King of Beasts

Antarctica, Public Infinite City.

Shi Zhen, Zhu Kaixin, and the others were teleported out, their hearts pounding wildly.

Even though they were First Generation, they had never experienced anything like this.

They had just witnessed the birth of the world’s first overlord species!

This was definitely something that would be written into the textbooks of various countries!

“Where should we spar?”

After emerging, they quickly escaped the crowded square through Gu Qingyi’s pet beast’s instant teleportation.

Then, Zhu Kaixin turned to Lu Ran with a question.

“Spar? Can’t you be more considerate?”

Gu Qingyi knew that Lu Ran was eager to test the sudden death king’s strength, but the pressing issue now was how to ensure Lu Ran’s safe return to Xia Country.

First and foremost, they needed to ensure Lu Ran’s safety.

“Should we contact the former guild leader for escort?” Zhu Kaixin scratched his head, realizing it was a valid point.

Having Lu Ran wander around Antarctica’s Public Infinite City wasn’t the safest choice.

“Uh, I’m fine with anything,” Lu Ran decided to follow Dr. Gu’s advice.

But… should they really have the former guild leader escort him personally? Lu Ran remembered Zhu Kaixin mentioning that the former guild leader rarely involved himself in such matters.

He usually served as the symbolic top-tier combat force, providing suggestions and leaving the execution to other First Generation members.

“Alright, leave it to me.”

“I’ll create multiple clones to escort him back from Antarctica.”

“But don’t just sit around idly. Pig Deity, you should strengthen the surveillance around the base.”

“For now, Lu Ran should stay within Infinite City. It’s relatively safer here, as few dare to cause trouble under the watchful eyes of the patrol beasts.”

As they were considering how to safely get Lu Ran back to Xia Country, a feline voice suddenly sounded.

And indeed, a cat named Manager Ying had quietly appeared nearby and was slowly approaching.

The group exchanged looks, noting how fast the cat had moved.

…

“Alright then.”

At this moment, Lu Ran’s actual coordinates were still on the desolate icefield, not at the Xia Country base in Antarctica.

Manager Ying sent Pig Deity to scout around the base to gauge which factions were impatiently making moves.

“I’ll go,” Pig Deity shrugged. Actually, the idea of sparring with Lu Ran wasn’t all that compelling.

A First Generation versus a Fourth Generation… even though they both had new pet beasts, he felt that despite his advantage in beast taming skills, the odds weren’t in his favor.

The gap between a sovereign and an overlord was still too significant.

They had often challenged secret realms at the overlord level and were deeply aware of the difference.

If Lu Ran’s Dragon King were to rise to the top of the divine beast leaderboard through a sparring match with him, wouldn’t his own record show him getting utterly defeated?

As one of the leading First Generation figures from Xia Country, Old Zhu still wanted to maintain some dignity.

Moreover, the immediate priority was indeed Lu Ran’s safety.

After resolving the discussion, Zhu Kaixin chose to exit the secret realm, and seeing this, Shi Zhen said, “Well, I should head out too.”

“I’ll head to Antarctica shortly.”

At this moment, Shi Zhen looked distressed. Sudden death king’s evolution had shocked him so much that he was feeling unwell.

Shi Zhen suspected that he might change genders again.

However, to bolster Lu Ran’s escort team, even if he ended up in a female body, he would still go to Antarctica to join the escort.

Soon, only Gu Qingyi and Manager Ying were left.

Gu Qingyi massaged her temples and said, “Why did you have to run off to Antarctica?”

“Haha, it’s all for training General Ha,” Lu Ran laughed, mentioning that General Ha had consumed a bunch of extreme ice, which had honed the quality of its teeth.

Prime rare resources!

Ice and wind dual-element fangs!

“Don’t worry, as long as I’m here, he won’t come to any harm, even abroad,” Manager Ying assured her.

“And, how was I supposed to know his pet beast would evolve so absurdly? If I had known it could evolve into a middle-tier overlord, I would never have let him leave the country.” Manager Ying also felt aggrieved.

