King of Beasts

Chapter 18: The Sword-Bearing Dog

“I’ve had a dream since childhood—to become a swordsman who wanders the world, upholding justice and honor.”

“But as I grew up, I realized that dreams are just dreams.”

Watching General Ha with a sword in his mouth, Lu Ran couldn’t help feeling a bit sentimental, as if an old father was entrusting his dream to someone else.

“Whether I can succeed or not, this dream is now yours to carry, General Ha!”

“You must become a swordsman with a heart full of justice in my stead!”

“The rules and constraints of human society are many, but the world of dogs is a place of freedom.”

“Come, take this sword and let your brilliance and talent shine!”

“Woof!” General Ha, sword in mouth, didn’t seem to understand Lu Ran’s inspiring spiel.

Whatever Boss Lu says goes, I guess… It turned its head, swinging the wooden sword back and forth, already quite adept.

This pup is indeed teachable.

However, whether this direction of training would ultimately be viable, Lu Ran didn’t know for sure.

The mythical image of a beast that defies common perception is, after all, a fabrication of man.

Lu Ran wondered, if a trait could grant a pet beast incredible special abilities, might there be a trait that would better enable General Ha to wield a weapon?

This was crucial for whether General Ha could continue down the sword-bearing dog path.

Currently, due to super beast mimicry and the meteorite mine, the sword-bearing dog path could maximize its advantages, which is why Lu Ran considered this training method. But the road ahead would still depend on circumstances… Beast Taming, after all, is like that, groping in the dark, creating miracles.

“I remember reading in the handbook that beast taming skills are not set in stone; a beastmaster can develop them further with their own talent.”

“Do I have the ability to further develop super beast mimicry?”

Lu Ran had previously thought that super beast mimicry involved a beastmaster imitating a pet beast, thereby gaining the beast’s power. So, could it be possible to use super beast mimicry in reverse, allowing the pet beast to imitate the beastmaster, thereby acquiring some human traits? For example, the skill to use tools.

The greatest difference between humans and animals lies in the use of tools and the creation of tools. A sword, theoretically, is meant for human use.

However, if General Ha could also receive feedback from Lu Ran, it might just improve its swordsmanship.

Beastmasters imitate pet beasts, and pet beasts imitate beastmasters—essentially, there’s no difference.

If this could be achieved, it would be killing two birds with one stone!

“Forging a new path in a given field is undoubtedly difficult, but simply reversing the process seems to clear the path significantly. This could be a promising direction for development,” Lu Ran mused, feeling that developing Super Beast Mimicry in this way might be worth a try.

As Fang Lan had put it, Lu Ran was never one to follow the crowd or take the usual path. More challenging endeavors only served to fuel his motivation.

Planning to start researching other uses for Beast Taming skills during his apprentice newcomer phase was exceedingly rare!

As for the development process, Lu Ran needed to delve deeper into understanding the Super Beast Mimicry skill. After learning it, the basics already surfaced in his mind, as if a skill card had instilled certain knowledge.

“Follow my movements,” Lu Ran instructed.

“Woof!”

Inside the room, General Ha followed Lu Ran, mirroring his sword strikes. Both strived to synchronize their movements as closely as possible.

…

In the living room, Lu Ran had only conducted a preliminary experiment with General Ha, spending roughly 30 minutes.

During these 30 minutes, Lu Ran unexpectedly discovered that imitating General Ha’s sword practice was entirely feasible.

Even if swordsmanship was not General Ha’s most proficient “talent.”

However, after practicing swordsmanship with General Ha using Super Beast Mimicry, Lu Ran could indeed feel a subtle improvement in his physical condition—it was slight but definitely there, not just a placebo effect.

Perhaps with more time, his strength would grow even stronger, to the point of being able to grapple with lions and tigers barehanded.

“Huff…” Moments later, Lu Ran set down the Iron-Slashing Sword and exhaled a warm breath, feeling a bit tired.

He glanced at General Ha, still lively and vigorously executing sword cuts, and scratched his head.

Alright, General Ha is truly remarkable with boundless energy.

While other beastmasters worry about their pet beasts growing resistant due to fatigue, General Ha might just complain that Lu Ran doesn’t have enough stamina.

“Ow?” Sure enough, when Lu Ran paused, General Ha sent a puzzled look his way.

Why stop practicing?

“Because I feel your strength waning. Haven’t had a meal? I’ll go prepare some food,” Lu Ran said.

“Woof!” General Ha was taken aback, almost forgetting his own hunger.

As Lu Ran pondered and turned to prepare food, including his own meal, he already had ideas about the reverse application of Super Beast Mimicry.

Although unsure of success, if other beastmasters knew, they would surely be astonished.

After all, developing beast taming skills is a challenging task even for advanced beastmasters.

While preparing the food, Lu Ran continued to refine his thoughts. The essence of Super Beast Mimicry is quite simple.

Once Super Beast Mimicry is learned, a unique visualization space emerges in the beastmaster’s brain.

Super Beast Mimicry involves visualizing the pet beast’s behavioral characteristics, and the body naturally starts to mimic them. As long as the actions between the two are similar, the beastmaster gradually receives feedback.

And the bridge connecting the beastmaster and the pet beast is the mental strength formed through the contract.

