Chapter 19 - Awakening
After eating, Lu Ran took a shortcut from Starlight Mansion District to the rear mountain of Red Leaf Park. Every child wanted to build a secret base, and when Lu Ran was a child, he was no exception. In Lu Ran's opinion, this place was a paradise. This was where he found the Insect King that easily dominated the Insect Fighting Tournament. With such a great spot, there was no need to compete with those old men for insect fighters in Azure Chime Mountain, the largest mountain in Green Sea City.
"You can come out now!"
"Woof!"
After arriving, Lu Ran saw that there was no one around, so he summoned Captain Doofus from the black card.
Lu Ran was in a good mood; having the black contract card and the character card was really convenient. The black card allowed him to bring Captain Doofus everywhere he went, while the character card’s storage features allowed him to carry many things that he couldn't before, like the customized iron sword.
"In a sense, you and the sword make a good pair seeing as there are many places where both of you are not allowed to enter."
Captain Doofus was confused.
Huh? How are we remotely comparable?
"Let's go; we need to go in a little deeper," Lu Ran said. While they traveled, Lu Ran recalled and reflected on the key points of attribute awakening. Through the Basic Beastmaster manual, Lu Ran also learned about other methods of awakening attributes.
Awakening methods could be roughly divided into five types:
1. Natural Talent: Creatures with a species rank above Champion were able to awaken their attributes through natural talent shortly after birth.
Captain Doofus obviously couldn’t do this. Who would believe that this guy’s strong point was its intelligence?
2. Awakening by Attack: In the wild, low-level creatures that have yet to awaken an attribute had a small probability of awakening an attribute if they were attacked by a creature with the corresponding attribute.
This method had a very low success rate and was extremely dangerous.
3. Advanced Acceleration: Advanced creatures with high proficiency in energy acceleration can inject their energy into other creatures to nourish their bodies and help them awaken their attributes.
4. Treasured-Land Nourishment: There were places rich in natural energy. If creatures stayed in such an area for a period of time, then there was also a chance that they would awaken their attributes.
5. Attribute Resources: Some resources contained pure-attribute energy that could be used to unlock a creature’s potential and awaken its attributes.
This was the route Lu Ran was about to take.
White Dragon had mentioned that if Lu Ran joined the Alliance, he would have the opportunity to awaken attributes for free. He guessed this likely involved using advanced energy acceleration techniques or treasured lands rich in natural energy.
Large organizations likely had many powerful beastmasters. There was also a type of secret realm called public secret realms, and the treasured lands in those secret realms were commonly occupied by large organizations.
However, according to White Dragon, using attribute resources was the best option for awakening familiars. They allowed familiars to improve and develop further, so Lu Ran didn't even consider any of the other options.
"Let's do it here."
Finally, Lu Ran arrived at an open area with a natural cavern densely covered by lush trees. He took out the Wind fruit from his storage and looked at Captain Doofus, who followed beside him.
Captain Doofus was in the middle of baring his fangs at a nearby snake. The reason this place was rarely visited was because there were too many insects and snakes. No one came here willingly without a purpose.
"Stop messing with that for now."
Lu Ran tossed out the white pineapple-shaped fruit. Captain Doofus immediately turned its head, its eyes lighting up. It jumped right into the air and caught the attribute-awakening fruit in its mouth.
"Woof!!!"
Captain Doofus chomped onto the Wind fruit excitedly while drooling. It felt a natural attraction to the Wind fruit.
"Eat up," Lu Ran said as he smiled. After receiving the order, Captain Doofus opened his mouth wide and stuffed the whole Wind fruit into his mouth in one bite.
Abyss Maw!
"Urg."
However, it quickly found out that the fruit was quite big, so it was better to eat it one bite at a time.
"Woof."
Captain Doofus puffed its cheeks and moved the attribute fruit around in its mouth. Under Lu Ran's speechless expression, it finally swallowed.
Phew…
Just eating a fruit had this dog worn out and panting. But soon, Captain Doofus’ eyes opened wide, and azure-tinted energy began slowly seeping out of its body.
This was… wind energy!
Lu Ran focused and watched carefully!
"Awoo!!!"
The ground!
After it ate the Wind fruit, Captain Doofus started to radiate powerful wind energy. The azure energy wrapped around its body like a weak breeze, fluttering its fur under the turbulence of the energy. Captain Doofus’ aura then surged, creating a small whirlwind around it, shaking the grass and nearby leaves.
[Species: Husky]
[Attribute: Wind]
[Species Rank: Intermediate-Transcendent]
[Level: 4]
[Skills: None]
"Success!"
Feeling the breeze on his face, Lu Ran was very surprised to see the change in Captain Doofus' attribute. He could tell that Captain Doofus' combat strength was clearly more than a rank higher than before! This was the difference made by awakening!
