A Tiger on Flat Ground Gets Bullied by a Dog

A big cat with yellow fur and black stripes...

A stray cat?

"Describe it more clearly," Lu Ran said.

A crow's intelligence was equivalent to that of a five-year-old child.

To understand its report, he still had to ask a few more questions.

The smarter an animal was, the easier Lu Ran's Telepathy made it to communicate.

If the other party was dim-witted, he could only read and interpret its thoughts through its instinctive behavior.

Communicating with insects, for example, was rather difficult.

Still, Lu Ran felt that Telepathy was much more useful than a Mental Link.

Everyone who became a Beast Tamer could actually communicate with their contracted pet beasts on a basic level.

Both sides relied on the Mental Link built into the contract to communicate mentally. The drawback was that it only worked with their contracted partners.

By comparison, Lu Ran's Telepathy placed no restrictions on whom he could communicate with. Even without a contract, he could talk to them, making it much more convenient.

Also, whether it was mental communication or Telepathy, both were quite difficult to use at first and required gradual practice.

Having learned it two years early, Lu Ran could avoid plenty of pitfalls when communicating with pet beasts.

"Big... big... a big cat bigger than that one." The crow looked at General Ha and described it again.

"Woof?" General Ha froze.

Beside him, Lu Ran's expression darkened. You call that a cat? Bigger than General Ha? Wouldn't that be a tiger?!

Granted, tigers were felines too.

"Nonsense. How could there be a tiger somewhere like this?" Lu Ran said. But a moment later, General Ha looked thoughtfully in a certain direction.

His nose twitched as he picked up the scent of a fierce beast.

Dogs already had keen noses. Having awakened wind powers, he could now catch certain scents in the air even more easily.

"Awoof!" General Ha alerted Lu Ran.

"No way. There really is a tiger?" It wasn't just the crow's report now. Even General Ha had detected a fierce beast approaching, leaving Lu Ran rather startled.

This wasn't some dangerous secret realm! Where had a fierce beast come from?

Green Sea City had no wild tigers. The only place with tigers that Lu Ran could remember... was the Wildlife Park, which had a few.

Surely a tiger hadn't escaped from the Wildlife Park.

"Thanks for your hard work. I'll bring you some snacks another day!" Lu Ran said, and the black crow flew away, satisfied.

Long live the wise king!

Glutton! In Lu Ran's eyes, every animal was a glutton. A little food was all it took to win them over.

At this point, Lu Ran certainly wasn't in the mood to let General Ha keep practicing with his sword. He frowned deeply and pondered.

If a tiger really had escaped, he would have to contact the fire department quickly, before it hurt someone.

Both the nearby parks and residential neighborhoods often had plenty of elderly people and children out and about.

"General Ha, let's go over there," Lu Ran said.

He wasn't worried about his own safety.

General Ha's combat strength had already undergone a qualitative leap, and it was only a tiger. Even setting that aside, he had his ultimate trump card if he encountered danger in the real world.

Not the Divine Deer Pendant.

Teleportation to Infinite City!

It only took ten seconds.

He could teleport straight from Blue Star to Infinite City.

Even if a nuclear bomb were dropped on his head, Lu Ran wouldn't be afraid as long as he had advance warning.

Sometimes, Lu Ran even imagined that if someone in the real world coveted his treasures, he could simply hole up in Infinite City until he reached level 100 before coming out!

Unfortunately, bad people didn't have "bad person" written on their faces. He couldn't afford to let his guard down.

"Awoof." General Ha nodded and followed beside Lu Ran as they headed in the direction of the scent he had caught.

After going roughly a kilometer deeper, Lu Ran held his breath and sheltered behind a tree with General Ha, looking at an enormous beast standing on the mountainside...

He sucked in a breath...

Lu Ran's eyes widened. It was unmistakably a Northeast Tiger, at least 1.5 meters tall at the shoulder and over three meters long!

It's huge!

Compared with this hulking creature, even General Ha, whose current size rivaled a large dog's, looked tiny.

"Grr..." The Northeast Tiger had clearly noticed Lu Ran and General Ha approaching too. It stared toward the tree and let out a low growl.

"This isn't an ordinary tiger. It's a tiger beast that's evolved into an extraordinary creature." After observing it, Lu Ran quickly realized why the tiger was so huge. Just like General Ha back then, it had clearly been strengthened by a contract and undergone its initial evolution!

A Northeast Tiger of this size looked much scarier than that Demon Cat. What was going on? Where was its Beast Tamer? Surely it wasn't wild.

