King of Beasts

“Award ceremony…”

“What about the awards?”

In Sky City, Lu Ran scanned the news but found no accusations of rigging the competition. Satisfied, he left.

At this point, Lu Ran didn’t care how he had won first place. Since his opponents had all forfeited, he was the champion by default.

He wasn’t too keen on fighting anyway.

However, with the Freshman Tournament over and the three Deans having finished their speeches, nobody had mentioned the prizes, which made Lu Ran quite displeased.

Lu Ran had to urge his personal bodyguard, as it was the only one who had contact with the Dean.

“Stop pressing.”

“You won’t miss out on your reward.”

“However, due to certain issues, the award ceremony originally to be conducted by Shi Zhen has been canceled.”

Manager Ying walked over and, seeing Lu Ran’s impatient look, explained.

“Turned into a woman just like that? Without any prior warning?” Lu Ran exclaimed in surprise.

“No!”

“It’s all because of Lin Yin.” Manager Ying’s mouth twitched. Just finished telling you about the curse, and you remember it so well!

At this moment, its expression was mysterious, clearly having obtained some inside intelligence.

“I get it. What happened to Lin Yin after she passed out?” Lu Ran asked.

Everyone had withdrawn from the competition, so the situation must be quite serious.

Could it be that her superhuman abilities were too strong, causing physical issues?

Indeed, mental power superhuman abilities are dangerous!

My telepathy ability is much more peaceful. At most, I just have a nightmare, which I can get used to over time.

“Considering you’re also a superhuman and might face a similar situation in the future, I’ll just tell you directly,” Manager Ying said.

“She seems to have been chosen by a powerful mental species and connected to a dream.”

Saying this, Manager Ying recounted the beast taming version of “I, Qin Shi Huang, send money!” to Lu Ran.

“Dream scam?!” Lu Ran, who often received scam calls and texts, instinctively thought that this must be a dream scam in the era of spiritual energy revival after hearing Lin Yin’s experience!

“Who knows,” Manager Ying rolled its eyes. “I don’t know any ‘legendary fox’ or ‘reincarnated legendary creature’… It’s bold enough to make such a claim. If it had said it was an overlord-level life form, it would have been more believable.”

“A legendary creature… How could it have such a lowly ambition!”

“Also, asking for an epic-level mental resource is a bit much. Forget about Xia Country, even globally, finding one would be quite an achievement.”

“So, basically, whether it’s a scam or not, Xia Country doesn’t have the money for it. Is that what you mean?” Lu Ran interpreted.

Indeed, the best way to prevent scams is to be broke. Now, they just needed to ensure Lin Yin herself wasn’t swindled.

“Uh, that’s roughly the situation. But the First Generation members are taking a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach. They’re actually discussing ways to get an epic-level mental resource.”

“Huh???”

“Of course, they don’t really intend to awaken the creature unless they can confirm its identity and determine it’s an ally.”

“So, this matter is left for Lin Nian to worry about,” Manager Ying shook its head.

“By the way, Manager Ying, do we have any leads on the ancient creature we’re searching for?” Lu Ran asked.

Other superhumans, whether dealing with good or bad beasts, had ancient creatures come to them.

But for their team… there had been no movement.

“It doesn’t happen that quickly… We’re still searching,” Manager Ying muttered. “Even if we find one now, you don’t have a contract slot available. Besides, there’s a sovereign species egg waiting for you to contract.”

“That egg—several First Generation members were eager to get it from the guild leader, but the old man didn’t give it to them. It’s your lucky break.”

“Really?” Lu Ran’s mouth curved into a grin. He hoped whatever hatched from the egg would be powerful!

“So, since the award ceremony is canceled, where do I go to claim my prize?”

“I’ll leave a message for Qingyi. She can bring it to you later. She’s currently with the guild leader and Shi Zhen.”

“Alright,” Lu Ran felt reassured.

At this moment, besides Lu Ran, there was another person eagerly anticipating their prize.