It really knew how to trouble itself.

“By the way, this isn’t the place to talk.”

“Let’s go to my café,” Manager Ying suggested.

Cat-Eared Maid Café, Antarctica Branch.

“Alright, I happen to have some things I haven’t discussed with Lu Ran yet,” Gu Qingyi said.

“Well, what a coincidence, so do I,” Manager Ying said.

Both of them looked at Lu Ran, blinking expectantly.

The implication was clear: Did he have something to explain too?

“Ahem…” Lu Ran coughed and said, “Same here.”

…

After concepts like ‘Infinite City’ and ‘beastmasters’ became fully public, Manager Ying’s business continued to expand.

The business scope no longer just involved Asia; early on, branches were already established in Public Infinite City, the headquarters of the international beast taming alliance.

In the Cat-Eared Maid Café.

With only two familiar faces remaining, Lu Ran asked, “Are you both curious about how the sudden death king evolved into a middle-tier overlord all of a sudden?”

“It seems like you’re not even surprised?” Manager Ying observed. Although Lu Ran had been happy throughout, he was far less shocked compared to everyone else.

It seemed as if he knew about sudden death king’s potential from the start.

“Hehe,” Lu Ran chuckled and said, “I did have some speculations from the beginning.”

“Actually, there are some details about the last secret realm that I haven’t fully shared with you,” he continued.

“What? What?” Manager Ying’s fur seemed to bristle with curiosity, suspecting that Lu Ran had withheld some crucial information.

“So, are you going to tell us now?” Gu Qingyi didn’t seem to mind. Everyone has their little secrets. She had hers, Manager Ying probably had many, and naturally, Lu Ran had his. As friends, there was no need to pry.

When Lu Ran was ready to talk, he would share.

Most of the people who liked to pry into others’ opportunities had already been taken care of by the former guild leader.

“Yes,” Lu Ran said. “It actually has to do with the soul.”

“Back in the secret realm, when I used the Soul-Calming Stone to extract the sudden death king’s soul, I found that its soul didn’t match its main body and was still the original red-eyed eagle lizard.”

“So, I did some research within necromancy cults and investigated related materials. I discovered that usually, the physical body grows ahead of the soul.”

“Although the soul will eventually match the body, this process takes time.”

“The more significant the changes from external forces to the body compared to its original state, the longer it takes for the soul to adapt and match the new body.”

“Evolution can accelerate this matching process.”

“At that time, I started to think that the reason why beastmasters on Blue Star struggle to evolve dragon-type species might be because they focus solely on the cultivation of bloodline and the dragon’s spiritual artistic conception, while neglecting the cultivation of the Dragon Soul aspect.”

“After all, knowledge about souls isn’t abundant on Blue Star. Although during the evolution process, the soul gradually transforms into a Dragon Soul, can such an incomplete evolution be considered perfect? What would happen if the Dragon Soul perfectly matches the body, or even surpasses the body, before the evolution?”

“You mean to say that you crafted a Dragon Soul for it before its evolution?” Manager Ying finally understood.

“Why couldn’t you just say that outright?”

“Aren’t you also enhancing that Crow’s soul power?”

Lu Ran explained, “It’s different. Dark Crow’s soul power is enhanced through culinary preparations using special soul bones and my Culinary Intent, similar to enhancing other attributes.”

“When I was cultivating the soul of the sudden death king, I used some… unconventional methods.”

“I made it mimic necromancy-type pet beasts and had it consume ‘souls.’ And not just any soul, but the souls of purebred overlord dragon species. And more than one. I didn’t mention it earlier to avoid startling you.”

Manager Ying and Gu Qingyi were speechless for a moment.

It had consumed several souls of overlord dragon species?

“Hey, hey, why that look? I didn’t treat you as outsiders, that’s why I’m sharing this with you. You’re not going to shun me now, are you?” Lu Ran hurried to clarify. “Those souls were ‘purified’ and are purely energy forms.”

