King of Beasts

In the end, Lu Ran asked the Pig Raiser to wait for him at the arena.

The two of them were fated to meet, and after General Ha’s special training for so long, a whetstone for his skills was indeed needed.

An opponent of the rock-type, renowned for their defense, was a challenge he and General Ha had yet to face in combat.

Considering that wild boars are also known for their tough skin and dense flesh, this encounter would serve as a prelude to gaining experience against rock-type creatures.

This time, Lu Ran didn’t plan to have General Ha equipped with the Wind Meteor Sword for the fight…

He intended to see if General Ha could break through the enemy’s defense on his own. If he couldn’t, and the damage inflicted wasn’t significant, that would indicate that the next phase of training should focus on energy compression techniques.

Pig Raiser: Thank you, big shot. See you at the arena!

At this moment, Lu Ran left his private room. Instead of heading straight for the arena, he first went to Beastmaster Square to stock up on food resources.

The food was the same old variety, and as for Flowfruit, Lu Ran didn’t buy any more.

Initially, he had thought of using Flowfruit as a trump card for him and General Ha to conquer the secret realm, but who knew, with just five Flowfruits consumed during routine training, General Ha managed to master that fierce energy flow state on his own…

Why bother with more then?

In the future, he might consider looking for similar resources with even stronger effects…

Just because General Ha likes them.

Definitely not because it makes training easier.

After purchasing the ingredients, Lu Ran was ready to head to the arena, but on a whim, he ended up at the center of the square, glancing at the Divine Beast Leaderboard.

After a week of development, the leaderboard had undergone a major transformation. The black bear that was once the first on the list had now been pushed down to tenth.

And Fang Lan, that fellow, was indeed holding the sixth spot!

Leaderboard Divine Beast,

Species: Wolf Spider.

Attribute: Poison

Species Level: Upper Supernatural

Growth Level: Level 5

Beastmaster: Five Poisons Cult Holy Maiden

Reason for Leaderboard: Evolved from an aberrant Daxia Wolf Spider. A formidable species with a powerful awakening of toxic abilities, overwhelming a Level 8 Tuo of the upper supernatural species in the arena by poisoning it within three seconds at Level 3!

“Amazing, truly amazing,” Lu Ran couldn’t help but admire upon seeing Fang Lan’s achievements. The value of her accomplishments was indeed substantial.

Initially, General Ha had indeed overcome a level 4, but it was just a middle supernatural grass sprite cat, and that too with the help of a weapon.

As for Fang Lan’s opponent… Tuo, Lu Ran pondered for a moment, this species should be the Pig Dragon, right?

Its modern scientific name is the Yangtze Crocodile.

Huh, with the increase in the number of beastmasters, all sorts of odd pet beasts have emerged.

Lu Ran remembered that he seemed to have seen online images of crocodiles dressed in maid costumes? Quite playful.

Not letting them become beastmasters would be such a waste of talent…

Lu Ran continued to look and found that currently on the divine beast leaderboard, the lowest species level was the ninth place, which evolved from a “macaque” pet beast, the same as General Ha, at the middle supernatural level. The leaderboard’s assessment of it was also its astonishing aptitude, overcoming levels in combat through the mastery of fire-type skills it had learned.

“Monkeys, quite clever animals. Could it be that the learning aptitude of pet beasts is related to their intelligence level before the contract?”

The intelligence level of canines is quite decent in the animal kingdom, and moreover, General Ha had spent over a year with Lu Ran. During that year, Lu Ran had taught it many things. Perhaps this early stage of learning and polishing also contributed to some of General Ha’s post-evolution learning capabilities.

However, what surprised Lu Ran the most at this moment was actually the divine beast in third place on the leaderboard, even more so than the first place.

The top divine beast was a level 9 eagle, a thunder-type raptor known for its destructive power, and its ability to fly added many highlights to its combat performance.

The second place was the previously mentioned Manchurian Tiger, which also advanced from level 7 to level 9.

But the third place was just a turtle, and the reason for its leaderboard ranking was that it sustained only minor injuries after withstanding an attack from a lower commander species creature at level 10 while being at level 8.

“Fang Lan seemed to have mentioned this turtle to me, in the game world, isn’t this just like a front-line tank, specially designed to absorb damage? Getting on the leaderboard just by taking a beating… seems fair.”

“Now General Ha, with a combination of various weapons and props, should have the strength to deal with a grass sprite cat leader, but I wonder what rank it would achieve after overcoming the cat leader?”

Lu Ran planned to give it a try when he returned.

Mainly because this time he directly purchased a month’s worth of food, spending quite a lot of crystal coins…

The crystal coins in hand were running low, and it was time to delve into the secret realm to earn some money.

Originally, with the several houses and an eight-figure savings left by his parents, plus the continuing dividends from research patents, Lu Ran thought he would never have to worry about money in his lifetime…

But then, Infinite City went ahead and overturned the traditional currency system in favor of crystal coins, and he had to start earning all over again.

With the thought of needing to make money, Lu Ran made his way to the outside of the arena.

The appearance of the Infinite City arena was reminiscent of an ancient Roman Colosseum.

From an aerial view, it was oval-shaped, constructed entirely of stone. Lu Ran hadn’t even approached when he already sensed the scent of blood in the air, and the arena’s style of ruined walls made the place seem particularly fierce and terrifying.

“Ha ha ha ha, won today, earned 200 crystal coins, let’s go to the tavern. I haven’t had meat in so long.”