"Woof!!!"
After the attribute awakening, Captain Doofus also panicked but soon was able to control the newly stimulated wind energy. It allowed energy to steadily wrap around and cover its entire body. Looking at Captain Doofus wrapped in the faint azure energy, Lu Ran felt that it became super cool. It was as majestic and domineering as a mythical beast.
"Captain Doofus, run laps!" Lu Ran pointed to a relatively flat area and gave an order. One lap around was about 200 meters. It was to test Captain Doofus’ current speed.
Captain Doofus responded with a howl and immediately rushed out. Only an azure afterimage was left in its original spot. Actually, when it ran at full speed, it became a string of afterimages and began to blur.
Lu Ran had seen cheetahs run in person before. They were known as the fastest animals, but after Lu Ran saw his dog running, he had to say that Captain Doofus was definitely faster. It wasn’t even a close call. Lu Ran forgot to count, but this guy ran a full lap in just a blink of an eye.
"It’s only level 4 right now. What will it be like when it gets to level 40?" Lu Ran was surprised.
"Woof!!"
Lu Ran smiled at Captain Doofus, who came back panting. "Not bad. Next, we’re testing your attack power."
"Woof!"
Captain Doofus remained calm and looked at the surrounding stones. It swiped its claws, cloaked with wind energy, onto a stone.
Crack.
Immediately, the stone began to break, and dense web-like cracks appeared in an instant before the stone shattered into several pieces.
"Awesome... It's really a qualitative improvement."
Lu Ran crossed his arms and nodded in satisfaction. He stretched out his hand again, and a wooden sword appeared in it.
"Captain Doofus, take the sword," Lu Ran said as he threw the wooden sword to it. Captain Doofus jumped up and caught the wooden sword in its mouth.
"Wrap the wooden sword with wind energy and try attacking again."
"Aooo."
Captain Doofus was obviously very addicted to this new power, and it was trying to experience that feeling again. Very quickly, the white breeze covered not only Captain Doofus’s entire body but also the wooden sword in its mouth. The sword acted as an energy conductor and was naturally infused with wind energy.
Bzz, bzz, bzz.
As the wooden sword became entangled with the wind energy, the white streak of sword light gradually turned blue. This blue and white swordlight was like a lingering storm, causing the air around to vibrate. Captain Doofus looked at the sword sharply, and only Lu Ran could understand what it was thinking.
It was thinking, “Swish, swish, swish, kill!”
Swoosh, swoosh!!!
Captain Doofus swung its head subconsciously.
The wooden sword tore through the air, leaving a visible trail and stirring up turbulence. It was a pity that Captain Doofus hadn't mastered energy projection yet; it might really be able to send out sword qi!
"This feeling..."
Lu Ran looked at the wooden sword and felt that Captain Doofus was becoming cooler and cooler. Why didn't he realize that Captain Doofus was so cool before? Now, even if a rhino, known for being extremely sturdy, appeared, Captain Doofus would probably be able to kill it with one strike!
However, it was only cool for three seconds. Before Lu Ran and Captain Doofus could be happy for too long or even find a target to test this power...
Bang!!!
The wooden sword suddenly exploded. It turned into sawdust and scattered into the wind. The huge commotion frightened Captain Doofus, causing it to jump quite a bit off the ground.
"Oh my god!"
This scene also shocked Lu Ran, who stood beside it.
What, what happened?
Looking at the wooden sword that exploded in Captain Doofus’s mouth, Lu Ran was at a loss.
Could the wooden sword not withstand the infusion of wind energy?
"Awoo!!!"
Captain Doofus finally reacted and looked at the wooden sword that became sawdust with great pain.
My sword! Where is my sword!? I haven't even made a move yet, so why did the sword break first?
"It's okay... Doesn't this prove that you’re strong?" Lu Ran waved his hand and brushed it off. He had plenty of swords, after all.
Lu Ran took out the iron sword, but looking at the sharp edge and then at the stunned Captain Doofus, Lu Ran fell into deep thought. It should be okay to give such a dangerous weapon to Captain Doofus now.
As he was deep in thought, Lu Ran heard a caw.
A black crow suddenly flew down from the sky and landed on a tree. It looked at Lu Ran and cried out, “My king, a big cat with yellow hair and black stripes has entered our territory!”
???
Lu Ran looked at the crow. This crow, like the Insect King, was once his general. Besides the crow, Lu Ran actually subdued most of the wild cats and dogs in Green Sea City. It could be said that the whole city was flush with his spies.
If there was a king in the world of wild animals in Green Sea City, then Lu Ran was the only choice. The truth was, however, that it was just bad karma left over from practicing telepathy. Still, the news brought by this crow was a bit strange.
A big cat with yellow fur and black stripes? Hmm?
Comments
Top