King of Beasts

“By the way.” Just as Manager Ying was about to leave, Lu Ran suddenly called out.

“I have something here for you!”

Lu Ran took out the damage transfer skill card.

“By the way, does a curse count as damage? If it does, could you help me give this to Principal Shi Zhen? If it can help him out.”

Lu Ran thought Principal Shi Zhen was quite a decent person!

Over time, Principal Shi Zhen had given him two exquisite resources.

One was the Wind King’s Fruit and the other was the ethereal flower.

Although one was an advance salary and the other was a reward he earned, the other party was quite generous.

Now, he was thinking about the Evil God’s Eye trait…

Principal Shi Zhen probably wouldn’t care much about the Stone Dragon Egg, but this damage transfer might be useful.

The only problem was whether this thing could actually transfer a curse.

If it couldn’t, that would be a bit of a problem…

It might even waste one of the other party’s skill slots for nothing.

So, Lu Ran first asked Manager Ying if it knew anything about this skill.

“Damage transfer?” Manager Ying paused, looking at Lu Ran, and said, “Just how many good things have you acquired…”

But then it shook its head and said, “Sorry, but he probably can’t use this skill of yours.”

“Huh? A curse doesn’t count as damage?”

“Maybe it does, but if the curse is too high-level, do you think a newly learned damage transfer can transfer it? Skills need to be developed.”

“Many beastmasters have multiple skill slots but only specialize in one or two beast taming skills for this reason.”

“Dabbling in too many things without mastery!”

“And the reason I said he can’t use your skill is because… he already knows this skill himself!”

Lu Ran was stunned. He had calculated everything except this. Damn, just how much effort had Principal Shi Zhen put into trying to revert back?

“After coming out of the breakthrough secret realm, he has been trying various ways to lift the curse. His new contract slots and skill slots have long been filled with skills to try and lift the curse.”

“Damage transfer is the latest skill he learned. Your card is not the first on the blue star. Although it’s rare, beastmasters abroad also obtained it from breakthrough secret realms.”

“He got the intelligence and bought it at a high price from other countries. He paid a considerable price for this skill, which doesn’t have a stable drop rate.”

“In the end, after learning it, he still couldn’t transfer the curse.”

“You could say it was a lot of effort wasted for nothing.”

“That’s such a shame.” Lu Ran had thought giving the damage transfer skill would be a surefire way to get the Evil God’s Eye trait, but he didn’t expect the other party already had the skill.

“Don’t worry about it, leave it to me.”

“As for labor compensation, I’ll take it from the Stone Dragon Egg.”

“I’ll help you get that trait. Of course, you might have to pay some other price as well… depending on my negotiation results with him.”

With that, Manager Ying stepped out, not saying anything more to Lu Ran.

Seeing it leave, Lu Ran stood there in thought.

After a long while, he shook his head.

Forget it.

Whatever.

Lu Ran began packing his things.

The professor’s villa was nice, but he didn’t plan to stay here for the time being.

During this process, Lu Ran casually turned on the TV…

“The beast that suppressed an era…” As soon as the sound came on, Lu Ran turned it off.

Goodness, they were quick to jump on the bandwagon.

“Speaking of which, I haven’t shared the good news with Fang Lan, and she hasn’t come to congratulate me either.”

While packing, Lu Ran casually picked up his phone and dialed Fang Lan’s number.

“Uh…” On the other end, Fang Lan’s sleepy voice came through.

“Are you sleeping?” Lu Ran asked.

“Yeah.”

“…You should watch the news.” Lu Ran was speechless. “What’s up? Just tell me.” Fang Lan was annoyed, not in the mood for guessing games.

“Alright, I cleared the Legendary Secret Realm.” Lu Ran sighed, feeling it was quite anticlimactic.

The whole world was shocked by his solo clear of the Legendary Secret Realm, and this person was sleeping.

“Huh? Huh? Huh?!”

“You cleared it?!” Fang Lan’s tone changed: “Did my poison work?”

“It did,” Lu Ran laughed. “Otherwise, we’d have taken a few more beatings before succeeding.”

“That’s good to hear,” Fang Lan said, feeling pleased.