Fang Lan!

In this Freshman Tournament, she performed exceptionally well, ranking 15th among the freshmen.

Many beastmasters from Infinite City No. 3 were astonished at how the Five Poisons Cult Holy Maiden had become so formidable.

Lu Ran could only marvel at the resource advantages of having an entire city as a backup poison reservoir and being a Holy Maiden of a cult. It seemed these resources truly made a significant difference.

Fang Lan now clearly had the potential to become the strongest poison-type beastmaster of the fourth generation.

Her rewards included a lower commander species pet beast cub, a choice of a trait crystal or beast taming skill, and 100,000 crystal coins.

Faced with these rewards, Fang Lan immediately messaged Lu Ran, asking:

[What kind of crystal or skill do you want? And the pet beast?]

Before the tournament, Lu Ran had given her a fusion beast taming skill. Fang Lan had promised that if she achieved good results, the rewards would be used to buy skill cards for Lu Ran.

Lu Ran had forgotten about this, but after a moment of surprise, he simply replied:

[Keep them for yourself. I don’t have any particular needs… You getting stronger is more important than anything else. High-level Abyss Secret Realms will have overlord species bosses. I definitely can’t clear them on my own and will rely on your poison skills for support.]

Lu Ran wasn’t being modest.

Post-tournament, the Abyss Secret Realms that the First Generations challenged were guarded by overlord species bosses, making them extremely difficult to clear.

The First Generations had even more resources than Lu Ran. For example, Dr. Gu already had an exceptional Loong-type pet beast. But even they couldn’t overcome the gap of overlord species without undergoing a second evolution. It was evident how challenging high-level Abyss Secret Realms were.

Lu Ran’s current strength was largely due to investments from big shots. For instance, Dr. Gu had given him “Overlord Body Trait Crystal” and “Nature Control Trait Crystal,” which only had a chance to drop from defeating overlord species bosses. These top-tier crystals required a First Generation-led team to obtain.

Enjoying the benefits of top-tier crystals in advance was a rare privilege for fourth-generation beastmasters. However, as time passed… Lu Ran’s advantage of this head start would diminish. Eventually, others would also gain access to powerful trait crystals.

At that time, without a significant advantage, Lu Ran would likely need more external help to conquer high-level secret realms. It was similar to General Ha’s first challenge at the Abandoned Testing Ground; despite having the divine deer pendant, it was still very difficult. In the end, they only succeeded thanks to the venom provided by Fang Lan.

Currently, Lu Ran wasn’t in dire need of the rewards Fang Lan had. After all, he was the world’s only Dragon Chef. While he may lack top-level resources, he had many ways to acquire regular resources. So, it would be better to let Fang Lan develop quickly. Having a poison expert as an acquaintance was incredibly beneficial.

“Really?” Fang Lan called and said, “Then I won’t be polite.”

“Watch me become a professor in the toxicology department within a year and concoct a poison that can take down an overlord.”

“Nonsense,” Lu Ran scoffed. He didn’t take her bragging seriously. They were old friends and didn’t need to be coy about such things. Soon, Lu Ran’s attention was drawn to Manager Ying’s message, informing him that Dr. Gu would personally deliver the resources.

“Here you go.”

Called over by Manager Ying, Dr. Gu was holding a gigantic pet beast egg.

She must have received the message and made time to come over immediately.

Even Gu Qingyi hadn’t expected that the grand prize she casually mentioned would actually end up in Lu Ran’s hands.

“Hold on tight…”

Lu Ran received the pet beast egg.

“Thank you, Dr. Gu. I appreciate you delivering it personally…”

“No problem, using teleportation makes it quick.”

“…” So, they all have space-type utility pets, huh!

“This is for you as well. Shi Zhen said, ‘Great job, aim to research Loong-types before the Eagle Federation.’”

With that, Gu Qingyi also took out the ethereal flower.

