King of Beasts

“Caw caw!”

When Lu Ran finished speaking, the Dark Crow seemed to be pondering.

Just work hard for another year, and then things will get easier, and good days will come?

“Why does it feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before?”

It fell into deep thought, looking towards General Ha and the Sudden Death King, then glancing in the direction of Green Sea High School.

Never mind, it must be an illusion, it’s not important!

“Not just a year!”

“Even if it’s a billion years, I am willing to serve the Big King!”

The Dark Crow was the first to express its loyalty, making Lu Ran feel gratified.

Captured the key point.

Defeat the opponent!

Now, it had no interest in rewards or retirement.

It just wanted to quickly verify how strong it had become after evolving.

Its sword was already itching for action.

“Roar…” Among the Three Generals, even the Sudden Death King looked indifferent this time.

What a joke, could there be any training more torturous than jumping from high altitudes every few days?

It didn’t believe so!

As for battles, except being a bit afraid of General Ha, the Sudden Death King wasn’t too worried about others.

It was confident that as long as its growth level improved, its defense would be unmatched, and in battles, others would only be giving it a gentle massage.

“Great, since you have no objections, it’s decided then,” Lu Ran smiled.

With such understanding pet beasts, there was no fear of not improving their strength.

“Lu Ran.”

“Stop making promises, come and take a look.”

“The specific rules for the World Battle have been updated.”

As Lu Ran was making promises to them, Manager Ying, who was serving as both bodyguard and nanny, walked out from the Weather Elf’s nursery.

It seemed that it had just put the Weather Elf, which had been used as a mode of transportation, to sleep.

Now, the Weather Elf was a month old. Lu Ran estimated that by the time he returned from the Breakthrough Secret Realm, contracting it wouldn’t be unreasonable, right?

Two months, definitely enough time to join the battle.

“Ahem, you guys return for now,” Lu Ran quickly retracted General Ha, the Dark Crow, and the Sudden Death King into their contract cards.

Then he walked over to Manager Ying and looked at its tablet.

Manager Ying poked the screen with its cat paw and said, “It seems the way to decide the ten slots is through an arena match.”

“Arena match?” Lu Ran was surprised. “I thought it would be a mass elimination tournament for a large group of beastmasters.”

Manager Ying rolled its eyes at him, “How could that be? It would waste too much time.”

“Now, every arena in Infinite City has opened registration channels.”

“As long as you pass the preliminaries, beastmasters can be teleported via the arena to a place called the King’s Domain.”

“The King’s Domain has ten floating islands, each with an arena. The first ten to enter the King’s Domain will automatically become the arena masters of one of these arenas.”

“If no one challenges them afterward, they will become the top ten on Blue Star after a year.”

“If someone defeats them, they will be replaced. Of course, after being replaced, as long as the season isn’t over, they can still ‘seek revenge’ or ‘challenge another arena master’ to reclaim their position.”

“Oh, I see.” Lu Ran nodded in thought. “Are there any restrictions on challenging and being challenged? Being challenged continuously would be too annoying.”

“Yes, the preliminaries seem to be quite difficult. Although the update just came out, some people have already started challenging.”

“The preliminary mode involves challenging the Illusion BOSS generated by Infinite City, which is similar to challenging an ordinary secret realm.”

“According to intelligence, the first boss is a level 50 upper overlord species ferocious beast. This first preliminary stage should filter out a lot of people,” Manager Ying smirked. “For example, even if you use all three of your pet beasts, you wouldn’t be able to beat this guy.”

Lu Ran: ?

“Wow, the first stage is a level 50 upper overlord,” Lu Ran realized the high stakes of this preliminary challenge.

Most beastmasters, unless their pet beasts have undergone second-stage evolution, wouldn’t even stand a chance.

Without a few pet beasts of higher level overlord species, the average person wouldn’t make it.

