Monster Pet Evolution

by Stayrr

Three years ago, the animals and plants on Earth underwent crazy and unexplainable changes that included transformations, reversions, and the addition of otherworldly species. And it was the start of a brand-new type of profession in the new generation of humanity – Monster Trainers, people who specialized in taming monsters. On his 18th birthday, the protagonist of the story, Gao

2. 41

Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 41 - Brood Mother online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 41: Brood Mother

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Nothing could be seen in the pitch black darkness of the cave. Energy lamps were needed to light up the way.

Scuttling sounds came from the depths of the caves. Under the illumination of the lamp, many Brutal Gray Devil Spiders could be seen eyeing them from all directions; on the ceiling and stone walls of the cave, and even from the various pits all over the cave.

Within the unit, a gigantic Firestorm Tiger opened its mouth wide. A swirl of red-hot flames began to gather in its mouth, forming a rapidly-rotating fireball.

Fooom!

The fireball shot out and scored a direct hit on a Brutal Gray Devil Spider that failed to escape in time. It only managed to make a cry of despair before being engulfed by the flames.

An elite tier monster was immediately eradicated by the fireball without even having the chance to fight back.

"No, this won't do; we're wasting too much energy," said a woman in the unit, with a frown. She had neat shoulder-length hair and was wearing a white combat suit.

Although they could easily kill these elite tier monsters in one blow, there were simply too many of them. If every single one of these critters needed one fireball to be eliminated, their Familiars would soon expend all the energy within their bodies.

"We shall stick to close combat for now and avoid long-range attacks. Defense-type Familiars form the frontlines, support-type Familiars in the center of the formation, and offense-type Familiars take the flanks. Maintain the formation and advance. We must not let other groups get there first," said Captain Song from the backlines. The others nodded their heads and very quickly arranged themselves in the new formation. These were all veterans who worked well with each other.

Lying quietly on Captain Song's shoulder was a fiery-red mouse with a long, graying beard. Its two little forelimbs were resting on her shoulders and its eyes were darting about, observing the surroundings.

Right at the front of the formation was a Red-Shelled Armor Hound, a mutant variant that had extremely high defense and a partial fire attribute.

As they advanced, the spiders would often spit a sticky fluid to prevent the Red-Shelled Armor Hound from moving. A Thorny Flower Demon from the center of the formation activated its ability, covering the Armor Hound with an additional layer of thorny armor. The thorns criss crossed over each other, forming an effective protection against the incoming spider silk.

The Flame Mouse on Captain Song's shoulder spat out a fire ball, igniting the thorn armor.

The thorn armor burst into flames, suddenly become a makeshift flaming armor.

Any of the white fluid that came into contact with it was burnt to nothing, becoming fuel for the flames instead. The air became filled with a pungent, foul smell.

The flames were extremely effective in negating the effects of the white, sticky fluid. Upon contact with the flames, they immediately caught fire, losing their stickiness and resilience.

The Flame Mouse was not yet at the Lord tier, hence it was not able to establish a "whitelist". But it did not matter anyway since the Red-Shelled Armor Hound was extremely resistant to flames and had a high fire defense. This was a battle technique that Captain Song and her team came up with.

The cave was filled with complex twists and turns. It was a very deep natural cave.

The faint sounds of battle suddenly could be heard ahead of them. Sound travelled far in these caves, which meant that they were still a distance away from their destination. The expression on Captain Song's face changed. Someone else got there first!

They hurriedly picked up the pace. Ablaze while wearing the makeshift flaming armor, the Red-Shelled Armor Hound charged through the caves. In no time, their surroundings suddenly brightened. A large cavern, many times larger than any cavern they had run into before, appeared before their eyes.

In the deepest part of the cavern, a gigantic brood mother could be seen lying on the ground. It looked extremely swollen and its body was covered with a large amount of white sticky substance, as though it were wrapped in a white bubble.

Only its thick spider legs stuck out from the bubble, revealing a scaled claw at the end of each leg and sharp hairs that hooked upwards.

In the cave, many Familiars were already surrounding and attacking the brood mother. Flames, frost, and wind blades flew through the air, but all the attacks landed on the white bubble and vanished like a rock being dropped into the deep sea, simply disappearing out of sight. Nothing seemed to have any effect.

Looking at the incoming attacks, the brood mother simply lay motionless without making a sound. Its dark, yellow eyes were cold and indifferent. Only when an attack was about to land near its eyes or face did it react by producing a crystal film from its eyeballs to protect its eyes.

Captain Song felt that the look in its eyes was somewhat familiar, as though she had seen it somewhere before.

"The brood mother doesn't have much attack power. Don't be fooled by its large size. That is for it to produce young. Its actual combat strength is the weakest among those of its tier!" shouted someone, calling for everyone to put in their all to kill the spider.

"As long as we all work together, we can definitely kill the brood mother! When we've killed it, we shall split the spoils based on the level of damage that was done to it," Liu Senlin spoke up.

"Alright!" Hearing this, many of them ordered their Familiars to increase the pace of attack.

The brood mother did not strike back. It was in a strange condition, most likely preparing to give birth to its young. But that did not matter. They would take the opportunity to strike it at its weakest.

The intervals between attacks grew shorter and shorter and the white foam covering the brood mother gradually got blown away. A few attacks managed to land on its body, causing gaping wounds that leaked a dark, yellow fluid.

Seeing the brood mother hurt, the groups of people there got excited, ordering their Familiars to continue attacking. They themselves retreated, avoiding the battlefield.

A Four-Winged Jade Devil Mantis charged forward, leaving behind an afterimage. It drew its two bladed limbs inwards, forming the figure of a cross.

Puchiii!

Even after raising the crystal film to protect its eyes, they were easily slashed apart by the jade green blades.

Shattered pieces of the crystal film scattered into the air and rained down from above.

Screeeeecch!!!

The brood mother lost its calm demeanor. Its dark yellow eyes suddenly lit up, glaring at the humans with a golden piercing gaze. Its sharp screech reverberated across the cave.

Some Monster Trainers fell to their knees, painfully clutching their ears. Blood seeped out from between their fingers.

Huuuu-

The sound of roaring wind could be heard as one of the thick spider legs suddenly pulled from the ground.

In mid-air, the Four-Winged Jade Devil Mantis desperately flapped its wings and twisted its body, barely dodging the spider leg that stabbed at it like a giant spear. The spider leg effortlessly pierced through layers of rock, as though it were cutting butter.

A deep breathing sound echoed throughout the cavern. The brood mother that was lying in a bubble of foam all along slowly got up and stretched its limbs.

Each of its limbs was over ten meters long, like long spears that stuck into the ground, causing the ground to crack and split.

The gray spider legs were also densely covered with sharp hairs that hooked upwards. Its mouthparts were as large as a table, and looked like a blooming chrysanthemum flower. They opened and closed, releasing a foul smell into the air.

Its hulking size along with is ferocious appearance gave it the look of a lethal predator.

Who said the brood mother had little combat strength?

Everyone in the cavern was silently cursing.

We've been had! This mission was a huge set-up, and we've all been had!

Captain Song finally remembered why the look in the brood mother's eyes were so familiar. They were the same eyes that the Lord of the Dark Ember had. The eyes of one being high above all else, looking down on all the low levelled Familiars!

At the bottom of the brood mother, a deformed and incomplete halo was slowly rotating. Compared to the halo of the Lord of the Dark Ember, the one that the brood mother had was only a tenth of the Lord of the Dark Ember's, and was extremely deformed.

This was a monster at the peak of the commander tier, that was in the midst of evolution!

It was evident to them that they had disrupted the evolution process of this monster. Even a fool would be able to expect the ferocity of the wrath that they had incurred.

"Run!" Liu Senlin very decisively came to such a conclusion. He immediately called for his Four-Winged Jade Devil Mantis. He rode atop his Familiar's back and fled.

Report chapter

Chapter 42: Elite Purple-Backed Thunder Centipede

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

As for staying to save people for friendship; that was bullsh*t. No one had spare effort to take care of other people. Running faster than the others was the vital goal.

The female spider slowly crawled forward. Although she looked slow, her speed was actually quite fast.

It was like Whack-A-Mole; every time her legs raised high then fell down hard, gray shadows flashed in the air.

Familiars under her, embarrassed, avoided her attacks. Some unlucky Familiars were stung through, hanging on the giant spider legs like strings of candied hawthorne.

Outside the Dark Ember Forest, a green shadow flew from afar.

"The mission was completed quicker than I thought," The government officer smiled.

But the military bass hat by his side showed a totally different look. He frowned tight, staring at the coming Four-Winged Jade Devil Mantis. Then he suddenly realized something and immediately changed expression.

He waved his arm forward, and commanded out loud, "On your positions, prepare to fight!"

Riding on the Four-Winged Jade Devil Mantis, Liu Senlin saw cannons were aiming at him and felt his heart was about to jump out. He immediately raised hands over his head, shouting, "Don't shoot, Don't shoot, I'm on your side!"

The cold cannons held fire. The Four-Winged Jade Devil Mantis landed from the sky in front of the crowd. Liu Senlin's legs were still trembling; he didn't know whether he was scared of the female spider, the cannons, or both.

"That thing in the lair is not a female spider; no, the female spider is evolving. It is completely a female attacker!" Liu Senlin talked incoherently. He was too anxious.

"Take your time. Have some water first." The bass hat came and handed Liu Senlin a bottle of water.

Liu Senlin swigged from the bottle, finally recovered from the shock and calmed down a little bit. Then he explained the whole situation.

After hearing Liu Senlin's account, those present showed different expressions.

The bass hat glanced at the government officer coldly and said, "This is your research conclusion from your governmental lab; a female spider with 'low fighting capacity.'"

The government officer looked awkward, and didn't know how to reply. This accident was indeed on the government's hands.

"Does your government know that we were sent here to die? He said in a low voice. "The information was completely wrong!" His heart was bleeding. It's going to be a big loss, I don't know how many of my men can make it. Pension and loss will be an astronomical figure.

Only he escaped; how many else could survive, too?

"There they are, we have some people back." A soldier pointed at the forest, where some shadows were flying to them.

"Where is the Spider King?" The bass hat looked behind them. He didn't see the Spider King.

"No idea. Seems that it has chased after the others. We took different escape routes after getting out," someone replied, still in great shock. His words conveyed some rejoicing, but later he realized such tone was not proper, so he remained silent.

"Did they walk towards our direction?"

"No."

People fell into silence again. They were ready to have a tough fight, but the Spider King didn't come to them. They were not sure whether to celebrate or mourn.

If I could know beforehand that this Spider King is evolving to Commander… The bass hat pursed his lips without saying anything. He was regretful.

He would definitely not bring only this amount of people.

After all, a Commander Familiar could greatly enhance the Chang'an Military force!

"No need to worry about the rest. Lord of the Dark Ember will never let it go. Two tigers could never get along well in the same mountain, unless they had different genders. The Spider King and the Black King Kong are not even the same species. If it was a Commander monster, it would be another story. But this Spider King is only a semi-Commander; it will probably be eaten by Lord of the Dark Ember in the end."

His words were somewhat regrettable.

If he could bring the Spider King back to military region, it would be an excellent force.

However, this Spider King's evolution was interrupted, or rather say, it failed. So it became valueless.

"Smash!" The wood pile in front of them blew up with debris flying everywhere. Da Zi's upper body tightly caught the ground, while its lower body swiped like a sharp knife.

The wood pile was full of bumps and hollows, and covered with scars.

Gao Peng encouraged: "Well done. Here is your reward." He handed Da Zi some bread worms.

He patted Da Zi's head, thinking about something else. It is not difficult to upgrade from Normal to Elite.

As long as the monster itself is not untalented, with hard work, it will become an Elite monster sooner or later.

1 to 10 levels belonged to Normal grade, while 11 to 20 levels were Elite.

Instructor Chen walked around the playground and checked randomly. Seeing him approaching, lazy students immediately woke up, pretending to be concentrating.

Actually, Instructor Chen knew about students' behaviors, whether they were focusing on training or not. Training required the Familiar trainer and the Familiar working together, in order to stimulate the Familiar and enhance the effect.

Some people didn't have even one drop of sweat on their forehead, for they only activated their Familiars when the instructor passed by. Their Familiars were stunned, knowing nothing about what was going on.

They didn't have enough time to react.

What happened?

What is my owner doing?

Didn't you allow me to play?!

Ow—wow! The Golden Husky gnashed its teeth in anger. It glared at the man in front of it. How dare you tell on me!

Every time it disobeyed this man's order, he would let those bad wolves to bully it!

Feeling flustered and exasperated, the Golden Husky couldn't stand it anymore.

Bowwow!

"Damn it, you bastard! Wait, don't bite me!"

When passing by Gao Peng, a glimmer of approval raised from the bottom of Instructor Chen's eyes. Few people worked as hard as this young man did.

Bang!

Another tail-swipe.

This time it sounded like something exploded, like firecrackers were spluttering.

Da Zi's sharp feet rotated and cut at high speed. The swipe came fast with fury, the bowl-wide wood pile breaking. If looking at the fracture, there were only irregular sharp edges. During the swipe, Da Zi's feet were just like a spinning electric saw.

Gao Peng came up with this idea when he saw Da Zi's sharp feet. These feet looked just like the sharp edge of a saw.

"Go on!"

On the training ground, Gao Peng looked at Da Zi seriously.

Da Zi raised its head, looked at its owner, then returned to its hard training. Gao Peng didn't sit aside watching, but practiced with Da Zi.

For example, when Da Zi was running, Gao Peng ran with it, and gave instructions.

Only when trainer and Familiar shared happiness and suffering together did the Familiar become more obedient.

Finally, after three hours, although Da Zi's appearance didn't change much, Gao Peng saw clearly that its grade eventually shifted from Level 10 to Level 11!

Report chapter

Chapter 43: Confirming Their Choice

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

In a blink of an eye, a few weeks passed by quickly. They were quick but at the same time rather eventful as well.

Within this period of time, Gao Peng had made many more trips to the Blue Shield Protection Company. Ever since Liu Senlin came back from accepting the government assignment, he had become quiet and sullen. Gao Peng also noticed that the atmosphere of the company had become gloomier as well.

But he was an outsider after all. And some things were better left unasked.

However, when he and Liu Senlin met in private later on, he had told Gao Peng the happenings of that fateful day.

Lord tier.

Who would have thought that just by accepting that one government assignment, Liu Senlin would have met with a total of two lord tier monsters and one that was halfway to reaching the Lord tier. Liu Senlin was the only person he knew who had such luck.

Gao Peng had wanted to say some words of comfort, but he did not know how to begin. He ended up simply stuffing his mouth with food instead.

In these weeks, under Gao Peng's care, the number of commander tier Four-Winged Jade Devil Mantises owned by the Blue Shield Protection Company increased by another four. This finally made up for the losses that Liu Senlin incurred during the assignment.

Liu Senlin had also tried to pass Gao Peng a large red packet in private, but Gao Peng refused it. "Sow nothing, reap nothing. I have just been doing what I'm supposed to do. It won't be good if you give me red packets in private again."

Liu Senlin also had his reasons for giving Gao Peng a red packet. He hoped to work with Gao Peng long-term. As per Gao Peng's request previously, the contract they had signed only lasted one year.

Liu Senlin had actually thought that that would be to his advantage, and agreed to Gao Peng's request then and there.

But now, he could not avoid trying to pave the way for a long-term partnership with Gao Peng. If he did not establish good relations with Gao Peng, what would he do if Gao Peng really quit after a year?

He had no idea, however, that Gao Peng had no plans to work long-term for any company. He was merely working to build up savings for the first step in his plans.

A normal tier monster carcass could fetch a price of up to a few Alliance Credits, whereas an elite tier monster carcass could fetch a price from a few Alliance Credits to a few tens of Alliance Credits. If a rare elite tier monster could be caught alive, it could even fetch a price of more than a hundred Alliance Credits. A commander tier monster would naturally fetch an even higher price.

Hence, Gao Peng planned to train Da Zi and Dumby until they reached commander tier and bring them into the wilderness to hunt down or catch monsters. By that time, he should have made enough of a name for himself as a Monster Breeder, so he planned to head over to Yanjing City to complete the advanced Monster Breeder assessment. The former would be his main job, and the latter would be there for support. This was the path that Gao Peng had planned for himself. As long as he kept to this route, he would definitely keep getting stronger.

Other than all these, Ma Jian had also managed to get second place in the Chang'an Flower King Tournament. Being a prideful boy, this hurt his self-esteem badly and he refused to leave his home to meet anyone for a full week.

Gao Peng later found out that the Flower King Tournament was won by an elite tier Daffodil Flower Demon.

There was indeed nothing much that could have been done. Ma Jian's Begonia Semperflorens Sprite was only a normal tier monster, and lost out to the first place monster by a full tier.

Finally, within these few weeks, Da Zi's level had risen to 13, whereas Dumby had broken through to level 14. Sadly, the job request that Gao Peng had posted at the Monster Hunting Association was never completed by anyone. The Yin cedar needles at home were quickly finished by Dumby.

Living up to its name, Dumby simply held vigil by the refrigerator every day, dumbly staring at the refrigerator.

"All students gather around! We will stop the individual training for now," shouted Instructor Zhang Bairen.

Everyone already knew what was happening today. Some skipped forward excitedly while others wore a look of worry on their faces, evidently not as confident of their chances. A last group of them, however, simply heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that the end of these boring days of training was near.

The first thing Instructor Zhang Bairen did was something no one expected. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"I will first announce the names on this list," Zhang Bairen lowered his head and read out, loudly, "Liu Keshou, disqualified! Xie Jiangyi, disqualified! Hu Latang, disqualified…"

A few students were stunned, others could not resist and began to question the instructor.

Zhang Bairen appeared to have expected this. Without raising his head, he simply said, "Those with any objections, don't get impatient. Voice them after I'm done reading."

He quickly went through the entire name list. Within group ten itself, six out of a total of 38 people were disqualified straight away, without being given the right to participate in the selection test.

"I know that some of you might be unhappy about this, but I will only say one thing: In these few weeks, I have clearly seen how each and every one of you have performed. Whether or not you have skived off, you should well know. I would not wrong any student.

"I also know that some of you might have something to say about our decision as well. But if you could not even persevere throughout these few weeks and had to skive off even for the most basic training, then there is no point in you carrying on with the training. Xie Jiangyi, did you have fun playing with your mobile phone? Hu Latang, from tomorrow onwards you can go back to the classroom to continue sleeping, the training grounds are not a comfortable place to nap," he said, randomly pointing out two names.

Everyone else immediately had no more to say. What they thought in their heads no one would know.

"The rest of you shall begin your test. We shall start with testing speed…"

The test went on for two hours, and did not take up too much time.

Each of the Familiar's test scores were recorded by an electronic device and sent straight to a computer.

The scores were processed using a formula that took into account the Familiar's species, potential, and other important factors. Within half an hour, the results were out.

"Chief Instructor Chen, this is the name list. A total of 1,320 people meet the requirements," one of the subordinates handed a list of names to Chen Yuan.

"Mm, wait a moment." Chen Yuan took the name list in his hands and placed it on the table next to him without even glancing at it. In front of him, a Silver Moon Alpha was darting through a maze of lasers. It was like watching a nimble silver snake make its way across the room.

After ten minutes, the training finally ended. The Silver Moon Alpha stepped out of the room, shook its silver fur, and casually lay down in a ground-level bunk located at the side.

Only then did Chen Yuan turn around reply, "Then 1,320 it will be. The extra hundred and twenty all passed as well. Since they possess the potential, we should not waste it. I will speak to the headquarters to suggest expanding the training grounds. Go inform the rest."

"Yes, sir." The subordinate quickly nodded his head and replied. As always, Chief Inspector Chen was cold on the outside and warm on the inside.

In the end the number of people who passed were 1,320, a total of a 120 people more than originally expected.

"Now that you have passed, hurry and register to choose a position for you Familiars. From now on, the training won't be like the kind of fun and games you've been having. When you choose the position for your Familiars, remember to take into consideration whether or not your Familiar can take up such a role, or else your subsequent training will only be half as efficient," reminded Zhang Bairen.

"Offense-type." That was the position that Gao Peng chose for Da Zi. There was nothing worth hesitating about in making this choice. Offense definitely was Da Zi's strength.

In the end, those who chose offense-type were the most numerous, with a total of over 700 people. Of the remaining, more than 500 chose defense-type. Those who chose support, healer and control-types numbered less than 100.

Report chapter

Chapter 44: Training in Cage

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Alright, after you make your decisions, you have to be responsible for your Familiars. I hope you persist in your choices."

On the first day of training, a military instructor came to pass on his experiences.

The instructor looked young and energetic in his dark-green military uniform. He walked fast, with a bag in his hand.

He put the bag on a table, then took out several wooden sculptures.

"Today I'm going to demonstrate how to maximize power," the Instructor said concisely.

"Different Familiars have different ways of attack, but generally they are similar. For example, many of them use teeth, tail, legs or horns to attack."

As he said this, the instructor suddenly stretched his right hand, and his four fingers closed together like a knife.

Zap!

His hand split the wooden sculpture!

Students were shocked; why did this teacher perform without warning?

The instructor calmly took back his right hand, then opened a Powerpoint in his laptop. "That is an example. I attacked from the right angle with a good timing; that's how I broke a wooden sculpture with my hand."

"Sir, did you break this wooden sculpture when it was distracted?" Tan Qianjin asked subconsciously.

Students waited in silence. The instructor raised his dark eyebrow. "Yes, I hit it when it was distracted. You can also let your Familiars attack enemies secretly; all is fair is war."

Then the instructor continued his demonstration. He did have something: breaking wooden sculptures with a bare hand was as easy as hitting firebricks empty-handed.

The Powerpoint contained much information, which covered the majority of battle knowledge. It demonstrated dos and don'ts for attacks, how to defend an enemy's attacks, as well as maximizing a Familiar's attack force.

The only problem was he conveyed too much knowledge at one time; students needed a while to truly obtain these things.

Gao Peng sat enthralled during the lesson. There were a lot of things he could never seen from textbooks. He also realized some problems he currently had. This lesson gave him some new insights.

After class, Mu Tieying came in with Lotus Seed.

Lotus Seed followed closely after Mu Tieying. Its head shook from left to right, but it was not as shy as before. At least it could look at people with its head up.

"Hey, this is for you," Mu Tieying said and handed Gao Peng a thick notebook. He exchanged it with a blue-cover notebook.

He opened the notebook and looked through the notes, glancing over the key points.

To defense-type Familiars, unless your Familiar was one of the strongest defenders in the world, iron will was always the more important thing than physical defense…

The notes also introduced some examples of how to defend, by defense-type Familiars' advantages.

Gao Peng was satisfied. He thanked Mu Tieying, saying, "Thank you so much."

"You are welcome. We are helping each other," Mu Tieying waved the blue notebook in her hand.

In the afternoon, it was practical training time. Goggling at trucks of monsters, Gao Peng sighed in his heart. This is going to cost a lot.

He didn't know how much money and effort would it cost to take care of these monsters.

Monsters were taken down, then locked in special-made steel wire cages. The average steel wire cage was 50 meters wide, 50 meters long and 50 meters high.

There were around 200 cages like this on the training field; each had a monster inside. These monsters remained untamed, and kept walking back and forth in their cages anxiously, often roaring in low tone and glaring at creatures outside the cage.

"Are these monsters going to fight with our Familiars?" A plump tall guy who stood not far from Gao Peng was excited and eager to fight. He confidently glanced at his Three-Tailed Poodle. "My Poodle is the strongest, it can smash these monsters without a doubt."

"Your Poodle only looks threatening. Once it is in the battlefield, it will tremble with fear. My Yellow-Tailed Scorpion King is a real fighter." A man was also proud of his Familiar. He patted gently at his yellow-crusted scorpion, which had a three-foot body and a six-and-a-half foot tail.

"Bullshit. This is just a normal Yellow-Tailed Scorpion. You titled it King yourself, didn't you?" the previous guy scorned.

"I didn't title it myself! How can you predict a Familiar's evolution? My scorpion will become a Yellow-Tailed Scorpion King for sure!"

Seeing limb-tied and mouth-muzzled monsters moved off from trucks, students chatted excitedly. The training field was bustling.

"Five people to a group. Your practical training will start soon." At this time, the instructor's voice came.

After being re-grouped, the instructor who was in charge of Gao Peng's group was Zhang Renbai. He also took care of the other cages around.

"Any volunteer?" Asked Zhang Renbai.

When the battle time truly came, students suddenly became muted. Nobody dared to praise their Familiar like they used to.

"I hope you can actively participate. After all, the first battle brings the best practice. After several battles, the monsters in the cages will not be in the same good condition as they are right now, and the effect will be greatly reduced. I hope you catch the chance."

It did make sense. But goggling at the Steel Spiny Boar, which was six-and-a-half feet high, 10 feet long, and colliding right and left like a tank; no one dared to send their Familiars to their deaths.

The Steel Spiny Boar crashed the cage insanely, making louder noises.

Its bloodshot eyes filled with ferocity, puffing hard.

It kept crashing the cage as if it would never be tired. Black spines stood out in spikes like iron needles.

"Sir, can we change monsters?" a student hesitated, pointing at another cage next to him. In that cage stood a blood-red hyena, looking like its skin was peeled, its strong bare muscles exposed in the air.

It might as well have escaped from a zoo.

Although it looked scary, its size was not very big, only six-and-a-half feet long and three feet tall. Compared with many Familiars, it didn't have may advantages, except a threatening appearance.

[Monster Name: Steel Spiny Boar

[Monster Level: Level 9

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Condition: Mildly Injured (threatened)

[Monster Name: Hairless Blood Hyena

[Monster Level: Level 10

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Condition: Moderately Injured (Alert)

Unexpectedly, that ugly hyena was an Excellent monster.

In addition, it was an injured fierce beast.

Unlike the Steel Spiny Boar, the Hairless Blood Hyena lay in the center of the cage quietly, licking its wounds.

Report chapter

Chapter 45: No, You Can't! (Happy April Fool's)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Hairless Blood Hyena quietly lay on the ground. On its left hind leg was a large puncture wound. It was almost deep enough that the bone was visible.

With such a bad leg injury, the others naturally saw the Hairless Blood Hyena as a soft persimmon. One naturally picks soft persimmons to pinch.

But Gao Peng saw it differently. As the saying goes, a dog that bites does not bark.

This Blood Hyena had suffered such a severe injury but was making no sound at all. There was no telling how maniacal and desperate it was on the inside. Furthermore, it was also of epic grade. If it really fought with its life on the line, it would not be any weaker than the Steel Bristled Boar.

Most importantly, the Hairless Blood Hyena also possessed a certain level of poison resistance.

"Let me be the first to take up the challenge then," Gao Peng stepped forward and said. He was actually afraid that the instructor would be convinced by this bunch to let them challenge the Hairless Blood Hyena.

The steel cage opened with a clanging sound. The Steel Bristled Boar that had been madly crashing against the steel wires suddenly stopped. Its breathing was rough as its tiny blood-red eyes stared at the opening cage door, and at Da Zi who was entering the cage.

The Steel Bristled Boar was already in a state of panic after being captured by humans. Right now, they had even introduced such a deadly monster into its small cage. This caused all its senses to be on high alert, and finally triggered a violent rage.

Snort~ Roar! It let out a deep roar from its throat. Its four limbs trampled on the ground as it charged towards Da Zi in a mad rush.

It was like a meat tank, with sharp bristles sticking out of it like blades on a war chariot.

Its speed was extremely quick as well. As it charged, it created a nasty wind, sending a strong, foul smell into the air.

Just as it was about to trample Da Zi's back, Da Zi suddenly pulled itself backwards, arching like a bow and avoiding the incoming hoof by mere millimeters.

Da Zi's many limbs bent inwards and suddenly sprang out, sending it 10 feet high in the blink of an eye. Da Zi landed on the Steel Bristled Boar's back and latched on, sinking its sharp, hook-like legs deep into the Steel Bristled Boar's fat.

The Steel Bristled Boar could not shake off Da Zi, no matter how hard it struggled.

Da Zi simply grabbed on harder and harder. Its pair of antennae swayed about and created sparks when they accidentally touched each other.

Hiss! Da Zi bit down hard on the area behind the Steel Bristled Boar's head. Its sharp mandibles pierced through the hide on the boar's back and sunk deep into its flesh. Venom was then injected into the boar through its fangs.

Grunt~ snort! The Steel Bristled Boar sensed the danger that it was in and began frantically jumping on the spot. Luckily for it, it made the decision to slam its back against the steel wire with Da Zi on its back.

After being knocked a few times, Da Zi let go dizzily and took the chance to escape from the Steel Bristled Boar's back. Da Zi nimbly climbed up the steel wire to a place that the Steel Bristled Boar's attack could not reach.

In Gao Peng's vision, the Steel Bristled Boar's status went from "mildly injured", to "light injuries," to "medium injuries," then to "serious injuries…"

In the end, its status stopped changing after reaching "serious injuries." At the same time, the "poisoned" status next to its name vanished.

By then, the Steel Bristled Boar was like a tired old person after expending all its energy. It was crawling on the ground with its tongue sticking out, and had eyes that looked as though it had given up on living.

Da Zi saw that its prey had finally lost the ability to fight back, and slowly climbed down the steel wires. Its many legs made a crisp sound on the cement floor.

It was like a grim reaper, walking towards its prey to reap its soul.

