Chapter 492: Chapter 492

Lu Ran took the Dragonbirth Stone handed to him by Manager Ying and fell into deep thought. Setting aside Manager Ying’s intentions, this item was indeed a treasure.

“The rest doesn’t matter. I’ll take this,” Lu Ran said calmly as he looked at Manager Ying.

First, he definitely couldn’t use this on himself because he wasn’t that inhuman. While it was true that Stellar Moon once had many humanoid familiars, such as the sprite species and the angel species, they were already extinct. Not to mention that as far as Lu Ran was concerned, he preferred humans.

As for Manager Ying’s suggestion of using it on Captain Doofus and the others, Lu Ran wasn’t too keen on that either. Whether Captain Doofus and the others had any desire to reproduce was one thing, but even if they did, their tastes would likely lean toward their own kind.

When it came to aesthetics, aside from some outliers, most creatures preferred their own species. He couldn’t force his familiars to do something they disliked just for the sake of producing a top-tier offspring. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N()velFire.net

Moreover, the stronger the familiar, the greater the cost of reproduction, and success wasn’t guaranteed. It was simply too draining. Even if offspring were produced, their potential might not be satisfactory.

This item definitely couldn’t be given to his contracted familiars. To maximize its value, it had to be given to a dedicated breeding machine, specializing in crossbreeding. For example, raising a high-desire female host, like an insect queen, feeding it this stone, and having it focus on laying eggs and producing offspring.

Then, they could continuously introduce high-quality bloodlines for crossbreeding. Gender wouldn’t be an issue either because they could just have Dark Crow cast a sex-change curse. This way, by sacrificing just the insect queen’s energy, they could endlessly obtain high-potential offspring.

Most importantly, even if the first batch of offspring wasn’t ideal, as long as they shared the same maternal bloodline, they could continue breeding among themselves. Over time, they’d eventually produce a monster with Legendary potential.

Of course, to create a perfect breeding chain, the maternal host’s innate potential couldn’t be weak either, and it would require resource investment.

“What a pity. I shouldn’t have let you sell that ant egg from the level 2 Legendary secret realm back then. With some cultivation, it might have had the qualifications to be a host.” Lu Ran sighed.

Manager Ying raised an eyebrow, immediately understanding Lu Ran’s thoughts. “What’s the big deal? If you can’t find a similar species on Blue Planet, Stellar Moon has plenty.”

Lu Ran nodded. “That’s true. Speaking of which, shouldn’t I challenge a level 6 Legendary secret realm now?”

“You should, but first, answer your subordinate’s call. They’ve been trying to reach you through me.” Manager Ying shrugged.

After its reminder, Lu Ran took out his phone and saw that Bai Qi’s brother had been trying to contact him repeatedly. Although he had failed his ascension mission, with Lu Ran’s help, he had traveled across the ancient Blue Planet and found many extinct prehistoric vicious plants.

Lu Ran briefly replied, arranging a time to meet in Limitless City for the exchange, and then said, “Manager Ying, give me intel on level 6 Legendary secret realms suitable for me. I’ll clear one later.”

Before Manager Ying could reply, #18 suddenly flew out of its contract card.

“What is it? Want to improve?” Lu Ran looked at #18 and smiled.

Currently, within the team, only Six-Path Flower and #18 hadn’t undergone their second-stage evolution. Lu Ran guessed that #18 wanted to suggest a secret realm suitable for it.

The selection range for this secret realm was actually quite broad. Before the World War, barring any surprises, Lu Ran’s entire team would reach level 70. From Captain Doofus to Baby Cloud, these familiars that had undergone second-stage evolution would still have one trait slot left.

While this trait slot wouldn’t significantly boost their species rank, it could still enhance their power slightly. Of course, if #18 was particularly eager and there was a suitable secret realm for it, Lu Ran wouldn’t mind clearing it.

#18 clenched its fists, avoiding Manager Ying’s gaze. “I’ve actually been keeping an eye on Blue Planet’s Legendary secret realms. I can directly connect to Blue Planet’s network, so accessing some online intel is quite convenient. I remember there’s a level 6 Legendary secret realm called Blood Castle. I just looked it up, and it seems it hasn’t been cleared yet.”

Lu Ran was stunned. “Blood Castle? You have an idea?”

#18 nodded vigorously. “The boss of the Blood Castle is a Superior-Overlord Vampire Queen. It’s said this Vampire Queen was originally a human girl transformed into a supernatural being by the legendary vampire progenitor. She has the ability to control blood.

“While researching heroic spirit power through Manager Ying’s blood, I always found it difficult to convert its blood. It’s like when I use Six-Path Flower’s sap. I can only create Low-Transcendent elemental sprites.

“I can never maximize the energy utilization. I’m worried that when creating heroic spirits, it’ll be the same. Low energy conversion efficiency will prevent me from manifesting their full power.

“And this is just clone blood. Once Manager Ying reaches Legendary, my control over its blood will likely worsen, causing me to waste even more energy. But if I could master blood-control abilities like the Vampire Queen, perhaps... perhaps I could make significant progress in blood-energy utilization.”