"Grrr-" At the same time, much to Lu Ran's exasperation, even facing such a ferocious beast, General Ha wasn't frightened in the slightest. Instead, his eyes brimmed with fighting spirit.

"Don't start trouble. We don't know what's going on yet. This guy should have a Beast Tamer, right? We'd have to pay compensation if we hurt it." Lu Ran couldn't make sense of the situation.

"And this guy is a Class I protected animal. If we kill it, I, Boss Lu, will be spending the rest of my life in prison." He cracked another joke with General Ha.

"Woof!" General Ha's eyes widened.

It had a Beast Tamer?

You must be joking.

He could smell human blood coming from its mouth.

If it did have one, they must already be in its stomach.

Lu Ran: ?

"What?" Lu Ran was dumbfounded.

Something seemed to occur to him. Reacting quickly, he took out his phone and tried dialing a number.

If it had only been an ordinary escaped beast, he would have called the fire department. But the situation had clearly changed.

"Pick up..." While General Ha faced off against the Northeast Tiger, Lu Ran made the call with his back against the tree.

Fortunately, the call connected quickly.

A familiar voice came from the other end.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Is this Little White Dragon Amid the Waves?" Lu Ran asked.

"That's me," came the surprised reply. "That voice... John Doe?!"

"Haha, you contacted me already? I thought you'd sleep first and get a good night's rest. Do you want to know where to register your identity information?" Little White Dragon asked.

"...That can wait. Hear me out first. I was walking my dog on the mountain behind our neighborhood, and I ran into a Northeast Tiger. It seems to have evolved, too, and I haven't seen its Beast Tamer anywhere."

"More importantly, it seems to have eaten someone. My dog smelled human blood on it."

When Lu Ran finished, the other end abruptly went quiet.

A moment later, an "Huh?" came from the phone.

"Holy shit." After another moment, Little White Dragon Amid the Waves couldn't help swearing either.

"What's the situation now? Are you in danger? Where are you? It's probably Contract Backlash. This happens a lot overseas. Some people try to contract fierce beasts with Black Cards but can't control them, and end up dying in their jaws."

"Lu Ran, listen to me. Find somewhere safe first and tell me the address. I'll get someone to deal with it immediately."

"All right..." Lu Ran nodded. He hadn't expected to encounter official Beast Tamers so soon.

He had thought he wouldn't meet any in the real world until he went to register his identity.

"I'm at..." Lu Ran was just about to tell Little White Dragon his location when a tiger's roar shook the mountain forest. The giant tiger stopped facing off against General Ha and, as though enraged, lunged at them with a roar!

Only those who had truly heard a tiger's thunderous roar could understand how terrifying it was. Even over the phone, Little White Dragon could hear the heart-stopping sound.

On the other end, Little White Dragon's face turned deathly pale. Once contracted, tiger-type creatures were, at the very least, members of a "high extraordinary species."

Even without an awakened attribute, even at just level 1, they could easily slaughter low-level creatures of lower species... This was bad!

"John Doe!" he hurriedly shouted, wanting to ask Lu Ran what had happened.

But Lu Ran didn't answer for the moment.

As the giant tiger attacked, General Ha's eyes lit up, as though its attack was exactly what he had wanted. Sky-blue energy spread across his entire body.

Whoosh!

Dust instantly surged up from where his paws struck the ground.

With the power of wind boosting his sprint, he seemed to turn into a blur, moving far faster than the giant tiger.

Speed was power.

In Lu Ran and General Ha's eyes, this giant tiger currently had nothing going for it but size.

It was probably only level 1 and didn't even know how to use the simplest energy coating.

Against General Ha, who had awakened an attribute, it really was just a slightly bigger cat.

Facing General Ha, who moved like a gale, this Northeast Golden Tiger was clearly taken aback. By the time it reacted, however, its body had already collided head-on with General Ha's.

"Grrr-" Yet, although this Northeast Tiger was only level 1, General Ha and Lu Ran finally understood what it meant to be a king of beasts from a higher species.

Despite being at a disadvantage in many respects, that single collision was enough for General Ha to feel the tremendous strength erupting from its body.

It utterly outclassed what he had possessed at level 1.

"ROAR!!!" General Ha was so fast that the Northeast Tiger hadn't been able to properly use some of its hunting skills before being knocked several meters away. That impact from General Ha had probably been comparable to an accelerating car slamming into the tiger.

That collision immediately made the Northeast Tiger realize General Ha wasn't to be trifled with. It turned to leave, but having finally encountered such an impressive opponent, General Ha had no intention of letting it go.