“Exactly, so this ‘Preliminary: King’s Road’ will likely be a playground for Blue Star’s top-level experts for a while,” Manager Ying shrugged.

“It’s unlikely we’ll see the top ten of Blue Star emerge anytime soon.”

“In summary, beastmasters who can pass this preliminary round are destined to be few worldwide. Consequently, the number who can enter the king’s domain to challenge the arena masters will also be small.”

“And besides that, there are conditions for challenging the arena masters.”

“What conditions?”

“The challenger can only issue a challenge twice per natural month. Each time a challenge fails, it costs 10 million crystal coins.”

Lu Ran nodded again, “That’s manageable. For top-level First Generation, 10 million is certainly an amount they can afford, but losing it would still sting a bit.”

“Moreover, Infinite City will provide a certain degree of treatment for both sides after the battle,” Manager Ying added. “Currently, top-level fighters on Blue Star seldom go all out against each other because treating high-level pet beasts is too troublesome. No one wants to bear the aftermath, so they just spar lightly.”

“With Infinite City offering post-battle treatment services, defenders won’t mind frequent battles. After all, high-level combats are very beneficial for enhancing their own strength.”

“That’s true,” Lu Ran said. It seems that over the next year, the king’s domain arena will be the stage for top-level experts on Blue Star to clash.

I wonder how long it will take before I can enter as a Fourth Generation and battle them…

“Oh, by the way,” Lu Ran looked at Manager Ying, “Are there any other combat rules?”

“There are,” Manager Ying replied:

“In the challenge and defense stages, the battles are 3v3. Both parties can summon any three pet beasts from their entire contract pool.”

“If someone has less than three contracted pet beasts, they can still opt for a 1v3 or 2v3.”

“Additionally, beastmasters can also participate in the battle.”

“The battle process has no restrictions on life or death,” it looked at Lu Ran seriously and said, “If you’re not absolutely sure, don’t challenge foreign beastmasters whose capabilities are unknown.”

“Because during the battle, they certainly won’t hold back.”

“If you want to challenge, use the former guild leader and Lin Nian as stepping stones first. When they make it to the top ten, practice with them. At least they won’t kill you.”

“…” Lu Ran was speechless.

“3v3, huh,” Lu Ran stroked his chin and said, “It seems Infinite City is reminding beastmasters to focus on elite training for their pet beasts.”

“To concentrate their resources on the strongest three.”

“Why the number three? Does it have some special significance?”

“It’s not the strongest individuals,” Manager Ying corrected. “It’s the three that work best together.”

“A team of three individually strongest pet beasts might not perform as well as a team of three well-matched ones.”

“However, the First Generation doesn’t have much choice left. Their teams are pretty much set. In comparison, the Second and Third Generations have more flexibility in team composition since they still have opportunities to contract new pets.”

“As for why three, I have a hypothesis.”

“Have you heard of the combination domain?”

“Combination domain?”

“On the Star-Moon Continent, there are skilled beastmasters who can make two pet beasts with domains merge their domains to create a combination domain.”

“And according to records, the highest achievement on the Star-Moon Continent is the fusion of domains from three pet beasts. The power they can exert is unmatched by just plain quantities of similarly-leveled pet beasts.”

“I suspect Infinite City might be encouraging Blue Star’s top beastmasters to strive towards that.”

Lu Ran pondered for a moment and said, “That could be, but it seems very difficult. Most people can’t even utilize one domain effectively.”

“However, considering the abundant resources the overlord leaderboard can provide, a number of people might be able to advance quickly.”

“Indeed, if it’s truly to train beastmasters in mastering combination domains, then the First Generation in Xia Country has a significant advantage,” Manager Ying shrugged. “Even the Eagle Federation doesn’t have as many domain-mastering First Generations as you do.”

“But on another note, when do you plan to enter the breakthrough secret realm?”

“Once inside, you’ll have a chance to find another legendary master, maybe squeeze some benefits out of them, and get domains for Sudden Death King and Dark Crow too.”

