Chapter 9 Infinite City_1
"I choose, Infinite City!"
...
Infinite City.
Sacred, majestic.
It seemed as if it were nestled in the cracks of the world, secluded from everything else.
In the deep blue silken sky, diamond stars shone brightly.
The rampant starlight scattered lavishly across the landscape.
In the vast area, those grey-white rooftops, under the fine starlight, quietly displayed their simplicity and mystery.
At that moment, in a room standing in the southern part of Infinite City, alongside a flickering white light, a figure slowly materialized.
This person was none other than Lu Ran, who had just recently completed the beginner's trial.
Lu Ran cautiously observed his surroundings, not expecting that his return would present two options.
Seeing the options, he naturally didn't hesitate to choose coming to Infinite City, a gathering place for Beast Trainers.
Through here, he should be able to unravel many mysteries.
However, at this moment, Lu Ran was most concerned about the rewards he had just received.
After all, they were the return for the hard work he and Mr. Husky had put in over the day.
An SSS~F nine-tier grading system had given him an S rating.
With this rating, Lu Ran was fairly satisfied.
Although it wasn't the highest, an S class was certainly not something the average person could achieve.
Only Lu Ran and Mr. Husky knew what they had been through in the Secret Realm that day.
To describe it as letting a weasel into a chicken coop wouldn't be an exaggeration...
Most people probably would earn just an E~F rating by avoiding danger and enduring a day.
In comparison, he was also lucky to have the pendant; without the Divine Deer Pendant, he and Mr. Husky wouldn't have gotten very far.
Regrettably, although he possessed a powerful healing item, Mr. Husky's Species Level was too low; after all, before evolving, it was just a Husky—its combat efficiency wasn't high.
If someone had contracted with a Siberian Tiger or a Polar Bear, ignoring the effects of injuries, the killing of monsters would likely be more brutal.
However, no worries, Mr. Husky should still be able to evolve indefinitely; as long as they worked hard together, they would certainly be able to break through the Species Limit and in the future, rivaling or even surpassing Giant dragons like those fantasy beasts was not impossible.
The magic of the Secret Realm made Lu Ran believe this.
In any case, thanks to the Divine Deer Amulet, they had reaped several nice rewards at the start.
Lu Ran took out his identity card, one of the rewards he had acquired in the Secret Realm; it looked and felt similar to the Contract Black Card, except it was white, and it seemed all those resources were stored within this card.
The identity card displayed:
[Name]: Lu Ran (renamable)
[Beast Trainer Serial Number]: 9528
Besides the two basic pieces of information, there were also four options below: [Communication] [Team Formation] [Inventory] [Teleportation].
Among them, the 10,000 crystal coins and three resources he gained from the Secret Realm were all in the Inventory.
Within these three resources, the Beast Training Technique was also in card form; for now, it could be called a Skill Card.
As for the crystal coins, they had no physical form—just a digital display, much like online banking; Lu Ran guessed these crystal coins were likely the "universal currency" of Infinite City, probably used through card transactions?
He looked around the room; aside from basic furniture, there were only a few sparse items, one of which—a podium—captured Lu Ran's interest the most.
Because on it, there seemed to be a place to "swipe a card."
Lu Ran approached it, and the next moment, an optical screen appeared before his eyes, with a myriad of images and text emerging before him.
"This is..."
[Name: Spider Cave]
[Secret Realm Level: Novice]
[Difficulty: Simple]
[Challenge Crystal Coins: 200]
[Name: Wild Boar Valley]
[Secret Realm Level: Novice]
[Difficulty: Ordinary]
[Challenge Crystal Coins: 500]
[Name: Giant Beast Forest]
[Secret Realm Level: Novice]
[Difficulty: Difficult]
[Challenge Crystal Coins: 700]
On the screen were some basic pieces of information about the Secret Realms and the crystal coin cost to challenge them; it looked like entering other Secret Realms required buying a ticket.
There were 10 Secret Realms on the first page, and Lu Ran saw that he could flip through to 5 pages, meaning, he currently had access to over 40 Novice-Level Secret Realms!
Lu Ran flipped to the back and found a few especially outrageous ones, like Lake of Death.
[Name: Lake of Death]
[Secret Realm Level: Novice]
[Difficulty: Abyss]
[Challenge Crystal Coins: 1000]
"It really is..." Lu Ran was at a temporary loss for words.
The difficulties of the Secret Realms seemed to be divided into Simple, Ordinary, Difficult, and Abyss.
The cost to challenge ranged roughly from 100 to 1000 crystal coins.
He could challenge many times with these 10,000 crystal coins, but after looking through the available options, Lu Ran temporarily had no interest...
Previously, even with the assistance of an epic-grade item in the simple-level Novice Trial Secret Realm of the Demon Cat Forest, they were exhausted to the brink and got injured multiple times.
