King of Beasts

Chapter 19: Awakening

After dining, Lu Ran followed a shortcut from the Starlight Villa Area into the back hills of Maple Park.

Every child likes to have a secret base at a young age, and he was no exception.

Moreover, in Lu Ran’s view, this place was a geomantic treasure.

His Bug King, which could easily dominate the Fighting Bug Tournament, was found right here.

With such a great location, there was no need to compete with those old men for resources at Qingming Mountain, the largest mountain in Green Sea City.

“You can come out now!”

“Woof.”

After arriving at the back hills of Maple Park and seeing no one around, Lu Ran used the black card to summon General Ha.

Lu Ran was in a good mood. With the contract card and character card, things were convenient.

And the backpack space of the character card allowed him to carry many things that were previously inconvenient, like his custom-made Iron-Slashing Sword.

“In a sense, you and the sword are a good match, after all, there are many places both of you are prohibited from entering.”

General Ha, confused: ??

Is that even comparable?

“Let’s move on, we need to go deeper,” Lu Ran said.

As he walked, Lu Ran recalled key information about attribute awakening.

Through the Basic Beast Taming Handbook, he also knew of other methods to awaken attributes.

The methods of awakening could be roughly divided into five types.

First, innate ability. Creatures with species levels at the commander level or above could awaken their attributes shortly after birth through their natural talents.

Clearly, General Ha didn’t qualify. His talents were all invested in intelligence—who would believe that?

Second, awakening through impact. In nature, lower-level creatures without awakened attributes sometimes awakened after being attacked by a corresponding attribute force, although there was a very slim chance of this happening.

But this method was incredibly dangerous, often a matter of life and death.

Third, energy flow. Advanced creatures could utilize their energy flow to a high degree, even infusing their own energy into other creatures to nourish their bodies and assist in awakening attributes.

Fourth, nurtured by sacred land. If a creature stayed in a place rich with natural energy for a long time, there was also a chance to awaken attributes.

However, generally speaking, such geomantic treasures are found within secret realms, either guarded by powerful beasts or occupied by major forces.

Fifth, attribute resources. There are certain resources that contain pure attribute power, which can be used to unlock a creature’s potential, allowing it to awaken its attribute.

This was the method that Lu Ran was about to use.

Xiaobailong had mentioned that joining the organization would provide an opportunity to awaken attributes for free.

Lu Ran guessed that this was probably done through the use of advanced energy flow techniques or by staying in geomantic treasure sites rich with natural energy.

In large organizations, there are certainly many powerful beastmasters, and a type of secret realm known as a public secret realm would have its geomantic treasure sites claimed by these organizations as well.

However, according to Xiaobailong, awakening with attribute resources would provide a greater boost and better development for a pet beast.

Thus, Lu Ran was no longer concerned with the other methods.

“Let’s do it here.” Finally, Lu Ran arrived at an open area surrounded by dense greenery and featuring a natural cave.

He took out a wind-type awakening fruit from his backpack and looked at General Ha, who was hissing at a snake not too far away. The area was rarely visited by people because of the abundance of insects and snakes; without good reason, no one would venture here.

“Never mind that for now.” Lu Ran tossed the wind-type fruit, which had a white exterior and was shaped like a pineapple, towards General Ha. In the next instant, General Ha turned his head, his eyes lighting up as he leaped to catch the fruit in his mouth.

“Arf!” General Ha excitedly bit into the wind-type fruit, drooling at the mouth.

He could feel the immense allure the wind-type fruit had for him.

“Go ahead and eat,” Lu Ran said with a smile. Receiving the command, General Ha opened his jaws wide and stuffed the entire wind-type fruit into his mouth.

Abyssal maw.

“Ergh.” However, General Ha soon realized that the fruit was somewhat too large to eat all at once.

“Arf.” Puffing up his cheeks, General Ha stirred the attribute fruit in his mouth. Under Lu Ran’s speechless gaze, he finally managed to swallow it all.

Panting…

Eating the fruit had clearly exhausted the dog, who took a moment to catch his breath.

But soon after, General Ha’s eyes widened as a light sky-blue energy began to slowly emerge from his body…

This is… the power of wind!

Witnessing this scene, Lu Ran also perked up with utmost attention, watching intently!

“Awoooooo!!!”

On the ground!

After consuming the wind-type fruit, an astonishing force of wind emerged from General Ha.

The sky-blue energy wrapped around its body like a faint current of air.

Amidst the turmoil of this energy, its fur fluttered in the wind.

It also erupted with a tremendous presence, creating tiny whirlwinds in the vicinity.

The grass on the ground and the green leaves around all stirred with its howls!

Species: Snowfield Dog

Attribute: Wind-Type

Species Level: Middle Supernatural

Growth Level: Level 4

Skill: None

Feeling the breeze on his face, Lu Ran was thrilled to see General Ha’s attribute changes, filled with amazement.

He could confidently assert that General Ha’s combat power had increased by more than just a notch compared to before!

This was the disparity between pre-awakening and post-awakening attributes!

“Arf!!!”

After the awakening, General Ha appeared to be startled.

