King of Beasts

“It seems this isn’t a secret realm where you’re guaranteed to get materials,” Lu Ran sighed upon seeing that the Blade Mantis hadn’t dropped either the Blade of the Mantis or the Wing of the Mantis. Naturally, without these, the advanced resource known as Blade Grass was nowhere to be found.

True, if it were rich itself, owning Blade Grass, it wouldn’t need to resort to eating male mantises.

“This story teaches us to choose a partner who is both wealthy and strong,” Lu Ran lectured General Ha. Otherwise, one might not even realize when they’re being completely devoured.

“Whoo?” General Ha showed a puzzled look. To choose or not to choose, didn’t you just say it would affect my sword-drawing speed?

“Things should be viewed from both sides; a rich partner would only enhance your sword,” Lu Ran coughed dryly and said, “Let’s go, next we’ll look for those Blade Mantises that have their own territories and guard the Blade Grass.”

“Don’t be careless, even though it’s only level 9, this one is probably among the weakest and doesn’t even have any skills.”

“Bark!” Following this, Lu Ran put on his divine deer pendant and continued deeper into the jungle with General Ha, walking on the left while General Ha took the right. They progressed in sync.

The Mantis Jungle secret realm, being populated with creatures that are ‘solitary’, only requires engaging them one-on-one, which is in a sense simpler than dealing with group-dwelling species. However, this realm has a hidden mechanic: the strongest boss, whose movements are unpredictable and doesn’t have a fixed location, only appears after a certain number of ordinary Blade Mantises have been killed.

Thus, challengers still face an ordeal of attrition, being worn down by successive battles.

For beast taming teams hoping to quickly become wealthy through the materials obtained from clearing the realm, this segment is undoubtedly a troublesome challenge.

Lu Ran was indifferent; his goal was to harvest as many resources as possible. His wallet wasn’t yet at the stage where he could afford to overlook ordinary materials.

However, during this process, Lu Ran needed to find a way to keep General Ha in good condition throughout. Otherwise, when they faced the boss without enough stamina to use skills, it would be quite troublesome.

“Those foolish kids on Pluto who never lack crystal coins have it so good… I wonder if I could also convert my cash into crystal coins? Keeping so much cash seems pointless…” Lu Ran pondered about the inheritance left by his parents.

He figured that having savings of five million would allow him to live quite comfortably. Anything more would just be spent on luxury goods, which he didn’t need. If he were to die in a secret realm, the banks would just profit off him. As Lu Ran was lost in thought, General Ha suddenly crinkled its nose and its eyes lit up. “Awooo!” It quickly called Lu Ran over.

There was a scent, something strange, something valuable! “Let’s go!” At Lu Ran’s command, General Ha immediately ran ahead to lead the way. Soon, they found a plant of Blade Grass nearby.

It was green, resembling the shape of a blade.

Name: Blade Grass

Level: Advanced

Introduction: Immature Blade Grass, when consumed, enhances the cutting properties of energy. The effect doubles when mature.

Discovering the Blade Grass brought joy to both Lu Ran and General Ha, but things were never that simple. Soon, with a rustling sound, a Blade Mantis appeared from the leaves on a nearby tree.

“Shaa!!!” It looked unfriendly.

This male Blade Mantis was level 10, with large, incredibly sharp scythes—bigger than those of any previous ones they had encountered. Its body bore battle scars, a testament to its extensive combat experience, making it look particularly formidable.

After its appearance, it did not immediately attack but waved its scythes, warning Lu Ran and the others to leave. It, too, wanted to wait for the Blade Grass to mature and did not wish for any complications at this critical moment.

“General Ha, prepare to fight.” Naturally, Lu Ran couldn’t just walk away. Wild resources belong to the capable!

“Woof!” General Ha stepped forward, closing in on the opponent, determined to claim the Blade Grass.

Seeing this, the Blade Mantis on the tree swiftly swung its scythe, sending a blade of wind towards General Ha, who was approaching.

Simultaneously, General Ha, with a sword in its mouth, retaliated with a burst of sword qi. A white sword arc flew towards the white wind blade, the skills disturbing the air around them, squeezing out a howling sound from the wind. In an instant.

The sword qi exploded the wind blade and swept up a gust of wind that scattered the leaves all around.

Although General Ha was one level lower, its sword qi, enhanced by its weapon, easily suppressed its opponent.

