Chapter 549: Chapter 549
Clear Spring Valley had been the home of the Divine Deer for a long time. The scenery was majestic, but most importantly, it wasn’t far from where the Divine Dragons’ kin met.
Lu Ran quickly made himself at home upon his arrival. It was the perfect place to wait for Ice Emperor and the Federation representatives. The Divine Deer wasn’t home as it was exploring Limitless City with Bai Lu, who was serving as its guide.
In the middle valley, there were three corpses.
“The God of War was a tiger, so the most valuable parts are the bones, which are Legendary grade. The rest of it—the meat, residual soul, organs, and miscellaneous parts—are only Epic grade.
“The God of Slaughter was a wolf, so the most valuable resource is its heart. As they say, ‘wolf's heart and dog’s lungs.’ [1]
“Finally, the God of Destruction was an ox, so the Legendary resource is obviously the horns.
“Even though the random parts are all Epic, they’re a cut above anything I’ve gotten from Low Legendaries. Technically, they can be classified as Quasi-Legendary.” Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝔫𝔢𝔱
After sorting through all of the loot, Lu Ran took a closer look at the three most valuable items.
[Description: Highly suitable for forging Legendary-grade weapons. Absorbing the bone marrow could greatly improve the quality of the user’s skeletal system to Legendary-grade, making their body impenetrable. This would increase both the user’s offensive and defensive powers.]
[Name: Heart of Slaughter]
[Description: A Legendary-grade resource containing the power of slaughter. Consuming it grants the user Divine-rank killing intent, but there is a risk of the user being consumed by the intent. If the user successfully controls the killing intent, then it will also improve the user’s willpower to the Legendary rank.]
[Name: Horn of Destruction]
[Description: When blown, it fills all who hear it with an overwhelming urge to destroy. Those afflicted will receive buffs to all attributes, but will wreak destruction indiscriminately.]
“If the Sword Spirit consumes the Bones of War along with the wolf and ox bones, then it should have no problems reaching the Legendary rank.
“The strongest aspect of the swordgrass is the Star Splitting Sword Intent, which relies heavily on willpower. Since it was once a Bloodthirsty Swordgrass, consuming the Heart of Slaughter and the blood in it, along with the other two hearts, should also bring it up to the Legendary rank.
“The meat, organs, and residual souls can all be cooked and frozen for later. The hides, teeth, claws, and such can be forged into weapons and equipment that will go into the Beastmaster Empire’s armory. Gu Qingyi and the others can retrieve anything they need from there.
“This means that the only one that doesn’t have any resources is the mechanical lightsaber. I guess we’ll have to see what the Federation has to offer. As for the Horn of Destruction... What a piece of crap. I’ll remember this grudge, you stupid cow.”
Lu Ran quickly allocated the items to the most suitable candidates. Captain Doofus watched enviously as the Sword Spirit ate all the bones. The only reason that the bones didn’t go to Captain Doofus was that it was already at the Legendary rank. The bones would only offer minimal benefits.
Absorbing the bone marrow was a simple task, but very time-consuming. Lu Ran threw everything into his ruin space, where the Sword Spirit could take its time gnawing on them.
The Sword Spirit expressed its delight.
Lu Ran separated the Beast God's blood by quality so the swordgrass could work its way up gradually. Once it was done with the blood, then it could start on the Heart of Slaughter. #18 would also help it in the final stages to make sure everything went smoothly.
The swordgrass was equally excited.
The Federation arrived just as Lu Ran wrapped everything up. Lu Ran’s phone rang, and the caller ID showed “Mechanical Leader.”
“The Stellar Moon Federation can offer you one hundred billion crystal coins. That is all that we can gather in such a short period of time. In addition, the Federation will also give you access to the Light of Annihilation.
“That weapon is powerful enough to injure a Superior Divine and is fatal to anything beneath that. Unlike the weakened version I used in the World War, this one was created by the Republic’s Divine Research Institute.”
“Alright.” Lu Ran didn’t expect the Stellar Moon Federation to agree to give him so many nice things in under a day. “I’ll send you the Limitless City coordinates for where you can leave the crystal coins and the Light of Annihilation. I’ll even give you a valuable piece of intel.
