Beastmaster King

"Huh?"

Lu Ran looked at the slime enveloping Dark Crow. Its evolution was still incomplete, so the contract card still didn't give any clues. He held his breath in anticipation when Dark Crow's voice rang out from the ball of slime.

"Open!"

At its command, the slime began to emit cracking sounds as spiderweb fractures spread across its surface. Dark gold and red light pierced through those cracks as a daunting power seeped out.

Crack!

A single word from the crow had a real impact on the physical world. Under Lu Ran's incredulous gaze, energy condensed in the air to form a strange character.

"What is that?"

Bang!

The clump of slime suddenly exploded. A blinding light burst forth along with Dark Crow's power fluctuation. The suffocating aura made Lu Ran's heart flutter.

It reached Quasi-Legendary?

From the light, Dark Crow's new form gradually emerged. It still looked like a crow, but it no longer had eyes all over its body. The only ones that remained were the ones on its face. Almost as if replacing the eyes, numerous golden characters appeared on its body. The characters were archaic and uninterpretable, but they appeared to form some sort of arcane array over the crow's body. They gave it a mysterious air that was even more daunting than the eyes that previously covered its body.

"My king..."

My king...

My king...

Dark Crow seemed very excited following its evolution, having reached an unprecedented level of power. When it spoke, its voice echoed through the void and caused an ethereal crown to condense over Lu Ran's head.

[Species: Oracle Crow]

[Attribute: Spiritual Speech (Spoken words will carry spiritual and supernatural powers that can be used to attack enemies or even manipulate fate.)]

[Species Rank: Quasi-Legendary]

[Level: 60]

[Evolution Talent: Prophecy Realization (Spoken words have a high probability of coming true in mysterious ways.)]

Oracle Crow! Quasi-Legend! Spiritual Speech attribute!

Once all of Dark Crow's information appeared on the contract card, Lu Ran's blood began to boil. Evolutions were one of the most exciting parts of being a beastmaster. Lu Ran was shocked as he had never heard of the Spiritual Speech attribute before.

Did Dark Crow forge an entirely new path that diverges from the Evil God lineage because of its Undead attribute?

Although he didn't know anything about the Spiritual Speech attribute, it was seemingly powerful enough to manipulate the fundamental laws governing reality. Its power was apparent.

"Impressive." Ghost Mother spoke up once more.

It could sense the power radiating off the crow. Achieving Quasi-Legendary at level 60 was no small feat. In its opinion, the crow definitely had the qualifications to attempt to ascend to Legendary one day.

"My familiar is impressive indeed." Lu Ran couldn't help but agree. "I can't wait to see it in action. Who could stand up to it? Ghost Mother, can you teleport us out? I want to test the powers of this Spiritual Speech attribute!"

"Yes." Ghost Mother was also eager to see this unknown attribute in action and quickly teleported the three of them.

***

The Abyss was a place teeming with ghosts and evil spirits. On its gravel soil, a queen-like figure dressed in a cheongsam stood alongside their ape familiar as they fought off the evil spirits. It was quite the "Beauty and the Beast" duo!

"This is great!"

Although the apparent woman was visibly tired, the excitement in their eyes still shone through.

"Ghost Mother is right. This training will make me one of the strongest in the world!"

The "woman" was, of course, Shi Zhen. Ghost Mother put him in the Abyss a few days ago because it said that he was too weak. It told him that killing evil spirits in the Abyss would improve his soul power, which would in turn affect his physique. For his familiars, this translated to an improvement in level and species rank. Now, after a few short days, all of Shi Zhen's familiars had reached level 60 and became Overlords.

Even before evolving, all of his King familiars were able to rank up, and that was just the beginning! Shi Zhen's ace fought the hardest and, as a reward for its efforts, it was able to reach Superior Overlord. This made Shi Zhen feel like he was at the top of the world. Having a level 60 Superior Overlord put him at the forefront of all beastmasters around the world. Being a legendary apostle was so worth it.

Just as Shi Zhen was reveling in his accomplishments, anticipating his glorious return to Blue Planet that would surely shock the world and allow him to share the limelight with Lu Ran, a familiar pair appeared in the distance.

"Lu Ran? And is that the Dark Crow? It doesn't look like it, though," Shi Zhen muttered to himself.

Lu Ran's aura had changed after integrating the Flame of Life, and Dark Crow looked significantly different from before. After continuously training for many days, Shi Zhen was feeling a bit worn out and couldn't recognize them right away.

"Wait, why can't I see their info with the Eye of Detection?" Shi Zhen was shocked when he tried to look into their information. "Ah, I see! It must be a phantom created by Ghost Mother. When it first sent me here, it told me to become stronger than the Divine Deer's messenger, and now it has sent these phantoms to test me."

Upon arriving at this conclusion, Shi Zhen, who wasn't able to see Lu Ran's information due to the Time Shield, excitedly issued a command to his familiar.

"Go and hit them with everything you've got!"

Woo!

Having received its orders, the Overlord ape shot into the air to launch a palm strike. The ground where it once stood was shattered from the force it exerted. Although it wasn't very large, its palm blotted out the sky over Lu Ran and Dark Crow.

Lu Ran was confused by the sudden appearance of a terrifying pressure.

Isn't this Principal Shi Zhen's familiar's ultimate attack? Did Ghost Mother send us to where Principal Shi Zhen is holed up? He does seem to be stronger.

"Dark Crow, it's time for you to shine."

"Got it, my king!"

Dark Crow turned its head and looked at the descending palm with its blood-red eyes.

"The distance between us isinfinite!"

Buzz!

