Chapter 596
Chapter 596 - 576: The Beast King
1,512 words
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8 min read
"Hello, I’m Lu Ping’an, a third-tier Gardener."
Lu Ping’an’s words were met with a heap of light laughter. Apparently, everyone thought he was joking.
Gardener? Where the hell are your magic plants? All we saw was you driving and setting fires.
"No, I’m not a primary battle-profession. Although I have a first-tier of Heavy Armor Warrior, I came here to practice for the second-tier..."
Lu Ping’an briefly explained a few sentences but only received more laughter. Apparently, everyone still thought he was joking.
This kind of super heavy armored unit that directly killed through the battlefield, ignoring the enemy’s resistance, you’re telling me it’s only a first-tier?
Those who can hunt in the 20th layer are old stagers and elites. Since everyone thought Lu Ping’an didn’t want to say anything, they just laughed and didn’t ask further questions.
This was a post-battle scene. The air still smelled of barbecue and charred corpses, but as the victorious humans, they were in a good mood... especially since their own casualties were very low, after a rare big victory.
As a hero of the battlefield, Lu Ping’an naturally received more attention.
Compared to the new soldiers’ surprise at his "too young" age, the old soldiers were more indifferent. However, when Lu Ping’an introduced himself as a Gardener... um, probably no one believed him.
In fact, upon reflection, even Lu Ping’an himself didn’t know how he, as a Gardener, ended up on this path.
"I just wanted to make sure my profession didn’t go to waste and that all the career abilities I possessed would be useful..."
At first, it was probably this idea. But in the eyes of most professionals, the path was still determined by the professionals’ own talents and compatibility... Looking at Lu Ping’an’s 2-tier combat-focused Gardener and his third-tier symbiotic magic plants, it is natural for him to take this step.
In normal Gardener progression, 1-tier is a Farmer, 2-tier is a specialized Flower or Fruit Farmer, while at the third-tier academic research usually begins, and it’s normal for a third-tier Gardener not to have any combat ability.
Lu Ping’an may have been a Gardener, but his actual profession was, in fact, a potential user of life-system abilities.
His heavy armor and flames were actually derived from his life-system abilities.
Blackfire was Zhi Xi’s external device, High-temperature Boiling Blood was Little Flame’s fire, Purifying Holy Fire perfectly combined with his symbiotic Demonic Plant... but Zhi Xi, Little Flame, and symbiotic Demonic Plant were also creations of the life-system, and their power was also a result of the life-system.
Zhi Xi and Little Flame, born from the Life Illustration, took the "life-system" Tamer’s Path, in a sense, had to thank the sophist’s friendly gift, helping Lu Ping’an to make up for his weaknesses.
Finally, by putting everything together to form a war-platform, it all ultimately boiled down to Lu Ping’an’s own choice.
The compatibility of creations is often determined by the Creator, and all of Lu Ping’an’s creations - Zhi Xi, Little Flame, various magic plants - were all war machines, which already said a lot.
This was like his natural talent on the Warrior’s Path, some things were unreasonable. Lacking a sense of security and stability, he naturally progressed quickly on the path of war machines.
He would take the route of an Army, even become the sharp knife of the Army. While the life-system had some influence, it was still mostly his own choice. In a sense, it was inevitable.
"...Forget it, think what you want. Any latest information?"
Lu Ping’an shook his head and began to inquire about the important matter.
The old soldiers and new recruits were naturally different. They knew that in such chaos, intelligence was the most important. They had some unofficial channels, as well as valuable "Long-range Communication" and "Short-range Teleportation" abilities, so they had some information.
With one inquiry and exchange, Lu Ping’an more or less knew what had happened.
"The Mother of Stone Dragon, huh..."
At this moment, Lu Ping’an realized why he had encountered so many intelligent Petrified Lizards.
Evaluated as a "quasi-rule level magic monster", the new King was a big trouble, and it had already caught the attention of adventurers in the area.
Here, the Quasi-rule level does not mean that it has truly reached the sixth-tier peak or even seventh-tier level, but rather, in this "Secret Realm," it may possess some Rule-level characteristics or even strength.
This place is actually no longer Earth, and as the opponent’s home ground, it is natural to show some favor and preferential treatment to the local residents.
Although this world is small, it has everything it should, such as special privilege dogs....the Divine Rights of Deities,
Residents of this world will naturally be stronger than those outside, and advancement will become easier.....put it another way, after they go out, their combat power will plummet, and they may even quickly weaken and die.
Humans are fighting on away ground, while Magic Monsters are native residents, so they naturally get a lot of preferential treatment...the high-speed production and advancement abilities are the greatest favor this world can bestow upon them.
As a result, there are some extremely outrageous and formidable presences in many secret realms, just like in the source world of this series of secret realms, the Zero World, where there is a "Quasi-God" existence.
Such a creature would be difficult for the entire ancient city to deal with, but if it dared to leave, the loss of the world’s privileges would inevitably result in a drastic drop in strength, and it might even end up being quickly strangled by a group of Decree-level beings.
This is also the root of why many Secret Realms are so difficult to eradicate, as some "Decree" and even "Rule" level beings that are limited to the local area directly result in a situation where a powerful attack would be an unprofitable and undesirable investment.
"Quasi-rule level, are you sure? What rules does it master?"
"It could be the ’Petrification’ rule, as several unlucky individuals with good strength have been turned to stone, including a Decree-level one, so it was classified as Quasi-rule."
Since it’s a Petrified Lizard, the most likely ability it would have would naturally be petrification.
Therefore, it’s very likely that in this small world, it can actually use Rule-level petrification abilities.
Even Lu Ping’an doesn’t have the confidence to withstand such an ability.
"...Why are you guys so relaxed?"
Isn’t it supposed to be tense when a monster at this level shows up?
Lu Ping’an casually asked, as the old soldiers looked at each other for a long time before finally someone responded.
"I believe you’re really a newbie now....a Quasi-rule level Beast King is a treasure."
As soon as he said this, Lu Ping’an understood instantly.
Normally, reinforcements would need to go through the proper channels, but if there are experts who heard that a Quasi-rule level monster has appeared here, the reinforcements would arrive much faster.
A Quasi-rule level Beast King could very well be a true Rule-level being in this place, and its flesh and contaminated organs would be excellent materials. However, its actual combat power and experience would be unlikely to match that of a true Rule-level being.
On the contrary, because most of the "favor" is used for privileges, their basic abilities are often lacking, with many bizarre creations having individual strengths only at the fourth-fifth tier or even lower, but possessing one or two Rule-level trump cards.
As long as they carefully avoid the trump cards in actual combat, chances are they can become the "treasure" that can be hunted like fourth-fifth tier monsters (Decree-level), but the spoils of war would be extraordinary.
If they managed to kill it and a Quasi-rule or even Rule-level Taboo item emerged, it would be akin to soaring to the heavens.
In a way, this is similar to the last moments of the demon-encounters land, where the God Corpses that only possess Divine Rights also led to a large number of Hunting teams arriving.
Whether they can win or not remains to be seen, but the speed at which the hunters arrive is impressive.
In the eyes of the old soldiers, having a "treasure" around means that reinforcements will not only arrive quickly, but their strength will also be considerable.
The old soldiers in front of him are not greedy and don’t plan to go "hunting-dragon," so naturally, this is good news for them.
But for Lu Ping’an, it may not be so....Big Cat speaks at this moment.
"Quasi-rule level Petrified Lizard? Lu Ping’an, it is absolutely impossible for it to have pure petrification rules, it could be a great treasure, and it would be a pity if you miss it..."
— End of Chapter 596 —