“The Evil God that once plagued the world during the Beastmaster Empire’s era will most likely break free in less than half a year. I’ll figure out how to deal with it when the time comes, but the Stellar Moon Federation must still be prepared, especially the top brass. Don’t let the government get infiltrated by the Evil God’s minions.
“If something happens to y’all, who will pay me?”
“The Evil God?” Mechanical Leader’s expression changed. “Didn’t your Crow acquire the Evil God attribute before?”
“Yes,” Lu Ran replied. “That’s why I am familiar with the Evil God’s powers. If given time to grow, it might not be weaker than the Chaos Dragon God. Just like before, the protection fee is a hundred billion crystal coins.
“I’ll look around for the next six months to find a way to eradicate the Evil God. When the time comes, the Federation can send people to observe the situation so that you know I’m not scamming you.”
Mechanical Leader’s face darkened. For the Federation, the Chaos Dragon God and the Evil God were two entirely different kinds of problems. When it came to the Chaos Dragon God, as long as humans didn’t try to rebel by obediently keeping their level below Mythical and didn’t contract Legendary creatures, they could still live without any major issues.
The Evil God, on the other hand, was far more aggressive. It was ambitious, and wanted to convert all lifeforms in the Stellar Moon World into its believers, then ultimately into members of its species. When it was at the peak of its power, even the Chaos Dragon God didn’t want to provoke it, although that was before the Chaos Dragon God reached Primary Divine.
This made the Evil God the far greater threat of the two. This was evident from the Beastmaster Empire’s major conflicts. Every war that resulted in a decline for the Empire was related to the Evil God.
If the other Legendary beings weren’t keeping it in check, the Beastmaster Empire would have been wiped out long ago. The Evil God’s followers ultimately turned their attention to other species in hopes of an easier target.
“One hundred billion crystal coins is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“How is that too much?” Lu Ran countered. “It’s not like you’re spending your own money. You need to figure out a way to gather the money from the lower-level beastmasters. As a government body, you should be better at that than I am.
“If the Evil God emerges, then the damage it will cause will far exceed 100 billion crystal coins. The Stellar Moon Federation has more beastmasters than Blue Planet. I am an outlier, so excluding myself, the Stellar Moon Federation’s beastmasters have a much higher average level. There’s no way that you’re poor. If Blue Planet could put that kind of money together, then so can you.”
Mechanical Leader: ???
What the hell did you do on Blue Planet? You squeeze them for 100 billion?
Mechanical Leader absolutely refused to believe Lu Ran got the money because he was such a great person. Mechanical Leader even momentarily suspected whether Lu Ran had released the Evil God himself just to extort the Federation for protection money.
The weak have no control over their own lives. The information should be real. If he wants the money, then he’s absolutely strong enough to flat-out rob us. There’s no need to cook up such a lie. In fact, robbing us would help Six-Path Flower gather more evil energy. The Federation needs to find a way to restore itself to its former glory.
Soon enough, Lu Ran had 100 billion crystal coins in hand along with the Light of Annihilation. Unsurprisingly, Lu Ran spent all the crystal coins on Epic amplification cards. With a new supply of amplification cards, he upgraded his Holy Spirit Robe, Spirit-Converting Pot, and Soul-Restraining Bottle.
With a full set of upgrade gear, the only thing left to do was to start upgrading parts of his body.
The coins evaporated just like that. As for the Light of Annihilation, Lu Ran wasn’t planning on using it as a weapon. He handed it over to #18. The moment #18 touched the weapon, a detailed schematic appeared in its mind.
“Dismantle it and fuse the key parts into the mechanical lightsaber. It doesn’t need to one-shot a Low Legendary, but it at least needs to reach that grade itself.”
#18 held up the Light of Annihilation that was almost the size of an entire building.
“I don’t know. I’m only a Quasi-Legendary myself.”
“You’re a research robot. It’s perfectly normal for you to create a weapon stronger than yourself,” Lu Ran said. “Just do your best. When I have some time, I’ll go to the Mechanical Era and steal the Mechanical God’s core for you to study.”
