King of Beasts

Chapter 148: The Golden Age

Infinite City, a private room.

Lu Ran returned with General Ha and the Sudden Death King.

All three were exhilarated.

Lu Ran and General Ha felt the thrill of blood-stealing.

As for the Sudden Death King, it was quite the shock for it.

Although its defense had improved recently, it still couldn’t withstand a beating.

It took a hit from the Diamond Dragon and ended up more injured than the dragon itself. Talk about a shock!

“Roar!! (I survived another day!!)”

The Sudden Death King clenched its fists, yearning for stronger defense!

General Ha extended a comforting paw to his old buddy.

There was no other way. To ensure stable damage output, someone had to take the hits.

That someone couldn’t be Lu Ran, nor could it be General Ha. So, the Sudden Death King had to take one for the team.

“Don’t cry, Sudden Death King. Once we get the resources, you’ll be our top priority,” Lu Ran laughed.

Additionally…

“We’ve finally become what we despise.”

Lu Ran muttered as he held the Ice Sky Greatsword, now bathed in Dragon Blood.

The creature he hated the most was the mosquito.

Yet, what they had just done was no different from a mosquito’s actions.

But it didn’t matter.

First, they needed to collect the Dragon Blood.

[Name]: Dragon Blood (Diamond Dragon)

[Level]: Rare

[Introduction]: The blood of a Diamond Dragon, used to enhance the defense of scales. It has a very low chance of causing mutations in rock species creatures.

“Hmm…”

However, after collecting a few drops of Dragon Blood into a bottle, Lu Ran fell into deep thought.

“Is this it???”

After spending all that effort learning to forge and finally enchanting the weapon with a blood-sucking ability, the Dragon Blood looked pretty underwhelming.

The level and effects seemed ordinary, nothing special.

Moreover, it wasn’t entirely free for Lu Ran.

General Ha and the Sudden Death King were severely injured, requiring the power of the Divine Deer Pendant for healing…

This contrast only made Lu Ran frown more.

The joy of picking up a bargain plummeted to its lowest point.

“Enhancing the defense of scales is a minor benefit. The research institute already has plenty of similar Loong-type rare resources.”

“But the effect of causing mutations in rock species creatures is somewhat comforting. However, it’s unclear just how small this ‘very low probability’ is.”

Apart from giving the Dragon Blood to Fang Lan for research, if they obtain more in the future, they could consider making Dragon Blood Cuisine or giving some to the Black Turtle.

Could this mutation effect turn rock species creatures into Diamond Turtles?

“Returning…”

Lu Ran was just about to return when suddenly a voice echoed in his ear.

[Congratulations to level 4 beastmasters Apollo, Wolf God, and Second-generation Superhuman for successfully completing the level 4 Legendary Secret Realm ‘Hurricane Ridge’, starting the Path of Legend.]

The brief announcement not only caused Lu Ran to pause but also reignited the excitement in Infinite City.

After more than ten days, another beastmaster team had finally conquered a Legendary Secret Realm!

Moreover, this time it was done by a team of just three people.

Level 4? Second-generation beastmasters?

While some of the Fourth Generation might be puzzled, the names Apollo, Wolf God, and Second-generation Superhuman were quite familiar to the First, Second, and Third Generations from various countries.

Second-generation Superhuman, Wolf God, and Apollo were among the top second-generation beastmasters from the Eagle Federation.

Among them, Qin Ming, the strongest second-generation beastmaster from Xia Country, had once battled Wolf God in a public secret realm.

The result ended with Qin Ming’s defeat.

Both Second-generation Superhuman and Apollo were on par with Wolf God, making it no surprise that a team from the Eagle Federation could conquer a secret realm.

In terms of second-generation beastmaster strength, the Eagle Federation was far ahead.

While the Snowfield Federation excelled in third-generation beastmasters, the Eagle Federation was known for its second-generation beastmasters.

Though it came a bit late, the system announcement made it clear to all countries that the Eagle Federation was coming back with a vengeance, determined to reclaim its lost honor from earlier.

Being the second country to clear a Legendary Secret Realm, and doing so with just three members, showcased the formidable prowess of their beast taming field!

“A level 4 Legendary Secret Realm, the BOSS must be an upper overlord species, right?” Lu Ran mused.

A species level comparable to the Flame Dragon King.

Of course, there are differences among upper overlords.

The weaker ones might just be ordinary upper overlord species.

The stronger ones could belong to the light, dark, Loong, space, or time upper overlord species.

As for the more absurd ones, those capable of rivaling legends are even rarer than legendary species.

These guys from abroad really have some skills.

Lu Ran estimated that the second and third generations in Xia Country must be feeling the pressure even more.

“But what does that have to do with me?” Lu Ran hummed a tune as he held the Dragon Blood and continued to return.