“You little!” Manager Ying’s figure flashed, and it swiped at #18 several times.

#18 hid behind Lu Ran. “Manager Ying, I’m thinking of you! If my blood-energy control improves, I might be able to summon 100 times the heroic spirits with just one vial of blood. But if the conversion rate is poor, even a barrel of blood might only suffice for one summon. Think about it carefully!”

Manager Ying was conflicted.

So, should I thank you?

“Outrageous. Angels represent holiness in Stellar Moon, but you, a little mechanical angel, are researching souls and blood. You’re practically a fallen angel!” Manager Ying scoffed.

Lu Ran nodded. “Alright, alright. But she has a point. Let’s challenge this Vampire Queen, then. Speaking of vampires...”

Lu Ran rubbed his chin.

That vampire my parents nurtured... is it still rotting on the Other Shore Island?

Due to their grudge, Lu Ran had directly informed Xia officials that the vampire would have to work there for 30 years before regaining freedom. Come to think of it, the Other Shore probably still had vampire cultivation methods, though they couldn’t compare to the resources dropped in Legendary secret realms.

“Anything else I need to know?” Lu Ran asked Manager Ying.

“Not rea—Wait, actually, there is one more thing, though it’s not particularly important for you.”

“The old president has been exploring ancient secrets on Blue Planet lately. He dug up a Qilin tomb and obtained many resources. According to him, he might also be able to cultivate a quasi-Legendary familiar. But that’s not the key point. The key is, the old president discovered another strange, sealed ruin. It’s also within Xia."

“This ruin is empty, but based on the old president’s archaeological findings, there are signs of recent activity inside. So he suspects that a prehistoric lifeform revived and escaped from this ancient ruin. However, after investigating, Xia found no trace of this creature.”

“I see...” Lu Ran nodded, unsurprised.

With the appearance of the Flame Phoenix ruin, nations on Blue Planet now knew that its ancient history was far from simple. Now that their group had personally visited ancient Blue Planet, it wouldn’t be long before the truth about ancient Blue Planet’s abundance of divine beasts spread across Stellar Moon and Blue Planet. Prehistoric creatures reviving from ruins was nothing unusual.

“This creature hasn’t caused any disasters, right? After we clear the Legendary secret realm, we’ll find it and recruit it into the nation.” Lu Ran casually decided on its fate.

“It hasn’t caused any disasters, but based on the old president’s investigation of the ruins’ environment, he suspects it’s a Drought Demon, that Legendary corpse-transformed monster capable of causing droughts. But if it really is a Drought Demon... for such a creature to emerge without causing external disasters is a bit strange.”

Lu Ran was taken aback.

That was indeed odd. However, legends were just legends. Maybe it wasn’t as evil as rumored. They’d have to see for themselves.

After meeting with Bai Qi and collecting the prehistoric vicious plants from him, Lu Ran headed straight for the Blood Castle Secret Realm. These plants would later be handed over to Six-Path Flower for activation, to see if any promising familiars could be born.

Even if they could be, Lu Ran wouldn’t contract them himself. They’d all go to Fang Lan, who possessed the Plantmaster King trait. After strengthening Fang Lan, Lu Ran planned to send her to Squirrel God since it wanted a messenger. Naturally, Lu Ran wouldn’t let outsiders benefit this time. Although Fang Lan was weak now, her potential was immense.

Back when Lu Ran was level 5, he had been confident in challenging Legendary opponents two levels higher. He believed that after Fang Lan’s breakthrough, with her current setup, she’d become absurdly strong.

Given two months to develop, she could likely challenge level 6 beastmasters as a level 5 one herself before the World War and secure one of the ten slots.

It was just a shame that Master Jiang Dou had become a beastmaster too late. There simply wasn’t enough time or opportunity for him. If time had allowed, Lu Ran would’ve piled resources onto his people. After all, this involved Limitless City’s authority, and authority was best kept in trusted hands.

[Difficulty: Legendary]

[Secret Realm Introduction: The Vampire Queen was originally a human girl blessed by the legendary Vampire Progenitor, becoming a terrifying blood clan member wielding power over blood and darkness.

[After her transformation, the girl’s temperament changed drastically. She grew fond of turning other species into blood clan members, and the Blood Castle she inhabited became a forbidden land.

[Here, you’ll not only face the final boss, the Vampire Queen, but also her six Overlord Blood Guards and countless blood subordinates blocking your path. (Vampire Queen: Dark attribute, Superior Overlord, level 70.)]

“Let’s go.” Lu Ran stretched lazily, unfazed.

From level 4 Legendary secret realms onward, bosses were Superior Overlords. However, among Superior Overlords, there were still gaps. For example, the attribute-less Monkey King Lu Ran had faced before was a Superior Overlord blessed by a Legendary being, making it stronger than average.

The Vampire Queen was clearly the same. What made her even more formidable was her numerous subordinates, whom participants would also have to confront.

This was where level 5 and level 6 Legendary secret realms differed in difficulty. Level 6 bosses usually had many underlings, but for Lu Ran, this was still trivial. Having cleared Mythical secret realms, a Legendary one was just a formality.

[Mission: Defeat the Vampire Queen]