Sudden Death King's attribute

Necromancers...

Lu Ran finally understood.

Beast Tamers known as "Necromancers" commanded the souls of animals.

In other words, what people in Xia Country commonly called "ghosts"?

"Shit."

Lu Ran's scalp tingled.

He suddenly felt that being a Beast Tamer was a rather strange profession.

"Hahaha, I was pretty shocked when I first heard about it too." Zhao Chen laughed.

"Honestly, they're still like legends to me. I've heard plenty about them, but I've never seen a Necromancy pet beast myself."

"If we catch this one in Jinling, I've got to see for myself!"

"All right, we're here." As they chatted, the two reached the foot of the mountain.

By then, Zhao Chen had already taken three or four calls.

Zhao Chen turned to Lu Ran. "Are you going back to your master's dojo first, or coming with me to the Beast Taming Tower?"

"Why don't you come back to the tower with me?"

"Xiao Wang is pretty strong, but he's no good at tracking. Ordinary tracking abilities and technology won't let us quickly locate a Necromancer with a Necromancy pet beast... we may need outside help."

"Barring any surprises, that help is already on the way to Jinling."

"You were the first to discover the crime scene. We may need you to describe some details later."

"Sure," Lu Ran said. He might as well go. He wouldn't feel safe leaving a Necromancer like that roaming free either.

What if he targets me someday...? Jinling is so close to Green Sea, and I'll be staying here for a while anyway.

I've got to kill him! Catch him!

Interrogate him...

Pry his mouth open!

Find out how to get an Undead pet beast...

Lu Ran scratched his cheek. Can I learn this stuff?

If General Ha ever dies in battle, I could become a Necromancer and let him be reborn in another form!

An undead sword dog!

Sure, the profession sounds pretty evil, but Lu Ran is a good person. He wouldn't do anything bad!

As the saying went, weapons were neither good nor evil. It all depended on who wielded them.

Zhao Chen, who had gone off to make another call, had yet to realize that Lu Ran's fear was only skin-deep. Inside, he was already getting ideas about the Undead Art.

His personality was just like a combination of Sudden Death King and General Ha: scared, but still eager to play.

"General Ha, come back for now. Sudden Death King, get in my pocket." Lu Ran looked at his two pet beasts and gave a dry cough. He was only worried they might die someday.

Speaking of which, can an undead creature... retain the consciousness it had while alive? The question suddenly occurred to Lu Ran.

The Jinling Beast Taming Tower.

It was a complex of buildings centered around a high-rise.

Before long, Lu Ran arrived there with Zhao Chen.

Once there, Zhao Chen settled Lu Ran into a reception room.

"Lu Ran, I need to coordinate some leads. Wait here for now. If you get bored, feel free to look around."

"Oh, right, there's an Attribute Stone not far from entrance C. You haven't tested your lizard's attribute since it awakened with the Awakening Leaf, have you? You can take this chance to test it!"

"Okay." Lu Ran nodded.

With that, Zhao Chen hurried off, looking extremely busy.

I wonder whether Little White Dragon's former boss got promoted or demoted, Lu Ran mused. He had originally been in charge of recruitment, but had worked in Magic City. Now he seemed responsible for more things, yet had been transferred to Jinling.

Lu Ran was interested in the Attribute Stone Zhao Chen had mentioned. Since he couldn't bring Sudden Death King into Infinite City, he hadn't been able to test its attribute...

Lu Ran had been wondering whether Attribute Stones existed outside Infinite City. Apparently, they really did.

Come to think of it, can you put an Attribute Stone in your backpack? Surely nobody sneaks off with Infinite City's Attribute Stones at night to sell them...

"Come on, I'll take you to test your attribute." Lu Ran stood.

"Waka." Sudden Death King poked its head out. To be fair, after spending these two days out with Lu Ran, it had grown considerably braver. Apparently, it just needed practice!

Unfortunately, its sudden-death tendencies were hard to change.

[Attribute?]

"It's the hidden potential inside your body. It might be fire or lightning. We need to test it, then bring it out with targeted training."

[Fire? Lightning? Coming out of my body? Sudden death!] Sudden Death King's eyes rolled back in terror.

To it, flames or electric currents appearing on its body were utterly terrifying. Unless something went wrong, something would definitely go wrong.

"You won't die."

Lu Ran's mouth twitched. Too lazy to explain, he simply told it it wouldn't die, then went to find the Attribute Stone.

The moment Lu Ran stepped out of entrance C of the Beast Taming Tower, he spotted the area where the Attribute Stone stood.

There were quite a few people there, making it easy to find.

Beside the Attribute Stone, a mature woman in business attire and black stockings was teaching the nearby newcomers how to use it.

Lu Ran rubbed his eyes and took a closer look. She seemed familiar.

"Sister Hua???" Lu Ran blinked in surprise, then remembered. Wasn't this the Sister Hua who had guided Pig Farmer?

He remembered her name being something like Flowers Bloom Beneath the Brush.

To think she was here!

"The Attribute Stone turned red and hot, and scorch marks appeared. Congratulations, your golden retriever has the Fire attribute!"

Sister Hua was smiling as she spoke to a young man with a golden retriever. "It's an excellent attribute. Fire ranks among the best attributes in attack power. Skilled Nutritionists and Blacksmiths also need Fire pet beasts. You could call it an all-purpose attribute."

"A Fire canine... would also be an ideal choice for a firefighting dog."

Unafraid of ordinary flames, it could easily move through fires to rescue people! Even without pursuing a specialized profession, it could secure a stable job in the real world.