The Blade Mantis on the tree staggered.

It intended to fly higher, readjust its stance, and launch a counterattack.

But at that moment, General Ha unleashed the sword momentum of a fierce beast, a powerful presence that intimidated and halted the Blade Mantis in its tracks, its eyes filled with shock. By the time it reacted, another wave of sword qi flew towards it, and even with its utmost reaction, it still had an arm severed by the sword qi, causing green blood to splatter!

“Sha!” It showed an expression of pain.

“Good thing I have sword momentum as a control skill, otherwise soloing would be much more difficult,” Lu Ran muttered to himself, seeing this. By now, the Blade Mantis was severely injured, and the balance of victory naturally tipped completely in their favor.

“Awoo~~~” With a gleam in its eyes, General Ha took advantage of the opponent’s painful cries, leaping up with the enhancement of gale, its figure flashing past like a phantom, cutting the opponent in two. As the body of the Blade Mantis fell, Lu Ran and his team had thoroughly dealt with this foe.

“Well done,” Lu Ran praised General Ha for its fluid and efficient dispatch of the enemy.

“Woof~” General Ha showed a calm expression, but its eyes kept glancing at the fallen Blade Mantis.

The next moment, with a flash of white light, the Blade Mantis transformed into a blade. General Ha chuckled naively.

“Bark!” A loot drop at last! This time, the Blade Mantis finally dropped materials, a Blade of the Mantis, which could be used as a material for forging wind-type weapons. General Ha was satisfied.

“Nice!” Lu Ran’s eyes also brightened, what a profit!

“I’ll go pick up the materials; you go eat that,” Lu Ran pointed towards the Blade Grass.

“Too bad it’s immature, but even if it were mature, we wouldn’t be able to get it.”

In fact, Lu Ran now had two options: one was to harvest the immature Blade Grass and, once outside, find a specialty plant store that could ripen these immature resources.

Typically, this is a secondary occupation for beastmasters who have cultivated grass-type pet beasts.

However, Lu Ran still decided to let General Ha try eating a Blade Grass first. He wanted to observe the effects of the Blade Grass, as it would undoubtedly be needed in the future, and trying one wouldn’t hurt. Of course, the main reason was that Lu Ran saw General Ha’s eager look and couldn’t bear to make it wait too long.

“Woof!” Upon hearing this, General Ha, drooling, rushed to eat the Blade Grass. Then, it shook its head and wagged its tail. Other than enjoying the taste, it didn’t feel much of a change…

If there had to be a comment, it would be that the grass was incredibly sharp… It felt like it had cut the inside of its mouth. General Ha grimaced in pain.

“This shows that one Blade Grass is too few, similar to the Seed of Cold Wind,” said Lu Ran as he used a pendant to heal General Ha’s wound. “A quantitative change leads to a qualitative change. We need to gather more. Right now, your sword qi can’t even smoothly cut through a stone; the cutting quality is not perfect, and there’s significant room for improvement.”

General Ha’s sword qi was actually quite powerful, but in terms of details, it indeed needed refinement. For example, when attacking a stone, although the stone would split in two, both surfaces would have many cracks, and the cut surfaces would not be particularly smooth, being uneven.

This was a manifestation of unstable energy and energy leaking.

If General Ha could manage to cut through stone and steel smoothly, without any unevenness or cracks, making them as reflective as a mirror, that would indicate that its mastery over sword qi had reached perfection.

In essence, enhancing the cutting power would naturally enhance the attack power of the sword qi. Then, not only could it perfectly cut through tangible materials like stone and steel, but it could also perfectly slice through an opponent’s energy attacks.

Like the recent clash between General Ha and the Blade Mantis, where General Ha’s sword qi was indeed more powerful and overwhelmed the opponent, the result of the clash was the opponent’s wind blade being dispersed and General Ha’s sword qi also deforming, turning into a violent gust.

If General Ha’s wind-type energy had stronger cutting properties, the outcome would have been different. The sword qi would have instantly split the wind blade in two, continuing onwards to split the enemy in half as well.

“Woof!” General Ha nodded, its eyes gleaming with wisdom, indicating that it understood everything!

“Hopefully…” Lu Ran muttered. Then, Lu Ran and General Ha continued their fervent monster hunting. They battled several Blade Mantises guarding the Blade Grass, each one proving to be a tough opponent with unique skills.

