Location: the Arena in Infinite City, an underground private battle room. The pig farmer and the dog owner teleported there together.
The room was huge and open to the sky, rather like a tennis court. A large square patch of gray ground served as the battlefield, with generous stretches of green ground around its edges where Beast Tamers could stand and give commands.
"Are the two of us fighting too?" Lu Ran asked Pig Farmer across from him after they arrived. He actually seemed a little eager to try. What was so interesting about just watching General Ha fight? He had never been interested in PVP anyway...
"Huh?" Pig Farmer froze, unable to follow him for a moment.
"Beast Tamers have two paths. The first is to expend their own power to strengthen their pets. The second is to draw on their pets' power to strengthen themselves."
"The former simply lets the pet fight and protect its tamer. With the latter, you have to join the fight yourself. Which path are you taking?"
"Though you probably don't have any beast-taming skills yet, so you haven't made a choice. What does The Stars guild require for its assessment?"
"W-wait! I think The Stars guild's assessment just has the pets fight... Leave me out of it." Pig Farmer stepped back, waving his hands repeatedly.
Lu Ran gave him a disdainful look. "You look pretty athletic, though."
Pig Farmer was rather reluctant. "The guild veterans said that with the first path, if something happens to your pet, the Beast Tamer only suffers some backlash. They won't die. But with the second path, if the Beast Tamer dies, it's all over. I heard the death rate for Beast Tamers on the second path is several times higher than the first..."
"Even though the Beast Tamer gets stronger, their survival rate doesn't improve at all. The veterans all warned us never to choose the second path, no matter what. They said only reckless idiots pick it..."
"Wait, you aren't planning to take the second path and fight alongside your pet in the future, are you?!" Pig Farmer's expression changed.
"Uh, not really." Lu Ran scratched his cheek. It was just that the beast-taming skill he had gotten as a drop happened to belong to the second path. For now, he had no choice.
Beast Tamers on the second path were personally stronger, yet had a higher death rate... Hmm, how curious. They must have thought they were strong and gone looking for trouble.
"That's good, then." Pig Farmer breathed a sigh of relief. "I really admire those ancient generals who rode their warhorses across the battlefield too, but it's just too dangerous."
"Mainly because we're all self-taught and haven't had any professional training. If we rush into combat ourselves, things can easily go wrong. I feel like the cavalry out on the grasslands might be able to handle this way of fighting alongside their pets."
"No, there's another profession too," Lu Ran said.
"What?"
"Hunters." Lu Ran chuckled, holding his Contract Card as he summoned General Ha.
A circular summoning array appeared on the battlefield, bursting with brilliant light.
"Awooo~~~"
A wolf-shaped pet descended.
"My ancestors were hunters. They often worked with hunting dogs to hunt animals like wild boars that damaged crops."
Pig Farmer: ???
He took out his Contract Card too and began summoning Wild Boar.
"My pig isn't like ordinary pigs!" Pig Farmer wiped his sweaty nose with his arm and summoned his pet with a serious expression.
Lu Ran put considerable pressure on him. After all, Lu Ran had made it onto the Divine Pet Rankings.
Still, if he could win, winning would naturally be best. Pig Farmer didn't want to consider himself inferior right from the start.
"Oink!!!" Light erupted, and a wild boar over two meters long appeared, with long tusks and earthy-colored fur covering its body!
The pig and the dog stood in front of their Beast Tamers, staring at each other.
Enemies saw red when they met.
This time, General Ha actually hadn't forgotten their previous grudge.
Seven days ago, General Ha had shown fighting spirit toward this wild boar, only to receive a disdainful glance...
"Grrr-" General Ha growled. Damn you.
"Oink!" Wild Boar swished his tail, staring seriously at General Ha with a grave look. This time, there was no contempt.
"You aren't using a sword? Didn't you use a sword-type weapon when you challenged the Secret Realm?" Pig Farmer asked.
Lu Ran said, "That's just external help. Let's fight normally."
"Okay," Pig Farmer said.
"Our problem right now is that once Rock Energy Coating covers his body, his defense is very strong. But compared to Wind pets, his movement and attack speed don't give him any advantage."
"So I wanted to see in actual combat whether there's a good way to counter fast opponents."
"You mean I just need to have my Silly Husky make full use of his speed advantage against you, right?" Lu Ran asked.
"Yep, yep." Pig Farmer nodded!
"Okay. General Ha, Gale mode." Lu Ran snapped his fingers.
"Woof!"
The next moment, sky-blue energy appeared on General Ha's body, and that energy slowly began to flow...
At the sight, Pig Farmer's expression instantly turned serious.
