King of Beasts

Chapter 31: General Ha Makes the Leaderboard

In Infinite City No.3, at the Beastmaster Square, all ten spots on the Supernatural Divine Beast Leaderboard have been claimed!

Of these, eight pet beasts have been evaluated by the leaderboard as “of formidable species,” while two have been recognized for their “astounding aptitude.”

The former indicates that the pet beasts possess an absolute advantage in physical prowess, whereas the latter signifies immense potential in learning skills.

General Ha clearly belongs to the latter category.

However, no matter how exceptional the aptitude, most people initially failed to associate “Snowfield Dog” with “casting Sword Qi from afar.”

Isn’t that just abstract?

What kind of combination is this?

“Snowfield Dog… is it a Husky, an Alaskan, or a Samoyed?”

“And it’s Wind-type, at that.”

“It’s not about being good or bad. Snowfield Dogs are wilder and more powerful in cold regions, typically they are Ice-type. If their primary attribute isn’t that, choosing Ice-type as the secondary attribute could possibly unleash hidden species potential, making them stronger! It’s a good thing, the path to advancement is clear.”

People were abuzz with discussion, and many turned their attention to the ID of the Snowfield Dog’s owner, Passerby A…

Well now…

That name, it almost feels like mockery towards those who didn’t make the leaderboard.

“This…” Among the crowd, there were actually people who recognized this ID.

A nearly thirty-year-old woman in professional attire with a startled expression; she was Shenghua, the mature lady from the newcomer recruitment department, who had initially tested the attributes of Pig Raiser.

She had been watching the ever-changing Supernatural Divine Beast Leaderboard, which could also be considered the Newcomer Leaderboard, and was wondering which colleague had lured away these incredibly talented newcomers.

Then… she immediately saw a name she recognized.

Passerby A… Wasn’t that the newcomer previously mentored by Waves Xiaobailong?

“Contracting Erha, awakening as Wind-type, Passerby A! He actually made it onto the leaderboard? That seemingly clumsy Erha turned out to be so powerful?” Shenghua was in disbelief.

She hurriedly tried to contact Xiaobailong…

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At this moment, Xiaobailong was actually at the Beastmaster Square, no need for Shenghua to reach out, he had seen it too!

Holy shit!

“Shenghua, why are you… Yes, I saw it, Passerby A made the leaderboard!”

“No, he hasn’t joined the official team, but it’s almost the same. He’s been spotted by a powerhouse in the official strategy team and is being sent to the beast taming university for further study. After graduation, he might go straight into the strategy team.”

“Anyway, this guy has caught the eye of those at the top. Don’t go spreading his information carelessly; it could cause him trouble.”

Xiaobailong communicated with Shenghua, heartbroken. It was me who… No wonder Lu Ran caught the eye of Dr. Gu. That beastmaster gene in his blood really isn’t for nothing. He’s one of only two to make the divine beast leaderboard with a middle supernatural species!

And the reason for the leaderboard? Erha releasing sword qi? Is this some kind of joke…

At the beastmaster square, those who knew Lu Ran weren’t just these two. Pig Raiser, in the end, couldn’t resist the allure of the divine beast leaderboard and had been watching for a long time. And with the entry of Passerby A, his expression became blank. What?

…

“What’s the matter, why are there fewer and fewer people? Have they all gone to the beastmaster square to see the divine beast leaderboard?”

At that moment, in the Infinite City arena.

The Five Poisons Cult Holy Maiden, Fang Lan, originally came to watch and get familiar with beast taming battles. However, she had been waiting for half a day without seeing a single newcomer duel.

The traffic in the arena was all exits, no entries.

This made Fang Lan quite frustrated; she thought about maybe coming back another day to watch and decided to go to the beastmaster square herself.

Just then, she overheard a conversation between two passersby who were about to leave the arena.

“My buddy just messaged me saying the tenth name has emerged… This one is the most absurd, the reason for the leaderboard: a snowfield dog casting sword qi to instantly kill a demon cat at a higher level? What the heck, who is this Passerby A, do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Must have used a supernatural weapon, right? It can only be that… But doesn’t relying on external forces reduce the weight of selection?”

“A dog using a sword to release sword qi? I can’t accept that explanation,” his companion couldn’t accept this reasoning.

Fang Lan listened to the passersby’s discussion and stood rooted to the spot.

“Passerby A? Snowfield dog?”

Damn it! Lu Ran, he didn’t let her challenge the secret realm, so he went by himself, huh? And even made it onto the divine beast leaderboard!

At the same time, in the Forest of the Demon Cat secret realm.

Lu Ran had no idea that General Ha’s move had put them on the leaderboard.

After all, in his mind, if a pet beast’s combat power was enhanced by a weapon, the weight given to its leaderboard ranking would be reduced.

The sword qi released just now had its energy power at least doubled by the Wind Meteor Sword.