"Alright, you have passed today's training," said Instructor Zhang Bairen with a tone of resignation. He was not sure what to say. This monster was supposed to be used to train five students, but it had been incapacitated after just one battle.

Even if that were the case, he still could not help adding in some praise. "This centipede of yours has a powerful venom. Its sense for battle is not bad either.

"But if you wish to train you Familiar's combat abilities, its best that you limit its use of its venom during training, or else it will be hard to improve its combat strength during training. If you happen to encounter a foe that is immune to venom, it will also lose a large portion of its combat strength," Zhang Bairen kindly reminded Gao Peng.

Gao Peng humbly nodded his head, indicating that he heard him.

The other four students' jaws were slack. The Steel Bristled Boar that was charging around the cage like a tyrant was taken down just like that?

Right now, the Steel Bristled Boar in the cage looked extremely feeble. There was even some white foam bubbling from the corner of its mouth.

It seemed as though… they could beat up a drowning pig?

The group of them wore excited looks on their faces.

"I'll go next. I think my Familiar can handle the second round of battle," said the owner of the Yellow-tailed Scorpion.

"Huh; you only have what it takes to beat up a drowning dog."

"That's right, I only know how to beat up your drowning poodle."

The two of them seemed to be at odds with each other and could not stop quarrelling.

The cage was opened again. The Yellow-Tailed Scorpion cautiously crept into the cage. It experimentally prodded Steel Bristled Boar only to find that it gave no reaction. The sharp stinger at the end of its tail waved about, experimentally provoking the boar a few more times before it could relax; this boar was of no threat to it.

It began to viciously attack with its large claws!

The saying "set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil" could not be truer.

In the end, the Steel Bristled Boar was poisoned to death by the Yellow-Tailed Scorpion.

The Yellow-Tailed Scorpion went forward and savagely ripped off a chunk of the boar's flesh and began eating.

And then…

It became poisoned.

There were still traces of Da Zi's venom inside the body of the Steel Bristled Boar.

Within the chunk of flesh was a mix of Da Zi's venom and its own venom. After just one bite, the Yellow-Tailed Scorpion became dizzy and began circling around the spot as though it was practicing Tai Chi.

Its owner hid his face in embarrassment.

The Yellow-Tailed Scorpion's tail was stuck between the cages. One of its giant claws was covering its own head and it was hissing loudly, like a little kid that refused to accept a loss.

"Hahahaha, this is killing me," the owner of the Three-Tailed Poodle laughed while clutching his belly. "Look at how powerful your Yellow-Tailed Scorpion is, getting poisoned after eating a piece of meat."

Listening to its owner's laughter, the Three-Tailed Poodle tilted its head and looked towards its owner. Then it turned around to look at the Steel Bristled Boar carcass. Its eyes began to shine…

"Wait, oh d*mn! What are you doing!" the Three-Tailed Poodle's owner shouted angrily in surprise.

"No, you can't, not that! You really can't eat that!"

Zhang Bairen suddenly felt really tired. He looked at the teams of other instructors, and then back at his own.

To deal with situations such as today's, in order to create and maintain a positive situation, Zhang Bairen closed his eyes, and thought of an idea…

Report chapter

Chapter 46: Sir, May I Have Some Water Please?

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After school, Gao Peng went back home and cooked dinner. After his meal, he received a phone call from the Monster Hunting Association. The phone number was 010101.

He picked up the phone. "Dear user, your mission in Monster Hunting Association numbered 001348721 is accomplished. Please check your reward at Monster Hunting Association before acceptance." A mechanical female sound came from the other side of the phone, repeated three times, then hung up automatically.

Finally, somebody completed the mission. Gao Peng was relieved. If the mission remained unfinished, he was going to switch evolution methods for Da Zi.

The mission reward for Monster Hunter, in the form of credits, was given to the Monster Association in advance. Then, after a Monster Hunter mercenary completed a mission, he would give the required object directly to the Monster Hunting Association, and the Association gave the commission to the mercenary.

During this process, the Monster Hunter Association acted as an agent.

Before he left home, Gao Peng glanced at Dumby in the living room, who stood still in front of the refrigerator. It opened the door clumsily, looking for some food, and when it realized that there was nothing in the refrigerator, it closed the door. Waiting for a while, it opened the door again…

As if by doing so, food would jump out magically. What a stupid-cute Dumby.

Gao Peng walked downstairs and headed to the Monster Hunting Association directly for his reward.

He didn't notice that 500 meters away across the street, there were three people observing every individual walking out from the Monster Hunting Association. Among them was a slender Black Gold Dachshund, which narrowed its eyes, sniffing something.

The youngest man in the team asked nervously, "Bro, will we be caught?"

Fear flashed across the eldest man's eyes. But he immediately thought about something, gritted his teeth hard, and said, "Dad's rare disease can be cured only by Blood Marrow Leech. If we kept being Monster Hunting mercenaries, how long would it take us to afford a Blood Marrow Leech? Don't you want Dad to recover?"

By their side, a green-haired youth snorted, "Don't worry, the big fish eat up the small ones. As long as we are careful enough not to leave any evidence, we will be fine. My little brother, you are too timid."

"Of course I want Dad to recover. But, bro, you know, normal families can't afford Yin Cedar needles. How are we gonna do this?" The youngest boy rubbed his hands worriedly.

"You fool. We don't have to get this done right now. We'll just go case the bank, OK? If we can't take the bank, we can reset our goal." The young man stared as people of the Monster Hunting Association came in and out with churning emotions. He was nervous, too. Even though he was in prison for two years before the cataclysm, he was there on larceny. Burglary was more dramatic than larceny.

"OK, hey, Black Gold's moving." The Black Gold Dachshund had been lying quietly, but it suddenly jumped up, staring at somewhere with a radiant eye, about to bark.

The young man immediately clamped Black Gold's mouth, and crouched down to comfort Black Gold.

At the same time, he ordered the Black Gold Dachshund to follow the odor, and they tailed after silently.

They followed Gao Peng all the way back to a community. Seeing the old-fashioned buildings, the three were stunned. Such a "distinctive" community…

was no better than the place they lived in!

A person who lived in this place could afford high-priced materials like Yin Cedar? They felt it incredible, as if they just found a person who ate in high-end western restaurants everyday, but lived in a one-story brick house.

The only reason for Yin Cedar needles to be sold in markets was that Yin Cedar was a high-nutritious food for some specific Familiars. Therefore, people who bought this material were either rich or dignitaries, for this material could do nothing else except offer nutrition.

"Bro?" The green-hair asked his eldest brother; apparently he was asking whether they should act now or not.

The young man considered silently for a while, and then waved his hand. "Hold on, let's wait 'til tonight."

"Uh, bro, are we indeed…" The youngest brother was anxious and timid. It was his first time doing this. No doubt he was nervous.

"This boy might have just won a lottery. Calm down." The eldest man tried to make his face malevolent.

"Come on, it's OK. Are you going to shrink back at this point? Don't disappoint me." The green-hair put his right arm on his youngest brother's shoulder.

At midnight, three people together with three Familiars began to climb the staircase cautiously.

The dark staircase looked like a ferocious giant monster, its mouth open wide, as if it was going to swallow everyone in the next second.

"Hush." The young man took out two iron wires, made a cross, then let it go through the key hole.

In the room, Da Zi was suddenly awakened from a dream, its antennas raised high.

Dumby was standing in the living room sleeping, but now its eyes burst with soul flame again, silently. It turned to the door…

Click. The unlocking sound rang in the quiet staircase.

"Hey bro, good job! No wonder you are the King of Locks in Baqiao District," the green-hair praised.

The eldest brother was frozen. Sweat fell from his forehead. "No, not me, I haven't unlocked the door yet."

Then where did the sound come from?

"You guys, it's bedtime, what are you doing here?" Uncle Liu in his pajamas looked out from the door behind them. He was rubbing his eyes.

What? Why? How? The youngest brother was stunned there, totally at a loss.

A murderous gleam flashed across the green-hair's eyes. He secretly stretched his right hand to his belly, where he hid a dagger behind his coat.

The young man slowed down his actions, cleared his throat, and replied embarrassingly. "Sorry to bother you, we just realized that we are at the wrong apartment."

"I see. You are in the wrong place," Uncle Liu nodded, and was about to close the door.

Suddenly a hand came out from the dark, stopping the closing door.

A strange look appeared on the young man's face. He asked in a low voice, "Sir, we are thirsty, would it be possible to give us something to drink?"

"Sure. Come in." Uncle Liu looked deeply at the three people, and invited them as well as their Familiars to his room.

The green-hair was the last one to walk in. He closed the door, then locked it.

"Young man, why do you lock the door?" Uncle Liu was confused.

"Ha-ha." The green-hair showed a foxy smile. "We don't want to bother any other neighbors."

"That's fine, no worries. My walls are made from special deadening insulation, neighbors wouldn't be bothered even if I did disco dancing at home." Uncle Liu showed a meaningful smile.

"Oh, really?" the green-hair's face changed into a ferocious look. "That would be great."

The eldest brother sensed something unusual. He was about to say something, but it was too late.

A semi-transparent tongue stretched from the wall behind them and rolled. The Black Gold Dachshund was swept away at once.

Report chapter

Chapter 47: Angry Lotus Seed

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Munch, crunch –

It was as though chewing the chameleon was pickled vegetables; crispy and delicious.

The teenager grunted. His Familiar had just been eaten, causing damage to his soul.

A giant, semi-transparent chameleon appeared on the wall. It was squinting at them as it swayed forward, backward, left, right…

In some ways, all these monsters had a twisted sense of humor, some of which they inherited as well.

Without hesitation, the green-haired youth planted his left foot solidly on the ground, flipped around the dagger in his hand and viciously thrust it towards Uncle Liu.

Uncle Liu calmly retreated a step, sliding his left foot backwards. Then he grabbed out with his right hand like a python striking its prey. Green-hair felt as though a python had wrapped itself around his right arm so tightly that his arm would break. He let out a scream of pain and dropped the dagger as he fell to his knees.

At the same time, the chameleon's tongue shot out again. This time, a porcupine-like Familiar was swallowed up. The third brother wailed in pain, suffering severe damage from the death of his Familiar.

"Bullet Rat, kill him!" shouted Green-hair viciously, with tears and mucus flowing from his eyes and nose.

On the ground beside them was a grey rat the size of a football. Its eyes turned red as it squeaked and the row of dense rat-hairs on its back clumped together, forming a sharp needle!

Zeng~!

All that could be seen was a grey blur zooming across the room as the hair on the back of the rat came off and flew forward. They grey rat-hair needle landed on Uncle Liu's shoulder, piercing a hole through his shirt.

A small ripple appeared on the back of the chameleon who was quietly perched on the wall. A dent appeared on the surface of its skin. But within a blink of an eye, its skin was restored back to normal.

Uncle Liu shrugged his shoulders. A few strands of rat hair were shaken off.

"That bald rat of yours was sneaky," Uncle Liu laughed while shaking his head.

There were bald patches on the Bullet Rat's back. Performing such an ability evidently was harmful to its hair, as plenty of it had already come off. Although it had mutated to grow back its hair quickly, the rate of regrowth naturally could not keep up with the pace of a battle.

"How are you not injured?" Green-hair could not believe his eyes as he stared at the rat-hairs that Uncle Liu shrugged off.

He had tested out this ability before. The rat-hairs could penetrate solid wood at least a centimeter thick, there was no way this guy's skin could be tougher than a wooden board!

Unless he was wearing a bulletproof vest?

That would be crazy! Who would be wearing a bulletproof vest in the middle of the night?!

"Alright, alright," Uncle Liu waved his hand and said, "After going to hell, please help me keep this secret. You must not tell anyone that I killed you guys, ok?"

The moment he finished speaking, the quiet and unmoving chameleon on the wall suddenly leapt out like a vicious green dragon from the woods leaping out at its prey.

The previous night, after bringing back the Yin cedar needles, Gao Peng secretly placed them into the refrigerator drawer without Dumby noticing.

Dumby habitually opened the refrigerator drawer. The moment Dumby opened it, Dumby saw rows and rows of neatly packed Yin cedar needles…

The refrigerator really did produce food!

Dumby was extremely excited.

It placed the Yin cedar needles in a metal bowl, then positioned a trash bin under its jaw and began happily eating, just like it was chewing on sugarcane. The dregs came out from the holes in Dumby's jaw and fell nicely into the trash bin.

During practical training classes in the afternoon, Instructor Zhang Bairen calmly pointed to a little thing in the cage. "This will be the monster you all will be challenging today."

[Monster Name: Mutant Waterbear

[Monster Level: 12 (Elite tier)

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Condition: Healthy (Lazy)

[Special Characteristic: Cryptobiosis (After entering cryptobiosis the Mutant Water Bear's metabolic rate will fall to extremely low levels and will curl up on the spot, remaining motionless. At the same time, all resistances will be increased greatly)

Monster Weakness: 1. Fire 2. Rapid loss of water leading to death via dehydration 3. Being cut into pieces will result in death

Quietly lying in the cage was a greyish brown monster that looked extremely strange. It looked as though it was covered by a bodysuit of leather, and it had no eyes on its head, just a long, thin mouthpiece. It was happily rolling around in the center of the cage.

This was the first time Gao Peng had seen a monster with a "Special Characteristic" stat.

It seems that not all life forms had special characteristics; only rare, special monsters possessed them.

Gao Peng had heard of water bears before. They already existed before the cataclysm and were known to be the most resilient form of life on earth. Even a cockroach's life force could not be compared to that of a water bear.

After all, water bears were extremely resilient and have been known to survive outer space, radiation, temperatures of below 200 degrees Celsius, microwaves, and all sorts of other extreme conditions.

After the cataclysm, the resilience of their life force rose to another level.

Gao Peng was slightly swayed by the resilience of the Mutant Water Bear's life force. It even possessed extremely high resistance to various kinds of rare attributes.

But this special characteristic also had a large drawback, because it became immobile upon activation of cryptobiosis. This was something that could easily be exploited by enemies.

During the training session, the five Familiars took turns attacking the Mutant Water Bear. But no matter what they did, it still remained unscathed. It was practically immune to Da Zi's venom and its thick, heavy body covering was highly resistant to any form of physical damage.

Gao Peng wondered if he should try to contract a Mutant Water Bear.

But after a bit of thought, he decided against it. If a Mutant Water Bear were to encounter a type of attack specific to its weakness, it would suddenly become extremely weak. Gao Peng had to, regrettably, reject the notion of contracting a Mutant Water Bear Familiar.

Gao Peng already had a rough idea of what he wanted for his third Familiar. He would either choose a Familiar capable of long-range attacks to make up for what his existing team lacked; a Familiar with high defensive capabilities; or a flying Familiar. If he could find a suitable healing-type Familiar, that would not be a bad choice either.

For the next few days, the instructor found them all sorts of different monsters to battle, but they all had one thing in common: high poison resistance.

Gao Peng did not know what to say. You're really putting in a lot of effort to train the close combat capabilities of my Da Zi…

The practical training that went on every afternoon was much more enriching than simply training on their own. There was also practically no chance of any fatal injury occurring, because the instructor always brought along his Silver Moon Wolf and kept a watchful eye on the whole process.

That day, after finishing Da Zi's training, a low angry roar rang throughout the entire training ground. The roar was filled with unprecedented rage.

It sounded like Lotus Seed.

Gao Peng got up and looked over. There were already the surprised sounds of students screaming coming from that direction.

Many people had gathered to look.

Boom –

Boom –

The metal cage gave off a dull booming sound and looked to be rocking with every hit.

A six-and-a-half foot long Hairless Blood Hyena was being pinned to the top edge of the cage by Lotus Seed. Its single, sharp horn was like a long spear, piercing through the insides of the hyena.

Dong dong dong dong.

The Hairless Blood Hyena's bones were practically being shattered.

Its flesh was being stripped off. Blood and pieces of flesh were flying about.

It desperately bit onto Lotus Seed's face, leaving bloody scratch wounds.

Lotus Seed's roars were getting louder and wilder.

With a final ram, a huge sound erupted as one side of the cage was forcefully battered down!

Lotus Seed flung its head upwards, flinging the Hairless Blood Hyena high into the air like a rag doll.

Lotus Seed raised its two front hooves, which were as huge as two pillars, and sent them crashing down!

It was like a landslide.

Boom!

The Hairless Blood Hyena was stomped on, bursting in to pieces!

In the training grounds, all that could be heard was the sound of Lotus Seed's heavy breathing. It was as though a powerful engine had just stopped running, releasing waves of heat outwards…

Report chapter

Gao Peng was stunned. He had no idea what made Lotus Seed so angry.

According to his experience, Lotus Seed was a good-tempered girl.

The Hairless Blood Hyena's body pieces were everywhere, and dark red blood permeated through cement floor, leaving a large pinky-gray spot on the ground.

Lotus Seed was walking back and forth anxiously. Tiny scratches were found on its face, where scabs had formed.

Many onlookers stepped back. What happened just now was too threatening, and they were scared by the big guy's cruel actions.

It would be too bad to be hurt by mistake. Lotus Seed's huge body was dreadful in the crowd's eyes.

"Lotus Seed." Mu Tieying walked close, worriedly.

Next to them, the instructor was about to warn her. Mu Tieying waved her hand with a smile, letting him know not to worry about her.

Seeing the master come, Lotus Seed immediately came to Mu Tieying. Its big head gently pushed her, grunting adorably.

"It's alright, don't worry." Mu Tieting patted Lotus Seed's head, feeling sorry for her Familiar.

Gao Peng came close at this moment. Seeing a stranger come close, Lotus Seed watched that person, alerted; then it seemed to recognize Gao Peng, so it relaxed vigilance a little bit, wrinkled its nose twice, and ignored Gao Peng.

"Would you like me to contact a veterinarian? I know some good private veterinarians." Gao Peng glanced at Lotus Seed. He couldn't see any scars on its skin, and didn't know what made it so angry.

Gang Peng was quite sensible. He didn't ask where exactly Lotus Seed was hurt. Anyway, it must have been a terrible injury, otherwise this well-behaved good-tempered Familiar would not have been driven mad like this.

"No, thank you. My relative is a veterinarian." Mu Tieying shook her head and thanked Gao Peng. Her family had a high social status, and knew some private doctors. Otherwise she couldn't afford a big eater like Lotus Seed.

"Good," Gao Peng nodded. Due to his studio, he did business with some private veterinarians, and after several times of cooperation, he was familiar with them.

There were still some onlookers surrounding the spot. The instructor shouted out loud, "What the hell are you looking at! Have you finished today's training and Familiar Challenge? Stop poking your noses into everything, and get your *sses out of here! Back to your training!"

In the afternoon after training was completed, most Monster Trainer cadets went back home. Only a few were left on the training field for extra practice.

Familiars were led by their masters, they left school the gate one after another. It was spectacular to see that every student was followed by a Familiar. Those monsters had various appearances, but all walked quietly. After all, they had been training for a whole afternoon, and at present they were all exhausted…

The old doorman was used to this. No matter how many Familiars walked by him, he would not be swayed at all.

Those were just Familiars the old doorman had seen numerous times.

A booty-shaking Big White Pig passed by the old doorman. Right when it passed the guardroom, it licked the old man hard on his face with its huge tongue. The licking sound was clear and loud. The big red tongue went across the old man's face. Sticky semi-transparent liquid slowly dropped off from his face…

The Big White Pig took back its tongue, leaving the school gate with its hips shaking leisurely.

The old doorman came back to the guardroom without saying anything. He wiped off the "unidentified" liquid, then closed the door and window and locked himself in the guardroom, enjoying tea alone in silence.

On the other side of school, Gao Peng led Da Zi to the academic building, then tied it on a tree next to the building.

It was still class time; the walkway was quiet, only some sounds came from nearby classrooms.

"How many times have I explained this? How many times? Why is someone still making mistakes! What is in your head, tofukasu?"

"Close your textbooks and take out your dictation books. Don't cheat! You are not cheating me, you are cheating yourselves! In the College Entrance Exams, you can not cheat those monitors…"

Familiar sounds came into Gao Peng's ears.

Knock knock knock.

"Come in."

Murong Qiuye was checking students' homework. She raised her head, and was a little astonished by seeing Gao Peng in front of her. "Your afternoon training is finished, isn't it?"

"Yes, I just finished my training, and came to you right after that," Gao Peng smiled.

"OK. What are you here for?" Murong Qiuye knew well about Gao Peng. He wouldn't come to her if there were nothing important.

"Ms. Murong, I want to apply for this year's college entrance exam." Gao Peng came right to the point.

Murong Qiuye frowned. "You've got to be kidding!"

Her first thought was that Gao Peng was joking.

Gao Peng showed an apologetic look. "Ms. Murong, I'm only at Senior Two. I will take this exam as a warming-up practice, and get to know the exam beforehand. If I get a good grade, I will graduate this year, but if not, I will stay down for one more year, no big deal."

Murong Qiuye thought in silence. She was not an old fogey, but according to her teaching experience, only few students participated in college entrance exams at Senior Two, and those students were usually freshmen that skipped to Senior Three.

But Gao Peng was an exception. He had really good grades. The only thing that he needed to be concerned about was this year's Monster Trainer Cadet Evaluation.

Then Murong Qiuye realized that the Monster Trainer Cadet Evaluation was a newborn policy, which was set this year. There was no similar policy in the past. Therefore, actually there should be no big gap between cadets at Senior Two and Senior Three.

And, just as Gao Peng mentioned, if he wasn't able to pass the exam, he could stay down for another year.

Gao Peng would never know how many thoughts flashed across his headmaster's head within such a short time. In his eyes, she was just sitting behind the table in silence…

"Are you sure?" Murng Qiuye raised her head and asked seriously.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," Gao Peng nodded.

There was nothing worth learning in high school. Besides, he had few friends there. It would be tough for him to stay there for one more year.

Since he lost his parents, Gao Peng was more mature than his peers. It was a good and a bad thing.

The situation in college might be no better than high-school life, but since only three years had past since the Cataclysm, people were still seeking a way out. No perfect system had been established yet. It would be possible to find that a student's Familiar was stronger than a teacher's.

But what really attracted Gao Peng was the open, free atmosphere in college.

After all, to a high school student, college life was bright and happy.

Murong Qiuye didn't reply Gao Peng at once. She pondered for a long while, and finally nodded slowly. "I will report this to our grade director. We need to report to school about specific implementations, but there should be no big problem."

"Thank you so much, Ms. Murong." Gao Peng appreciated her help.

"Well, how about you go back first. Class will be over soon, so don't bother the other students. They still have night study." Murong Qiuye waved her hand and let Gao Peng leave as quickly as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 49: Mint Cat

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Mr. Gao, are you free today?" Gao Peng received a call from Liu Senlin right after he left school.

"What is it?" Gao Peng stopped.

"I would like to invite you to a meal. I have a few other friends who will be attending as well. I hope you can grace us with your presence and allow me to introduce them to you." A hint of flattery could be heard from Liu Senlin's end of the line.

But it was hard to blame him for that. After all, the survival of his company rested largely in the hands of Gao Peng.

Gao Peng thought for a bit. There was still quite a bit of food in the refrigerator, so he did not need to worry about Dumby starving at home.

"Alright, I am free today, I'll be there-" before Gao Peng could finish, a black sedan in front of the school gate slowly drove over and stopped in front of him.

The car windows wound down. Liu Senlin was sitting inside, all smiles.

"Sorry for troubling you." Gao Peng put Da Zi in the trunk then took a seat in front. It was only then that he noticed that there was a 17-18 year old girl sitting in the back seat. She had neat, shoulder-length hair.

"It's no trouble at all. It's on the way, actually," replied Liu Senlin with a laugh. "My daughter coincidentally also studies at your school. I'm here to fetch her today."

"This is the second time you've been to my school this year. The first time was on the first day of school," muttered Liu Zhaoyu from the backseat quietly.

Liu Senlin kept silent.

Mao. At this moment, the sound of a cat's meow came from the back.

This cat's meowing was a little unorthodox. Instead of the usual "meow," it went "mao."

Liu Zhaoyu gently stroked the chin of a white, long-tailed cat sitting in her lap. The cat's eyes squinted happily and it lazily lied on its owner's lap without moving at all. She looked curiously at Gao Peng, who was sitting in front.

This person was from the same school and looked around her age, but he could actually make her father personally drive over to their school.

Gao Peng leaned back on his seat and began to nod off, but Liu Senlin suddenly spoke from the driver's seat. "Mr. Gao, if you have the time, do you think you could help Zhaoyu and take a look at her Familiar?"

Liu Zhaoyu was surprised. How did she get suddenly involved in this?

"I'll be in my studio this Saturday and Sunday. She can come find me at my studio this weekend," replied Gao Peng.

"Mm." Liu Senlin kept quiet afterwards, concentrating on his driving. The atmosphere in the car turned silent.

After a short while, the sedan stopped at the entrance of a neighborhood. Liu Senlin turned around and spoke to Liu Zhaoyu. "Go home first, ok? I still have some stuff to do with Uncle Gao."

Through the car windows, Gao Peng managed to see the Familiar that Liu Zhaoyu was carrying in her arms. It was a large, long-tailed white cat that was around a foot and a half long. Its eyes were squinting as it lay in Liu Zhaoyu's arms, but they were crystal clear, like green-colored amber.

[Monster Name: Mint Cat

[Monster Level: 12

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Attribute: Wood

[Monster Weakness: Water

[Requirements for Promotion to Excellent Grade: …

A cat Familiar. That was a rare sight.

After the cataclysm, many cat species underwent mutations, but almost all of them became uncontrollable.

It should be known that cats are said to be insane animals, and that it is not possible to know what goes on in their minds. Especially after they went through mutations and gained greater intelligence; they simply became more insane.

After the cataclysm, many cat monsters fled the human-inhabited cities, making cat Familiars a rare sight.

The sedan left the neighborhood and headed towards the outskirts of the city.

"Who are these friends of yours?" Gao Peng asked curiously.

"You will find out when you arrive, Mr. Gao," replied Liu Senlin with a nod.

Finally, they stopped in front of an antique-looking traditional Chinese mansion.

They alighted and went into the mansion. Only then did Gao Peng realize that this was a mountain villa transformed into a high-class restaurant. It had been refurbished to include a landscape garden. There was even a small footbridge and flowing waters that gave a Jiangnan feel.

This would be the work of a master designer that was proficient in both Northern and Southern classical Chinese garden designs.

Walking through the courtyard, they entered a first grade patio. There were already around a dozen people seated inside, both male and female. When they saw Gao Peng, they all looked at him as though they were sizing him up. Although they did not seem to be looking down on him, there was still a look of scrutiny in their eyes.

Gao Peng knit his brows. Being stared at with this kind of look made him feel very uncomfortable. If not for Liu Senlin, he would have simply turned around and left.

Before Gao Peng could ask anything, Liu Senlin enthusiastically introduced them to him. "This is Captain Song Si of the Firefly Hunter Team, this is Captain Jiang Gu of the Heavenly Star Hunter Team…"

In one breath, he introduced everyone seated there to Gao Peng.

Hunter Team was short for Monster Hunter Alliance Team.

Gao Peng's eyes narrowed. When Liu Senlin talked about meeting his friends, he thought he would simply be meeting with Liu Senlin's close friends in his everyday life. But right now, every single one of them seated here were representatives of Monster Hunter Teams. This was definitely no mere coincidence.

If they wanted him to raise some of their Familiars, Gao Peng would definitely not reject them. After all, no matter which of them chose to work with him, it would mean having more business.

But if they went through Liu Senlin to get his services, that would be unethical. Liu Senlin could very well have used his connection with Gao Peng to get some benefits from them, and the thought of that made Gao Peng very unhappy.

Gao Peng did not like to involve business and other complicated matters in his friendships with others.

Furthermore, if he really wanted to be calculative about things, he and Liu Senlin's relationship was purely that of a work partnership. In this relationship, it was Liu Senlin that owed him, instead of the other way around. The number of commander tier Familiars that he had raised for Liu Senlin was definitely worth much more than the pay that he received.

Gao Peng simply nodded in response to Liu Senlin and sat down with a neutral expression on his face.

At the center of the patio was a small fountain. Surrounding it was a stone table that was shaped like a ring. The ring-shaped stone table even had some delicate pulley mechanism that allowed the table to rotate.

Waiters came forward and placed various delicacies on the stone table. The dishes had everything: color, fragrance, taste. They were extremely appetizing.

While they were eating, Gao Peng would often be asked about Monster Breeding. From their tone of voice, Gao Peng could easily tell that they were testing him, or insinuating what they thought of his abilities.

One of the captains was even downright aggressive in his manner of speech. "How are you so sure that this must be the right method of training? I consulted Mr. Zhang before, and Mr. Zhang is an experienced intermediate level Monster Breeder. He said that my Familiar can't eat pumpkins and durians." This was an example of the kind of questioning Gao Peng received.

Gao Peng restrained himself and replied all these questions politely. The moment something else was mentioned, he would take the opportunity and attempt to change the topic.

He did not behave like the typical overpowered web novel protagonist, flying into rage and flipping the table the moment he felt unhappy. Doing so would definitely feel good, but only for a moment. There would definitely be many repercussions for such behavior.

In the real world, no one would give you 30 years to get stronger. They would simply nip any potential threats in the bud.

Gao Peng definitely wished that he had what it took to simply tell all these people he did not wish to talk to to get lost. But he did not have the ability to do so yet. For now, he could only obediently play by their rules.

