King of Beasts

In the outskirts of the Green Sea.

Inside an abandoned Power Plant.

Occasional flashes of electricity pierced the darkness.

“Roar———”

Accompanied by the agonizing howls of a beast.

To the unknowing observer, it might seem like some cruel biological experiment was taking place.

“Suffer to endure, to become the superior lizard.”

Regarding the situation of the sudden death king, Lu Ran could only think… having a stable training ground was something to be grateful for.

If it were a more ruthless beastmaster, they’d probably drag you to a lightning-prone area and make you hold a lightning rod to get struck!

Inside the Power Plant.

The sudden death king stood on a specially designed electric platform, with several wires attached to its body, resembling a mutated beast under experimental control…

“Roar!!!”

Its entire body tensed up, bloodshot eyes glistening, claws tightly clenched…

It hurt, but it was also exhilarating.

Because enduring these electric shocks seemed to indeed enhance its defense.

Although the improvement was minimal, the cumulative effect felt potentially significant over time.

Under the combined numbness of body and mind, the sudden death king grew increasingly agitated, feeling the electric shocks were not strong enough.

It stepped on a switch to increase the power…

If it was going to pursue defense, it might as well go all out!

Higher power, activate!

It wanted to make sure that sword could no longer penetrate its defenses;

That no attack could ever harm its heart again———

…

Next, Lu Ran began arranging the training regimen for general ha.

They hadn’t done much today, and soon it was night.

At night.

Lu Ran followed his usual routine of catching up on the day’s top news.

Understanding the world in 60 seconds.

The headline of the day, undoubtedly, was the preliminary assessment of the Freshman Tournament at Xia Country’s beast taming university.

Lu Ran even saw many people discussing him and Fang Lan at the Jinling exam site.

Beating up an examiner… was certainly a hot topic.

Many were curious about the identity of Lu Ran, the examinee with the number 0001.

However, the discussions about Lu Ran didn’t last long before the topic shifted again.

Because Wu Le wasn’t the only unlucky examiner.

Many Examiners Had Mishaps in the Assessment.

A wave of monstrous new beastmasters surged across various locations.

These individuals had never appeared on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard, likely because each possessed a pet beast of the upper commander species, displaying inconceivable strength. Clearly, these were the more formidable second-generation beastmasters.

In the Imperial Capital exam site, there were reports of a superhuman with mental power who, alongside a mental-type pet beast, effortlessly blasted the examiner’s secondary pet away.

In the Shanghai exam site, the infamous Dog King, who topped the Infinite City No.3 Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard, made an appearance. Its Hellhound was immensely powerful, and its dual eyes could drag the examiner’s pet into a destructive illusion.

Meanwhile, in the Deep City exam site, a beastmaster reported a gun-wielding girl who mastered shaping artistic conception. Her gunfire was as aggressive as falling meteors, injuring the examiner’s pet beast with a single shot, startling the examiner into taking her seriously.

These formidable individuals were beyond anyone’s expectations.

Previously, everyone believed that being first on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard was the pinnacle of the fourth generation.

Only now did people realize that the truly powerful fourth-generation beastmasters had long been barred from the supernatural divine beast leaderboard and were competing against third-generation beastmasters on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard.

This group of individuals was either top-level second-generation beastmasters or possessed extraordinary talents, both personally and in their pet beasts.

And this was just the first day of the preliminary assessment.

Netizens were silent, feeling that even the current top-ranked on the supernatural divine beast leaderboard might struggle to break into the top ten of this Freshman Tournament at beast taming university.

“A sovereign pet beast egg and an ethereal flower are not easy to obtain,” Lu Ran shrugged, feeling unfazed after reading the news.

There was still time. Before encountering these individuals, he believed he could achieve another qualitative leap in his strength, so there was no need to worry.

…

The Next Day.

From 7 AM to 8 AM, Lu Ran, general ha, and the sudden death king practiced energy flow for half an hour to warm up, followed by breakfast for another half hour.

