King of Beasts

Lu Ran accepted the challenge from the other party.

However, he didn’t plan on battling immediately.

After all, with an attribute awakening fruit at stake, caution was paramount.

Although General Ha ranked higher on the divine beast leaderboard than his opponent, the opponent was already level 10 and had integrated a trait.

Most importantly, the opponent had the advantage of flight.

Additionally, Lu Ran didn’t know what beast taming skills or beast taming equipment Pluto had mastered.

Battling now carried the risk of losing.

At the very least, he would wait until General Ha reached level 10 and had thoroughly exploited the two major secret realms to further enhance their strength.

“I’ll wait for you.”

Lu Ran calmly watched him leave, already planning on overcoming him.

“Master Lin, I’ll be leaving too,” Lu Ran said to Master Lin.

“Hmm,” Master Lin nodded. “A pet beast that has integrated a trait is vastly stronger than one that hasn’t.”

“After integrating a trait and awakening its species talent, the gap in strength becomes even more pronounced.”

Before leaving, Master Lin reminded Lu Ran.

He indicated that there was no issue with Lu Ran accepting the challenge, but he advised against trying to fight above his level.

“Alright,” Lu Ran nodded, not overly worried.

General Ha being ranked first on the divine beast leaderboard indicated that its skill comprehension far surpassed other pet beasts.

This skill advantage currently seemed significant, not inferior to the enhancements brought by traits.

It’s important to note that, as a genius, Fang Lan had only managed to master energy flow over the past week.

Meanwhile, General Ha not only knew several techniques but could even combine them together.

For now, it was best to continue expanding their advantage.

…

After leaving the Forge House, Lu Ran found a nearby hotpot restaurant and enjoyed plenty of fresh meat from the secret realm, leaving satisfied.

After resting for the night, Lu Ran and General Ha were recharged and ready to challenge a new secret realm.

This lifestyle reminded Lu Ran of the early days of exploring new games online—effort was essential.

The rewards just within reach kept him eagerly motivated.

Now, Lu Ran even dreamed of weapon mastery traits and General Ha’s perfect evolution… those strange dreams were all replaced by visions of General Ha.

“Oooh!” In the private room, General Ha raised its head, inquiring about the day’s schedule.

“Like we discussed yesterday, we’ll start by clearing the Mantis Jungle secret realm and recharge the Divine Deer Antler in the process. If we still have energy afterward, we’ll make another run through Blizzard Mountain.”

General Ha’s eyes gleamed with wisdom. “!!!”

It was indeed a hopeful day.

If it were a more lethargic creature, like a panda pampered in a zoo, it might have already started complaining by now.

But General Ha, just awakened and brimming with energy, was the last to dread such exhausting tasks.

“Awooo~~~” With a long howl, General Ha signaled to Lu Ran to hurry up.

Blade Mantis…

It planned to meet its opponent with sword in hand, to test the opponent’s abilities.

“I’ll pay then,” said Lu Ran with a slight smile.

General Ha was reliable!

It is known that due to the dangers within secret realms, many pet beasts develop a fear of realms and combat after their first experience.

Unless the beastmaster commands them through their contract, they would refuse to challenge a secret realm again.

Lu Ran had seen this often on beast taming forums.

With General Ha, things were more straightforward—it just needed to be fed, and it would do anything asked of it.

Having been raised for over a year and perfectly tamed through telepathy, Lu Ran and General Ha had skipped the stage of mutual adjustment, which was an advantage in itself.

Name: Mantis Jungle

Secret Realm Level: Novice

Difficulty: Hard

Challenge Crystal Coins: 700

Since the value of resources within the secret realm had increased significantly, including a small chance for a priceless Wind-enhancing beast taming skill, the challenge crystal coins had risen again.

However, the increase wasn’t significant, as the dangers inside the realm had also multiplied, making the resources harder to obtain.

For instance, even if one reached an S rating in Wind-enhancing skills, the drop rate was only 1%—without extreme luck, don’t even think about it.

But if one did manage to obtain it, that beastmaster could consider themselves incredibly fortunate during their novice phase.

Would you like to spend 700 crystal coins to challenge the Mantis Jungle secret realm?

Yes.

Lu Ran confirmed in his mind, and immediately afterward, he and General Ha, sword in mouth, were teleported away.

This time, both Lu Ran and General Ha held their weapons tightly, not daring to be careless since they were now facing hard difficulty…

Each Blade Mantis here had awakened its attribute and attacked by slashing with their large blades—a moment’s inattention could mean death.

Teleportation complete.

Current location: Mantis Jungle (Novice Secret Realm)

Difficulty: Hard

Challenge mission: Defeat the leader of the Mantis Jungle.

Secret realm introduction: The primary habitat of the Blade Mantis species, containing a wealth of advanced resources, which attracts countless beastmasters seeking adventure. However, due to the formidable combat capabilities of the Blade Mantis species, this place has also become a site of defeat for many novice beastmasters.

Prompt 1: The maximum stay in the novice secret realm is 8 hours. During this time, challengers can choose whether to return, with teleportation taking 10 seconds.

