Chapter 8 - The Trial Ends
Lu Ran looked at the pendant with confusion.
How is this possible? I didn't even notice it was teleported with me.
Just like when he had gained a special ability and received a black card, he couldn’t help but be surprised when his pendant began to change. He had already started to sense that a deeper mystery was hidden behind all this. Hence, finding out that even his family heirloom had a mysterious origin shocked him even more.
Looking at the card floating in his mind space, his thoughts began to race. These supernatural phenomena didn’t seem new to the world. Rather, they had likely existed since ancient times. His heirloom definitely had something to do with everything else that was happening.
"There are still too many unknowns. Maybe one of my ancestors also became a beastmaster and got this deer horn from a secret realm.
"But if these contract cards have existed since ancient times, why aren't there any records of them? If it wasn't for that article Fang Lan showed me or the contract card that appeared in my hand...
“How many people have this cursed place selected and turned into beastmasters?”
"Aowww!"
Captain Doofus cried out in pain, interrupting Lu Ran’s train of thought and bringing him back to the situation at hand.
Ow, ow ow.
"I'll use this to heal you."
The healing power of an Epic divine deer should be better than the common hematostatic mushrooms I found on the ground.
The pendant’s dormant state prevented it from displaying its power, but it also allowed it to avoid being detected until now. When it entered this place and absorbed a certain amount of spiritual energy, it awakened and returned to its original state.
Lu Ran looked at Captain Doofus and held a Hemostatic Mushroom as he took off the pendant, feeling the familiar sensation of the contract card. He then took a deep breath and focused, honing in on his desire to heal Captain Doofus.
"Heal."
The Divine Deer Pendant emitted a golden light that wrapped around Captain Doofus' wound. Right before his eyes, his familiar’s jagged wounds quickly melted away. In just a few seconds, they disappeared without a scar.
Except for a few bald spots, Captain Doofus looked exactly the same as before! Lu Ran could also tell that it felt fully rejuvenated.
"Ooooo."
As always, Captain Doofus had no idea what was going on. Nevertheless, Lu Ran's expression brightened.
He rubbed Captain Doofus where its wounds used to be. "You've become bald, but at least something good came out of it. You’re a lot tougher now!"
"Woof!"
Captain Doofus looked down at itself with a depressed expression. However, its gaze soon heated up as it turned toward the pendant in Lu Ran's hand.
I don't know what happened, but are we invincible now? it thought.
Lu Ran smiled.
Forget it. I'll think about the heirloom when I get back.
"Woof woof!"
Captain Doofus' eyes beamed. It then shook its fur, feeling as though it could take on fifty cats! The pendant was too overpowered. For as long as it didn’t get killed instantly, it could recover from any injury.
"Don't overdo it," Lu Ran warned. "We can't just rely on the protection of our ancestors. We will need to learn to adapt in case of emergencies."
He tightly clutched the pendant and took a deep breath, his mother’s face appearing in his mind. Although he didn't exactly know what the Divine Deer Pendant was, he knew that it was definitely the biggest ace up his sleeve. Thanks to it, their survival rate in this secret realm had just become a lot higher, making his plan to grind out levels a lot more realistic.
***
Now that he had an Epic item, Lu Ran felt that laying low would be a disgrace to the heirloom his ancestors had left behind, especially since Captain Doofus had also reached level 2.
With the situation allowing for it, Lu Ran wanted to capitalize on this opportunity by making Captain Doofus level up and increase its combat power as much as possible. Not doing so could lead to disastrous consequences.
If a crisis arose in the future, he would require the strength to protect himself and his loved ones.
Why couldn’t he be the hero for once? Someone had to stand at the top anyway. If he could become a champion amongst insect fighters, then what was stopping him from becoming a king amongst beastmasters?
"That dream I saw about the city being attacked—even if it came true, I should be able to save the city as long as I become stronger.."
Thinking about his dream only motivated Lu Ran even further.
***
Deep in the jungle, four hours later.
"Stupid! Didn't I tell you that even though we have a healing item, you should avoid getting injured?"
After recovering, Lu Ran and Captain Doofus became ambitious enough to start hunting for prey. Most of their prey were between levels 1 and 3 and were intermediate-ranked transcendent species.
One of the monsters that they had fought was the saber-eared rabbit, an extremely aggressive rabbit species. With its low strength, however, it was obviously looking to die. Another was the giant rat, which was a bit bigger than a duck and turned out to be quite fragile.
Too bad he was in an illusory realm and didn’t have the right equipment. Otherwise, Lu Ran would’ve liked to dissect and study these creatures. They did not stand a chance against Captain Doofus even when some of them were 1 or 2 levels higher.
In comparison, the demon cats were a lot harder to deal with. After all, it was called the Demon Cat Forest, and these monsters were just prey to the demon cats.
