Chapter 123: Sudden Death King: Thor!!!

It was clear that Lu Ran held significant weight in the eyes of the swordsmanship apprentices at the Rainbow Heaven Dojo.Faced with their flattery, Lu Ran was at a loss for words, both amused and exasperated.

Beside him, Fang Lan also smiled, feeling that the dojo’s atmosphere might become skewed because of this unique senior brother, Lu Ran…

“Sigh…” Master Jiang Dou also sighed.

“I mean… whether it’s a dog holding a sword in its mouth or a cat doing it…” Lu Ran looked seriously at the handsome Junior Brother Ning, the ponytailed Junior Brother Jin, and the round-faced Junior Sister Fan and explained, “You can interact and have fun with your pet beasts in daily life, but don’t really invest time and effort into it. It’s a misguided path.”

Following this, at Master Jiang Dou’s request, Lu Ran helped the Rainbow Heaven Three Swordsmen plan their future paths, further discouraging them from unrealistic notions like dogs or cats holding swords.

Wouldn’t it be better to save up and buy a Fusion Skill and become a beast swordsman?

To achieve pet beasts holding swords, you need the beastmaster’s swordsmanship talent, a 2.0 version of super beast mimicry, and the pet beast’s extraordinary comprehension, all at once.

Without any of these, even General Ha would find it hard to grasp sword momentum.

If it weren’t for the coincidence of meeting all these conditions, Lu Ran would have undoubtedly pursued the fusion path. Even now, he hasn’t completely abandoned the fusion path; it remains a backup cultivation direction for the future.

“Awooo”

Facing the teachings of Senior Brother Lu Ran, the three junior disciples chose to listen, though whether they would rebel later was anyone’s guess.

…

“Let’s go.”

As evening approached, Lu Ran and Fang Lan left the dojo and hailed a taxi to go out for dinner.

They had arranged to meet Pig Raiser and others, who had arrived in Jinling earlier, at a Huaiyang restaurant. It was their first offline meeting with online friends.

“Why did your master look so unwell?”

After tidying up their room, Fang Lan had gone to the training ground to find Lu Ran. At that time, Lu Ran was sparring with Master Jiang Dou, with an Erha nearby. Master Jiang Dou’s expression was worse than that of the dog.

“Hahaha, it’s nothing. It’s just that the Old Gentleman feels invigorated again,” Jiang Dou had been stimulated; seeing that even General Ha had grasped sword intent, he was determined to comprehend it as well. Lu Ran could only offer his encouragement.

There wasn’t much hope for the Old Gentleman to obtain a contract card, so Lu Ran thought about finding a suitable pet beast for him in Green Sea City in the future. Even if he couldn’t form a contract, living alongside a pet beast with special abilities might help the Old Gentleman take that step.

Pet beast abilities are incredibly varied, and there are countless ways to train them. For example, necromancy pet beasts can possess humans, granting them supernatural power without needing a contract. Perhaps other pet beasts have similar abilities!

“Heh, you definitely upset the Old Gentleman,” Fang Lan guessed that Lu Ran had made General Ha demonstrate sword intent in front of the swordsmanship master…

A real heart-wrencher!

…

Before long, the two arrived at the restaurant.

In the private room.

Lu Ran and Fang Lan were the last to arrive. Dining together in Infinite City and meeting offline didn’t make much difference since everyone was already familiar with each other.

Before long, the seven of them started chatting as usual.

“What’s your assessment number?” Pig Raiser asked.

This number determined the order of tomorrow’s assessment.

Students who registered for the Freshman Tournament could check it on the Beast Taming University official app.

“Hmm… 0001,” Lu Ran said with a smile.

“I’m 0002,” Fang Lan also smiled. Front row privileges!

Everyone was surprised.

“What?? So early?” Lu Dingding was astonished.

“Because we pulled some strings and registered early, it might be related to that. Are your numbers far back?” Lu Ran asked.

“Not really, we also registered early,” Lu Bing replied.

