King of Beasts

Chapter 15: The Return

A person clad in a pharmacist robe adorned with golden threads approached.

The eagle they were riding stood three to four meters tall, its back easily capable of carrying a person.

The eagle’s plumage was a majestic golden-brown, and its gaze was sharp and commanding.

“I am Ginger, a director of the Medicine Pavilion Guild.”

After landing, the person swiftly retracted their avian pet beast outside the maid café.

At this time, Little Ling, Lu Ran, and others, having heard the commotion, had already made their way outside.

Seeing Lu Ran and the others, the director from the Medicine Pavilion Guild introduced himself.

“Cool.” Although the golden eagle had been retracted, Xiaobailong and the others had all seen it.

Xiaobailong couldn’t help but remark on the raptor’s impressive appearance.

Although Lu Ran couldn’t discern the golden eagle’s level, he felt certain that the creature’s level definitely exceeded level 10, and it might even be beyond level 20.

He wondered how it would compare to a fighter jet in terms of prowess.

This person was likely not a fourth-generation beastmaster like Xiaobailong, Little Ling, and himself, but rather a third-generation beastmaster who had achieved that status a year prior.

After all, in Xia Country, it would be somewhat challenging for ordinary people to come into contact with eagle-like creatures. This eagle was most likely not an initial pet beast, but one contracted later.

Hmm… For his second pet beast, he also wanted one that ordinary people couldn’t easily obtain!

“Hello, Cat-Eared Maid Café, Fengyu Piaoling.” At this moment, Little Ling stepped forward to speak.

Both Little Ling and Ginger appeared to be of college age, which reminded Lu Ran that since his arrival in Infinite City, the beastmasters he saw were all young adults, generally between 18 to 40 years old.

“It was us who made the contact just now. This is the newcomer friend I mentioned, Passerby A,” Fengyu Piaoling introduced Lu Ran to the other party. She didn’t bother to introduce Xiaobailong; after all, this matter didn’t concern him.

“Hello, brother, you’re quite lucky, having obtained a grass-type fruit. Are you interested in joining the Medicine Pavilion Guild? Once the assessment period for joining is over, we’ll assign you a set of commercial residential property near our real-world base of operations. It’s very convenient,” the director Ginger said upon arriving, opting to first extend a warm invitation to Lu Ran instead of diving straight into business.

Being able to procure an advanced resource like a grass-type fruit indicated that Lu Ran’s novice rating was at least D-level. In reality, D-level already counts as a decent performance for newcomers. Both the official channels and the major guilds are aware that 90% of newcomers only manage to secure an E or F rating.

The only ones who might hope for a high rating are those who knew about Infinite City even before receiving their black card, with someone to guide and plan their trials from the start. Furthermore, there are those with innate beast taming talents or occupations that involve frequent interactions with fierce beasts. Aside from these few, a C or D rating is exceptionally high.

“Uh.” Lu Ran was momentarily taken aback.

Little Ling wasn’t surprised by the conversation. Talent is, after all, a scarce resource among the various powers in Infinite City.

However, Xiaobailong’s eyes widened, fearing that Lu Ran might be snatched away.

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This Ginger is really not playing fair!

But luckily for Xiaobailong, Lu Ran didn’t abandon him, and his response relieved Xiaobailong.

“I’m still a high school student, and all this happened so suddenly. I might need to discuss it with my parents first,” Lu Ran said with a look of conflict, as an indirect refusal.

That statement was purely made up.

“A student, huh.” Ginger shook his head. He could see that Lu Ran indeed looked underage. Well, such a person would be more trouble than it’s worth to recruit.

He said, “Anyway, if you’re interested, just contact me anytime. So, shall we proceed with the trade as previously discussed?”

“Give me your beastmaster id and ID, and I’ll transfer the crystal coins to you.”

“Sure, ID Passerby A, number 9528.”

