King of Beasts

“Meow! You’ve actually entered a breakthrough secret realm for secondary professions!” Manager Ying realized.

Infinite City, what are you doing? Sending such a powerful combination into a secondary profession secret realm? Isn’t that a waste of their time and potential?

Logically, Lu Ran should be quite frustrated to enter such an irrelevant secret realm. But why did he look so happy?

“So, you… did well?”

“Yeah, after the tempering in the secret realm, there shouldn’t be many beast taming chefs better than me in Xia Country.”

Manager Ying: ???

It suspected Lu Ran was joking, but had no proof.

“Ah, we can talk later. Manager Ying, could you teleport us to the depths of Emerald Mountain?” Lu Ran eagerly picked up the trait crystal from the table. “I plan to fuse this crystal with the Sudden Death King right now.”

“I’ve been looking forward to this for a month.”

“Oh, you’re going to contract it now.” Manager Ying pondered for a moment. Although it didn’t want to indulge Lu Ran’s frequent requests for teleportation, Lu Ran had just promised to treat it to some fish… Would refusing him now make it seem petty?

After a moment’s hesitation, Manager Ying pursed its lips but still performed the teleportation, bringing Lu Ran and the Sudden Death King to the depths of Emerald Mountain.

“This is the last time.”

Meanwhile, Little Ling, who had just brewed some tea, stared at the empty seats. Holding the tea, she also fell into contemplation… Where did everyone go? Where’s the lizard, the cat manager?

…

In the depths of Emerald Mountain, Lu Ran took out the contract card issued by the breakthrough secret realm. By now, this contract card had already been upgraded twice using 11 upgrade cards. Its quality had reached the same level as General Ha’s contract card.

Before fusing the trait crystal with the Sudden Death King, Lu Ran needed to contract it first. He looked at the eager expression of the Sudden Death King.

“Roar!!”

Next to him, Manager Ying yawned, probably having stayed up several nights playing video games.

Lu Ran threw the contract card towards the Sudden Death King. As the contract card approached, it was instantly absorbed by the glowing card.

Although the Sudden Death King was already at level 19, contracting it was very straightforward for Lu Ran due to the high quality of the contract card and the Sudden Death King’s lack of resistance.

Soon, the contract card stabilized and was summoned back to Lu Ran’s hand.

The moment the contract was completed, Lu Ran felt a surge in his physical strength. Additionally, the mental connection with the Sudden Death King was established, meaning their fates were now intertwined.

[Species]: Skink

[Attribute]: Thunder

[Species Level]: Upper Supernatural

[Growth Level]: Level 20

[Skills]: Thunder Armor (thunder energy shaping), Thunder Shield (thunder energy shaping)

Compared to General Ha, the information on the Sudden Death King’s contract card was much simpler. It only had two skills, both of which involved self-armoring through thunder energy shaping.

The skill levels were roughly equivalent to General Ha’s Wind Wing and Sword of Wind, not particularly advanced. This was because the Sudden Death King’s talent lay in its physical attributes rather than its learning abilities.

Currently, most high-species pet beasts on the divine beast leaderboard were in a similar state. High intelligence pet beasts were relatively rare.

“Level 20!” Lu Ran was in a great mood. Even before he had the chance to feed the Mutated Dragon Fish, the Sudden Death King had already completed its growth transformation due to the contract feedback, saving him a lot of trouble.

Hmm… the fish treat for the cat could wait; fusion traits came first!

“It’s not easy. This guy’s food expenses this month might even surpass General Ha’s,” Lu Ran thought. No matter how generous he was, he couldn’t outspend a specially funded experimental zone of the alliance. Zhao Chen must have made significant investments in the Sudden Death King.

General Ha was currently at level 16, four levels shy of reaching level 20. Of course, this could also be due to different growth rates among species.

“Roar!!”

With the contract complete, Lu Ran summoned the Sudden Death King back out, along with General Ha.

“Woof!”

General Ha emerged, squinting and smiling. It was delighted to see the Sudden Death King again.

“Wow ka!” The Sudden Death King greeted General Ha.

“Stop exchanging pleasantries, you two. Let’s fuse the trait first, then you can spar afterward.”

Hearing about the sparring session, General Ha became excited, while the Sudden Death King felt a moment of dread. Despite its recent confidence, it knew it couldn’t match General Ha.

After all, General Ha was a relentless and fierce dog, one who wouldn’t even blink while using a tenfold energy compression technique.

Lu Ran took out the Red Lightning trait crystal. This trait, which couldn’t be fused before, was now ready to be used.

Without moving from his spot, Lu Ran threw the trait crystal towards the Sudden Death King. Just like the contract card, when the trait crystal made contact with the Sudden Death King’s body, it was immediately surrounded by a red halo and then quickly absorbed, as if sinking into water.

[A lizard with astonishing defensive talent, fused with the Red Lightning trait to enhance its physique.]

Manager Ying glanced over. At that moment, for some unknown reason, Lu Ran, General Ha, and Manager Ying could all hear the thunderous heartbeat of the Sudden Death King.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As soon as the trait fused into its body, the Sudden Death King’s heart rate accelerated. The sound of its heartbeat was deafening, startling even the Sudden Death King itself, causing it to instinctively clutch its chest.

