Chapter 138 - Too Cruel

Wu Le was enraged. The third candidate to go up was only able to stay on the stage for about half a minute. "Uh..." Lu Ran and Fang Lan returned to the audience to find Pig Farmer and found the group looking dejected. They never expected that Lu Ran and Fang Lan would be so powerful after breaking through to level 1.

One of them had a monstrous snd familiar, while the other was even more vicious. Using the Fusion skill, Fang Lan almost killed the examiner along with the entire audience.

The worst part was that the examiner seemed to have been driven crazy by the duo, and his entire demeanor changed. Thentestants that were going up after them were bound to be in for it. The firstntestants stirred up the mess that screwed the next ones.[1]

"It's over. Examiner Wu won’t purposefully give us a hard time, right?" Pig Farmermplained.

"Don't be nervous," Lu Ran said, watching as the fourth candidate was eliminated in just a few snds.

"Examiner Wu is still very impartial. Although he’s more aggressive than in the first two rounds, he still leaves room for candidates to showcase their abilities. It just so happens these last two were too weak.

"Moreover, there are multiple parts to determining the preliminary results, includingmbat and a written exam.

"Beastmaster University will also review the battle footage. Examiner Wu will be reprimanded if he breaks the rules. You don’t have to worry about that while you’re on stage."

Unfortunately, Lu Ran’s words didn’t make them feel any better.

Examiner Wu looks so fierce...

***

As they were chatting, Lu Ran wasn’t aware that the beastmaster forum was already in an uproar. Across the empire, multiple exam locations were hosting evaluations by third-generation beastmasters to assess the strength of the fourth generation.

Although rrding and photography weren’t allowed in the arena, videos and pictures still managed to make it online. As soon as the exams began, many candidates voiced theirmplaints in a new section of the forum, claiming the third-generation beastmasters were too strong and expressing frustration over the process.

Amidst themplaints, a few posts stood out:

[I'm in Golden Hill, and omg. The first candidate annihilated the examiner's familiar in snds, and the snd candidate made the examiner run for his life!]

[Does anyone know who has a red-eyed crdile skink with the Red Lightning trait?]

[Breaking news! The Five Poisons Saintess learned the Fusion skill and transformed into the Spider Queen. Her poison techniques were even more brutal. Poison gasvered the entire arena, and even rock created by a high-ranked familiar using energy formation and acceleration can’t block it! Whoever runs into her during thempetition should just surrender!]

As soon as users from Golden Hill began posting, the forum went wild. Netizens were incredulous. Examiner Wu Le quickly became internet-famous, with a strong possibility of being dubbed “the unlucky examiner” going forward.

[Starting Panda (Lotus City): Is it possible that examiner Wu Le is too weak? Damn, why isn’t he my examiner? I really want to meet him.]

[Fire Lion King (Golden Hill): Weak my ass! The candidates that went after those two are all crying. How can a third-generation beastmaster with a King-species familiar bensidered weak? It’s those two that are abnormal!]

After Lu Teng posted from Green Sea City, he began looking around for Lu Ran and Fang Lan.

[Kung Fu Kangaroo (Stone City): Shit, are these rumors about Wu Le true? He’s a member of Stone Age, one of the four major guilds in Limitless City #1. He specializes in the Rock attribute and is very famous. Howuld he be defeated by the fourth generation? Did he get drugged?]

A beastmaster from Stone Age refuted the rumors, claiming he didn’t know any Wu Le. No oneuld tell who was telling the truth, and the news spread to othermmunities.

[Hot: An examiner got beaten by dozens of candidates in a row during the assessment!]

[An examiner was beaten to death by a freshman during the assessment!]

***

Everyone in Lu Ran's group was scheduled to be assessed that morning, and it quickly became Pig Farmer’s turn. Just as Lu Ran predicted, although Wu Le seemed to be going crazy, he wasn’tmpletely unreasonable. Losing was a separate issue, but as long as thentestants met a certain standard, theyuld still pass.

Whether theyuld pass the test with the other three examiners was an entirely different question.

People soon started speculating about the passing standards and came up with the following:

The beastmaster must show mastery of their beastmaster skills.

The familiar must have fused with a trait or awakened a snd attribute.

The familiar must be proficient in the four types of energy applications andmbine at least two of them.

The familiar must be at least a Superior-Transcendent species.

The beastmaster must have reached level 1, and their familiar, level 10.

Candidates werensidered pretty good as long as they met two of the five criteria. As long as they demonstrated some degree of skill in actualmbat, they would be allowed to pass.

Many from Lu Ran’s group met these requirements after frequently clearing Hell-difficulty secret realms. They shouldn’t have any problems passing this exam. Most of the other candidates didn’t even meet one of the requirements, so they were naturally taught their place. For them, this became an opportunity to broaden their horizons.

"Although it was painful, I finally managed to pass," Pig Farmer said with tears streaming down his face.

Mom! Dad! I will definitely succeed!

"I was so scared! That yak was so strong."

Lu Bing was still traumatized. The yak, a King species, had crusheduntless candidates throughout the morning. She prayed that Wu Le wouldn’t be hermbat instructor. She really didn’t want to face him again.

"I'm so hungry. Do you want to go eat?" Lu Xiaowu looked a little pale after finallympleting his exam, and his stomach was rumbling.

"You guys go ahead." Lu Ran wanted to join them, but he had just received a message.

[Manager Ying: Meet me at the Golden Hill Beastmaster Tower when you’re free.]

Manager Ying definitely wasn’t looking for him tongratulate him on passing the first round of exams. Could it be that they caught someone trying to assassinate him? Or maybe one of its clones had divered an ancient creature in hibernation and wanted to take him to see it?