After eating, Gao Peng let out a sigh and said, "My apologies, I am new to this field and my skills are mediocre. Besides, you all here are representatives of the top teams amongst Monster Hunters; such an important role is too heavy a burden for a high schooler such as myself to bear. I would not know how to bear the responsibility, should any accidents happen." With that, Gao Peng refused Liu Senlin's offer to drive him home with thanks, and headed home after calling for a taxi.

"This kid doesn't know what's good for him. Hmph," said Heavenly Star Hunter Team's Captain Jiang Gu coldly. He was a little annoyed. In his eyes, Gao Peng should have felt honored to be allowed to raise his Familiars. He was, after all, a big name in Chang'an. Working with him, Gao Peng could easily receive a lot of benefits, and gain a good deal of fame as well.

All the captains present had multiple decades of experience in their fields. They could easily tell that Gao Peng was unhappy and uninterested.

In their eyes, this was just the stubbornness of a child.

"Forget it, he's just a child. Captain Jiang, you surely won't hold it against a little boy, right?" Song Si smiled gently. She did not take Gao Peng's childishness to heart at all.

"Hmph, of course I won't be so calculative with a child," said Jiang Gu as he picked up a piece of sliced beef with his chopsticks.

"Alright, alright, let's continue eating then. It's nothing much, just a small matter. Manager Liu meant well by inviting us all here anyway," said one of the captains to lighten the mood.

The little conflict during the meal ended like this.

The various Hunter Team captains did not think too much of the matter. Although Gao Peng did leave them with a bad impression, no one did anything like going out of the way to make trouble for him. After all, everyone there was an adult and they were busy with their own lives.

As everyone left, Liu Senlin sighed. This time he had failed to get into the good books of both parties, and offended both sides instead.

Report chapter

Chapter 50: Fighting for Epic

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Seeing Liu Senlin get stuck in a dilemma, many people present came to comfort him.

Then the crowd sat together chitchatting. Actually, these "strong hunters" in others' eyes were not as tough and cold as people thought. They were also common people with feelings. The difference might be that, they were able to solve some "big and challenging" things within a meal through minutes of chatting.

When the gathering came to the end, some people left early for other activities.

Some female hunters stayed together discussing something on their way out of the villa.

At last, there was only Liu Senlin and Tianxing Hunting Team captain, Jiang Gu.

Previously during the meal, the person whose comments were the most trenchant were his.

"He is just a kid, why bother?" Jiang Gu was confused. He owed Liu Senlin before, this time he was doing Liu Senlin a favor as payback. Liu Senlin asked him to object to Gao Peng a bit; better piss Gao Peng off.

Liu Senlin replied with a smile, "Well, next time we can have dinner and some nice conversations together with him. You can ask him to take a look at your Familiars."

Jiang Gu frowned, stepped back and said in a cold tone, "No, don't bother. I did so for returning the favor. Don't worry; I won't say a word about today. You helped me once, and I just paid you back. Now we are quits. Bye."

He turned around and walked away directly. He had no more words with this astute old fox.

He was unwilling to work with him. It was too exhausting to deal with a person like Liu Senlin. Watching Jiang Gu leave, Liu Senlin smiled.

He paid the bill, then left the garden club.

Sitting in the car, he took out his phone and called Gao Peng.

Gao Peng had just arrived home. Da Zi was excited to come back. It crawled around the house, sometimes slightly raising its antennae, shaking from left to right. Everything looked new to it.

The phone rang at the same time. As Gao Peng took out his phone, Liu Senlin's name appeared on the screen.

He was not going to answer the call, and pretended not to hear it.

But he thought for a second, and felt that ignoring the call was childish, so he finally answered it.

From the other side of the phone came Liu Senlin's apology. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Gao. What happened today was all on me. I should have told you their identities beforehand. I never thought that they would behave so rudely today."

"Don't worry. It won't drive me mad," Gao Peng replied indifferently.

"Trust me, Mr. Gao; since they dared to offend you, they offended me, too. From now on I…"

"Du, du, du…" the busy signal came into Liu Senlin's ear. He slowly put down the phone, looking confused. Then he felt that Gao Peng was behaving childishly.

Humans know ghosts' horrors; ghosts know humans' viciousness… Gao Peng gave a deep look, and curled his lip with a faint smile.

In his status bar, he observed not only a monsters' status, but a human's as well. Humans' statuses were alike, and not worth mentioning.

At the time that Gao Peng was blamed by the others, he had noticed that Liu Senlin's status was healthy (secretly pleased).

On the contrary was Jiang Gu, the harshest; his status was healthy (guilty).

What was Liu pleased with? What was Jiang feeling guilty about?

Gao Peng smiled faintly. To be honest, sometimes he'd rather not to see the others' statuses.

For the more he read, the more tired he felt.

But sometimes it was fun to read the status bar, for monsters had simple emotions, while only humans had varied feelings.

He hung up the phone, and put it on the tea table.

He threw this aside quickly. Humans in this world could not be simply divided as "black" and "white."

There was no absolute "white," nor absolute "black."

The most common thing was "gray," the combination.

Gao Peng huddled himself up, cuddling a pillow, and turned on the TV.

It was eight p.m., and most channels were displaying Coalition News.

A big event, which was related to the whole coalition, was on the news.

"United Dragons Group's BlueMagic Monster Familiar Gene Enhancement Serum was exposed to have strong side effects. Many malignant mutations are found in Japan after Familiars take BlueMagic Monster Familiar Gene Enhancement Serum. United Dragons Group announced that it will recall BlueMagic Monster Familiar Gene Enhancement Serum worldwide. Meanwhile, customers who have bought this product can return it in United Dragons Franchise House and get a full refund back without service charge.

"At present, scientists from many countries declare that this gene enhancement is uncontrollable, and the public should face this gene enhancement serum positively and actively. Coalition News reported."

In the screen, a ten-meter long Taupe Rock Python was rolling on the ground, showering in blood, while new wounds broke here and there.

It gradually slowed down, and finally it lay on the ground quietly.

In Gao Peng's eyes, its status had changed to Medium Injured (Blood Deterioration).

The picture shifted into another piece of news.

"The first Yangcheng City Dog King Competence contest closed successfully yesterday. Participants in this competition came from Yangcheng, Rongcheng and Pengcheng. Twenty-one year old genius Monster Breeder Han Ning won the championship as the first Yangcheng Dog King. As reported, Hang Ning is still a college student, he is currently a junior student in Yangcheng Institute of Technology…"

On the screen, a young man in a black and white combat suit was standing on the podium, cold faced. Lying next to him was a 32-foot long, 16-foot tall silver large breed dog, its hair glistening like a silver waterfall, its huge body offering great pressure.

[Monster Name: Starry-Fall Dog

[Monster Level] Level 39 (Commander)

[Monster Grade: Perfect

He was 21 years old, which meant that he was probably one of the first Monster Trainers who signed the Blood Contract.

Within only three years, he had trained his Familiar to Commander level, as well as Perfect in grade. He must be one of the top monster trainers.

Gao Peng looked at the triumphant Starry-Fall Dog, then turned to his Da Zi and Dumby.

He still had a long, tough way to go. But, it wouldn't take too long.

Deep in Gao Peng's heart, emotion was surging fervently, like boiling water. Weekend, studio, cultivation room. It was a special day, for Dumby was going to upgrade to Epic grade.

Gao Peng held a black Ghoul Elite Monster Core Crystal in hand. Dumby stood in front of him, flames burning ragingly in its eyes. It was eager to eat this Monster Core Crystal. But without the master's order, it dared not to step forward. So it stood still like a spire, flames blazing more heavily in its eyes.

It stared at its master grinding the Monster Core Crystal into the grinder, then pouring out the powder into the ready-made potion.

Guru guru–

As ground black core crystal went into the potion, a large number of bubbles rose to the surface…

Outside the studio, the elevator opened, and several people walked out. The one walking in front was Liu Zhaoyu in a floral plaid skirt. A Mint Cat followed her.

Behind her were two girls her age, looking around curiously.

Report chapter

---

Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 51 - Blood-Thread Heart online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 51: [Special Characteristic: Blood-Thread Heart

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Hey, Zhaoyu; so this is the studio that belongs to that Uncle Gao of yours?" one of the girls who was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt thought of something funny. "You said that Uncle Gao was around your age. Is it because he looks very old?"

Addressing a boy her age as "uncle" really made Liu Zhaoyu very uncomfortable.

Liu Zhaoyu rolled her eyes at the girl who spoke and said, "Chen Jianglan, I already said, it was my dad that made me address him that way ok?"

"Welcome to Flying Roc Studio. Can I ask if the three of you have an appointment?" At the front desk, Xun Quanquan smiled at the three of them. "If you have an appointment, I can help you to contact my boss ahead of time."

"Huh? Your business is that booming, that we actually need an appointment?" Chen Jianglan was stunned and was in slight disbelief.

Was business that good?

Liu Zhaoyu was stunned too. She looked at the empty main hall and the workshop that was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

She remembered that her dad had said that this Uncle Gao's Monster Breeding abilities were extremely impressive. Her dad had described him as though he was the number one genius in Chang'an.

The only problem was that this genius had his eccentricities. His fees were extremely high.

It was because of his fees that he lost many of his customers.

Xun Quanquan coughed, but her expression remained unchanged. "You can still consult our boss even without an appointment, but that will have to depend on his mood."

ROAR-

A low rasping roar came from the breeding room. It was as though there was a wild beast inside trying to hold back its sounds.

Xun Quanquan cowered in fear. Today, she saw her boss bringing a huge skeleton into the breeding room.

Other kinds of monsters were still alright, but she had no love for ghoul-type monsters. The thing she feared most was ghosts.

Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum…

The whole floor rang with this dull, muffled sound.

Suddenly, everyone on the floor felt as though they could see a heavy leather drum being hit repeatedly.

Boom, boom, boom…

The beating of the drum grew louder and louder. It felt as though each beat gripped at their hearts, tighter and tighter!

"Ugh-"

Many people clutched their chests in pain and fell to their knees. Their hearts were beating faster and faster, even disrupting the rhythm of their breathing.

It was like being dumped into water when you could not swim. The more you wanted to breathe, the more you find out that you are unable to do so.

The dull beating sound suddenly came to a stop.

The air was filled with the sound of people all taking in a deep breath of air.

Xun Quanquan almost cried from the ordeal. Was her life in danger just by going to work?

Then, they suddenly smelled the faint odor of urine in the air. Their eyes turned curiously to the girl in jeans and a tank top who was squatting on the ground. Her face was flushed and she was looking downwards, sobbing quietly.

Chen Jianglan's face was flushed with anger. This studio of Liu Zhaoyu's Uncle Gao was a horrible place!

Xun Quanquan saw the situation and reached below the counter to take out a set of clothes. "These are some clean clothes. If you don't mind, you can wear them first. The restroom is over there."

"Thank you," said the tank top girl in a voice as quiet as a mouse. She took the clothes and hurried into the restroom.

In the breeding room earlier, Gao Peng had realized that something was wrong and immediately ordered Dumby to deactivate its ability.

What happened earlier was caused by Dumby naturally unleashing its ability after suddenly evolving.

After evolving, Dumby had grown much taller than when he was first brought back home by Gao Peng. Standing upright, its full height was close to four meters, almost reaching the ceiling. The growth in Dumby's body size had occurred slowly, a bit at a time, at Gao Peng's home. The color of Dumby's bones had also turned into a deep silvery-gray. Strands of dark red blood threads were wrapped around each of its joints, like coils of steel wire.

Its originally empty skeleton now had a dull red heart.

Around the heart were the same strands of blood threads that were connected to the blood threads present all around its body.

The heart rose and fell as though it were alive. The rising and falling occurred at a very slow rate. It roughly "breathed" only once a minute.

With careful observation, one would be able to see that the "heart" was formed from densely packed blood threads.

A heart made out of threads of blood. An extremely vicious and horrifying appearance.

The evolution was finally a success, and Gao Peng could heave a sigh of relief.

[Monster Name: Skull Ghoul Ape

[Monster Level: 16

[Monster Grade: Epic

[Monster Attribute: Ghoul

[Special Characteristic: Blood-Thread Heart (Effect 1 activated effect: Consumes a certain amount of blood-threads in order to form a blood-thread heart. While possessing a blood-thread heart, all aspects of the Skull Ghoul Ape's body are strengthened. This effect is lost when the blood-threat heart is destroyed. Effect 2: Consciously activating the blood-thread heart will trigger heart resonance. Through this, it can control the beating of hearts.)

[Monster Weakness: Light

[Requirements for Promotion to Legendary Grade:…

Gao Peng took a look at the materials needed to promote to legendary grade. Just one look and he was horrified. He had never even heard of many of these materials.

Other materials, such as a Heart of the Undead and River Styx Underworld Root, sounded like rare and priceless materials.

A lot of these were things that even money could not buy, simply because no one actually knew where to find them.

Gao Peng even had his suspicions whether or not some of them even existed.

But what are special characteristics exactly? Gao Peng wondered. The water bear possessed one, and now Dumby had developed one as well.

As Gao Peng wondered, the large black words saying "Special Characteristics" flashed.

Following that, information regarding it suddenly appeared in his mind.

Special characteristics are abilities that monsters obtain after achieving enough growth in a certain area of development.

Special characteristics can be divided into two types; inborn ones and developed ones.

Inborn ones were like the water bear's. By naturally possessing certain traits that cause the monster to excel in certain areas, something akin to a species-specific skill is developed. This is a special characteristic.

Developed special characteristics appear in monsters that reach a certain grade. When a monster reaches the epic grade for the first time, it will have the certain chance to develop a special characteristic. From the epic grade onwards, every time the monster manages to be promoted to a higher grade, there will be a chance to develop a special characteristic.

There is no difference between the two types and no distinction between which is better.

Special characteristics are not the same as a monster's skill or move. This is not a game, so there is no such thing as a monster skill or move anyway.

If a monster can control fire, there is no such bullsh*t as being able to conjure a fireball and not being able to conjure a pillar of flame. How well flames can be controlled by a monster is determined by how developed a monster's ability is.

A special characteristic was just like adding an additional module to a monster's basic abilities.

In simple terms, a monster can be described as a gun. Its special characteristics can be described as a scope, bullet clip, handle, buttstock or other gun parts that can be added onto the gun.

In even simpler terms, one can view special characteristics as the awakening of a monster's latent talents.

Gao Peng's eyes were shining as he looked at Dumby. Right now, Dumby looked positively domineering.

Epic grade!

Its silvery grey bones gave off an ice-cold glow and the dark red strands that ran across its bones gave it a bit of grimness. In the center of its chest, its rows of ribs crossed each other like metal spikes protecting the dark red heart within it. Blue soul flames could be seen burning brightly as its head looked downwards.

They left the breeding room.

Report chapter

Chapter 52: Excessive Heatiness

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Dumby gradually walked out from the breeding room, face lowered, slow paced but steadfast. Dumby looked bony, but actually it was quite heavy.

Its skeleton seemed to be made of iron. It stepped on the foam floor with dull thud.

Dumby was too conspicuous, Gao Peng let his worker get Dumby a coarse black cloak to cover it up.

Dumby put the hood on, and two ghost flame were gleaming in the dark hood. Sometimes silver-gray bones appeared under the cloak, looking cooler than before.

It seemed that Epic grade was the extreme level he could reach at present. If he kept going up, although he had upgrading methods, he couldn't have acquired the materials; some materials were even out of reach of human society.

So, his current focus was on cultivating Da Zi. Moreover, recently Gao Peng noticed something strange.

When Da Zi was at Level 9 Normal grade, the requirement for upgrading to Perfect grade was to grind Silverleaf into powder, blend it with water, and take it for a week; then have one Commander Electric Monster Core Crystal.

Now that Da Zi had reached Level 14 Elite level, the requirement became drinking Silverleaf potion for two weeks, then having one Commander Electric Monster Core Crystal.

As monster level goes up, will it require a material increase, too?

Gao Peng was astonished. But after considering for a while he figured out. It was the quantity of materials that increased; the variety of materials remained unchanged. It was equivalent to having meals. Suppose a kid needed one pound of rice to be adequately fed; then an adult needed ten pounds of rice to be full.

Then I need to take these into consideration for future monster breeding.

I can't have my cake and eat it too. I can suppress Familiar levels to control material consumption. But a Familiar's combat power will be greatly affected if its level remains unchanged.

How to balance the two parts and make both work, all depends on myself.

"Uncle Gao." Liu Zhaoyu looked timidly at Dumby. She witnessed Dumby's previous real appearance when it came out, and she also saw how this big guy put its dark cloak on.

She was about to be suffocated by the scary scene she would probably not be able to forget it in the next several months.

"Don't call me Uncle Gao, we are at similar age; I'm not used to it," said Gao Peng.

"Oh," Liu Zhaoyu nodded sensibly.

"You can call me Mr. Gao, or Master Gao," Gao Peng added.

"As usual, you know how I charge. You pay first. Your Familiar is an Elite Normal Mint Cat. According to my fee scale, it will be 60 points. Thanks for your patronage."

After receiving the fee, Gao Peng called the Mint Cat, which was waiting beside Liu Zhaoyu's foot. "Come here~"

The big white cat stared at Gao Peng alertly, frozen in place like a sculpture.

It hesitated for a while, and finally moved towards Gao Peng tentatively.

"For the sake of your father, your Mint Cat's upgrading material fee is on me," Gao Peng told Liu Zhaoyu sincerely, with a "I'm very kind" look.

Liu Zhaoyu appreciated him gratefully.

Gao Peng estimated the material cost. It took less than 2 credits for the Mint Cat to upgrade.

As for the rest of the 52 credits, those were pure profit, since he needed to share a 10% bonus with the studio.

An accident came when the Mint Cat took the materials. One step required medicinal bathing; after Gao Peng prepared everything, the Mint Cat would rather have been dead than be dipped in water.

Its hair bristled, and it hid in the corner goggling at Gao Peng alertly, like a king glaring at a traitor.

It meowed angrily, threatening Gao Peng.

Meow…

Gao Peng didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He pointed at the Mint Cat. "Are you coming over or not?"

"Meow!" the Mint Cat didn't move.

"Alright, Dumby, go catch it." Gao Peng instructed Dumby, who stood still behind him.

Dumby obeyed the command. To it, there was no right or wrong. It only followed Gao Peng's instruction.

The master's words were the truth.

The Mint Cat jumped up to the wall behind it, its sharp claws reaching out. It easily hooked the wall. In a blink of an eye it got on the top of the ceiling, then turned back gracefully, its two legs thrust on the wall.

Pa.

Dumby correctly pinched it.

The Mint Cat seemed not to realize its situation, even after it was held in Dumby's hand, and its four short legs slipped, inert.

Finally when it realized that it was caught, it gave up struggling, and lay in Dumby's hand hopelessly. Dumby's palm was quite big, big enough to hold the Mint Cat in one hand.

Later, Dumby followed Gao Peng's order, and threw the Mint Cat into the medicinal bathing water, banging shut the bathtub cover.

The Mint Cat weakly pulled in the water. After being drowned in the water, its bones seemed to be melted, its hair was floating everywhere in the bathtub, and it looked like a hairy meatball.

Since there was a hole on the bathtub cover, Gao Peng didn't worry about suffocating the naughty cat.

About half an hour later, Gao Peng uncovered the bathtub. The quietly bathing cat suddenly screamed, and zoomed to Gao Peng. Only a white brushing shadow was left in the air.

Bang!

The Mint Cat slammed on the wall.

Dumby whipped it away.

The cat stuck on the wall like a wall sticker, then gradually fell down…

Dumby stood quietly behind Gao Peng, just like a Mighty Miracle God. The black cloak was held up by its huge skeleton, and waved in the air without wind.

Gao Peng glanced at the Mint Cat's status bar. It showed that the cat had upgraded to Excellent grade.

Mission completed. Gao Peg opened the door of Monster Breeding Room, inviting Liu Zhaoyu to come in get her cat.

This must have been the worst tempered Familiar he had ever helped! The cat dared to hurt him.

Liu Zhaoyu went into the room. The Mint Cat had been hiding at the corner. Seeing its master come, it jumped into her arms, rubbing her chest with its head.

"Uh, your nose is bleeding." Liu Zhaoyu patted the Mint Cat's nose distressingly. There were some fresh blood spots.

"It is heaty," Gao Peng explained.

"Heaty?" Liu Zhaoyu repeated, confused.

"Right. The tonic is too strong and effective for your weak cat. Its body can't receive so much nutrition at one time, that's why its nose bleeds." After Liu Zhaoyu left the room, Gao Peng calmly wiped out the blood spots on the wall.

He stretched himself. At that moment, Gao Peng's phone rang. It was Liu Senlin calling for in appreciation.

Gao Peng received his appreciation calmly and said it was nothing. After the last meeting, Gao Peng didn't change his attitude towards Liu Senlin, but he had some bad feelings about him.

Better to keep some things as secrets.

Report chapter

Chapter 53: Levitating Jellyfish

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After seeing of Liu Zhaoyu and her friends, Gao Peng went back to his office and took out the latest issue of a science magazine.

Usually, when there were no customers around, Gao Peng would order a few magazines to read. This way he could kill time and learn new knowledge at the same time, since the two were not mutually exclusive anyway.

One of the articles caught Gao Peng's attention. Its author was Ming Gandan, a rather well known writer in academia who often published articles in various famous magazines.

The article mentioned, "Wood generates fire, being warm by nature… Based on the nature of heaven and earth, majority triumphs over minority; hence water triumphs over fire. Proficiency triumphs over toughness, hence fire triumphs over metal… In conclusion, wood feeds fire, fire creates earth, earth bears metal, metal collects water, water nourishes wood. Metal cuts wood, wood parts earth, earth absorbs water, water quenches fire, fire melts metal."

These things that Ming Gandan mentioned were things that he had found from ancient works. He then brought up other kinds of ideas that people had already understood since ancient times and made more references to ancient works.

Gao Peng relished in his readings. He largely agreed with what was being written, but there were quite a few problems as well.

Based on the information that Gao Peng could see from monsters that he met in real life, most followed the interactions of the Five Elements.

But there were quite a few exceptions as well. In the first place, life was formed to give birth to miracles. Not all lifeforms followed the rules of the interactions between the Five Elements. There were uncommon monsters that did not follow these laws and even behaved in the reverse.

Just take the Mint Cat that he worked on earlier as an example. Water was supposed to nourish wood. According to the norm, water-type attacks on the Mint Cat would have the damage greatly reduced; but its weakness was water instead. Just the exact opposite of what was expected.

Gao Peng thought that he would have no more business that afternoon, but as he was reading, a few people entered the studio.

Within these few people, there was a familiar face: Big Money Ma. No, that's not right, it's Ma Jian.

In Gao Peng's mind, he secretly made an apology to Ma Jian for his presumptuous name-calling.

"Mr. Gao, I'm here to trouble you again," said Ma Jian, laughing heartily revealing his easy-going nature.

Behind Ma Jian were two people, a man and a woman. They were around the same age and, from the way they interacting with each other, seemed to be a couple.

However, what caught Gao Peng's attention was not the couple, but the rainbow-colored jellyfish that was floating quietly in mid-air next to the woman.

This jellyfish was octahedral. Below its body were many short and stubby tentacles that swayed gently. The most fascinating thing about the jellyfish was that instead of floating in water, it floated in air!

To think that there was such a fascinating life form that could move through the air as though it were the sea.

Gao Peng was deeply moved on the inside.

But the jellyfish was not the one that needed to be promoted. It was the Familiar that was lying on the side, that looked both like both a domesticated cat and a tiger at the same time.

It was not very large; only a four and a half feet in length. Its entire body was black as though it were covered in matte.

Gao Peng recognized this Familiar as a Tiger Cat. It was originally a cat, but the cataclysm it had awakened the tiger blood within it, giving rise to a monster with the agility of a cat and the tremendous power of a tiger.

Gao Peng looked at the monster. He was surprised to find that the Tiger Cat was only of normal grade. But that should be expected. After all, it did not make sense to find that many excellent and perfect grade monsters.

"My Tiger Cat here is at the excellent grade. I am here today hoping that you can help me raise it to a perfect grade," said the man. He spoke in a gentle manner and his mandarin was good.

Excellent grade?

Gao Peng showed a look of confusion. He took another look. It was indeed a level 18 normal grade Tiger Cat.

He opened his mouth wanting to say something, but he could not bear to say it out.

Talking too much can breed enmity.

Gao Peng did not know whether or not he should tell the man the truth. But he felt that he was not familiar with the man anyway and that it could be presumptuous of him to point it out.

"Mm, I'll charge you 60 Alliance Credits for this Tiger Cat then," replied Gao Peng with a nod.

The man was surprised and gave Ma Jian an uncertain look.

Ma Jian himself was stunned too. He immediately told Gao Peng, "Mr. Gao, I have already informed my cousin about your customs and your fees. He has no problems with them so you can charge your fees as per normal." After that, Ma Jian coughed and laughed sheepishly before continuing, "I know that you're a practical man Mr. Gao, but it's really alright. Please don't give a discount because of our close relationship. I know that doing business can't be that easy for you as well."

In that moment, everyone around could practically see the tail coming out of Ma Jian's behind, wagging furiously.

"I know. I have no intention of giving a discount. It's just that I can only accept this amount for the Tiger Cat, or else, it would be an insult to my reputation," Gao Peng replied blandly.

"Eh? What does this mean?" Ma Jian did not understand immediately.

But his cousin, on the other hand, did. He squinted as he looked at the Tiger Cat by his side and then back at Gao Peng. A smile appeared on his face.

"Very well, it shall be as Mr. Gao says then." With that, he took out his card and made payment without any delay at all.

A forthright man indeed!

Gao Peng loved doing business with such people the most.

Business was business and friendship was friendship. This was a good arrangement. After completing the deal, no one would owe each other anything!

After seeing Gao Peng take away his Tiger Cat, Ma Jian's cousin took out a mobile phone from his pocket and made a call.

"Get Xu San to answer. Tell him Ma Yi is looking for him."

There was surprise over on the other side of the line, followed by a pause.

"Master Ma, is anything the matter?"

"I got you to find me a Tiger Cat that was at least of excellent grade, did I not?" Ma Yi went straight to the point.

"…Yes, Master Ma. Are you unsatisfied with this Tiger Cat? If you're unsatisfied I can-"

"Let me finish," interrupted Ma Yi. "In the entire Chang'an City, you are not the only one in the Familiar trade. Cao Hu from City South, Li Laoer from City West; they are all dying to do business with me! Your older brother used to be my father's subordinate. On his account, I am getting whatever Familiars my company usually needs from you. I trust you."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"My sister will be having her birthday in a week's time. Her eighteenth birthday. She likes Tiger Cats, so I intend to give her a Tiger Cat of a high grade.

"But you! You gave me a normal grade Tiger Cat. What is the meaning of this?" Ma Yi's eyes were narrowed, like a ferocious tiger waiting to pounce and do grievous harm. "Do I look like I'm easy to fool?"

Over the phone, Xu San was breaking out in a cold sweat. His right hand that was holding on to the phone shook uncontrollably.

"Master Ma, I really did not know. Even if I did know, I would never dare lie to you of all people," pleaded Xu San. "When the Tiger Cat came I even arranged for someone to specially come over to examine it, and they said that it was of excellent grade."

"Alright. I would rather believe that you did not know of this," said Ma Yi. "We'll leave this matter as it is. I will not pursue it at this time, but I hope that there will not be a next time."

"Yesyesyes…" Xu San frantically agreed.

After seeing Ma Yi put down the phone, Ma Jian was absolutely confused. After making that phone call, nothing was done in the end. What was his cousin trying to do?

Ma Yi put the phone back in his pocket and looked around. Then he found a place to sit down.

He seemed to notice Ma Jian's confusion.

Ma Yi's stern face began to show a hint of gentleness as he spoke. "That Xu San has been a bit dishonest of late. I'm taking this opportunity to knock a bit of sense into him."

"Brother, do you really trust Gao… Mr. Gao that much?" Ma Jian hesitated for a long while before asking the question that had been bugging him the whole time.

He himself naturally trusted Mr. Gao, but it was his cousin's first time meeting him today.

"What I trust is not Mr. Gao, but my own two eyes," replied Ma Yi plainly.

Finally, after two hours, the Tiger Cat was successfully promoted to excellent grade.

Ma Yi got up and expressed his thanks.

Gao Peng took the opportunity to ask, "Pardon me for asking, but may I know where you guys bought this jellyfish?"

Ma Jian immediately replied, "Is Mr. Gao interested in the Levitating Jellyfish as well? This Levitating Jellyfish is a specialty of Pengcheng. Recently, many vendors have imported quite a number of them over and are selling them at the Wuqu Square Commercial Street now. This jellyfish is actually just a pet I bought for fun. It basically functions as a tag-along wallet."

With that, Ma Jian grabbed the Levitating Jellyfish, and then opened up the bottom of the jellyfish and tossed a bunch of keys into it. The keys simply vanished, as though they disappeared into another dimension.

Gao Peng saw this clearly. The keys were not swallowed into the body of the jellyfish but actually vanished right before his eyes, just like they were being swallowed into an unknown dimension.

Report chapter

Chapter 54: Poverty Gives Rise to the Desire for Change

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Thanks a lot," Gao Peng nodded in appreciation to Ma Jian.

Ma Jian smiled. "Hee hee, I will come back to you when my Purple Electric Mouse reaches Commander."