“That’s a really good name,” Ginger remarked, a bit envious. A true Passerby A wouldn’t be able to burst out a grass-type fruit like that. In his view, Lu Ran could at least pass as a supporting character who would survive a dozen episodes in a TV drama.

Ginger regretted choosing his own name; what was he thinking at that time?

Now, changing an ID costs 10,000 crystal coins, an expense not easily borne. Infinite City is truly ravenous for money, he cursed internally.

Shortly after, Lu Ran received the transfer from Ginger.

At this moment, what Lu Ran was most concerned about was the wind-type fruit. He had already taken out the grass-type fruit from his backpack, ready to trade.

The grass-type awakening fruit looked like a green pear.

Ginger took out the wind-type awakening fruit, which looked like a white pineapple.

After exchanging their items, with the grass-type fruit in hand, Ginger smiled with satisfaction and said, “Pleasure doing business.”

“Thank you.” Lu Ran, now holding the wind-type fruit, was eager to awaken General Ha’s abilities.

“No need to thank me.”

Ginger chuckled and added, “I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t stay long. Little Ling, if you come across deals like this, feel free to look us up. We’re always buying grass-type fruits and, uh…”

“Passerby A, if you have any rare resources you want to sell, you can also ask directly if I’m interested in buying. I specialize in that at the Medicine Pavilion, and if you need to purchase any medicines, you can inquire with me as well.”

“Alright.” Lu Ran and company responded.

After finishing the conversation, Ginger nodded farewell and summoned an eagle-type pet beast, hurrying away… It seemed he had no intention of probing further into Lu Ran’s background.

“The Medicine Pavilion is more of a chamber of commerce than a guild. As a director there, he must be busy,” Little Ling said with a smile. “But Lu Ran, you’ve been eyeing his bird, no, his eagle. Are you interested?”

“Cough cough.” Lu Ran, holding the pineapple-like white fruit, put it into his backpack and replied, “It does look a bit cooler than my pet beast, and it seems pretty good for traveling…”

“Is flying like that allowed in Infinite City?”

“As long as you have a flight license, it’s fine. Infinite City has a dedicated licensing area. Unlicensed flying might get you penalized by patrol beasts…” Xiaobailong said, “Your Erha is a wind-type and should be able to fly once it transforms its energy into wings… You could do that too…”

“A Husky knight?” Lu Ran shook his head and dismissed the idea; he’d rather contract a proper flying pet beast.

A knight riding an Erha would be too silly.

“By the way, if I want to leave Infinite City, I just use the ‘teleport’ function on my character card, and I can return to Blue Star, right?” Lu Ran asked.

“That’s correct, but since we’re newcomers, our access to Infinite City’s features is limited. We have to go back to our own house to teleport,” Little Ling explained.

“Are you planning to leave?” Xiaobailong inquired.

“Although I’ve had some vitality tea, I still feel a bit tired. I think I’ll head back to sleep for a while. Besides, after being away for a day, I suspect people back in reality will be worried about me.”

“Indeed, after being gone for an entire day, it’s about time to head back and check in. You don’t live alone, do you? Suddenly disappearing can easily cause your family to worry. I’ll send you my real-world mobile number. If you encounter any troubles in reality, like issues with your parents or school, you can contact me. I should be able to help you resolve them,” Xiaobailong said. “Also, whether or not you’ve decided to join the official ranks, please contact me as soon as possible in the real world for identity registration.”

“Okay,” Lu Ran nodded. If he wanted to maintain the identity of a beastmaster and frequently enter Infinite City, then he indeed needed to handle things properly in reality to avoid any trouble.

“Then, see you around,” the cat-eared maid Little Ling also said.

“Hold on, I should buy some basic intelligence first,” Lu Ran contemplated and then decided. Since he wasn’t planning to join any organization, he could only purchase basic intelligence from here.

