King of Beasts

This month is the month of beast battles.

Not all challengers from various countries need as much time to develop as Lu Ran does.

Once the Alliance Challenge commenced, they began launching raids for resources.

During this period, as the focal point of the Alliance Challenge, Lu Ran remained surprisingly quiet.

Everyone knows that the Strongest Fourth Generation must be actively preparing for the Alliance Challenge.

Phew…

More than twenty days passed.

A figure, looking weathered, emerged from the ruins’ space.

Having boasted in front of the former guild leader, Lu Ran dared not be complacent.

Lu Ran, having already created so many miracles on the blue star, is now standing on higher ground.

Although this challenge is quite difficult and not really suitable for a beastmaster of his level, Lu Ran does not want to fail.

Therefore, in the past few days of preparation, Lu Ran devoted himself entirely to training and nurturing his pet beasts, even more than before.

Over these twenty-plus days, he didn’t even cut his hair.

“You’ve come to pick me up, I see.”

In Green Sea City, when the time came, Lu Ran looked at the appearing Manager Ying and said with a smile.

“Hey, hey, hey, you look like a wild man,” Manager Ying remarked, speechlessly, seeing Lu Ran’s disheveled appearance.

“For a battle I cannot afford to lose, naturally, I have to prepare thoroughly…” Lu Ran implied that he was also participating in practice sessions with his pet beasts.

Being a superhuman with a domain, he could certainly be considered a special combat force, able to catch strong enemies off guard.

Over these days, the two retainer swords and the sudden death king, and dark crow have still not grasped the domain, much to Lu Ran’s disappointment.

However, there wasn’t much to regret.

Because, even if they don’t have a domain, Lu Ran does.

When the time comes, he can lend it to them, so why not?

So what if a Level 5 beastmaster has two more beast taming skills than he does? He’ll directly use the domain to enhance his pet beasts!

“Seems like you’re pushing yourself quite hard,” Manager Ying clicked her tongue, “It makes sense; you’ve applied for quite a few resources from the Association recently, and if you don’t perform well, the former guild leader will most definitely make you pay for it.”

“Ha,” Lu Ran chuckled, “That won’t happen.”

If Manager Ying could view the contract card information of Lu Ran’s General Ha right now, she would be amazed at the current configuration of Lu Ran’s pet beasts!

[Species]: Sword Domain Dog

[Attribute]: Wind, Ice, Space

[Species Level]: Middle Overlord

[Growth Level]: Level 40

[Retainers]: Sword Spirit (Level 40), Sword Grass (Level 40)

These two retainers cannot level up via the arena, but that’s not a big issue. With the resources provided by the Association, Lu Ran quickly elevated them to level 40.

It’s a pity that Lu Ran thought General Ha’s retainers might surpass its level, but in the end, they were restricted by the contract, unable to level up further. Otherwise, Lu Ran might have requested more resources.

However, all this is irrelevant now.

What gives Lu Ran the most confidence is that after General Ha awakened the Space attribute at level 40, its species level increased again.

Its basic species level rose from a lower overlord to a middle overlord.

Space is indeed one of the most powerful attributes, capable of directly enhancing overlord-level potential. However, Lu Ran suspects it’s also related to General Ha’s species, which is inherently connected to Space.

In any case, with the awakening of General Ha’s Space attribute, combined with the two retainers, its strength is now exceptional.

Lu Ran can’t wait to test his mettle against the second and first generations of other countries.

Although Lu Ran has been training intensively these days, he hasn’t completely shut himself off from the world and has been keeping an eye on the happenings of the Alliance Challenge.

In the first twenty days, although it was mostly the beastmasters from smaller countries taking on challenges, it provided Lu Ran with plenty of intelligence and broadened his horizons.

Notably, throughout more than twenty days of challenges, the best record so far is only passing the fourth stage.

No one has yet passed the fifth stage by defeating the first-generation gatekeeper as a second generation, which makes Lu Ran even more eager to see if he can be the first.

