The end

How was this possible?

Seeing the pendant change, Lu Ran's mind filled with confusion.

His family heirloom? He hadn't even noticed it after coming in... had it been brought here too?

But the change it had undergone was simply astonishing.

Between his psychic powers and the appearance of the Black Card, Lu Ran had already felt that this world was unfamiliar enough. There had to be something hidden from the public.

Now, discovering that even his family heirloom had an extraordinary origin left him even more bewildered.

Confusion showed on his face.

He looked inward at the black Contract Card floating in his mental sea.

His mind was still a complete muddle.

So these supernatural powers weren't something modern, something that had only appeared recently!

They had existed since ancient times, for who knew how many years!

His family heirloom was definitely connected to all these supernatural powers too.

"There are too many things I don't understand."

"Or did one of my ancestors get chosen by a Black Card and become a Beast Tamer too? Did they bring this antler out of a secret realm?"

"But if Black Cards have existed since ancient times, why has no information about them ever gotten out...?"

"If it weren't for that person who posted online, if the Black Card hadn't appeared in my hand on its own..."

"Anyway, just how many people has this damned place chosen to become Beast Tamers?"

"Arf, arf!" While Lu Ran was lost in thought, General Ha, who had been staring at the pendant in stunned disbelief, came back to his senses. Feeling the pain of his wounds again, he began yelping.

Ow, ow, ow...

His cries snapped Lu Ran out of his thoughts. He quickly reacted and said:

"I'll use this to heal you." Healing from a divine deer, with epic rarity-surely that had to be better than an ordinary, dime-a-dozen bloodstopping mushroom?

The pendant had probably been dormant before, having lost its original power, which was why it hadn't been detected at first.

Now, after arriving here and absorbing a certain amount of "supernatural energy," it had awakened. That was probably what had happened.

"Healing Power."

Still holding the bloodstopping mushroom, Lu Ran looked at General Ha and pulled off the pendant.

In that instant, the familiar sensation of holding the Contract Card returned.

Lu Ran took a deep breath.

He focused his intense desire to heal General Ha on the items in his hands.

The next instant, the Divine Deer Pendant shone with a crystalline golden light!

Then the golden light enveloped General Ha's wounds, and something incredible happened right before Lu Ran's eyes.

The torn wounds on General Ha's body began... rapidly healing.

In just a few seconds, his bloody injuries had returned to normal, without leaving even a scar.

Apart from a few bald streaks where he had lost some fur, the healing was almost perfect!

General Ha even felt a warmth spreading through his body, as though he had been nourished by plants.

"Awoo!" In an instant, General Ha was stunned again, with no idea what had happened.

Lu Ran's face also lit up with delight.

He quickly rubbed General Ha's injured areas and said, "You've gone bald, but you've gotten stronger too. Your flesh is a lot tougher now!"

"Woof!" General Ha froze and lowered his head to inspect his body with distress. A moment later, though, he turned an eager gaze toward the antler in Lu Ran's hand.

"I don't know what's going on, but we seem to be invincible." Lu Ran smiled.

Forget it. He could think more about the heirloom after returning.

"Woof, woof!" General Ha's eyes flashed like camera lights as he nodded furiously. With this thing, forget five cats-he would dare take on fifty!

This thing was simply too powerful. As long as he wasn't killed instantly, what injury couldn't it heal?

"Don't get carried away," Lu Ran said. "We can't pin all our hopes on our ancestors' protection. But with this unexpected development... we'll have to change our plans again."

He gripped the pendant and took a deep breath, recalling his mother's face.

Although he had no idea what was going on with the Divine Deer Pendant, Lu Ran understood that it was undoubtedly their greatest asset right now. Their safety in this trial secret realm... and the feasibility of his leveling plan had both increased dramatically again.

Having obtained an epic item, Lu Ran felt that continuing to play it safe would let down his ancestors and the heirloom they had left behind.

Killing two Demon Cats had taken General Ha from level 1 to level 2. What about going from level 2 to level 3?

Lu Ran wanted General Ha to gain as many levels as possible here and become stronger in battle.

Fall behind one step, and you would fall behind at every step. That principle applied anywhere. Since circumstances allowed it, Lu Ran didn't intend to miss any opportunity to gather resources.

If a crisis really did arise in the future, having enough strength would help him protect himself and the people he cherished.

Why couldn't he be the "tall one" who held up the sky when it fell?

Someone had to stand at the top of the world.

He could reign supreme in insect fighting, so why couldn't he do the same in beast taming?

"If I keep getting stronger like this, even if that dream becomes reality, I should be able to stop those monsters from destroying the city beneath my feet."

Thinking of that dream again only made Lu Ran more motivated.

Four hours later.

Deep in the forest.

"Idiot, didn't I tell you? Even though we have an item that can heal injuries, you should still try not to get hurt!"

After Lu Ran and General Ha recovered, their growing ambition drove them to start actively searching for prey.

During that time, they encountered some new supernatural creatures.

Most were level 1 to 3.

Their species ranks were mostly low-tier supernatural.

If you encounter ads asking "Are you a real person?", simply ignore and close them. Do not scan any QR codes or send text messages!

For instance, Toothed-Eared Rabbits were extremely aggressive for rabbits. They were asking to die!

Then there were Giant Rat Beasts, which looked even bigger than ducks. The little creatures were surprisingly finely formed.

Unfortunately, he had no tools, and they were phantoms anyway. Otherwise, given Lu Ran's disposition, he would definitely have dissected these unfamiliar creatures to study them.

