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Lu Ran felt as if his question had gotten him nowhere.

Still, he really did want to learn a side profession.

The three most popular noncombat professions in Infinite City were nutritionist, potion master, and blacksmith.

For pets to level up, aside from honing themselves in battle and daily training, they mainly relied on food.

Seventy percent diet, thirty percent training.

Choosing different ingredients and putting together a balanced diet could help a pet's growth level rise faster.

As for how to put that diet together, that was what nutritionists studied.

And potion masters, just like nutritionists, were people combat-oriented Beast Tamers couldn't live without.

Healing pets were scarce in Infinite City, and so were healing-oriented Beast Tamers.

If Beast Tamers and their pets suffered serious injuries or were poisoned in a secret realm, they usually depended on healing medicine and antidotes prepared by potion masters to save their lives.

Most Beast Tamers stocked plenty of healing medicine in their backpacks before challenging a secret realm, just in case. Of course, its healing effects couldn't compare to the skills of healing pets.

Finally, blacksmiths focused more on serving Beast Tamers than pets. After all, few pets needed to wear equipment or use items.

But Beast Tamers themselves were relatively weak, so arming themselves from head to toe was essential.

Those three professions were Infinite City's most mainstream side professions. Other noncombat professions were relatively niche.

Honestly, Lu Ran wanted to learn all three. They all looked pretty useful.

But finding a way to study them systematically didn't seem easy. He would wait until Beast Taming University was established.

When the time came, he could skip applying to the combat department and learn a side profession instead.

After buying the two swords, Lu Ran said goodbye to Master Lin.

With these two weapons, Lu Ran could head back and practice swordplay with General Ha.

Hopefully, practicing with extraordinary weapons would be much more efficient than using wooden swords or the Iron-Slashing Sword!

"General Ha, let's go."

This time, Lu Ran didn't recall General Ha, instead letting the dog stroll around outside with him.

A boy and a dog walked down the street.

"Woof."

"I haven't forgotten, I haven't forgotten. We're going to buy your food now."

Lu Ran shrugged. Putting together personalized nutritional meals for General Ha was still rather difficult.

For now, he would prepare some food according to the Wind-Type Pet General Diet recommended in the Basic Beast Taming Manual.

The pig's trotters, canned food, chicken, and beef at home weren't bad, exactly, but they certainly weren't suitable for the now-extraordinary General Ha.

If he wanted the dog to level up quickly, he had to do what other Beast Tamers did and make meals with ingredients dropped in secret realms.

Some secret realms dropped "extraordinary poultry" and "extraordinary beast meat," both of which had higher nutritional value than meat from the real world.

Besides those, the selection of fruits, vegetables, and seasonings was much richer than in the real world, too.

"Woof, woof."

As Lu Ran walked, he lowered his head in thought, wondering how many days' worth of food he should buy for General Ha.

Perhaps he should decide after checking the prices?

He had thought ten thousand Crystal Coins was a lot, but now it didn't seem to go very far.

How were the newcomers who hadn't earned an S rating supposed to survive?

"Woof, woof."

"What is it? Hm?" While Lu Ran was thinking, General Ha kept alerting him that someone familiar was up ahead.

Someone familiar? Who could it be?

Both sides of Infinite City's streets were planted with towering trees of an unknown variety, their dark green leaves swaying in the wind.

Lu Ran looked up and saw a young man and a wild boar running side by side along the street. Were they... exercising?

"Huff, huff..."

"Pant, pant..."

The pair seemed to have been running for a while. Watching them approach, Lu Ran remembered that this was the Pig Farmer who had tested his pet's attribute yesterday. So it was him. General Ha certainly had a good memory.

"It's you!!!"

At that moment, the young pig farmer spotted Lu Ran too, and stopped with his pet.

He hadn't expected to see Lu Ran again after just one day.

Although they had tested their pets' attributes in the same place and their "spawn points" weren't far apart, this place was clearly some distance from the residential district.

"I remember your name was John Doe, right?" the young pig farmer said, delighted.

"Yeah. Are you two... exercising?" Lu Ran asked.

"That's right. Just working on our stamina a little. Going to the Training Secret Realm costs money, so we can do this basic training outside for now," Pig Farmer said.

Hearing that, Lu Ran coughed inwardly.

Compared to the other boy's thriftiness, he seemed a little too extravagant.

"Oink, oink." His pet, however, seemed quite unhappy with its Beast Tamer's penny-pinching.

Most likely, its food allowance had been cut.

"Um, can I add you as a friend?" Something suddenly occurred to Pig Farmer. His eyes lit up as he spoke to Lu Ran.

"We could tackle secret realms together later."

Pig Farmer still remembered Sister Hua saying that Lu Ran's initial rating wouldn't be low and that, like him, Lu Ran had plenty of potential.

He knew neither the people nor the place here. Making another friend was always a good thing.

"Sure... though I probably won't be challenging any secret realms for a while." Lu Ran didn't reject his friend request.

As they exchanged Beast Tamer identification numbers, Lu Ran asked, "Did you join the official organization with Sister Hua?"

