King of Beasts

Chapter 97: The Choice Before the Breakthrough

Lu Ran hung up the phone and fixed his gaze on General Ha.

If it dared to crash into the TV, one of them—him or General Ha—would have to be out of this house for good today!

“Woof~”

General Ha came to an abrupt stop, wary of getting too rambunctious indoors.

It stuck out its tongue at Boss Lu, signaling for him to relax.

It still had some sense of measure, after all.

“I hope you do…” Lu Ran muttered, lips pursed.

After ten days, General Ha finally managed to achieve basic control over energy release.

Now, making sword qi turn a corner or raising the roar of the wind upwards was relatively easy for it.

However, wrapping wind energy around objects and then controlling those objects to fly was still quite challenging and could end in disaster if not handled properly!

In other words, the sword control technique that Lu Ran had been yearning for was still pretty rudimentary—far from being viable in actual combat.

From his research, wind attribute energy manipulation was actually among the easiest to control for flight.

After all, wind inherently carried the flight attribute; if you tried to make earth or rock-based attributes control objects to fly, the difficulty increased substantially.

Only mental attribute’s telekinesis was easier than that of the wind attribute.

Lu Ran wasn’t in a hurry though. At least they were seeing the shadow of the sword control technique. With more practice, General Ha would master it eventually.

Naturally, they had spent a lot of lucid fruits on General Ha over these ten days. Its growth wasn’t limited to just energy release control techniques.

Its energy compression skill had also finally made a breakthrough.

This achievement owed much to their daily trips to the training secret realm. Slashing at multiple BOSSes with storm slash ten times in a day honed General Ha’s energy compression skill to an impressive degree.

Moreover, General Ha wasn’t afraid of self-damage during its relentless attempts after returning to the training secret realm. These efforts led to a qualitative change in its energy compression skill, making it capable of compressing energy up to twenty times.

Currently, General Ha could compress energy up to eleven times. While that may seem like a minor improvement, the additional energy compressed into its original skill provided an incredible boost—not just a mere ten percent increase in power.

General Ha had almost gotten used to ten times energy compression. However, now with the eleven times storm slash, the strength of its commander species teeth was nowhere near enough to handle it. Every time it used it, its teeth felt like they had been hit by a bomb—utterly miserable.

No wonder energy compression is considered to be the most dangerous energy technique to practice.

Currently, among the four advanced energy techniques, General Ha was only still at the first stage of energy flow.

Typically, energy flow is about making the energy enveloping the body move at high speed, thereby creating stronger offense, defense, and agility.

Advanced energy flow, however, is not limited to external use. It involves a holistic approach by circulating energy within the body, which has effects similar to nurturing the body, enhancing not just attack and defense but overall agility as well.

When mastered, this technique not only avoids wasting much energy but also becomes a method for energy recovery. It speeds up the natural recovery rate of the pet beast’s energy, almost as if the inner strength regenerates rapidly by itself, like in the legendary “Nine Yang Divine Skill.”

Lu Ran regretted that General Ha couldn’t grasp all four advanced energy techniques’ second stages before entering the breakthrough secret realm. However, having mastered three of them at merely level 10 was already an impressive foundation that few pet beasts could match.

“The most important thing is… I have also successfully mastered the Blizzard Sword Intent through the super beast mimicry technique!”

Boss Lu wore a satisfied smile on the sofa, feeling his hard efforts over the past days had paid off.

He now realized more than ever that super beast mimicry was indeed a great skill. His decision to learn it had absolutely been the right one.

However, there was still some gap between his Blizzard Sword Intent and General Ha’s.

General Ha’s Blizzard Sword Intent could directly imbue attacks with a freezing effect, even capable of freezing over the sea.

In contrast, due to lacking inherent attribute energy, Lu Ran had to wield an ordinary sword, which didn’t boast such dramatic effects. At best, he could make his enemies feel as if their spirits were plunged into an icy abyss. At his fanciest, he might use the Blizzard Sword Intent to slice fruit and keep it naturally refrigerated—what a laugh.

Now, not only was it the “air-conditioning sword intent” that General Ha joked about, but it also became the “refrigerator sword intent.”

This made Lu Ran even more eager to learn a beast taming skill that could harness his pet beast’s attribute energy. Whether it was to enhance super beast mimicry or for the future of fire forging…

That evening, Lu Ran received quite a few phone calls. It seemed everyone knew he was about to enter the breakthrough secret realm and called to offer their well-wishes.

A call from the busy Dr. Gu was one of them.

Lu Ran assumed she would simply inquire about his plans for the breakthrough secret realm but to his surprise, she brought some big news.

“Lu Ran!”

On the other end of the line, Gu Qingyi’s cheerful voice came through.

“I finally managed to track down the guild leader after searching for several days,” she explained. “I told him about your situation.”

“He’s assigned me the task of researching necromancy. Given that, I’ve decided to personally contract and train a necromancy-type pet beast.”

“Really?” Lu Ran asked in astonishment, “So, does that mean those death revival skill cards are now your responsibility?”

Gu Qingyi confirmed, “Yes, that’s correct. But since necromancy is mainly viewed as an evil attribute and isn’t accepted by the public, our research into necromancy, along with the cultivation of necromancy pet beasts and the training of necromancers, will have to be done in secret.”

