King of Beasts

Chapter 12: Testing Attributes

“It’s a pity, if it were before, attribute fruits weren’t so expensive, and there was a decent accumulation over time. But recently, with a massive influx of beastmasters into Infinite City, attribute fruits have become extremely scarce, monopolized by the major powers.”

“Anyway, although pet beasts can obtain stronger combat power after awakening their attributes, let’s wait a bit longer. There’s no rush right now. Once the newcomer wave passes, there should be stock on the market, and by then, you should have saved enough crystal coins to make a purchase,” Waves Xiaobailong said.

“Alternatively, you could choose to join the official ranks… usually, you can get the benefit of free attribute awakening.”

“Free distribution of attribute fruits?” Lu Ran finally heard some good benefits.

“How could that be! It’s through other means.”

“Which is better for the pet beast?”

“Obviously, the attribute awakening fruit you pay for,” Xiaobailong’s mouth twitched, stating the obvious.

Freebies are good enough, no point in being too hopeful.

“Alright,” Lu Ran resigned himself. He would definitely choose the awakening method that was best for his pet beast; it’s not like he couldn’t afford attribute fruits.

“Well, that should be enough explanation for now. My Beastmaster ID is 7386. Let’s add each other as friends. If you change your mind, you can contact me.” Waves Xiaobailong felt that Lu Ran was catching on fairly quickly. Indeed, students have strong receptive abilities.

Moreover, in his view, Lu Ran was also quite cautious, clearly not fully trusting him. That was good too. Often, such people were less likely to die early in the secret realm.

“Thank you,” Lu Ran said.

“No problem, huh.” Xiaobailong glanced at the time and expressed surprise, “It’s getting late, time to clock out. I’ll be a complete good Samaritan and take you to the nearest attribute stone. I’m also on my way to grab a bite. Some restaurants within Infinite City are truly exceptional in flavor; you should try them when you have the chance, although they are expensive!”

“Let’s go, Lu Ran.” With that, he straightened his clothes, ready to leave.

Lu Ran hesitated for a moment but ultimately followed.

“Compared to the vastness of Infinite City, there are still relatively few beastmasters at present, and combat beastmasters rarely show their faces. They are mainly focused on improving their combat strength and are often active within Infinite City. Almost all you see are lifestyle beastmasters…”

“This isn’t the central district, so there are even fewer people…”

Along the way, Waves Xiaobailong continued to explain to Lu Ran. He spoke with ease; after having understood this information himself, he must have explained it to many others by now.

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Lu Ran listened quietly. He was just about to ask about the differences between combat and lifestyle beastmasters, but soon, his attention was drawn to two figures.

After arriving in Infinite City, he finally encountered the third and fourth persons!

On the deserted street edge, under a tall ancient tree reaching dozens of meters high, two figures were standing in front of a two-meter tall boulder.

The former, slightly older, was a mature lady, probably around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, about the same age as Xiaobailong, dressed in professional attire. The latter was a youth around Lu Ran’s age.

However, judging from the youth’s dark and rough skin and his simple clothing, he seemed to be from the countryside. Xiaobailong made this judgment also because of the pet beast beside the youth…

A wild boar standing over half a person tall, with long tusks and a body covered in earthy brown fur!

Such animals were not found in the city for people to contract!

Xiaobailong was slightly surprised. He just didn’t know whether this wild boar was a domestic pig that had undergone a contract mutation and reverted to its wild ancestors, or if it had been a wild boar prior to the contract.

Some domesticated animals are likely to revert to their ancestral form after being contracted, such as pigs reverting to wild boars, or dogs to wolves.

In any case, the combat strength of a wild boar is much stronger than the cats and dogs raised in the city. This lad has an incredible start!

Passing through the novice trial secret realm should be a breeze for him.

“Shenghua, a newcomer?” Xiaobailong clearly recognized the mature lady dressed similarly to him. Seeing her paired with the youth, he understood the situation.

It was definitely like him and Passerby A, a senior guiding a newcomer to test their attributes.

“Xiaobai,” the mature lady in the black silk professional attire greeted Xiaobailong and Lu Ran with a slight smile, saying, “That’s right, I’m in luck today. I found a powerful newcomer with a C-level rating. I’m taking him to test his attributes.”

“C-level?!” Xiaobailong’s face twitched. Good luck indeed—if he could recruit such a promising newcomer into the organization, a hefty bonus would surely follow. Unfortunately, when he had previously inquired about Lu Ran’s rating, Lu Ran had been evasive, leading him to guess that Lu Ran’s rating couldn’t be very high.

After all, given his age and demeanor, it was clear he was a rich city kid, and considering how disheveled he was, it would be impressive if he could even last a day.

“You got lucky too, stumbling upon a newcomer,” Shenghua chuckled.

“Haha, yes,” Xiaobailong replied as he introduced them: “This is Bixia Shenghua, my colleague. And this one… Passerby A, a newcomer.”