With her research deepening, she found poison increasingly interesting.

It gave her a sense of invincibility, thinking that as long as something could be poisoned, even gods could be taken down.

“Since you’re done with your side of things, I need to start considering my own Path of Legend,” Fang Lan said calmly. Lu Ran didn’t bring her along, so she’d go on her own.

Now that both of her pet beasts were level 20, and since her poison had proven effective even against Dragon Clan bosses, Fang Lan was inspired to challenge the Legendary Secret Realm herself.

“Huh?” Lu Ran was taken aback, about to say something, but then he thought of the rich rewards from the Legendary Secret Realm and felt it would indeed be a pity if Fang Lan missed out.

Fang Lan continued, “Actually, before, people like Youxiong Anlin, Du Yuan, and Pluto had asked me if I was interested in teaming up to tackle the Legendary Secret Realm. But at that time, my pet beasts weren’t level 20 yet, and with your warning, I thought it was too dangerous, so I declined.”

“Now, I think teaming up might be worth a try.”

“Then go with Youxiong Anlin and Du Yuan,” Lu Ran suggested.

“Those two aren’t weak. If I had teamed up with them earlier, we might have cleared it a month ago.”

Youxiong Anlin’s Light and Dark Panda seemed to be well-trained. It was the only pet beast in the Freshman Tournament that had mastered the second stage of the energy flow technique, a skill that even General Ha and the sudden death king (the lizard) hadn’t grasped.

The second stage of energy flow not only had remarkable stamina recovery but also could partially ignore defense, directly inflicting energy damage into the enemy’s body, enhancing the penetration of energy skills.

So, just as General Ha could break the defense of the Diamond Dragon, the Light and Dark Panda could also break defenses. Both the Dragon Slayer Sword intent and the second stage of energy flow had some armor-piercing effects.

As for Du Yuan, he had a space pet beast that could perform short-range teleportation and spatial concealment, serving as a decoy to attract the Diamond Dragon’s attacks. Although he couldn’t withstand much damage, he could easily dodge and draw attacks.

These two “Freshman Tournament runner-up and third-place” players had some skills. With their help, Lu Ran estimated he could have cleared the Legendary Secret Realm much earlier.

Combining Fang Lan’s poison with these two’s combat power, Lu Ran felt they might have a good chance of teaming up to clear the newly refreshed Legendary Secret Realm. If three weren’t enough, adding a fourth member should do the trick.

It’s a shame that the superhuman Lin Yin had disappeared. Otherwise, having a superhuman lead the team would have made it even easier.

“If you can’t find suitable teammates, don’t rush into the challenge. Just stay at level 1 for now.”

“What are you planning?” Fang Lan asked.

“Have you forgotten? I’m a professor in the cultivating department, a professor!”

“Eh?” Fang Lan still didn’t understand.

Lu Ran explained, “Next, I’m going to focus on research on Loong-type species. At that time, I’ll definitely need pet beasts and beastmasters to cooperate.”

“I can totally select a batch of students from the freshmen, have them cooperate in the Loong-type research, and use the resources of the beast taming university to help them cultivate their second pet, steering it towards the Loong-type direction.”

“If the Eagle Federation can cultivate a Tyrannosaurus Rex team, I should have no problem cultivating a ‘Jiao Dragon Team’ at the beast taming university, right?”

“Besides, I can invest in their second trait, third trait, and beast taming skills just like Dr. Gu invested in me…”

“Very soon, a powerful Fourth Generation Dragon Taming Team can be formed. By then, you can lead the team to tackle the secret realm, and the chances of clearing it will be very high.”

Fang Lan remarked, “And if this team finds a unique trait or skill in the Legendary Secret Realm that suits you, they would hand it over to you, right?”

“You’re so calculating, I could hear your plans all the way from the girls’ dormitory!”

“Ahem.” Seeing his intentions exposed by Fang Lan, Lu Ran said, “It’s a win-win cooperation.”

“It’s mutually beneficial. I’m not taking advantage of anyone.”

Dragon King trait, Stone Dragon Egg—these resources, even the First Generation would envy.