As soon as Dark Crow spoke, the ground beneath Lu Ran's feet shook. The palm was nearly on top of him, but it couldn't cross the final distance. The ape continued to press forward and descend from the air. Its palm continued to exude great power, but the ape's expression suddenly changed. Everything suggested that it was about to land a hit on the enemy, but for some reason, it could never truly reach it.

It felt like it was still falling through the air. It could feel the power coursing through its palm, but no matter what, it couldn't cross the final distance to actually strike its enemy.

Roar!

Its eyes widened at the mysterious phenomenon. It was trying to fight, not simply pose in mid-air.

Off in the distance, Shi Zhen also detected some sort of spacetime distortion. While the opposing pair was still confused, Dark Crow spoke once more.

"You are getting very tired. Fall."

Immediately, the ape felt that it had exhausted all of its energy. It then began to crash down like a meteor, cratering into the ground beside Lu Ran. It fainted right there in the hole in the ground.

Outside the Abyss, Ghost Mother put a tentacle to its forehead. Evidently, the intense training still wasn't enough to help its messenger close the gap with the Divine Deer messenger. The gap was just too wide.

This Spiritual Speech Crow is really on another level.

"Brother, or rather sister Shi Zhen, why are you attacking me on sight?"

After handling the Stone Ape, Lu Ran finally turned to address Shi Zhen.

Principal Shi Zhen was still in a daze at this time after seeing Lu Ran and Dark Crow crushing his familiar in seconds. Looking at the smile on Lu Ran's face, his mind went completely blank.

"It's me, Lu Ran! Do you not recognize me? One of my skills improved, so I look a bit more handsome now. Dark Crow also recently reached level 60 and evolved."

Huh?

Shi Zhen's chest trembled, and after a long time, he finally managed to piece together a response.

"Holy shit, it really is you! Why are you here? Something's not right, god damn it! How did you one-shot my familiar?"

He turned to look at the crater where his ape was still lying unconscious, refusing to accept what was happening.

How can this be possible!

His top familiar was already a level 60 Superior Overlord, so why couldn't it stand up against Dark Crow in the slightest?

This is crazy!

Even though the Stone Ape wasn't in its top shape after fighting for so long, it wasn't scraping the bottom of the barrel either.

"Hahaha, don't fret. Dark Crow evolved with help from the God of the Abyss, which turned out to be very effective. It reached Quasi-Legendary in a single bound."

Simply saying that Dark Crow became a Quasi-Legendary was oversimplifying it a bit. It integrated the Undead and Time attributes to form a completely new one. It definitely had the potential to reach the Legendary rank!

"It's only natural that we won."

Shi Zhen: ?

Aren't you the messenger of the Divine Deer? Ghost Mother is supposed to be helping me, not you!

Before Shi Zhen spiraled even further, space rippled as they reappeared before Ghost Mother.

"I asked the Divine Deer messenger for a small favor and promised to help the crow evolve in exchange. Their final results are a testament to their own efforts, and not a direct result of my intervention. I simply provided a small shortcut on their climb to power."

Ghost Mother didn't want Shi Zhen to ask it to help him evolve his familiars into Quasi-Legendaries after seeing the crow. It had already put in a lot of effort to help stimulate his growth.

"Then, what happened earlier..."

"Dark Crow just evolved, and we needed an opponent to test our newfound strength against, so Ghost Mother sent us to you. Principal Shi Zhen, you've gotten pretty amazing. Your familiar is a Superior Overlord."

You son of a bitch! Don't you patronize me!

"Lady Ghost Mother, does this mean my training is over?" Shi Zhen decided to turn his attention to Ghost Mother instead.

"Yes, you can stop training now. Your other familiars shouldn't be far behind the Stone Ape and should be able to achieve the same rank soon. You should be strong enough to clear the next ascension realm, so go ahead and challenge it. Come back once you're done. Remember the mission I've assigned you. Limitless City is beyond the scope of my power, so use it to your advantage as much as possible. "

"Yes, indeed. It's time for me to reach level 6."

Shi Zhen was slightly depressed. When Lu Ran was still an Apprentice beastmaster, he was already level 5. Even though Lu Ran had become a level 5 beastmaster, he was still level 5.

He needed to reach level 6 to catch up to the old president, Lin Nian, Gu Qingyi, and the other powerhouses. If he continued dilly-dallying, he could end up in the same ascension realm as Lu Ran, which would be even more soul-crushing. He had been busy trying to fix his curse situation and didn't have time previously to worry about the next ascension realm.

"Let's go back to Blue Planet together. I need to go back as well," Lu Ran offered.

I need to report my mission results to the Divine Deer.

"Yeah, I'll go with you." Shi Zhen sighed.

Forget it. Losing to Lu Ran is nothing out of the ordinary. I've only become a messenger recently. I still have a long road ahead of me. The God of the Abyss sounds much stronger than the Divine Deer. I will definitely surpass Lu Ran one day!

After reassuring himself, Shi Zhen smiled and gave Lu Ran a hug.

"Lulu, let's challenge the Road to Kingship together once we're back and snatch two spots for the World War. You take on the Eagle Federation, and I'll challenge Ahsan! It's time to shake up the roster. By the way, isn't Gu Qingyi using the Dragon Pearl to evolve her familiar? We'll drag her along, and hog half of Ten Great Beastmaster King spots!"

"Um..."

Lu Ran was caught off guard by Principal Shi Zhen's suggestion. He shivered a little before replying, "Hey, you're a woman now. You shouldn't be touching me like that."

"It's okay, I'm a real man at heart. What, are you afraid that your future girlfriend will be jealous?"