"AWOO!!!" With an excited howl, General Ha picked up a long branch nearby, intending to use it as a sword to perform his "Sword Technique."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The power of wind coiled around the branch, making it look like a gleaming wind blade.

Holding the wind blade in his mouth, General Ha gave chase. The king of beasts? Is that all you've got?!

Dog-Head Sword Flash!

At the sight, the Northeast Tiger was even more dumbfounded. It ran while looking over its shoulder, nearly stumbling in its escape, without a trace of the king of beasts' dignity.

"Hey, hey, hey, John Doe!!!" Little White Dragon was still shouting.

"Uh, I'm fine." Hiding behind the tree, Lu Ran watched the scene and scratched his head. "That tiger attacked just now, so I took care of it for you while I was at it. Luckily, my husky awakened an attribute and leveled up. Otherwise, it really would've been dangerous."

"What a shame. Such a big tiger... If only it hadn't hurt anyone." Lu Ran sighed regretfully.

"Anyway, this should count as acting out of necessity, right?"

"Uh... you... you subdued it?" Little White Dragon was stunned.

Still, remembering that Lu Ran had performed well in the trial secret realm, and that General Ha had awakened an attribute, he could understand it somewhat. They did have a considerable advantage over a tiger beast that had only just become extraordinary.

Phew... Little White Dragon breathed a sigh of relief. As long as no one was hurt.

Although he understood, it was still remarkable that Lu Ran and General Ha had that kind of courage. Was this really a high school student? What on earth did his family do?

"Stay safe. Also, give me the address. I'll contact the relevant departments in your area to retrieve the tiger."

"Thank goodness for you. If a Northeast Tiger had entered the city, the consequences would've been unimaginable. I'll apply for a reward for you!"

"Okay."

"Forget the reward. I'm not short of money. How about finding a way to get me admitted to Magic University without taking the entrance exam? I don't want to sit the college entrance exam anymore..." Lu Ran said.

Actually, Lu Ran didn't even want a degree anymore. But after studying for so many years, it felt like a waste not to get one. Oh well, he might as well be a Beast Tamer with a degree.

Little White Dragon: ???

As he spoke, Lu Ran walked toward General Ha. By now, the Northeast Golden Tiger had several scratches on its body, blood flowing freely from them.

Cornered at the foot of the mountain by General Ha with a branch in his mouth, the Northeast Tiger trembled, its face full of terror. Like a startled bird, it kept roaring in an attempt to scare off its enemy.

Lu Ran looked in surprise at the branch in General Ha's mouth... This guy... was improving so fast. Just earlier, his wind power had burst the wooden sword apart, yet now he could skillfully wrap energy around a branch.

A genius?

"You look a little unfamiliar. You must have arrived in the last few months, right?" Lu Ran turned to look at the Northeast Tiger again. He had met each of the tigers in the Wildlife Park a few times, but he didn't recognize this one, so it was probably a new arrival.

Unfortunately, it had already hurt someone. He didn't know how it would be dealt with next.

Soon afterward, among the several squads of police officers already searching the mountain behind Red Leaf Park for the escaped Northeast Tiger, a Fourth-Generation Beast Tamer stopped and answered his phone.

"Officer Luo Shang, this is the First Bureau. The 'Northeast Tiger killing its owner and escaping' incident previously reported by Green Sea City has been resolved by a local Beast Tamer. He has the Northeast Tiger under control. I'll send you the location."

"What?" Fully equipped, carrying a firearm, and accompanied by an extraordinary police dog, Luo Shang looked astonished. "Aren't I currently the only Beast Tamer in Green Sea City?"

"It's a new Beast Tamer."

"How could a newcomer possibly... Yes, sir! I'll take my people over right away." Luo Shang drew a deep breath, finding it hard to believe. He was also a newcomer who had become a Beast Tamer a week ago, with a D-Rank rating that was already considered quite high. Yet even so, his professionally trained police dog trembled at the mere scent of this escaped Northeast Tiger. Just what kind of newcomer could subdue an extraordinary tiger beast without the assistance of firearms?

Could they have contracted some even more ferocious beast?

A short while later...

Luo Shang arrived with a group of people at the location Lu Ran had sent. Then... they saw a scene that left them utterly speechless.

An absurdly huge Northeast Tiger was curled up at the foot of the mountain like a miserable big cat, being snarled at by a husky holding a branch in his mouth... Beside them, a young man who looked like a student sat on a rock, playing on his phone.