King of Beasts

While Lu Ran was learning about nutritional balance and enhancing his culinary skills, he didn’t neglect his forging department studies.

Generally speaking, learning so much in a short period would be impossible for the average person to digest.

But Lu Ran was different; he was willing to spend money.

He bought a lot of lucid fruit, temporarily boosting his learning ability.

As a result, he managed to progress in both culinary manship and forging simultaneously.

At this point, Lu Ran had almost mastered some basic theoretical knowledge in forging.

Having grasped the basics, Lu Ran quickly developed some ideas.

He wanted to enchant the Ice Sky Greatsword with a blood-sucking attribute.

Fang Lan needed the blood of a Diamond Dragon for her poison research-the more, the better.

General Ha could break the defense of the Diamond Dragon and make it bleed a little, but the amount of blood was too small.

Moreover, it was difficult to collect.

However, if Lu Ran could have a weapon with a blood-sucking attribute, he could obtain a “blood-soaked sword” after attacking.

This would solve the problem perfectly.

In addition, Lu Ran had another reason for this idea.

The Legendary Secret Realm could only be cleared once, which was a pity!

Lu Ran wanted to see if he could repeatedly get something from the Diamond Dragon.

Of course, if he went too far, he worried that he might accidentally complete the trial mission.

After all, the trial mission of the Legendary Secret Realm was to “defeat the Diamond Dragon,” not to kill it.

If he had the ability to dismantle the boss’s vital organs, there was a risk that Infinite City might judge it as “defeated,” which would be awkward.

But if it was just some Dragon Blood, it should be fine, right?

Clearly, just knocking off a few scales to get a few drops of blood wouldn’t be considered defeating it.

At that point, he could fill a bottle with Dragon Blood, exit, abandon the challenge, and then re-enter to continue the challenge…

When the challenge crystal coins were at zero, as long as he was strong enough, Lu Ran felt…

Hmm, the blood of an upper sovereign pure Dragon Clan, though not exactly exquisite, was still quite rare.

The main point was that it came from a mutated Diamond Dragon, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

At this moment, a weapon with a blood-sucking attribute became crucial!

However, despite understanding the principles behind this high-difficulty enchantment operation, Lu Ran wasn’t confident enough to do it by himself.

So, Lu Ran decisively chose to summon help and called over Master Lin, who had just finished his class.

“To give a weapon a blood-sucking trait, you need to use a rare resource called the ‘bloodsucker stone’ as the main enhancement material…”

“So, do you want me to help, or do you want to do it yourself?” Master Lin asked, looking at Lu Ran.

“I’ll do it myself, but I need you to teach me,” Lu Ran replied.

At the moment, General Ha’s ability to break the defense of the Diamond Dragon was too limited. Having a blood-sucking weapon too early wouldn’t be useful.

It would be better to wait until General Ha’s strength increased a bit more.

After two days of learning basic knowledge and cooking for a few days, Lu Ran was itching to switch gears and delve into forging.

“Alright, I don’t have anything else planned anyway. There’s no time like the present. Today, I’ll guide you through your first forging attempt,” Master Lin said, crossing his arms with an expectant expression.

After all, Lu Ran’s beast taming skill was the Flame Sprite.

Once Lu Ran delved into forging manship, he was sure to become the world’s top-level Forgemaster.

By then, Master Lin could proudly say that it was he who had taught Lu Ran.

“By the way, besides forging a sword, what else do you want to forge?” Master Lin asked.

“Starting with a sword is quite challenging.”

“How about we start with something simpler?”

“Uh? I was thinking of a Crow Feather Bow,” Lu Ran said.

It wasn’t to increase his bond with the dark crow.

It was purely because he could use a ranged weapon for poison application techniques.

“This…” Master Lin’s mouth twitched. “Anything else?”

This wasn’t easy either; the forging department also had different specialties, like tailoring… and bow crafting was even more specialized.

“How about a stone tablet?” Lu Ran suggested.

This was something he was planning as a gift for the black turtle, to help it cosplay as Baxia and assist in suppressing the coastal waters.

“A stone tablet?” Master Lin said, “Let’s start with the stone tablet then. It’s the easiest.”

“As long as you have enough talent, I guarantee you’ll be able to forge a rare quality weapon within half a month.” Master Lin was confident, not in Lu Ran, but in the Flame Sprite!

“Half a month!” Lu Ran nodded, feeling this was acceptable.

Next, Lu Ran began his first forging attempt under Master Lin’s guidance.

They used materials provided by Master Lin.

