Beastmaster King

"As expected, I still had to rely on mechanical armored evolution..."

Baby Cloud had completed its evolution, and just as Lu Ran had judged, the result aligned with his expectations. Without utilizing the Mechanical attribute to fuse attributes, a second-stage evolution left it just shy of the QuasiLegendary rank. Of course, Lu Ran felt that it wasn't lacking by much.

[Evolution Talent: Nine-Colored Tails (Each tail represents an attribute, allowing it to simultaneously manipulate all nine of its own elemental powers without causing energy conflict.)]

Baby Cloud's evolution talent enhanced its multi-attribute control, enabling it to perfectly wield the nine attributes. When combined with its ability to temporarily fuse the nine attributes, a multiplied and compressed nine-elemental energy bomb thrown out would leave its enemies reeling.

Although it was not a true Quasi-Legendary, the destructive power of its nine-attribute fusion skills would likely give even QuasiLegendaries a headache. In terms of destructive capability, it probably surpassed many Quasi-Legendaries.

And when Baby Cloud temporarily evolved into the mechanical attribute using the mechanical castle, achieving full elemental integration, Limitless City's evaluation proved spot-on. It was the strongest destructive power under Legendary.

The reason was simple. Even with this temporary mechanical evolution, Baby Cloud's talent remained as elemental accumulation. The longer the charge time, the stronger the skill's destructive force.

Its fusion skill already dealt absurdly high base damage. Paired with Size Shifting, Elemental Accumulation, and other talents, as long as the charge time was sufficient, it could mass-produce Epic-grade Nature's Wrath bombs capable of injuring Low Legendary beings.

Thus, Limitless City's evaluation had been entirely fair. Overall, Lu Ran felt no regrets about Baby Cloud's evolution, though he also hadn't been met with any great surprises.

Comparing the evolutions of Dark Crow and Baby Cloud, Lu Ran believed that Dark Crow, which had integrated its attributes on its own and awakened a unique type, was still the more powerful one. If the two battled, Lu Ran predicted that Dark Crow would win.

The Mechanical attribute and multi-attribute fusion required extremely precise operation. Against a creature like Dark Crow, whose uncanny voice made anything it said come true, Baby Cloud would be completely countered. It might even explode the moment it tried to blow up Dark Crow, becoming a self-destructing bomb instead.

Overall, it had some flaws. It wasn't as perfect as Dark Crow, but Lu Ran still felt satisfied and planned to mobilize the wisdom of all Stellar Moon powerhouses to help him uncover more weaknesses in Baby Cloud.

At the same time, voluntarily leaking this information would apply direct pressure to opponents and potentially cause them to make strategic errors in the World War. It would be killing two birds with one stone.

Moreover, there were no loopholes. Lu Ran's method of having other trial participants pass the message had even fooled Blue Planet's native beastmasters. Now, everyone believed that Lu Ran's ace was this elemental-mechanical creature.

Returning from the Mechanical Era, seemingly massacring Mythical secret realms and the Road to Kingship through technological means, combining the Mechanical attribute and elements to instantly defeat the Ten Kings, and finally evolving the first Quasi-Legendary familiar in the world pointed to this elemental-mechanical creature being Lu Ran's ace.

As for Lu Ran's other familiars, they were decent, but were clearly limited to the Overlord rank. There was no way they could surpass this elemental-mechanical familiar. After all, no new evolution secret realms would open before the World War. Without evolution blessings or evolution energy, talents post-evolution would be weaker.

After breaking through to level 5, Lu Ran had barely managed to push one familiar to level 60 and catch the last train to a second-stage evolution secret realm. That alone had been difficult enough. Even if they were beat to death, no one could imagine that Lu Ran's other familiars were individually seeking Legendary beings' blessings for evolution.

Those unaware of Lu Ran's real strength didn't mind, but Dr. Gu and the others, upon hearing his words, felt he was full of mischief.

"He's such a con artist! He just says whatever comes to mind, but I like it," Lin Nian said.

She looked forward to the dumbfounded expressions of Stellar Moon's Legendary beastmasters at the end. Preparing a bunch of tactics to counter the Mechanic attribute and elements, only for Lu Ran to never even summon that familiar. Now that would be amusing.

A Quasi-Legendary is his ace? Impossible. Six-Path Flower would have something to say about that!

Most frustrated was Bai Lu from Stellar Moon. If she hadn't once been Lu Ran's colleague and now his subordinate, she would've returned to Stellar Moon to expose his shameless tricks.

The art of battlefield deception was absolutely vile.

***

"But, it'll still take at least a month for the message to reach the Stellar Moon Federation."