Since Familiars degrade one level when becoming a Commander, as evolution cost potentiality, its grade would decrease from current Perfect to Excellent.

A Familiar at a lower grade could reach its original level. As for improving a Perfect grade Purple Electric Mouse to Epic grade…

Alright, Ma Jian never thought about this.

In his eyes, only Advanced Monster Breeders had some probability of improving a Familiar to Epic grade.

As for higher Legendary grades… he only heard about Familiars that were born as Legendary, but he never heard any stories of upgrading to Legendary through training.

Levitating Jellyfish; it was that jellyfish Familiar's name.

It was Gao Peng's first time seeing a Space Familiar. This jellyfish was a rare Space monster.

Space!

It's a Space monster!

No matter in what novel, space-control was an abnormal, horrifying ability. But on Wuqu Square, Space monsters were sold wholesale. The sharp contrast made Gao Peng feel unreal. He turned on his laptop, researching Levitating Jellyfish online. Information immediately came out.

According to the materials, Levitating Jellyfish used to live in Pengcheng City's offshore area. By inference, during the cataclysm a group of jellyfish were infected and mutated by Space power. In the next a few years, they settled and thrived in that area.

Later, they were about to become extinct, as the other monsters were preying them on. It was said that their struggle gave rise to the desire for change.

Some Levitating Jellyfish finally burst out their capacity, and succeeded in flying with Space power. From then on, they lived in the air.

But later they were eaten by birds…

There was no place for them to live safely in such a big world.

In general, they lived a miserable life.

This species might have been the poorest Space monster. The ultimate reason was that Levitating Jellyfish had a Space attribute, so it could develop some extra abilities during later evolution and became strong. But it was only a possibility.

At present, except for floating in the air, and opening a small extra-dimensional space inside its body, the Levitating Jellyfish had no other use. And it was incapable of attack.

Luckily, its beautiful appearance and gentle temperament attracted human interest. Relying on human domestication, this species was able to survive.

Well, the most important reason was the Levitating Jellyfish didn't taste good; it had some bitterness.

"Pity!" Gao Peng sighed.

In Pengcheng City, this Levitating Jellyfish was a novel type of purse. It had no other use.

The extra-dimensional space a Levitating Jellyfish could open depended on its grade and tier. For example, a 10-level Normal Levitating Jellyfish would have an inside space as big as a basketball. This was quite small, and not able to contain many things.

But to Gao Peng, these were small problems. As long as the Jellyfish had the Space attribute, he was confident in increasing its grade. It was really rare to see Space monsters, let alone capture them.

After coming off work, Gao Peng took a taxi and went directly to Wuqu Square.

As he got off the taxi, he heard someone's hawking. Several trucks parked along the road at the edge of the square was a platform frame. On top of them stood some peddlers holding loudspeakers, advocating. "Hey, come and take a look, don't miss this! The newest fashionable unique purse, a flying purse, the most popular hot seller from Pengcheng, a novel pet! Come and take a look!"

It was crowded under the stage. Crowds gathered together waiting to see the show.

On the stage, a peddler held a Levitating Jellyfish in his left hand and an apple in his right hand. Then, as if making a magic show, he put the apple into the Levitating Jellyfish and released both hands.

In front of him, the Levitating Jellyfish waved in the air, trying to escape.

The way it fled was special. It looked like a small ball jumping up and down in the air. The jellyfish went up then fell down a little bit. It summoned courage to jump forward, then fell again.

But it was too slow. Even though it spent all its effort, it could only reach a normal- person walking speed.

The Levitating Jellyfish tried its best to escape for several meters. Then a big hand came behind it and caught it correctly. Puff, the Levitating Jellyfish complained, puff.

"The Levitating Jellyfish is good-tempered. This is a very gentle little monster," the peddler demonstrated. Using both hands he grabbed the Levitating Jellyfish then pulled it outward.

The jellyfish was stretched like a piece of rubber. Its colorful semi-transparent body gleamed in sunshine.

The peddler loosened his hands, and the jellyfish bounced back.

The jellyfish seemed to be knocked out, turning around and around in the air in a daze.

"Wow, so cute!" Girls' eyes lit up, being attracted by the stupid-cute Levitating Jellyfish.

Some girl gripped her boyfriend's arm, saying, "I want this little thing! May I?" Under a coquetry-attack, the boy was in a daze, too, just like that jellyfish.

The boy coughed and asked the peddler, "How much is this jellyfish, sir?"

The peddler corrected him. "It's a Levitating Jellyfish."

"Alright, alright, then how much is your Levitating Jellyfish?"

"One for 10 credit points," the peddler smiled. He stretched his hands, showing ten fingers. "No bargaining."

The smile froze on the boy's face. "Are you grabbing money? What else can this do except be pretty?"

Ten credit points equaled to 100,000 Alliance Dollars, which was enough to support a normal three-person family for two years.

"Sir, that's too expensive." The boy frowned, hesitating.

"No, that's not expensive; it is a Familiar! And it is the legendary, rare Space Familiar! Do you think this price is too high?" The peddler looked unpleasant. "Young man, my Levitating Jellyfish are shipped all the way from Pengcheng. You can hardly find them anywhere else!"

Then the peddler looked the boy up and down and relented, "Well, I can see your sincerity. If you really want one, I can give you 20 percent off!"

Even with 20 percent off, it still cost 8 credit points. The boy was hesitating. His family was rich; he thought the jellyfish would only cost 3 to 4 credit points. If so, he would grit his teeth and buy it. But seeing the eyes of his beloved brim with expectation, his heart was softened.

The peddler was glib-tongued. Plus, the Levitating Jellyfish was indeed novel and eye-catching with its pretty appearance. Within an afternoon, two thirds of them were sold.

Gao Peng walked to the peddler and asked straightforwardly, "Can I see the Levitating Jellyfish?"

The peddler smiled, passing the jellyfish to Gao Peng. "Here you go. Take a look as you wish, boy."

"No, I mean, can I see the rest of your Levitating Jellyfish? I want to pick one myself," Gao Peng refused gently.

Hearing this, the peddler paused, measuring Gao Peng with his eyes.

"Alright. Jay, take this handsome little gentleman to the backstage and let him pick one." The peddler waved his hand. These Levitating Jellyfish are all for sale. If this boy wants to pick one himself, then let him go pick one. It doesn't matter much.

Report chapter

Chapter 55: Silly and Dumby

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"All the Levitating Jellyfish are here, you can take your pick," said Jie as he opened up the rear compartment of the cargo truck. As the container was opened, rows of white lamps turned on.

The sides of the container were lined with large numbers of glass boxes. Within them were large amounts of Levitating Jellyfish. These jellyfish were all quietly drifting within their boxes. The white lamp light seemed to agitate them and they began to float around a little more uneasily.

In Gao Peng's eyes, the data of all these jellyfish appeared clearly in front of him. Whatever grade they were did not escape his eyes.

After scanning through all the jellyfish, Gao Peng was disappointed to find that there were no rare mutant variants. "Is that all the Levitating Jellyfish you've got in this container?"

Jie gave Gao Peng a curious look. "There are still some left in another container. Follow me."

They turned and headed towards another container. There were only slightly more than a dozen Levitating Jellyfish left in this one.

"We transported three truckloads of Levitating Jellyfish here for sale. We've already cleared out one truck and we've almost sold all of this one," explained Jie.

Gao Peng concentrated his eyes and quickly focused on one of the Levitating Jellyfish. This one was different from the rest. Its color was slightly darker and its movements were very fast!

If the movement speed of the other Levitating Jellyfish could be described as walking, this one was running.

"How much for this one?" Gao Peng pointed at it.

Jie took a look at the jellyfish then nodded his head and went back out to call the vendor. He was back very soon.

"My boss said that this is a rare mutant breed. It's a perfect grade Levitating Jellyfish King with a speed mutation. I can sell it to you cheap for 100 Alliance Credits," said Jie while thinking.

In Gao Peng's eyes, this was only an excellent grade Levitating Jellyfish with dual attributes of space and wind. Although it was rare, it was nowhere near the perfect grade Levitating Jellyfish King, according to the boss.

"That's too much," said Gao Peng disappointedly. "I do sincerely want to buy it. If you really want to sell it, I'll take it for 50 Alliance Credits."

The price that Gao Peng offered was fair. Over at Pengcheng a dual attribute, excellent grade Levitating Jellyfish would have sold for the same price.

If he could haggle for a lower price, naturally that would be best. But the problem here was that they had already realized that this was no ordinary Levitating Jellyfish. Gao Peng saw no point in any haggling and trying to be stingy, so he immediately laid his cards on the table and named his price.

To Gao Peng, the real value of this Levitating Jellyfish was not its current abilities, but the potential that it currently possessed.

It was also a potential that could be improved. This was what Gao Peng saw was the most important.

"Alright, 50 Alliance Credits it is," Jie agreed straightaway. Evidently, his boss had already given him a minimum selling price before he returned.

Gao Peng carried a cage and placed the Levitating Jellyfish inside.

He named the Levitating Jellyfish "Silly." Because, for something that got eaten by fish in the water, and eaten by birds in the air, there was no better name Gao Peng could think of.

[Monster Name: Levitating Jellyfish

[Monster Level: 4

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Space/Wind

[Monster's Likes: Sweet and fragrant fruit juice

[Monster Weakness: 1. Electric-type 2. Ice-type 3. Afraid of fish and birds, will become timid when faced with such creatures

[Requirements for Promotion to Perfect Grade: …

The third point under "Monster Weakness" had Gao Peng stunned.

Afraid of fish, afraid of birds. These jellyfish really feared being eaten.

Gao Peng went back to the studio to collect Dumby. Dumby and Silly; Gao Peng felt that his naming ability was pretty impressive.

Like many pets that existed before the cataclysm, the price for them was not expensive. The real cost came in buying their food…

Because Silly had the space attribute, it needed to consume materials with the space attribute in order for it to grow. Of course, normal ingredients could fill its stomach, but filling its stomach was all that those ingredients could do.

Space attributed ingredients were at least three times the price of other materials of the same quality. The price of things increased with rarity, after all.

Gao Peng stopped by a store to buy 200 catties of White Space Wood and left carrying it in a bag. White Space Wood sold for 3 Alliance Credits a catty, and was considered a basic space-type ingredient. Most stores would grind the wood to powder when selling it. The White Space Wood powder would then be mixed with water before being fed to the Familiar.

The army of heavy-eaters at home were increasing.

At home, Da Zi could hear a familiar set of footsteps as it lay on the living room floor. It raised its head, shook it left and right, and then excitedly crawled towards the door.

Halfway there, the door opened.

Da Zi froze on the spot.

It stared blankly at Gao Peng's right hand. Over there, he was holding on to Silly, the rainbow-colored jellyfish gently floating in its cage.

"Da Zi," Gao Peng laughed teasingly, "This is-" he wanted to introduce the family's newest member, Silly. But before he could finish, Da Zi had already turned its head around and began quietly crawling back to the bedroom. With a swish of its tail it closed the bedroom door shut.

Slam.

Is this… jealousy?

Gao Peng could not understand.

He then looked behind at Dumby. Dumby had grown to a really large size so it could not enter the house normally. Dumby lay down on the ground, turned its body to the side, and then slowly inched its way through the door.

Gao Peng waited for Dumby to make its way into the house before closing the door.

He realized that his house was a little too small. If Dumby grew any larger, there was no way it could still enter.

After shutting the windows and making sure there were no exits, Gao Peng let Silly out of its cage.

He could establish a Blood Contract with Silly, as its level was not high. It was only level four.

The main factor to consider when establishing a Blood Contract was the monster's level. The higher the monster's level, the more soul energy was consumed. The monster's grade had little to do with the amount of soul needed.

Throughout this period of time, with Da Zi's increase in level and with the promotion of Da Zi's grade, the strength of Gao Peng's soul had increased quite a bit. It was still not enough to establish a Blood Contract with Dumby, but it was definitely enough for a little level four creature such as Silly.

First, he went over to the kitchen and added water to some White Space Wood powder in a cup. Then, he poured some fruit juice into the cup as well.

Smelling the fragrance of the fruit juice, Silly excitedly turned around and drifted into the kitchen. It hovered around the kitchen bobbing up and down, and turning left and right.

It went around Gao Peng in circles.

Gao Peng laughed a little. "Stop going in circles already, this was meant for you to begin with. Drink up."

After drinking, Silly grew much closer to Gao Peng. It at least did not resist when Gao Peng tried to touch it anymore.

Bang, bang, bang.

The banging of the door could be heard from the bedroom.

Da Zi had closed itself in the bedroom but it did not know how to open the door now that it wanted to get out. Da Zi was getting anxious.

"Open, open, open," Da Zi's voice filled Gao Peng's mind. "Open, open, open."

Haha, Gao Peng could not help laughing. He went to pour himself a glass of water.

"Open, open… f* your mom!"

Pfft! Gao Peng spat out the water in his mouth.

Report chapter

Chapter 56: I Have a Colorful Hat

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng opened the bedroom door, his face clouded.

Da Zi ignored the master, crawling from the bedroom angrily, then huddled itself up under the sofa.

"You b*stard, get out from under there. Tell me, where did you learn those words?" Gao Peng pulled Da Zi out from under the sofa.

Da Zi was rattled. It was turning around in place, hiding its head under its butt, like a child who did something wrong.

Gao Peng was teasing Da Zi. He didn't really care for it.

Although these Familiars were not was smart as adult humans, they were still quite clever with strong learning abilities. Not sure when they learned it secretly.

After comforting Da Zi, Gao Peng dealt with newly bought Silverleaves according to requirements, then fed Da Zi.

Da Zi needed to take Silverleaves continuously for two weeks. Now that it had been eating for six days, it needed another eight days to finally take the Electric Commander Monster Core Crystal.

But the Electric Commander Monster Core Crystal was rare. It could be hardly found in market.

Well, it was not extremely rare; demand brought market. It only cost time.

Gao Peng found out that the average price of an Electric Commander Monster Core Crystal was 300 credit points.

Normal Commander Core Crystals cost one or two hundred credit points. The reason why the prices reached three hundred points were one, Electric Monsters were rare; and two, Electric monsters were usually very destructive and hard to hunt.

After all, it was not a kid game, but a real wild hunt. Electric monsters might kill a hunter due to lack of precautions.

Of course, 300 credit points was not very high. The act of killing any monster could be exchanged for numerous amounts of money, which would be sufficient to feed a family for their whole lives.

The unknown jungle was filled with danger. Nobody knew what kind of horrible monster they would meet. In addition, the hunting process itself was risky. After all, since the cataclysm, the wild was completely out of humanity's control.

Three days prior, Gao Peng had gone to the Monster Hunter Alliance and posted up his notice, paying a high price for an Electric Commander Monster Core Crystal. He was willing to pay 301 credit points.

The price he offered was one credit point more than the average price.

After finishing its food, Da Zi was sleepy. Silverleaf had some hypnotic effect on it.

One the other side, Gao Peng repeated his action. He cut his finger again, then put his finger on Silly's head.

A knife was not required. Normally needle blood collecting was doable, since in the contract process, blood was only a media to connect two souls through wound and blood.

If he used a needle tube to collect blood then drop it on his fingertip, theoretically it was fine to do so, but the process was too complicated with too many steps.

To stab his finger, collect a drop of blood, and then put the blood drop on the fingertip… It was way easier to directly cut his finger and let blood come out. Simple and effort saving.

Fuzzily, eyes closed, Gao Peng sensed a fragile ideological dimension.

The space was smaller than Da Zi's mind space, and weaker.

Deep in the ideological dimension, there seemed to hide a timid soul.

Gao Peng released his kindness. That timid soul trembled, then shrank. It was like a lonely kid huddling himself together in the dark.

The dark night outside the window made the kid nervous. Only by hugging himself could he feel some warmth.

Gao Peng tried to send his kindness, feeling that he was acting as a kidnapper.

The clock ticked away. Silly's soul was still hiding at the corner of its ideological dimension.

The connection between them suddenly broke. Gao Peng opened his eyes, looking at Silly helplessly.

In front of him, Silly seemed not to know what happened just then. Floating in the air, it waved its tentacle habitually.

Then it suddenly woke up and escaped hurriedly, hiding under the table.

Gao Peng kneaded his face, unsure of what to do. It seemed that he was being overhasty.

To sign a blood contract required both sides' agreements; one side's wishful thinking wouldn't cut it.

Silly had really high emotional insecurity. Gao Peng felt that when he was in its mind space. Silly's mind was very confused; so his feelings towards Silly's emotions were also vague and light. He could only feel its deep shyness.

Looks like I need to stay with Silly for a longer time.

Silly was not hard to get along with. Lowering its self-defense was the key point. Love would come in time. Right now their relationship was not strong. They needed more time to further develop their friendship.

The next day, Gao Peng went to school as usual.

To enhance his relationship with Silly, he brought Silly to school, too.

After ordering Da Zi to take good care of Silly, Gao Peng went to the academic building for class.

At noon, after he got off class and left the building, Gao Peng was surprised to find that Silly was lying quietly on Da Zi's head. Da Zi didn't resist.

Yesterday they disliked each other, now they seemed to be the closest of friends. Gao Peng was suddenly confused. I don't get Familiars' friendships.

In the afternoon, the sun was baking the concrete, and the training ground was dry and scalding.

Da Zi was training hard on the ground, and Gao Peng wore a colorful hat while instructing.

The hat was eye-catching, gleaming with beautiful colors. It was shining under the sun. It even caught many people's attention.

"That guy's hat is pretty… ugly."

"It seems to be colorful and semi-transparent."

Gao Peng ignored the surrounding discussions. On the edge of the colorful crystal hat, thick tentacles dropped down, making Gao Peng extremely ugly.

"Nice hat," Mu Tieying's voice rang.

"Thanks. But when did you learn to lie?" Gao Peng was calm. He took off his hat, stretched his hand into the hat… and took out a bottle of iced green tea.

Mu Tieying was confused.

Gao Peng handed the green tea to Mu Tieying saying, "Wanna have some? This is iced tea."

Mu Tieying shook her head. "No thank you, I prefer mineral water."

Then Gao Peng put his hand into the hat again, and took out a bottle of iced mineral water, which still had cold smoke coming off it.

"Your hat…" Mu Tieying finally couldn't help but ask.

"This is a Levitating Jellyfish, a Space Familiar," Gao Peng smiled.

Mu Tieying was suddenly enlightened.

She had heard about Levitating Jellyfish.

"How is your Lotus Seed? Has she recovered yet? I think she has changed a lot, she seems much braver than before." Gao Peng looked at Lotus Seed, who was staring at him bravely.

"She has almost recovered. Since last time, her personality has indeed changed a lot." Mu Tieying gently patted Lotus Seed's big head.

Report chapter

Chapter 57: Dragon Chicken

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Compared to a few days ago, Lotus Seed had indeed become more courageous than before. At least in front of strangers, she no longer showed fear and dared to look at them directly.

After happily chatting with Mu Tieying for a while, Mu Tieying left with Lotus Seed.

Silly, who was happy being a hat and was "playing dead" on Gao Peng's palm, finally came back to life. It got up carefully. The various bird-type Familiars that were flying around in the sky made it feel uneasy.

Gao Peng felt a moderate struggling motion coming from his palm as Silly gingerly levitated into the air while making a puchi puchi sound.

Then with a flop, it covered Gao Peng's head. It became a rainbow-colored hat. As a hat, it was not large, and was quite fitting. It was just large enough to cover the whole of Gao Peng's head.

Looking at the sky without saying anything, Gao Peng opened the bottle of chilled green tea in his hands and took a sip. Indeed, the green tea was better chilled.

Today's monster for battle training was brought in in a cage. It was a giant, metallic purple scorpion. Its size was huge. Even without its tail it was over six feet long. Its tail was as long as its body and its foot-and-a-half long giant claws glistened with a cold light.

This giant scorpion's entire body was purple and looked extremely strong. It was now curled up inside its cage and making dull snapping noises with its claws.

[Monster Name: Purple Metal Scorpion

[Monster Level: 14

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Metal/Earth

[Monster Condition: Healthy (Happy)

[Monster Weakness: Dark/Electric

[Monster's Likes: Clamping on hard objects with its giant claws

"Who here intends to challenge today's monster? There are plenty of scorpion-type monsters around Chang'an, so you will definitely run into one in future. You can take this as an opportunity to get used to the way scorpion-type monsters battle," said Instructor Chen with a smile.

Purple Metal Scorpion… The characteristics of this monster appeared in Gao Peng's mind. This was a type of scorpion that lived in the desert. Before the cataclysm, they inhabited the desert areas near Chang'an. After the cataclysm, they mutated and evolved into Purple Metal Scorpions.

These were a rare breed of non-venomous scorpions. Although non-venomous, they possessed a body that was highly resistant to poison, and were immune to most toxins.

These giant scorpions also had rather large claws which could be used to crush the bodies or heads of their prey. This particular one however was still quite a bit smaller than usual Purple Metal Scorpion, and was likely still in its growing phase.

An adult Purple Metal Scorpion would have a body nine feet long and a tail a whopping six meters long.

This Purple Metal Scorpion most likely inherited the temperament of most scorpion-type monsters like itself: vicious and brutal.

Snap, snap, snap!

The snapping of its claws was increasing in frequency. It looked as though it was trying to frighten its enemies. The Purple Metal Scorpion was snapping its claws excitedly. It seemed to be getting happier the more it snapped.

Something seems off…

The Purple Metal Scorpion was excitedly shaking its head and its tail. It was entertaining itself in in the cage, getting high on its own. If someone added some BGM right now, that would be even more appropriate.

Getting so happy just from snapping its own claws, ugh, what a stupid scorpion.

There was a look of spite in Da Zi's eyes.

Through this period of training, the Monster Trainer cadets had all gained quite a lot of courage and were no longer fearful of challenging these monsters.

"Instructor, I would like to challenge," said someone raising his hand. Other than Gao Peng, there were many others who raised their hands too.

Gao Peng merely watched quietly from the sides. The others could not see this monster's level and grade, but he could see them clearly.

In truth, the Purple Metal Scorpion was of a difficulty level that was a little too high for these kids. The Familiars of most of these kids were barely level 10, some were even only level 7 or 8. Furthermore, the Purple Metal Scorpion was even of excellent grade.

There was absolutely no contest.

At the moment, Da Zi was also of excellent grade and its level was the same as the Purple Metal Scorpion. The Purple Metal Scorpion was also largely immune to poison. In a head-on fight, the chances of winning would be 50-50.

That was why Gao Peng needed these kids to test the waters for him, to see if the Purple Metal Scorpion had other means of offense, just to be safe.

Gao Peng stood upright, with Da Zi by his side, arms crossed in front of him, wearing a stern expression on his face.

Along with his tough looking features, he appeared to have the demeanor of a pro. Of course, he would have looked even more like one without the rainbow hat on his head.

"Gao Peng, do you not intend to challenge the monster?" Zhang Renbai said to Gao Peng. Today's Purple Metal Scorpion was specially prepared by him for Gao Peng. In this five-man team, only Gao Peng's Purple-Backed Thunder Centipede stood a chance against the Purple Metal Scorpion.

"I'll leave this opportunity to the others this time. I can't always be the first to challenge the monster, it won't be fair for the others," said Gao Peng blandly with a shake of his head.

In the team, the rest of them all had some negative feelings towards Gao Peng, such as jealousy for instance. But after hearing these words from Gao Peng, their impression of Gao Peng changed immediately.

At the same time, a bit of guilt began to well up in their hearts.

We have wronged him all this while, they thought, little did we know that he was still being considerate of us for such things.

The corners of Zhang Renbai's mouth twitched. Of course I believe you… not.

As an instructor, he naturally had full knowledge of the capabilities of these Familiars.

Are you all rushing to your deaths?

But as an instructor, he was only in charge of training. He was not in the position to interfere in too many things. At most, he could choose which monsters were used to challenge the scorpion.

"You shall be the first to take the challenge then," Zhang Renbai shook his head, and pointed at the strongest Familiar after Da Zi.

It was a Dragon Chicken. It was called a Dragon Chicken but it was actually just a pheasant that mutated after the cataclysm. Its body was very meaty and it had a bright red crest atop its head. It was so red that it seemed as though blood could drip right out of it.

It was a monster that seemed to have given up on the ability to fly, and instead developed strong and tough muscles all over its body. Its large bulging muscles looked as though it would taste really good.

What am I thinking! Gao Peng hurriedly shook his head.

This Dragon Chicken was six feet tall. Its yellow eyes were slightly bloodshot and it had a black beak that was roughly the length of a human palm.

Gao Peng had seen this Dragon Chicken peck through a one-centimeter thick metal board during training.

Every step it took with its buff chicken legs was powerful and majestic.

This was the only other elite tier Familiar around other than Da Zi, and it was at a level 11. But sadly its grade was only normal.

The Dragon Chicken slowly walked into the cage. It did not immediately begin attacking, but cautiously circled around the Purple Metal Scorpion instead.

The Purple Metal Scorpion felt something enter the cage and stopped its claw movements.

As though it were annoyed that its own self-entertainment was interrupted, a fierce look appeared on the Purple Metal Scorpion's face as it turned to look at the Dragon Chicken.

The Dragon Chicken was evidently stunned to see such a huge scorpion for the first time. It cautiously continued to circle the scorpion, not taking the initiative to attack.

The Purple Metal Scorpion, too, began to turn its body.

But because of the way its body was, turning movements were difficult for it, making its movements stiff.

Bang!

Both scorpion claws slammed down hard on the concrete ground, giving off two dull bangs that rang almost at the same time.

The Purple Metal Scorpion furiously rushed at the Dragon Chicken.

Quit your d*amned circling, I'm done turning around!

Report chapter

Chapter 58: Backed Thunder Centipede VS Purple Metal Scorpion

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng bent over and patted Da Zi on the head. "Do you see that? Later on, take note of that scorpion…"

But very quickly, he noticed that there was something wrong. Da Zi was staring intently at the Dragon Chicken instead. It was on the verge of drooling.

Gao Peng gave Da Zi a good knock on the head. "I'm not telling you to look at the Dragon Chicken, I'm telling you to watch the Purple Metal Scorpion! Take note of its attack patterns. Later on, I'll be sending you up to fight."

Da Zi tilted its head to look at its master, then nodded.

The Purple Metal Scorpion was extremely fast. In a flash, it charged up to the Dragon Chicken, snapping viciously with its pair of pincers.

The Dragon Chicken's reaction speed was even faster. Using its strong legs, it leaped into the air, evading the scorpion's pincers.

But the moment the Dragon Chicken jumped, the Purple Metal Scorpion's long tail shot out like an arrow!

The explosive attack left a long afterimage.

Suuu——

The sound of an object cutting through the air was heard.

The Dragon Chicken had no time to evade the Scorpion and was pierced in the chest by its tail.

Thankfully, its strong muscles were not just for show. Only the sharp barb at the end of the tail managed to pierce through the Dragon Chicken's flesh. The rest of the round tail segments of the scorpion had not managed to penetrate the chicken.

Luckily for the Dragon Chicken, the Purple Metal Scorpion was not venomous. Otherwise, this one attack would have brought it to the ground.

The Purple Metal Scorpion applied downward pressure using its long tail and then took the opportunity to viciously clamp down on the Dragon Chicken's legs with its pincers.

The moment it looked as though it was all over, the Dragon Chicken suddenly shook off the tail barb in its chest with a frantic beating of its wings. A chunk of flesh from its chest tore off, sending blood spewing everywhere.

Then, at lightning speed, the Dragon Chicken pecked downwards using its sharp beak.

Peng!

The Purple Metal Scorpion's carapace tore apart like a layer of cardboard.

The area that was pecked caved inwards, and the area surrounding it became distorted and cracked. A pale yellow viscous liquid came oozing out of the Purple Metal Scorpion's wound.

In response to the pain, the Purple Metal Scorpion closed its pincers together even more tightly, and then viciously pulled them apart!

Si——

The audience outside the cage sharply drew in a breath of air.

All the boys who were watching inadvertently drew their legs closer together.

The Dragon Chicken suddenly grew stiff, its head gradually facing upwards. The sharp pain it experienced almost caused it to lose consciousness.

Thankfully, it managed to clinch its muscles tightly to prevent the Purple Metal Scorpion from tearing it into two.

But even so, two droplets of tears were slowly dripping from the corner of the Dragon Chicken's eyes…

Peng!!

While grasping the Dragon Chicken, the Purple Metal Scorpion brutally slammed the Dragon Chicken onto the cement ground. Once again, the Dragon Chicken was on the verge of losing consciousness.

This was a total mismatch of a fight.

The Dragon Chicken was inferior to the Purple Metal Scorpion both in terms of level and grade. The only thing that could give it a winning chance was combat experience. But even in that case, having spent its life in the city, the Dragon Chicken's combat experience could not compare to the Purple Metal Scorpion which had to fight for its survival in the wild.

The Purple Metal Scorpion crept forward, opening its chelicerae to prepare to eat up the Dragon Chicken.

The chelicerae are small limbs located at the sides of the Purple Metal Scorpion's mouthparts. A scorpion's mouthparts are usually not exposed, and they rely on their chelicerae to take in food.

Awoo– A flash of silver rushed into the cage as swiftly as the wind.

The Purple Metal Scorpion hurriedly released its pincers and retreated backward in shock.

The Silver Moon Wolf had charged into the cage and was glaring at the Purple Metal Scorpion. Its sharp fangs were showing and its gaze was ice-cold.