“We asked Pig Raiser to help us with the registration because he knows someone on the inside.”

“Oh, I contacted Shenghua to pull some strings for the registration,” Pig Raiser said.

Lu Ran was speechless: “…”

It seemed like all their connections led back to Xiaobailong.

Shenghua must have used Xiaobailong’s connections since Xiaobailong works at Beast Taming University.

“Anyway, let’s all do our best!” Lu Bing said. “Beast Taming University hasn’t specified how many people will make it to the main tournament, so we need to give it our all in tomorrow’s assessment. Otherwise, it’ll be quite embarrassing if we don’t even pass the preliminaries.”

“It does feel risky,” Lu Yi couldn’t help but say. “With a hundred thousand examinees, the number of people who can enter the main tournament surely won’t be high. After all, the rewards only go to the top 100. Maybe only a few hundred will make it to the main tournament.”

“That would be too harsh,” Lu Dingding remarked.

“So tomorrow, will it be a massive showdown where the examiners thoroughly thrash the examinees???”

“How many people will be eliminated… Out of a few hundred, maybe only one can pass the preliminary assessment…”

“The nation’s resources are limited. There can’t be that many Fourth Generation beastmasters to heavily invest in. A hundred seems about right.”

“But there should be other rewards for those who rank lower, like academic credits after admission, or some crystal coins or even cash. It can’t be that there are no rewards at all,” Lu Bing speculated.

Pig Raiser and the others were evidently worried about the Freshman Tournament, especially since their pet beasts were only level 10 and hadn’t entered a breakthrough secret realm yet. They couldn’t be as calm as Lu Ran and Fang Lan.

“By the way, I heard an inside scoop,” Pig Raiser said. “If this information is true, then the number of people passing the preliminaries might not be small.” Sᴇaʀᴄh the ɴøvᴇl_Firᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Apparently, the Freshman Tournament’s main event will be divided into two stages. In this preliminary assessment, the beastmasters who perform the best will be seeded players, skipping the first stage of the tournament and going directly to the second stage.”

“Where did you hear that?” Fang Lan asked, surprised. “How well do you have to perform?”

“Hopefully it’s true,” Lu Ran looked at Pig Raiser with a questioning gaze.

If he could skip some of the battles, Lu Ran would be all for it. With that time, he could do so many other things.

Even exploring a secret realm a few more times seemed more valuable than standing on stage battling.

“I saw it on a forum, but the post disappeared shortly after.”

“Anyway, we just need to show our full potential…” Fang Lan said.

She pondered for a moment… The examiners should be resistant to poison, right?

Soon, their conversation shifted from the Freshman Tournament to the breakthrough secret realm.

When they learned how brutal Fang Lan’s breakthrough task was, everyone’s hearts tightened.

However, when they heard that Lu Ran’s breakthrough task involved a chef’s assessment, they were even more bewildered. It seemed that no matter whose breakthrough task it was, passing wasn’t easy.

“Mine isn’t difficult. If you encounter this breakthrough task, as long as you have the ability to hunt commander species creatures, grasp some basic fire skills, and know how to control the heat when cooking, you can basically pass by relying on the quality of the ingredients,” Lu Ran laughed.

That’s how a certain Sister White Tiger passed.

Everyone was speechless: …

Damn, this isn’t difficult? Although they could defeat commander species creatures by teaming up, doing it solo… definitely a death sentence!

“The food’s here, let’s eat!” At this moment, the waiter began serving the dishes. Seeing this, Fang Lan quickly changed the topic. She wanted to go back soon to practice Fusion Skill and with the early start tomorrow, there wasn’t much time for entertainment tonight.

…

At night, after returning to the dojo and parting ways with Fang Lan, Lu Ran recalled their dinner conversation.

Was there really a thing about seeded players?

He couldn’t resist calling Manager Ying.

“What do you want?”

“Manager Ying, I heard that in the preliminaries, some seeded players will be selected who can skip part of the battles and advance directly to higher ranks. Is that true?”