Prompt 2: …

“Hmm?” At that moment, Lu Ran read the introduction to the Mantis Jungle secret realm and paused slightly. This time, there was no mention of any convoluted background involving the Beast Taming Empire. It seemed like a very normal secret realm…

Just as Lu Ran remarked on how normal the secret realm seemed, he and General Ha found themselves staring blankly ahead.

Two 1.5 to 1.6-meter-tall green Blade Mantises, standing upright like humans, embraced each other.

It seemed… they had just finished mating?

What stunned Lu Ran and General Ha was that the male Blade Mantis, presumably, no longer had a head—it had been chopped off and was being nibbled at by the female Mantis at its mouth.

“Damn.” Just as they entered, Lu Ran felt a chill run down his spine upon witnessing the cannibalistic nature of the mantises.

He was aware of this habit among mantis species, but these two were as tall as humans, which made the sight particularly unsettling.

“Sssh!!!”

At that moment, the female Blade Mantis also noticed Lu Ran and General Ha nearby.

It stepped back cautiously, its eyes wary. The body of the male Blade Mantis fell to the ground with a thud, and its head was tossed aside like a basketball.

For the female Blade Mantis, other matters were now secondary; dealing with these unknown newcomers was the immediate priority.

It swung its scythe and took a combat stance, wings unfurled.

Name: Blade Mantis

Attribute: Wind

Species Level: Upper Supernatural

Level: Level 9

As expected of hard difficulty in the secret realm…

The first random encounter upon entering was with a creature that could probably crush that grass sprite cat.

“Sha!!”

Before Lu Ran could reflect too much, the Blade Mantis already swirled with the force of wind, turning into a low-flying projection streaking towards them.

The blades of its large scythes gleamed, seemingly eager to split Lu Ran and General Ha in two.

“Woof!” Seeing this, General Ha was actually quite excited.

Although the Blade Mantis used parts of its own body as “weapons,” seeing finally a creature using a similar type of weapon was somewhat comforting to it.

Holding the wind meteor sword in its mouth, its gaze suddenly sharpened, unleashing its mental momentum through the sword!

Boom!

The fierce beast’s sword momentum erupted, a powerful aura emanating from General Ha.

Just as General Ha was ready to leap forward, using “Gale Draw Slash” to clash with the opponent, something unexpected happened.

Feeling General Ha’s sword momentum, the female Blade Mantis abruptly stopped mid-air, its green eyes filled with surprise and hesitation, no longer initiating an attack, seemingly intimidated by General Ha’s dominant aura.

However, the situation was quite different from previous creatures that had been intimidated by General Ha.

“Sha sha sha, sha!!” It chirped and grumbled, leaving General Ha, who was about to strike, also stunned and confused.

Not just it, even Lu Ran was puzzled, wondering what was going on.

He tried using telepathy, but it was futile as usual; telepathy did not work on these secret realm projections, and he couldn’t understand what the other was saying.

However, drawing from his rich experience, Lu Ran could also guess that the opponent seemed not to want to fight anymore?

“Damn.” If it was just about not wanting to fight anymore, being intimidated by General Ha’s sword momentum, Lu Ran could understand.

But the next moment, as the female Blade Mantis looked at General Ha’s gleaming weapon with eyes of “admiration for the strong,” it swung its scythes and jumped into a “courtship dance,” Lu Ran was dumbfounded.

General Ha was dumbfounded too.

“Damn, I knew there was something off about this secret realm.”

“Cannibalism among the same species is one thing, but why would you court a dog?”

“Don’t just see General Ha carrying a sword and mistake it for one of your own kind!”

Lu Ran didn’t quite understand the thought processes of supernatural beings like the Blade Mantis.

“Woof woof woof woof!!!” As Lu Ran spoke, General Ha’s eyes widened even more, clearly frightened.

Without a second thought, it shook its head and unleashed a gale of sword qi. Under the disbelieving gaze of the female Blade Mantis, her body was split in two by the wind blade.

“Sha…”

Confusion marked its final moments…

With the demise of the Blade Mantis, General Ha breathed a sigh of relief, a wave of fear washing over it.

“Woof…” It had seen it, the female Blade Mantis had just eaten the male Mantis she had mated with. Such a malicious creature had actually considered targeting it?

This vengeance… Well, General Ha looked at the fallen body of the Blade Mantis but didn’t hold a grudge for long.

“Not bad, General Ha.” Lu Ran shook his head and said:

“When faced with the temptation of beauty, you must maintain your inner focus. Women will only slow down your sword-drawing speed.”

“This time your decision was resolute, but it was also because the species were different, she wasn’t to your taste.”

“Next time you encounter a beauty, you must also draw your sword swiftly.”

“Woof woof woof!” General Ha nodded repeatedly, but it felt slightly unsatisfied as it didn’t hold a grudge this time.

So, it turned its attention to the fallen body of the Blade Mantis.

When the body dissipated and no materials dropped from it, General Ha’s eyes narrowed.

Mantis leader…

“Forget about keeping a grudge.” Lu Ran said, “Before coming here, I researched and found that Blade Mantises are solitary creatures. Except during mating, they mostly act alone, each individual mastering different skills.”

“In short, it has nothing to do with any Mantis leader and isn’t under anyone’s control.”

You won’t let me keep a grudge, Boss Lu, but I’ll remember this one!

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