The Purple Metal Scorpion tried to intimidate the Silver Moon Wolf. It manically snapped its pincers together, giving off sharp snapping sounds in an attempt to scare the Silver Moon Wolf.

The Silver Moon Wolf simply continued staring it down.

The Dragon Chicken, which was lying on the ground, quickly rolled to its feet. Then it limped its way out of the cage. The strange thing was that it escaped in a very peculiar manner, with its legs closed tightly together.

With that, the Silver Moon Wolf began to slowly back out of the cage. The Purple Metal Scorpion seemed bitter at seeing its meal slip out of its pincers that way and started to charge the wolf. It only managed to take two steps before the Silver Moon Wolf's eyes flashed as if to say, "I've already warned you!"

The Silver Moon Wolf charged forward and became a silver blur. The Purple Metal Scorpion's pincers snapped shut but only managed to catch thin air.

With a simple twist of its body, the Silver Moon Wolf once again evaded the attack from the Purple Metal Scorpion's barbed tail. The Silver Moon Wolf's body turned a full 180 degrees in mid-air, and its tail lashed out like a cracking whip.

Peng!

The Purple Metal Scorpion was sent flying!

It spun a few rounds in the air before landing on the ground with a bang.

The Silver Moon Wolf elegantly turned its head and glanced at the Purple Metal Scorpion lying on the ground before slowly leaving the cage.

So COOL!

The audience outside the cage could not help but exclaim in admiration. Even if it was not the first time they had seen the Silver Moon Wolf in action, they were swept away just the same.

It was like watching a performance. Its movements were just so elegant.

The instructor's Silver Moon Wolf was only of normal grade, but its level was already at the maximum of 20. Its grade was the only thing limiting it from becoming a commander tier monster.

"Who else still wishes to challenge the Purple Metal Scorpion?" Zhang Renbai asked the remaining students.

A few of the students immediately shook their heads. The Dragon Chicken was a stronger Familiar than their own. If the Dragon Chicken had lost, they would just be sending their Familiars to be beaten up.

They thought back to how Gao Peng's Purple-Backed Thunder Centipede was always the first to challenge new monsters, and how they were only given a chance after the monster had suffered severe injuries.

They had been unhappy and felt that the instructor was biased for only allowing Gao Peng to challenge the monsters when they were in the best condition, leaving them with beat-up monsters.

This was because they did not possess Gao Peng's ability, and were not able to see a monster's grade and level. In their eyes, their own Familiars were not weak compared to Gao Peng's.

But now, they were forced to realize the truth.

Gao Peng's Purple-Backed Thunder Centipede was really strong.

"Go." Gao Peng tossed Da Zi a mealworm and fed it some water, just like a trainer preparing a star boxer before his fight

With its thousand limbs, Da Zi slowly crept into the cage.

At this point in time, the Purple Metal Scorpion had already crawled back to its feet. It was covered in dirt, making it look disheveled and beat-up.

Seeing the large centipede making its way over, the Purple Metal Scorpion's eyes flashed with a hint of craftiness. It retreated two steps, putting on a show of weakness.

Da Zi continued to charge forward.

The Purple Metal scorpion continued to back away.

Da Zi continued to advance.

As though cleverly sensing the right opportunity to strike its prey, the Purple Metal Scorpion moved forward instead of retreating. The distance between Da Zi and it shrank in a blink of an eye, and it attacked with its pincers.

Snap snap snap.

Da Zi had already anticipated this and spun around halfway through its charge. Its body turned 90 degrees at an odd angle to avoid the snapping pincers.

Following the pincers was the deadly barbed tail of the scorpion. It gave off a cold light as it stabbed towards Da Zi.

A hit!

But Da Zi's tough and smooth carapace caused the tail to lose its effectiveness. Although it struck Da Zi, it simply slid off to one side.

To make matters worse for the scorpion, at that moment Da Zi's carapace crackled with sparks of electricity.

Crackle crackle.

The Purple Metal Scorpion's tail recoiled sharply from the shock. By then, Da Zi had taken the opportunity to attack the Purple Metal Scorpion's side. With a mighty lunge, Da Zi head-butted upwards, almost causing the Purple Metal Scorpion to topple over.

But even if it did not flip over, its body was lifted partly off the ground. Da Zi dove under the Purple Metal Scorpion and bit down hard on its underside. Its mandibles were like sharp tiger fangs that ripped out a chunk of flesh.

The scent of blood excited Da Zi. Venom flowed freely into the Purple Metal Scorpion's body as Da Zi's mouthparts continually snapped at the Purple Metal Scorpion's flesh.

After Da Zi gained the upper hand it was no use, no matter how much the Purple Metal Scorpion tried to struggle.

Because of the way the Purple Metal Scorpion's body was structured, it was naturally slower at turning its body. By then, Da Zi had already coiled its body around the scorpion, like a giant anaconda wrapping around its prey.

Although the Purple Metal Scorpion was immune to most venom, Da Zi's was amongst the more potent of its kind. The Purple Metal Scorpion could not be immune to all its effects. With more venom introduced into its body, its senses were dull and its movements were slow.

The scorpion's pincers waved about feebly in the air as its eyes began to dim.

In Gao Peng's vision, the injury status of the Purple Metal Scorpion became more and more severe until it was already at a level where the font was dark red.

There was no saving the Purple Metal Scorpion. It was doomed to die.

Gao Peng opened up a bottle of water to take a drink. His anxious heart was finally at ease.

The battle between Da Zi and the Purple Metal Scorpion was decided in that one moment. If the Purple Metal Scorpion had gotten hold of Da Zi's body with its pincers, it would have gotten the upper hand over Da Zi, and Da Zi would have been the meal for its foe.

But unfortunately for the Purple Metal Scorpion, its habit of attacking with its pincers and then its tail had been figured out.

Zhang Renbai then ordered Gao Peng to stop. If Da Zi continued eating on, the Purple Metal Scorpion's innards would all be eaten up.

Gao Peng nodded his head and ordered Da Zi to release the scorpion and come out.

Da Zi was happily eating and was not pleased to be told to stop. But in the end, it stopped eating and crawled out of the cage. Da Zi's mandibles and head were covered in green blood. With its jaws opening and snapping shut, it looked absolutely savage.

In the cage, the Purple Metal Scorpion sprawled feebly on the ground, looking like a wilted plant. Its pincers were no longer snapping and it simply lay weakly on the cement floor.

Report chapter

Chapter 59: Outfield Training

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Looking at the pitiful state of the Purple Metal Scorpion in the cage that was on the verge of death, many of them did not have the heart to look on any longer. They turned and looked away.

Gao Peng shot a glance at these people, then focused his attention back to Da Zi. He took out a wet tissue and began wiping off the bloodstains that had gotten on Da Zi's carapace.

Right now they were placing monsters in cages to battle with them. There was even an instructor on standby to protect them, who would send in his Silver Moon Wolf to save them in situations of crisis.

Although the instructors could not have a 100% success rate of saving any casualties, there was at least a 90% chance that they would be in no real danger.

But once you really entered the wilderness, monsters there would not care about you, about your identity or your position.

In their eyes, YOU are the prey.

Delicious prey.

If these students did not adjust their mentalities properly, they would definitely stand to lose out.

At the beginning, Gao Peng was also rather softhearted. Just last week, the instructor had chosen a cute, Green-Furred Giant Hare as a training monster.

It must be said that, in this world, "attractiveness points" really did exist.

The cute giant hare ended up bleeding and mourning in the cage. Enduring such a sight was without doubt a huge trial for anyone with a kind heart.

It does not make any sense to scold someone for being kind-hearted. Having kindness and compassion is a good thing. It proves that there is still light in the world.

But sadly, there are also times where one must learn to be hard-hearted.

Being tough on the outside is not meant to hurt others. It is meant to protect yourself and to protect the things that are important to you.

Gao Peng remembered reading such a quote online before the cataclysm:

I don't care how dark the world is,

Nor what kind of authority you possess,

I just want all of you b*stards,

That are trying to hurt my little angel to understand,

That I will use my 50cm arms,

To wrest down your heads,

And stuff them up your *ssholes.

Under the piercing hot sun rays, anything that reflected light became piercing to the eyes as well.

Gao Peng gently touched Da Zi's ice-cool carapace. A cool sensation travelled from the carapace up to his palm.

Gao Peng patted Da Zi's head and gently said, "Take a break, you should be tired from battling."

Da Zi obediently lay down on the ground. Gao Peng took out a large umbrella and opened it up. They squeezed together quietly under the shade of the umbrella.

"Gather around. I have important news to announce." Instructor Zhang Renbai clapped his hands to gather the surrounding groups of students.

"You're more or less done with basic training now. From tomorrow onwards, you all can apply to head to the outfield training base. The duration of the training will be one week. We have already arranged with the school to allow for your absence. You all can discuss with your parents first after going home. The registration fee is 5 Alliance Credits," said Zhang Renbai in a loud voice.

Outfield training base?

Gao Peng was a little surprised. They were really sparing no expense on the training program.

"One last important reminder for all of you!" Zhang Renbai's expression was dead serious as he spoke sternly. "If you apply, you will have to sign up for a death insurance as well."

Silence came first, which quickly turned into an uproar, displaying all sorts of reactions.

"Sir, do we really have to pay for the application?" some students frowned in disappointment.

5 Alliance Credits was not a lot for most households, but it was not that small an amount either.

"Sir, shouldn't we be attending this training for free? Why do we still have to pay?" complained another student.

The instructor paused, then looked him in the eye, "You can choose not to go, or you could look for a private-owned outfield training base."

Another student added on, "Private-owned training bases cost 20 Alliance Credits for a week of training. The government's price is already more than fair. Also, does capturing monsters not take time and energy? Does building a training base not require manpower and money? Do you think the government owes you?"

The first student was at a loss for words and remained quiet.

The student who just spoke was clearly one who understood things. Gao Peng took a closer look at him.

Oh, so it was the owner of the Dragon Chicken.

The Dragon Chicken's legs were kept close to each other as it stood by its master. It was teary-eyed and its head was drooping, looking depressed.

"Other than paying on your own, there is another way," the instructor spoke, "that is to sign a contract with the Alliance Military. Under the contract, all training fees will be covered. You would not have to worry about them in the future, as they will all be covered by the government.

"Students that sign the contract will have to serve the military for eight years. After eight years it will not be mandatory to serve the army and you will be free to leave. Also, if you manage to get into military school, the time you spend studying in military school will count towards the eight years."

The eyes of some students from less well-to-do families lit up. They began to consider such an option.

Some of them were muttering to themselves, "If I get into military school, I'll be studying for four years, and that leaves only four more years of actual military service… It's an excellent deal!"

This was a smart policy that was employed by the government. Students were not forced, but given a choice whether or not to enlist into the military. The choice to enlist was also made really attractive as well. If one managed to get into military school, both the potential and the actual abilities of the student would become much greater than those who joined the military straightaway.

That meant a higher chance of cultivating strong individuals.

Having strong individuals serve for four years in the military and having normal soldiers serve for eight years; who benefitted more?

The answer: the government.

Other than the issue of the fees, the death insurance was something that was fearsome and foreign to most students.

"Will I die if I sign it?" someone asked, an unintelligent question.

That got him a look of contempt from the people around him.

"A Monster Trainer cadet's "college examinations" are different from other examinations, so it is best that you all make the best out of this special training opportunity," said the instructor sternly. "If you sign up for a death insurance, it does NOT mean that you will die, but if you maintain your level of intelligence, I will have to retract the word "not" from my statement."

The next day, when Gao Peng arrived at school, there were already rows of armor-plated school buses outside the school gates. The armored buses were fortified with additional iron plates.

They formed a long line from the school gate all the way out. There were at least thirty vehicles.

After paying the registration fees he got up on the armored vehicle. The inside was already full. The armored buses set off the moment they were full. All the Familiars were arranged to be transported over in a large truck that followed behind.

Rumble –

The low roar of the vehicle could be heard, but there seemed to be a shock-absorbing system installed. No matter how fast they were travelling, they hardly felt any vibrations.

The view outside the window was a blur as the landscape changed rapidly. Gao Peng felt dizzy just looking, so he closed his eyes and lay back on his seat.

Finally, the large armored bus stopped in front of a valley. A row of students got down in an orderly fashion from the bus. They took a deep breath, taking in the fresh air.

There was rich vegetation cover around the area, and there were clear signs that it was being used by people.

In front of them was a gigantic valley. With a look, Gao Peng guessed that the top was at least a few hundred meters up.

The way in and out of the valley was at a large gap that ran from the top to the bottom, practically splitting the valley into two halves. There were already three armored busses stopped in front of the valley, and there were many students standing about.

At the entrance of the valley were many heavily secured outposts. The soldiers on duty were all carrying guns loaded with live ammunition. They wore stern faces and were cautiously monitoring the surroundings.

"This is it, we've arrived," said the instructor who was leading the way. "We'll wait for the rest first. When you all go in later on, we won't be following you in."

Report chapter

Chapter 60: Mossy Derp Husky

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After everyone had arrived, Chief Instructor Chen gathered everyone over and said loudly, "Since all of you are standing here, it means that you have all signed up for this! There is no backing out once this training begins. If anyone chooses to back out in the middle of this exercise, it will mean forfeiting the entire training exercise!"

"What we want are not cowards!"

He gave everyone a sharp gaze, then continued coldly. "We will be issuing each of you your own identity wristwatch. It is installed with a GPS, a compass, as well as an emergency rescue button. Of course, it will have the basic functions of a watch as well.

All of you are already high schoolers, so none of you need any explanation on what these terms mean right? Is there anyone that needs me to explain it for them?!"

No one answered.

Chief Instructor Chen nodded, satisfied. He continued, "This valley is an outfield training base that has been cleared out by the military for your use! Don't worry, every inch of it has been swept clean by us and there will be no trace of any commander tier monster. In the valley, over 95% of the monsters are normal tier monsters and elite tier monsters only take up 5% of the total. Your mission this time will be to survive inside for a week!"

The entire group of high schoolers were in shock.

We haven't even learnt any skills for surviving in the wild. Isn't this a bit too difficult?

"There are a few safe houses in the valley which are made out of a special metal material. Basically, only monsters of commander tier and above would be able to break through the defenses of the safe house, so there is no need to worry about hiding in the safe house. There will also be a certain amount of food in each safe house. It will definitely be enough for a human to survive, but as for your Familiars… that will definitely not be enough food. Therefore, you all can safely rest in the safe houses at night. Of course, you can also choose to rest in the day and go out at night. Either way, you all will need to survive in the valley for seven days."

Then, Chief Instructor Chen paused, before adding on meaningfully, "There are a lot of ways for a human being to survive throughout the course of one's lifetime. How you choose to live depends on yourselves.

Whether you'll be eating sh*t or eating meat, depends on whether you can be tough on yourselves. Whatever it is, the best training opportunities have been given to you now. Whether or not you can make use of it is up to you."

After saying that, he added on with dry humor, "Don't worry, there's a GPS in each of your watches. Even if you do unfortunately get eaten up by a monster, we will be able to find it and avenge you, so that you can rest in peace even in the underworld."

With that, the bunch of students and their Familiars were brought into the valley, like a farmer herding his chicks into a pen.

After entering the valley, a loud clang erupted from behind them. The too-large metal doors had suddenly slammed shut.

Many of the students grouped together and began discussing in low voices. Some wanted to form teams, others planned to find safety in large numbers.

Some of them tried to invite Gao Peng to join their teams but they were all rejected.

His aim for this trip was to try to put into practice the survival skills that he had consolidated from all the books that he had read, and to train his combat abilities at the same time. Hence, he had no intention to form large groups. Large groups would become large targets and make it hard to achieve his training goals.

Gao Peng expected to work alone or in a small group of two or three. This way, with less numbers, it would be easier to move around.

"Curve wrecker Gao, want to form a team?" said Mu Tieying as she walked over.

His teammate had arrived.

Gao Peng nodded reservedly.

The two of them left together with their Familiars into the depths of the dense jungle.

In contrast to the dull city environment, the jungles were rich in monster species and were practically treasure troves of monsters.

Gao Peng raised his head. Perched atop a branch was a greyish white sparrow that was around 30cm long. After meeting Gao Peng's gaze, it immediately flew away in alarm.

"It's a Rain Sparrow. This type of sparrow flock towards wet habitats, usually with a body of water nearby, and are extremely sensitive to the presence of rain. They fly to any area that is experiencing rain, hence they are called Rain Sparrows," said Gao Peng.

"Yup, I recall that the weather forecast towers in most cities would raise Rain Sparrows. They have very weak offensive capabilities but they are very fast," added Mu Tieying.

The two of them carried out such a conversation in a casual manner.

Such common topics would only exist between two 'curve wreckers.'

Aooo, aooo~ In front of them, the trees began to shake vigorously. From the movements, whatever that made that sound was not small.

The two of them were immediately alerted and crept their way to behind Lotus Seed. Da Zi's body was tense as it lay by the side, poised to strike.

A green figure rushed out of the trees amidst a rain of falling leaf debris and stopped in front of the two of them. They could smell a thick grassy scent as the bits of leaves fell to the ground.

It was a lone green wolf. Its body was covered in many scars, both big and small, and it looked to be very experienced in battle.

It was a full six feet tall and its body was almost fifteen feet long. Its sheer size alone gave it an overpowering presence. It was covered in green fur that drooped towards the ground. It was covered in what looked like some kind of moss or algae. Its frame was large and burly, giving it a mighty feel as it approached them.

"What kind of wolf is that?" Mu Tieying was shocked. She had never seen any monster like this in the books she had read before. Could it be a new monster species?

"It doesn't seem like a wolf," replied Gao Peng with a curious expression on his face.

In the data table, he could see clearly the information of this monster.

[Monster Name: Mossy Derp Husky

[Monster Level: Level 11

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Attribute: Wood

It was actually a husky. But what left Gao Peng speechless was that the data table read Derp Husky instead of just Husky.

Indeed, even his cheat skill confirmed that it was derpy.

Aooo! Aooo! The husky kept howling to scare the two of them.

The next time the husky went "aooo," Gao Peng added in a "woof" of his own.

The husky suddenly had trouble howling continually.

Aooo… Woof? went the Mossy Derp Husky in confusion.

Why was it making such a weird sound?

"That's better. Going 'aooo, aooo' can easily lead to others misunderstanding you," sighed Gao Peng.

Aooo woof, aooo… Woof? Woof? Woofwoofwoof?! The Mossy Derp Husky got more and more excited as it barked. Then it began barking up a tree loudly, completely forgetting what it came there to do in the first place. All because it found something more fun to do.

Gao Peng and Mu Tieying calmly turned away and left.

A derpy husky indeed.

A familiar recipe, a familiar taste.

Mu Tieying was having trouble understanding the situation. "That wolf… why, why was it barking like that?"

"That's not a wolf, it's a husky. It's just that it looks like one after staying in the wild for so long."

Gao Peng felt like something was not very right. He did not know if it was because of the data tables he could see, but all these monsters seemed not so mysterious in his eyes.

The valley was rather large. The two of them had been walking around the deep part of the jungle for over half an hour without ever having the end of the valley in sight.

Not far ahead of them, they saw what seemed like a metal hut covered in green camouflage print. That should have been the safe house.

"Let's go over and take a look. If possible, we can rest in the safe house temporarily," said Gao Peng.

Report chapter

---

Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 61 - Melon-Skinned Frog online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 61: Melon-Skinned Frog

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The safe house's lock was not complicated. By lifting and pulling the bolt, the camouflage print metal door could be opened easily.

Monsters usually would not possess intelligence high enough to open the lock.

They went inside to find that there was another bolt behind the door. They would be able to lock the door from the inside.

The interior of the safe house was simple and crude, with only a few steel-framed beds lying around with a few layers of blankets placed on top. Other than the beds, there were some simple retractable partitions that could be pulled out to create a small cubicle within the room. This was probably there to accommodate males and females sharing the same safe house.

There were not that many beds in the safe house, which was an indication that the instructors did not want the students to flock together in large groups. That would defeat the purpose of this training.

Within the valley, less than five percent of the monsters were of elite tier, and there were no commander tier monsters either. As long as they were careful, with the cooperation of Da Zi and Lotus Seed, there should have been no monster that can pose a threat to them.

There was also a fixed amount of food placed on top of each bed. Each bed had five boxes of compressed biscuits and ten bottles of mineral water. With careful rationing, the food and water given could last a person for a week.

On Mu Tieying's side of the room, the partition was brought down to reveal a fully armored figure. Even the head was covered with a protective helmet that included a metal and glass alloy to protect the eyes.

Mu Tieying looked like she was covered in a thick layer of tortoise shell.

She was surprised when she got out to see that Gao Peng had not changed into battle attire. "Are you not going to change? There are all sorts of mutant mosquitoes in the jungle. Although most mosquito species have now become huge in size, there are still some small mosquito species that are quite poisonous. Being bitten by them would feel terrible."

"No need," Gao Peng shook his head. He thought for a bit, and took out some dark green grass from his bag. This was Mosquito-Cleansing Ink Grass, which served as a strong mosquito repellent.

Gao Peng squeezed out a dull green liquid after breaking the grass to pieces and spread it all over his exposed skin as well as on his torso.

The leftover mashed bits of grass were not wasted. Gao Peng placed them in a small pouch which he could carry about on his body.

'This will do. As long as we do not directly attack any mosquitoes, they shouldn't come attack me first."

Mu Tieying froze. She looked at the lightly dressed Gao Peng, and then at herself wearing all the thick armor.

Other than the Mosquito-Cleansing Ink Grass, Gao Peng's most important defense was actually his contract with Da Zi.

Any mosquito biting his body would be akin to biting Da Zi's body. With the level of poison of these mosquitoes, bites on Da Zi's body would not even itch or hurt.

"Let's take a look around the area first. If we can hunt down something, that would be the best. I don't want to be eating compressed biscuits for a week," said Gao Peng.

Mu Tieying nodded; she had no objections. She too did not wish to eat only biscuits for a whole week. Simply hiding in the safe house for the entire duration would be a waste of time anyway.

Leaving the safe house, Lotus Seed, being the largest of them, led the way.

After the recent period of training, Mu Tieying's Lotus Seed had already reached level 14. Coupled with her perfect grade, she was practically a tyrant in this jungle.

In the valley, trees took up a lot of the vegetation cover, making it difficult for Lotus Seed to move about, so they moved at a slow pace.

After entering the jungle, the air became cooler. The leaves of the canopy seem to shred up the sun's rays, leaving only specks of light that could be seen scattered on the jungle floor.

With every step they took, the layer of leaf litter on the ground let out a crisp rustling sound. The sound felt exceptionally loud in the quiet jungle.

The air was filled with the thick fragrance of flowers and vegetation, and carried a hint of the smell of decaying leaves.

Unlike what they expected, monsters were not running about everywhere. Probably because it was still daytime, or because all the monsters were in hiding and quietly observing them.

"Water, water," Da Zi's voice called out in Gao Peng's head as its antennae started flailing about.

Gao Peng stopped walking and looked around him. All he could see around him was brown tree bark. After some communication with Da Zi, he finally understood what Da Zi meant. There was a strong scent of water coming from somewhere not far ahead of them. There should be something like a pond or a stream ahead.

If there is water, there would also be monsters going there to drink, which meant that it could be a possible "hunting ground."

"Let's go over and take a look first then," said Gao Peng warily. The monsters here were either very intelligent or had plenty of survival experience, such that they were used to hiding themselves. Unless they were powerful enough to not fear anything else in the jungle, most monsters would not be walking out in the open.

"Wait," said Gao Peng, stopping them in their tracks.

Mu Tieying turned to Gao Peng with a look of confusion.

Around five meters diagonally right to the front of Mu Tieying, there was a green and brown tree branch. Probably due to long years of being washed by the rain, the surface of the branch was covered in moss.

The branch swayed along with the wind as it blew.

"Have Lotus Seed ram into that tree branch, with as much power as possible," said Gao Peng quickly in a low voice.

"Alright," said Mu Tieying. She trusted Gao Peng and did not ask why. She immediately gave Lotus Seed the order.

Lotus Seed snorted in suspicion and made a tough noise questioning the order.

Nnnnn~

Then she slowly took a dozen steps back, and leaned forward with her head bent down. The sharp horn on her head was like long spear pointing straight ahead.

Suddenly, the rhinoceros made a noise as though there were a large engine inside her as she broke into a mad charge!

The flexing of her muscles was visible, stretching her thick layer of rhinoceros hide. A puff of white smoke came out of her nostrils.

Roar!

The Iron Rhinoceros charged wildly.

The speed kept increasing, making it like a tank bashing through the jungle. The branches in the way were smashed to pieces, and the grass on the ground was trampled into mulch.

The targeted branch trembled for a bit, then held itself back!

It can't see me, can't see me…

Then…

Bang!

The branch was blown right off the tree trunk. Like a piece of loose rope, it wrapped around the rhinoceros horn, and then got smashed against the subsequent few tree trunks in the way, bam, bam, bam –

Crash!

The sharp rhinoceros horn had wrapped the tree branch into a bundle, and then pierced its way into a tree trunk so thick that it would take two adults to hug it with their arms.

Lotus Seed took two steps back. A twisted tree branch that was distorted beyond recognition fell to the ground.

It twitched intermittently. There was a large hole near its center that leaked a constant flow of green blood.

"It's not dead, but it's going to draw its last breath soon," said Gao Peng as it looked at the Green Tree Snake on the ground. Its status showed: Lethal injuries.

It was a pity, but the flesh of Green Tree Snakes could not be eaten. Gao Peng was a little disappointed. The flesh of this type of snake contained trace amounts of poison. Monsters could eat them, but humans could not.

It will serve well as an additional meal for Da Zi then.

As he got Da Zi to finish off the Green Tree Snake, Gao Peng suddenly thought of something. He had established a blood contract with Da Zi, so theoretically any harm that came to him could be transferred to Da Zi. Did that also mean that if he ate something poisonous, the poison would be transferred to Da Zi as well?

This ability was indeed a little OP. Gao Peng still could not understand how it actually worked. But one did not have to understand how cars are made in order to know how to drive a car.

Gao Peng looked at the Green Tree Snake carcass, and his eyes began to glow. Killing off the Green Tree Snake was only a small episode in their journey. The two humans and two monsters carried on ahead with their exploration.

They seemed to have caused a large disturbance, and did not encounter any other monsters along the way. Ahead of them was a spread of clear color, with the sunlight reflecting off the surface.

"Looks like a pond."

They got a clearer look of the whole thing as they got closer. It was a large pond with a surface area that was easilly more than ten thousand square meters large. The pond was filled with running water, as there was no foul smell coming from the pond.

At the center of the pond was a large patch of lotus leaves.

Pooh! A loud clear sound came from next to Gao Pengs feet. A head the size of a watermelon popped out of the edge of the pond and spat a mouthful of saliva at Gao Peng.

Although it was saliva, it felt more like phlegm. It gave of a sickening foul smell as it landed on the legs of Gao Peng's pants, drenching them.

Gao Peng looked over to find that it was actually a monster. Not all life forms counted as monsters. Some animals were simply too weak to meet the minimal requirements of being a monster, and were naturally not classified as such.

[Monster Name: Green-Skinned Frog

[Monster Level: 2

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster's Likes: Spitting saliva at other animals

[Monster Weakness: 1. Electric-type 2. Earth-type 3. Hates it when other animals spit saliva at it.

Gao Peng was speechless. This melon-skinned frog must have been crazy. It only liked spitting on other animals but hated it when other animals spit at it. Most importantly, what other animal would do something as pointless as spitting back in retaliation?!

Report chapter

Chapter 62: Social Animals

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After spitting at Gao Peng, the Green-Skinned Frog seemed delighted. Even its eyes were smiling, curving into crescent moon shapes.

Only after the Green-Skinned Frog rose to the surface did Gao Peng manage to see its whole appearance properly. It was like a round ball floating on the surface of the water. Its body was totally green, with darker green stripes running from its head to its rear end. It basically looked like a walking watermelon.

He felt that "Watermelon Frog" would be a more suitable name for the Green-Skinned Frog.

The frog saw that Gao Peng did not react. Its eyes rolled around in its sockets and then it spat another mouthful of saliva onto Gao Peng's left trouser leg. It excitedly slapped the water surface, sending water splashing about.

Gao Peng looked the frog straight in the face.

The Green-Skinned Frog's eye focused upwards at Gao Peng. There was a rather human-like look of curiosity in its eyes.

Heh.

Gao Peng laughed.

Then,

Pooh!

That's right, I'm the kind of guy that would do such pointless things.

Gao Peng's troll side acted up. He looked with delight at the expression of the Gree-Skinned Frog which just got a mouthful of Gao Peng's saliva on its face.

Guu! The Green-Skinned Frog wailed in despair, as though it had been horribly wronged.

In the blink of an eye, the pond erupted with a crescendo of frog croaks. The croaks combined into a wave of sound that rumbled as loudly as thunder.

Guu! Guu! Guu! Guu!

Countless croaks rang in the air.

One by one, frog heads began to pop out from the originally still water surface. Some were large and some were small. The smallest were only the size of an orange while the largest were easily three feet wide. All of them were staring coldly at Gao Peng. At a glance, there seemed to be over a thousand of them. Just their sheer number would make one's hair stand on end. The entire pond was Green-Skinned Frog territory.

"Run!" said Gao Peng, as he immediately turned and ran with Da Zi.