The basic Wind skill, Gale?!
In just seven days, John Doe and his pet had learned another skill???
At this stage, there actually weren't many pets below level 10 that had mastered skills.
Even among the seventy pets on the Extraordinary Pet Ranking across Xia Country's seven Infinite Cities, more than half had yet to master a basic skill.
They had mostly made the ranking by simply using Common Energy Coating on their bodies, then crushing their opponents with their powerful racial attributes.
Energy Shaping, Energy Release, Energy Flow, Energy Compression-the advanced techniques in each branch were far from easy to master. According to the experience veterans had compiled, even with decent talent in a particular direction, it still took half a month to a month of targeted training to get started and master a basic skill.
That was precisely why General Ha learning Sword Aura in two days had been so incredible, allowing him to climb the ranking so quickly.
Pig Farmer's own pet had yet to master a single skill and could only use basic Rock Energy Coating...
Now, seeing that Lu Ran and his pet had also mastered Gale, he was utterly astonished...
But an even greater surprise was still to come.
"We're starting, then." After Lu Ran spoke, the energy that had been flowing slowly over General Ha's body like a stream suddenly surged like a flood, causing even his figure to blur!!
"What?" "Oink!" Both man and pig were startled.
"Woof!!"
Face the gale!
General Ha's eyes flashed as he stared resentfully at Wild Boar's grave expression across from him. Now you know how strong I am, huh? The next instant, he dashed forward, kicking up dust beneath his paws. He truly moved as fast as a gale!
"How can he be so fast..." Pig Farmer couldn't understand it. By now, even without his reminder, Wild Boar had already used Rock Energy Coating, its earthy-yellow energy, on its body, keeping its gaze fixed on General Ha.
The strategy Pig Farmer had devised for dealing with Wind pets was to rely on his defensive advantage in close combat and clash head-on. If he couldn't react in time, he would tank the first hit, then respond quickly and counterattack!
But good as the idea was, General Ha, moving like an afterimage in Wild Boar's sight, simply vanished.
"He's at your side!" Pig Farmer, who had a wider field of view, immediately warned him.
Even at this speed, General Ha could still change his course. In an instant, he moved from directly in front of Wild Boar to his side and slammed into him with all his strength.
"Oof!" Wild Boar sensed trouble. By the time he reacted, the sky-blue afterimage had already collided with him. He felt tremendous pain in his side, and even the Rock energy wrapping his body distorted.
Despite the protection of his Rock energy, the impact made Wild Boar squeal like a pig being slaughtered. In fact... before he could even react and counterattack, his heavy body left the ground, all four feet in the air, and he was sent flying several meters!
"Aaah!!!"
He landed with a thud and rolled repeatedly across the ground.
Pig Farmer stared blankly.
Meanwhile, General Ha had left his berserk Gale state, wearing a smug expression as though he had finally avenged himself.
But then he froze again as Wild Boar rolled back onto his feet and glared viciously at him.
"His defense really is good. An impact like that only caused minor injuries?" Lu Ran said. "Looks like it's pretty difficult to get through your defense by normal means."
Pig Farmer: ???
Are you kidding? A Silly Husky knocked a wild boar several meters away, and you call that normal? What... was that just now?! Basic Gale shouldn't be that powerful!
"Da Huang, this won't work. Get moving too! He can't break through your defense, so don't be afraid." Pig Farmer swept his arm forward. Feeling the threat General Ha posed, he decided they couldn't just sit and wait, and ordered Wild Boar to charge straight at General Ha.
"Oink!!" Wild Boar barreled forward. Although he wasn't as fast as General Ha, he wasn't slow either, and his charge looked far more intimidating.
This time, General Ha didn't use his speed advantage to torment his opponent. Instead, he opened his mouth.
"Roar!!!"
A white gale gathered in General Ha's mouth and blew toward Wild Boar with his roar. The powerful wind instantly created enormous resistance to Wild Boar's advance, making it impossible for him to move across the field.
"This is..." Pig Farmer was startled yet again.
[Skill]: Wind Roar [Description]: A basic skill formed by gathering Wind energy inside the body and releasing it through the mouth!
Hmm... for now, this move had almost no killing power and could only disrupt an enemy's movements. Having learned Sword Aura, General Ha hadn't found it difficult to grasp this skill by applying similar principles. It was only blowing out a breath, after all.
"Oink!!!" Wild Boar was practically crying now. He tried hard to charge, but he couldn't move.
What kind of monster was this Silly Husky he had looked down on before? Why did he feel even harder to fight than the boss they had tackled as a team?
