King of Beasts

Chapter 11: The Game of Gods

“Actually, for us ordinary people, joining an official organization is already the best way out.”

“Most beastmasters who have survived the past three years now work for official institutions. Their beast taming levels are very high, possessing intelligence, experience, and resources that are hard for us newcomers to access. By joining an official organization, you can enjoy a part of it with the collective’s support.”

“But there must be some obligations, right?” Lu Ran didn’t believe in free lunches.

“It’s not too bad. For instance, if a beastmaster causes trouble, it’s the responsibility of the official beastmasters to maintain the nation’s stability and security…”

“From what I remember, there are few mandatory missions, and you can totally choose an office job. Recruiting newcomers like I’m doing is a personal choice. Even so, the salary is quite good,” Xiaobailong said with a smile.

“How about it, interested?”

Forget it, Lu Ran politely declined: “I need to think it over.”

“Ah, no problem, you can take your time to understand.”

“Any other questions?” Xiaobailong didn’t nag about it, giving Lu Ran enough autonomy, which left a good impression on him.

Lu Ran was obviously a student.

He hadn’t been through the harsh realities of society.

Otherwise, he would understand how rare such an ‘iron rice bowl’

1

 job was.

“There are… but too many, I don’t even know where to start. Can you tell me what I should know right now?” Lu Ran asked.

“Sure,” Xiaobailong said: “As you’ve seen, after passing the novice trial, if you enter Infinite City, you will be teleported to a residential area. The house you’re teleported to will be your home here, accessible only by you. Outsiders cannot force their way in.”

“Beyond the residential area, Infinite City has many facilities and is quite extensive. You’re free to explore on your own. But as far as I know, there isn’t just one Infinite City; there are many. For instance, the Infinite City of Xia Country and those of foreign countries are separate. Even within our own national territory, there are as many as seven Infinite Cities, divided according to administrative regions.”

“If you want to visit other Infinite Cities, you’ll have to use the teleportation circle within the city. Activating it consumes crystal coins. The facilities in each Infinite City are largely identical, with only some differences in the secret realms. There’s no real need to force a visit to another city.”

“Inside Infinite City, you can meet other beastmasters and visit stores run by them. In those stores, you can sell or trade the resources you’ve gathered from the secret realms. You can also use crystal coins to buy essential resources for nurturing your pet beast. I recommend choosing stores with official backing for your transactions to avoid being cheated.”

“Furthermore, fighting is prohibited within Infinite City. Violators will be punished by patrol beasts. If you need to settle a dispute, you can go to the arena.”

“Let’s talk about the secret realms.”

“The novice secret realm you’ve just completed is one of the simplest. It’s practically devoid of pet beasts above level 5. Other secret realms are not so forgiving.”

“If a beastmaster wants to improve their strength, unless they are extremely wealthy or powerful in the real world and can buy resources from other beastmasters who have ventured into the secret realms, the fastest way to grow is through the trials of the secret realms themselves.”

“By the way, I should clarify something. I don’t mean that you can ‘level up by defeating monsters’ in all secret realms.”

“You must have noticed in the novice secret realm, by slaying monsters, you could increase your pet beast’s level and experience. However, that is a special reward mechanism of the novice trial secret realm. In future secret realms, such benefits are rare.”

“What?” Lu Ran was taken aback. No levelling up by defeating monsters? Wouldn’t levelling up become very difficult then?

“That’s how it is,” Xiaobailong said with a smile: “However, the secret realms we have access to, even though still projections, contain resources that can be taken out. Utilizing these resources is another way to enhance your pet beast’s strength, and it’s not necessarily slower than levelling up through combat.”

“So, beastmasters who enter the secret realms do so for various reasons. A minority aim to complete the realm, while many others are there solely to gather resources. Whether they complete the realm is irrelevant; their goal is to collect resources and then leave. Of course, the rarer the resources, the harder they are to obtain. They are either guarded by formidable beasts or dropped from monsters…”

“Here’s some good news. Unlike the novice trial secret realms, subsequent realms allow beastmasters of the same level range to team up. This is another advantage of joining an official organization; you can systematically team up with beastmasters skilled in different areas to better harvest and train in the secret realms.”