Although the Dragon Blood’s effect was a little underwhelming, it was still better than nothing. However, there was no need to linger too long in this Legendary Secret Realm… In any case, he would come back tomorrow!

…

Beast Taming University, Healing Department, below the girls’ dormitory.

“Here, Dragon Blood. Is this enough for you?”

“If not, I can find more.”

“This should be enough.” Fang Lan took the bottle, shook it, and said, “I’ll call my parents and mentor to help you research it in a bit.”

“No need to be so formal, there’s no rush.” Lu Ran smiled.

“You can take your time with it.”

“Aren’t you in a hurry to conquer the Legendary Secret Realm?” Fang Lan asked.

“Not at all. Our current strength is still lacking. Rushing in might be more harmful than helpful. This stuff is mostly just auxiliary; the key is our own strength,” Lu Ran replied.

“Alright.”

“I wonder if you could become the first fourth-generation beastmaster to conquer a Legendary Secret Realm.” Fang Lan pondered as she swung the bottle, “Right now, among the four generations, only the first and fourth generations haven’t had a team conquer a Legendary Secret Realm.”

“The first generation’s level 5 Legendary Secret Realm is pretty challenging.”

“And for the fourth generation, since the pet beasts haven’t had enough time to mature, it’s not easy to challenge either.”

Lu Ran replied, “I’ll try my best. In Xia Country, I might be the first. As far as I know, the fourth generation who did well in the Freshman Tournament don’t seem to have any plans to conquer a Legendary Secret Realm.”

“Other than me, the most impressive one should be Lin Yin. But until now, she’s still troubled by that headache incident, which affects her from time to time, leaving her no mind for conquering.”

“But globally, I don’t know about the fourth generation in other countries…”

“In other countries, didn’t you crush the Tyrannosaurus Rex team from the Eagle Federation?” Fang Lan blinked and said, “Aren’t you already considered the world’s strongest fourth generation?”

“The two don’t necessarily correlate,” Lu Ran pondered. “The Tyrannosaurus Rex team in the Eagle Federation might not even be the strongest fourth generation there.”

“Think about it, the dinosaur project isn’t perfect yet. To contract with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, they had to learn very specialized beast taming skills tailored for ancient species.”

“Any beastmaster with a strong background wouldn’t choose skills so casually and become a project experiment. While Loong-type species are strong, space and time species are even stronger.”

“Moreover, even if someone is optimistic about the revival of dinosaurs, they can wait until the project is fully mature before contracting. So, the Tyrannosaurus Rex team isn’t considered top-tier.”

“Perhaps the current pet beasts of the Tyrannosaurus Rex team have strong potential, but in terms of strength and future prospects, there should be many well-equipped fourth generation teams in the Federation that are superior to them.”

“That makes sense,” Fang Lan thought, agreeing with the analysis.

“Looks like you do care about the situation over there.”

“No, I just saw someone else’s analysis on an online forum,” Lu Ran said, “I was just browsing.”

Fang Lan: ???

“So, does that mean your first place might be taken?”

“I don’t know. I feel like it might,” Lu Ran said. “After all, my current plan is to solo. If beastmasters from other countries team up, my progress definitely won’t be the fastest.”

“Whether there will be a powerful fourth generation team, we’ll know after some time.”

“Forget it! Just do your best,” Fang Lan said as she put away the Dragon Blood bottle. “I’ll go prepare now and start the research today.”

“Alright,” Lu Ran yawned and prepared to leave as well.

Next, he needed to make the most of his time.

Continue honing his culinary skills!

Currently, he hadn’t touched the 50 pieces of exquisite-level Dragon King bird slices.

He was afraid of wasting even one piece by accident, which would be a sin.

He planned to cook those exquisite ingredients only when his culinary skills were at their best, right before he decided to conquer the Legendary Secret Realm.

If everything went well, after consuming them, General Ha and the sudden death king would experience a significant power boost.

Besides that,

The sword grass in the Spirit Transformation Pot was becoming more and more vibrant. Although it was still a bit wilted, Lu Ran felt that it should fully recover in less than half a month.

By then, if Fang Lan’s research yielded results,

Lu Ran felt that to some extent, he would be ready to solo the Dragon King’s Nest.

In the meantime…

Lu Ran planned to enter the Legendary Secret Realm once a day. Not for anything else, but to draw more blood.

And to ensure that General Ha and the sudden death king’s bodies didn’t get rusty—just eating without training wouldn’t do.

…

A few more days passed like this.

In Xia Country’s Infinite City No. 7, on the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard,

General Ha still maintained a significant lead, holding the first position.