Mu Tieying followed closely behind with Lotus Seed. She was slightly doubtful at first, as to what harm these frogs could do to them while in the water.

The next moment, she understood.

The sound of inhaling could be heard behind them. The water was being continually sucked in by all the Green-Skinned frogs, bubbling as it entered their bellies.

Then –

Bangbangbangbang.

Water arrows flew through the air like torrential rain.

The water arrows hit the trees in the area and resulted in varying degrees of damage. Weaker ones only broke the bark, but the stronger ones blew the branches apart, as though they were hit by an air cannons.

Twigs and broken leaves were flying in the air.

Lotus Seed was still all right because of her strong defense. The water arrows did nothing but give off a dull thud as they hit her body.

Mu Tieying hid in front of Lotus Seed, allowing her to avoid the water arrow attacks.

Looking at the damage done to the trees around her, Mu Tieying lowered her head. If these attacks hit her, they might actually cause damage to her internal organs even with her protective gear on.

This would explain why there were so few plants and animals near the pond. It was all because of these Green-Skinned Frogs.

At this moment, in some location unknown to Gao Peng, an infrared camera installed right at the top of a large tree was slowly panning, recording the entire scene.

This was a large room with many large screens. A few soldiers sat in front of each screen, which was divided into many separate smaller screens. Each of the small screens represented one monitoring camera.

In front of one of the screens, a soldier in military uniform said, "Someone has gone to the Green-Skinned Frog's territory, and I don't know if it's a coincidence, but he managed to anger the group of Green-Skinned Frogs."

"What the heck? How did this guy piss off that bunch of croakers?" said a soldier with a small goatee as he poked his head over. He spoke with a heavy Sichuan accent.

"These Green-Skinned Frogs hate being spat on the most," said the first soldier with a perplexed look on his face.

Hearing that, everyone in the room also began to wear a similar expression on their faces…

To spit on a frog in the wild; how dumb could you get?

They were heading back to the safe house now. After a day of exploring, the two of them had finished exploring the areas surrounding the safe house. To the north was a small patch of jungle. Travelling through that would lead them to the Green-Skinned Frog territory. There were at least a few thousand of them in that pond. These monsters were nothing to be afraid of if there were only one or two of them, but after coming together in such large numbers, they formed a formidable force.

Water arrows carried a strong attack power. If a few thousand Green-Skinned Frogs spat those arrows all at one target, the strength of such an attack would prevent any target from advancing a single inch.

To the west was the direction where they came from. The trees were less dense there and they hardly saw any large or threatening creatures there in the day.

To the south was a dense jungle with many trees, which were often thicker and sturdier than normal. Such an environment was difficult for Lotus Seed to move in, so they only explored the perimeter of the jungle. There were most likely large carnivorous monsters inside, as Gao Peng managed to spot some of their tracks.

To the east was a small slope. Going up to the slope led to wide grassland. The grassland showed signs of grazing, indicating that there were herbivorous creatures there.

That was all that they could gather within a day's time.

Other than that, Gao Peng managed to pick up a few types of plants along the way.

Mu Tieying recognized some of them such as the Mint Clove, Golden Stranded Nutmeg, and Blue-Black Grass. These were all edible plants that were usually used as condiments.

There were also some that she did not recognize.

"You're planning to prepare some seasoning?" asked Mu Tieying with a little hesitation.

"Yup," Gao Peng nodded.

"But we have no food." Mu Tieying was a little uncertain.

"We do." Gao Peng raised his right hand. He was holding the dead Green Tree Snake.

"This snake… seems poisonous," asked Mu Tieying suspiciously.

"Let's just try." Gao Peng did not want to elaborate any further. The two of them managed to reach the safe house with their two Familiars, but they then found that it was locked on the inside. Gao Peng frowned. He knocked on the door, "Hi, please open the door."

"Nobody's here, nobody's here," a voice came from the room, then paused as if realizing how stupid the response was. Embarrassment turned to anger as the person said, "It's already full. We're already packed full of people here, we can't fit any more. You guys should go look for other safe houses."

Gao Peng's brows furrowed even more. He and Mu Tieying found this safe house first.

Of course, no one would really care about who came first out here in the safe houses in the wilderness. They could only blame it on their bad luck for running into such people.

Seeing Gao Peng turn to look at her, Mu Tieying shrugged her shoulders. "It's not so bad, I took my bag with me when I left."

"We have only two of us here, and it's already dark outside. Can we just cooperate for one night? We don't mind just sleeping on the floor," said Gao Peng.

"We can't. Sigh. You guys should just find someplace else." The people in the room were getting impatient. They then heard some muttering. "Why are you even explaining to him anymore, just tell him to scram. The safe house is so small, who would want to squeeze with them."

It seemed as though after hearing from Gao Peng that there were only two of them outside, someone had felt a bit bolder and naturally began to raise his voice.

Gao Peng stared at the people in the safe house, then he walked up…

And bolted the door from the outside.

"Let's go," said Gao Peng as he turned to leave.

Report chapter

Chapter 63: Night Encounter: Dark Shadow Panther

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Looking at the locked door, Mu Tieying opened her mouth to say something but then shut her mouth in the end, with a look of resignation in her eyes. There was food and water in the safehouse so these people would not starve to death. At the most, they would just have to put up with the hardship of being hungry.

Right now, the sky was getting darker. Gao Peng raised his arm to look at the time on his wristwatch. It was almost 7pm.

"From the looks of it, we have no choice but to spend the night outdoors." Gao Peng took a look at the forest. Although they passed by some safehouses along the way, it would not be feasible to go looking for one right now.

Since there were already people who managed to make their way to this safehouse, it was likely that all the other safehouses along the way were packed with people too. Gao Peng was not willing to place the hopes of entering a safehouse entirely on the kindness of others. If the people in the other safehouses also refused to let him enter, he would be wasting a lot of time.

"It's not very safe to explore further, and we didn't find any caves nearby either. We might as well build a simple shelter on top of a tree," said Gao Peng.

"That's good as well," nodded Mu Tieying in agreement.

The two of them found a pair of trees that were not too far apart in the dense woods towards the west. The trees trunks were upright and branched off around three to four meters above the ground: a perfect place to set up a platform to sleep.

Gao Peng gathered some branches, and then used them to build a simple platform between the branches of the tree trunk. He then returned to layer the platform with smaller and thinner branches, followed by a layer of large leaves, and then lastly, a layer of fine leaf debris. With that, a simple sleeping platform was completed.

Mu Tieying's hands-on ability was not bad as well. Copying what Gao Peng did, she managed to construct a similar platform as well.

Just like that, these two amateur builders managed to construct their own makeshift platform and began to prepare for the night.

Lotus Seed leaned on the tree that Mu Tieying was sleeping on and rested her head against the tree trunk. Her eyes became slits as she slept while standing.

Da Zi made use of its thousand legs and rested along the tree trunk around two meters off the ground. Each of its sharp claws sunk into tree trunk like hooks.

The sky grew darker and darker. Soon, the entire jungle was shrouded in the dark of the night. In the valley, night came earlier than most other areas.

In the jungle, visibility also gradually became lower.

It was rather warm and humid in the jungle at night. Luckily for Gao Peng, he had a layer of Mosquito-Cleansing Grass juice all over his body and there were few mosquitos about.

In the jungle canopy high above ground, a swift and light figure was darting across the treetops like a creeping shadow. It was getting closer and closer.

It had a pitch black body that blended in perfectly with the darkness of the night. If not for its two pale blue eyes, it would be nearly impossible to identify. Its body was perfectly camouflaged in the darkness.

This monster had a slender body. Each step it took on the branches of the trees made no sound at all, and it looked extremely agile. It made its way through the dense jungle just like a black shadow. With a simple leap, it moved from one tree to another.

It stepped on a branch, causing it to sink under its weight, and the dense leaves on the branch to sway gently.

As the monster crept closer and closer, a clear killing intent filled the night air.

Lotus Seed woke with a start, stamping her huge feet against the ground making dull thumping sounds:

Thumpthumpthump~

Roar, roar!

Lotus seed burst out angrily. Her roars woke Mu Tieying and Gao Peng.

Anxious roars echoed across the quiet jungle. Who new how many creatures were awakened by the noise?

Gao Peng and Mu Tieying immediately raised their heads after waking, only to see a black shadow creeping towards them from the tree branches. The shadow suddenly found that its prey had woken up. Its raised foot was still hanging in the air, without the chance to take the next step.

The eyes of predator and prey met.

It became an awkward situation.

Mu Tieying remembered Gao Peng's warning. If they encountered anything dangerous, she was to immediately escape to Lotus Seed's side. Without any hesitation, she turned over and jumped, landing on top of Lotus Seed.

Similarly, Gao Peng slid down the tree trunk at the same time. Da Zi dislodged itself from the tree trunk and landed on the ground with a pata sound. It immediately formed a semicircle in front of Gao Peng to protect him. Da Zi had a vicious look in its eyes as its mandibles snapped, giving off a threatening hiss at the same time. Fierce!

Above them, the tree canopy was thick, blocking off most of the moonlight. They could not get a good look at the unidentified beast within the trees. All they could see was a blur of a black shadow and the two eyes that seemed to glow brightly, like two lamps. They were exceptionally bright under the darkness.

"This should be a shadow-type or dark-type monster. At night, the combat abilities of such monsters are at their highest. Do we run or fight?" said Mu Tieying cautiously. She did not dare speak too loudly, in fear of agitating the monster.

Gao Peng had already gotten a clear look at the monster's data right away. It was a normal grade, level 15 Dark Shadow Panther. But for his own reasons, he did not call out the identity of the monster. Under such poor lighting conditions, how was he to explain how he could identify the monster?

Knowing the identity of the monster, Gao Peng did not dare to be careless.

A Panther's explosive strength was already naturally strong. This Dark Shadow Panther was capable of blending into the dark, making it a perfect killer when coupled with a burst of its explosive strength.

The dense jungle in the middle of the night had low visibility. The two of them dared not simply make a run for it, as that would expose their backs to the vicious beast. Doing so would be extremely dangerous and would only instigate the predatory instincts of the beast.

They were currently in a situation where both sides were stuck, with no options. It was like fighting off a wolf with a stick, both sides fearful and hesitant.

Aooo – Woof! Woof!

The standstill was suddenly broken by a husky.

A Mossy Derp Husky happily pranced its way in between them, then ran up to Gao Peng. Gao Peng could feel a rush of wind as the husky's large and powerful body bounded over. He took no chances and hurriedly hid behind a tree. This husky had no sense of propriety and looked to be a pure-breed, too. It was dangerous.

What's this husky doing here at this time? Gao Peng wondered to himself.

After running excitedly to Gao Peng, it barked loudly at him. It used a proper, authentic woof this time. It seemed overjoyed to be barking at Gao Peng.

In all honesty, Gao Peng felt utmost dislike for the husky right now. The Derp Husky really was rather stupid.

Can't you see that everyone is being serious here? You're spoiling the atmosphere and making everyone nervous.

Gao Peng calmly told the Derp Husky, "Scram."

The Derp Husky, seeing that Gao Peng finally responded, thought that he was praising it. It began to excitedly run around in circles, going crazy in the middle of the jungle.

Up in the branches, the Dark Shadow Panther was looking at the Derp Husky with a deep, serious expression.

Blam!

Coincidentally, the Derp Husky managed to crash head-first into the tree that the Dark Shadow Panther was standing on.

Sharp claws sprang out from the Dark Shadow Panther's paws and hooked onto the tree branch, allowing it to maintain its balance.

It stared intensely at the Mossy Derp Husky below the tree, and then it slowly retreated backwards, blending into the darkness behind it…

The Derp Husky did not realize that there was a Dark Shadow Panther right above its head, and continued to happily run around in circles.

The Dark Shadow Panther that retreated suddenly leapt forward in a burst of speed, forming a black afterimage. It was so fast that Gao Peng's vision could not even keep up. All he saw was a dark blur flash past, and then leap away. The Dark Shadow Panther simply vanished out of sight after that.

It only left behind a whimpering Derp Husky under the tree. The husky's body was cut open, leaving a deep gash that was over a foot and a half long. Blood kept flowing out of the wound.

Report chapter

Chapter 64: The Real Tyrant of the Valley

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Dark Shadow Panther retreated?

Mu Tieying heaved a sigh of relief.

Lotus Seed and Da Zi also relaxed slightly.

Gao Peng's tightly clenched right fist unconsciously relaxed as well, and his breathing normalized a bit.

Waking up to find a Dark Shadow Panther less than 50 meters away from was a bit too much excitement for him.

Suddenly, a large presence that they had not noticed before made its way into the jungle, and was pressing closer and closer to them. The shaashaaa sound of it moving against the trees filled the air.

The mosquitoes in the jungle had stopped buzzing without them noticing. Even the arrival of the Dark Shadow Panther had not resulted in such a deathly silence.

It was a giant slithering snake, creeping forward dozens of meters at a time. The terrifying figure was heading in the direction of where they were.

It was startled by Lotus Seed's cry, and was also drawn by the smell of blood.

A head the size of a car looked down on them from a tree branch high above ground. Its eyes were the size of large lanterns and it had an ice-cold gaze. They were different from those of the Dark Shadow Panther, and were dull and dark, as though they absorbed light.

It mouth slowly parted and released a putrid smell into the air.

As it headed down the tree, its jaws opened almost 180 degrees wide. It was as though the grim reaper had descended in front of them all.

In just one bite, it swallowed up the Mossy Derp Husky.

The muscles around its mouth undulated under its skin, and they heard the sound of bones being crushed.

This monster did not need any fearsome claws or fangs. Just the sight of its sheer size could send terror into a person's heart.

Mu Tieying felt her hands and feet turn cold. She felt as though her feet were rooted into the ground. She was unable to move as she stared at this giant snake head descending from above.

The Mossy Derp Husky that had been energetically jumping and prancing about earlier had been swallowed whole in a single mouthful. It did not even get the chance to make a sound.

After swallowing the Mossy Derp Husky in a single bike, the bloody red snake head licked its lips, as though very satisfied with the taste.

[Monster Name: Giant Jungle Anaconda (Giant mutant)

[Monster Level: 20

[Monster Grade: Perfect

[Monster Attribute: Wood

[Monster Weakness: Fire-type

Gao Peng finally saw the monster's full appearance. It had a head the size of a small sedan that was covered in dark green stripes. Other than the stripes, there was also a grid-like pattern across its skin that looked like a fishnet that a slightly lighter color than the rest of its skin. It was this grid-like pattern that allowed the anaconda to slither easily atop the trees branches.

Its large hulking body continued from the head all the way to the top of the trees, resting atop the tree branches. Its tail end stretched out even further into the darkness.

Gao Peng found it hard to comprehend how such a gigantic body could manage to stay on top of the trees without falling. Logically speaking, just the weight of such a huge body would crush all the trees around unless it had some means to float, or its body weight was not as large as its size suggested. But no matter what it was, this anaconda was not a monster that Gao Peng could take on at the moment.

Level 20, perfect grade, and a giant mutant as well.

Perhaps the only one who could challenge this mutant Giant Jungle Anaconda was Dumby.

While the Giant Jungle Anaconda was still swallowing its food, Gao Peng hurriedly told Mu Tieying, "No time to explain, let's hurry and get onto Lotus Seed."

Mu Tieying was confused.

Gao Peng hurriedly climbed onto Lotus Seed's back and motioned for Mu Tieying to come up. On their own two feet, they would not be able to outrun the Giant Jungle Anaconda. Mu Tieying finally understood what Gao Peng meant.

Her face turned red as she tried to calm down Lotus Seed, who was uneasy because of Gao Peng riding on top of her.

Da Zi had already fled under Gao Peng's orders. Accelerated by its thousand legs, it ran faster than any of them.

Soon after, Lotus Seed was also escaping frantically. Thankfully, the jungle was not very dense here and there was enough space between the trees for Lotus Seed to make full use of her ability to charge linearly.

The Giant Jungle Anaconda watched Gao Peng and the rest escape but did not chase after them. Instead, it turned towards a large tree and bit on it, snapping the tree in the middle with just one bite. Bit by bit, the tree was swallowed by the anaconda.

The tree trunk was like a crispy biscuit in its mouth, being swallowed one mouthful at a time. The anaconda's strong muscles went to work. There was a strange force squeezing down and crushing the food within its mouth. Although it had no teeth, this strange force was capable of grinding down most of its food.

Such a gigantic body naturally did not rely solely on meat to sustain it, or else there was no way the valley would be able to support such a heavy eater. This Giant Jungle Anaconda had adapted to become an omnivorous monster.

It lazily sized up the little bugs that had escaped from it. The Giant Jungle Anaconda did not mind them. It was just drawn here by the scent of blood and wanted to change its taste for a bit.

Furthermore it also had a lazy personality and was not willing to chase after its foes. Unless angered, it preferred to pick on prey that was already injured or had low mobility, or even sick or old monsters. At other times, it preferred to spend its time alone in its cool, shady hole to ponder about the meaning of life.

After realizing that the Giant Jungle anaconda had not given chase, the group of them finally stopped, panting heavily. Gao Peng flipped around and slid off Lotus Seed's back. Lotus Seed gave Gao Peng an unhappy glare, then sauntered off to a side to eat some grass.

Honestly, Gao Peng's legs still felt like jelly.

Although he was a lot more daring that his peers, thinking about the scene just now still sent chills down his spine.

It was as though death had brushed past them.

What if the Giant Jungle Anaconda suddenly had a change of taste and had not eaten that injured Mossy Derp Husky, but had chosen to eat a handsome human instead?

Gao Peng touched his face. He did not think that he would be able to survive if he were swallowed like that.

Although he was able to transfer damage done to him to Da Zi, there was no escaping from the anaconda's belly if here were swallowed. The corrosive digestive juices would continually cause harm to him.

The damage would eventually reach a limit where he could not pass them on to Da Zi anymore, and then all that would be left of him would be bones. If enough time passed, maybe even his bones would be fully corroded.

"The mutant Giant Jungle Anaconda became active just now," said a soldier in a severe tone. "Sir, should we eliminate that mutant Giant Jungle Anaconda?"

"No need." The commander stared plainly at the screen. The Giant Jungle Anaconda was casually eating some trees. "The Giant Jungle Anaconda is of a gentle nature, and its offensive strength in initiating attacks is not strong. It will not pose much of a threat to the students, this will just be another trial to them. The students will have to be able to slay this Giant Jungle Anaconda during the high school examination to have any hopes of standing out."

The soldier stopped speaking. He was silently despairing for these students.

After a short pause, the commander said, "Have the Golden Condor Team get ready to standby for rescue. If someone presses the emergency rescue button, they are to set off immediately."

This time, Gao Peng and Mu Tieying did not build any more platforms. They simply lay down some soft grass on the ground and slept next to Da Zi and Lotus Seed.

As if using up all of Gao Peng's bad luck after encountering the Giant Jungle Anaconda, they did not encounter any other monster that night.

Only after daybreak did Gao Peng and the rest dare to venture back to the place where all the fighting happened.

Multiple trees were broken and had fallen to the ground. There were signs of friction across the broken tree trunks.

"Huh?" Gao Peng stared at the broken portion of one of the fallen trees. A swath of white colored reflection drew his attention.

Report chapter

Chapter 65: Locust Swarm

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng casually walked over, then looked left and right cautiously. He confirmed that Mu Tieying was not paying attention to him.

He stuck out his right leg, stepped on that piece of shiny white crystal, and casually bent down and pretended to tie his shoelaces.

[Material Name: Wood Space Heart (Space-attribute material)

Gao Peng felt that it was a pity that only the material's attribute and name was shown. There was no indication of how he could obtain this material.

However, Gao Peng was thankful because, out of the many possible routes of evolution for his Levitating Jellyfish Silly, one of them required the Wood Space Heart as a key ingredient. A total of three pounds were needed for the evolution.

Gao Peng weighed the piece of Wood Space Heart in his hand. He estimated it to be around 0.05 pounds.

This would mean that he needed a total of 60 of such pieces.

All monsters had more than one route of evolution. Naturally, there was also more than one formula of materials needed, and more than one method of using the materials.

In the data tables that Gao Peng could see, usually the first method shown was the one that gave the most value for his money. If he expanded the methods of promotion and looked closely at the information on the evolution pathway, he would actually be able to see many different types of possible evolution routes.

Some methods shown were just showy. It would require large amounts of equipment and wares, and delicate procedures similar to that of a complicated scientific experiment that could easily take up half a day to complete. It may have looked extremely sophisticated and cool, but it was all about appearances. Such methods were only useful for showing off.

The other methods available were the actually highly sophisticated ones. These required the help of the Familiar to refine all the materials used, by controlling fire, electricity, ice, etc. Even the temperatures and time taken for the procedures had to be accurate to the exact millisecond. Each material would also have to go through at least ten procedures. Such a method required near perfect synchronization of the soul between Trainer and Familiar, and could only be achieved when a certain level of rapport was reached. It would take many years of training to achieve such a standard.

Gao Peng was still unable to learn any such techniques. They belonged to the "do you think I can understand this just by looking?!" level of difficulty.

In order to learn these high-level techniques he would definitely need to spend a lot on materials to practice. His cheat ability only provided him an instruction manual. When it came to the materials and the actual procedures, he had to do it all on his own.

Gao Peng was not empowered by mysterious powers, nor was he capable of something crazy like causing the system of the world to freeze. Learning such techniques on his own without a teacher was simply impossible, even in his wildest dreams.

Which was why, for now, Gao Peng could only use a poor man's methods, which was pretty much just cooking a large pot of medicine to achieve evolution. It looked like a cheap method of doing things, but it was actually really embarrassing as well.

But there was no other choice. It was the most cost efficient method. The rich had their way of living and the poor had their own way of nourishing themselves.

Naturally, such simple methods were only applicable at the start. As a monster's tier and grade increased, Gao Peng noticed that the steps taken to promote a monster's grade became more complicated and sophisticated as well. He would eventually reach a state where could no longer rely on such crude methods any more.

I'll focus on raising the standards of my own abilities when the time comes I guess. Maybe I can start by looking for some low-level Familiars to practice on, Gao Peng thought to himself.

Gao Peng searched around the spot for a bit more. In the end, he found two more pieces of Wood Space Heart next to two broken tree trunks.

Including the first one that he found, all three were found in the center of a type of tree called Bottle Tree.

The three trees were also very old trees, and were a lot thicker than the other Bottle Trees around them.

Bottle Trees got their name from their appearance, which looked like an upright beer bottle. These trees had a dense crown.

Gao Peng did not know if anyone else had already discovered the secret behind the hearts of these Bottle Trees. But so far, he had never heard of Wood Space Heart being sold in any of the markets and had never seen it being advertised in any magazines or commercials. He had never even heard of anything remotely similar to this kind of material.

What made him even more curious was that, if no one had discovered Wood Space Hearts before, where did the name come from in the first place?

Bottle Trees were not exclusive to this valley, and were relatively common outside as well. Gao Peng planned to explore the wilderness for a bit after he left the valley, so that he could collect more Wood Space Hearts.

After a while, Gao Peng regained his good spirits and continued with Mu Tieying to explore deeper into the valley. At a rather secluded spot, they managed to find a brand new safehouse.

With the safehouse as their new base, they continued exploring the area.

In the next few days, they explored plenty of the surroundings and managed to learn about many more types of monsters.

Most monsters they encountered were of a low level, and hardly posed a threat. But it was a rewarding experience all the same as it was the first time they saw the monsters in the flesh. Previously, these monsters only existed in textbooks or on television.

Having such firsthand experience was a very novel experience for them and was something they found extremely interesting.

They encountered monsters such as the timid Earth-Hide Boar. Relying on its tough hide and thick flesh, it hid amongst thorny Black Brambles and ate Yellow-Striped Sweet Potatoes from the ground. The moment it heard any sound, it would hide deep within the brambles and quietly observe its surroundings.

There was also a violent Golden Swallowtail Butterfly that would constantly knock itself against trees in order to train its body. With a stronger body it could then go beat up its neighbor, the Green-Furred Lizard.

Then, there was also a Black Raging Kong that dreamt that it could fly. It would climb up to the treetops and fall down from there again and again. No matter how many times it fell, it would still continue climbing up the tree, yelping the whole time.

Living things come in all forms, and this was a perfect example to illustrate that.

Every monster had its own story, enough to write a book about. There were no two humans that are totally identical, and the same went for these creatures Each monster was an independent individual that possessed its own personality and its own unique characteristics.

The seven days in the valley passed by quickly. Gao Peng's skin was darker than when he first came, and his clothes had inevitably developed a stench.

Mu Tieying's armor that she wore had also suffered evident wear and tear. From the way her brows knitted, it was clear that she was a little fatigued as well.

As they exited the valley, fellow students that were making their way out also surrounded them. Gao Peng naturally lightened up at the sight.

Although Da Zi's level had not risen, it had gained plenty of valuable combat experience within the week. It had also gained many more wounds. Some were fully healed by now, but others were still in the process of recovery, with visible scabs.

Right now, Gao Peng's main focus during battles was to train Da Zi's agility and explosive strength. Because Da Zi's venom was strong, all it needed was to gain the ability to get close to the foe and to avoid its attacks. Da Zi's venom would do the rest by slowly wearing the enemy down. Relying on venom, it would be able to take out most foes that were within the same tier.

As Gao Peng left the valley, he suddenly thought of the people he locked up in the safehouse on the first night. Could they have been let out already?

Let's hope they managed to be found by some kind-hearted people then.

"The training has now come to an end, I hope that all of you have learnt plenty from it," said Chief Instructor Chen to the crowd that just made its way out of the valley's outfield training base. Over the past seven days, Chief Instructor Chen had somehow gained an extra scar on his face, adding on to his fierce image. "The tentative date for the next combined training at the valley has been set three weeks from now. Students that have attended this one will be able to attend the next one for free."

After being in the valley for a week, many people were both physically and mentally drained, and simply showed a look of fatigue.

The instructor very generously gave everyone a three-day holiday. They were instructed to go back to class only after three days.

After reaching home, Silly, who was floating around the living room sped towards Gao Peng, and then with a 'flop' sound, landed on Gao Peng's head.

Gao Peng sighed. For some unknown reason Silly had made his head a permanent target and would rest on his head whenever it had the time.

At night, Gao Peng turned on the television. Only then did he find out that something big had happened in the few days where he was away. A locust swarm was making its way over from the north, triggering a city-wide four-star warning alert! Currently, 15km away from the north of the city, a battlefront had been set up to keep the locust swarm out. A fierce battle was currently going on at the front lines!

Report chapter

Chapter 66: Voracious Golden Toad

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The news was showing footage of the battle in the north. Ahead in the frontlines the tank units arranged in a cannon formation, and behind them were the rows of artillery vehicles.

Shells and missiles flew through the sky one by one and then landed in the midst of the locust swarm far away before exploding. Large patches of locusts were reduced to cinders by the explosion, and the locusts nearby were torn to shreds by shrapnel.

This was different from times of peace. During these special times, heroes were needed! Idols were needed! Which was why the allied government heavily publicized the acts of Monster Trainer heroes.

At the same time, in this current era, there was also no effort put into covering up the battles against monsters. Warriors who stepped onto the battlefield were all heroes putting their lives on the line to protect humanity, and heroes should be treated like heroes.

They could not allow heroes to bleed on the battlefield and have no one know or care about them. This would not be fair.

They were all fighting for the sake of humanity. There was no reason and no need to withhold any news regarding them.

From the images shown on the news, one could see a black oppressive cloud covering the sky in the distance. The locusts were blotting out the sky as they flew over. Each shell that exploded in the midst of the locust swarm tore a large patch through the black cloud, leaving a brief patch of white space. But very quickly the space was filled up by the incoming locusts.

As the locusts continued to press forward, flamethrowers were used, sending fiery tongues of flame up into the sky.

The dirty yellow locusts in the sky that got caught by the flames spontaneously ignited like dry grass covered in oil.

A female reporter dressed in smart business attire appeared on the screen, holding a mike. "Dear viewers, as you have already seen, we are at the frontlines of the battle. Currently, the Chang'an Military's troops have already stopped the locust swarm outside of the frontlines. According to the research carried out by Director Chen of the Chang'an Monster Breeder Association, these monsters, which are called Dead Leaf Locusts, are extremely afraid of flames. This is a piece of good news as we have successfully held them off using their weakness. This swarm of locusts is estimated to contain a few billion individuals. Each Dead Leaf Locust is at least 30 cm in length, are able to chew through hard wood, and are even capable of short-distance flight…"

As the female reporter spoke, artillery fire continued to erupt. The shells landed on the ground, even causing the ground beneath the reporter to shake a little.

In the center of the Dark Ember Forest, a giant black gorilla heard the loud explosions coming from far away. It looked towards the direction of the battle and muttered a little, making a sound that was unintelligible to humans. Then, it turned its body and continued snoring.

Gao Peng turned off the television and logged onto the Monster Hunting Association's official page to check on the task that he had put up. He found that he still had not obtained the core crystal of a commander tier electric-type monster. Currently that was all he needed to acquire Da Zi's grade promotion.

It can't be that I have to go hunt it down myself, right?

Gao Peng looked at Dumby. It was lying down on the living room floor, staring at the ceiling, not moving at all.

With Dumby's current height, moving freely around the living room was quite a task; so it could only lie down on the floor now. Gao Peng's plan to get a new house shifted upwards in priority. He would not sell this old house, but he intended to buy a standalone villa in the outskirts of the city. The villa would have a garden and a basement, which would make it easier for many matters.

