Beastmaster King

"Have you heard? Pedestrian A, who defeated Senior Sister Ji not long ago, was allegedly taken in as a student by Dr. Cheng Kong! I'm so jealous—why is my mentor just some old geezer?"

"Where did you get that news? Didn't Dr. Cheng Kong dislike taking students? I heard she has a lot of external research projects."

"Apparently, after Senior Sister Ji lost to Pedestrian A, she wanted to reclaim her pride and challenge for the usage rights of the Orange Sky Research Institute again. But then she found out that the school had removed the institute from the available options. It's no longer open to students. So, rumors started spreading that Dr. Cheng Kong took a liking to Pedestrian A and permanently handed the institute over to him. My heart aches for Senior Sister Ji."

"Damn, no chance for revenge? Senior Sister Ji really got the short end of the stick. But seriously, what's the deal with Pedestrian A...? Where did he come from?"

"Who knows? However, Dr. Cheng Kong's research focuses on mechanical modifications for familiars, and Pedestrian A has a top-tier Overlord familiar. It's possible for them to collaborate..."

In a short time, news that Dr. Cheng Kong had started taking students spread like wildfire. Currently, information about Lu Ran had already been obtained by four participants from the Stellar Moon Federation and five from Blue Planet. When they learned that Lu Ran had indeed attached himself to another Legendary mentor, their lips twitched uncontrollably.

Has Lu Ran figured out a set formula for clearing challenges? He's immediately seeking out a master upon arrival!

Especially since the Legendary mentor specialized in mechanical modifications for familiars. They could already predict that Lu Ran would leverage her guidance to quickly succeed in modifying a familiar and use that achievement to enter the invention competition.

With a renowned Legendary mechanic backing him, Lu Ran's final ranking would undoubtedly be high. This put the other nine participants on high alert, and they began pulling out all the stops to see if they could also woo a Legendary mechanic.

***

Lu Ran had already successfully registered for the invention competition. However, it wasn't Dr. Cheng Kong who helped him with the application. Instead, during their first meeting, Vice Principal Fu had asked Lu Ran why he wanted to apply for the institute's usage rights.

When he learned that Lu Ran wanted to tinker with some small inventions using self-taught mechanical knowledge to participate in the competition for fun, Vice Principal Fu naturally gave his full support. He immediately promised to help Lu Ran register through the school's channels upon his return.

With the research foundation laid and no external disruptions, Lu Ran had already been holed up in the institute for several days. Of course, a few days in the ascension realm translated to many times that for Lu Ran and #18. The trials of the Time Hell were nothing short of grueling.

Since Dr. Cheng Kong had given her approval, her institute was effectively under Lu Ran's control. As a result, over the past few days, Lu Ran had been spared the hassle of dealing with other participants. The supposed guard dog, Captain Doofus, was also busy with his own training.

Lu Ran guessed that the owner of the Thunderstrike Mecha must be furious by now.

"Hahahahaha,success!"

"Caw, caw, caw,it's done, it's done!"

On this day, wild laughter erupted from within the institute. Lu Ran emerged from his domain, laughing uncontrollably. Beside him, several crows flapped their wings in celebration.

"The Great King is invincible!"

"The Great King truly has the potential of a Supreme Divine!"

"The world shall bow before the Great King at this moment!"

Lu Ran, in high spirits, said, "Keep it down, keep it down. Dark Crow, your possession played a big part in this. When we return, I'll reward you handsomely."

"Have you all lost your minds? Success?" Six-Paths Flower appeared, looking at Lu Ran in surprise.

"Yep." Lu Ran stood tall, radiating confidence.

He glanced at Six-Paths Flower, snapped his fingers, and in the next moment, a wave of soul energy emanated from his body.

A spectral form of Lu Ran separated from his physical form. The spectral Lu Ran was shrouded in a gray, ghostly aura. Though he should have been naked, Lu Ran shaped the spiritual energy into a robe during the separation process.

The moment Lu Ran's soul split, his physical body collapsed onto the sofa like a puppet with its strings cut. Or perhaps not like—it literally was a puppet without its strings.

Lu Ran's soul looked at his body and said, "I'm still not proficient yet. It'll take time."

As he spoke, the soul split again, creating a soul clone that remained outside while the main soul returned to his body. Soon, Lu Ran's original body sat up from the sofa, cracked its neck, and looked at its soul clone with satisfaction.

Unfortunately, the clone was dull-eyed, devoid of intelligence, and could only move like a marionette under Lu Ran's control. It was a far cry from the intelligent clones of Dark Crow or Manager Ying.

Lu Ran wasn't greedy, though. As a human, successfully creating a soul clone by copying Dark Crow's talent through Super Beast Mimicry was already a huge achievement.

