Lu Ran looked at Yan Shaozhe,
Yan Shaozhe looked relaxed. "We were spotted as soon as we came in. They gathered at the entrance to the cave, so they're probably not happy about what we're doing."
The strongest of these turtle Soul Beasts was only a thousand years old. They posed no threat, so he hadn't mentioned them.
After all, there were more important matters.
Lu Ran wasn't surprised. To turtle Soul Beasts, the Golden Hawksbill was like an emperor. Now that intruders had broken into the palace and were even swaggering out in the open, how could they not be angry?
Then he summoned the Golden Hawksbill.
The little yellow fellow, who had been swimming happily, suddenly appeared on the grass and almost couldn't react in time. "Wuu?"
"Wuu... ka!"
"Kaka!"
"Gagagagaga!!"
The turtles immediately grew excited and tried to crowd around. A few pale gray turtles even gave off a faint, watery glow, clearly preparing to use force.
"Wuu!"
The Golden Hawksbill shouted loudly, and the turtles immediately fell silent.
"Wuu... wuwuwu... wu! Wuwu..."
The Golden Hawksbill gestured wildly, pointing first at Lu Ran, then at himself. At first, the turtles watched quietly, but in the end they all began whispering among themselves, looking utterly incredulous.
"Gaga?"
"Kakakaka?"
"..."
When he finished, the Golden Hawksbill turned to Lu Ran and gave two soft cries.
Though they didn't speak the same language, Lu Ran understood: the Golden Hawksbill wanted the turtles to move into the Small World too and was asking if that was okay.
Of course it was.
Lu Ran raised his hand and snapped his fingers. "Pa!"
In an instant,
the turtles, the Golden Hawksbill, Yan Shaozhe, and Lu Ran himself were all inside the Small World.
"Wah!"
"Ts?!"
Even the steadiest old turtle in the group couldn't help exclaiming in wonder:
"Krikri!!"
The turtles were stunned, and Yan Shaozhe was just as shocked. This was his first time entering the Small World. He looked around. It was no different from the real world!
He couldn't help but marvel at the strength of Lu Ran's talent.
Lu Ran had just climbed onto a rock, ready to deliver his first speech at the residents' meeting like a village chief. The main topic was relocation:
"Ahem. I'm the master of this world. Now..."
But before he could finish,
the turtles' attention had already been drawn to their surroundings. They looked all around.
They were in a lush meadow, the soil soft beneath their feet. A stream flowed in the distance, and the air carried the fragrance of fresh grass. It was enough to make a turtle drool.
The turtles scattered, chattering to one another. Some nibbled at the grass on the ground to see how it tasted, while others dipped into the stream and swam upstream.
A few even went off in a group to sightsee in the desert.
It was all so new. They had never seen a desert in their entire lives.
The Small World, empty just moments ago, suddenly burst with activity.
And Lu Ran's first residents' relocation meeting was over before it even began—a complete success.
The next afternoon, at the Sea God Pavilion.
Sunlight streamed through the exquisitely carved windows, casting warm patches of light across the floor carved from the Golden Ancient Tree. Outside, the Sea God Lake shimmered in the sun. A breeze warmed by the sunlight drifted into the room, still pleasantly cool.
Summer had arrived.
Lu Ran sat cross-legged, eyes closed as he calmed his mind.
Ever since contracting the Rock Crystal Dragon, he'd had a feeling he couldn't quite put into words. It was strange—like a seed poised to break through the soil and sprout, yet as faint as a thin layer of dust on a windowsill.
Following his intuition, he quieted his mind and explored inward. Two kinds of energy gradually came into focus, shifting from vague impressions to clear forms:
earth-yellow and water-blue attribute powers.
"Attribute powers?"
Lu Ran frowned.
He tried controlling the two forces and was surprised to find he could. At his command, two balls of light appeared in his palms.
The earth-yellow energy was heavy and steady, while the water-blue energy was nimble and gentle. They intertwined, yet could separate at any moment, responding to his every command.
Could he really control the two attributes that made up the Small World?
With a thought, the two energies suddenly expanded, then wound around each other before separating again.
During the process,
Lu Ran could clearly feel that the more energy there was, the harder it was to control, and the more Soul Power it consumed.
He kept experimenting.
He used Soul Power to compress the attribute powers. The two balls of light shrank, fused, and compressed further.
They became harder and harder to control.
Finally,
in a moment of distraction, the balls of energy silently burst apart and scattered into countless tiny points of light,
leaving not a trace behind.
Lu Ran stared at the spot where the light had vanished and pondered:
No water or earth had been created?
Was his Soul Power insufficient? Had he used the wrong method? Or was this simply not how it worked?...
After pondering for a long while, Lu Ran still couldn't figure out why. But one thing was certain:
he could control far more than just Soul Power. He could control these attribute powers too!
Wait, Soul Skills...
Lu Ran seemed to think of something. His consciousness sank, and he entered the Small World.
The newly upgraded space was now teeming with life. The lake in the wetlands was crystal clear, lush plants grew in the black soil of the plains, and even the desert seemed more vibrant, nourished by the added moisture.
Of course, it might only seem more vibrant because a few turtles were exploring it.
They had already made their way to the hole the Rock Crystal Dragon had dug. They chattered to one another in "waka waka," though Lu Ran had no idea what they were saying. A little sand had stuck to their shells and feet, which had been clean before.
They didn't seem to mind, though.
The Rock Crystal Dragon wasn't currently in the Small World. As Lu Ran's first Soul Beast, it naturally had a more important mission—
selling its body!
More specifically, working for money at the Beast Fighting Arena.
The Shrek Colosseum was used to train the students, but Soul Beasts tended to hit hard without knowing how to hold back. It was fine if the students got hurt, as long as they didn't die, but the training results left something to be desired.
So Lu Ran had introduced the Rock Crystal Dragon to Elder Zhuang, who managed the Beast Fighting Zone.
Ten Gold Soul Coins a day.
Elder Zhuang was happy with the arrangement too. The Rock Crystal Dragon was much smarter than the Soul Beasts in the Beast Fighting Zone and knew how to adjust its strength, making it perfect for the job.
And the pay really wasn't much. They'd reached an agreement at once.
The deal was done.
As for why he charged only ten Gold Soul Coins, Lu Ran already spent at least a few hundred Gold Soul Coins a day just on food. He was extremely expensive to feed, not to mention all the supplements he'd eaten.
Even with his thick skin, he'd felt awkward charging too much. A token amount was enough; he wasn't counting on making a fortune from this anyway...
Lu Ran returned to his thoughts and continued experimenting.
He raised his hand and formed a sharp Earth Vein Rock Spike. Then he tried guiding the earth attribute energy in his body into the Rock Spike,
and formed another Earth Vein Rock Spike.
It worked.
The Rock Spike's power hadn't increased, nor had its shape changed in any way. But to Lu Ran's senses, the Rock Spike, which had originally been clear, suddenly seemed... as if it had gained a layer of shadow.
Its definite shape had become less definite...
What was going on?
Lu Ran frowned again. He summoned his white Soul Ring and infused it with additional water attribute power to form a Gentle Water Domain.
It felt noticeably cooler.
The result was still the same.
"..."
It was strange.
Lu Ran was sure there had to be more to it. He kept exploring, but even after he'd exhausted all his Soul Power, he had nothing to show for it.
Before you continue