King of Beasts

Crow wings, a bird’s beak, dark colors, red pupils, all entwined with bizarre spiritual power and curse power…

If Lu Ran were to don the necromancy robe and hood right now, his appearance would somewhat resemble that of a medieval plague doctor.

Lu Ran felt helpless; originally a good person, he was increasingly influenced by the abilities of these pet beasts, making him seem less like one.

However, his disappointment was fleeting. Lu Ran soon smiled. Was this what it felt like to be possessed by a necromancer? It was vastly different from being possessed by a Flame Sprite.

The level of the Dark Crow, a lower overlord, was level 30. Thus, when it possessed Lu Ran, the combat power he could exert was naturally greater than that level.

Otherwise, possession would not be considered a signature skill of the necromancy species and necromancers.

Whoosh!

A swirl of grey-black flames rose in Lu Ran’s palm, making him grin even wider.

After much study, he had finally mastered the Soul Fire!

Allowing the Dark Crow to possess him and transforming himself into a human of the necromancy species, this Special Ability was achieved effortlessly, as spiritual power naturally fused with the Flame Sprite, without much struggle.

Unlike ordinary flames, the characteristic of Soul Fire was its ability to violently burn souls… directly bypassing the body to attack the soul.

Of course, Lu Ran’s efforts over the past half month were not about gaining a means to attack souls.

With General Ha’s soul slashing sword intent, and his own mind sword intent, he had sufficient capabilities. The true purpose of mastering Soul Fire was its indispensable role in the Soul Forging Method.

The Soul Forging Method was a forging technique exclusive to the necromancy cult, developed by the cult’s forgemasters who interpreted various traces within the legendary secret realm.

The most significant difference from ordinary forging methods was that the Soul Forging Method did not rely on external tools.

For instance, when a typical beastmaster forged weapons and Equipment, the final step of inscribing required the power of an Inscription Stone, which was indispensable.

However, with the Soul Forging Method, Inscription Stones could be discarded. Forgemasters could directly use soul power to replace Inscription Stones for soul imprinting, perfecting the Equipment!

The results were not only as effective but often even better.

In addition to their other research, the Cult of Necromancy has developed a special Inscription that, when etched onto Equipment, can endow the weapon with the effect of nurturing an artifact spirit.

Although Lu Ran was unable to witness the actual birth of an artifact spirit during his time at the breakthrough secret realm, it was only because this method had just been developed and nurturing an artifact spirit takes time.

Unable to witness the birth of an artifact spirit in the breakthrough secret realm, Lu Ran had nevertheless mastered the entire nurturing method. As long as he could Soul Forge a weapon, he could find a place to nurture it himself!

…

One day later.

The necromancy incident continued to ferment.

Lu Ran received a warning from Dr. Gu: “The representatives from the International Alliance will arrive in Xia Country tomorrow; be prepared.”

“They seem to have brought a necromancer to verify things.”

“It was once an undercover agent that the International Alliance had placed in The Other Shore.”

Lu Ran said, “Okay, understood.”

Lu Ran chuckled to himself, knowing that there were necromancers within the International Alliance as well.

Now, the construction of the International Beast Taming Alliance was almost led by several major countries, with countless smaller nations joining to form the organization.

Of course, there are also a number of stateless beastmasters, most of whom come from smaller countries and are quite powerful. Finding that the resources of their small countries were insufficient for their benefits, they left their nations and directly considered the International Alliance as their second home, continuously climbing within this large organization to seek more benefits.

This group of stateless beastmaster forces, combined, even some large countries had to take seriously. Now, they are an important faction within the International Alliance.

With such factional chaos, it’s natural that there would be different policies toward organizations like The Other Shore, involving a new attribute; it would be odd if there weren’t any internal undercover agents.

“Great, I finally collected a thousand teeth!!!”

After hanging up the phone, Lu Ran laughed wildly, no longer concerned about those matters, instead focusing on General Ha.

“Woof.” Nearby, General Ha, holding a sky-cleaving sword of rare quality from the Space attribute, shook his head.

