The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 398

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 398
Chapter 398
The Mirror Lion, one of the guardian beasts of the Spirit Realm.
Facing the guardian beast I’d only heard rumors about, it felt far more formidable than I’d anticipated.
Or rather, not formidable so much as—
‘Troublesome.’
It was proving to be remarkably troublesome.
And for good reason.
“Come now, seek me out. If you truly belong in the Spirit Realm, you should be able to sense the realm’s tremors.”
“Clones?”
It was due to the Mirror Lion’s attack pattern.
First and foremost: clones.
The moment combat began, the Mirror Lion’s body multiplied into dozens of forms.
These were no mere illusory duplicates.
I discovered this through direct engagement.
Clang!
“Face the illusions!”
Every single clone before my eyes possessed a tangible form.
But that wasn’t all.
“Face yourself!”
The beast even transformed into my own likeness.
In that form, it perfectly replicated the weapons and armor I carried.
I was aware that guardian beasts possessed unique abilities distinct from other summoned creatures.
But this was my first true encounter with a genuine guardian beast, so the frustration was inevitable.
Which is why.
[ Activating Black Flame Transformation. ]
[ Borrowing the power of the Black Flame Dragon, Lucknir Desperate Ignoxtan. ]
I immediately entered my Black Flame Transformation state.
Then, enhancing my dark vision, I swiftly located the beast’s true form.
Boom!
“You’ve found me!”
I rushed forward and struck immediately.
The attack connected, though it seemed to deal less damage than intended.
The beast’s body was as hard as if it were forged from mirror itself.
Soon after, its clones surged toward me.
– Activating 5th Circle Lightning Magic: Lightning Field.
Crackle!
I engulfed the entire lake in a Lightning Field, striking down the clones.
While electricity wasn’t a weakness, it was sufficient to electrocute them and halt their movements.
Drawing forth a fire-aspected blade, I swung it toward the beast.
Scrape!
“Fire attribute, then?”
I discerned the creature’s elemental weakness.
Fire attribute.
The moment I recognized this, I began preparing my magic.
The beast tried to interfere with my casting, but I deflected every incoming attack and managed to complete the incantation.
– Invoking 7th Circle Fire Magic: ‘Fire Storm’.
Whoooosh!
A tempest of flames erupted across Mirror Lake.
And just as I anticipated.
“Wh-what!”
The Mirror Lion’s clones began melting away.
The duplicates wearing my form suffered the same fate.
Moreover, the creature’s true body glowed crimson from the intense heat.
I swung my fire-attributed blade toward that body.
Scrape!
“Grrgh!”
Its hardened form split apart with surprising ease.
How many exchanges of blows followed?
The creature could no longer regenerate its body against my onslaught.
“I concede! As a Guardian Beast, I acknowledge your strength! Furthermore, I recognize your righteous spirit essence!”
It admitted defeat.
And as expected.
[ The skill ‘Guardian Beast Summoning’ has increased in level. ]
My Guardian Beast Summoning skill rose in level.
Not just by one level—it climbed considerably.
Combat with a Guardian Beast and its acknowledgment of me had dramatically accelerated my skill proficiency.
Furthermore.
“I, the Mirror Lion, acknowledge you! Come now, let us form a contract! I shall accept you as my first contractor!”
The creature had acknowledged me.
It then offered the possibility of forming a contract with me.
The Guardian Beast was one I had never encountered even during my time in First.
It seemed to be a Guardian Beast that could only be summoned when the Guardian Beast Summoning level was sufficiently high and conditions like exceptional beast affinity aligned perfectly.
To be able to form a contract with such a creature immediately.
It was an extraordinarily favorable offer.
“I will accept the contract on the condition that it can be dissolved at any time.”
“…What? What are you saying! To contract with me, your souls must be completely bound together, destined to walk as one for all eternity—is that not obvious!”
“Then I must decline.”
“Wh-what! Did we not just fight! I am the Guardian Beast protecting Mirror Lake! I am the Mirror Lion!”
“If the contract cannot be dissolved, I will refuse.”
High-tier summoned beasts always came with demanding contract conditions.
As expected, the Mirror Lion was no exception.
Binding my soul to forge an eternal pact.
Though the Mirror Lion was a formidable spirit beast, it wasn’t the one I sought.
Even if it weren’t my desired beast, I’d reconsider if it were overwhelmingly powerful.