“Yay~!” #18 cheered. “I promise that I won’t betray you once I reach Primary Divine!”
“It’s ok, I trust you. Even if you betray me, Six-Path Flower and the others would probably have reached Primary Divine long before you and straight up turn you into scrap metal.”
It had no doubt that Lu Ran would really follow through on his words.
“Relax, I’m just messing with you. Go ahead and start working on the Light of Annihilation,” Lu Ran said with a smile. “Work fast. When Ice Emperor gets here, I’ll need you to revive his sister’s spirit to get a gauge of the Elemental Era.”
#18 picked up the gigantic machine and ran off to do its work in peace.
This should resolve the issue with the lightsaber’s rank. It already has the Light of Annihilation trait. Hopefully it will evolve into some sort of ‘Lightsaber of Annihilation”.
According to Six-Path Flower’s prediction, the three Legendary swords should be enough to help Captain Doofus reach Intermediate Legendary. Once that happened, he could use various buffs, such as soul evolution, to bring it up to the same level as Six-Path Flower.
Ice Emperor finally arrived after a long wait, as the Death Desert was quite a distance away. It was all Lu Ran’s fault that it took so long to travel now. Stellar Moon’s Limitless City was downgraded following their defeat in the World War, so beastmasters could no longer teleport from one Limitless City to another.
The kicker was, when he finally reached the designated location, Lu Ran didn’t even want to meet him in person. They met in the Limitless City for that region. Ice Emperor left immediately after he handed over his sister’s blood.
“That Ice Emperor is obviously a sister-con, and his sister is clearly a brother-con. It’s best not to let him meet his sister’s spirit. It would only distract her from working for me.”
He put away the blood and summoned #18 once he was alone. It was still working on the Light of Annihilation, but he had a new job for it.
“This is Hel’s blood. It’s not fresh, but it still contains traces of faith energy. As expected of someone who led the human resistance against the Elemental Gods. A few drops contain the same amount of faith power that the Tree Monarch had in the legacy ruins.
“Use the Heroic Spirit Summoning Device to revive her heroic spirit,” Lu Ran instructed.
“Ugh...” #18 wiped the sweat from its brow.
Why am I the only one so busy all the time? Well, it’s better than having nothing to do at all.
After thinking about it, its eyes lit up. The more exhausted it was, the guiltier Lu Ran would feel. Sooner or later, he would have to give it a huge reward.
“Heroic Spirit Summoning Device, activate!” #18 shouted.
Countless mechanical parts appeared behind it and assembled into a large machine. In just two seconds, an imposing and magnificent Chinese-style palace appeared.
“Since this is the first time, the summoning process might take a minute,” #18 prefaced. “Master, when are you going to find me a proper minion for combat?” it asked with an expectant look.
Tree Monarch was no longer under its control, and even though they were summoning Hel, she would eventually be fully revived as well. The Evil God was on their list, but it was already earmarked to be fed to Dark Crow. This meant that #18 would be left without anyone to fight for it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find you someone.”
The blood they inserted into the machine soon began bubbling, and #18 injected spiritual power into it to merge the faith power with the machine’s power. Gradually, the gates of the palace began to open.
The summoning is successful!
A figure stepped out with her eyes closed. She had long, wavy, crimson-purple hair and an astonishingly beautiful face. A colorful flower was tucked behind her ear, and she wore a purple robe woven with diamond-shaped patterns that gave her an air of mystery and elegance. On her feet, she wore a pair of gemstone-inlaid boots.
With her first step out of the machine, the elemental energy in the air seemed as if it were rejoicing at her arrival. She was Hel, the first human Mythical beastmaster who lived during the Elemental Era.
When she opened her eyes, she took in the unfamiliar surroundings before finally turning to look at Lu Ran and #18. She finally spoke after a brief moment of silence.
“Who are you and why have you revived me?”
“Senior Hel? I am a close friend of your younger brother. In fact, we have gone through life and death together. I revived you at his request.”
#18 froze when he heard Lu Ran tell a bold-faced lie.
Life and death? Are you talking about when you almost beat the life out of him last time?
1. This is a literal translation of the saying 狼心狗肺 which means to be ungrateful or heartless. ☜