled monthly, so giving too much wouldn't be realistic. However, seeing a reward of 100,000 crystal coins all at once, Lu Ran was ecstatic. If I stay in first place for a year, wouldn’t I make a million in a year?
Just this morning, Lu Ran had been grinding materials in a secret realm. But now, he finally understood what it felt like to have money. 130,000! Lu Ran's eyes sparkled.
He quickly messaged Pluto.
[Pedestrian A: How much do you have in crystal coins?]
There was a brief pause before the reply came.
So, even second place gets 80,000...
Excellent. Once I make a contract with Sudden Death King and raise it to second place, I'll have an income of 180,000 per month!
It was a good thing Pluto didn’t know what Lu Ran was thinking. Otherwise, he’d curse himself for foolishly replying to Lu Ran. This guy was so sly.
[Pedestrian A: How about your brother? Ask him.]
Lu Ran remembered that the Heavenly Familiar Ranking was divided into four rankings. While 100,000 or even a million crystal coins might be a fortune for rookie beastmasters, enabling them to rise quickly and accelerate their growth, it was probably insignificant for high-level beastmasters.
He speculated that the rewards for the Champion Familiar Ranking and King Familiar Ranking were likely higher!
[Pluto: He’s offline.]
[Pedestrian A: Alright then..]
After finishing their conversation, Lu Ran shrugged. Either way, with this many crystal coins, he was determined to contract Sudden Death King as soon as possible. With two familiars on the ranking, he could maximize his rewards. Additionally, he could use the Heavenly Familiar Ranking to assess the potential of different familiars on his team.
This ranking is amazing, Lu Ran thought. Initially, he’d resisted it, but now he found it too good to ignore. He took another look at his storage.
Crystal Coin Balance: 129,878
Equipment: Divine Deer Necklace (Epic), Frosty Sky Greatsword (Rare), Wind Slashing Sword (Advanced), Speed Crossbow (Advanced), Night Coat (Advanced)
Resources: Dog Food x66 (Advanced), Dog Food x10 (Rare), Iced Honey Tea x15, Lightning Amplifying Skill Card, Fire Amplifying Skill Card x2, Upgrade Card x11, Trait Crystal (Red Lightning), Blazing Fruit x14, Flame Star Grass x21, Fire Scale x3, Lava Heart x2.
Lu Ran hadn’t acquired much new equipment, still using his Speed Crossbow and Night Coat from before he tackled the Abandoned Laboratory. As for resources, he’d sold his gains from secret realms the same day he returned.
He had accumulated quite a few crystal coins over this period, but Captain Doofus’s rare dog food was especially pricey. Lu Ran had only bought a half-month’s supply, and now his crystal coins were almost depleted again.
Though repaying debts was important, feeding Captain Doofus was also essential. According to a second-generation beastmaster, familiars still needed proper nutrition during bottleneck phases at levels 10, 20, and 30.
The nutrition wouldn’t be wasted and would instead hide within their bodies as potential, causing them to jump multiple levels upon breakthrough. So, it was best not to neglect their nutrition during these temporary bottlenecks.
Hoping to level up Captain Doofus quickly, Lu Ran had invested heavily in upgrading his dog food, mixing rare beast meat and poultry with advanced dog food.
With these funds, Lu Ran had gradually saved enough for the Frosty Sky Greatsword. He was really putting in the effort.
“Now that I have money, I’ll sell my skill cards and other resources I just obtained. My crystal coins should exceed 150,000 in no time. After repaying Master Lin’s debt, I’ll still have over 100,000 crystal coins. Before entering the ascension realm, I can use this money to strengthen myself properly.”
Lu Ran was about to head out to sell his beastmaster skills when he noticed he now had over ten upgrade cards. He paused, then took out Captain Doofus’s contract card.
Previously, he had used upgrade cards from the Abandoned Laboratory to upgrade the iron-black contract card to a silver contract card. Now that he had ten more cards, he could finally upgrade the silver contract card to a gold contract card.
[Do you wish to use upgrade cards x10 to upgrade the contract card?]