From this, it’s clear that the unique rewards of the Legendary Secret Realm have little to do with level; each is a top-tier treasure.

Unfortunately, Lu Ran himself can only clear it once.

However, Lu Ran could only clear the Legendary Secret Realm once, but he could “cultivate” and “mentor” other beastmasters, enabling them to team up and clear the Legendary Secret Realm, thereby earning rewards.

Then, he could take a share of their rewards, effectively allowing him to gain from the Legendary Secret Realm indefinitely.

A true Beastmaster Mentor!

Fang Lan laughed and said, “Isn’t this just like when we teamed up to clear the novice secret realm back then?”

“Except that one had you leading the team and providing absolute combat power, while the other has you stepping back to offer resources.”

“That’s pretty much how it is,” Lu Ran said, rubbing his nose. The rewards from the Legendary Secret Realm were just too tempting.

Besides, he did have the means to do this…

“So, your choice of people…”

“That’s right, I think the folks from LuJia Village are quite suitable. The main thing is, we already know each other well and have teamed up dozens of times. Also, it keeps the benefits within the family.”

“When I won the Freshman Tournament, Lu Bing and the others even invited me to be the village chief of LuJia Village…”

This was true. After Lu Ran became successful, the beastmasters of LuJia Village hoped Lu Ran would return to the village.

LuJia Village had a strong sense of clan identity, with the older generation being somewhat xenophobic, but Lu Ran was not an outsider at all.

His grandfather was the previous village chief, and his parents had donated an elementary school and a clinic to LuJia Village. Now, Lu Ran, as one of the leading fourth-generation beastmasters, had also provided significant help to the village’s development.

Even the current village chief of LuJia Village believed that Lu Ran was more suited to leading the village and the Lu Clan forward.

The village chief of LuJia Village had always been the strongest person, historically competing through hunting skills. Now, Lu Ran was undoubtedly the strongest person to come out of LuJia Village, making him the obvious choice for the village chief.

At that time, Lu Ran, being busy, didn’t take it seriously and politely declined Lu Bing and the others with a laugh.

A minor taking on the role of village chief? Ridiculous.

But now… while he didn’t necessarily need to become the village chief, Lu Ran felt there was a need to cultivate his own force.

It was too slow to reap the benefits of infinite city on his own.

Rather than choosing other talented individuals with their own backgrounds to be Loong-type graduate students, it would be better to choose those with some connection to the divine deer and his own lineage-the Lu Clan.

A village protected by legendary creatures is certainly not simple. Besides himself, there might be other “cheaters” emerging from there in the future.

“…” Fang Lan.

Fang Lan was speechless. Lu Ran, with his ambitions of becoming the King of Green Sea and now a clan leader, are you really planning something big?

“Then I’ll wait for Lu Bing and the others to break through level 1 and team up with them.”

“Since I’m researching the poison species, it doesn’t really depend on my level, so I’m not in a hurry to break through to level 2.”

“Sounds good!” Lu Ran agreed.

Since the Legendary Secret Realm would refresh and there weren’t any imminent opportunities like the Freshman Tournament, it wasn’t necessary to rush through the levels.

As they spoke, Lu Ran opened the group chat for the novice secret realm strategy team.

Passerby A: [Everyone, don’t rush to choose your second pet beast. Let me see if I can find some suitable fish, lizard, or snake pet beasts with inborn commander species traits. This way, when you apply to be my graduate students and join me in researching Loong-type evolution, the university might provide some resources to support us.]

[If the Dragon Pets are well-cultivated, everyone will have a chance to challenge the Legendary Secret Realm after reaching level 1.]

As soon as Lu Ran spoke, the LuJia Village team and Pig Raiser got excited.

Pig Raiser: [God Lu, I bow to you!]

Wow, inborn commander species pet beasts-this was a privilege reserved for the top 16 of the Freshman Tournament.

Lu Bing: [So, should we challenge the breakthrough secret realm now?]

Currently, the group had pretty much mastered the novice abyss secret realm, collecting a considerable amount of resources and making it to the top of the supernatural divine beast leaderboard.

There were no more challenges left in the novice secret realm stage.