"I just had somethingme up," Lu Ran excused himself.

"No problem, we’ll catch you later," the group replied.

"Yeah, go take care of what you need to. Are you going back to Green Sea when you’re done? Or do you plan on going directly to Sky City?" Fang Lan asked.

Sky City was a massive city built in the skies over the Xia Empire, created by several first-generation beastmasters with special abilities. It was destined to bme fertile ground for raising beastmasters. Several major campus buildings of Beastmaster University were located there, and the freshmanmpetition would also be held there once the preliminaries were over.

Lu Ran and Fang Lan both believed they would be seeded players, giving them enough time to rver before joining the mainmpetition.

"Yes, I’ll be going back to Green Sea City." Lu Ran waved, eager to meet Manager Ying.

***

In the park outside the Beastmaster Tower, Lu Ran watched Manager Ying appear out of thin air.

"Hey, Manager Ying, what's up?"

"Nothing much. I just gathered some ingredients and wanted to ask you took for me as you promised," Manager Ying said.

Huh? That’s it? What the hell, I gave up on a dinner party to rush here, just took for you?

Lu Ran's mouth twitched.

"Alright, fine. By the way, I also have some dragonfish. Do you want me to grill a few for you too?"

"Advanced-grade dragonfish? I wouldn’t even feed it to a dog," Manager Ying snorted. "You better focus 110%. I spent a lot of effort and money to get these Treasure-grade ingredients. If you mess it up and make something awful, it’ll be a waste."

It stretched out its furry little paws, revealing pink pads, and flicked out a sharp claw with a hiss.

"Treasure ingredients?" Lu Ran ignored the threat,mpletely shocked.

"It's the meat dropped from a Low-Overlord dragon subspecies, the Dragon King Bird," Manager Ying explained. "To beat this boss, the Secret Realm Raid Team teamed up with several first-generations and more than a dozen King-species familiars to barely win. Now do you understand how precious this piece of meat is?

"Cook it carefully. The meat is sold in slices, and I brought ten. When it’s ready, I’ll leave you half a slice to feed your dragon lizard. You’ll really lose out if you fail. Capiche?"

"Really? You’re so generous, boss!" Lu Ran replied excitedly.

"Is just roasting it okay? I’ll definitely try my best. Wait, are you in a hurry? Would you mind waiting a few days? I haven’t roasted Treasure-grade ingredients before, so I’m worried about messing up. Give me a few days to practice my Dragon Culinary Intent, and I’llok for you when I’m morenfident."

"Okay." Although Manager Ying wanted to eat it right away, it knew giving Lu Ran time to practice was the safest option.

The clone didn’t want him to screw up—after all, this was its first chance to taste a Treasure-class ingredient.

Lu Ran returned to Green Sea City. Initially, he planned to use his downtime to challenge a level 1 secret realm, but now his priorities had shifted. He needed to practiceoking with Dragon Culinary Intent daily to create a spectacular Treasure dish.

Especially since Manager Ying promised him half a slice. With this level of quality, even half a piece was worth more than Rare food. Lu Ran had to admit that Sudden Death King was really lucky.

Its strength would significantly increase after eating it, and its progression toward the Dragon attribute would undoubtedly bme smoother.

Powerful creatures over level 40 that roam the wilderness have allnsumedmpatible Treasure resources, allowing them to mutate in a short time and rival the military capabilities of variousuntries. The benefits ofmpatible Treasure food were unimaginable.

Lu Ran quickly hashed out his training plan:

- Captain Doofus would focus on improving its energympression and projection using the Divine Deer Pendant. With a new stack of Sky Tree Fruits, it would level up steadily, reaching level 20, where its strength would undergo a qualitative change.

- Sudden Death King would eat food grilled with Flame Dragon Culinary Intent daily while practicing dragon intent formation. Basic skills like energy acceleration andmpression would be set aside to prioritize dragon intent formation, maximizing the food’s benefits.

There was little hope for Captain Doofus to master dragon intent formation. Despite practicing for a long time, it still hadn’t reached entry level. Reality proved that even with highmprehension,mpatibility was key.

Lu Ranuld only hope to teach dragon intent formation to Sudden Death King, a dragon subspecies.

This was tied to their evolutionary paths. Captain Doofus was clearly morempatible withmprehending intents related to nature, such as blizzard intent. Sudden Death King, on the other hand, had a more biologically driven evolutionary path. With its trace of dragon blood, it was destined tomprehend the powers of powerful purebred Dragon-attribute creatures.

On top of this, Lu Ran prepared another special trainingurse for Sudden Death King. It had fused with the Red Lightning trait for a while now, but it hadn’t unlocked its full potential. It was time to fix that.

"Hey, Uncle Zhao!"

"Lu Ran! Awesome! I heard about the exam," Zhao Chen exclaimed. He never expected a third-generation beastmaster to be unlucky enough to get insta-killed by a fourth-generation.

With Lu Ran and Fang Lan, Green Sea City would definitely rise to the level of provincial capitals.

"Haha," Lu Ran laughed.

"Do you remember the power plant we talked about last time? I may need it in the near future."

"The power plant is no problem," Zhao Chen replied.

To strengthen Sudden Death King’s body, Lu Ran requested a power plant and asked Zhao Chen to help retrofit it. This next phase of body strengthening would be unbelievably effective—far better than raiding a Lightning secret realm and letting it get zapped by other Lightning-attribute creatures.

1. This is a play on a Chinese proverb- The previous generation plants the tree so that the next generation can enjoy the shade. Originally it’s about how each generation benefits from the efforts of the one before. ☜