After Lu Ran evolved a QuasiLegendary familiar, the Ten Kings of other nations didn't even want to speak. One by one, they left the secret realm with darkened expressions. They probably wouldn't speak to Lu Ran again until they had nurtured a QuasiLegendary themselves.

They had watched with their own eyes as Lu Ran rose from the strongest of the fourth generation to surpass the third, the second, and even the first generation. Now, among the Ten Kings, none dared claim they could beat Lu Ran. They could already imagine how the news would hail Lu Ran.

After sending their congratulations from afar, Dr. Gu and the others also exited the secret realm to examine their familiars' new forms. They, of course, weren't surprised in the slightest. Lu Ran already had a Legendary familiar, and this also wasn't his first time evolving a QuasiLegendary. One could say Lu Ran had once again silenced the entire evolution realm with his own power.

***

Amazon Rainforest.

In Blue Planet's world of beastmasters, Lu Ran's evolution feats and his declaration to Stellar Moon stirred immense excitement. Meanwhile, Lu Ran had already returned to the empire.

"Hell yeah, hell yeah!"

Though Lu Ran didn't summon them, #18 and the others had seen Baby Cloud's evolution through his eyes. Baby Cloud's success brought great joy. Yet perhaps even Lu Ran and Manager Ying weren't the happiest. The happiest was likely #18.

After returning, #18 emerged from the contract card, alternately standing with arms on its waist or crossed, gazing up at the sky.

"It made me proud! And it even fulfilled the condition for mechanical evolution. Though I didn't expect Baby Cloud to evolve into a cat form."

Lu Ran fell into deep thought.

Was it luck? The work of the Lucky Flower?

"Plip, plip!"

Baby Cloud emerged from the contract card as well, maintaining its Nine-Tailed Cloud Cat form. Its white body and nine radiant tails appeared magnificent.

"Plip, plip!"

Truth be told, Baby Cloud felt shocked too. It had once used Epic resources, like the Kunpeng Feather, to evolve. This time, the Kunpeng Feather remained within its body. However, surprisingly, the Illusory Cat's Eye Gem gifted by Manager Ying had a more dominant effect than the Kunpeng Feather.

"Manager Ying, what exactly did you give Baby Cloud...?" Lu Ran asked.

"Just a crystallized form of my power," Manager Ying's clone replied, appearing as well.

"Your power crystal... Can overpower a Legendary divine beast's Epic resource?" Lu Ran stopped what he was doing and eyed it suspiciously.

"How would I know? Maybe it's just that the power crystal I custom-made for it fits better than the Kunpeng Feather."

"Is that so?" Lu Ran stroked his chin, recalling what the Squirrel God had said.

Manager Ying is definitely no ordinary being.

"Forget it; let's just chalk it up to a blind cat catching a dead mouse."

Manager Ying was baffled.

Excuse me?

To avoid further conflict, #18 decided to interrupt. "Master, master, master. I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Is your dream to become a Mythical Necromancer?"

"Huh?" Lu Ran hesitated before asking, "Who told you that?"

#18 looked at Baby Cloud.

Lu Ran nodded. "I've indeed thought about it. In the Stellar Moon World, the Elemental Era, Beastmaster Era, Divine Tree Era, and Mechanical Era each birthed a Mythical beastmaster, corresponding to the four major life forms.

"However, only the Undead Era lacked a Mythical beastmaster. Since I'm so connected to the Undead attribute, making that my goal isn't bad either. The soul evolution I'm researching is, in a sense, an Undead-attribute skill." Lu Ran smiled.

"I understand!" #18 nodded firmly.

"What are you planning?"

"Previously, both the elemental device and the evolution device were assignments from you. But now, I want to do my own research. I still hope it can help you!"

Lu Ran was stunned. "No need to research specifically for me. Outside your usual duties, feel free to work on things you enjoy. But before that, you'd better finish Sudden Death King's shield, and figure out how to give Captain Doofus' mechanical lightsaber some intelligence."

#18: QvQ

"Alright... Those aren't too hard!"

It turned around. Honestly, once it heard that Lu Ran aimed to pursue the Undead path, it already had an idea. Since Lu Ran planned to tread the Undead route, because of its success with mechanical and elemental research, it would now pursue mechanical and undead research.

Its inspiration came from Six-Path Flower and Limitless City. From its understanding, Six-Path Flower had once died. Its current form was a projection from the river of history. Throughout history, countless powerful beings had died with regrets.

To suit Lu Ran's identity, #18 decided to research a machine capable of summoning the souls of the dead into the world to resurrect them. Normally, after death, the souls of lifeforms from Blue Planet and the Stellar Moon World would dissipate quickly, making it nearly impossible to locate them.