“Alright, gather your things, it’s time for us to go. Our challenge is the day after tomorrow,” Manager Ying said.

At this moment, Dean Qin and Youxiong Guild Leader had already headed to Antarctica to witness the battles firsthand.

They are also preparing in Infinite City.

Only Lu Ran, with access to the space within the ruins, has remained in Green Sea, primarily because it’s a convenient location to observe the growth progress of the dark crow legion and the black turtle.

Over these days, with Fang Lan’s assistance, most of the dark crow legion has successfully transitioned to the poison attribute.

The Ten Thousand Poison Mother Tree played a crucial role in this process. After focusing on the poison attribute, the dark crow’s mastery of swarm transformation and the power of its curses saw a significant improvement. The curse power can now directly extinguish the life of enemies, making it even more brutal.

As for the black turtle, thanks to the amplification from the stone tablet of the dragon and the assistance of the dark crow, it has become a feudal lord in the deep sea. It even helped Lu Ran acquire his first exquisite resource- the nine-colored meteorite fragment.

Indeed, the black turtle and its allies managed to seize a piece of the nine-colored meteorite fragment in the deep sea. However, Lu Ran didn’t immediately retrieve it. Instead, he allowed the black turtle to carry it for a while to enhance its level.

Lu Ran thinks there aren’t many leaders as considerate as he is…

Next, under Manager Ying’s escort, Lu Ran embarked on his journey to Antarctica. While he could certainly travel alone, given the current convergence of international powers, having a bodyguard seemed prudent.

…

Antarctica.

Alliance City.

Despite the harsh conditions, leveraging the power of pet beasts, the International Alliance successfully established a massive international metropolis here.

Upon learning of Lu Ran’s arrival in Alliance City today, Dean Qin, Youxiong Guild Leader, and Councilor Zheng from Xia Country, who has been stationed in Alliance City, promptly welcomed Lu Ran.

Councilor Zheng is a retired First Generation member from Xia Country. Post-active duty, his main role has been to represent Xia Country in handling affairs within the International Alliance. Many individuals like him reside year-round at the alliance headquarters, working for their respective countries.

This time, he is in charge of welcoming challengers from Xia Country.

Despite not holding a low position, Councilor Zheng is consistently courteous, personally greeting individuals like Dean Qin, Youxiong Guild Leader, and Lu Ran.

“Professor Lu, Manager Ying,” Councilor Zheng warmly greeted Lu Ran and Manager Ying, “We’ve prepared a welcome banquet here and have also invited Dean Qin and Youxiong Guild Leader…”

After a round of pleasantries with the hosts, Lu Ran joined Manager Ying and the others to enjoy the unique culinary offerings of Antarctica.

In the banquet hall, given that every word spoken by the diners might become classified intelligence, no outsiders were present.

Dean Qin, Youxiong Guild Leader, and Lu Ran were not strangers to one another. As soon as the three beastmaster representatives met, they began chatting with laughter.

“God Lu, arriving this late must mean you’ve been preparing a secret weapon,” Dean Qin said with a chuckle.

“Have you been keeping up with the situation of the gatekeepers in the Alliance Challenge? Need any intelligence?” Youxiong Guild Leader inquired.

“Youxiong, that’s an unnecessary question,” Councilor Zheng looked at Manager Ying and smiled, “With Manager Ying around, how could Professor Lu possibly be lacking in intelligence?”

“Tch, he hasn’t asked me anything yet. You guys chat; I’m going to get something to eat,” Manager Ying scoffed, uninterested in socializing with the group of men. Instead, it focused on the lavish buffet prepared exclusively for them.

Extravagant indeed.

There’s no way they could finish it all.

“I’ve gotten a general sense from the livestreams, but I’m curious if there’s any behind-the-scenes manipulation within the Alliance,” Lu Ran responded softly.

“That’s definitely something to watch out for,” Councilor Zheng said with a serious expression. “Even with international supervision, the Alliance Challenge has always had its undercurrents. If anything unusual happens during the tournament, my advice would be to prioritize safety and withdraw immediately if necessary.”

