King of Beasts

After familiarizing himself with the abilities of the dark crow, Lu Ran headed straight to the official store of Infinite City.

Although exquisite resources were almost never sold, the rare quality and below resources were quite complete in each of the Infinite Cities.

Even foreign imported resources were abundant. Lu Ran, carrying a large sum of money, came to spend once again.

However, on the way, when Lu Ran saw that the dark crow had also made it to the divine beast leaderboard and heard people saying things like “Pluto is really miserable,” he fell into a moment of contemplation.

“I don’t know anything,” he muttered, clearing his throat as he walked into the store. First on his list was the lucid fruit, a resource that temporarily increased learning ability. More than a hundred were naturally desirable.

Although the effect of this resource diminished as the difficulty of what he studied increased, Lu Ran had already grown accustomed to having it.

In addition to this, he also bought 60 Darksea Octopus Eyes to supplement the dark crow’s diet. Going forward, its core diet would be the Darksea Octopus Eye paired with millennial soul bone soup.

Moreover, there was no need for Summer to handle the cooking; Lu Ran planned to focus on cultivating its soul power during this period. This would lay the foundation for fusing the necromancy clone trait and awakening the necromancy element!

Afterwards, Lu Ran also bought 30 rare quality water energy crystals, ice energy crystals, and thunder energy crystals each as food for the weather elf.

After spending over 2 million crystal coins, Lu Ran’s remaining balance dropped below 1 million, taking him back to square one overnight.

As for General Ha and the sudden death king’s food, since there were still supplies in the backpack, Lu Ran didn’t purchase more. Once everything was done, he exited Infinite City and returned to Green Sea, switching his phone off from Do Not Disturb mode.

…

“Manager Ying, where’s Summer?” Lu Ran asked upon getting home and seeing Manager Ying resting next to the weather elf.

“She left. She asked me to tell you that she returned to school first, probably to prepare for the Legendary Secret Realm challenge.”

Over the past month, following Lu Ran, the Fourth Generation team composed of Youxiong Anlin, Du Yuan, and others had also successfully cleared the Legendary Secret Realm. Now that Summer had comprehended spear intent, she surely didn’t want to fall too far behind the others.

“Oh, got it,” Lu Ran nodded. To be honest, he had wanted to bring Summer into the future Jiao Dragon team plan.

A spear strikes like a dragon!

Although none of her pet beasts were Loong-type, she could always wait for the Third Pet.

Unlike Pluto or the Dog King, Summer was also a “commoner genius” like Lu Ran, without any background affiliations, just a master of spearsmanship.

“Manager Ying, do you want some soup?” Lu Ran suddenly asked.

“What kind of soup?” Manager Ying perked up.

“Fish soup?”

“Rat soup.”

“Get lost!”

“Just kidding, it’s pork bones soup, an exquisite soul bone soup, something I got from a secret realm. I’ll start preparing it now and share some with you later!”

“That sounds acceptable,” Manager Ying smirked.

True to his word, Lu Ran quickly set up a large soul stone pot in the yard and started preparing the soup.

These Cooking Utensils were all brought from the secret realm.

During his two weeks in the Cult of Necromancy, Lu Ran had actually tried making soup with many rare quality soul bones, so he was pretty experienced by now.

Combined with the soul Culinary Intent transformed from his mind sword intent, Lu Ran wielded his sword to stir the pot, fearless of ruining the dish. Boldly, he followed his ideas, conducting small-scale experiments.

Two hours later.

The rich aroma of pork bone soup permeated every soul, drifting across the whole city. Most citizens suddenly got an inexplicable craving for pork, clearing out all the pork from marketplaces and butcher shops.

“It’s done!” Lu Ran lifted the pot lid, and a brilliant golden light instantly spread. He laughed heartily; one look at the color, and he knew the soup quality was up to standard-definitely on the threshold of exquisite cuisine.

At Lu Ran’s call, everyone except the still-sleeping weather elf eagerly gathered to taste the soup. Manager Ying, General Ha, the sudden death king, and the dark crow were all ready.

“Big King, you truly are amazing!!!” The dark crow was moved to tears when it saw that Lu Ran had served it the largest bowl.

Soon, the group, along with Lu Ran himself, began to enjoy the soup.

“Gulp, gulp.” As the bone soup went down, everyone felt an instant surge of heavenly delight.

At the same time, the enhancements brought by the exquisite cuisine were immediately felt by the pet beasts.

Due to Manager Ying’s formidable strength, the enhancement wasn’t very noticeable for it. However, General Ha, the sudden death king, and Lu Ran themselves felt an immediate effect.

This bowl of soup… could strengthen the waist and knees, boost energy, remedy weakness, and fortify bones!

In a moment, Lu Ran, General Ha, and the sudden death king felt their muscle and bone strength grow.

Lu Ran glanced at General Ha, who looked back with a puzzled expression, baring its teeth as if to warn Lu Ran not to get any ideas about its bones.

Of course, aside from these basic effects, the most crucial aspect was the enhancement of soul power!

This was most keenly felt by the dark crow, as it had never encountered soul cuisine before. In contrast, Lu Ran, General Ha, and the sudden death king had already consumed a lot of high-quality soul cuisines in the Cult of Necromancy. Therefore, a bowl of pork bones soup didn’t bring them a significant boost.

“Ah~~~” For the dark crow, it was the first time tasting something so delicious, leaving it slightly dazed.

In no time, it finished the large bowl.

Moreover, it seemed to have gained some insights.