From 8 AM to 12 PM, the sudden death king endured four hours of electric shocks at the Power Plant. General ha practiced storm slash and sword control, while Lu Ran roasted various ingredients using the Flame Sprite’s Culinary Intent, simultaneously training the Flame Sprite and refining the Flame Dragon’s Culinary Intent.

From 12 PM to 2 PM, they had lunch and rested. General ha prepared its lunch using Blizzard Sword Intent.

From 2 PM to 6 PM, they repeated the morning’s training.

From 6 PM to 8 PM, they had dinner and rested. General ha continued to cook its own meals…

After 8 PM, the sudden death king, through a day of training and eating, attempted to comprehend the artistic conception of the dragon from Dragon Cuisine, shaping the Thunder Dragon armor.

Lu Ran and General Ha Concluded Their Day’s Training and Rested.

They rested until the sudden death king was exhausted, and then all three slept soundly until the next morning.

The training regimen arranged by Lu Ran seemed quite inhumane and indeed was somewhat intense.

For an ordinary pet beast, such a regime would have long been grounds for rebellion.

At this stage, even though beastmasters and pet beasts could communicate simply, expecting a beastmaster to command a pet beast to engage in high-intensity special training was highly unrealistic.

Overly intense training not only fails to strengthen the pet beast effectively but can also easily lead to rebellion from the pet beast.

This is a critical reason why most novice beastmasters struggle to quickly nurture their pet beasts.

Some beastmasters with money and resources could use food as an incentive to lure their pet beasts into training.

Others with deeper emotional bonds with their pet beasts might patiently communicate, trying to get their pet beasts to voluntarily become stronger.

But for ordinary novice beastmasters, getting their pet beasts to obey is a near-impossible task.

Moreover, many beastmasters themselves lack self-discipline.

Lu Ran was relatively fortunate. Early on, he established a good relationship through telepathy with both general ha and the sudden death king. Thus, he faced almost no obstacles in this initial, most challenging step of communication for novice beastmasters.

All the issues that could arise had already been addressed during the initial bonding stage.

Moreover, the training he now arranged was aligned with the pet beasts’ inner desires.

To enhance its defense, the sudden death king endured the pain and hardship.

After all, enduring electric shocks was better than being fatally wounded by an enemy in the future.

Learning the artistic conception of the dragon was also aimed at strengthening the sudden death king’s energy armor. Currently, its physical defense far surpassed the strength of its energy armor.

Compared to its tough scales, the energy-shaped armor was as fragile as paper.

However, once it comprehends the special artistic conception and achieves shaping artistic conception, the various attributes of the energy armor will improve. This is something the sudden death king eagerly anticipates.

As for General Ha.

Despite the grueling process of training in energy compression, the presence of the divine deer pendant ensured that significant problems didn’t arise.

Its thought process was actually quite straightforward:

[Full of energy, can’t control itself, wants to destroy something, how about a fight?] → [Wins the fight, feels happy.]

[Didn’t win, holds a grudge.] → [Forgets the grudge.]

Or, with Lu Ran’s reminder: [Didn’t forget the grudge.] → [Trains harder.] → [Wins the fight, feels happy.]

This battle-crazed but somewhat simple-minded behavior was hard for Lu Ran to pinpoint its origin.

Perhaps General Ha’s parents were highly combative, or maybe Dr. Yunhan’s experiments on these animals as combat pets instilled this aggressive nature. It could also be that Lu Ran himself had shaped this behavior.

After all, when General Ha first came to his home, it was extremely ferocious and disobedient. Lu Ran could only subdue it through repeated fights. Given its vengeful nature, it tussled with Lu Ran daily. Maybe, through constant fighting, it developed a habit of seeing combat as a norm.

Yet, it was the demon cat that helped General Ha develop a good habit of becoming stronger through training.