“The battles involving both First Generation and second generation fighters are hard to control. Over these days, there have been numerous casualties. Many pet beasts have died right on the battlefield, and there are cases where severely injured beastmasters haven’t survived.”

Qin Ming, Youxiong Anlin, and Lu Ran exchanged glances. Qin Ming said, “We’ll keep that in mind. We’re not likely to be taken out swiftly in the second-generation battles unless a gatekeeper of the caliber of the top ten beastmasters appears at stage 5.”

“That won’t happen,” Councilor Zheng reassured with a smile. “Any First Generation of the top ten beastmaster level would surely be barred from participating.”

“By the way,” Lu Ran said, taking a sip of juice, “while we’ve been focused on the Alliance Challenge, what’s the progress on the world battle?”

Youxiong Guild Leader said, “It’s the same as before-no changes among the top ten arena masters. No one can defeat them.”

“Sigh, I feel like it’s going to be this group of people till the end,” he said helplessly.

“Those guys truly are something else,” Qin Ming shook his head slightly. “Each of these ten has reached the pinnacle in some specific domain of the world.”

“They’ve all been promoted to level 6 now, and each has a ruler-level pet beast. And that’s just the basics.”

“Some have mastered energy flow techniques to what could be described as the strongest in the world.”

“Others have perfected energy release techniques, again claiming the top spot globally.”

“There’s even one whose superpower level is the strongest worldwide… And I’m not talking about Lin Nian. Lin Nian’s superpower is just strong mental power. The guy from India is even more outrageous; his superpower is mental control, capable of mentally hypnotizing ancient creatures for his own use and even hypnotizing enemy pet beasts. Although his destructive power isn’t as strong as Lin Nian’s, his evaluation in the superpower domain is higher.”

“Essentially, in species, domain skills, energy release, compression, shaping, flow, superpower, individual beastmaster combat strength… each of these ten has at least one domain where they’re unmatched by anyone else. To say they represent the pinnacle of global beast taming is indisputable.”

“How impressive,” Dean Qin Ming said wistfully.

Although he’s the strongest second-generation in Xia Country, he’s still far from the world’s top ten.

“The current world record for energy compression still belongs to that tough guy from the Snowfield, right?” Lu Ran asked.

Dean Qin Ming nodded and said, “Yes, but it’s said that after his ace evolved into an overlord species, he’s managed to control energy compression to over 40 times.”

“Incredible… A level 60 overlord pet beast, combined with a 40 times energy compression skill, the destructive power of its skills would be terrifying. Could it destroy a city?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lu Ran was sipping juice through a straw and thought, over 40 times, he might have underestimated these First Generations.

However, after the Alliance Challenge, that record might no longer stand. General Ha would likely take it…

“Damn…”

“Damn. Lu Ran, check out the international alliance forum.”

While the group was having their conversation, Manager Ying, who was over at the buffet, suddenly exclaimed, though no one knew what had gotten into the cat.

“Hmm?”

Following its suggestion, Lu Ran took out his phone and opened the international beast taming forum. Sure enough, he immediately found a trending post related to himself.

Seeing this post, Lu Ran was dumbfounded.

The post’s subject was: [By the way, does Lu Ran’s Twin Crow count as one pet beast or two? If Lu Ran sends Twin Crow into battle, will the Alliance consider it a violation?? Haha.]

This post sparked a heated debate. Lu Ran was momentarily speechless; he had been focused on issues regarding General Ha and the retainer and hadn’t even considered the dark crow aspect.

The crux of the matter was that someone else had already asked the Alliance this question in advance, and the official response had been given.

[Twin Crow is a special case of split evolution, but it is essentially a single entity. As long as the pet beast can be captured and deployed using the same contract card, it complies with the rules.]

Lu Ran: ?

“Who is this person? I feel like the Alliance will definitely dismiss them after the tournament,” Lu Ran thought, while in the distance, only he knew why Manager Ying was laughing so wildly.