Manager Ying replied, “Oh, that. Let me think… how much should I charge you for this information…”

Lu Ran said, “Given your reaction, it must be true, right? You wouldn’t charge for false intelligence. Thanks, goodnight!”

With that, Lu Ran hung up the phone.

Manager Ying was stunned: ???

You scoundrel! You’re not willing to pay even a bit!!!

Lu Ran clearly didn’t want to waste too much time on battles with random opponents.

Although the battles themselves wouldn’t take much time, he’d still have to go to the arena in advance. With all the back-and-forth, wasting a few days was inevitable.

If he could be a seeded player and skip some battles, Lu Ran definitely wanted that.

“They don’t directly advance the divine beast leaderboard beastmasters but the students who perform well in the preliminaries.”

“What a hassle…”

“Wait a minute, could there be any corruption involved? Someone trying to push their own people up through this process…” Lu Ran shook his head. That shouldn’t be possible. How could he have such negative thoughts?

Even if some city officials wanted to, trying to deceive the Alliance for resources, the problem is that the examiners this time are all temporarily assigned from other places. Moreover, without real strength, wouldn’t they be exposed during the actual fight?

In the preliminaries… battling the examiners… performing well, Lu Ran pondered. What does “performing well” exactly mean? Should he let General Ha go? If it goes all out, it might be able to suppress the examiner for a moment, which should count as performing well.

However, it was already decided that Sudden Death King would be the one to go on stage. Tomorrow’s preliminary assessment is a 1v1 format, so only one of General Ha or Sudden Death King can participate.

If Sudden Death King goes, it’ll only take hits since it’s not very aggressive unless severely injured. But the examiner wouldn’t go all out on Sudden Death King. It should pass the assessment normally, but whether it could secure a spot as a seeded player, Lu Ran wasn’t sure.

“I’ve got it.”

Suddenly, Lu Ran had a flash of inspiration.

…

The next morning, before dawn, Lu Ran took General Ha and Sudden Death King into the training secret realm.

They were both quite puzzled. What was Lu Ran up to so early in the morning?

“Sudden Death King, today I’m going to teach you a new tactic!!!”

“You can use it during the assessment later.”

“I’m naming it: Thor! It’s a highly destructive move.”

Sudden Death King was bewildered: ?

It looked down at itself. Destructive power? What a joke.

It hadn’t even mastered discharging electricity yet. Where would Thor come from?

“Your Heart of the Overlord talent allows you to absorb damage, accumulate ‘Domineering Energy,’ and enhance your next attack.”

“Before the assessment tomorrow, we’ll sneak into the training secret realm in Infinite City through the restroom at the examination site. General Ha will beat you half to death so you can absorb enough damage. Then, we’ll use the Divine Deer Pendant to heal your injuries. This way, you can enter the assessment unscathed, with a lot of ‘Domineering Energy’ accumulated. When the time comes, unleash the damage you absorbed from General Ha onto the examiner’s pet beast. Do you get what I mean?”

“Woof woof woof woof!!” Upon hearing this, General Ha was shocked. I might not be a human, but you are really heartless, silently mourning for Sudden Death King.

Sudden Death King was also stunned, its face full of shock. Wow, how could there be such a devilish beastmaster?

Absolute Defense, Heart of the Overlord, and the Divine Deer Pendant—was this how they were supposed to be used??

Charging a big move in advance??

With this strategy, the examiner’s pet beast probably wouldn’t even know how it died.

“Come on, let’s test it out first to see the power…”

“We need to get proficient with this tactic. It will be very useful in the future. It feels like it’s no less powerful than a dozen Storm Slashes.”

This tactic could be used in future tournaments and secret realms where preparation in advance is possible.

Lu Ran held the Divine Deer Pendant, and General Ha picked up the Ice Sky Greatsword that Lu Ran had prepared. Both expressed their willingness to help Sudden Death King practice the new tactic.

Sudden Death King: “Roar!!!”

[This is it. I’m really going to die this time. Thank you all, Orz…]