Through continuous training in energy compression, the collection of teeth was indeed fast.

At this moment, the sword it held, known as the sky-cleaving sword, was something Lu Ran had obtained from Master Lin.

The purpose was to let General Ha become accustomed to the Space attribute, to more easily learn the sword domain.

“Leave it to me.”

“I’ll forge a divine sword for you in a couple of days!”

Lu Ran patted General Ha’s head and was about to turn around to contemplate the forge when another call came in.

It was Zhu Zhu Xia!

That’s Old Zhu’s nickname among the twelve branches.

Lu Ran answered the call, and before he could speak, the voice on the other end said, “Hey, good news, I got ahold of an exquisite resource that’s perfect for you from a buddy abroad!”

“I begged him, and he finally agreed to pass this resource on to me.”

“!!!” Lu Ran was taken aback.

Old Zhu really knows how to network!

Beside him, General Ha’s ears perked up-resources?!

This must be for it, right?

General Ha’s mouth curled into a smile, its eyes narrowing, a look of wisdom appearing on its face.

“Guess what it is?”

“Never mind, I won’t keep you guessing. Didn’t you say your Gale Sword Dog is currently practicing in the sword domain, and you’re thinking of training it towards the Space attribute?”

“This time, what I’ve brought you is a Space resource!”

“Boundary Breaking Root!”

“What’s that?” Lu Ran, hearing it was a Space resource, felt pleased, never expecting Old Zhu to come through like this.

However, from Zhu Kaixin’s perspective, he felt he wasn’t at a loss either. He had taken a death revival skill card from Lu Ran, and with Lu Ran’s ability to address the downsides of necromancy growth, he was essentially gaining several lives. As a First Generation frontline beastmaster, he was well aware of the dangers of his occupation.

Getting on Lu Ran’s good side was like buying insurance for himself, and investing just one exquisite resource was a steal.

“It’s a special plant that grows half in an alternate space and half in the external world, thriving on the void forces from the void. It is an exquisite-level space resource.”

“However, it’s different in nature from the ethereal flower. Overall, its value is somewhat less than that of the ethereal flower, which can bestow a Space attribute on a pet beast. The Boundary Breaking Root, however, only allows a pet beast to attack Space attribute enemies.”

Let me give you an example. The energy flow in Space species pet beasts allows them to enter a ‘hidden’ or ‘ethereal’ state, where the physical and the intangible overlap and continuously transition. Usual attacks, unless powerful enough to warp space-time, find it hard to reach a Space pet beast.

However, after consuming this root, the pet beast’s teeth and claws undergo a transformation, acquiring certain spatial properties. This not only enables it to easily injure enemies of the Space species but also turns its shed parts into top-notch materials for Space forge!

This process also endows the pet beast with a spatial affinity, beneficial for both learning domains and future fusion with Space species, enhancing its capabilities…

“Bark, bark, bark!!!”

“Huh? Lu Ran, did you hear a dog barking? Or am I hearing things? It sounded almost like swearing.”

Lu Ran, with a twitching smile, glanced at the angry General Ha beside him, thinking, “You deserve to be scolded.”

After all the effort to craft 1000 teeth, you just “snap” bring in new resources, suggesting the teeth can be upgraded again to possess the nature of attacking space.

So, what now? Change the materials or not?

Not changing means the forged weapon won’t be of the best quality.

Changing means starting all over again…

“It’s nothing, just my imagination,” Lu Ran said. “This resource you brought is quite good, I won’t be polite, I’ll take it.”

“No big deal!” Zhu Kaixin patted his chest. The resource he provided was probably the best among them!

…

After hanging up the phone again, Lu Ran and General Ha looked at each other.

Lu Ran scratched his head and said, “Don’t worry, we won’t change it.”

General Ha, puzzled, wagged his tail. It wasn’t about what Lu Ran wanted; it was about the dilemma it faced itself.

If a better weapon was possible, General Ha naturally wanted the best.