Some could unleash wind blades, others could summon gales… and some even mastered energy shaping, transforming their scythe-like arms into large swords, increasing their attack range.

This spectacle left General Ha stunned, feeling that it too could reshape its Wind Meteor Sword into a giant sword, or even a massive blade measuring 50 meters.

However flashy their moves were, they were undoubtedly defeated by General Ha, and with each victory, General Ha gained at least one immature Blade Grass.

The materials dropped by the mantises were naturally collected by Lu Ran, useful ones were kept for General Ha, and others were sold for recovery funds.

Throughout this process, Lu Ran didn’t forget to keep feeding General Ha to maintain its stamina. As for injuries? The mantises hadn’t managed to hurt General Ha significantly. It was the Blade Grass that kept wounding it, which might be considered a disgrace for the Blade Mantises.

After defeating about ten Blade Mantises, Lu Ran and General Ha sensed a different aura approaching them.

Seeing this, a slight smile crossed Lu Ran’s lips, and General Ha’s gaze grew sharp. The boss had finally arrived!

“General Ha, prepare to power up. We won’t be testing this leader slowly; let’s give it our all right from the start. It’s best if we win, but if we can’t, we’ll retreat and start again,” Lu Ran said, opting for a direct confrontation rather than a prolonged battle, which could hurt General Ha and affect their score. “Roar!”

As the formidable presence approached, the air around them began to churn violently. General Ha, with its sword in mouth, started to power up, with nearly all its energy flowing into the Wind Meteor Sword, compressing intensely.

Finally, a figure utterly different from the previous Blade Mantises appeared. It was covered in golden-green and emitted a sharper aura, with surrounding winds that seemed capable of slicing through steel.

Name: Blade Mantis

Attributes: Wind-type, Metal

Species Level: Upper Supernatural

Level: 10

Clearly, this was a formidable wild creature that had awakened a secondary attribute. Lu Ran knew without thinking that under normal circumstances, General Ha would not fare well in battle against it.

Currently, the only hope for General Ha to defeat the opponent rested on weapon enhancement and a reckless fighting style that could disregard self-harm.

Energy Compression!

Thus, the moment the Blade Mantis leader appeared, General Ha unleashed a massive burst of energy, compressing it into a “Storm Slash,” and combined with its sword momentum, swung towards the Blade Mantis leader!

In that instant, General Ha’s eyes were bloodshot, and the sword it held in its mouth shattered its teeth completely. If it were any other pet beast, the treatment costs would be astronomical. If General Ha were wild, it would be even worse, making eating difficult.

But General Ha was not afraid! Boss Lu was its strong support! Storm Slash!

“Shah!” The Blade Mantis leader was also stunned at this moment, sensing a powerful creature invading its backyard. It rushed over immediately to check, but did not expect the invader to be so fierce, attacking without any warning.

Feeling the powerful force of the Storm Slash, its expression changed, wanting to fly away to dodge, but the chaotic air currents around and the intimidation from the enemy made it hard to control its body. It could only widen its eyes, its body’s energy surging wildly, extending its scythe to strike at the Storm Slash.

The next moment, gold and blue lights intertwined, flickering.

Boom.

Smoke rose. Congratulations on completing the secret realm challenge. Rating: SS-level! Congratulations on winning 630 crystal coins. Congratulations on obtaining advanced resources, Heart of the Bug (Metal, Wind-type). Congratulations on obtaining advanced resources, Blade of the Mantis (Metal, Wind-type).

Congratulations on obtaining advanced resources, Wing of the Mantis (Metal, Wind-type)…

“Wow, that feels great.” At this moment, the system prompt sounded. Although Lu Ran saw General Ha with blood all over its mouth, which looked quite dreadful, this battle was a huge win. They had gained a heap of advanced resources for just a 700 crystal coin entry fee. These advanced resources were enough to elevate General Ha’s strength to a new level.

It seems that the Storm Slash was indeed powerful. Despite the Blade Mantis leader having dual attributes, it was helpless against the attack.

“Once we get back, you’re getting an extra meal!” Lu Ran said.

“Woof!” Despite the pain, General Ha already had images of soy-braised Heart of the Bug, chili stir-fried Heart of the Bug, and explosively roasted Heart of the Bug floating in its mind, making the Sudden Death King enviously drool.

Sudden Death King: I’m going to die of jealousy!!!