As for the second place, it was no longer Dean Qin. He stopped participating, quickly raising his pet beast to level 30, evolving it into a sovereign species, to avoid being discussed every day…

And the sudden death king, whose role in the Legendary Secret Realm was primarily to take hits, hadn’t moved up in the rankings despite its progress. It still held the tenth position, just not being pushed out.

During this period, the Commander Divine Beast Leaderboard underwent its third settlement.

With Lu Ran holding the first and tenth positions, he received a massive reward of over a million crystal coins.

Of course, Lu Ran’s mood remained calm.

Because that amount of money could probably only buy one piece of Dragon King bird slice.

Having seen so many exquisite resources, as a Dragon Chef, Lu Ran couldn’t possibly still get excited like a newcomer.

However, regardless of everything, having two pets on the leaderboard meant that Lu Ran had achieved resource freedom when it came to rare resources.

However, during this period, Lu Ran made a foolish mistake: he scheduled his daily routine too tightly and forgot to take the sudden death king to other Infinite Cities to improve its ranking. As a result, during the settlement, the sudden death king was still on the leaderboard of Infinite City No. 7.

If the sudden death king ranked tenth in Infinite City No. 7, it might have ranked eighth or ninth in other Infinite Cities. This oversight possibly cost him a lot of crystal coins.

But having learned this lesson, Lu Ran definitely wouldn’t forget next time. Of course, what concerned Lu Ran the most right now wasn’t the divine beast leaderboard.

It was that during this period, as expected, fourth-generation beastmasters from other countries started clearing Legendary Secret Realms.

[Congratulations to level 1 beastmasters Jialan, Jiana, and Monasa for conquering the level 1 Legendary Secret Realm ‘Hydra Island’ and starting the Path of Legend.]

[Congratulations to level 1 beastmasters Princess of Light, Glory Knight, Moonlight Knight, and Sunlight Knight for conquering the level 1 Legendary Secret Realm ‘Dark City’ and starting the Path of Legend.]

While Lu Ran was still drawing blood from the BOSS, the international community was once again shaken.

On the same day, two beast taming teams consecutively conquered level 1 Legendary Secret Realms.

This time, the impact was much greater than when third-generation or second-generation beastmasters conquered Legendary Secret Realms.

After all, currently, fourth-generation beastmasters were the most numerous.

On Xia Country’s forums, there were endless discussions. Soon, the identities of the members of the conquering teams were uncovered!

“Whoa, even Ah San Country has fourth-generation beastmasters conquering Legendary Secret Realms? So fierce?”

“Don’t underestimate Ah San. After the revival of spiritual energy, Ah San now has the most superhumans. Jialan and Jiana are superhuman twin siblings.”

“Moreover, the number of fierce wild beasts over there is much higher than here…”

“That guy using the local Snake God’s name as an ID is no simple character either! He comes from the Snake God tribe over there. The whole tribe raises snakes, and it has first, second, and third-generation beastmasters. Clearing the Snake Island Secret Realm is right up their alley!”

“The configuration of this team is pretty perfect!”

…

“What about the other team? Why are their IDs so uniform?”

“Use your brain! Who would be qualified to have three knights as personal guards?”

“Hiss… Is it really a princess?”

“Thanks for the invite, I’m in Misty City. One of the princess’s pet beasts is an elemental lifeform of a middle sovereign species. As far as I know, one of their First Generations entered a breakthrough secret realm with one of our First Generations. That breakthrough secret realm had special pet beast eggs as a reward.”

“Their pet beast egg evidently hatched early and was given to a fourth-generation contract. Unfortunately, Passerby A got the reward, but his two contract slots were already full… Using that egg to conquer the Legendary Secret Realm was impossible.”

“When will our fourth-generation beastmasters be able to conquer a Legendary Secret Realm? What’s Passerby A up to lately? Don’t tell me he’s really teaching cooking and learning to forge…”

“Passerby A did challenge a Legendary Secret Realm before and got utterly defeated… Honestly, there’s no need for him to challenge it. As the only Dragon Chef, he doesn’t lack resources. If it were me, I wouldn’t waste the effort.”

On the forums, various pieces of intelligence surfaced, making Xia Country’s beastmasters realize how vast the world was and how many formidable fourth-generation individuals existed.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex team and Dragon Chef Lu Ran were just among them; there were many other notable figures.

…

[Congratulations to level 1 beastmasters Free Splash, Invincible Megalodon, I Surrender, Don’t Hit Me, and A Bottle of Lafite for conquering the level 1 Legendary Secret Realm ‘Forbidden Sea’ and starting the Path of Legend.]

A few days after intense international discussions, another country’s fourth-generation team conquered a Legendary Secret Realm.

Compared to the First, Second, and Third Generation beastmasters, this generation of fourth-generation beastmasters was particularly formidable.