As Gao Peng was thinking, his mobile phone rang. Director Chen's name showed on the screen.

When he picked up the phone, he was greeted by Director Chen's hearty laughter. "Hi, Little Gao. You've reached home after your training?"

With Director Chen's position, it was no surprise that he could find out about Gao Peng's outfield training. But Gao Peng still felt rather flattered and surprised by the special attention that Director Chen gave him.

Gao Peng nodded. "I just reached home a while ago."

"Do you have time to come down to the association tomorrow? The military just sent over a batch of a new type of Voracious Golden Toads, and want us to promote the grades of these toads. Because it is an urgent matter, I have to call a few people in to help. This matter counts as official business and the government will provide remuneration for your services."

Director Chen was aware of Gao Peng's personality, so he took special care to mention the money straight away.

As expected, Gao Peng's eyes lit up.

"Ahem, Director Chen. Is it possible to change the remuneration to other kinds of rewards? If the money for the job is insufficient, I can fork in some money as well. What I would like is a commander tier electric-type monster core crystal," said Gao Peng in a thick-skinned manner.

"Umm… rightfully, this should not be allowed. But I do know some people in the military, so this small matter should not be much of a problem." Director Chen agreed with hardly any hesitation at all.

It was just a commander tier electric type monster core crystal, not a lord tier electric type monster core crystal. If it were the latter, he would not able to produce one even if a knife was being pressed to his neck.

If it were just a commander tier electric type monster core crystal, then it was a small matter.

Although it was rare, it was definitely an item that would be in stock.

The next day, in the morning, Gao Peng got into a car and headed to the Monster Breeder Association in the outskirts.

After reporting to the reception counter, Director Chen rushed over quickly. Seeing Gao Peng, he walked forward with a boom of hearty laughter and held out his right hand.

Some of the people around who knew Director Chen were in shock, and secretly sized up Gao Peng. They did not know who this young man was and what position he was in to have Director Chen treat him that way.

"I've been waiting so long for you. Yesterday, the military brought in two samples of Voracious Golden Toads over. I spent half the night looking at them and I still haven't made head or tails of them, or of what to do." Director Chen led the way in front as the two of them walked deeper into the Monster Breeder Association building. They then took an elevator deep underground.

When they came out of the lift, in front of them was a large underground room as large as a soccer field.

The entire floor seemed to make use of a structure that was resistant to tremors and explosions. Reinforced concrete was used with various supporting frames. The first two words that come to mind when seeing this room were rugged and efficient.

Within one of the bulletproof glass walls were a few workbenches. In front of each workbench were a few experimenters in white coats and masks, gathering data from the experiments.

In the main hall, there was a cage. In it was a golden toad as large as a table. Its eyes were huge and its back was covered in warts the size of Ping-Pong balls. The warts were not exactly growing on its back densely, as there were only a few tens of them.

For such a large body, the number of warts that it had was actually rather small.

What left the strongest impression were the legs of these toads. They took up to one-third of the entire body size and were rippling with large muscles. The legs were evidently filled with great explosive force.

The white skin on its belly was slowly swelling up, then shrinking.

"Voracious Golden Toads have very powerful muscles in their legs, which take up at least 40% of its muscle mass. Hence, its jumping ability is absolutely terrifying. It can jump over a hundred meters high. One of the ways in which Voracious Golden Toads attack is jumping into the air, and then using its body to crush its foes," said Director Chen.

Gao Peng nodded. It really had terrifying jumping abilities if it could jump over a hundred meters high.

Then, Director Chen added sympathetically, "Sometimes the Voracious Golden Toad lands on hard rocks, causing itself serious injuries."

Gao Peng was stunned. Was this even possible?

Report chapter

Chapter 67: Dead Leaf Locust's Weakness

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

But Gao Peng was not the type of person with a low-class sense of humor. His area of focus was a little different from the norm.

To be able to seriously injure themselves by falling from great heights meant that the vision of these creatures was not so good. It also meant that the intelligence of these creatures was definitely not that good either. A normal person would remember and learn a lesson after getting injured just once.

In the cage the Voracious Golden Toad gave an unsatisfied humph, Guu!

One of the technicians hurriedly took out a bunch of frozen river shrimp from the freezer. This toad had a horrible temper, especially when it was hungry.

"Voracious Golden Toads have a huge appetite. They can eat ten meals a day, and over 50kg of food each meal," Director Chen explained to Gao Peng.

Gao Peng nodded.

Then he thought of the battle that was going on in the north of the city. Gao Peng's expression changed a little.

"The military wants to use Voracious Golden Toads to deal with the Dead Leaf Locusts?" asked Gao Peng.

Director Chen nodded. This was nothing worth hiding. "That's right, the military wants us to research ways to greatly improve the grade of Voracious Golden Toads. Based on the natures of the animals, toads are the natural enemies of locusts. Furthermore, these toads have such a voracious appetite."

"Voracious Golden Toads are evolved from Horned Frogs, if I'm not wrong?" said Gao Peng.

"Yes."

"Horned Frogs are very greedy eaters, and can be said to be overly greedy. They spend most of their time in the state of hunger and will try to eat anything that is smaller than them. Many Horned Frogs end up stuffing themselves to death," said Gao Peng, his eyes looking deep and contemplative. "Voracious Golden Toads should be of earth attribute right?"

"Hm? Yes." Director Chen looked over at Gao Peng. He saw that he had entered his work mode. As expected of the person he had high hopes for.

Gao Peng walked over to the side of the cage, bent forward slightly and placed his right hand on the grilles. The nearby technician thought that this was dangerous and wanted to stop Gao Peng, but was stopped by Director Chen with a wave of his hand.

In the cage, the Voracious Golden Toad was wolfing down the river shrimp. It did not pay attention to Gao Peng who had approached it.

The Voracious Golden Toad ate by using its large mouth to swallow its food whole. It then slowly began to chew and digest the food. It possessed teeth that were actually rather sharp. They were closely packed in three rows on its lower jaw.

After finishing its food, the Voracious Golden Toad's eyes slowly looked around and finally locked on to Gao Peng.

Guu?

Gao Peng had taken over the roasted Dead Leaf Locust that the technician had brought over. Two locusts were skewered onto a metal wire. They were roasted golden brown and still tender on the inside. There were even bits of fennel leaves sprinkled on top.

"Voracious Golden Toads like to eat fennel," the technician had explained.

Gao Peng gently waved the skewer in his hand around. The toad's eyes followed the skewer as it moved.

Then, Gao Peng took a bite of the Dead Leaf Locust right in front of the Voracious Golden Toad's eyes. He had oil dripping from his mouth.

"Ah, so fragrant. The sauce is rich and fragrant, there's just the right amount of oil in the fresh meat wrapped by a crispy exterior. I give this roasted locust a ten out of ten!" Gao Peng praised the technician's cooking with a thumbs-up.

The technician was flustered. That was for the Voracious Golden Toad, mind you! Why would you steal a toad's food? Can't you see that the toad in the cage is looking at you angrily?

In the cage, the Voracious Golden Toad really was glaring at Gao Peng with its eyes red with anger.

Locusts were one of its favorite foods, and so was fennel.

How could you eat my food?

You're inhumane!

Guu! Guu! went the Voracious Golden Toad as it began bashing against the cage. It began jumping and sending the cage into the air along with its jumps.

Its eyes began to display a vicious glint, showing malicious intent.

"But there's a bit too much fennel. The taste is a bit too strong. Not really to my liking," said Gao Peng, sounding a bit regretful. He then tossed the food into the cage.

In a blink of an eye, the Voracious Golden Toad opened its mouth wide and lunged forward, leaving a blood-red after image.

The skewer vanished. Even the metal wire was swallowed up by the toad.

Crunch, crunch.

The metal wire was twisted and broken to pieces before being swallowed along with the roasted locust into the belly of the Voracious Golden Toad.

After eating, the toad looked at Gao Peng coldly before silently turning its back to Gao Peng.

"This fella got angry. It probably has an owner already and a Blood Contract as well,' said Gao Peng with a chuckle.

If that were not the case, there was no way it would have stayed obediently in the cage even though it was that hungry. This was the behavior of a trained monster.

"To be able to even eat the metal wire, the Voracious Golden Toad must have a very powerful stomach or it would not be able to digest that," mumbled Gao Peng to himself.

He suddenly thought of something and asked Director Chen, "Which aspect of the Voracious Golden Toad does the military wish for us to improve? Is it their appetite or their defense? Or is it their offense or their jumping ability?"

Director Chen went dizzy with confusion. Wouldn't just looking for a way to evolve the Voracious Golden Toads be enough? How is it possible to actually choose the path of evolution?!

"If there is some idea of what to achieve it would help with my thought process. Actually, even if you do tell me the preferred path of evolution, I can make no promises that I will succeed. I can only try my best," said Gao Peng humbly.

"The military would like to improve the Voracious Golden Toad's defense and its ability to digest things. These are the two main areas, but of course improving its offensive capabilities can be good as well."

Director Chen waved him over, "Come, look over here. These are the results of my research. I have found that the Voracious Golden Toad has a rather decent affinity for two attributes: earth and fire."

Fire creates earth. In addition to that, the Voracious Golden Toad was also an earth-type monster. Having an affinity for these two attributes would not be surprising.

In Gao Peng's vision, the data table only visible to him read:

[Monster Name: Voracious Golden Toad

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Level: 19

[Monster Attribute: Earth

[Monster Weakness: Wood

At the same time, Gao Peng brought up the table of a Dead Leaf Locust from his memory. This was the data of a random locust he saw on television.

[Monster Name: Dead Leaf Locust

[Monster Level: 4

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Attribute: Wood/Sand

[Special Characteristic: Locust Storm (Effect: when a swarm of Dead Leaf Locusts exceeds a billion individuals, they will create a sandstorm. Within the sandstorm, the level of all Dead Leaf Locusts will be increased by one level as long as it is within the limits of its current tier)

[Monster Weakness: 1. Fire-type 2. Golden Sword Bamboo leaves are effective as a repellant against Dead Leaf Locusts, as they hate the smell of the Golden Sword Bamboo. Dead Leaf Locusts will die immediately from consuming Golden Sword Bamboo leaves.

Gao Peng knew about Golden Sword Bamboos. They were not extremely rare or precious, but they were not exactly common either.

But most importantly, there were no large plantations of this plant anywhere near Chang'an. If they wanted to use this to protect the whole of Chang'an, they would need a horrifying amount of Golden Sword Bamboo.

Such a method would not exactly tackle the root of the problem either. The Dead Leaf Locusts would definitely not be stupid enough to eat the Golden Sword Bamboo leaves on their own.

To actually eliminate the threat, they still had to exterminate all of these locusts. The initiative lied in the hands of humanity.

Fire type. It seems that the best way is to evolve the Voracious Golden Toads, and to have them develop the fire attribute as well.

Report chapter

Chapter 68: The Changes in These Three Years

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

In Gao Peng's vision, the Voracious Golden Toad had a total of 37 evolutionary pathways. The required materials for each were different, and so were the final evolutions.

"Come look at this," Director Chen waved his hand and beckoned Gao Peng over. He then took out a black-colored opaque glass case, which contained a small amount of translucent liquid.

"I extracted a bit of Voracious Golden Toad skin and combined it with various fire-attributed materials in order to find out which materials had high affinity with the Voracious Golden Toad," said Director Chen excitedly. "I've found out that its flesh has high affinity with Fire Orchid Vines. The flesh showed no signs of rejection when Fire Orchid Vine extract was introduced to it."

When talking about his experiments, Direction Chen seemed as though he transformed into another person. He became much more energetic and excited.

"But just relying on Fire Orchid Vines is insufficient. Fire Orchid Vines have a very gentle fire attribute. If we relied on it to change the attribute of the toads, we would need the toads to grow in an environment covered with Fire Orchid Vines, and constantly feed them the Vines as well. Such a process would take far too long and would require decades, or a few dozen generations before a mutation could be induced," said Director Chen with a hint of regret in his voice.

Gao Peng nodded. He had respect for this elder who displayed such commitment to his research.

"Sadly, time is something we are currently lacking," Director Chen sighed.

Gao Peng glanced at the 37 evolutionary pathways again. Coincidentally, there was one pathway that also required Fire Orchid Vines. Except that in this methodology, the Fire Orchid Vines were only a supporting ingredient and not the main ingredient.

Director Chen had invited Gao Peng over mainly because he was still young, and that youth meant that he had a wealth of imagination and creativity. He had even previously created a ghoul-type monster. This meant he definitely had extraordinary creativity. Gao Peng would definitely be able to provide some new ideas or even surprise him with some.

Gao Peng muttered, "Director Chen, perhaps we could approach this from a different angle."

"Please speak."

"We can view the Voracious Golden Toad as the main food ingredient, and the Fire Orchid Vines as a seasoning. The Voracious Golden Toad has a strong flavor of its own; hence the flavor of our seasoning is not permeating into the toad yet. At this point, we shouldn't simply rely on the seasoning. It would waste too much time to infuse the toad with it.

"We could consider a using a stronger ingredient instead. Essentially, cooking the meat under strong heat before adding in the ingredient and other neutralizing supporting ingredients." Gao Peng tried his best to make his explanation relatable and easy to understand.

Director Chen nodded. "That's true. I have considered such an option. But the appropriate strong ingredient is hard to find. If we are not careful, we could cause a good deal of harm to the Voracious Golden Toads," Director Chen smiled bitterly.

"Harm can't be prevented. No pain, no gain. Heaven is about to confer a great office onto this toad, and it must be spiced up a bit more." After finishing, Gao Peng frowned and clutched his belly.

The mention of spiciness made him think of chili oil noodles, and Mala cold noodles. His stomach started rumbling.

He had rushed over to the Monster Breeder Association without having breakfast. He was truly so blinded by the prospects of getting the electric-type commander tier monster core crystal that he forgot to take his meals.

"Spice things up more? Do you have any suggestions?" Director Chen furrowed his brows and seriously considered which fire-attributed chilies could be used as an ingredient.

"The penetrating ability of chili spiciness is strong, so that could be a possible stimulating ingredient."

"You mean using a Red-Faced Demon Chili?" Director Chen's eyes lit up. Consuming this type of chili would leave a fiery burning pain in the mouth. Humans were basically unable to eat it raw, or else there would be burns left on the mouth and lips. Only monsters were able to consume this type of chili.

This was because there was an enormous amount of fire element in this type of chili. Upon consumption, the fire element would go out of control and explode. It would be as though there was lava erupting in one's mouth. Without any resistance to fire, one would be seriously burnt.

"Yup, that's right. Please feel free to try it out," said Gao Peng with a nod.

"Alright. Little Zheng, if I recall correctly, there's still a batch of Red-Faced Demon Chilies in the Association's warehouse. Go bring it over," said Director Chen to one of the lab technicians in a white coat.

In less than ten minutes, the Red-Faced Demon Chilies were brought over. They were entirely red, like bright burning flames. The surface of the chilies was slightly wrinkled and somehow wrinkled into the figure of a demon; hence their name, the Red-Faced Demon Chili.

Director Chen used a machine to mash the chilies into a juicy pulp. Gao Peng watched this without saying a word. Based on the data table that he saw, this step of the procedure required the addition of a few more ingredients.

But he could not say anything yet. At least not before they had failed once. Otherwise, his actions would seem too deliberate.

Director Chen took a look at the large portion of viscous, bright red liquid in front of him and muttered to himself for a moment. Then, using a pipette, he took a small portion of it and placed it into a petri dish, before adding a few other mild neutralizing ingredients.

He did not know what would denature the original properties of the Red-Faced Demon Chilies, so he did not hastily add too many ingredients.

For some unknown reason, after the cataclysm, humans were unable to use electron microscopes or optical microscopes to observe strands of DNA or the various cell organelles within the cell anymore. It was as though the world's creator had abandoned these settings after the cataclysm.

All that could be seen were different colored balls of various elements.

Suddenly, everything in the world seemed to follow the laws of Yin and Yang, the five elements, the four forms, and the eight trigrams.

This led to everything becoming much simpler and less complex than the world before.

The Red-Faced Demon Chili solution with added ingredients was added into the piece of Voracious Golden Toad flesh.

Under the microscope, they could see that the prepared solution quickly invaded the flesh, causing the flesh to mutate. The yellow was soon taken over by the red, causing the entire piece of flesh to finally turn red.

Bang!

The flesh exploded into tiny pieces, breaking the microscope in the process.

From the side, the others could see that after the addition of the red solution, the piece of flesh had expanded continually as though it were absorbing energy from the solution. It had turned redder and redder before eventually exploding with a bang.

The fire attribute was one associated with a very violent energy.

Director Chen felt that the result was regrettable, but such a result was still within expectations.

The technology that existed before the cataclysm seemed unsuitable for this new world. The laws that governed the world seemed to have changed. Technology such as missiles and nuclear weapons did not decrease in their efficiency, but it was as though some sort of magic had eternally frozen them. No amount of research could result in any breakthroughs. It seemed as if the progress for this route had been blocked off, and that the power of such weapons would forever remain at their current level.

In order to progress, the only way was to work on Monster Trainers.

This was the exact reason various countries across the world put such heavy emphasis on developing Monster Trainers.

In the first two years after the cataclysm, the main focus of every country's development was still on pre-cataclysm technology.

After all, the world was used to this direction of development that had brought it through the past couple of centuries. It was practically impossible for a shift to happen in a mere one or two years.

But humanity is, in essence, a highly adaptable life form. Even without the potential of the technology that they possessed initially, are still be able to forge out a new path of development.

"It's a failure. Little Zheng, come test the blood samples of the flesh to find out the reasons for the failure."

Report chapter

Chapter 69: Experiments

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Director Chen, the reason for the flesh exploding should be because it absorbed too much of the fire element. The explosion was a result of the conflicting energies. There was no trace of fire element in the flesh. The experiment was a failure." After saying that, Little Zheng raised his head and gave Gao Peng a look. It was an expression that spoke volumes but he managed to quickly hide it immediately afterwards.

"Conflicting energies," muttered Director Chen with a frown. If the energies conflicted one another, it meant that they did not merge with each other at all, which meant that this experiment was a total failure.

Based on the results of his previous experiments, if there was a chance for success, they should have been able to at least pick up some trace amount of fire element from the blown up pieces of flesh. Either that, or flesh that was partially merged with the fire element. If that was the case, all they had to do was to keep improving the formula and to adjust the amounts of the materials needed.

"Little Gao's train of thought should be right. We shall keep going," Director Chen said with a wave of his hand. In his head, he had already prepared for the probability of failure. No one was so lucky as to get it right on the first try.

Gao Peng stared at Director Chen's back in silence for a moment. He did not expect Director Chen to trust him that much.

But it was not only trust in Gao Peng that spurred Director Chen's decision. After careful consideration, he too had agreed that Gao Peng's suggestions did indeed seem feasible.

Furthermore, he had invited Gao Peng over this time specifically for the purpose of nurturing his talent. If one had the talent, it must not go to waste. He had taken in Little Zheng and the rest as students as well because they possessed talents in this area.

There was still a long way to go in the field of Monster Breeding. There is only so much he could do alone to further this field of study. Within his living years, he hoped to see Monster Breeding progress much further.

In order to achieve this dream of his, he would require many talented individuals to join him in expanding the path for Monster Breeders.

For him to become an advanced Monster Breeder, it indeed took quite a lot of talent. This kind of talent was hard to describe in words. It was like some sort of gift that came from the soul. Those with this talent, when breeding Familiars, would often experience that spark in their souls, guiding them to find the crucial details that others would not have noticed.

This was like the Chinese doctors of the ancient times. They possessed none of the high-tech medical equipment of today and knew nothing of things like cells or nerves. But by using Yin and Yang, and the five elements as the basis for their understanding, they perceived the human body as the unification of breath, body and mind. Through the use of the methods of seeing, listening/smelling, asking, and touching, they managed to use their knowledge to treat illnesses. Seen through the lens of modern western medicine, this would all have been metaphysics!

"Mm," muttered Little Zheng in acknowledgement, even though he did not agree.

Honestly, as one of Director Chen's very own students, he was rather jealous to see his tutor specially bring a young upstart such as Gao Peng into the laboratory. Director Chen had never seemed to value the rest of them so highly.

He had heard of what Gao Peng managed to achieve at the Monster Breeder examination grounds, but he thought that that was mere coincidence, and that Gao Peng simply got lucky.

This high schooler called Gao Peng should have some abilities. But he felt that the way that Director Chen described him was a little too far-fetched. But since his tutor wanted to continue with the experiments, so be it. As long as the experiments kept failing, the little upstart's true face would be revealed!

The second experiment failed…

The third experiment continued to fail as well…

The entire afternoon was spent on failures. There seemed to be no progress in the research whatsoever.

Little Zheng and his other fellow researchers silently exchanged looks. In their eyes, one could see a hint of glee in Gao Peng's failure.

They were looking forward to Gao Peng making a fool of himself.

Gao Peng's expression changed as if he had thought of something. "Director Chen, we have tried so many ingredients already, I feel that maybe using the Devil Chilies as the sole main ingredient is insufficient. Perhaps we could add in another main ingredient."

"Two main ingredients? That's a bold idea," Director Chen looked up and glanced at Gao Peng.

Gao Peng look over at the Voracious Golden Toad with an expression of sympathy. Numerous chunks of flesh had been cut off from its body. The wounds had already healed, but the missing flesh would unfortunately take a while longer to regrow.

The Voracious Golden Toad gave Gao Peng and the rest a dirty look.

It turned its back towards them, not willing to look at these detestable humans anymore.

Even on its butt, there was a huge chunk of missing flesh.

But Director Chen and the rest still had a heart for this creature. They never cut off too large an amount of flesh each time, so that it had hopes of full recovery in future. They even anaesthetized it every time they had to cut off some flesh.

"For the other main ingredient, what do you plan on using?" Director Chen secretly shook his head. He still did not think very highly of this idea, but he felt that it would not be good for Gao Peng's enthusiasm to deal a blow.

"Black Soft Soil. It is an earth-attribute soul material that has the properties of dampness and is of Yin nature. We can have the Voracious Golden Toad consume this in order to protect its internal organs. After that, we can also add in some Sparrow Saliva Wood to the list of supporting ingredients for the Devil Chili. Wood feeds fire, and fire creates earth."

Director Chen nodded sternly. He had heard such words a dozen times that day. All of it was based on the theory of five elements. But the problem was that with that many fire, wood and earth attribute ingredients, it would be a tall task to find the right combination. With every addition of another attribute, the difficulty of this task would rise exponentially.

"We might as well give it a try," said Director Chen, nodding his head.

The ingredients were prepared in no time at all, and the experiment was carried out. Although the result was still a failure, the fire element was successfully assimilated into the flesh this time, and the amount was substantial!

This method was feasible!

Director Chen's spirits were roused.

He continued on, making minor adjustments to the quantities, and the medicinal properties of the mixture. He changed a few herbs and chose a few other similar ingredients.

A few hours passed. The flesh lying in the experimental apparatus had changed in color. Starting from a deep, pale yellow, it grew brighter until finally turning into an eye-catching dull red. This time it did not explode.

To think that they had managed to progress this far! A few of the researchers stared wide-eyed until their eyes almost popped out. Impossible, they exclaimed in their minds.

At this point, they finally understood the difference in ability between themselves and Gao Peng.

As for Gao Peng, he had never actually bothered much about these clowns during this whole time. To Gao Peng, they were petty and short-sighted people who were jealous of him even though he never had any conflict with them. These were people that Gao Peng had no intention to get along with.

Gao Peng said to Director Chen, "Why don't we proceed to live testing? Because many of these ingredients must be consumed before we actually know their results. Just experimenting on a monster's flesh will not be enough."

Was he finally extending his demon claws towards the innocent Voracious Golden Toad?!

Director Chen did not agree immediately. The military had given him sufficient permission for carrying out the experiments on the Voracious Golden Toad. It was just that, as a Monster Breeder, he had to be responsible for the life of the Familiar.

"Alright! We shall begin with the live testing," said Director Chen with a deep sigh.

They prepared a highly heat resistant container and placed the Voracious Golden Toad inside.

Probably because this was a military trained Familiar, the Voracious Golden Toad seemed to be extremely obedient, even towards the researchers. For a monster, this was extremely rare.

The various ingredients were added accordingly in the right amounts and sequenced into the container, and boiled into a frothing red juice. A pungent smell filled the air. Even those wearing a mask began to feel uncomfortable

"Cough, cough, cough," went one of the researchers. His eyes were red and teary.

Report chapter

Chapter 70: Magma Fire Toad

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

But the experiment procedure required someone to be next to the container to monitor it. Someone had to periodically add in the required materials.

"You all can go outside first, I'll stay here by the side to monitor it," said Gao Peng.

"No need. I'll be able to observe the reactions by staying in close proximity." Director Chen was choking up because of the fumes and sneezing non-stop, but he insisted on staying nearby.

Since Director Chen did not leave, the few researchers that were there as well naturally dared not leave either.

Gao Peng laughed. "We have already deduced the right amounts of ingredients to be added. The rest are all routine steps, adding in the remaining ingredients at the right times. There's nothing much worth watching. How about you guys stay here to add in the rest of the ingredients, and I'll go out for a while?"

"Alright," agreed Director Chen straightaway.

Gao Peng did not waste time on any courtesies and immediately left the lab. The fumes that the Demon Chilies gave off after adding in the other materials were really pungent and suffocating.

Outside, the air was much fresher. Gao Peng took in a few deep breaths of air and rubbed his nose that had already turned red. The smell inside really made one feel like choking and had made him rather uncomfortable.

Within the lab, the air was filled with red fumes, which got increasingly thicker. The floor-to-ceiling glass windows were fogged up with red steam. The steam had even condensed on the glass windows to form red droplets of water that made red streaks across the glass as they slid down to the floor.

Cough, cough, cough. Director Chen and the rest dashed out of the glass room, coughing profusely.

This strange phenomenon lasted for a whole thirty minutes.

After half an hour, the fumes that hung in the air of the lab gradually dissipated, and the inside of the glass-walled lab could finally be seen.

The liquid bath which was originally viscous and blood-like had turned clear and less thick, leaving only a few strands of pale red still floating in the water.

The Voracious Golden Toad with a golden back and white belly had vanished.

In its place was a blood-red giant toad with a frightening appearance.

A row of words flashed across Gao Peng's eyes.

Variant Evolution Successful – [Magma Fire Toad]

The Magma Fire Toad casually jumped and easily leapt out of the container. Its body was still wet with large amounts of the liquid, which formed a puddle beneath it.

At this moment it was no longer appropriate to call it a Voracious Golden Toad.

This giant red-skinned toad had increased in size since it entered the container. The warts on its back had become numerous and dense. The warts were translucent and there were balls of red liquid flowing within them.

"These types of toad should be a new species I suppose. How about we call them Fire Deity Toads?" Director Chen pushed up his spectacles and wore a slightly crazed look of obsession in his eyes.

"Fire Deity Toad sounds rather exaggerated. I think we should call this a Magma Fire Toad." Gao Peng rejected the suggestion because the name shown in the data table was "Magma Fire Toad." It seemed as though the real name of the monster had already been carved into its soul the moment it came into existence.

"Magma Fire Toad… That works as well. The success of this experiment was largely dependent on the ideas you provided anyway, so it shall be named as you suggested."

"Fire Toad" referred to its attribute.

But as for "Magma"…

Gao Peng was a little curious. Did "Magma" refer to the large translucent warts on its back? Or did it mean that it had the ability to spit magma?

He found out in the next moment.

As though there was something stuck in its throat making it uncomfortable, the Magma Fire Toad squatted down and inflated its throat. After a few violent inflations, its throat gave out a low rumbling sound that sounded like thunder.

Right after that, it opened its mouth wide and spat out a ball of dark red fluid!

The dark red fluid landed on the stainless steel table, which gave off a sharp hissing sound. The red liquid violently bubbled and frothed, then formed clouds of white smoke. The high temperature of the liquid could be felt from a distance.

The various papers, pens and other stationery were burned and caught fire, bursting into flames.

"Fire attribute! Dual attributes of fire and earth! We've succeeded!" Director Chen's face beamed with delight.

Gao Peng glanced at the toad. The fire attribute was there, but as for dual attributes… that did not seem to be so.

But that was not important. What was important was that this type of Magma Fire Toad would be able to counter the wood-attributed Dead Leaf Locusts, and that was sufficient.

[Monster Name: Magma Fire Toad

[Monster Level: 19

[Monster Grade: Excellent

[Monster Attribute: Fire

[Monster Weakness: Water-type

[Monster Description: Evolved from Voracious Golden Toad. In order to suit the evolutionary pathway, its earth attribute was discarded for it to become a fire attribute monster. In the process of evolution, great damage was done to its body. Large amounts of muscle were corroded by the fire element, causing its strength and jumping ability to be reduced by varying degrees. Evolutionary potential has also been weakened.

At the same time, fire-type attack abilities were also developed, allowing it to spit viscous phlegm from its mouth that contains a concentrated fire element. The warts on its back transformed into mini "warehouses" that store fire element. Upon being broken, they will spurt out large amounts of liquids containing fire element and could cause harm to its attackers.

Such an evolutionary process had certain drawbacks. From now onwards, the Magma Fire Toad could only make use of fire attributed evolutionary pathways and could no longer tolerate any change in attribute, or else its genes would break down.