Lu Ran was a very special kind of Forgemaster, almost not needing external facilities or devices.

The first step was melting the materials. After the Flame Sprite possessed him, Lu Ran could control energy release and start the fire himself.

In terms of temperature control, his culinary fire skills provided a solid foundation, so there were basically no issues there.

Moreover, the Flame Sprite could sense the optimal temperature for melting minerals, making this step very easy for Lu Ran.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Lu Ran stood there, and in front of him, a special liquid formed from the core and auxiliary materials floated in the flames, sparkling.

“Perfect, just perfect,” Master Lin exclaimed in admiration at this sight.

Next, for the second step—shaping the form—Lu Ran combined energy shaping and energy overlay techniques. He directly controlled the Flame Sprite to help shape the molten essence. As long as the structure wasn’t too complex, he could shape it directly without using molds.

At most, he would only need to polish it afterwards to refine the details.

Under Lu Ran’s control, the mineral essence, wrapped in flames, slowly took the shape of a stone tablet.

No wonder Master Lin said that Lu Ran wasn’t suitable for learning with the new students in the forging department. With his configuration, it would be an overwhelming advantage.

Next, under Master Lin’s guidance, Lu Ran embedded primary materials like water enhancement and rock enhancement minerals into the unformed stone tablet.

After some effort, Lu Ran quickly forged a large stone tablet inlaid with gems.

However, this wasn’t the end.

“Next is the most important step…” Master Lin said. “The materials for forging this stone tablet and the methods for inscribing it are all documented in the textbooks, notes, and manuals I gave you. You’ve studied them carefully, right?”

“Of course.” At the final moment, Lu Ran took out the Inscription Stone.

Inscription carving is the most crucial step in creating high-quality equipment.

Simply melting and reacting materials, adding primary materials, and shaping the appearance only result in a semi-finished product.

The true power of these forging materials hasn’t been unified yet; they can’t interact or associate with each other. This would lead to the weapon breaking down quickly.

The purpose of the inscription is to use external forces to integrate the power of all materials into a cohesive whole. This process requires a natural mineral called the Inscription Stone.

The use of the Inscription Stone is easy to understand: it absorbs the user’s physical energy to release a magical wave. This magical wave greatly promotes the fusion of various forging materials.

By using the Inscription Stone to contact the forged equipment, you can “link” the power waves of multiple materials along a trajectory suitable for various mineral materials. Once the linking is complete, a high-quality weapon is considered forged. This step is called inscription carving because it resembles inscribing characters on the equipment.

The challenge in the final step lies in the fact that the linking trajectories for different mineral materials are not the same. When dealing with familiar materials, a Forgemaster can forge easily by just expending some physical energy.

It’s similar to a Chef following a tutorial or recipe—it’s straightforward.

But if the mineral materials used or the material combinations lack past references, the process becomes very difficult. The Forgemaster needs to continually invest energy and attempt various methods in the final stage, much like a Chef experimenting with a new recipe. This process tests the Forgemaster’s stamina and experience.

If significant mistakes are made, it can result in damaging the forged equipment embryo or reducing the quality of the final product.

Fortunately, Lu Ran’s superhuman physique gave him a significant advantage in this process.

As for this forging session, it wasn’t as complicated. Following the tutorial step by step, Lu Ran easily completed the inscription carving. Despite his superhuman physique, he only broke a sweat after the forging.

A high-quality stone tablet capable of amplifying water and rock powers was effortlessly completed.

“Not bad.” Master Lin examined the stone tablet once Lu Ran finished forging. For a first attempt, this result was quite impressive.

However, when he looked at Lu Ran, he noticed some dissatisfaction in his eyes as he gazed at the stone tablet.

“I feel I can do better,” Lu Ran said.

After all, it was meant for the Black Turtle. With his current status, he should at least present a rare quality stone tablet weapon.

“Haha, no rush. This is only your first forging attempt. Starting with something highly difficult isn’t very suitable. You can keep this stone tablet as a memento, or if you don’t value it, you can dismantle it. Continue to work on it, reassemble it, and improve your skills.”

“Dismantle?”

Lu Ran’s eyes lit up. “I get it. When I was a kid in Xiaweiyi, I learned about firearms disassembly and assembly. This process was very helpful for beginners to understand firearms. So, forging can be done this way too.”

Master Lin was baffled: ???

What kind of family did you have, learning firearm disassembly and assembly as a kid in Xiaweiyi…

“Master Lin, the four swords I forged here for the Freshman Tournament, can they also be dismantled for learning?”