Lu Ran felt that facing these other monsters was a lot more in tune with the usual difficulty of a beginner secret realm. However, the low-level mobs aside, some other enemies proved difficult to deal with too, like the level 3 intermediate-transcendent green snake that Captain Doofus just defeated.
Captain Doofus kept being heavily injured during the battles, though. The healing power of the Divine Deer Pendant seemed to have given it a sense of security, making it fight more recklessly. It would openly trade gruesome blows head-on until it won.
Out in the wild, most battles were fought for food and survival, and injuries often resulted in death. But Captain Doofus didn’t have to care about any of it. Hence, it quickly discovered a new, very extreme fighting style that made Lu Ran acknowledge just how talented it was. Still, this style was too reckless and could easily get them into trouble.
For instance, the green snake that it had just fought was poisonous. Luckily, though, they had picked up some detoxifying herbs along the way.
"Woof."
Captain Doofus wore an innocent expression as it stepped on the big snake.
Captain Doofus had already reached level 3 by now, which made it and Lu Ran quite excited. At this rate, they could sweep the secret realm with ease.
Being strong was certainly pretty great.
However, while they were having a great time leveling up, they both suddenly stopped in their tracks.
Looking around the area, Lu Ran found traces of a human camp. It turned out that the big snake that they had just defeated was guarding a tent. They approached the tent carefully but did not detect any movement. They didn’t find much inside either except for a worn-out diary.
Lu Ran picked it up and read it excitedly. Although he didn’t know the language, the Eye of Detection helped him understand what was written.
[This is the first stop of my journey. The previously lush forest has now become the Demon Cat Forest.
I was so confident when I first came here to find the truth about this forest, but I quickly learned how wrong I was.
My father was right. I shouldn't have come to this place…]
The diary entry ended abruptly.
Lu Ran was stunned.
"That’s it? The mastermind behind this better get out here this instant!" he shouted in anger.
He had thought that reading the diary entry would trigger a hidden side quest. To his dismay, it gave him absolutely no information. He didn’t have to read the diary to know that mutations were the key to this secret realm.
Next to him, Captain Doofus tried to calm Captain Lu down.
"Woof."
Let's go level up.
"That's right, we only have a day," Lu Ran sighed.
He didn’t have enough information about the forest, and they were still too weak. Even if there were other secrets in this secret realm, it wasn’t something that they could easily explore.
After Lu Ran carefully analyzed the travel diary, he realized that it wasn’t a complete waste.
“Find the real cause behind the changes...”
Perhaps the commonly known black rain that caused mutations was only a superficial issue. The diary’s author mentioned that their father had warned them not to enter this place, which could mean that he knew some inside information. If so, then the author was likely from an affluent background.
After committing the information to memory, Lu Ran decided to continue leveling up. It would be pointless to focus on other things right now.
Eventually, Lu Ran and Captain Doofus became so addicted to leveling up that they began to steamroll through the Demon Cat Forest. Nothing could stop them in their path.
The most difficult situations they encountered involved being outnumbered and getting ganged up on by an entire pack of demon cats.
In those situations, injuries were inevitable. Had they been a normal beastmaster duo, they would have ultimately succumbed to their injuries even if they won. Thanks to the Broken Horn of the Divine Deer, though, Injuries were not an issue for Lu Ran and his familiar.
"It’s so hard to reach level 4!"
As time slowly passed, Lu Ran looked at the one-day time limit.
By this time, they had done nothing but hunt or fight for nearly twenty-four hours. If it weren't for the stamina-replenishing fruit that he had found, he and Captain Doofus would have been exhausted a long time ago. Even huskies couldn’t stand such torment.
Captain Doofus' fast progress slowed down after level 3. It couldn't hit level 4 despite running around for nearly a day.
There was no progress bar either, so Lu Ran and his buddy could only keep fighting nonstop in the hopes of leveling up.
Fortunately, their hard work paid off. With only one minute left on the countdown, after killing another demon cat, Captain Doofus finally reached level 4.
Then, something made Lu Ran feel even better!
A series of messages appeared in front of him!
[Congratulations on completing the beginner trial.]
[Score: S]
[Tip: The Final Score is divided into 9 levels: SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, F.]
[Congratulations on receiving your ID card!]
[You have received an Advanced resource: Attribute-Awakening Fruit(Grass).]
[You have received the beastmaster skill: Super Beast Mimicry.]
[You have received the Eye of Detection(Basic).]
[Please choose your return location: 1. Initial Teleportation Point; 2. Limitless City.]
[Hint: Limitless City is a large safe area where beastmasters who have passed the beginner trial gather. It has various special facilities for beastmasters.]
"It's over..." Lu Ran sighed in relief.
At that moment, he saw something unexpected in the prompt.
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