Divine Pet Rankings

"Let's go take a look at the Beast Taming Plaza."

Lu Ran didn't dwell on it for long.

Right now, he only wanted to know how these Divine Pet Rankings worked.

And whether they would affect him too much.

"Okay..." Pig Farmer nodded, clearly just as interested in the Divine Pet Rankings.

Now, two people, a pig, and a dog headed toward the Beast Taming Plaza.

Beast Taming Plaza, Third Infinite City, Xia Country.

Several hundred people had already gathered in the plaza.

Some veteran Beast Tamers were deeply moved. This was their first time seeing so many Beast Tamers together.

Everyone was gathered around the Divine Pet Rankings, discussing and examining the lists.

"These rankings seem to be regional. Each Infinite City is ranked separately. A friend in the Seventh Infinite City messaged me saying someone there has already made the list."

"Really? If each Infinite City is ranked separately, we might have a chance! I just wonder how many Crystal Coins we'll get when the rewards are calculated..."

"It'll still be tough. There are probably going to be more and more Beast Tamers, so the competition is bound to get fierce."

Crystal Coins were the universal currency in Infinite City, needed for just about everything. Naturally, the Beast Tamers were delighted to have another facility that rewarded them.

Lu Ran and Pig Farmer seemed to have arrived at just the right time.

As they reached the Beast Taming Plaza, one of the Divine Pet Rankings changed.

[Regional announcement: Divine Pet Rankings-Extraordinary Species Rankings updated.]

[Ranked divine pet species: Black Bear.]

[Attribute: Dark]

[Species tier: High-level Extraordinary]

[Growth level: 8]

[Beast Tamer: Dark Night, High Winds]

[Reason for ranking: Evolved and mutated from a black bear, possessing immense strength and awakened dark powers. In the easy Novice Secret Realm, Demon Cat Forest, it killed a level 10 Demon Cat of an Intermediate Extraordinary species with a single paw strike, overcoming a two-level gap. Exceptionally ferocious!]

The black bear's information immediately took first place on the Divine Pet Rankings' Extraordinary Species Rankings.

Everyone in the Beast Taming Plaza heard the regional announcement.

Seeing the rankings change, many newcomers who had only entered in the past two days were stunned.

A dark-attribute black bear...

What did this person do in the real world?

"Who's Dark Night, High Winds? Their starter pet is actually a black bear? And it was born with the dark attribute?" The crowd erupted.

As for a level 8 dark-attribute black bear killing a level 10 Demon Cat with one strike, no one found that particularly surprising.

With a higher species tier and a rarer, stronger attribute, that feat wasn't strange.

Before anyone could investigate which faction the monstrous newcomer with the ID Dark Night, High Winds belonged to, the rankings updated again!

[Regional announcement: Divine Pet Rankings-Extraordinary Species Rankings updated.]

[Ranked divine pet species: Tiger.]

[Attribute: Rock]

[Species tier: High-level Extraordinary]

[Growth level: 7]

[Beast Tamer: Tiger-Dragon Showdown]

[Reason for ranking: Evolved and mutated from a Northeast Tiger, boasting a Mighty Species and awakened mountain-rock powers. In the Common Novice Secret Realm, Wild Boar Valley, it successfully hunted a level 8 Rock Boar of a High-level Extraordinary species, overcoming a one-level gap and displaying the majesty of the king of beasts!]

With this update, Dark Night, High Winds, who had held first place for only a few seconds, was immediately pushed down to second.

The formidable tamer who had contracted a tiger and used the ID Tiger-Dragon Showdown went straight to the top. Apparently, Infinite City considered the rock tiger's performance even stronger than the dark-attribute black bear's.

"Th-that's incredible..." Just seeing two people make the rankings had left Pig Farmer dumbfounded.

He felt he had no chance of making the list. Bears and tigers everywhere! His wild boar was pretty strong too, but this looked incredibly difficult!

"Looks like these extraordinary rankings were prepared specifically for the fourth-generation newcomers," someone remarked.

Below the extraordinary rankings, besides the countdown to reward calculation, there were several lines of notes.

[Note: The Extraordinary Species Rankings only include pets belonging to newcomers who have been Beast Tamers for less than one year.]

[Note: Combat boosts from external sources such as equipment, items, consumable resources, and assistance from teammates will reduce a pet's ranking weight to a certain extent.]

[Note: ...]

"Looks like it's meant to stop veterans from raising new pets to snatch resources from newcomers. That said, the pets of second- and third-generation Beast Tamers fighting on the front lines have mostly evolved into leader species, haven't they? Those rankings should be even more competitive."

People turned their attention to the Leader Species Rankings and the Monarch Species Rankings... As for overlord species pets, none had appeared anywhere in the world yet.

Just then, the rankings updated again. Since the Divine Pet Rankings had only just appeared, the updates seemed especially frequent.

This time, many people grew excited, because it finally wasn't the extraordinary rankings being updated, but...