The First Generation had no clear records, and only one team each from the Second and Third Generations managed to conquer a Legendary Secret Realm. However, within a short period, three fourth-generation teams, totaling eleven individuals, had already done so.

Of course, this might also be related to the fact that the bosses in level 1 Legendary Secret Realms were upper sovereign species, not overlord species.

Nonetheless, this situation led the media in various countries to marvel that the golden age of the Age of Beast Taming was approaching.

[The Rise of Fourth-Generation Beastmasters: The True Golden Age in the Age of Beast Taming!]

[Prediction! In the next ten years, the fourth-generation beastmasters will lead the trend in this golden era!]

As the talented fourth-generation beastmasters from various countries emerged and shone in the Legendary Secret Realm challenges, discussions on international forums intensified. Initially, some netizens believed that while Xia Country’s second and third generations were lacking, the fourth generation, represented by Lu Ran, was quite strong. However, opinions started to shift.

“So, it turns out that among Xia Country’s fourth-generation beastmasters, only Lu Ran is impressive. The others are still not up to par. It’s been so long, and they still can’t form a team to conquer a Legendary Secret Realm.”

“Now it seems that there are many formidable fourth-generation beastmasters worldwide, and there will likely be even more in the future… I used to think Lu Ran was the strongest fourth generation, but it looks like I was wrong.”

“I wonder which fourth-generation team from Daxia, Eagle, or Snowfield will conquer a Legendary Secret Realm first…”

With the progress of Legendary Secret Realm strategies worldwide, not only did the second and third generations of Xia Country feel the pressure, but the fourth generation also began to experience increased stress.

One major reason Xia Country’s fourth-generation elites hadn’t conquered a Legendary Secret Realm was that they knew Lu Ran was attempting it. They feared that if they hadn’t finished, Lu Ran would succeed, making their efforts futile.

Instead, they decided to wait for Lu Ran to complete the first one and then tackle the second.

But now, the question was, what exactly was Lu Ran doing?

Could it be that he hadn’t found suitable teammates?

Pluto, Youxiong Anlin, Du Yuan, and others once again volunteered themselves, but Lu Ran declined, saying he already had a teammate (Fang Lan).

Lu Ran didn’t care about the external opinions.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been working hard to solo this for so long, why would I team up with you?”

Not only were the fourth-generation beastmasters concerned about Lu Ran’s situation, but the first three generations were also interested in his progress. Even master Lin showed concern.

“Lu Ran, I have a class today, so I won’t be able to teach you. By the way, how’s your progress in the Legendary Secret Realm?” Master Lin hadn’t previously paid attention to Lu Ran’s progress in the Legendary Secret Realm, as he didn’t understand much about it.

However, with increasing news and online discussions, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Uh… it’s going okay.”

“Why do you sound so down? Feeling the pressure?” Master Lin, acting like a caring uncle, asked in surprise.

“Not really, it’s just that I’ve been using the Ice Sky Greatsword to draw blood from the Diamond Dragon recently… Its defense is really strong. My Ice Sky Greatsword shattered this morning…”

Master Lin: ???

“Darn. Why are you still drawing blood? What have you been doing for the past half month?!”

“How bad is the damage? Do you want me to fix it, or will you do it yourself?”

“It’s pretty serious; it’s been through a lot… Wait a minute.”

Suddenly, Master Lin heard a shout from Lu Ran’s end.

“What happened?” Master Lin asked.

“Hahaha!” Lu Ran’s laughter came through, making Master Lin frown.

Crap, has Lu Ran lost it?

“Out with the old, in with the new. I’ve almost drawn enough Dragon Blood. Let the Ice Sky Greatsword go with the wind.” Lu Ran said over the phone:

“Master Lin, I’ll hang up now. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Master Lin: ???

After hanging up, Lu Ran looked excitedly at the Spirit Transformation Pot. Just now, it had vibrated, indicating that the ingredients inside had reached their peak state.

Originally, Lu Ran had planned to repair the Ice Sky Greatsword, but now, his mind was solely on the sword grass.

Lu Ran took the Spirit Transformation Pot and carefully poured out the sword grass, which had been uprooted from the soil, onto the ground.

As expected, even though the sword grass had regained vitality, it would wither again without a suitable growth environment.

However, that didn’t matter. Lu Ran now had the Sword Nourishing Pot. It provided a better environment than any soil. He could use the sword grass and then place it back in the pot, ensuring it wouldn’t die.

Unfortunately, the divine deer antler’s mechanism was to absorb essence from plants to heal animals. If the divine deer pendant could also heal plants, the sword grass would be even more resilient.

“General Ha!!!”

Lu Ran shouted. The Golden Generation, huh? Let him study the Dragon Slayer Sword and prepare Dragon King bird slices. In a few days, he would dominate an era!