Master Lin: ???

“Damn it, if you dare to, go ahead!”

…

It didn’t even take half a month.

Just a week later!

Through continuous practice and dismantling masterworks to learn from their construction and ideas, Lu Ran had already begun to forge rare quality weapons.

And the cost? Just a few permanently damaged weapons.

Green Sea City.

Ten days later, Lu Ran finally fulfilled his promise. He brought the Black Turtle some of the better Dragon Cuisine dishes he had cooked during this period.

Outside Qingwu Lake.

Lu Ran walked to the lake’s edge, a dark crow perched on his shoulder.

This visit was not only to deliver resources to the black turtle but also to check the dark crow’s training progress. It had been diligent; the effective range of its release-type skills had broken through 50 meters, and the effective range of its curse had also reached 50 meters. Compared to the previous 20 meters, it was no longer as lackluster, proving that Lu Ran’s investment in improving its diet hadn’t gone to waste.

[You know…]

[This so-called Dragon Cuisine really smells wonderful.]

[I’ve never tasted anything this delicious in all my years.]

The black turtle, meanwhile, seemed deeply moved, tears welling up as it enjoyed the meal Lu Ran had prepared.

“How is it? This Seven-Star Dragon Fish Ball is quite something, right?” Lu Ran smiled.

The Seven-Star Dragon Fish Ball, white in color, elastic but not greasy, fragrant and tender, with a sweet and smooth taste, was made primarily from mutated dragon fish meat, dragon blood porcupine meat, and dried lobster, supplemented with various other ingredients.

It was a Dragon Cuisine designed to enhance the purity of dragon blood and increase scale defense, originally developed for the sudden death king.

Now, it was perfectly suited for the black turtle.

Next to it, numerous basketball-sized snow-white fish balls floated on the lake surface like stars scattered across the sky. As the black turtle sighed in satisfaction, faint red energy patterns began to appear on its black shell.

Clearly, this Dragon Cuisine was subtly transforming the black turtle’s physique, guiding it toward evolving into a dragon turtle, a Sub-dragon Species.

“Take your time, it’s all yours.”

“Old turtle, this is for you too.” Next, Lu Ran took out a massive stone tablet matching the black turtle’s size and placed it nearby, saying:

“This stone tablet is called the Abyssal Stele, rare quality. It has an adhesive effect, so you can carry it on your shell without worrying about it falling off.”

“Huh?” The black turtle, initially enjoying its meal, was stunned when it saw Lu Ran bring out a gigantic stone tablet.

Did it really have to carry this thing?

It looked heavy.

“Don’t underestimate it. This tablet can significantly boost your strength, helping you dominate the coastal waters! Whether it’s increasing the power of your water skills or enhancing your rock skills, it’s a great asset… Though it might seem a bit superfluous, as the saying goes…”

“Quack!” The dark crow chimed in.

It looked solemnly at the black turtle.

“General Black Turtle, even with the Abyssal Stele on your back, you can still be invincible in the coastal waters. Don’t let the Big King down!”

“Get lost! That’s not the right saying. It makes the stele sound like a burden,” Lu Ran shooed the silly bird away and said to the black turtle, “Anyway, it’s all just motivational talk. The important thing is to know that this is a good item.”

The black turtle fell into deep thought.

Could this old body really handle all the trouble Lu Ran was putting it through?

Never mind, let’s eat the Dragon Fish Ball first.

…

After settling things with the black turtle, Lu Ran returned to Sky City. Under master Lin’s guidance, he spent two days completing the final training.

He finally managed to enchant the Ice Sky Greatsword with a bloodsucking effect by fusing it with the bloodsucker stone.

After nearly half a month, Lu Ran re-entered the Legendary Secret Realm: Dragon King’s Nest!

“Roar!!!”

With the roars of two giant dragons, Lu Ran once again replicated his first combat experience.

At present, they still didn’t have the power to defeat the Diamond Dragon, but compared to last time, they were a bit more composed and had a clear objective.

“General Ha, sword control.”

“Woof!”

Inside the cavern, the sudden death king took a heavy hit to create an opening for General Ha. A Flying Sword shot out, piercing through a scale and drawing blood from the Diamond Dragon, causing it to roar in pain.

However, just as it was about to retaliate in fury, it was bewildered to find that the Flying Sword had swiftly been swept away by a Gale, and the enemy had vanished without a trace. The Diamond Dragon looked down to inspect its wound… only to be even more bewildered to find that the blood from the wound had disappeared as well.

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