"Nghhh!!!" Wild Boar tried to unleash greater strength.
But General Ha was only just beginning to exert himself. He accelerated his energy flow again, and in an instant, the gale blowing from his mouth became even more violent and sustained. With a squeal, Wild Boar, who had been trying to charge forward, once again left the ground with all four feet in the air. The wind flipped him over, and he fell heavily from midair, squealing as he hit the ground.
Beads of sweat once again streamed down Pig Farmer's forehead.
"Woof, woof, woof." General Ha also looked at Pig Farmer, seemingly very displeased by his claim that he couldn't break through Wild Boar's defense.
"Awooo~~" He opened his mouth. This time, it wasn't Wind Roar. Instead, a storm gathered at his mouth, and he held a tangible white divine sword of wind, shaped entirely from wind, between his teeth!
Energy Shaping. The skill, Wind Sword!
Even without an external object, General Ha had shaped a Wind Sword with extremely powerful cutting properties himself!
The sight left Pig Farmer stunned yet again. What was this? Energy Shaping?
Energy Flow, Energy Release, Energy Shaping... What was going on with this Silly Husky?!
"Huh." Never mind Pig Farmer-even Lu Ran looked at General Ha in surprise. Good boy. I haven't even told you to start learning Energy Shaping, and you've learned it on your own again?
That makes sense. Wind energy often passes through the Windfall Sword, so he might already be very familiar with a sword's structure. Add in his good comprehension and energy control, and after Pig Farmer said that, it was reasonable for him to learn Energy Shaping himself... Like hell it was!
In less than ten days, he had nearly learned all four advanced techniques! This dog... was far too absurdly talented.
"General Ha, disperse it. No fighting with a sword." Lu Ran was afraid of injuring their opponent. Since they were just sparring, the current situation, where it was difficult to get through the opponent's defense, was perfectly fine.
"Whine..." General Ha obeyed, then looked again at Wild Boar, who had gotten up on rather shaky legs.
"I..." Pig Farmer fell silent.
He realized he had been wrong. He shouldn't have entertained the idea that he might win in the first place. Anyone who could make the Divine Pet Rankings... was a monster. Had Lu Ran only been pushed off the ranking because he hadn't challenged any more Secret Realms during these seven days?!
That evening.
Lu Ran and Pig Farmer parted ways.
Pig Farmer gained experience in being thoroughly trounced in various ways by a Wind pet, while Lu Ran unceremoniously took the Awakening Leaf as his sparring fee.
Five Poisons Cult Saintess: [How long has it been since you came back? Even my parents are worried about you. When are you coming back so we can have a meal together?]
After returning to his Exclusive Room, Lu Ran first replied to Fang Lan's message as usual.
[Okay, I'll come back today.]
Boss Lu thought it over. It really had been too long since he had gone home. Come to think of it, school would be starting soon too, wouldn't it? He might as well contact Little White Dragon this time and get the school issue sorted out while he was at it.
As for challenging the Demon Cat Forest again, there was no rush. He could do that after he returned.
Having made his decision, Lu Ran reluctantly spent five Crystal Coins to teleport home.
Once home, he took a shower, changed into fresh clothes, and prepared to call Fang Lan to arrange their meal.
Just then, however, a dark figure suddenly appeared before Lu Ran, climbed onto the television, and stared at him with red eyes.
It was a little lizard with a dark-brown body and a yellowish-brown underside. It looked remarkably like a miniature Giant Dragon and had a commanding air. Its coolest feature had to be those red eyes surrounded by golden irises.
"What? Didn't I leave enough food and water for you before I left?" Lu Ran looked at the little creature. This Red-Eyed Hawk Lizard was the birthday present Fang Lan had given him.
Lu Ran liked to call him Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
He also liked to call him Sudden Death King.
Through Telepathy, Lu Ran could sometimes read his thoughts.
[No grasshoppers I like to eat today. I'm going to drop dead!]
[It's so dark and scary. I'm going to drop dead!]
[That dog is terrifying. I'm going to drop dead!]
[My poop scooper is so ugly. I'm going to drop dead!]
[I don't know why. I'm just going to drop dead!]
Hmm... at the slightest provocation, he would fall over and drop dead. Of course, most of these sudden deaths were just playing dead. The main problem was that this little fellow was timid too. Lu Ran felt that keeping him alive this long had really been no easy feat.
"Oh, right." Seeing Red-Eyes Black Dragon suddenly appear to make his presence known, Lu Ran's eyes lit up. He took out the Awakening Leaf he had just obtained and said, "Sudden Death King, come here. I've got something good for you to eat. Let me test your potential."
Before you continue