Without exception, these creatures stood no chance against General Ha, even if they were one or two levels higher.

By comparison, the Demon Cats were harder to deal with. After all, this place was called the Demon Cat Forest. These creatures were probably just food for the Demon Cats.

Lu Ran felt that fighting these creatures was more in line with how difficult a beginner secret realm ought to be.

Still, there were some difficult opponents too. For example, General Ha had just defeated a large green snake of a mid-tier supernatural species at level 3.

Of course, General Ha had suffered some serious injuries himself.

Perhaps the Divine Deer Pendant's Healing Power had gradually given General Ha a sense of security along the way. His fighting style grew increasingly brutal. To win, he had begun fighting savagely, trading injuries for injuries.

In nature, this was an extremely radical approach. After all, most fights in the wild were about survival and feeding, and getting injured meant moving closer to death. General Ha didn't care about any of that, though. He quickly worked out a new fighting style, leaving even Lu Ran impressed by the dog's talent.

But this was far too reckless. Something could easily go wrong!

This snake, for example, was venomous! Fortunately, they had gathered antidote herbs along the way.

"Woof." Pinning down the large snake, General Ha wore an innocent expression.

By now, he had reached level 3.

That left both General Ha and Lu Ran in a state of intense excitement.

If they could keep leveling at this pace, then twenty-four hours was nothing. They should be able to stay fired up and fight the entire time. Getting stronger really did feel amazing.

But although leveling was exhilarating, they paused their advance for the moment.

Lu Ran had discovered a trace of human presence.

It was a tattered tent.

They had fought the large snake because it had been guarding the area around the tent.

They approached the tent cautiously, but nothing else happened.

Inside the tent, there was nothing but a yellowed travel journal.

Lu Ran picked up the journal and eagerly leafed through it. He couldn't read the writing, but perhaps thanks to the Eye of Data, he could unexpectedly understand its meaning.

[This is the first stop on my journey: what was once the Deep Forest, now the Demon Cat Forest.

I came full of confidence to investigate the true cause of the changes in the forest all those years ago, but I realized I was wrong.

Father was right. I should never have come here...]

The journal ended abruptly.

"That's it?" Lu Ran froze.

"Get out of the secret realm, you cryptic bastard!" The scant information in the journal made Lu Ran angry.

He had thought he might unlock some hidden quest beyond the trial mission.

Even without the journal, he already knew that "changes in the forest" was a key phrase for this secret realm.

"Woof." Beside him, General Ha urged Boss Lu to calm down.

Let's just go level up.

"You're right. We only have a day, anyway." Lu Ran sighed. There was simply too little information about the Demon Cat Forest, and they were too weak. Even if the secret realm held other secrets, investigating them would probably be troublesome.

Still, after carefully analyzing the journal, Lu Ran realized that it hadn't revealed absolutely nothing...

Investigating the true cause of the changes... perhaps that meant the Black Rainstorm, widely known to have caused the creatures to mutate, was only the surface-level cause.

The journal owner's father had forbidden him from coming here. Perhaps his father knew some inside information. The person who left this journal probably came from a significant background.

Lu Ran committed all this to memory. Then he decided to level up first anyway. Remembering it wouldn't do them any good for now.

Gradually, Lu Ran and General Ha became absorbed in leveling, constantly traveling through the Demon Cat Forest.

They encountered no enemies that were overwhelmingly difficult. The trickiest situations involved fighting multiple opponents at once when they ran into groups of Demon Cats.

In those situations, injuries were inevitable. For a normal Beast Tamer team, even if they won, their wounds would probably prevent them from continuing.

But for Lu Ran and General Ha, who had the divine deer's broken antler, injuries were actually the easiest problem to solve.

"Level 4!"

"That was way too hard."

As time ticked by, Lu Ran, who could see the mission countdown, kept watching the "one-day time limit."

By now, they had spent almost twenty-four hours constantly on the move, either searching for monsters or fighting. Without fruit to replenish their stamina, both he and General Ha would have been utterly exhausted long ago.

Even a sled dog couldn't withstand that kind of exertion.

General Ha had progressed fairly quickly through the first three levels, but going from level 3 to level 4 had taken Lu Ran and General Ha almost an entire day, and they still hadn't managed it.

There was no progress bar for growth level, either, so all they could do was fight as much as possible. After all, that was the only way they knew to increase his level.

Fortunately, their efforts finally paid off. With just one minute remaining on the mission countdown, General Ha killed one last Demon Cat and finally raised his growth level to 4.

Immediately afterward, something arrived that lifted Lu Ran's spirits even more!

[Congratulations on completing the beginner trial.]

[Rating: S!]

[Notice: Trial ratings are divided into nine grades: SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F.]

[Congratulations on obtaining an Identity Card.]

[Congratulations on obtaining 10,000 Crystal Coins.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the advanced resource: meteoric iron ore.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the advanced resource: Attribute Awakening Fruit (Grass).]

[Congratulations on obtaining the beast-taming skill: Super Beast Mimicry.]

[Congratulations on obtaining the Eye of Data (Basic).]

[Please select your return destination. 1: Initial Teleport Point. 2: Infinite City!]

[Notice: Infinite City is a large safe zone frequented by Beast Tamers who have passed the beginner trial. It contains various special facilities serving Beast Tamers.]

"It's over..." As the string of notifications appeared, Lu Ran felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Then he looked in surprise at the prompt about returning.

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