…

Before long, Lu Ran said goodbye to the two and made his way to the street. He imitated what he had seen Xiaobailong do earlier and rented a shared motorcycle. The price was 1 crystal coin per hour. Lu Ran felt it was expensive since 1 crystal coin could last a whole day at the training ground. However, he had already indulged in such expensive tea, so he wasn’t going to quibble over this little expense… He really didn’t feel like walking now.

He pondered the idea of someday building his own tricycle and then having General Ha pull it. After all, their breed was originally sled dogs, meant for pulling people. This would also save a good amount of crystal coins.

Wind-type pet beasts… aren’t they known for their speed? It would be good endurance training.

After leaving the maid café, Lu Ran did not head straight for the residential area but took a detour on the way to the forge house that Little Ling had told him about.

He had received three rewards from the novice secret realm: the beast taming skill he could use himself, the grass-type fruit which he had already exchanged for a wind-type fruit suitable for General Ha, and the last item, the meteorite ore, which had not yet been fully utilized.

Lu Ran wanted to forge it into a weapon.

With this, he would have made full use of the rewards from the trial secret realm, achieving a perfect start!

“Infinite City, Beastmaster, it’s quite interesting,” Lu Ran licked his lips, savoring the tea he had just drunk. It was delicious; next time he would try an even more expensive one.

Riding his beloved shared motorcycle, Lu Ran quickly arrived at his destination.

However, upon arrival, he immediately regretted it; he looked at the forge house which had closed after “business hours” and, after his mouth twitched a few times, he emotionlessly rode the motorcycle back to the residential area.

“I’ll deal with it next time,” Lu Ran gritted his teeth.

Actually, it didn’t even take an hour for Lu Ran to return to the residential area he had come from, and he returned the shared motorcycle to its designated spot.

Afterward, he headed straight for his own private room, eager to return.

Just as he had said, he had been missing for 24 hours and hoped it wouldn’t cause any trouble.

In theory, as an orphan who had taken a long leave from school, and having just met with Fang Lan, it shouldn’t stir up too much trouble…

Coming to Infinite City early, he had achieved his goal, yet not completely.

He had learned a lot of useful information that would allow him to become stronger in the future, but unfortunately, he had not uncovered any intelligence regarding that strange dream. It could be that the dream was false, or it might be that Xiaobailong and the others were not high enough level.

But Lu Ran actually had a guess: if the dream was a premonition, then is it possible that Infinite City is training Beastmasters to defend against some disaster?

Back in his white room, Lu Ran once again lamented Infinite City’s stinginess, because each teleportation between Infinite City and the real world also cost 5 crystal coins, making a round trip cost 10 crystal coins.

Really, crystal coins were needed everywhere.

Fortunately, he had a high rating in the novice trial, so he had more crystal coins than the average newcomer.

In his private room, Lu Ran held his identity card, and with a thought, a familiar voice came to his ears.

“Do you want to spend 5 crystal coins to return?”

Yes.

Lu Ran thought.

Teleportation countdown 10…9…

Ten seconds later, inside Lu Ran’s private room, with a flash of white light, his figure disappeared immediately.

It was still that sense of weightlessness, and moments later, Lu Ran opened his eyes again.

Back in the familiar room, Lu Ran took a deep breath and immediately looked toward the messy living room. The items he had prepared for his trip to Infinite City were still scattered on the floor.

Then, Lu Ran picked up his phone.

He tapped the screen and his heart skipped a beat.

Because there, glaring back at him, were over a dozen missed calls.

“Great.”

Lu Ran quickly unlocked the phone to check who had called.

He soon became bewildered, as all the missed calls were from Fang Lan.

And they were made just after he had entered the secret realm!

In addition to the missed calls, it seemed Fang Lan had also sent many messages!

Fang Lan: Lu Ran, why aren’t you answering your phone again (angry face)!!!

Fang Lan: Big trouble, do you remember the post I shared with you when we were eating?

Fang Lan: Ahhh, you might not believe it… but it might be true because I just, suddenly received a black card too! (shocked face)