King of Beasts

After conversing for over an hour, Lu Ran, Gu Qingyi, and Manager Ying finally saw Dr. Gu leave, looking satisfied.

At this moment, the weather elf had also woken up.

Its energy recovery was quite swift.

After greeting Manager Ying, Lu Ran set off to venture with the weather elf.

However, before heading out, Lu Ran made sure to disguise himself completely.

After all, he was currently at the center of international scrutiny.

“Pitter-patter…”

The weather elf curled up in Lu Ran’s pocket, curiously peering at the sky outside, and asked where they were headed.

“We’re going to find a crow.”

“When we meet it, I’ll introduce you to all your teammates,” Lu Ran explained.

“And finally… let’s see your combat abilities.”

“Pitter-patter!” With the weather elf in tow, Lu Ran fell into deep thought as they walked.

Right now, the weather elf was undoubtedly as pure as a blank slate.

When it was still an egg, he could let Manager Ying or the dark crow help take care of it, but now…

Whether handing it to Manager Ying or Fang Lan, Lu Ran was clearly uneasy, because its character would certainly be influenced.

The former would skew its personality, while the latter might even skew its attributes.

If it got influenced by Fang Lan, the weather elf might evolve towards a poisonous cloud, which would be troublesome.

However, there were times when he needed to enter the infinite city and couldn’t carry it with him. What should be done then?

Leaving it alone outside was also worrisome for Lu Ran.

“Why not contract the weather elf first? Contract the dark crow as the fourth pet beast later?”

“Never mind, better to contract the dark crow first. As for this little guy, hmm!! Let’s have Manager Ying take care of it for now. The sudden death king is level 30 now, and I can enter the level 2 breakthrough secret realm anytime. As long as I breakthrough quickly and contract the weather elf soon, their time together won’t be much, and it definitely won’t get influenced.”

Soon, after making up his mind, Lu Ran arrived at Emerald Mountain.

Then, he witnessed a profound scene.

With a gun in hand during summer, lined up with grilled fish, snakes in the forest were queuing up, distributing the fish among themselves.

Nearby, the dark crow and fire snake were maintaining order, “cultivating” the Green Sea snake army.

“Big King???”

However, when the dark crow noticed Lu Ran approaching, it was so shocked that it nearly rubbed its eyes in disbelief.

Once the dark crow confirmed it was Lu Ran, it immediately burst into tears, saying, “Big King, I missed you so much! You’re finally back.”

“Big King?” The dark crow’s voice caught summer’s attention. She quickly turned around and indeed saw Lu Ran, who was approaching, wearing a hat and mask.

“Have you mastered spear intent?” As soon as Lu Ran approached, he noticed a significant improvement in summer’s spear intent. She was in her ordinary state, not maintaining her fusion form, yet the long spear she held was continuously emitting a sun-like artistic conception.

Her progress was faster than Lu Ran had imagined. She could already display spear intent without relying on the power of a pet beast.

It should be noted that Lu Ran had only achieved this with the help of super beast mimicry, while she had completely relied on her Inch-perfect blade technique combined with her own talent. Lu Ran felt that her weapon talent was not inferior to his, if not superior.

“Yes.”

“You’re back,” summer glanced at Lu Ran, breathing a sigh of relief, and said, “Considering the time, it’s about right.”

“Since you’re back, I’ll return to school tomorrow. Anyway, thank you both for your guidance.”

“I have mastered the spear intent!”

Summer sincerely expressed her gratitude. She was thankful to Lu Ran for his Inch-perfect blade technique and to the dark crow, as without its request for her to make barbecue for the city’s supernatural beings, her spear intent wouldn’t have progressed so quickly…

She initially thought that within a month, she could at most maintain proficiency in the Inch-perfect blade technique and artistic conception release. As it turned out, she had managed to master the independent spear intent through sheer workload.

But honestly, after a month of making barbecue, she was utterly sick of it. She didn’t want to touch cooking any time soon.

“Caw.” The dark crow looked at summer, the female chef, and said, “You’ve worked hard!”

Lu Ran also noticed this. He looked at the dark crow; its level had unexpectedly reached level 25. It seemed that the resources he left behind, combined with summer’s Dark Culinary Intent, had brought significant benefits to the dark crow.

“Thank you very much,” Lu Ran smiled slightly, “It’s been more than a month away from school, it’s time to go back to class…”

“How was your breakthrough secret realm experience?” summer asked.

“Uh… haven’t you been keeping up with the news?” Seeing her drenched in sweat, Lu Ran guessed she must have been working hard on barbecue and probably hadn’t checked the news.

“Just take a look at your phone and you’ll know.”

summer: ???

“Alright then, I’ll head back and check it out,” summer said. It seemed Lu Ran was here to find the dark crow, so she decided to go back to Lu Ran’s place first and take a bath.