Even so, he felt that his success was largely due to his soul being strengthened by his Legendary necromancer mentor, consuming many Treasure Soul Cleansing Fruits, his high comprehension, and the amplification from the imperial seal. Missing any one of these factors would have likely stalled his progress for much longer.

"So?" Six-Paths Flower yawned, looking at the lifeless soul clone.

"So it means the first step of my envisioned exclusive evolution skill is a success. The next step is to make this soul clone functional, like an undead familiar that's capable of possessing other familiars. I've tried, actually. My main soul can possess others. But this undead clone is still too weak to do so.

"However, I can't just let my main soul do the possessing. If the battle gets too intense, I'll be done for. So the next goal is to strengthen the soul clone.

"As you said, I plan to wear the Dog God's Blessing Bone Bracelet to turn myself into a quasi-Legendary dog demon. Then, in that state, I'll create a soul clone. This way, the main body will be stronger, and the soul clone might gain more vitality. Plus, the compatibility between the soul and Captain Doofus will be higher.

"Then, I'll have the dog demon soul clone possess Captain Doofus. With me and Captain Doofus working together, it'll be a preliminary enhancement. Of course, whether this counts as an evolution is still questionable. At most, it might just be a soul possession boost. But we'll take it step by step..."

Lu Ran was practically vibrating with excitement, rambling nonstop...

"Why don't you look happier?" Lu Ran glanced at Six-Paths Flower.

Six-Paths Flower glared. "Look at my current state. How could I be happy? To deconstruct my Limit Breaker ability, #18 keeps plucking my petals and leaves every now and then. If it actually manages to develop that so-called Elemental Life Creation Device you mentioned, fine. But if it fails, I'm dismantling it. No objections."

Lu Ran coughed dryly. "Have faith in #18. If I weren't also interested in plant-type elemental life... I wouldn't be putting up with this!Hehe,hang in there. Now... I'm going to test that bone bracelet."

***

With those words, Lu Ran dashed back into the ruin space. He then took out the Dog God's Blessing Bone Bracelet—a reward from the Mythical secret realm—and nervously put it on. Though he'd obtained this resource a long time ago, this was his first time using it.

"Here goes..."

As Lu Ran activated the bracelet, he immediately felt a sharp pain as his bones underwent drastic changes. But in the next moment, a gentle white light burst from the bracelet, soothing his discomfort. His entire body was now bathed in radiant light as his species began to shift subtly.

Lu Ran had assumed he'd end up like one of Dark Crow's transformation curses—changing from a human into another species, awkwardly crawling on all fours as a dog. So he'd decided to test the bracelet in private.

However, as his bones transformed, he realized the dog demon described by the bracelet wasn't purely beast-like. Instead, it was more of a human-beast hybrid—a werewolf-like form.

The light dissipated, revealing Lu Ran's new form within the ruin space, surrounded by swirling black winds.

"Awooo?"

Lu Ran bore no resemblance to his former self, though he still stood on two legs. His appearance was that of a majestic werewolf—a lean upper body and a powerful lower body with thick, clawed feet planted firmly on the ground.

His skin was covered in black-and-white fur, his snout and ears were elongated, and his head was fully beast-like. Several black bone spikes extended from the back of his skull like hair, contrasting with his white dog ears. When Lu Ran opened his mouth slightly, pairs of sharp fangs were visible in his upper and lower jaws.

"Urgh... my voice almost changed too. Wait, this power..." The dog demon Lu Ran raised a furry hand. "This... isn't as bad as I thought."

Lu Ran sensed the surging strength within him, swished his white tail, and took a deep breath. He then quickly checked his stats.

[Name: Pedestrian A]

[Species: Dog Demon (Pseudo)]

[Attribute: Wind]

[Species Rank: Quasi-Legendary]

[Level: 50]

[Species Talent: Bone Marrow Power (Can manipulate his own bones for combat or control the bones of enemies.), Wind Dominion (Innate mastery over wind, ruler of a thousand winds.)]

"I feel... ridiculously strong right now. And I'm not wrong. Besides this hybrid form, thanks to the bone marrow power, I can also use body control to assume a full dog form! But I'm probably not used to that form yet, so this one is stronger for now. Though in this state, my beastmaster skills seem somewhat restricted. Also, can I still create a soul clone like this?"

Lu Ran murmured, stretched out his hand, and in the next moment, summoned an incredibly hard bone club—one capable of smashing spatial barriers—into his grip.

"Whatever. Let's test this form's combat power first. The stamina drain is intense. I can't maintain this for long. With my current physique, three minutes is the limit. Sudden Death King, come take a beating!"