But quickly, it gained control over the newly stimulated wind power, allowing it to smoothly wrap and overlay its entire body.

Looking at General Ha, now enshrouded in a nearly invisible sky-blue energy, Lu Ran thought he looked incredibly cool.

Truly like those divine creatures from legend, majestic and commanding.

“General Ha, run around the flat ground.”

At that moment, Lu Ran pointed to a relatively open area and ordered.

A lap around, about 200 meters?

This would be perfect to test General Ha’s current speed.

As soon as Lu Ran finished speaking, General Ha responded with an “awo” and instantly dashed away.

Only a sky-blue afterimage was left in its place.

No…

Its full-speed run was like a sky-blue afterimage itself.

Its form, clear yet blurred.

Lu Ran had seen cheetahs run with his own eyes, animals reputed to be the fastest runners.

But now, Lu Ran could only say, General Ha’s speed had absolutely outstripped that of a cheetah.

And it was a no-contest kind of outstripping.

Lu Ran forgot to time it, but in the blink of an eye, the fellow had run a full lap and returned.

“Is this the power at level 4? What if it reaches level 40?” Lu Ran was astonished.

“Whoo!”

Looking at General Ha panting as it returned, Lu Ran smiled, “Good, next up is testing attack power.”

“Woof!” General Ha looked calm and focused on the surrounding stones.

It slapped a stone on the ground with its paw, which was wrapped in wind-type energy.

Crack.

The next moment, the stone seemed to shatter, instantly developing a dense web of cracks like a spider’s web, and then broke into several pieces.

“Awesome… This really is a qualitative leap.”

Lu Ran crossed his arms and nodded with satisfaction. Then he stretched out his hand, and a wooden sword materialized in his grip.

“General Ha, catch the sword.”

Lu Ran threw the wooden sword, and General Ha leaped up and caught it in its mouth.

“Wrap the wind-type energy around the wooden sword and try attacking again.”

“Awoo.” With its new power, General Ha was clearly addicted; it sought that same sensation once more.

Before long, not only was General Ha’s body overlaying with energy, but the wooden sword it held also began to coil with white flow.

The sword, as if conducting electricity, naturally became enshrouded with wind-type energy.

Buzz buzz buzz—

Soon, with the wind-type energy wrapping around it, a blue-and-white sword qi emerged on the brown body of the sword. This blue-and-white qi looked like a swirling storm, continuously emitting the sound of airflow vibrations.

General Ha’s gaze became sharp as it looked at the sword, a look that only Lu Ran could understand.

It was saying: Slash, slash, slash, wreak havoc!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!

General Ha swung its head subconsciously, adopting a sword-swinging stance.

The wooden sword sliced through the air, leaving a trail of wind marks, stirring up the surrounding flow.

It was a pity that General Ha had not yet mastered the technique of energy release; otherwise, it might have been able to produce real sword qi!

“This feeling…” And as Lu Ran watched the wooden sword, he thought General Ha was getting cooler by the second. He hadn’t realized how impressive Erha was before. Now, even if they were faced with a rhinoceros known for its defensive strength, Lu Ran felt that General Ha could slay it with a single stroke of the sword!

However, coolness doesn’t last more than three seconds. Before Lu Ran and General Ha could revel in their delight or find a new target to test their power…

Boom!!!

General Ha, with the wooden sword clutched in its jaws, suddenly experienced an unexpected event—the sword exploded, splintering into a cloud of wooden fragments that scattered across the sky.

The loud noise startled General Ha… to the point of actually leaping high into the air in surprise.

“What the heck…” This spectacle also left Lu Ran, standing nearby, completely dumbfounded. What on earth had just happened?

As he watched the wooden sword burst from General Ha’s mouth, Lu Ran was momentarily at a loss. Had the sword been unable to withstand the force of the wind wrapped around it?

“Argh!!!” Meanwhile, General Ha, having realized what happened, gazed mournfully at the remains of the wooden sword.

Its sword! Where was its sword?

It hadn’t even made its move yet, and the sword had already failed.

“It’s okay… this just shows how strong you are,” Lu Ran said with a wave of his hand, indicating it was no big deal and not feeling the least bit upset.

He had more.

Lu Ran took out an iron-slashing sword, but then, looking at the sharp blade and then back at the bewildered General Ha, he fell into deep thought. Was it really safe to give General Ha such a dangerous weapon now?

“Quack!!!” Boss Lu was pondering this when suddenly a black crow flew overhead.

It landed on a tree branch and cawed at Lu Ran a few times.

My lord, a yellow-furred, black-striped big cat has intruded into our territory.

Lu Ran: ?

Lu Ran looked at the crow, which, like the bug king, was one of his generals.

Not just it, but the majority of Green Sea City’s stray cats and dogs had also been subdued by Lu Ran, effectively making the whole city his network of informants.

If there were to be a king of the city’s wildlife, it would undoubtedly be Lu Ran.

Still, in the end, it all came down to the connections he’d made while practicing telepathy…

However, the message brought by this crow was a bit strange—what’s this about a yellow-furred, black-striped big cat? Hmm?