Team up…

Lu Ran mulled over the idea.

That was precisely why he was hesitant to join; he simply didn’t trust strangers and wanted to avoid teaming up with people he didn’t trust.

He believed there were many good people, but he had no illusions that everyone in the world was good.

He wasn’t ready to reveal the divine deer pendant.

Xiaobailong continued the promotion: “The Donghuang Alliance’s secret realm strategy team is currently the beast taming team with the most completed realms in the country, filled with many strong members.”

“However, these are ordinary secret realms we’re talking about. The most important realms are the breakthrough secret realms. When your pet beast reaches a level that is a multiple of 10, you’ll encounter the corresponding level breakthrough secret realm. Only by passing through the breakthrough realm can both the beastmaster and the pet beast continue to level up, break through their limits, and you’ll also obtain a new contract card, giving you the opportunity to contract a second pet beast… Currently, the breakthrough secret realm is the only way to increase the number of contracted pet beasts, and contract cards are one of the few resources that cannot be traded.”

“So, you understand now, the breakthrough secret realm is what truly matters.”

“Ah… Alongside the breakthrough secret realms are the public secret realms, but they don’t have much to do with you, no need to worry about them. The struggle for ownership of public secret realms is a matter for the large guilds.”

“Alright, do you have any other questions?”

“Yes,” Lu Ran asked while absorbing the information, “these secret realms… they’re all projections? What exactly are they projecting, and do other worlds truly exist? Is this all just a game, or…?”

Xiaobailong pondered the question for a moment and said, “Hmm, your question is a bit beyond the scope of what I know, but as far as I’m aware, current secret realms seem to be all projections.”

“As for whether those powerful beastmasters have come into contact with worlds that have real life, I don’t know.”

“However, I can tell you a pattern. Generally, ordinary secret realms do not allow contact with other civilized worlds. The novice secret realm and ordinary secret realms we enter are basically projections of wilderness areas from another world, with no human presence. Only in the breakthrough secret realm is it possible to encounter humans from other worlds, to come into contact with human projections! At present, the breakthrough secret realm is an important way for us to understand Infinite City and this Beast Taming system.”

He shrugged and said, “In short, we currently know very little about Infinite City and can only play by its rules. It’s still too difficult to fully understand it, so think of it as a game from the gods, or the resurgence of a lost, highly advanced supernatural civilization. Unless something unexpected happens, a brand new era of Beast Taming is definitely coming to Blue Star because of this game.”

“To a greater or lesser extent, the world as we know it is going to change because of it.”

“Young man, your urgent task now is to seize the dividends of the new era and quickly improve yourself. This is much better than simply going to school, working, and earning money. My mortgage of a million was solved mostly by just selling materials, can you imagine that…”

“Of course, that material was something I didn’t need. If it’s something useful for yourself, it’s better to keep it for your own use. By the way, what’s your secret realm rating?”

“Looking at you, it seems you’ve had a tough time, hasn’t it been easy?”

“Eh?” He looked at Lu Ran.

“It’s indeed not been easy,” Lu Ran said. “By the way, I also want to know how to find out what attribute my pet beast has.”

“Oh, you’re quite knowledgeable, asking very key questions,” Xiaobailong said with a smile. “In many places in Infinite City, there are ‘attribute stones’. Just let your pet beast attack the attribute stone, and then according to the characteristics shown by the attribute stone, you can know the attribute of your pet beast.”

“However, to awaken your pet beast’s attribute, external stimulation is needed, usually with ‘attribute awakening fruit’. This method is the most common, but attribute fruits are advanced resources, and it’s not easy for newcomers to obtain them.”

Footnote:

1. Iron rice bowl(铁饭碗):

   The term refers to a job with lifetime security, especially a position in a state-owned enterprise or government department. In Chinese culture, the rice bowl is a symbol of livelihood and sustenance, while “iron” suggests the stability and permanence of such employment.

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