Besides… what kind of mysterious breakthrough experience could it be?

In no time, summer left.

As she descended the mountain, summer took out her phone.

Following Lu Ran’s suggestion, she searched for news about Lu Ran’s breakthrough…

And then… she stopped in her tracks halfway down the mountain, lost in thought.

…

At the same time, Lu Ran looked at the dark crow, fire snake, and its dozens of followers, and said:

“Fire snake, you all can leave now.”

“Hissssss-” The fire snake nodded. With a single call, all the poison snakes scattered and crawled away.

Soon, only the dark crow, Lu Ran, and the weather elf remained.

Lu Ran took out the contract card and looked at the dark crow. The dark crow, upon seeing the card, was visibly excited.

“Big King!!! Could it be-“

“Although you haven’t met the requirements I mentioned…” Lu Ran said, “But considering all your hard work recently…”

“Uwuuwu, I…” Before the dark crow could finish, Lu Ran flicked the contract card, hitting the dark crow square on the head. In the next instant, the card absorbed the dark crow.

Immediately after.

The contract card revealed the dark crow’s detailed information.

[Species]: Dark Curse Crow

[Attributes]: Dark, Mental

[Species Level]: Lower Commander

[Growth Level]: Level 25

[Species Talent]: Dark Curse (Can combine dark power with mental strength to form curse power!)

Lu Ran took the card and slowly browsed through the information, feeling the mental connection he had established with the dark crow, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

“Pitter-patter-” The weather elf, who witnessed the entire process of Lu Ran contracting the dark crow, looked on with a curious expression, still in its initial stage of understanding.

“Don’t worry, you’re next.”

“Everyone, come on out.”

After contracting the dark crow, three cards floated around Lu Ran, emitting a shimmering light. With a flash, General Ha, the sudden death king, and the newly contracted Dark Crow General were summoned all at once by Lu Ran!

“Woof!!”

“Roar!!”

General Ha and the sudden death king looked at the new addition, the Dark Crow General, without much surprise.

However, they both showed curious expressions when they noticed the weather elf floating beside Lu Ran.

“Cloud baby, give them a little surprise,” Lu Ran laughed heartily.

He instructed the weather elf.

The next moment, the weather elf nodded thoughtfully, and instantly, a snow cloud formed over General Ha.

Glistening snowflakes began to drift down.

“Awwooo???” Feeling the temperature drop and even sensing his Blizzard Sword Intent becoming more active, General Ha looked up at the snow cloud with a surprised expression, barking in excitement.

His eyes lit up.

“Roar!!” This magical scene also piqued the curiosity of the sudden death king. However, in the next moment-

Boom!!!

A white lightning bolt, rapidly formed under the gathering thunderclouds, struck the sudden death king with precision. While it caused very little damage, the sudden death king displayed a greatly puzzled expression.

Huh?

“Brilliant! In the future, use the ice cloud form to enhance General Ha’s combat intelligence and Blizzard Sword Intent.”

“And use the thunder cloud form to regularly summon heavenly thunder tribulations for the sudden death king to undergo heavenly thunder body forging!!”

“Pitter-patter-” Although the weather elf didn’t fully understand what Lu Ran was saying, it still called out joyfully.

“Big king, big king, what about me?? What about me??” The newly joined dark crow eagerly looked at the weather elf, almost like looking at a beloved child.

Its high intelligence allowed it to roughly guess that this cloud creature was the life form that hatched from that egg.

“You???” Lu Ran thought for a moment and looked at the weather elf. The weather elf also pondered for a bit but didn’t feel that any “weather blessing” was suitable for the dark crow.

However, since the dark crow was insisting, the weather elf summoned a rain cloud, poured down a heavy rain, and left the dark crow drenched, giving it a proper bath.

“Caw?” The dark crow was flying around aimlessly in the air…

“It seems like there’s no suitable weather for dark attributes. Does an overcast day count as weather? A thick, light-blocking cloud cover, shrouding the world in darkness… plunging everything into a state of perpetual night,” Lu Ran pondered but quickly felt it wasn’t feasible. The weather elf, as a pet beast, indeed had strong innate abilities, but its cultivation direction was hard to manage, unlike the more straightforward nurturing paths for General Ha, the sudden death king, and the dark crow.

“Caw.” At this moment, the dark crow was silently weeping on the side, so does it mean I’m not worthy…

“Stop wallowing in despair, come here. I’ll help you awaken a new ability,” Lu Ran said, looking at the dark crow that had been eating the big eyeball for over a month, a smile appearing on his face.

He took out the trait crystal of the Evil God’s Eye.

Upon sighting the trait crystal, the dark crow flew over immediately, itching to have a try.

