Chapter 29 - A Gamebreaking Cheat
Fang Lan stormed out, leaving her parents stunned and silent in her wake.
Her mother and father stared at each other. Fang Lan had already been a handful as a child, but she was quickly becoming entirely unmanageable.
“Honey, what should we do? She won’t listen to us,” Fang Lan’s mother said.
“At this point, we can only prepare for the worst.”
“You’re saying to have another child? How can you think such a thing!? No way!”
“Where’d that come from!? I’m saying that if worse comes to worst, I’ll become a beastmaster and train with her to protect her. I might be old, but long ago I was once an Insect Fighter Champion! I do have some talent. I’m not sure how to get a black card, though. Do you think I still have a chance?"
Fang Lan’s father was still a boy at heart.
***
At the Beastmaster Square in Xia Empire’s Limitless City #3, Lu Ran and Pig Farmer arrived at a resource marketplace. Per the standard rules at most small venues, they had already put away their familiars. This was not so much because they were prohibited indoors or couldn’t control themselves around food; rather, tight spaces could induce friction and clashes between familiars.
There was a wide range of contracted familiars, some of which simply didn’t get along with one another. Not all beastmasters could fully control their familiars, hence the need for Limitless City’s patrol beasts.
"Pedestrian A, how do you use this?" Pig Farmer asked, confused at the lack of physical products.
There was only a set of self-service ordering machines.
"Self-service ordering? How advanced," Lu Ran commented, surprised at how up-to-date the facilities in Limitless City were.
They had self-service machines and public-shared motorcycles. Did this all really come from an ancient civilization? Everything was very modern. There is no way that the ancient civilizations also used these!
Lu Ran attributed the store's style to the owner's tastes in renovation. Otherwise, it would mean that Limitless City could observe and learn modern technology from the outside world just like AI could.
"Like this," Lu Ran said, demonstrating on Pig Farmer’s machine. There were many options such as ingredients for Wind-attribute familiars, Rock-attribute familiars, general ingredients, seasonings, and more.
Tapping on one brought up a series of ingredient icons, each with a rank, use, and price. Card payment was supported and purchased goods directly appeared in the backpack. It was a brilliant system, but Lu Ran thought it fell short with no online ordering.
"I see! That’s so convenient!" Pig Farmer exclaimed.
"But these goods are so expensive. Potatoes and cabbages for two crystal coins each!? Isn’t that basically robbing us?"
Lu Ran was silent for a moment before saying, "It’s a shame Limitless City doesn’t allow fighting. Otherwise, I’m sure people would’ve fought over groceries already."
Pig Farmer didn’t know how to respond to that.
The crystal coin potatoes and cabbages were similar in appearance to the real-world varieties, but they had special nutritional effects. Just like the hemostatic mushroom and wood scale fruit, they were ranked common.
These were the resources that most harvester beastmaster teams sought. They could turn a profit as long as they could sell the gathered resources outside for more than the cost of entering the secret realm.
"I'll go pick some too."
Lu Ran went to another self-service machine. Since most people were looking at the Heavenly Familiar Rankings, the store was empty.
He started by choosing the ingredients recommended in the basic Beast Taming manual for a standard Wind-attribute recipe like pigeon eggs, wild wind chicken meat, windfall fruit, and tornado vegetables. Each serving would cost about twenty crystal coins, so, at two servings per day, his half-month supply came out to six hundred crystal coins just for basic food!
It wasn’t that Lu Ran wanted to save money on food by providing only two meals a day. It was just that extraordinarily nutritional meals were hard to absorb, so two per day was enough. Captain Doofus would have a balanced diet consisting of top-tier ingredients to enhance physical strength and energy levels.
At this rate, if I feed Captain Doofus top-tier nutritional meals daily, my crystal coins won't last long, Lu Ran thought, feeling disheartened.
He suddenly understood why Beastmasters were so excited about the Heavenly Familiar Rankings. Raising familiars was incredibly expensive.