As Lu Ran placed the ten upgrade cards onto Captain Doofus’s contract card, the Limitless City system notification popped up.
Lu Ran selected it. Soon, a glow appeared, and the eleven cards fused together. In an instant, the silver-bordered contract card turned into a black-faced card with golden edges.
[Upgrade Successful. Contract Card Space Expanded.]
[New Special Function Added: Slow Regeneration.]
“Looks like it really is a healing ability...”
Better than nothing, I guess.
Lu Ran’s reaction to the newly added feature on the upgraded contract card was calm.
The last upgrade had added a stamina recovery function to the card, but the rate was as slow as eating a few Wood Scale Fruits. While it wasn’t useless, it was certainly limited in use.
The new Slow Regeneration sounded like a rare healing ability, but its effect was roughly equivalent to an Advanced Healing Salve sold within Limitless City.
To Lu Ran, who owned the Divine Deer Pendant, it was barely useful. However, the contract card would still need to be upgraded gradually, and its next feature, Growth Acceleration, would be far more beneficial. Though he’d need to collect a hundred cards for that, which was no small feat.
Moreover, after obtaining a contract card for Sudden Death King, he’d need to upgrade that as well. If he wasn’t buying upgrades and relied solely on drops, it would take an eternity.
“Well, it’s still okay. If another public realm situation arises and Captain Doofus doesn’t have time to treat his teeth, at least he can reduce the pain while in the card. He should be grateful for my generosity in upgrading it.”
Afterward, Lu Ran left and quickly arrived at a shop, knowing the route well. There, he sold three skill cards along with the materials he’d obtained from Lava Lake.
The sale earned him around 56,000 crystal coins, bringing his total crystal coin balance to 185,878. He was now close to breaking the 200,000 mark.
With that amount, paying off Master Lin’s debt was no problem, though he wasn’t sure if he could repay Doctor Gu’s debt just yet.
Lu Ran had his doubts. After all, the Dokarona Flower was a rare drop from a level 50 King Species Boss. Only first-generation legends could access such resources, so it must have considerable value.
At the smithy, Master Lin looked up as Lu Ran entered. “You’re here,” he remarked, as if he had known Lu Ran would be coming. He remained unfazed by the entrance.
“Since today is the day for settling the Heavenly Familiar Ranking, I figured you’d come to repay your debt. Here, your resources.”
Master Lin placed the Dragon Blood Crystal on the counter, then added with a smile, “Kid, interested in upgrading your Frosty Sky Greatsword? Last time, since you were short on funds, I only included one rare mineral. This sword is hardly at the pinnacle of rare quality.”
“No thanks,” Lu Ran replied, rolling his eyes. He stepped forward, placed his hand on the counter, and slapped down the payment.
“I finally managed to save up some money, so I’ll pass. The Frosty Sky Greatsword is sufficient for now.”
Although upgrading the Frosty Sky Greatsword might turn it into a top-tier rare weapon, potentially raising Captain Doofus’s species level to a Superior-grade Champion Species and eliminating its weaknesses, a fully upgraded rare item would likely cost over 100,000 crystal coins, possibly reaching a million. Lu Ran wasn’t eager to incur more debt.
“Haha, all right then. It’s good to hold onto some crystal coins, as you’ll find plenty of uses for them when you advance,” Master Lin chuckled.
Now debt-free, Lu Ran waved goodbye and took the Dragon Blood Crystal. He then messaged Lu Bing and a few others, letting them know he’d be skipping secret realm activities that afternoon.
It’s been a while since I checked out the real world.
He planned to return to Green Sea to see how things were there. At the same time, he’d use the Red Lightning Trait Crystal and Dragon Blood Crystal to enhance Sudden Death King.
He wondered, after this enhancement, whether Sudden Death King would surpass Captain Doofus in strength—or rather, how much closer it would get.
According to Fang Lan, Lightning Dragon had recently been strutting around Green Sea City arrogantly, striking poses like One Ear, maintaining the composure of Mystic Turtle, adopting the resource-hungry nature of Fire Snake, and spouting cheeky phrases like Dark Crow, having learned all sorts of nonsense.