“Big king, I’m ready!”

“Come on.”

Lu Ran tossed the trait crystal of the Evil God’s Eye towards the dark crow. As the crystal made contact with it, they began to merge instantaneously, emitting a pervasive red glow!

The gazes of General Ha, the sudden death king, and the weather elf were immediately drawn towards the dark crow.

[It should be able to awaken a species talent, right?]

Lu Ran’s heart pounded with nervous anticipation. Although he felt the chances were high, the moment was still a bit nerve-wracking.

Hoping for another powerful talent!!!

“Ahhhhh-“

During the fusion process, the dark crow seemed to be in considerable pain, its black eyes shut tightly as it covered its eyes with its wings.

“Hold on, try to control it,” Lu Ran’s voice called out, prompting the dark crow to nod vigorously.

During this period, the interwoven red and black energy waves continuously emanated from its body, making its color scheme quite similar to the sudden death king.

“My eyes-my eyes-“

During the fusion process, the chatty dark crow couldn’t keep its beak shut, constantly muttering. However, its aura was indeed growing stronger, filled with an ominous and eerie feeling that made both General Ha and the sudden death king furrow their brows.

If the dark crow wasn’t their companion, they would undoubtedly dislike this aura immensely.

It was even more discomforting than a necromancy-type aura.

Nevertheless, the fact that it could affect the senses of General Ha and the sudden death king proved how solidified and potent the dark crow’s mental strength had become.

“Pitter-patter…” Even the weather elf was somewhat frightened by the dark crow’s current aura.

“Don’t be scared, remember it used to hold you when you were little,” Lu Ran reassured, pinching the weather elf. The soft texture was quite pleasant; he thought it might be perfect as a future flying tool.

A Nimbus Cloud!

Just like a soft cotton bed.

“Pitter-patter!!!” The weather elf signaled Lu Ran to stop pinching, because by now, the dark crow’s aura was beginning to recede. Its fusion trait process was much less dramatic compared to the previous experiences of General Ha and the sudden death king.

On a closer look, as the dark crow moved its wings away from its eyes, it slowly opened them, and instantly, General Ha, Lu Ran, the sudden death king, and the weather elf felt enveloped in absolute darkness.

In the darkness, numerous pure black eyes with a red vertical pupil at the center appeared, covering the sky, the earth, and all around, all staring at them.

Though it lasted just a moment, the sense of oppression was incredibly strong.

When the darkness faded, everyone realized that the dark crow’s previous pure black eyes had now morphed into blood-red vertical eyes intertwined with black and red.

Its form hadn’t changed much, but its eyes had!

“Caw caw caw caw caw!!!”

Seeing the world through its new eyes, the dark crow suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, “Caw caw caw caw.”

“This power… I gaze upon the world, and the world submits to its king!!”

“Shut it.” Lu Ran’s face turned dark as he checked the contract card.

[Name]: Evil Eye Crow

[Species Level]: Upper Commander

[Species Talent]: Dark Curse, Target Lock (Creatures with this talent can use the Evil God’s Eye to lock onto enemies. When attacking a locked target, the natural energy loss of skills during the attack process is significantly reduced!)

“Look at this.”

Seeing the dark crow’s new species talent, Lu Ran couldn’t help but be surprised even as the dark crow laughed manically.

Target lock??

You see, the Evil God’s Eye, by nature, is merely a “reconnaissance-type” trait.

Although it can span vast distances to allow the Evil God’s Eye to gaze at and lock onto enemies, it can only influence the enemy’s mental state to a certain extent, monitoring them without causing any direct harm.

Therefore, to pair the Evil God’s Eye with ultra-long-range strikes, the dark crow still needs to diligently train in release-type skills, ideally reaching the third stage of release, the eternal skill, which allows absorbing external energy, making the skill perpetually active.

Only then would it be possible to accurately strike across a city or even a nation.

Of course, the dark crow still has a long way to go before reaching that point.

However, the awakening of this target lock talent effectively grants the dark crow a low-powered version of the third stage of energy release!

Lu Ran was slightly amazed. With this talent, if it locks onto an enemy, its skills in ultra-long-range attacks won’t suffer significant energy loss, maintaining enough power until they land on the target.

This is, in the truest sense, ultra-long-range striking.

“Dark crow!!!” Lu Ran was ecstatic, eager to test the dark crow’s new ability.

“I’m here!”

“Use your Evil God’s Eye to assist a random general from the Green Sea currently on the battlefield.”

“Find a lucky one to experiment with the combo of Evil Eye lock-on and ultra-long-range curse.”

“Never mind, that might be difficult to find. Sudden death king, you’re up. First, run 10,000 meters away, and the dark crow’s attack will follow.”

Sudden death king: ???