At this point, with the sight of Bixia Shenghua, Lu Ran gradually confirmed that Xiaobailong was indeed an official representative. It seemed that to scout for new talent, the officials had deployed quite a few staff members to wait and guide here.

“Passerby A…” Upon Xiaobailong’s introduction, Shenghua and the wild boar youth were briefly taken aback before nodding.

“This one is Pig Raiser… uh, that’s the ID he chose for himself,” Shenghua commented, feeling that the younger generation had some odd tendencies.

Each one of them, not much for formalities, are they?

“Ah, it does go well with the pet beast, so, is it rock-type?” Xiaobailong remarked, glancing at the attribute stone which had petrified in a layer and then at the grunting wild boar.

“Not bad, a rock-type swine pet beast. With proper training, its combat capabilities can be quite formidable.”

“Why don’t you give it a try?” Xiaobailong nodded towards the large stone and said to Lu Ran. The attribute stone itself was greyish-white, and at the moment, one area of the stone had a raised bump resembling a clod of dirt—an indication of the petrification phenomenon.

“The attribute stone is made of a special material. Just let your pet beast attack it, and it can show different changes based on the beast’s latent attributes. Then, you can choose different awakening methods depending on the attribute.”

“The basic attributes include elements such as wind, rock, lightning, grass, water, fire, ice, and others.”

“Generally speaking, after a pet beast attacks the attribute stone, if petrification occurs, the beast’s latent energy is of the rock type; if it turns red-hot, it’s fire-type; if it becomes wet, it’s water-type; if frost forms, it’s ice-type… In short, different attributes will exhibit different phenomena. You understand, right?”

“Of course, in addition to the basic elemental attributes, there are also some rare ones, such as light or dark, which are truly serendipitous finds.”

“Got it.” Lu Ran nodded, looking like it was all quite simple.

“Go on, give it a try.” Shenghua chimed in from the side.

Even though the attribute test was complete, Shenghua and Pig Raiser didn’t leave. Instead, they stayed to see what would happen with Lu Ran.

At this point, Lu Ran couldn’t wait to find out General Ha’s attribute. He reached out his hand and summoned the black card to his palm.

“Pet, summon!”

As his intention took form, a circular summoning circle appeared on the ground. Simultaneously, the circle erupted with dazzling light, and soon after, accompanied by a grunt, the figure of a large husky materialized.

“A husky?”

Seeing the husky, no one was surprised.

The initial pet beasts of most urban beastmasters, chosen by the Beast Taming system, were typically pet cats or pet dogs.

Compared to a wild boar or the like, getting through the novice trial with a pet cat or dog was considered quite a feat.

Judging by the husky’s species, Bixia Shenghua and Waves Xiaobailong inferred that Lu Ran’s novice rating couldn’t be high.

“Hit that stone.” Lu Ran didn’t dawdle. Right after summoning General Ha, he immediately gave the command.

“Woof!” Hearing the order, General Ha nodded, looked at the large attribute stone, and after gathering energy for a moment, a dim white light enveloped him. In the next instant, General Ha charged towards the attribute stone.

“Not a bad talent.” Watching, Shenghua and Xiaobailong nodded with surprise. The beast had a basic understanding of how to use its energy. It seemed that ‘Passerby A’ hadn’t just lucked through the trial secret realm; he must have gone through several battles.

Pig Raiser and his wild boar also glanced sideways, watching General Ha collide with the attribute stone.

Bang!

A flash of white light, and General Ha’s head made intimate contact with the stone.

In the next moment, the four onlookers heard a heart-wrenching yelp.

“Ow ow ow ow.” After hitting the attribute stone, General Ha was in so much pain that he forgot his own name.

His head was actually quite tough, but the stone was clearly tougher.

“I mean, seriously…” Lu Ran, seeing this, could only feel a headache coming on. It’s not like he asked General Ha to risk its life. Why charge with such force? Is there a grudge or something?

That should be enough!

He maintained a calm expression, pretending he wasn’t all that familiar with the husky, ignoring the astonished looks from the three onlookers.

There was no need to guess; they probably thought the husky wasn’t the brightest.

However, their attention was quickly drawn to the attribute stone.

The attribute stone, having absorbed the energy, showed immediate changes.

In the area where General Ha had struck, a dozen white marks, resembling scratches made by a knife, rapidly appeared to the naked eye!

Seeing this change, Xiaobailong said, “Scratches, could it be wind-type?”

“Generally speaking, huskies belong to the snowfield dog breed, which is more often associated with ice-type. Wind-type is quite rare, but it’s clearly better.”

“Wind-type?” Lu Ran asked, “How is that attribute?”

“It’s a good one,” Shenghua replied. “Wind-type is known for its speed, and it’s said that some creatures that can’t fly can eventually soar by harnessing wind-type energy…”

A flying Erha…

Lu Ran looked at General Ha holding its head, chuckled, and shook his head. Not a noob dog, but a mad dog, huh? It wasn’t entirely unexpected.