With access to infinite city, General Ha’s battle instincts were finally unleashed. However, after its first secret realm challenge and a defeat at the hands of the demon cat, General Ha realized its basic combat strength was lacking. Thanks to special training with the divine deer pendant, it managed to defeat the demon cat eventually!

Training, though boring, greatly contributed to its ability to conquer various opponents.

Thus, several days passed.

The preliminary assessment ended, and Lu Ran was informed by the school that he had been selected as a seeded player, securing a spot in the top hundred.

But what concerned Lu Ran the most wasn’t that. After days of practice, he finally felt confident enough to roast the Dragon King Bird.

“Are you sure you can do it?”

“Do you want to practice your culinary skills for a few more days?”

As the roasting time approached, Manager Ying also grew nervous.

“I’m ready. I think I’m ready. After roasting meat for several days, my brain feels like it’s on fire.”

If it weren’t for the Blizzard Culinary Intent to cool things down… Lu Ran felt he wouldn’t have survived these past days!

Saying this, Lu Ran summoned the Flame Sprite Fire!!

The Flame Sprite skill excels in two main areas.

First, its growth direction is highly versatile. Second, it has culinary and forging perception.

The Flame Sprite’s fire can sense the optimal temperatures for cooking and forging materials like food ingredients and minerals at various stages. This provides great convenience for beastmasters. Yan Sizhen, the emperor of culinary manship and the originator of forging, truly lived up to his reputation. This skill is indeed born for cooking and forging.

In recent days, Lu Ran mainly focused on training to control the rapid changes in flame temperature. He also attempted to separate the flame dragon artistic conception into its flame and dragon traits. Lu Ran realized that it was difficult for the sudden death king to learn the flame dragon artistic conception. Therefore, he decided to start with the ordinary artistic conception of the dragon!

“Well, let’s try a piece first.”

Manager Ying spoke, taking out a palm-sized piece of Dragon King Bird meat, which was orange-red in color.

The freshness of this meat was excellent, likely preserved using a special method, rivaling even the Spirit Transformation Pot.

Under Manager Ying’s control, the meat floated in mid-air while Lu Ran extended his palm to start the fire.

Working together, the human and the cat began roasting this exquisite piece of meat.

During the process, the meat retained its juices, which flowed continuously over its surface without dripping, making it extremely tempting. The aroma released was equally enticing, slowly rising into the air. Though the scent seemed faint, its reach was surprisingly powerful and invasive.

“Meow!”

Manager Ying was amazed. To avoid disturbing Lu Ran’s roasting, it had specifically created a barrier. However, the aroma of the Dragon King Bird meat, infused with the Flame Dragon Culinary Intent, broke through the barrier and formed a dragon-shaped phenomenon in the sky.

Considering there weren’t any formidable figures in Green Sea City, Manager Ying didn’t mind. Its gem-like eyes turned to the sweat-drenched Lu Ran.

Roasting such exquisite ingredients put immense pressure on Lu Ran, as the Flame Sprite’s temperature had to change eleven times within a single minute to properly roast the bird meat in its various states.

This process nearly burned out Lu Ran’s brain, keeping his mind tense. Little did he and Manager Ying know that this simple act of roasting meat almost provoked the supernatural forces of Green Sea City into launching an attack!

On Emerald Mountain.

A fire snake suddenly poked its head out, looking into the distance. Smelling the incredible aroma, it fell into a trance, feeling itself evolving from a fire snake into a flame divine loong, dominating the skies.

Something strange was happening, and there was a treasure nearby!!

It flicked its tongue, drooling incessantly.

In the Distant Suburbs.

On an ice tea plant, an ice sparrow bird, looking like an ice crystal phoenix, seemed to melt in excitement as it gazed into the distance. The blood in its body boiled, as if it had caught the scent of an evolutionary opportunity.

At this moment, all level 10 and above living creatures in Green Sea City sensed the unbelievable aroma flowing through the air.

They all rushed in the same direction!!