“It’s no different from eating meat… it’s not cruel.”

“Wow,” Manager Ying’s eyelids kept twitching, unsure of what to say next.

Having a living creature consume souls… that’s classic Lu Ran. Even members of The Other Shore would bow down to you, calling you the living Yama.

No wonder you could become the Holy Son of necromancy. Truly, birds of a feather flock together.

“Acceptable,” Dr. Gu said, tapping the table and exhaling deeply. No wonder Lu Ran’s pet beast had such strong evolutionary potential; it consumed the ‘souls of overlord dragon species’. As expected of the necromancy Holy Son, you’ve taken the application of breakthrough secret realms to the next level.

Now she understood.

But to discover this, and quickly refine it into a cultivation route, Lu Ran certainly showed considerable talent.

“So from what I see, as long as living creatures can also consume ‘souls’ to become stronger, necromancy-type creatures consuming souls won’t be seen as an exception, correct?” Manager Ying chuckled. “After all, other beastmasters will start buying souls to enhance their pet beasts then…”

A marketing genius!

“Haha…” Lu Ran laughed awkwardly and said, “It’s not that easy. Making it possible for living creatures to consume harmless souls is even harder than making necromancy creatures consume harmless souls.”

“Sudden death king and the others are not necromancy creatures; they can’t directly devour souls. So, to make them consume souls, I had to process the souls multiple times and turn them into soul cuisine.”

Manager Ying and Gu Qingyi were speechless.

It still sounded unsettling.

“Alright, I’ve finished explaining my stuff. Didn’t you both also have something to tell me?”

Manager Ying glanced at Gu Qingyi and said, “I’ll go first.”

“Do you remember when you asked me about Legendary Secret Realms suitable for a weather elf?” Manager Ying said to Lu Ran.

“There’s one secret realm where the boss is a young dragon capable of controlling weather. You listed this realm as one of your potential challenge targets, right?”

“Yes…”

“That secret realm got raided not long ago. Apparently, a team formed by beastmasters from four small countries cleared it,” Gu Qingyi added. “Seems like you missed it, Lu Ran.”

Lu Ran: ???

“Seriously?” Lu Ran was taken aback. “It got raided already?”

“And a team patched together from four countries!?”

That’s not fair!

“No other choice; there are too few level 2 beastmasters, so they had to form a team,” Manager Ying explained.

“It happened while you were sleeping!” Manager Ying smirked. “But it’s actually good news.”

“Because after this secret realm was raided, I managed to get my hands on the intelligence on the newly refreshed secret realm.”

“Weren’t you asking me about ‘legion-type trait’ before?”

“Huh?” Lu Ran was taken aback.

“This new Legendary Secret Realm, the boss is a lower overlord that can command countless lives, forming them into a powerful combat force and transforming. I suspect it possesses legion-type abilities!”

“If you’re interested, you should go raid it as soon as possible. Previously, it was hard to say, but now that your sudden death king has evolved, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Even if it lacks in species level in terms of skills and techniques compared to the boss, you still have other pet beasts.”

“This is the first time a legion-type boss has appeared in a secret realm, and this place is in Public Infinite City. Right now, nations are probably very interested in this secret realm, so if you’re late, someone else might snatch it up.”

“Got it,” Lu Ran nodded. Great, the sudden death king just evolved and is already being sent to get beaten up and work.

But then, he started to worry.

If the legion boss drops a trait, should it go to Cloud Baby or Dark Crow?

Giving it to Dark Crow would be fitting since it already has countless minions. Plus, if its third trait is necromancy clone, it could potentially spawn endless clones, essentially forming its own legion.

On the other hand, giving it to Cloud Baby would allow it to form a weather army using nature force, making it a force capable of annihilating nations. This could push the weather elf toward becoming a master of weather…

Lu Ran’s indecisiveness struck again. Well, first, let’s see if it even drops, then we’ll decide.