Lu Ran’s eyes lit up. It seemed he would soon have a space-type utility pet as well.

The first skill he planned to develop… Lu Ran had already decided: it would be teleportation.

“No problem.”

“By the way, about this pet beast egg…”

“It will hatch in about two months. The sovereign species cub, even in its primitive form, has very strong vitality. It will actively absorb external energy, so you don’t need to take special care of it. Just remember not to place it in a special space, and…”

“Just be careful not to accidentally cook it as an ingredient.”

“As if,” Lu Ran said, exasperated. He wasn’t extravagant enough to use a sovereign species egg for cooking…

“Two months, huh? Then I’ll enter a level 1 breakthrough secret realm in a month. When I come out, my contract slots will increase by one, and it’ll be just about hatching time,” Lu Ran said. “How does that sound?”

“That could work,” Dr. Gu said thoughtfully. “In the meantime, you can focus on researching Dragon Cuisine here. I’ll coordinate with the university to ensure you have enough Dragon Blood ingredients.”

“Yeah,” Lu Ran agreed. Indeed, he had no immediate plans for General Ha. Besides energy flow, the other three major energy techniques had all reached the second stage. Not just for level 20, but even among third-generation beastmasters’ pet beasts, its foundation was very solid. Significant progress in the short term seemed unlikely.

However, Sudden Death King had a lot of room for improvement.

It didn’t know energy flow, it didn’t know energy compression, and it had only just learned energy release, specifically discharging energy. In terms of energy shaping, it showed some promise with the artistic conception of the dragon. Sudden Death King’s species talent was not inferior to General Ha’s, but it struggled to compete due to its rough energy management.

Next up, various top-level Dragon Cuisine dishes combined with reverse super beast mimicry should help Sudden Death King shore up this weakness. This would enable it to rival General Ha as the strongest shield and the strongest sword, achieving a balanced state.

If it couldn’t even match an Erha, how could Sudden Death King truly transform into a dragon at level 30?

By then, Lu Ran estimated that when he challenged the level 1 breakthrough secret realm, no matter the situation, it shouldn’t pose much difficulty or pressure.

He just hoped there wouldn’t be any bizarre breakthrough tasks this time.

…

Dr. Gu came and went in a hurry. After spending so much time in the deep sea, she had a lot of things to handle upon her return and couldn’t revolve entirely around Lu Ran.

After handing the sovereign pet beast egg to Manager Ying for safekeeping, Lu Ran entered the Public Infinite City.

Before the Loong-type ingredients were ready at the beast taming university, Lu Ran planned to first sweep through the level 1 secret realms.

There were still some valuable resources to be found in level 1 secret realms. For instance, the “Mental Gem,” which could awaken mental attributes, could be obtained in the notoriously difficult level 1 secret realm, “Sinking Land.”

Unlike trait crystals, these awakening attribute resources had no fusion restrictions. Lu Ran intended to farm one and send it to Green Sea City for his Dark Crow to awaken its second attribute.

If he was lucky and obtained several similar resources, he could also arrange second attributes for The King’s Seven Beast Generals. Compared to PVP, Lu Ran definitely preferred PVE, as the resource acquisition speed was fast enough.

“The main goal is still the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard.”

“Back in the public secret realm, General Ha, with its species comparable to a low-tier sovereign, only ranked second on the Public Infinite City Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard. This might be because the competition on the leaderboard at the multi-national boundary of Public Infinite City was too fierce, or perhaps General Ha didn’t fully exert its abilities against the Tyrannosaurus Rex…”

“Let’s see how it ranks in the domestic infinite city this time, along with Sudden Death King… We’ll just randomly pick two unlucky ones to push down the list…”

Starting today, Lu Ran would compete with third-generation beastmasters for a spot on the leaderboard. Compared to the Fourth Generation’s supernatural leaderboard, the third-generation commander leaderboard felt like a stagnant pool, lacking vitality. It needed some fresh energy to help them take things seriously.

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