“The mental bridge allows me to receive feedback from General Ha. If I also want to give feedback to General Ha, I need to find another bridge. Using the same mental connection would create a blockage, which is why Super Beast Mimicry normally can’t function in both directions at the same time.”

“Compared to other novice beastmasters, I have a huge advantage—that’s the two years of telepathy training I’ve undergone!”

“When General Ha falls into a rage, I can use telepathy to awaken it from the confusion, proving that the mind can also serve as a bridge between me and General Ha.”

“Perhaps, I can use this mental link to simulate the bridge established by Super Beast Mimicry, to transfer my own realizations to General Ha, thereby doubling its sword practice gains!”

Mind and mental bridge, in action together!

Lu Ran felt it was worth a try.

While thinking, he quickly prepared the food.

However, when he returned to the living room with the dog food, his expression froze in surprise.

“Damn.” Because in the living room, he suddenly saw General Ha, holding a sword in his mouth that was shimmering with a dazzling white light.

At that moment, General Ha seemed to have wrapped the attribute-less energy around the wooden sword.

The wooden sword looked as if it had transformed into a divine weapon.

“How did you do that!” Lu Ran asked, slightly agape.

According to the handbook, it was impressive enough for a pet beast at the lower stage to cover its body with energy.

But to rely on the body to wrap energy around an external object in contact with it was an advanced application of energy overlay.

This required a lengthy period of training to possibly achieve.

“Woof!!” General Ha looked disheveled at Lu Ran; it… wanted to release sword qi.

But it couldn’t.

“Hold on, don’t mess around! We’re still at home!”

“If you actually release it, what’s going to happen to my house!” Lu Ran hurriedly called for a stop.

Although the chances were slim for a level 4 Erha to master advanced energy skills like energy external wrapping and energy release after just half an hour of practice, seeing that General Ha had already grasped one of them, Lu Ran didn’t want to take any chances.

In any case, Lu Ran was currently stunned.

Suddenly, he remembered something and quickly took out the handbook.

He flipped to the section introducing species levels.

The species level of a pet beast determines vital physical qualities such as vitality, energy reserves, and physical strength. The higher the species level, the stronger the basic attributes of the pet beast, making it easy to outclass pet beasts of lower species in combat!

But there’s one attribute not included in the species level—’learning ability.’ The ‘comprehension’ of a pet beast cannot be directly observed; it must be discovered by the beastmaster during the teaching process.

The higher the species level, the stronger the base attributes of the pet beast—a natural advantage; the stronger the learning ability, the faster a pet beast can learn various skills—an acquired advantage.

Therefore, species level does not determine everything; a beastmaster must be adept at discovering the talents of their pet beast.

Lu Ran put down the handbook, looking at General Ha in utter astonishment.

So, it seemed that General Ha, which didn’t appear particularly bright yet exhibited formidable combat prowess, didn’t have much of an advantage in terms of species level. Instead, it possessed an extraordinarily high talent for learning skills?

That was quite an abstract concept.

“Woof!” General Ha, although not knowing what Lu Ran was thinking, felt that Lu Ran was looking down on him. It took note of this slight once again!

Upon reflection, Lu Ran remembered teaching General Ha various skills, and it indeed learned them remarkably fast. Initially, he had attributed this to telepathy, thinking that it was because of this connection that General Ha understood things quicker. Now, it seemed that General Ha also had great learning ability on its own…

No matter how one looked at it, the stronger General Ha became, the better.

He always knew General Ha was not simple!

“Eat up, we’re going out after,” Lu Ran said cheerfully as he set down the dog food. Next, he wanted to awaken General Ha’s wind-type attribute.

However, awakening the wind-type attribute couldn’t be done at home. What if something went wrong? A wind-type General Ha might just tear the ceiling apart.

Therefore, Lu Ran decided to take General Ha to his secret base to awaken the attribute.

That place was behind Maple Park, where hardly anyone went all year round. It was quiet, the perfect place to train General Ha while waiting for Fang Lan.

…

Green Sea City.

Wildlife Park.

A youth dressed in a tactical uniform, accompanied by a massive Rottweiler, bypassed several blockades to reach a particular area.

During this time, the officers blocking the area cast surprised glances at the police dog, which was so large it was almost comical.

“Captain Luo, you’re here,” said a woman in black, in charge of the cordoned-off area inside the wildlife park’s beast area.

“Liu, give me a rundown of the situation again.”

The man referred to as Captain Luo, upon seeing the gnawed remains and bloodstains on the ground, felt his heart sink. His police dog bared its teeth aggressively but seemed somewhat intimidated after picking up certain scents.

“It wasn’t just a simple case of a fierce beast injuring someone. The beast’s keeper had obtained a black card and thought he could form a contract with the fierce beast. Instead, he suffered a backlash. The man is now dead, but the beast has undergone an initial mutation and evolution and has escaped from the zoo. Its whereabouts are currently unknown.”

“It’s a Manchurian Tiger, and the most likely escape route would be the back hills of Maple Park. Although it’s usually not crowded there, it is still connected to Maple Park and the Starlight Villa Area. We must deal with it swiftly; otherwise, any pedestrian encountering it could be in lethal danger,” the woman in black said with gravity.

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