Perhaps due to the intense aftereffect of the heartbeat, the Sudden Death King’s body began to twitch. With each tremor, red electrical arcs started to emerge around its body.

“Roar!!”

Unable to contain itself, the Sudden Death King let out a roar. With the strongest tremor yet, a massive burst of thunderous light erupted from its body like a volcanic explosion. The red lightning, towering several meters high, transformed the entire forest into a scene of otherworldly splendor.

At that moment, the Sudden Death King could distinctly feel its thunder energy and physique undergoing a significant enhancement. It was both surprised and delighted. In its mind, it envisioned General Ha swinging his sword.

The intense attribute boost gave it the thought, “That sword swing might not be out of reach.”

It was determined to achieve the strongest defense, one that could ignore all attacks!

Under the intense thought, the astonishing thunder energy erupting from the Sudden Death King’s body began to shape itself externally. Similar to the extraordinary phenomenon that appeared when General Ha fused with his trait, a remarkable energy phenomenon emerged around the Sudden Death King.

Manager Ying slightly turned her head, while Lu Ran and General Ha watched intently.

Suddenly, the thunder light extending six or seven meters from the Sudden Death King’s body gradually shaped into a burly phantom!

This phantom clearly resembled the monstrous form of the Sudden Death King. It astonishingly created a nested model of itself—a robust energy armor encased the phantom, making it look like a thunder god of war!

Double-layer protection!

“Impressive,” even Manager Ying couldn’t help but be speechless.

The red thunder beast phantom enveloped the real Sudden Death King, with its red eyes and black scales. As the Sudden Death King moved, the phantom synchronized perfectly with its movements.

Though it only mastered one type of skill, it managed to use it creatively.

Finally, the fusion trait was complete, and Lu Ran couldn’t help but check its details!

[Species]: Armor Lizard

[Attribute]: Thunder

[Species Level]: Lower Commander

[Growth Level]: Level 20

[Fusion Trait]: Red Lightning

[Species Talent]: Absolute Defense (Beings with this talent have a self-aware energy that can more acutely sense external dangers and actively defend against them. When struck by a fatal blow far beyond their capacity to withstand, the heart’s energy will stimulate the entire body, unleashing the organism’s full potential for a one-time life-saving defense.)

[Skills]: Thunder Armor, Thunder Shield

“Absolute Defense?”

When Lu Ran saw the Sudden Death King’s awakened species talent, he was speechless—partly amused, partly unsurprised. Despite being inherently thunder-type with thunder attribute traits, it had awakened a defensive talent!

Unbelievable!

As far as Lu Ran knew, when thunder-type pet beasts fuse with thunder traits, their species talent usually enhances skill destructiveness or speed. The Sudden Death King awakening a self-defense and life-saving species talent was beyond his expectations.

Now, it would be hard for the Sudden Death King to die suddenly. Even when facing a high-level creature’s attack, General Ha might fall, but the Sudden Death King could lock in a drop of blood and survive a few more seconds.

“Roar!!!”

At this moment, seeing the burly phantom surrounding the Sudden Death King, Lu Ran couldn’t help but say, “Alright, alright, disperse the energy armor quickly. Creating such a big armor is a waste of energy!”

“Roar!!” The Sudden Death King obediently dispersed the armor, reverting to its lizard form, standing about as tall as Lu Ran, and scratched its head to indicate it was fine.

Despite the initial fusion of the trait, the Sudden Death King’s appearance didn’t change much. It just had a lightning-shaped mark in its pupils. Next, Lu Ran took out the Overlord Body trait crystal, planning to further enhance the Sudden Death King.

The effect of the Red Lightning trait crystal is to enhance thunder energy; when attacked by thunder, its physique strengthens.

On the other hand, the Overlord Body trait crystal’s effect is more straightforward and brutal鈥”it directly reduces enemy attacks, providing unparalleled defense.

With Overlord Body and Absolute Defense from the start, the Sudden Death King’s future battles would surely be tactically sound.

Lu Ran threw out the Overlord Body trait crystal. Having experienced the previous fusion, the Sudden Death King was more composed this time.

Compared to the phenomena during the Red Lightning fusion, the effects on the Sudden Death King this time were more practical. Under the dark red light, its body became even stronger, its physique larger, and the hardness of each scale was further enhanced.

In an instant, the Sudden Death King, now standing nearly three meters tall, was brimming with power. Its scales turned into multi-layered armor, truly resembling a monster.

“Roar!!!” It spewed red arcs of electricity from its mouth. Each black scale reflected a sovereign’s luster. Its tail struck the ground, causing the earth to rumble.

With just one more wing, it would be indistinguishable from a giant dragon.

Moreover, through this minor evolution, the nutrients it had been accumulating from dragon food seemed to have been activated, evolving it into a sub-dragon!

[Species]: Scaled Dragon Lizard

[Attribute]: Thunder

[Species Level]: Middle Commander

[Growth Level]: Level 20

[Fusion Traits]: Red Lightning, Overlord Body

[Species Talents]: Absolute Defense, Heart of the Overlord (A true overlord does not mind the provocations of the weak but will not retreat without cause. Beings with the Heart of the Overlord can accumulate received damage to a certain extent and counterattack with multiplied force. The more damage they take, the stronger their next attack will be!)