“The Dark Crow Legion, heed my command! There’s a treasure! Assemble quickly!!” The dark crows flew at high speed through the sky.

“Inform the other six generals.”

“This kind of treasure must be presented to the big king!!”

However, when these creatures arrived nearby, they found themselves completely isolated by a massive barrier, unable to get close to the center.

“I hate this!!!”

The dark crow pressed against the barrier, flapping its wings furiously.

“If you have the ability to create a treasure, have the ability to open the door!”

Inside the Barrier.

“It’s done!!”

Inside the barrier, a piece of golden meat, glistening as if imbued with the essence of the stars, floated in mid-air under Manager Ying’s control.

Its appearance was so exquisite, seemingly containing all the beauty in the world. As Manager Ying and Lu Ran inhaled the aroma, it felt as if they were witnessing the evolution of a creature. They imagined a giant dragon wing bird, evolving step by step from a humble supernatural species into the overlord of the skies.

They were completely immersed in the deliciousness of the food.

“Slurp.” Manager Ying drooled from the corner of its mouth.

“Half a piece! Just half a piece!” Lu Ran’s eyes turned entirely to the meat.

Seeing Lu Ran’s eager expression, Manager Ying snorted disdainfully and said, “You can have this whole piece. Taste it with your divine tongue and see if there’s anything lacking. As for the other nine pieces, roast them with even more care!”

“Really?”

As soon as Lu Ran began to speak, he realized he was being too inquisitive. He quickly slapped himself to stop asking questions. He then took out his chef’s knife and divided the meat into three parts, summoning General Ha and the sudden death king.

He gave one-fourth of the meat to General Ha, half to the sudden death king, and kept a quarter for himself.

The man and his two pets eagerly savored the exquisite-level ingredients…

The moment the Dragon King bird meat entered their mouths…

A wonderful burst of juice exploded in their mouths. Lu Ran felt as if he had returned to his mother’s womb, reborn anew. He couldn’t find words to describe the ultimate flavor. If he had to, he might say it was worth dying for. Eating something like this made him feel that even if he died the next second, he would have no regrets.

“Howl!!!” General Ha was so delighted that the entire dog rolled on the ground in ecstasy, its soul almost drifting out.

Of course, giving such an excellent thing to Lu Ran and General Ha was somewhat wasteful, as they could only enjoy the taste and not fully absorb the nutritional value.

The true beneficiary was the sudden death king. After eating, the entire Dragon Lizard stood still, feeling its back heating up as if some new body parts were about to grow!

In the sky, the sudden death king felt as if it had merged with the sky, growing wings and starting to soar through the heavens.

Unfortunately, the wings didn’t grow in the end. However, the half piece of meat it consumed activated all the nutrients accumulated from the dragon cuisine it had eaten in recent days, causing its body to vibrate as if it were expanding!

“Roar!!!”

The sudden death king’s body trembled violently, feeling a force more terrifying than a volcano erupting within it. It was immensely scared, feeling like it was about to explode. What it didn’t realize was that it had finally achieved something it had been unable to do before.

After eating the Dragon King bird meat, the sudden death king manifested an energy apparition, extending upwards more than ten meters and enveloping it.

No, this was different from before.

Previously, it was just an apparition, clearly formed of energy that allowed one to see the true form of the sudden death king inside.

This time, the energy apparition was slowly becoming substantial. Moreover, it didn’t entirely resemble the sudden death king anymore.

Instead, it looked like a lifelike Black Dragon, surrounded by red lightning scales. This energy shaping not only replicated the appearance of a giant dragon but also featured the iconic massive dragon wings, combining both biological and equipment shaping!!!

At this moment…

New words appeared on the sudden death king’s contract card:

[Skill]: Thunder Shield, Discharge, Thunder Dragon Armor (Artistic Conception of the Dragon Shaping Skill, which can temporarily give energy constructs the power of a giant dragon.)

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