“Actually, I share your mother’s perspective—the attribute itself has no inherent good or evil.”

“Three years ago when I became a beastmaster, I witnessed countless beastmasters form deep bonds with their pet beasts during battles. They fell into despair when their pet beasts died and eventually chose to abandon the occupation of beastmaster altogether.”

“If necromancy can be popularized and perfected without side effects such as memory gaps, it might truly revolutionize the field of beast taming.”

“Exactly, that’s what I think too!” Lu Ran nodded. The most compelling aspect of necromancy for him was this very potential.

If possible, no one wishes to face death. But accidents happen, and they’re unavoidable. In such cases, necromancy offers a lifeline—a second chance for many beastmasters.

Many people were enticed by The Other Shore and agreed to join them for this very reason.

“While researching necromancy, I plan to establish a domestic version of ‘The Other Shore,’ using death revival skill cards. Through contract cards, we’ll be able to turn pet beasts that have died within 24 hours into necromancy beasts. The initial candidates will be beastmasters who have lost their pet beasts unexpectedly in a secret realm yet show promising talent and character,” Gu Qingyi elaborated.

“If I find such beastmasters, I’ll contact them immediately.”

“Would you like to join us?”

“As the provider of the undead resurrection skill, whether or not necromancy becomes widespread in the future, you’ll have made significant contributions. I can make you my deputy,” she offered with a smile. “I also discussed rewards for you with the guild leader, and he left it up to my discretion.”

“I thought about it, and what you seem to lack most right now are crystal coins.”

“Exactly,” Lu Ran admitted with a wry smile. The crystal coins he had earned over the past few days were nearly depleted after purchasing rare-quality dog food and some lucid fruits.

He was now on the brink of entering the breakthrough secret realm, having spent almost everything he could.

He was hoping the breakthrough secret realm would be a lucrative endeavor.

Like novice secret realms, the breakthrough secret realms of each level offered more substantial rewards compared to ordinary secret realms, and Lu Ran was quite excited about it.

“But even with crystal coins, some resources are hard to come by. So here’s the deal: forget about paying me back the little you owe me, and I’ll give you three additional resources,” Gu Qingyi proposed.

“Whatever trait crystals or beast taming skills that currently drop from abyssal difficulty secret realms, you can choose three.”

“No matter which secret realm level they drop from, I’ll make sure you get them before you exit the breakthrough secret realm, so you can have full power as a level 1 beastmaster.”

“This way, your performance in the Freshman Tournament should also improve.”

“Really?!” Lu Ran’s face lit up with joy. He had been agonizing over choosing the second traits for General Ha and the sudden death king, as well as his own second skill!

For General Ha and the sudden death king, it was because rare traits couldn’t be obtained directly from novice secret realms, and buying them was too expensive and none were available.

As for himself, although he had the death revival skill card, Lu Ran had planned to wait until he encountered the quasi-necromancy pet beast that Manager Ying mentioned before learning it. For his second skill, he wanted to focus on auxiliary forging skills first.

These things would take too long to gather on his own, so if Dr. Gu could help, it would be fantastic.

“Of course it’s true,” Gu Qingyi confirmed. “So, do you have any traits in mind?”

Lu Ran responded quickly, “Well then, I won’t hold back… I want that Overlord Body trait you mentioned earlier, the one that can reduce damage.”

This was intended for the sudden death king.

The Red Lightning trait enhanced the body as it grew, while the Overlord Body trait would further magnify the advantages of a strong physique. With the combination of these traits, Lu Ran felt even General Ha would struggle significantly to break through the sudden death king’s defenses.

“No problem,” Gu Qingyi agreed.

“This trait is for the red-eyed eagle lizard, right? What about the second trait for Erha? Have you thought about it?” she asked.

“I have,” Lu Ran said. “I want the Nature Control trait.”

On the other end, Gu Qingyi didn’t need to think twice. “Sure, no problem… but why this particular trait?”

Nature Control was one of the top-tier traits available.

Its effect allowed a pet beast to harness natural energy corresponding to its own attribute, in addition to the energy generated within its own body.

“General Ha’s species talent is the king of swords, and it can enhance the species by using swords condensed from its own energy.”

“But condensing a high-quality sword of wind with its own energy is too exhausting.”

“If it could draw upon the wind force in nature to condense a high-quality sword of wind, it would be much less taxing.”

“Besides… my biggest headache right now is General Ha’s lack of stamina. It’s quite perceptive and has learned numerous advanced skills, but using such skills even two or three times at its level leaves it drained.”

“If it had the Nature Control trait, it could partially use natural force for its skills. Then, it could unleash big moves without worrying about running out of energy!”

Lu Ran had thought it through. Combining the healing from the divine deer pendant with the sustained power from Nature Control would allow for infinite energy compression techniques—essentially unlimited big moves. Who could withstand that? This would give him the edge to tackle the abyss secret realm at level 1!

This was definitely the trait.

“I see…” Gu Qingyi found it reasonable. “Alright, I’ll make sure to get it for you.”

“And anything else?” she inquired.

“In that case… could I get a fusion skill book?” Lu Ran asked tentatively.