But after facing it, honestly, it was merely manageable by my standards.
I had no intention of straining myself into such a contract.
Rather than that.
“Guide me to a spirit beast as strong as this Mirror Lion.”
“Chirp!”
“Wait, where are you going! I’m not contracting with the Mirror Lion!”
“In that case, if you include a contract termination clause, I’ll form a temporary pact with you.”
“What are you saying! As a guardian spirit beast, I have my pride!”
“Very well then. Blue Bird, let’s go.”
“Chirp!”
“Wait, wait! I understand! I’ll cancel the eternal contract. But my soul still….”
“That’s enough.”
“Roooaaarrr!”
Seeking new guardian beasts, fighting them, earning their recognition, and using that to build skill proficiency seemed far more advantageous.
Fortunately, the Blue Bird that first guided me to the Mirror Lion appeared thoroughly familiar with the Spirit Realm’s geography.
“Chirp!”
“Wait, please! Contract with me! Let me become the Mirror Lion’s first contractor….”
“That’s enough.”
I set out to find powerful spirit beasts hidden throughout the Spirit Realm.
“Gasp! I’ve lost! Heh heh. To think I’d fall to you, who defeated the guardian spirit beast Dream Horse. I accept you as my first contractor.”
“That’s enough.”
“Eh…?”
I began challenging beasts wherever I went.
* * *
Throughout the vast Spirit Realm, as many diverse spirit beasts dwelled as the realm itself was expansive.
And naturally, even they had a king.
The guardian king of the Spirit Realm, who watched over all that transpired within it and protected the realm itself.
The Celestial Fantasy Dragon.
Since she possessed omniscient power within the Spirit Realm, the intruder who had entered it—
The human’s presence was immediately recognized by her.
“How curious. A human with such affinity for spirit beasts. In all my long existence, I’ve never encountered a human with such affinity.”
The king of the Spirit Realm, the Celestial Fantasy Dragon.
Even she was astonished by the human’s spirit beast affinity.
The spirit beasts themselves instinctively sensed this and were displaying favor toward the human.
“Humans rarely venture into the Spirit Realm, but your purpose is surely to find a spirit beast to contract with, yes?”
Humans rarely entered the Spirit Realm, but it was not unheard of.
Some humans, unsatisfied with the fantasy beasts led to them by others, would venture into the Spirit Realm to forge direct contracts with the beasts of their choosing.
Of course.
“But even so, contracting with proud guardian fantasy beasts is nearly impossible.”
Success stories among such attempts were exceedingly rare.
When one spoke of fantasy beasts strong enough to capture human desire, one was invariably referring to guardian fantasy beasts.
Guardian fantasy beasts did not merely evaluate affinity scores.
They chose their masters only after directly confronting a human’s spiritual essence.
And yet.
“To encounter Mirror Lion as one’s first guardian fantasy beast. How unfortunate.”
Mirror Lion valued strength above all else.
He restricted contracts only to those who could defeat him in combat.
Other guardian fantasy beasts were similar, but they could recognize a master’s spiritual essence through methods beyond battle.
Mirror Lion, however, determined his master through combat alone.
And for an ordinary human to defeat Mirror Lion within the Spirit Realm was impossible.
Or so I had thought.
“You defeated Mirror Lion?”
The human had defeated Mirror Lion.
Typically, humans entering the Spirit Realm possessed almost no combat ability and relied solely on affinity scores to locate fantasy beasts.
Yet this human was powerful enough to astonish me.
“Hehe, Mirror Lion. You have finally found your master. Congratulations.”
I offered quiet congratulations to Mirror Lion in a murmur.
“…Hmm?”
The human did not contract with Mirror Lion.
Did Mirror Lion displease them?
The human asked other fantasy beasts for directions and sought out a new guardian fantasy beast.
Thus the human arrived at Dream Horse’s domain.
Dream Horse was among the fastest in the Spirit Realm.
“Wow. Such a powerful human. Indeed, if it’s Dream Horse, it would be suitable for a human to ride, so considering that, it might be more fitting than Mirror Lion.”
Yet the human defeated Dream Horse as well.
And this time, I was certain the human would contract with the guardian fantasy beast.
“Hmm….”
The human did not contract with the guardian fantasy beast this time either.