Normal difficulty... let alone hard or abyss, it's best not to court death before having a clear understanding of what lies ahead.
Earlier, Lu Ran noticed that there was a communication and team-up feature on the identity card, presumably, those higher-difficulty secret realms were meant to be tackled by Beast Trainers teaming up, right?
However, aside from these secret realm instances, Lu Ran also discovered one that was absolutely safe, on a separate page...
[Name: Training Secret Realm]
[Secret Realm Level: Novice]
[Activation Crystal Coin: 1/day]
The price was extremely affordable, most likely just a simple training ground.
"I might as well analyze the materials I obtained first, I should be able to enhance the combat strength of me and Mr. Husky a bit."
Lu Ran walked away from the pillar and found that the optical screen vanished automatically. Afterwards, he looked into his backpack at the resource rewards.
In the secret realm, he gained temporary access to the Data Eye.
And having passed the secret realm, it seemed he could now use the Data Eye permanently, even outside.
However, it was the junior version, not as comprehensive as the one within the secret realm.
The secret realm's version could also reveal information about other creatures, while this junior Data Eye could only display information about himself, his Pet Beast, and low-rarity resource items, significantly reducing its strategic value.
[Name]: Meteorite Mine
[Level]: Advanced
[Introduction]: An iron ore formed under the influence of the Outerspace Meteorite's power, with good energy conduction and enhancing effects, useful in crafting weapons and equipment.
[Name]: Grass Attribute Awakening Fruit
[Level]: Advanced
[Introduction]: Can help Pet Beasts with grass attribute potential to awaken their Grass Attribute strength.
Meteorite Mine, Grass Attribute fruit!
No need to mention the Meteorite Mine, not being able to bring in weapons was a regret for Lu Ran; he guessed that ordinary weapons or even firearms from the outside couldn't be brought in.
Only items with supernatural powers like the Divine Deer Pendant could be brought in.
If this Meteorite Mine is also a special resource, then the weapons crafted from it should be able to be carried with him, right?
Lu Ran was satisfied with this reward; he just didn't know yet what to craft with this material or where to go to craft it.
The other, the Grass Attribute fruit, also thrilled Lu Ran.
In this period, the extraordinary creatures he encountered were mostly No Attribute and Unawakened, which was no doubt very strange.
According to his understanding, attributes such as Wind, Thunder, Water, and Fire, should exist.
Why does every creature lack them?
It seems that for Extraordinary Beings to awaken their attributes, it must not be easy, probably very difficult, requiring external guidance.
This external guidance, the Attribute Awakening Fruit was evidently one of them.
The only question now was whether Mr. Husky had the potential for the grass attribute.
Lu Ran felt that Mr. Husky probably didn't have it; though he liked to eat vegetables, it was hard to imagine that Husky had an affinity with the Grass Attribute.
But it was not a big problem; now that he had acquired the Attribute fruit, if it couldn't be used, he could simply sell it or exchange it with others to get the attribute he needed.
The prerequisite, though, was to know what attribute Mr. Husky had.
How to determine the attribute of a Pet Beast was also something Lu Ran needed to figure out this time.
Of course, these two were not the most delightful gains for Lu Ran; he was most overjoyed to have obtained a Beast Training Technique as a reward.
In Lu Ran's view, the value a Beast Trainer brings to a Pet Beast must lie in this very Beast Training Technique.
Lu Ran felt that the strength of a Beast Trainer largely depended on the Beast Training Techniques.
This thing could likely enhance the battle power of the Pet Beast or the Beast Trainer himself!
Um...
[Name]: Super Beast Mimicry
[Introduction]: Beast Training Technique, the Beast Trainer gains the power and skills of a Ferocious Beast by imitating and learning the behavior characteristics of their own contracted pet beast...
Ah?
Lu Ran: Ah???
"Go to hell!" Lu Ran, who had just felt elated, immediately started cursing loudly in his room.
What is this nonsense.
How could this happen.
Although he didn't know what other Beast Training Techniques were like, and this particular technique solved his own problem of weak combat ability...
But learning the behavior characteristics of his own contracted pet beast?
Are you serious?
Lu Ran's face turned shades of green and purple.
In ancient times, there was the Twelve Form Fist, where the ancients created practical fighting techniques by emulating the actions of twelve animals, so this Beast Training Technique seemed somewhat reasonable.
If Lu Ran had contracted a dragon, a tiger, or a bear, he would have learned without hesitation to gain the power of a bear, the eyesight of an eagle, the speed of a leopard...
But the thing is... he contracted a Husky.
Lu Ran visualized himself trying to emulate the behavior characteristics of his Husky...
"This skill is ridiculous, who created this thing," he said.
Lu Ran clenched his fists.
"If I'm beaten to death in the Secret Realm, even if I can never become a great Beast Trainer, I absolutely refuse to impersonate a Husky... mostly, I guess? No, I need to find a way."