“There’s no ‘best,’ only ‘better,’” Lu Ran said. “When you evolve, the quality of your teeth will improve further. Will you want to change them then?”

“And after your awakening in the Space species, the quality of your teeth will enhance further. Change them or not?”

“That’s enough for now…” Lu Ran said, looking like a considerate boss.

Mainly because if the material upgrades again, he wasn’t sure he could forge it successfully…

The Sky-Cleaving Sword is already usable, and there is no need to forge an exquisite sword combining the ice, wind, and space elements-that would be ridiculously difficult.

Even making a dual-element sword is challenging enough!

He doesn’t even know if he can successfully forge one.

Let alone a triple-element.

“It’s exhausting.”

Since Lu Ran doesn’t know how long it will take to forge an exquisite weapon, although he now has all the materials, he isn’t rushing to try. He plans to wait until the members of the International Alliance have left before focusing on the forging process.

For now, Lu Ran wants to try his hand at forging a simpler version of the “Soul Capturing Bottle.”

The ability to store souls is crucial for necromancy to become mainstream. Such equipment is essential for the high-level members of the Cult of Necromancy, and even a missionary would carry a rare quality item similar to the Soul Capturing Bottle.

Time slowly passes.

Shanghai International Airport.

A trio, two men and one woman, arrives in Xia Country. Inside the airport, Gu Qingyi from the twelve branches leans against the railing, scrolling through her phone until the group meets. Then, she looks up and greets them, “Welcome, King Caesar, welcome Dr. Paer~”

Inside the International Beast Taming Alliance, there is a secret realm strategy team, composed of beastmasters from various countries stationed at the alliance. When these beastmasters make significant contributions during their expeditions in the public secret realms, they might be awarded the “King” honor.

This title signifies both strength and achievements, as well as status.

“Dragon Tamer, don’t mind me,” the muscular youth King Caesar spoke indifferently.

“Dr. Gu,” said a female researcher dressed in a gray tank top and a white lab coat, her blonde hair standing upright, “King Caesar is here primarily for my protection. The main verification work will be carried out by Mr. Noren and me.”

Gu Qingyi glanced at the well-known researcher from the International Alliance and her companion, the undercover agent placed at The Other Shore, and said, “Dr. Paer, then I’ll join you on the connecting flight to the Green Sea. Professor Lu has been waiting there for some time.”

Moments later.

The three followed Gu Qingyi onto a private jet. Upon entering, they saw Zhu Kaixin, Shi Zhen, Lin Nian, and others already inside, snacking and chatting, which left them in deep thought.

Xia Country, were they concerned about these individuals being a threat to Lu Ran…

Such an elaborate escort was hardly necessary.

Green Sea!

Lu Ran was fiddling with several small bottles when Manager Ying slowly appeared, saying, “Hey, people are about to arrive.”

Lu Ran nodded and said, “I’ve already seen them.”

“Seen them?”

Manager Ying was startled but quickly understood.

Green Sea Airport.

Just as a few international friends came out with Gu Qingyi, they saw various buildings outside filled with black crows, all staring at them intently.

“Ah-“

“Ah-“

The sinister crows cried out.

Among them, the leading dark crow fixed its gaze on the group of visitors, and upon seeing the leader of the crows, the international friends’ expressions changed.

Lu Ran’s Twin Crow?!

Although this crow’s growth level wasn’t high, it was still an overlord species, and moreover, the first of the curse type within the necromancy overlord species!!

Strong figures from the Eagle Federation had been turned into pigs by this crow, and the curse hadn’t been lifted yet, becoming an international joke. Now, facing this crow, the trio was extremely cautious, even somewhat apprehensive.

After all, current research on curses and souls in the beast taming domain on Blue Star was extremely limited!

“Come with me, I’ll take you to meet our Big King,” the dark crow said, flapping its wings.

Big King??

“Just an honorary title, like the King in the Alliance, nothing to worry about,” Gu Qingyi said with a slight smile nearby.