[Regional announcement: Divine Pet Rankings-Monarch Species Rankings updated.]

[Ranked divine pet species: Nine-Star Light-Tailed Sparrow.]

[Attributes: Light, Space]

[Species tier: Low monarch]

[Growth level: 43]

[Beast Tamer: Starfall]

[Reason for ranking: A perfect first-stage evolution, a regal species possessing the two top-tier attributes of light and space. In the hard level-four secret realm, Sky Island, it continuously overwhelmed a level 41 Sky-Rending Serpent of a low monarch species with its self-created finishing move, "The Stars Flicker," shaking the floating island!]

"Is that Guild Leader Starfall?!"

Unlike those two unknown newcomers, the Beast Tamer with the ID Starfall seemed quite famous in the Third Infinite City.

Seeing him take first place on the Lord Rankings, the plaza grew lively again. A group of veterans patiently introduced him to the newcomers.

"Starfall..."

"You know him?" Lu Ran asked when he heard Pig Farmer muttering beside him.

"Yeah. The guild I joined is called The Stars, and this Starfall... is its guild leader. Sister Hua said he's one of the top second-generation Beast Tamers. His family is in real estate..."

"Uh, no wonder the guild is so generous." Lu Ran looked taken aback. Come to think of it, his residential complex seemed to be called Starlight. Could that be one of this person's family properties too?

Never mind...

"I'm done looking." By now, Lu Ran had a rough idea of how the Divine Pet Rankings worked.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, although the Divine Pet Rankings would affect him, the impact wouldn't be too great.

Thankfully, only some of his combat achievements would be exposed to the public. It wasn't a leaderboard for clearing realms.

It only highlighted a standout moment in battle, an impressive performance. That significantly reduced the risk of his Epic item being exposed.

Judging by the descriptions, most people would surely focus on the pets' individual performances.

Snowfield Dogs were common and not particularly powerful, but there were exceptions. One unusually strong dog appearing wouldn't be strange. After all, even insects could have high species tiers.

Attention was inevitable, but he would also receive plenty of Crystal Coins as a reward. There were gains and losses.

Still, Lu Ran felt there was no point thinking so much about it. The divine pets on the rankings were all so fierce that he and General Ha might not even make the list.

For now, General Ha would struggle to compete with those high-tier pets. His only hope lay in his learning ability and Super Beast Mimicry 2.0... They would have to see whether he could learn some powerful moves before those high-tier pets did.

Lu Ran felt the Divine Deer Pendant could also help General Ha practice powerful moves. Energy Compression techniques placed a heavy burden on the user and were difficult to control, but if the backlash injuries could be healed, wouldn't his skill experience improve rapidly?

"I'm going to buy some things. Are you staying here to watch?" Lu Ran asked Pig Farmer.

"Huh, you're done watching?" Pig Farmer gazed longingly at the rankings, apparently wanting to keep watching.

"What's the use of staring at it? You can't stare your way onto the list. Better to hurry up and train your pet. That'll give you a better chance of making it."

Lu Ran chuckled. Ah, young people... Infinite City really is devious. Now that this facility is here, how many guilds and Beast Tamers will throw themselves into a desperate competition for the honor of having a divine pet? Isn't this just the damn leaderboard-chasing trick from online games?

Wait, could the officially released information actually be true? Could Infinite City really have been created by some civilization to preserve its legacy and train Beast Tamers?

Meanwhile.

In the outside world, Green Sea City.

After waking up, Fang Lan thought it over and followed Lu Ran's suggestion, telling her parents that she had been selected to become a Beast Tamer.

"That's what happened. Have you seen the news? You won't oppose me becoming a Beast Tamer, right...?"

"All the media outlets are saying this is the opportunity of our era. If we don't keep up, we might be left behind."

Fang Lan's parents frowned deeply and remained silent. Naturally, they had seen the news everywhere, but...

What were they supposed to do about this?

They should have been happy their daughter had been selected. After all, it demonstrated her aptitude. But the news also said Infinite City's secret realms were extremely dangerous. What parent would want their child doing something so risky?

"No. It's too dangerous. I won't let you enter those secret realms. An ordinary life is perfectly fine. Why don't you do what you mentioned and take up one of those noncombat professions?" her mother urged.

"How could I do that? Wouldn't that waste my high extraordinary species pet? I'm telling you, very few people have this kind of advantage!"

"It's usually the people who can swim who drown. The more you think you have an advantage, the greater the danger," her father said sternly. "Anyway, listen to us and don't enter the secret realms. Why not do as Dr. Gu suggested and study and train properly at that Beast Taming University? You can decide after graduating."

"And hurry up and find Lu Ran. Keep an eye on him, and don't let him do anything dangerous... Neither of you ever gives us peace of mind."

"I..." Fang Lan was speechless.

Damn that Lu Ran! So he'd told her to come clean because he wanted her to charge in first and convince their parents! Why did he have to be so scheming? Couldn't he learn a little from General Ha?