Beastmaster King-Chapter 168 - The Golden Era (Part 2)

And so, a few more days passed. In Xia’s Limitless City #7, Captain Doofus remained firmly in the number one spot on the Heavenly Familiar Ranking.

As for the second spot, it no longer belonged to Dean Qin. He had quickly cultivated his familiar to level 30, allowing it to evolve into a King Species. He didn’t want to keep dealing with everyone’s discussions every day.

Meanwhile, Sudden Death King, whose role in every Legendary Secret Realm was to get beaten up, made little progress. Even though it had improved, its ranking hadn’t moved and remained at tenth place. At least it hadn’t been pushed off the list.

With familiars ranked first and tenth, Lu Ran earned a massive reward of over a million crystal coins.

As usual, Lu Ran’s mood remained calm. After all, this amount of money could barely buy a slice of Dragon King Bird Meat.

Having encountered so many Treasure-grade resources, Lu Ran, now a Dragon Chef, couldn’t possibly still react like a beginner. Nevertheless, both familiars on the list meant Lu Ran had essentially reached resource freedom for Rare resources.

However, Lu Ran made a silly mistake during this time. He packed his schedule so tightly that he forgot to take Sudden Death King to other Limitless Cities to improve its ranking.

This oversight meant that it remained in Limitless City #7’s top 10 rather than potentially rising to 8th or 9th in another city, costing Lu Ran significant crystal coins.

Having learned his lesson, Lu Ran swore not to repeat the mistake next time. Of course, at the moment, Lu Ran wasn’t particularly concerned with the Heavenly Familiar Ranking.

What truly caught his attention was that, during this period, other nations’ fourth-generation beastmasters had also begun clearing Legendary Secret Realms.

[Congratulations to level 1 beastmasters Jialan, Jiana, and Manasa for conquering the level 1 Legendary Secret Realm, Hydra Island, and unlocking the path to Legendary.]

[Congratulations to level 1 beastmasters Princess of Light, Knight of Glory, Knight of Moonlight, and Knight of Sunlight for conquering the level 1 Legendary Secret Realm, Dark Castle, and unlocking the path to legend.]

While Lu Ran was busy extracting boss blood, the international scene erupted again. On the same day, two teams successfully conquered level 1 Legendary Secret Realms. This achievement caused far greater waves than when second or third-generation beastmasters did the same.

After all, the fourth generation currently made up the majority of beastmasters. Xia’s forums exploded with discussions. Before long, the identities of the teams’ members were uncovered!

[Holy shit! Those guys from Ahsan Nation already have fourth-generation beastmasters clearing Legendary Secret Realms? That’s insane!]

[Don’t underestimate Ahsan Nation. After the spiritual energy revival, they have the largest number of people with special abilities. Jialan and Jiana are twin siblings with special abilities.]

[Plus, they have far more ferocious beasts than we do...]

[That person using the name of their local snake deity as his ID isn’t simple either! He’s from the Snake God Tribe. Their tribe specializes in raising snakes, with first, second, and third-generation beastmasters in the family. Clearing Hydra Island is basically their specialty!]

[Their team composition is flawless!]

...

[What about the other team? What’s with those matching IDs?]

[How about using your brains? Who else would have the right to warrant three knights as bodyguards?]

[Wait... Is she really a princess?]

[Confirmed. One of her familiars is an elemental lifeform and an Intermediate-King Species. According to my sources, when one of their first-generation beastmasters entered an ascension realm alongside one of ours, that realm rewarded unique familiar eggs.

“Their egg clearly hatched earlier and was contracted to a fourth-generation beastmaster. Unfortunately, our first-generation beastmaster’s contract slots were already full...]

[When will our fourth generation clear a Legendary Secret Realm? What is Pedestrian A up to these days? Is he just busy learning forging and cooking...?]

[Didn’t Pedestrian A challenge a Legendary Secret Realm before? He failed miserably... Honestly, there’s no need for him to challenge it. As the only Dragon Chef, he doesn’t lack resources. If I were him, I wouldn’t waste my energy.]

The forums buzzed with endless speculation, making Xia’s beastmasters aware that the world was teeming with powerful fourth-generation talents.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex Squad and Dragon Chef Lu Ran were only part of a larger picture. Beyond them, many other formidable figures were rising among the fourth generation.

...

[Congratulations to level 1 beastmasters Free Water Bloom, Invincible Megalodon, Don’t Hit Me I Surrender, and A Bottle of Lafite for conquering the level 1 Legendary Secret Realm, Forbidden Sea, and unlocking the path to Legendary.]

A few days later, as global discussions continued, another nation’s fourth-generation team conquered a Legendary Secret Realm. Compared to first, second, and third-generation achievements, the fourth generation’s progress was particularly explosive.

The first generation still lacked a single record of clearing Legendary Secret Realms. The second and third generations each had only one team on record.