But to contract a second pet, they would need to break through first.

Passerby A: [We can try to apply for a month’s leave from the university to challenge the breakthrough secret realm. If the opportunities inside are good, we might leap to the first echelon of the Fourth Generation.]

After Lu Ran’s suggestion, everyone was especially motivated and couldn’t wait to challenge the breakthrough secret realm, become level 1 beastmasters, and join Lu Ran’s Dragon Taming Team.

…

On the other side.

Manager Ying had already found Shi Zhen.

When it teleported to Shi Zhen’s house, it was exasperated to see Shi Zhen picking out suitable women’s clothing. Manager Ying said, “I say, are you already getting used to this curse??”

“Don’t tell me you’ve even thought of a name for your new gender. Let me guess, Shi Xia?”

“Damn it.” Shi Zhen was startled by the sudden voice. He immediately threw away the dress and angrily looked at the cat, saying, “Intelligence dealer, don’t you know to knock before entering someone’s house?”

“Seriously.”

“That’s nonsense!” Shi Zhen said, “I’m just preparing for the worst. If I really can’t lift the curse in the future, then… I’d have to get used to it eventually. I can’t just kill myself.”

Manager Ying felt something was wrong.

Oh my, this curse is really powerful.

It’s almost bending Shi Zhen’s mind.

Step by step, it’s eroding his mind.

“Do you actually want to recover?” Manager Ying frowned, saying, “I just found some information that might help you recover.”

“Hmm?” Shi Zhen looked sharply at Manager Ying.

“I discovered a supernatural being that naturally awakened the power of curses!” Manager Ying said.

“Where!” Shi Zhen was shocked. Ever since he was cursed, he had been searching for beings that possessed curse power for research. He even tried cultivating some himself, but without the relevant traits, he had never succeeded.

Although he had the Evil God’s Eye trait, it wasn’t inherently curse power, just a technique for spatial manipulation.

So, his research into curse power had hit a dead end.

Now, hearing that Manager Ying had found a pet beast with curse power, he immediately asked anxiously.

“Lu Ran. Lu Ran cultivated a Third Pet. It’s inherently dark. After Lu Ran fed it mental awakening resources, the pet beast, with its exceptional talent, awakened curse power by combining the two attributes.”

“Lu Ran?!” Shi Zhen had just seen the news about Lu Ran solo-clearing the Legendary Secret Realm. He was choosing clothes to dress up formally and meet this genius. After all, they hadn’t met yet, but accidentally, he got distracted by the women’s clothing.

“What kind of luck does he have?” Shi Zhen couldn’t help but say.

“So, why not invest in him a bit? He’s an exquisite Chef and has a curse pet beast. Maybe, through research into curse power, he could cook an exquisite cuisine that can lift the curse,” Manager Ying said. “Remember to pay the intelligence fee.”

“I recall you had a bounty out for curse-related information.”

“Don’t worry.”

“But it seems like he doesn’t lack any resources right now. How should I invest?” Shi Zhen pondered.

“I should have a good impression on him, right? I’ve already given him two exquisite resources.”

“If Lu Ran remembers my kindness…”

“Even if he does, he needs the capability to research an antidote. He’s still quite weak right now, how can he contribute? Don’t you have the Evil God’s Eye trait? You aren’t using it, so why not give it to him to enhance his curse pet beast? It might help him research faster,” Manager Ying suggested.

“That makes sense.” Shi Zhen thought for a moment, “But this trait has some side effects. He might not want to fuse it with his pet beast.”

“This is the only top-level trait related to dark and mental attributes, and it’s unique in the world. Even if he has some concerns, given its rarity, he should be tempted. It shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Give me the trait, and leave everything to me. I’ll make sure he willingly helps you research an antidote.”

“Alright.” Shi Zhen took out the Evil God’s Eye trait crystal, “I’ll leave it to you, Manager Ying. Briefly describe my cursed situation to Lu Ran and ask him to research an exquisite cuisine to lift the curse with the help of his curse pet beast.”

“Got it.” Manager Ying nodded slightly.

Then, it happily departed. This is what a top-level intelligence dealer is all about! Success!

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