King of Beasts

Infinite City, Passerby A’s dedicated room.

To further experiment with Dark Crow’s abilities, Lu Ran opened the secret realm panel.

He casually selected a simple-level, level 2 secret realm.

[Name: Gray Wolf Plateau]

[Secret Realm Level: Level 2]

[Difficulty: Simple]

[Challenge Crystal Coins: 1000]

Lu Ran casually selected the Gray Wolf Plateau and entered directly.

…

…

“Dark Crow, it’s your turn.”

Lu Ran stood on a desolate patch of dry grassland, surrounded by nothing but his three pet beasts.

General Ha calmly looked over the plateau, sensing the “breath” of its kind, though much weaker.

Even Sudden Death King didn’t feel any sense of danger upon entering this realm; it seemed more like a tourist trip.

Indeed, as a simple-level, level 2 secret realm, the BOSS was merely a level 30 lower commander species.

If not for the fact that gray wolves are pack animals, most level 2 beastmasters should be able to solo it.

“Kaw!! So, it’s the Gray Wolf Leader!” Dark Crow closed its eyes.

It expanded its perception, searching for the strongest breath in this realm.

Moments later.

In the distance, surrounded by the pack, the Gray Wolf Leader suddenly looked up.

As it raised its head, so did the wolf pack; soon, they saw a massive eye opening in the sky, staring at them.

“Arrooo!!!!” The Gray Wolf Leader bared its teeth, looking cautiously, but seeing no movement, it instantly began to condense a compressed wind bullet to destroy the eerie eye.

But before the wind bullet could fully form, “Boom!” the chaotic, violent energy exploded in the Gray Wolf Leader’s mouth, causing its head to vanish instantly.

All that was left was a body, slowly toppling over.

Seeing this, the wolf pack panicked and fled in all directions, while the Evil God’s Eye displayed an indifferent look.

At the same time.

[Congratulations, you have completed the secret realm challenge.]

[Rating: SSS-Level!]

[Congratulations, you have obtained 1000 crystal coins.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained the rare resource, Hurricane Ore.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained the advanced resource, Gray Wolf Fang.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained the advanced resource, Gray Wolf Hide.]

“What’s the deal? You’re using energy compression just like General Ha, aren’t you afraid of an energy explosion?”

Dark Crow General snorted softly and looked at Lu Ran.

Lu Ran remained silent, calculating the time and noticing the slight red tinge in Dark Crow General’s eyes, he broke into a smile.

“Half a minute, it only took half a minute to clear a secret realm.”

“As expected of you, Dark Crow General.”

“Thank you, Big King, it’s all because of your blessings!!” Dark Crow General flapped its wings flatteringly, “You’re the impressive one, Big King!!”

“Woof woof!!” “Roar!!” General Ha and Sudden Death King were equally stunned. It was already over???

Such efficiency???

Also, this Crow, could you stop flattering the beastmaster? They were already almost sick of it.

“General Ha, Sudden Death King, look at Dark Crow General’s dedication.”

The comparison was painful; Lu Ran instantly felt a pang of disappointment.

He looked into Erha’s supposed wise eyes.

This guy always thought it was more of a genius than the beastmaster, thinking it was smarter than the beastmaster.

And Sudden Death King always had a despairing look when faced with the tactics and training methods that the beastmaster painstakingly thought of, as if the beastmaster was bullying it.

Look at Dark Crow General, now that’s loyalty!

Even with eye pain, it didn’t forget to flatter, making Lu Ran feel genuinely pleased.

“Dark Crow General, keep it up, work hard, someday you’ll surpass Sudden Death King and General Ha and become the Boss of the team.”

Lu Ran gave a thumbs up to Dark Crow General.

“Squawk! Can’t, can’t.” Dark Crow General flapped its wings shyly, looking at General Ha and Sudden Death King.

But deep inside, something called ambition began to grow.

It really did want to become the top ace!

“Woof.” General Ha curled its lips, no way, it didn’t believe Dark Crow General could beat it, including Sudden Death King. They couldn’t beat it.

“Roar!!” Sudden Death King also shook its head indifferently, it had no interest in being the team leader, but it was determined to develop an impenetrable defense that no one in the team could break and thus remain undefeated…

“Once you all evolve and start from the same starting line, I’ll set up an internal competition to see who is stronger,” Lu Ran laughed.

General Ha, Sudden Death King, and Dark Crow General: !!!

“Let’s not talk about this now, come on, Dark Crow General, let’s try a few more times and see the limit distance your eye and talents can handle.”

…

While Lu Ran was still experimenting with his pet beasts’ abilities, he remained unaware of the commotion it stirred up within Infinite City No. 3.

Infinite City No. 3, Beastmaster Square.

As more and more beastmasters gathered, the area grew increasingly lively.

Couples on dates, material trading, big shots showing off and picking up newbie beastmaster girls for level-ups-this was the place to be.

Naturally, today’s hot topic here was about the latest news concerning Lu Ran.

“Passerby A, do you believe this nonsense about the Necromantic Holy Son?”

“I’ve been seeing all this talk online about The Other Shore. I’d never even heard of this organization before. Damn, could Boss Lu, who was always so high-profile, really have been brainwashed and abducted by them to betray the country?”

“Impossible. Such an outstanding talent, if an evil organization could sway him, what are the high-level members even doing?”

“It’s probably just an attempt to smear him online. This sort of thing isn’t new.”

“Exactly, and what’s so great about necromantic pet beasts anyway? Unless it’s a strikingly beautiful ghost… Otherwise, aren’t sword dogs cool enough?”