“Soon!” Lu Ran pouted, “You think legendary masters are as common as cabbages?”

“You dare to think about carrying a secret realm, but you don’t dare to grab a cabbage?” Manager Ying snorted.

“Enough talk,” Lu Ran said, “By the way, I’ll need you to look after the Weather Elf and Winter Sword Spirit for a month after I enter the breakthrough secret realm.”

Manager Ying: ???

“Ugh,” Manager Ying grumbled angrily, “Why do you keep adding more?”

“Wait, isn’t the Winter Sword Spirit special? It can enter Infinite City and secret realms together with that dog. You should just take it yourself!”

Lu Ran sighed, “But you forgot, the breakthrough secret realm is different from ordinary secret realms.”

“When entering Infinite City or ordinary secret realms, even if the pet beast hasn’t been recalled to the contract card, it can be teleported together with the beastmaster.”

“But when entering a breakthrough secret realm, Infinite City will forcibly recall all pet beasts to their contract cards before teleportation.”

“Although the Sword Spirit can possession General Ha and enter an ordinary secret realm together, they can’t share the same contract card. Consequently, the Sword Spirit would end up left alone in a specialized room.”

Lu Ran understood why this only applied to the breakthrough secret realm. It’s because when entering the breakthrough secret realm, Infinite City generates an “identity background” for the challengers. If a pet beast was by their side during this process, it would limit the generated background’s flexibility.

For instance, when Lu Ran was generated as a follower of the Cult of Necromancy, listening to the missionary’s brainwashing, no one had pet beasts out. If Lu Ran had appeared with Sudden Death King beside him, it would have been excessively conspicuous.

Such concerns don’t apply to ordinary secret realms.

In short, although he couldn’t bring the Sword Spirit into the breakthrough secret realm, Lu Ran could live with it.

At least, there was still Sword Grass!

With Sword Grass in his mouth-no, even if General Ha just condenses a Sword of Wind, it’s still classified as a middle-level overlord species.

Though not as powerful as with the Sword Spirit’s possession, it should be sufficient for a Level 2 breakthrough secret realm.

“Alright, alright, one cat taking care of two kids, huh?” Manager Ying finally gave in. However, it didn’t outright refuse since it eagerly anticipated Lu Ran’s potential. This guy always managed to surprise it.

It wanted to see what this illegitimate child of Infinite City would achieve in the upcoming breakthrough secret realm.

As Lu Ran prepared to enter the new breakthrough secret realm, he began making arrangements in the outside world to ensure the month wouldn’t be wasted.

For example, when he emerges from the secret realm, Dark Crow will have reached level 40 and be able to fuse with its Flock of Crows trait.

At that point, all those ordinary crows would become part of its combat power, so naturally, they couldn’t just relax during this month; they needed rigorous training.

To cultivate these crows, Lu Ran planned to use a secret realm card right away and develop a real-world secret realm in the Green Sea.

Then, he would spend a large sum of crystal coins to transform this real-world secret realm into a “Bird’s Nest” where these crows could roost.

First, he would change their living environment.

As for their diet, Lu Ran also intended to set aside a significant amount of crystal coins and ask Manager Ying to help with the procurement.

“Big King,” he said.

“Currently, the total number of the Flock of Crows is 5,173.”

“There are 520 crows above level 10.”

“There are 12 crows above level 20.”

“Among them, 90% are awakened with wind attributes.”

“The remaining crows mostly have other ordinary attributes.”

“The more powerful ones include five crows with dark attributes like mine and seven with mental attributes.”

“Five thousand? Already?” On the day he heard Dark Crow’s report, Lu Ran was astonished.

“Have you gathered every supernatural crow in the province?” Lu Ran asked.

Dark Crow flapped its wings vigorously, “Not quite, but Big King, should I proceed with such a plan?”

Its eyes sharpened.

“Forget it… for now, these will be enough,” Lu Ran decided.

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