However, there was still Limitless City! It could utilize its power. #18's plan thought process was that, in ascension realms, Limitless City could manifest all lifeforms from a specific era using historical projections. It also enforced two rules. First, you could not bring lifeforms out. Second, if lifeforms died, they became resources that could be taken out.

In other words, the dead and residual souls in those realms could be brought back. In fact, Lu Ran had indeed brought back many beast ingredients from the ascension realms.

Blue Planet and Stellar Moon World have limited talent. Lu Ran wants to build a Beastmaster Empire, but neither place is ideal for recruiting. If that's the case, I'll help him. Once the machine is complete, I'll hunt strong individuals in the ascension realms before dismembering and extracting their souls.

Then, using their genes and residual souls, I'll create artificial humans to revive the dead. It'll be just like undead reincarnation. This way, Lu Ran can have the geniuses of history serve him.

#18 believed that this plan had no issues. An army of the dead returning was a perfect fit for a Mythical Necromancer. Although the technical difficulty would be high, it felt comfort in knowing that there was no time limit. That was what pleased it most.

As Lu Ran walked toward the Amazon Palace, a cold wind blew past, and he shivered.

"Why do I suddenly feel a chill..."

He glanced at #18's innocent smile and figured that it must've been the wind.

***

After that, Lu Ran began assigning new tasks to his familiars. Time was tight. No matter how lively the outside world was, Lu Ran knew things were still unstable. Without at least three Legendary-level combat forces, nothing was stable. Quasi-Legendaries alone wouldn't be enough.

Currently, #18 was working with Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King to design custom mechanical lightsaber and shield kinships. Baby Cloud was partnering with Dark Crow to find a place for an undersea nuclear bomb testing. The Nature's Wrath missile retained full power underwater, and since Baby Cloud inherited that power, it could use it too.

After the test, Dark Crow would begin negotiations with powerful QuasiLegendaries of the sea. Six-Path Flower was continuing to build the Divine Nation. Lu Ran himself was still researching soul evolution.

Life proceeded steadily until Lu Ran sensed the Divine Deer returning to the Amazon from the outside world.

As the Divine Deer returned, Lu Ran and Bai Lu were among the first to greet it, but upon seeing it, they were stunned. This was because the Divine Deer had returned with injuries.

"Lord Divine Deer, you... You're injured?" Bai Lu asked nervously.

Who could have hurt the God of Life? Was the injury sustained on Blue Planet?

The Divine Deer said calmly, "Don't worry about me. I'll recover in time. The matter has been resolved. There's no need for concern, but..."

It turned to look at Bai Lu as its lips twitched. "Why are there signs of national ties swirling around you?"

As her personal mentor, the Divine Deer could sense Bai Lu's state more clearly than anyone. There was no mistaking the mark. Bai Lu's fate had become intertwined with the national fate of Lu Ran's Beastmaster Empire. She had joined the empire and even held a key position.

"I...I..." Bai Lu trembled as she looked wronged.

Lu Ran scratched his head awkwardly.

"Cough, cough.I invited Senior Bai Lu to join the Beastmaster Empire. You know, the more the merrier."

The Divine Deer wanted to kick Lu Ran again.

A divine kin wasn't enough? You had to rope in the messenger, too?

The Divine Deer shook its head. "Forget it. I'll be taking Bai Lu away for a while. Behave yourself, and don't cause trouble."

Lu Ran nodded. "Alright... You're gonna give her somespecialtraining, right?"

The Divine Deer and Bai Lu were taken aback.

Why did that sound so salty?

"I'd help you, too, but you weren't raised by me. Your familiars don't match mine. I have nothing to teach you."

Lu Ran scratched his head. "I know, I know... I'll figure something out. Oh right, Lord Divine Deer, do you know the Void God well?"

"You want to seek the Void God and ask for its guidance?"

Lu Ran nodded. Just by the name, the Void God clearly specialized in the Space attribute. Since Captain Doofus had the Space attribute, even a slight improvement in its domain would help. Even if it didn't work out, making connections with another divine dragon's kin wouldn't hurt.

"I don't know it well. You'd be better off asking the God of Sealing," the Divine Deer said.

That would be the Squirrel God. It was also the kin of the Space Dragon God. It indeed had closer ties to the Void God.

"Still... the Void God and your dog might get along."

"Uh, why?" Lu Ran asked.

"Among the Space Dragon God's three divine kin, the Void God is the warrior. Before becoming Legendary, its species was the void mantis. Mantis organs are structurally similar to human blades. Though it doesn't practice swordsmanship, its combat style likely revolves around slashing and cutting..."