“Big King, I need more. I feel like I’ve experienced something different.”

“Drink up; the rest is all yours,” Lu Ran agreed, knowing that he, General Ha, and the sudden death king had already reached their current soul power limits and wouldn’t see much improvement. Thus, giving the rest of the pork bones soup to the dark crow was the best choice.

This was the dark crow’s first time experiencing exquisite cuisine, and Lu Ran knew it would deeply immerse itself in the experience.

“Slurp slurp-” The dark crow gulped down the soup wildly.

As it drank, it muttered, “This is so delicious. Big King, I’m not being greedy; I just really want to improve.”

“Woof!!” General Ha and the sudden death king glared at it, ready to pummel it.

This crow, always claiming it wanted to improve, as if trying to pull something over on them.

However.

After downing several large bowls of pork bones soup, the dark crow’s eyes gleamed with a sharp light. It spread its wings and said, “Big King, I’ve got it.”

Lu Ran and Manager Ying, who had been sipping their soup, slowly turned to look at the crow.

“Hmm?”

“What did you figure out?”

Lu Ran was taken aback, instinctively looking at the dark crow’s contract card in his mindscape.

At that time, both the sudden death king and General Ha had gained new abilities from consuming exquisite Dragon Cuisine. It seemed the same was happening with the dark crow.

Lu Ran couldn’t quite imagine what kind of insight the dark crow could achieve from just drinking pork bones soup.

“Wow!” With a quick glance, Lu Ran was indeed shocked to find that it had indeed gained something.

[Skill]: Pig Transformation Curse

[Description]: This skill allows the user to curse and reshape the enemy’s soul and mental power, making them believe they are a pig and adopt pig-like behaviors.

Lu Ran: ???

“What did it figure out?” Manager Ying asked. Given that it was the dark crow’s first time enjoying such advanced resources, it wasn’t surprising that it had a significant gain. After all, the crow’s talent was quite high.

“Hmm…” Lu Ran pondered for a moment.

“Well…” Lu Ran turned to Manager Ying, “It might be easier to show you with a test subject.”

“Mainly, I want to see it myself too.”

“Seriously, stop being so secretive,” Manager Ying retorted, then turned its gaze to the sudden death king.

Sudden death king: ???

The sudden death king shook its head frantically.

“Let’s use it.” Eventually, Manager Ying used its mental power and teleportation abilities to temporarily pull out a criminal monkey from Green Sea Prison.

“Grr!! Grr!!” This monkey immediately displayed strong aggression upon its appearance. In many cities, such supernatural animals existed; once they evolved, their extremely aggressive nature made them impossible to tame.

“Yikes!!!” The reckless monkey quickly locked its red eyes on the “weakest” Lu Ran and leapt with its claws aimed at him.

“How dare you!!!” The dark crow’s Evil God’s Eye constricted sharply at the sight.

In the next instant.

The leaping monkey froze mid-air before crashing heavily to the ground. Then, it slowly got up on all fours, wearing a bewildered expression.

“Oink oink.” Next, the monkey began rooting in the dirt with its nose like a pig and made incomprehensible noises.

“Oink oink-“

“Ah?” Seeing this, Manager Ying was stunned and turned to the dark crow, asking, “Illusion?”

The monkey’s immediate behavior like a pig in the next second made Manager Ying think the dark crow had cast an illusion on it.

However, upon closer inspection, Manager Ying realized something was off. When it tried to break the supposed illusion as one usually would, it failed to undo the monkey’s transformation.

“It’s not an illusion,” Lu Ran remarked, pulling out a Soul-Calming Stone slab, and smashing it down on the monkey. In the next moment, the soul of a pig, covered in monkey fur, was knocked out.

“Damn.” Seeing this, Manager Ying couldn’t help but exclaim. General Ha and the sudden death king also widened their eyes in shock.

A pig-shaped soul was actually knocked out of a monkey’s body???

But, it only took a few seconds for the pig-shaped soul, after leaving the body, to distort and revert to a monkey shape, trying to return to its body.

“The dark crow’s newly acquired skill seems to be a combination of curse power and the artistic conception of the pig. By affecting the enemy’s soul and mental power, it turns them into a pig!”

“Unfortunately, it can only temporarily affect the soul and mental power right now. The effect is a bit weak. If there was a way to also transform the enemy’s body into a pig, that would be an extreme form of insult.” Lu Ran chuckled sinisterly.

“Ugh.” Manager Ying was genuinely startled, exclaiming, “How can there be such a disgusting skill?”

In an instant, she imagined Lu Ran’s enemies being cursed by the crow and snuffling the dirt with their noses on the spot. It was a mental torment too heinous to describe.

General Ha and the sudden death king nodded vigorously, looking at the dark crow with profound apprehension. Being turned into a pig and humiliated was far worse than being gravely injured in a battle.

The dark crow: “Caw??”

Lu Ran said, “Manager Ying, don’t you think Principal Shi Zhen still has hope!!!”

Manager Ying’s mouth curved slightly, “Are you saying that once you figure out how to turn a human body into a pig, you can use the pig transformation curse to override the sex-change curse??!!”

Lu Ran’s vision darkened, replying, “There’s no way such a solution would work. What if something goes wrong?”

Principal Shi Zhen would rather stay a woman than turn into a pig. Moreover, if it doesn’t override but instead fuses and levels up the curses, that would turn into a disaster… Lu Ran certainly didn’t want to be chased by a combat-oriented First Generation in the form of a sow.