Yet in a short span, the fourth generation had already produced three teams, comprising a total of eleven beastmasters, who had cleared Legendary Secret Realms.

This success was partly because the level 1 Legendary Secret Realms’ bosses were only Superior-King Species, not Overlord Species. Nevertheless, this development led global media to proclaim that a golden era for the beastmaster field had truly begun.

[The Rise of the Fourth Generation Beastmasters: Ushering in the True Golden Era of the Beastmaster Era!]

[Prediction! The Next Ten Years Will Be Dominated by the Golden Generation of Fourth-Generation Beastmasters!]

As the talented fourth generations from various countries began to shine in Legendary Secret Realms, netizens on the international forums, who initially thought the second and third generations from Xia were lacking but still considered the fourth generation impressive, had more to say.

“Turns out Xia’s fourth-generation beastmasters aren’t as strong as we thought. Other than Lu Ran, the rest of them can’t even form a team to clear a Legendary Secret Realm.”

“The world has so many talented fourth-generation beastmasters. There will likely be even more in the coming days. I can’t believe I thought Lu Ran was the strongest of the fourth generation. Guess I was wrong.”

“I wonder who will clear a Legendary Secret Realm first. A fourth-generation team from Xia, or those from the Eagle Federation and Snow Federation...”

As the global competition over Legendary Secret Realms heated up, the pressure on Xia’s second and third generations intensified. The fourth generation faced mounting pressure as well.

Xia’s top fourth-generation talents hadn’t cleared a Legendary Secret Realm yet because they were waiting on Lu Ran. They feared that if they attempted to clear one and Lu Ran beat them to it, all their efforts would be wasted.

It made more sense to wait until Lu Ran conquered the first one, then aim for second place. But now, the big question was...

What on earth is Lu Ran doing? Hasn’t he found suitable teammates yet?

Once again, Pluto, Youxiong Anlin, and Du Yuan volunteered themselves as teammates, but Lu Ran turned them all down, claiming he already had a teammate: Fang Lan.

Unfazed by public speculation, Lu Ran brushed off the chatter.

You’ve got to be joking. I’ve worked so hard to single-handedly clear this, so why would I let you tag along?

Not only were fourth-generation beastmasters curious about Lu Ran’s progress, but the first three generations also paid close attention to him. Even Master Lin, who had been indifferent thus far, finally broke his silence.

“Lu Ran, I’ve got a class today, so I won’t be dropping by to teach you. By the way, how’s your Legendary Secret Realm progress coming along?”

Master Lin had never previously cared about Lu Ran’s secret realm progress as this wasn’t his area of expertise. But with media reports and growing online speculation, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Ah... it’s going alright.”

“Why do you sound so down? Are you feeling pressured?” Master Lin, now in his caring uncle mode, asked with concern.

“Not really. It’s just that I’ve been using the Frosty Sky Greatsword to extract Diamond Dragon Blood for the past half-month, and that thing’s defense is ridiculous. This morning, my Frosty Sky Greatsword finally shattered...”

To say Master Lin was shocked was an understatement.

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“Fucking hell.”

He couldn’t hold back his curse.

You’re still extracting blood? What the hell have you been doing for half a month?!

“How bad is the damage? Want me to repair it for you, or do you want to handle it yourself?”

“It’s in pretty bad shape. It’s served its purpose though... huh?”

Master Lin suddenly heard Lu Ran’s surprised exclamation.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Hahaha!” Lu Ran’s laughter rang out, confusing Master Lin further.

Shit, is he finally losing it?

“Out with the old, in with the new! I’ve drawn enough Dragon Blood, and the Frosty Sky Greatsword has done its job. It’s time to let it go,” Lu Ran said cheerfully.

“Master Lin, I’ll talk to you later. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Master Lin was dumbfounded. After hanging up, Lu Ran stared at the Spirit-Converting Pot in surprise. Moments earlier, the pot had started vibrating, signaling that the Longleaf Swordgrass inside had fully recovered and was brimming with vitality.

Lu Ran had initially considered repairing the Frosty Sky Greatsword, but at this moment, all his focus was on the Longleaf Swordgrass. Excitedly, Lu Ran removed the plant from the Spirit-Converting Pot, placing it gently on the ground.

As expected, without soil, the Longleaf Swordgrass would soon start to wilt again. But that didn’t matter. Lu Ran now had the Sword-Nurturing Pot, which provided a better growth environment than any soil. Once he used the Longleaf Swordgrass, he could return it to the pot, where it would remain alive and healthy.

If only the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer could heal plants as well. Unfortunately, its healing mechanism only worked on animals by extracting essence from plants. Otherwise, the Longleaf Swordgrass would never have the chance to wilt.

“Captain Doofus!!!” Lu Ran shouted excitedly.

Golden Era, you say? Once Captain Doofus finishes studying Dragon-Slaying Sword Intent, and I cook the Dragon King Bird Meat and finalize my preparations, I’ll enter the secret realm in a few days and crush this so-called era!