“Damn it, I lost completely, I’m never betting again!”

“In Beast Taming battles, being weak is the original sin.”

“Today in area two, there was a beastmaster with a fox pet beast, clean and pretty… I’m talking about the fox, of course.”

As Lu Ran approached, he heard various conversations. The crowd at the arena wasn’t large, but there were still about a hundred people around.

“Over here!” Pig Raiser spotted him as soon as he arrived and called out from afar.

Soon, the two met up.

Pig Raiser said cheerfully, “I’ll go open an exclusive combat room; let’s have a good fight.”

The Infinite City arena is divided into the main combat area and exclusive combat rooms.

The former is only available for beastmasters who are doing random matches or for some large-scale competitive events. In the main area, spectators on the walls can view the entire battle.

As for the exclusive combat rooms, it’s like two people opening a private room. They enter the underground dungeon of the arena, where there is a separate combat area.

Fang Lan is currently active in the main area, fighting in matches every day. If the battling parties have a wager, the winner can earn crystal coins, which is also a way to make money. However, after a powerful beastmaster shows a certain level of skill, basically no one is foolish enough to bet against them.

“Let’s go, but I don’t have much time,” Lu Ran said in response.

“Ah…” Pig Raiser despaired, “Actually, I found out that the examiner responsible for my guild assessment has a wind-type pet beast… So, I want to do some last-minute intensive practice today.”

“Could you… could you spar with me for a while longer? I’ll pay 10 crystal coins per hour, and I’ll cover all the healing and arena fees!” Pig Raiser said through gritted teeth.

His pet beast’s movements were a bit slow compared to wind-type creatures… He had to quickly adapt to fighting against wind-type pet beasts.

Lu Ran felt a headache coming on when suddenly, Pig Raiser seemed to remember something, “Right, I’ll add this too, this is for you.”

“What is it, postnatal care for a sow? I don’t want that.”

“No, it’s not that!” Pig Raiser’s face turned red.

If it’s not that then why is your face red… Lu Ran thought, feeling puzzled.

As he spoke, Pig Raiser pulled an item out of his spatial backpack.

It was a green leaf.

Lu Ran looked it over.

Name: Awakening Leaf

Level: Advanced

Introduction: After consumption, there’s a certain chance to evolve an ordinary creature into a supernatural one.

“This is something I got in the secret realm. It’s not very valuable and hard to sell, so I’ll give it to you.”

Lu Ran: ?

What kind of talk is that.

Shouldn’t you be saying “it’s very valuable, super rare”?

By saying that, it makes me and General Ha seem cheap…

Never mind… Those of us from the countryside are just honest… Lu Ran resigned himself.

“Alright, I’ll spar with you for a while longer. Forget the crystal coins, you must be short on them as well. I’ll take the leaf, and if you pass the assessment, just treat me to a big meal.”

“Thank you!” Pig Raiser’s eyes lit up, what a good person!

With that, he handed the Awakening Leaf to Lu Ran, saying, “I’ve inquired about it. The Awakening Leaf is actually what some beastmasters use to screen pet beasts’ aptitudes. In reality, when selecting a second or third pet beast, they first feed the target an Awakening Leaf. If it evolves into a supernatural creature, it indicates good aptitude. If it doesn’t evolve, it shows the aptitude isn’t high, not suitable for a contract.”

“Furthermore, if the creature’s species level after awakening is high, then contracting it is definitely the right choice. If the species level after awakening is ordinary, then it’s up to the beastmaster’s own expectations to make the next decision.”

“Doing this ensures that you pick the strongest second pet beast, but it requires a vast amount of awakening leaves… There was a time when many beastmasters would challenge the secret realms that drop awakening leaves.”

“However, later on, it seems that higher-level secret realms had more stable alternatives, which led to the awakening leaf falling out of favor in the market, and no one went to farm them anymore. I don’t plan on raising a second pet beast for the time being, but if you, big shot, have a need, you could take this and try your luck…”

“Although the chances are small…” Pig Raiser did his best to introduce the item, but when he thought about the probability, he awkwardly scratched his head in embarrassment.

He was strapped for cash and couldn’t offer anything better. Just as he had said, this item had been phased out by the market.

“It’s fine, I’m actually quite interested in this,” Lu Ran said, looking at the awakening leaf. He hadn’t known about such a resource before.

“Which secret realm did you get it from?”

“A simple-level novice secret realm, Awakening Island. Some other intern members of the guild asked me to team up with them, and I got this as a clearance reward,” Pig Raiser explained.

Lu Ran made a mental note of the name of this secret realm; it did ring a bell.

Originally, he had put the matter of acquiring a second pet beast on the back burner, waiting until General Ha reached level 10 and cleared the breakthrough secret realm before he could get the second contract card.

However, this awakening leaf sparked his interest – it’s a tool for selecting the aptitude of a second pet beast…

He felt he could do this in advance, as who wouldn’t want their pet beast to have better natural talent?

As the king of the wild animal world in Green Sea City, he knew too many animals – the Bug King, the crow that understood human nature, the stray cat boss with high-level thieving and fishing skills, the old turtle in the river that had lived for a long time…

Later on, he could just casually farm some awakening leaves to feed them, and see which one had the highest aptitude to pick as his second pet beast, which seemed like a good plan, right?

Only… Mass-producing supernatural beings would be akin to forming a private army. Damn, that’s hardcore. Could he end up being arrested by the police?