This was the impressive aspect of an energy-enhancing weapon!

If General Ha were to fight without the Wind Meteor Sword, taking down a level 8 demon cat wouldn’t have been so easy.

“Argh.”

A burst of sword qi cleaved the demon cat, and at that moment, General Ha was exhilarated. It absolutely loved this new skill of sword qi.

In the future… it could even tear down ceilings! No, that’s wrong, it could be used to catch birds for fun.

However…

A wave of weakness followed, causing General Ha to shiver all over.

“Does it consume that much?” Lu Ran jumped down from the tree and said.

“Woof…”

“One burst of sword qi uses up about a quarter of your stamina?”

“So that means you can only release four bursts before you’re completely drained?”

Lu Ran, sensing General Ha’s condition, felt a bit of a headache. That meant this trump card couldn’t be used carelessly.

But this also had to do with General Ha’s current low level, only level 4.

A level 4’s attributes were too weak, with hardly any stamina, so it was normal that it couldn’t release many powerful skills.

By level 40, maybe it could unleash sword qi like a sea!

“At this stage, release-type skills are too extravagant. They consume a lot of energy and are easy to miss…”

“When we get back, we should research other types of skills,” Lu Ran said.

Sword qi… should be reserved for showing off and dealing with flying enemies.

In actual combat, unless he came across a fool like the demon cat that got scared stiff by the sword qi, Lu Ran felt it would be difficult to hit opponents.

If you exhaust a lot of stamina to release a skill and miss, that would be a big loss.

In comparison, if the energy was just wrapped around the sword while chasing down enemies, the energy consumed would be much less.

Among the four major types of skills—flow, shaping, release, compression—the first one probably consumed the least, while the latter three consumed progressively more energy.

Hmm… If the second pet beast could learn control skills to assist General Ha with its powerful moves, that would be ideal.

“Ow~” General Ha drooled, indicating that he would follow Boss Lu’s lead, and his gaze was fixed hungrily on the wood scale fruit that Lu Ran had just picked.

…

After replenishing General Ha’s energy and resting for a while, Lu Ran planned to delve deeper with General Ha. The main reason was that the wood scale fruits in the area had been picked clean, and he wanted to collect more. After all, entering the demon cat secret realm cost 200 crystal coins. He wasn’t necessarily looking to break even, but he hoped to at least recover half of that expense!

This time, Lu Ran set off with the Wind Cutter Sword firmly in his grasp, with General Ha leading the way, and Lu Ran mimicking General Ha’s movements from behind.

“Hoooow~”

Ahead, a wild level 6 demon cat appeared. With the Wind Meteor Sword in its mouth and its body wrapped in wind-type energy, General Ha transformed into a gusty hound and charged. A flash of the sword, and General Ha brushed past the demon cat, which came into close contact with the Wind Meteor Sword.

Swoosh! The cat was sliced in two!

“Meow-ow!!!” Amidst the demon cat’s screams, it was instantly defeated by General Ha and disappeared in a flash of light.

In the subsequent fights, General Ha did not release sword qi, as it was too draining and the wood scale fruits didn’t provide enough recovery. The fruits didn’t instantly replenish energy but restored it slowly over time, and the total amount recovered was not significant. They were not suitable as a main supply for powerful moves. Most importantly, at this stage, it was difficult for Lu Ran to mimic the skill of sword qi.

Bang!

As General Ha fought, Lu Ran also practiced Super Beast Mimicry, battling the air beside him and synchronizing with General Ha’s combat movements. He had to admit, practicing Super Beast Mimicry in combat was much more efficient than in his room.

Every time General Ha defeated a beast, Lu Ran felt a warm current inside his body, as if experience points were flowing into him… Of course, it was just an illusion, but the Super Beast Mimicry skill was subtly enhancing his physical abilities.

“Eh? Did it drop a material? The drop rate for materials isn’t high.”

After defeating the demon cat, Lu Ran and General Ha stopped in surprise and looked at the ground. After the demon cat died, a sphere of light fell and then faded after a few seconds… it was something that looked like a fingernail.

Lu Ran cast “Grand Identification,” essentially using the Eye of Data to scan it.

Name: Demon Cat’s Fingernail

Level: Ordinary

Introduction: A material that seems useless and actually has little use.

Lu Ran: ?, What else can this be used for besides tossing it into the system store?

“What a piece of junk.” Lu Ran was speechless. Couldn’t it drop something useful? Like… well, it seems there really isn’t anything valuable on a demon cat. Won’t be coming back to this secret realm, not even a dog would bother.

“Whine.” General Ha nodded, deeply agreeing. That night, after putting in a lot of effort to defeat demon cats, only to get a worthless fingernail as a drop, it was utterly useless. The grudge was noted! However, since the demon cat was defeated, it could be considered as a mark against the leader of the forest of the demon cat.