“Such nonsense.” Just then, a group arrived.

Leading the group was Pluto, wearing the Star Cluster’s guild uniform, heading straight to the public secret realm with his followers.

Pluto, who had also seen the news earlier, dismissed it with a sneer. If someone had said Lu Ran crushed the Knights of Light Order in a breakthrough secret realm, he’d believe it. But claim that Lu Ran had willingly succumbed to necromantic power? Not a chance.

“It’s Pluto!!!” The passersby also noticed the group from the Star Cluster guild.

Although not as famous as Lu Ran, Pluto was also a prominent figure in Infinite City No. 3. His second pet, a Thunder-Horned Ant, had even made it onto the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard. Though it was only ranked tenth, it undoubtedly made him one of the top figures among the Fourth Generation.

“Pluto, how do you view this news?” Upon seeing him, the passersby immediately sought his opinion.

“Think about it, Passerby A. During the Freshman Tournament, Lu Ran obtained a pet beast egg of an innate sovereign species, and it’s even from a special species. With such a superb pet beast egg, only a fool would contract with another pet beast.”

“Why would he waste his time researching necromancy?”

“Mark my words, you’re going to see Lu Ran’s sovereign pet beast on the Sovereign Divine Beast Leaderboard very soon…” Pluto said calmly. “It’s highly likely to be an elemental pet beast. Researching elemental attributes is the proper path…”

[Regional Announcement: The Divine Beast Leaderboard and the Commander Species Leaderboard have been updated.]

[New Entry: Leaderboard Divine Beast; Species: Evil Eye Crow.]

[Attributes: Dark, Mental]

[Species Level: Upper Commander]

[Growth Level: 26]

[Beastmaster: Passerby A]

[Reason for Leaderboard: Evolved and mutated from a Crow, with extremely strong talents. Awakened dark and mental power, performing a long-distance instant kill on a lower commander species, level 30 mutated gray wolf, in a simple-level, level 2 secret realm, Gray Wolf Plateau!]

[Rank: Rose to second on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard!]

At the same time, Pluto’s Thunder-Horned Ant, formerly ranked tenth, was knocked out of the top ten.

Everyone instinctively glanced at the Divine Beast Leaderboard, including Pluto.

Pluto: ???

“Pluto bro… it looks like you’ve been pushed out. It’s that big shot, Passerby A. But why didn’t he contract with a sovereign pet beast?” one of Pluto’s followers from the Star Cluster guild said.

“What the hell!!!” Pluto’s eyes turned red with rage.

He had just finished analyzing that Lu Ran would focus on nurturing an innate sovereign pet beast. So what is Lu Ran doing now???

Ignoring the innate sovereign and contracting with a commander crow???

Is Lu Ran targeting him on purpose, knowing that he had struggled to get his rank on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard, just to deliberately knock him down?

At this moment, everyone else also looked strangely at the fuming Pluto.

“Forget everything I just said. I suggest a thorough investigation of that crow. Even its species name sounds ominous!” Pluto internally roared.

…

On the other side, Lu Ran was still unaware that he had inadvertently caused Pluto yet another setback.

After a round of experiments, Lu Ran discovered that the maximum range of his Dark Crow’s Evil God’s Eye was nearly twenty thousand meters.

When the Evil God’s Eye stared at an object over ten thousand meters away, its eyes would become overstrained and start to bleed.

At twenty thousand meters, its eyes would go blind instantly.

Its targeting Talent was linked to the Evil God’s Eye’s sight distance, and it could still maintain about 5% effectiveness when targeting enemies up to twenty thousand meters away with its skills and curses.

This level of suppression was almost like cheating. Lu Ran initially wanted the Dark Crow to become a sniper…

But now it was less of a sniper and more of an anti-aircraft gun with its full-map targeting and long-range attacks.

“Keep it up,” Lu Ran thought, believing that with continued growth, the Dark Crow might eventually turn into an intercontinental missile after reaching level 60.

It could curse someone from across a country.

“Caw! Caw!” The Dark Crow preened proudly at Lu Ran’s praise.

“However, your Evil God’s Eye is drawing too much attention. Moving forward, you need to practice keeping its presence hidden, so enemies can’t tell when they’re being targeted.”

“In such cases, even if your skill’s power is significantly weakened, you can still make a decisive impact through surprise attacks.”

“Got it!!!” The Dark Crow nodded vigorously.

“Whew…” With the Dark Crow’s emergence, Lu Ran felt his team composition was becoming more perfect.

However, even with a more balanced team, Lu Ran knew he wasn’t ready to challenge a level 2 Legendary Secret Realm yet.

The boss of a level 2 Legendary Secret Realm was a level 30 lower overlord species.

Remembering how difficult it was for General Ha and the Sudden Death King to challenge a level 20 upper sovereign, Lu Ran knew how formidable an overlord would be.

He didn’t want to court disaster, so he planned to wait until General Ha and the others had undergone some evolution before attempting the challenge.

By then, General Ha and the Sudden Death King should at least be upper sovereigns.

Facing the challenge at that stage would undoubtedly lessen the pressure significantly.

With the Dark Crow’s support, they might even manage a solo clear.

After a while, Lu Ran left his room but then realized he had an unread message.

Pluto: [6

1

]

“Huh?” Lu Ran was confused. What was this guy talking about?

Could it be a compliment for his crushing of the Knights of Light Order and his solo clear of the Imperial Army? That had to be it.

Passerby A: [Thanks.]

Footnote:

1. 6(6):

   In Chinese slang, “6” means “awesome” or “impressive.”