One familiar was already a significant expense. He’d go broke if he had to raise several high-consumption advanced familiars.
He looked outside at the Heavenly Familiar Rankings in the plaza and felt the urge to quickly earn more crystal coins in the secret realms.
Food was a basic essential. Every animal needed it. At the same time, its effects on growth and potential were limited. Only the more advanced items could trigger faster growth. After purchasing some basic food, Lu Ran pressed [Continue Shopping] and began browsing through the advanced items.
[Name]: Spiritual Rice
[Grade]: Advanced
[Description]: Enhance energy control through long-term consumption.
[Price]: One crystal coin per grain
Only one crystal coin… but per grain!?
What a rip-off. It’s too expensive and unnecessary since Captain Doofus already has excellent energy control.
He continued browsing through the catalog until he saw something that caught his eye.
This is exactly what I need! I knew there would be something like this.
[Name: Overflowing Fruit]
[Grade: Advanced]
[Description: Once devoured, the energy flow in low-level users exceeds its limits, temporarily boosting combat power. After the effect ends, the user will suffer a significant backlash from the energy overload.]
[Price: 50 crystal coins each]
Without hesitation, Lu Ran bought five despite the price. The fruit seemed made for him.
It seemed it could put a pet into an enhanced energy flow state for additional combat power. It could turn the tide in desperate situations, though it was true that it could also put a beastmaster and their familiar in even more danger if it failed.
For familiars that had mastered energy control with experienced beastmasters, this wouldn’t have much effect, but for familiars still learning or not proficient in energy control, its effects were extremely apparent. A familiar’s combat power would immediately increase by several levels, but the backlash was too much for newer beastmasters without a reliable healing technique.
Lu Ran planned to use it for emergencies. Others would struggle with the side effects, but he had the Divine Deer Pendant to take care of them. An epic item would be enough to heal an advanced item’s side effects.
Even regular consumption wouldn’t be an issue. After experiencing berserk energy flow, Captain Doofus could figure out the rest to better understand energy control. The power of the Divine Deer Pendant would be put to full use, effectively becoming a training cheat.
"Done?" Lu Ran asked Pig Farmer.
"Hm… I still need more time. No need to wait for me if you’re done," Pig Farmer said with a troubled expression.
Lu Ran shrugged. On a limited budget, buying anything was a struggle.
Lu Ran planned on waiting, but a friend request diverted his attention.
[Five Poisons Saintess requests to add you as a friend.]
It was Fang Lan.
The moment Lu Ran accepted the friend request, he received a barrage of messages.
[Five Poisons Saintess: You jerk! Now my parents won't let me enter secret realms. What now!?]
[Pedestrian A: If I were your dad, I wouldn't let you either. It's too dangerous.]
[Five Poisons Saintess: WTF!?]
[Pedestrian A: Did you know that Limitless City updated its facilities? There's a new facility called the Heavenly Familiar Rankings in the Beastmaster Square.]
Lu Ran tried to change the subject, but…
[Five Poisons Saintess: Don’t even try. I got a notification about the Heavenly Familiar Rankings before entering. That’s the whole reason I want to enter a secret realm.]
He failed.
[Pedestrian A: Good. Secret realms are dangerous, but you can use the arena. Arena highlights can also push you up the rankings. It provides training, crystal coin rewards, and relative safety. Your parents wouldn't oppose that, right?]
[Five Poisons Saintess: Huh???]
Fang Lan paused. It was indeed a good option. Once she became arena champion and showcased her strength, her parents might not restrict her from entering secret realms.
As expected of Lu Ran!
Fang Lan grew excited.
[Five Poisons Saintess: Great idea. The arena is my new home. To celebrate, I'll dye my hair purple. What do you think?]
Uh...
Lu Ran felt a headache coming. Was she afraid people wouldn't know she liked poison?
Thoughts and prayers to the other arena newbies!
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