Nowadays, Beast Tamers were rapidly entering every industry.

"Fire?!" The novice Beast Tamer with the golden retriever was thrilled and hurriedly thanked Sister Hua.

Someone else went up to test.

This person had brought a red fox from who knew where, and the attribute it had awakened was actually Earth.

Not Rock, but Earth.

This attribute was relatively rare too-not because Earth was especially powerful, but because it was fascinating!

It was much like Rock, but Earth pet beasts possessed a trait Rock pet beasts lacked: they could burrow through the ground!

Just as Water pet beasts could easily swim in deep water even if they weren't fish.

Earth pet beasts were similar. They could slip underground with ease, making them even harder to catch than Flying pet beasts.

This attribute most often appeared in animals that lived underground, such as earthworms and moles.

"Could that attribute be used to rob tombs?"

The onlookers chatted among themselves.

"Does anyone else want to awaken their attribute?" After another person finished testing and Sister Hua showered them with praise, she continued.

It seemed that no matter what attribute a newcomer awakened, she could find something to praise, leaving everyone who tested feeling delighted.

"I'd like to test mine. Sister Hua, long time no see."

At that moment, Lu Ran stepped forward.

Sister Hua looked at Lu Ran and paused in surprise.

Then she smiled. "It's you... Little Lu... you want to awaken an attribute?"

Highly professional, Sister Hua didn't mention Lu Ran's Infinite City ID. This was also an understanding among Beast Tamers.

Without a Beast Tamer's permission, one shouldn't casually reveal their ID in the real world.

"Yep."

Lu Ran nodded, but Sister Hua was puzzled. Hadn't he already tested his attribute?

Then she saw Lu Ran pull a miniature Red-Eyes Black Dragon out of his pocket...

Sister Hua was stunned. "!!!"

Seeing Sudden Death King, she seemed to understand. A second one... Lu Ran was raising his second pet beast in advance!

As for how to select a second pet beast ahead of time, there were plenty of methods. Remembering Little White Dragon saying that Lu Ran had ties to an important figure in the Alliance's upper ranks, she found it understandable.

"Is that a lizard?"

"It's so tiny. Can it even fight?"

"What breed is that? It looks so cool."

"I think it's dead. It's not moving at all in his hand..."

Nearby, the novice Beast Tamers who had just tested their attributes continued discussing Sudden Death King as Lu Ran held it.

By then, Lu Ran had already tossed Sudden Death King onto the ground.

"Go over there and give that stone a good scratch."

[Sudden death...]

Sudden Death King had lost all hope, despair filling its eyes.

Fire and electricity coming out of its body were so scary.

Still, after Lu Ran repeatedly urged it on, it nervously crawled toward the Attribute Stone, raised a claw high, and scratched across its surface.

Then it stared unblinkingly.

At that moment, everyone stopped talking and quietly watched the Attribute Stone change.

One second... two seconds...

Bzzzt.

Whatever Sudden Death King feared was exactly what came.

Along with the sound, several electric currents flickered across the Attribute Stone, leaving electrically charred marks.

"It's actually Lightning!" Sister Hua exclaimed in surprise beside them.

Both Lightning and Fire were relatively uncommon. After all, most animals feared flames and lightning, so developing an affinity for those elements was rather difficult.

Without question, though, once such an attribute awakened, it offered an enormous advantage over other creatures!

"Huh? Your pet beast?!" Sister Hua was just about to praise the Lightning attribute when Sudden Death King's eyes rolled back and it fainted on the ground in front of the Attribute Stone.

"It... it died???"

"Ah-it's dead? No way!" A little girl watching nearby covered her mouth.

The crowd erupted into noise, everyone staring blankly at the dead lizard, unsure what had happened.

"Ahem." Seeing that Sudden Death King really did have the Lightning attribute, Lu Ran was reassured. There really had been something to the numbness General Ha had felt! Something like static electricity? A body that generates static electricity one hundred percent of the time-Lightning, all right.

"It's not dead. This kind of lizard is called a 'Red-Eyed Hawk Lizard.' It's a very special breed that likes to play dead. They're rare in this country," Lu Ran explained as he stepped forward and tossed Sudden Death King into his pocket.

"Oh, I see..." Hearing that, the onlookers believed him. After all, if the lizard had died, Lu Ran couldn't possibly have acted as though nothing had happened. Surely he would have suffered backlash.

"Thanks, Sister Hua. I'll head back now. Don't let me keep you." Having tested the attribute, Lu Ran didn't intend to linger. He was worried Zhao Chen might return to the room and fail to find him.

Knowing Sudden Death King's attribute was enough.

Lightning... known for its destructive power...

How had Sudden Death King, with its astounding defense, awakened an attribute like that? Lu Ran wouldn't have found Rock or Metal strange at all.

"All right, see you next time." Sister Hua smiled. After saying goodbye, Lu Ran headed back toward the room. Along the way, it suddenly occurred to him that Lightning seemed pretty good too.

Every attribute had its own characteristics, like Ice's freezing and Fire's burning. As for Lightning... it conducted electricity!

Lightning attacks could easily reach inside an enemy, more easily than the vast majority of other attributes. That was because Lightning energy was highly conductive. One touch could shock the entire body.

So could Sudden Death King shape lightning into armor covering its whole body, and electrocute anyone who so much as touches it... to death?

Defense... was also a form of attack. This was one of the few attributes that could inflict damage through contact alone, without actively attacking!