The boy whose ID was Pig Farmer shook his head. "No. I just contacted Sister Hua in the real world to register my identity. I chose to join a guild."

"A guild?" Lu Ran was rather surprised.

Pig Farmer scratched his head with an awkward smile. "I urgently need a large sum of money, and that guild offered better benefits."

"What benefits?" Lu Ran asked curiously.

"As soon as you become a Full Member, you receive two million in development funds."

"That much?" Lu Ran was stunned. Two million just for joining... Honestly, most people would find that extremely tempting.

But thinking about it, the Medicine Pavilion Guild had apparently said it would arrange housing for Full Members too. They were all spending heavily to recruit people.

"There are conditions. There's an assessment, and right now I'm only a Trainee Member. If I don't pass the assessment in a month, I won't be able to become a Full Member," Pig Farmer said.

"I heard it's really difficult. That guild is an elite guild in the Third Infinite City, and they only accept the best. My C rating isn't anything special there. Sister Hua knows my situation too. She suggested I try this guild first. If I can't pass when the time comes, it won't be too late to consider joining the official organization."

"Good luck," Lu Ran said.

Pig Farmer was probably from the countryside. Lu Ran's grandparents were rural people too, and his grandfather had made a living hunting. He knew that compared to the cities, most rural areas were still quite poor. Wanting a large sum of money to improve his life was perfectly natural.

For this pig farmer, Infinite City might be his only chance to change his fate and move up in society.

"Heading this way... are you going to the Beast Taming Plaza?" Pig Farmer asked.

"Yeah. I'm going there to buy some food for him," Lu Ran said helplessly, looking at General Ha, who was eyeing the wild boar with fighting spirit.

"Oink, oink." The wild boar regarded General Ha with disdain.

General Ha: ???

"Hahaha, what a coincidence. I'm going to buy some food for mine too. Why don't we head over together?" Pig Farmer invited him.

But before Lu Ran could reply, both he and Pig Farmer froze and looked toward the sky.

No, every Beast Tamer in the entire Third Infinite City-or rather, in every Infinite City around the world-froze at once.

The familiar notification sound rang in their ears again without warning.

[Detected: the number of Beast Tamers who have passed the Novice Trial has reached 100,000.]

[Updating Infinite City facilities now...]

[New Infinite City structure: Divine Pet Rankings.]

[The Divine Pet Rankings are located at the center of the Beast Taming Plaza in each Infinite City and consist of four rankings: Extraordinary Species Rankings, Leader Species Rankings, Monarch Species Rankings, and Overlord Species Rankings. Each ranking contains 10 places.]

[Rankings are settled once per month. At settlement, ranked Beast Tamers will receive substantial Crystal Coin rewards based on their positions.]

[Entry requirements: each ranking only includes pets of the corresponding species rank, with certain restrictions on entry. A pet's species potential will be assessed comprehensively based on outstanding moments in battles within secret realms and the Arena. All Beast Tamers are encouraged to challenge secret realms and engage in pet battles.]

[Next update milestone: the number of Beast Tamers reaches 1,000,000.]

The voice vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Once it faded completely, Infinite City, which had abruptly fallen silent, erupted into an uproar.

Veterans and newbies alike were stunned.

At every Infinite City's Beast Taming Plaza, the Beast Tamers nearby saw an enormous four-sided stone monument suddenly rise amid a dazzling blaze of light. They stared at it blankly.

Black-and-gold lettering gleamed on the gray-white monument.

Extraordinary Rankings: first place, vacant. Second place, vacant. Third...

Leader Rankings: ...

Monarch...

A ranking appeared on each face of the monument, but all the positions were still empty.

"Damn, there are already a hundred thousand Beast Tamers worldwide? What happened over the last two days?" Beast Tamers everywhere were caught off guard.

"My god, stingy old Infinite City is finally willing to fork out Crystal Coins as rewards! This lousy place finally has a facility that hands out benefits."

"Divine Pet Rankings? Only ten spots? I'm destined to be the man it can never have."

"Enough talk. I'm going to challenge a secret realm right now. While nobody's on the rankings yet, maybe I can get on for a few minutes and take a screenshot to brag about for the rest of my life."

On a tree-lined path still some distance from the Beast Taming Plaza, the two rookie Beast Tamers also looked utterly bewildered.

"Crystal Coins..." Pig Farmer kept muttering. His expression shifted constantly, yearning one moment and shaking his head the next, as though he doubted his own strength.

Beside him, however, Lu Ran was a little dazed.

"I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed. Damn it."

The facilities can actually get updates? This update had caught him completely off guard. He felt as if Infinite City had stabbed him in the back. With these rankings out, how was he supposed to keep a low profile while getting stronger? If he didn't make the rankings, that was fine. But if he did, wouldn't that be the equivalent of a server-wide announcement: Boss Lu and General Ha were badass?

Beside him, General Ha nodded thoughtfully, his gaze wise and piercing.

Pig Farmer and the pig looked at them: ???

How was this boy-and-dog pair in an even stranger mental state than they were?

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