Even as Dream Horse clung to the human’s pant leg, begging for a contract, the human paid no attention.
Only after adding a termination clause allowing the contract to be dissolved at any time did the human agree to contract with Dream Horse.
This was essentially a temporary contract rather than a proper one.
Having contracted with Dream Horse, the human.
“What kind of fantasy beast could they possibly be searching for….”
Used Dream Horse’s speed to seek out new guardian fantasy beasts even more rapidly.
In fact, the human was not merely searching for guardian fantasy beasts.
In the Spirit Realm, I hunted down every powerful fantasy beast I could find and defeated them.
Yet I refused to form any permanent contracts—only temporary ones.
How exacting were my standards that I still hadn’t formed a single proper contract?
Or perhaps… I had no intention of forming contracts at all?
That would be troublesome.
Wandering through the Spirit Realm without any intention of contracting with anyone.
She, the guardian sovereign of the Spirit Realm, could not tolerate such behavior.
“Sigh… I have no choice.”
With that, she began to move.
An unprecedented event unfolded—the Celestial Fantasy Dragon, guardian sovereign of the Spirit Realm, set out to find the human.
* * *
“Huff! I’ve lost! I, Dream Sheep, guardian fantasy beast, acknowledge you! From now on, I, Dream Sheep, shall serve you…!”
“The contract is complete.”
“What?”
Dream Sheep, guardian fantasy beast.
The Dream Sheep, who had attacked me by manifesting dreams through its luxuriant fur, acknowledged me.
Once again, it had stepped forward offering to form a contract with me.
“A temporary contract… no, there’s no more room for that either.”
“What do you mean…?”
I no longer had space for even temporary contracts.
And for good reason—right behind me.
“Dream Sheep, wait your turn!”
“I, the Mirror Lion, am first in line!”
“What are you saying! Look here—this Dream Horse was the first contractor and has stayed by his side the longest! I should be first!”
“What is happening here…?”
Fantasy beasts were lined up, waiting their turn.
Not just ordinary fantasy beasts, but guardian fantasy beasts as well—they had abandoned their territories to follow me.
At first, even the Mirror Lion and most others had been reluctant about temporary contracts.
But as competitors increased, they began accepting temporary contracts, and now even those slots were completely filled.
Well, that wasn’t my concern.
What mattered was.
[ The skill ‘Summon Fantasy Beast’ has increased in level. ]
My fantasy beast summoning skill.
As I traveled through the Spirit Realm, fantasy beasts were drawn to my affinity and showed favor.
I defeated the guardian fantasy beasts in combat and formed contracts with them through temporary agreements.
So it was natural that the skill level rose.
‘It’s almost maxed out.’
Faster progress than expected.
At this rate, I could head to the Fantasy Realm Sea right now and contract the summoned beast I had been aiming for.
To guard a ship, an ordinary fantasy beast simply wouldn’t suffice.
Perhaps the Sea, like the fantasy beasts trailing behind me, has its own guardian beast.
That’s what I was thinking.
“How dare you mock the Spirit Realm?”
Above my head.
A voice echoed from the sky of the Spirit Realm.
The problem was that the power contained in that voice was incomparably stronger than any fantasy beast I had encountered thus far.
Soon after, I could discern its identity from the voices of the fantasy beasts around me.
“It’s the King!”
“It’s the Celestial Fantasy Dragon!”
“Why would the Celestial Fantasy Dragon….”
The Celestial Fantasy Dragon.
I had heard the name before.
Just as the Spirit Realm has Spirit Kings governing each element, the Spirit Realm too has a sovereign.
That sovereign is the Celestial Fantasy Dragon.
However, unlike the Spirit Kings, whose details are relatively well-known, nothing was known about the Celestial Fantasy Dragon.
And for good reason—in all my memories, the Celestial Fantasy Dragon had never once revealed itself to the mortal world.
And the form that appeared before me was.
‘Truly befitting the title of King of Fantasy Beasts.’
The word “dreamlike” fit perfectly.
A colossal dragon composed of light and mist.
With each movement of its body, auroras shimmered, and with each shimmer, the space around it rippled like waves.
It was beautiful and dreamlike enough to inspire awe even in me.
But the problem was.
“As the guardian sovereign of the Spirit Realm, I cannot forgive you for trifling with our fantasy beasts.”
That Celestial Fantasy Dragon was glaring at me with fury.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————