Furthermore, its evolutionary potential was weakened. In the long run, this seemed to be disadvantageous to the monster.

But to evolve it to become a fire attribute monster, this was the only method available. There were both pros and cons in the process, it would seem.

Director Chen's few students simply stared blankly at the Magma Fire Toad squatting in the middle of the lab. No matter how they looked at it, it did not make sense.

It had actually succeeded in only one try!

Following that, one of them shouted in despair, "My notebook was still on that table!"

"Oh damn, so was mine!"

In the next moment, chaos ensued.

Gao Peng opened his mouth to ask, "Director Chen, this military assignment should be completed already right?"

"The assignment has been completed. After this, I will put in some overtime to reorganize the figures. After running the procedure on a few more toads, we should be able to securely come up with a new evolutionary formula. This will be another new evolutionary formula for Familiars!" Director Chen nodded with a bright smile.

"Mm, then I guess I won't be needed anymore," Gao Peng nodded his head.

"It's alright now, you can go home first," Director Chen said as he waved his hand.

"Then I shall leave…" Gao Peng's voice was filled with hesitation. His feet seemed rooted to the ground and did not move at all.

"Ok, go off first then." Director Chen could not wait to get to work.

He turned around, only to see Gao Peng still standing where he was. Director Chen suddenly remembered and slapped his forehead, "How forgetful I am! I'll immediately make a call to the military. By tomorrow at the latest, you should receive the commander tier electric type monster core crystal."

"Thank you for your trouble, Director Chen," Gao Peng politely nodded, and finally left with peace of mind.

Report chapter

---

Read Monster Pet Evolution Chapter 71 - Down This Bowl of Soup online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 71: Down This Bowl of Soup

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

At the front lines north of Chang'an City, the number of Dead Leaf Locusts had visibly gone down compared to a few days ago. But their sheer numbers were still terrifying, and the sandstorm was still howling furiously.

Sand still filled the sky, coming down on them like torrential rain.

A large locust, easily ten times larger than those around it, came rushing out of the swarm. It transformed into a gray blur and surged towards the formation of tanks.

"Intercept it!" ordered one of the commanders.

One of these giant locusts had flown out at them before. It had broken into their formation and caused quite a few casualties.

But little did they know that this was just the first of many. Giant locusts kept flying out of the swarm, numbering in the thousands, forming an imposing presence.

Behind these giant locusts were the smaller, normal locusts. They followed closely behind in a dense formation.

Each of these giant locusts was at the height of the elite tier. Unless hit directly by artillery rounds, they plowed their way ahead, ignoring the gunfire that rained on them.

At this moment, the military was in a dilemma. They were currently firing artillery rounds and missiles at the locusts. If they were to send in the military Familiars, they would run the risk of friendly fire. If they did not send in the Familiars, there would be even greater trouble when these giant locusts broke through their formation.

But by stopping the artillery fire to send in the Familiars, the smaller locusts would be allowed to fly towards them. These smaller locusts that came in frightening amounts were actually the most dangerous enemies.

All of a sudden, the military commanders in charge of the front lines were faced with a Catch-22 situation.

"White phosphorous bombs! Use the white phosphorous incendiary bombs!" one veteran general decisively gave the order. "As we use the bombs, tanks and missile vehicles retreat! Pull back the front lines! I don't believe this will last forever. There has to be an end to these d*mned locusts!"

This general was one with great prestige within the Chang'an military. He had even participated in the wars that founded the country. In terms of commanding ability and charisma, he was on a different level from those that spent most of their careers during times of piece. The orders he gave were swiftly carried out.

Numerous white phosphorous incendiary bombs were launched into the sky. Upon reaching their target, they exploded with a flash of light, and rained down from the sky as flames.

The flashes of light were blinding and the sky became covered in flames. The Dead Leaf Locusts burst into flames with the slightest contact with the fire raining from the sky. In mere moments, they sky became more like a sea of red-hot fire.

The small swarms of Dead Leaf Locusts flying in the air became red clouds as the flames lighted them up. Half of the sky was lit up with these red clouds.

White phosphorous incendiary bombs had a low ignition point, capable of spontaneous ignition at only 40C. When ignited, the temperatures could go up to over 1,000 degrees, and was way beyond what any of these Dead Leaf Locusts could withstand. Because of the flames, the dense swarms of locusts got dispersed as each individual locust began flying around madly from the pain, spreading the fire even further.

A deep, angry bellow came from the depths of the locust swarm. Following that, the locusts that were on fire separated from the swarm on their own.

"Eh? Why are these little pests not using that sandstorm thing?" a soldier wondered, wide-eyed. Previously, when they had used the incendiary bombs, the locust swarm had blown back the incendiary bombs using the sandstorm. It almost managed to blow back the bomb attachments all the way back to the human side. That was why they had stopped using the white phosphorous incendiary bombs.

The giant locusts were extremely fast. Many of them managed to dodge the artillery fire and were pressing closer and closer to the soldiers. They could even see the sharp hooks at the ends of their limbs.

Just as they were about to get close enough to attack, loud frog croaks rang across the battlefield.

A red afterimage flew past. From the back of the formation, numerous giant red toads hopped forward

Guuu!

Over a hundred Magma Fire Toads landed in front of them and stood, firmly rooted to the ground. Their bodies were red from top to bottom, and there were translucent warts the size of fists all over their backs.

They opened their mouths wide and red balls of flame seemed to gather deep within their throats. Then, with a gurgle –

Pui! Pui! Pui!

They spat fiery-red liquid from their mouths. The strong muscles around their mouths allowed them to easily spit distances over dozens of meters.

The viscous red liquid that landed on the giant locusts had the same effect as the white phosphorous incendiary bombs. They stuck onto the bodies of the locusts and burned at high temperatures.

Bright flares were spewed across the battlefield. The giant locusts shook and wailed as they tumbled to the ground.

With only a few rounds of fire, at least over 100 giant locusts were taken down.

The Magma Fire Toads shot out their long tongues, wrapped up the giant locusts into their mouths, and began to chew and swallow them into their bellies.

They had also inherited their appetites from the Voracious Golden Toads. They frantically devoured and swallowed their prey without tiring at all.

Most of the military personnel were shocked by this scene. Where did these giant red toads come from? They did not remember having these Familiars in their units!

The following day, the commander tier electric-type monster core crystal was delivered to Gao Peng's door by a soldier in army uniform. After handing the large red brocade box to Gao Peng, the soldier straightened his back, snapped his legs together, and gave Gao Peng a salute.

After saluting, the soldier promptly turned and headed back downstairs. There was a military jeep parked below the building.

The neighbors were all watching this military jeep with curious looks in their eyes.

"Who are the people from this jeep looking for?"

"It seems like they went to look for Gao Peng from the sixth floor."

Usually, the aunties and uncles in the building would simply spend their time in the yard, chatting or sharing gossip.

"There was this one time, I remember it was during the night, when I was walking my dog in the neighborhood. I saw that kid from the Gao family bring a ghost back home," said one of the aunties in an exaggerated manner.

"There's no such thing as ghosts in this world, you must have seen wrong," said an old uncle, waving his hand.

"Why won't you all believe me! My eyes were definitely not mistaken!" The aunty who spoke first got agitated after being doubted by the rest. She exclaimed, "It was a large skeleton! Its head was even burning with a blue flame!"

"Gao Peng stays just right above me. I've watched him grow up and he has always been an honest boy. So what if he has a ghost? The world has already become like this; so what if ghosts exist now?" said Granny Chen, who lived right below Gao Peng. She adjusted her spectacles, and wet the thread that she was holding in her fingers and tried to thread a needle with her shaking hands. She tried many times, but she still did not manage to succeed. Both her hands were shaking too much, and she could not match the thread to the eye of the needle.

She shook her head then gently patted the head of her Striped Gray Plate Spider. The spider scuttled to its feet. Using the hook end of its rear limb, it hooked the thread, and in just one attempt put it through the eye of the needle.

"Today's sun is just right," said Granny Chen as she leaned back on her rocking chair, leisurely enjoying the gentle sunlight. The rays of light shining on her body felt warm and relaxing.

"Sigh, forget it, forget it. Let's just enjoy the sun." With that, the bunch of old people ceased their interest in gossiping.

Upstairs, after closing the door, Gao Peng went to the fridge and took out the other ingredients needed to go with the monster core crystal.

The commander tier electric-type monster core crystal was naturally not meant to be swallowed just like that. The other accompanying ingredients were long prepared by Gao Peng and placed in the bottom compartment of the fridge.

He followed the steps and added the ingredients one by one. He almost failed a few times but luckily for him, he had managed to accumulate quite a bit of experience by now. Finally, he managed to successfully complete the procedure.

Wearing rubber insulated gloves, Gao Peng beamed as he carried the bowl of soup out of the kitchen.

"Da Zi, come here and down this bowl of soup."

Sparks were flying within the soup and electricity could be seen coursing through it. The whole concoction was glowing with a blue light.

Report chapter

Da Zi doubtfully circled on the spot, staring at the strange "electric soup."

Its antennae swayed around continually as though it was drawn by the smell of the food. In the end, it tottered over and drank up the thick soup in large gulps.

As Da Zi drank, the sound of electricity crackling could be heard from its mouth.

After finishing the soup Da Zi's entire body glowed as though it had turned into a centipede made of electricity.

It was shining with a bluish purplish light from the gaps in its carapace, looking absolutely dazzling.

From a few meters away, Gao Peng's hairs were standing on end and the bottoms of his feet began to tingle. He hurriedly retreated a few steps.

Da Zi's originally pitch black eyes were shining faintly with a blue light. Its mandibles opened up wide and its body was as straight and stiff as a pole.

After the glow of electricity slowly dissipated, Da Zi seemed as though it was burnt to crisp. White smoke was coming out of its mouth and it was lying still on the ground like a dead fish.

Dumby looked at the scene in shock and slowly crawled up from the ground and walked to Da Zi's side. Using its bony finger, it tapped on Da Zi's carapace, going pong pong pong.

After a few taps, Da Zi still had no reaction.

Dumby stared at Da Zi.

It put in some serious thought. Then, it got up and pulled open the refrigerator drawer and took out five Yin Cedar needles.

It stopped for a moment…

Then hesitantly took out five more.

Dumby then knelt back at Da Zi's side and placed the ten Yin Cedar needles by Da Zi's mouth. Dumby knocked on Da Zi's head, and then the floorboards.

After repeating this a few times, Da Zi finally lost patience and began snapping its mandibles.

Stop fooling around!

Oh, you're still alive.

Dumby nodded its head, then picked up the Yin Cedar needles from the floor one by one and carefully placed them on its palm before turning to leave.

In front of the refrigerator, Dumby secretly took one needle and began chewing it in its mouth. A cloud of white mist came out from the Yin Cedar needle and was incorporated into its soul flames. The flames burned brighter and grew stronger in this process of absorption.

From Gao Peng's vision, he could see that Da Zi was still evolving and was in the midst of the evolutionary process.

During this process, Da Zi would become idle and lay motionless on the ground. Occasionally the cracking of bones within its body could be heard and its body would twitch every now and then as well.

Da Zi spent the entire night without making a single sound, all the way until the dawn of the next day. Suddenly, the idle Da Zi revived itself and became extremely energetic. Its body had grown much larger. It reached a length of three and a seen feet and its width was now the thickness of an adult man's waist.

Its species was still a Purple-Backed Electric Centipede; the only thing that changed was its grade.

A perfect grade Purple-Backed Electric Centipede.

At excellent grade, its antennae had gained golden rings on it. After promoting to perfect grade, its antennae had become totally covered in the dull golden color.

Its yellow-clawed limbs were originally a dull color, but they now carried a tinge of the elegant and noble looking gold color.

The energetic Da Zi was currently on top of a chair and frantically gnawing on the back of it. Chips of wood were flying around as each bite Da Zi took ripped of a large chunk of wood.

The metal food basin that was left in the living room had already been gnawed into a piece of scrap metal. Dumby was quietly hiding in the corner of the room and Silly was hiding behind Dumby.

Itchy! Painful! Itchy! Da Zi's voice rang inside Gao Peng's mind.

Gao Peng got worried and hurriedly went over to check if anything had gone wrong with Da Zi's evolution.

After a round of examination, he realized that Da Zi was growing a new set of teeth.

Gao Peng was in shock.

This was the first time he had heard of centipedes growing new teeth.

This really was the first time he had encountered this; it was previously unheard of.

Could it be that there were some mutations in the genes of centipedes after the cataclysm? Looking at Da Zi's current condition, there was probably be no explanation that followed the logic of common sense.

Da Zi's original set of teeth fell out one by one as it bit on stuff. Where the original set of teeth used to be, Gao Peng could see a row of new, densely packed small white teeth.

Gao Peng waved his hand to beckon Silly over. Silly flew over immediately. After this period of interaction with Gao Peng, it no longer rejected Gao Peng, especially when it had delicious fruit juice to drink every day!

Out of habit, Silly landed on top of Gao Peng's head. Gao Peng took out a cup of ice-cold orange juice from the fridge.

Silly smelt the aroma of the orange juice and left Gao Peng's head. It slowly landed on Gao Peng's hand, its body like a hat, covering the entirety of the hand that was holding on to the glass of orange juice.

After a moment, Silly slowly floated upwards, and the glass of orange juice was empty.

Gao Peng took out a painless lancing device. He gently stamped the tip of his finger. There was a gentle prick on his fingertip a though he were bitten by a mosquito.

Removing the lancing device, a droplet of blood flowed out of his fingertip.

Gao Peng felt thankful that such high tech gadgets actually existed. He only found out about lancing devices after asking Mu Tieying. To think that he was using a kitchen knife previously.

He placed his fingertip where Silly's brain was located and he closed his eyes.

This was the second time he entered Silly's consciousness.

Silly's consciousness was still rather weak. It was just a timid soul hiding in the corner of its consciousness.

As though it found Gao Peng's aura familiar, the timid soul did not continue hiding in a corner this time around. It carefully stretched out some of its soul tentacles to search for Gao Peng.

After confirming Gao Peng's identity, Silly seemed to relax a little. Its emotions were transferred to Gao Peng through its soul.

Probably because its intelligence was not that high, all that Gao Peng could sense from it was closeness and the feeling of wanting to please him. Perhaps Silly had been too traumatized from its days of being hunted by fish and birds. Perhaps it was used to living in fear after being shipped off to a faraway place to be sold off by humans.

It had gone through a lot before it could settle down and enjoy drinking its favorite fruit juice every day. Silly did not want to ever leave such happy times.

A Blood Contract scroll appeared in Silly's soul space. Although its intelligence was not high, it could vaguely through some sort of programmed instinct understand what the Blood Contract entailed.

"Become my partner! If you become my partner, I will let you obtain power such that you will not need to fear anything anymore."

"Power don't want… I want fruit juice!" said Silly anxiously.

Through the establishment of the Blood Contract, Silly's intelligence had risen a bit.

"Alright, I'll give you lots and lots of fruit juice." Gao Peng sighed.

"Yup!"

Silly immediately agreed to the Blood Contract.

In their consciousness, the Blood Contract began to burn brightly, turning into ashes.

Gao Peng had established his second Familiar, a Levitating Jellyfish!

After establishing the contract with Silly, Gao Peng could finally promote Silly's grade with peace of mind.

He opened up Silly's possible evolutionary pathways. There were nine in total.

One of them required the Wood Space Hearts. This evolutionary pathway would evolve Silly into a Wood Spirit Jellyfish, a dual attributed jellyfish with healing and spatial abilities.

But following this pathway, Silly's evolutions would follow the pathway of a support-type Familiar.

Gao Peng was slightly hesitant for a space-type monster to develop in the path of a support-type Familiar.

After all, if a space-type monster matured and grew, it would be able to develop terrifyingly lethal abilities.

But obtaining lethal spatial abilities would definitely not be a short-term goal, as it would require a lot of time and energy to develop them in Silly.

After muttering to himself for a bit, Gao Peng finally decided to follow the principle of proximity.

Space-type materials were rare to begin with, so he would decide based on the materials at hand.

After he became much stronger, he would be able to raise any type of Familiar. Having one to suit his current needs would be the best choice.

"Required materials for evolution into Wood Spirit Jellyfish: Wood Space Heart 2 pounds, Drifting Soul Cloud extract 0.2 pounds, Ghost Piths 7 pieces…"

Report chapter

Chapter 73: You Must Be Very Sad

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"Xiuying, it's time to get up for breakfast." The voice of an old man came from the small bedroom.

A red parrot was perched on the wardrobe, calling towards the white-haired old lady lying in bed. Every morning, this was how the parrot woke the old lady. It had become an everyday occurrence for them over the past two years. The old lady's surname was Chen and her name was Xiuying.

Today, Xiuying did not obediently get up like usual. Her vision still blurry. She opened her eyes slowly and then smiled at the parrot.

The parrot stopped calling, and just quietly perched atop the wardrobe. Its eyes met with Xiuying's.

Xiuying had no children. Twenty years ago, a car accident had taken her daughter's whole family away from her.

From that point onwards, the lonely elderly couple could only depend on each other. They lived right in that very house that was not too large.

After the car accident, they had gotten a large sum of money as compensation, but they never got a new house. They had already grown far too used to this old house of theirs.

Sometime after, they began to raise a parrot.

The parrot was intelligent. It could speak and also imitate sounds, and it often brought laughter to the elderly couple.

The elderly couple found a companion within the parrot. They taught it how to speak, and it also learned how to imitate their voices. It brought an extra sliver of warmth to the cold house.

In the past, the old man would wake Xiuying up every day. After losing their daughter, Xiuying had become a lot less mentally alert, and a lot sleepier. Without the old man to wake her up, she would often miss breakfast, and that was bad for her stomach.

This carried on up until two years ago. The old man passed away.

To Xiuying, it was undoubtedly as though the sky had fallen down on her. It was a long and dark night for her. She had no idea how she actually made it through. But the next day at dawn, just as the sun began to rise…

Just the very next day after the old man passed away, their parrot had stood by Xiuying's bedside…

And in an imitation of the old man's voice, gently spoke to her. "Xiuying, it's time to get up for breakfast."

Xiuying opened her eyes and looked at the parrot by the bedside. The pair of eyes that met hers were familiar, and just as warm as she remembered.

The parrot pruned its feathers, then raised its head to look at her again.

Tears welled up in Xiuying's eyes. She got out of bed and prepared breakfast for herself and for the parrot as well. She prepared her partner's favorite dumplings.

The parrot did not eat. It merely pecked at the dumplings once, then stopped.

From then on, every morning, the parrot would perch by Xiuying's bedside and wake her up using that familiar voice.

Today Xiuying did not get out of bed like usual. Instead, she was curled up in bed like a little girl, smiling cheekily at the parrot.

That smile seemed to have brought her back to 60 years ago.

Back when she was still a young girl; that was the exact day that she was married, and the day she spent her first night with her newlywed husband.

Suddenly, Xiuying felt increasingly tired. She found it hard to keep her eyes open.

Actually, she should have already left last night. She was already too old. Loneliness had been eating away at her all this while for far too long.

But she just wanted to hear it once more. Just once more.

To hear the old man's voice.

To hear the old man say, "Xiuying, it's time to get up for breakfast."

My love, you're about to leave on a long journey, far away from me.

I count down the days to your return. When will you be back?

You said,

When I hear your voice once more time, that will be the day we reunite.

Suddenly, Xiuying could see the old man. He was standing by her bed, holding on to her hand.

He said to her, "I'm back, my dear, I've made you wait."

The next day, Gao Peng could hear the neighbors buzzing in conversation as he went downstairs.

Granny Chen, who lived a floor below him, had passed away. When the rest had entered her house, they saw Granny Chen lying on her bed with a peaceful look on her face.

Her fingers were gently curled, and they were interlocked with small little claws. On the other end of her fingers was the cold body of a parrot.

Granny Chen had no direct relatives, so according to government regulations, her body would be collected by the morgue, which would then contact her distant relatives.

If no one came for her still, then her body would be cremated and placed in the public cemetery.

"Aiya!"

"It's a ghost!"

Shouts of alarm came from the crowd, and many of them were running away.

Deep within the crowd, Gao Peng could see that specks of light had suddenly appeared. These specks of light gradually floated up into the sky.

Amongst the specks of light, Gao Peng could faintly see a pale blue semi-transparent parrot flying up into the heavens. The specks of light seemed to be dancing around it.

[Monster Name: Guardian of the Soul

[Monster Level: 25

[Monster Grade: Perfect

[Monster Attribute: Soul

[Monster Description: A strong obsession with the soul keeps this monster in the mortal realm. It can take numerous forms. When the obsession ends, it will return to the underworld.

The pale blue parrot circled around the third floor window thrice, and with a sudden flutter of its wings, vanished into the sky.

"I saw it, they started flying! The two dead bodies on the metal rack became specks of light and flew away! The parrot and the person were definitely dead!" One of the workers from the morgue was in utter panic. He had definitely been scared out of his wits.

The world had changed after the cataclysm, one could say; but corpses had stayed the same.

No matter how terrifying the monster or human, they all became the same after they died.

No matter what, they became cold and incapable of moving.

But now, even the corpses weren't following the rules!

The workers from the morgue were definitely scared out of their wits.

With the passing away of Granny Chen, Gao Peng was shocked.

When he heard the news, his heart became heavy. After all, she was a familiar face that he saw all the time.

He recalled that other than the Striped Gray Plate Spider, Granny Chen had another pet, which was the parrot she kept at home.

Now that Granny Chen and the parrot were both gone, what would happen to the Striped Gray Plate Spider?

There were previous incidents within the city where the Familiar was left behind after its owner had passed away. Without the control of their masters, some Familiars chose to enter the mountains, returning to the wild.

Others experienced a huge change in their nature, become highly offensive and attacking other humans.

Gao Peng was intending to head out to buy the materials needed for Silly's evolution. Other than the Wood Space Heart, Gao Peng had heard of the other materials. They were not particularly rare or expensive. But with what just happened, Gao Peng decided to back upstairs to take a look instead.

He was still rather familiar with that little spider that liked to hang around in the stairwell.

Walking up the stairs, he found the little spider on the ceiling of the fifth floor stairwell.

Its eight clawed limbs were hooked onto the ceiling, and its blood red eyes were constantly shimmering with a hint of madness. It was letting out a low hiss as well.

In Gao Peng's vision he could see that the Striped Gray Plate Spider's condition was currently in a state of sorrow.

Seeing that someone had come, the Striped Gray Plate Spider turned its face away and hid in a corner of the ceiling, as though it were embarrassed to be seen in such a state.

After a few minutes, seeing that Gao Peng was still there, the spider's embarrassment turned into rage. It began to shriek loudly at Gao Peng.

Hiss? Da Zi casually made a sound as it lazily climbed up onto Gao Peng's shoulder.

The Striped Gray Plate Spider froze, then unhappily curled up into a ball in resignation.

It just lost its master, and now a vicious tyrant of a centipede was bullying it. A spider's life was really tough.

Having lost its hopes and dreams, it reduced itself to a hairy ball.

With a pachi sound, it fell down from the ceiling and stayed on the ground without even moving.

"You must be very sad, aren't you?" said Gao Peng as he squatted down next to the spider and gently patted it on the head.

The Striped Gray Plate Spider could sense the kind intentions from Gao Peng's voice and trembled slightly.

Report chapter

Chapter 74: Striped Gray Plate Spider

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Striped Gray Plate Spider gingerly shifted away the legs that were blocking its face. Two blood-red eyes were revealed that secretly observed Gao Peng carefully.

It struggled to remember, thinking with its not-so-large brain.

Then it remembered. This guy had tried to scare it at the stairwell by throwing a fireball at it!

A hostile expression appeared on the Striped Gray Plate Spider's face.

Da Zi was quietly resting on Gao Peng's shoulders. It was so long now that part of its body touched the ground even while it was on Gao Peng's shoulders. Da Zi could sense the spider's emotions.

It casually reached out with one of its fangs and tapped the Striped Gray Plate Spider, like an older brother reminding his younger brother what he should or should not be doing.

In the presence of a more powerful monster, the Striped Gray Plate Spider could only screech rapidly in protest.

Unhurriedly, Da Zi simply looked the spider in the eye and hissed once.

"If you wish, you can come along with me," said Gao Peng as he stretched out his right hand in front of the Striped Gray Plate Spider.

The stairwell fell into silence.

After some hesitation, the Striped Gray Plate Spider slowly removed the leg that was blocking its face and placed it on Gao Peng's palm.

The hairy spider leg was covered in backward hooks that were like pieces of steel wire. Because Gao Peng was being careful, all he felt was a ticklish sensation as they gently pricked the palm of his hand.

When Gao Peng finally headed out to the streets, there were two Familiars following him: a three and a half meter long centipede, and a spider the size of a millstone.

"Hey, bro, you gathering the five poisons to become the head of the Five Poison Sect?" A smart teen dressed in all seven colors of the rainbow was walking in Gao Peng's direction and could not help poke fun at him after seeing the spider and centipede walking by his side.

"The sect hasn't died out yet?" said Gao Peng, looking at the teen.

The smart teen did not seem to mind and chuckled instead. "You don't understand. The thing about trends is that they are periodic. They come in cycles. Every trend will be popular during its time, but will gradually be eliminated in a few years. But after a few decades, it will regain popularity again. That's what we call 'retro."

Gao Peng could not help but take a second look at this guy. A cultured smart teen… he was indeed different from the rest.

Seeing that Gao Peng had no intention to continue chatting, the smart teen immediately tried to make Gao Peng stay. He went up to him and spoke in a hushed voice. "Bro, it seems to me that you like poisonous stuff right? With your centipede and spider and all."

"No, it's just a coincidence that I'm raising two of the five poisons." Gao Peng shook his head. He felt a little annoyed that this smart teen was so persistent in bothering him.

Da Zi sensed its owner's annoyance and immediately went forward to threaten the smart teen. Its fangs were open wide with a cold glint coming off them. At the same time, its body surged with visible arcs of electricity. Although it could not exactly release electricity, it had no problem covering its body with it, making it look extremely menacing.

"Aye aye aye, don't get agitated, don't get agitated. I just have a few poisonous monsters with me. If you are interested, bro, I can sell them cheap!" the smart teen immediately said in a hushed voice.

Gao Peng was not interested in the poisonous monsters that he mentioned. Furthermore, there were more than enough Familiars in his home right now. Skull Ghoul Ape, Purple-Backed Electric Centipede, Striped Gray Plate Spider, and Levitating Jellyfish: a total of four Familiars.

The average person would not normally try to raise too many Familiars until the Familiars under their wing had matured and grown to a certain level. This was first and foremost because it cost too much money. It would be like getting an ordinary household before the cataclysm to raise a few large carnivorous beasts. The money spent on food alone would cause them to go broke.

Secondly, it was because raising Familiars also took up a lot of time and energy.

Many people believed that there were two different factions of people when it came to raising Familiars. Those belonging to the first would specially train only one or two Familiars and were termed as the "one with the Familiar" faction.

The other faction was the generalist faction, which would raise any type of monster under the sun.

Of course, all these factions were just a joke. In reality, there were no actual factions. Whether or not people raised a Familiar was usually purely based on a whim.

There were many who swore: "Even if I die, even if I have to jump off a cliff, I will definitely not raise another Familiar!"

And then after a while… would appear carrying a newly bought Familiar chuckling, "Hey, this new Familiar I just bought can even spit fire."

But this was beside the point. Gao Peng was really not interested in any of the five poisons.

The smart teen, however, still had more to say. After all, with two of the five poisons by his side, Gao Peng seemed like a good potential client. From his experience in doing sales, as long as he was thick-skinned enough, success was usually only a step away.

Gao Peng lost his patience and said coldly, "Get lost!"

The smart teen unwillingly forced a smile, then turned away to look for other customers along the street.

Gao Peng headed to the store and bought some food, as well as some materials needed to evolve a Striped Gray Plate Spider.

Promoting its grade from normal to excellent should have been a simple matter, especially since it was just a little level 4 monster.

What Gao Peng was lacking currently was a tank, and although it seemed ridiculous to use a spider as a meat shield, Gao Peng had actually found an evolutionary pathway for a tank amongst the possible pathways for the Striped Gray Plate Spider.

After buying the materials and heading home, Gao Peng proceeded to establish a Blood Contract with the Striped Gray Plate Spider first. Although there was not much space left in his soul, establishing a contract with a normal grade, level 4 monster would be no problem.

But Gao Peng had planned things out already. After establishing the Blood Contract with the Striped Gray Plate Spider and quickly strengthening it, it would soon be able to provide him with plenty of Soul Power.

With the Soul Power that was being provided by Da Zi and Silly, he believed that he would be able to establish a Blood Contract with Dumby in no time. Dumby just had to put up with the current situation for a little while longer. He could not afford to promote Dumby any more, or else the Soul Power needed would just keep increasing.

Gao Peng felt that his decision to promote Dumby's grade was actually one that was not worthwhile. He had been foolish then but he had to admit his mistakes so that he would not make the same ones in future.

Nobody was perfect. One just had to make sure that they did not fall in the same ditch twice.

The process of establishing the Blood Contract with the Striped Gray Plate Spider was a quick one. Perhaps because of Granny Chen's recent passing away, Gao Peng felt a strong feeling of sadness in the consciousness of the Striped Gray Plate Spider.

Without much effort at all, Gao Peng had obtained the spider's trust. It could have been because the spider was still grieving and Gao Peng had coincidentally come in to fill the void left behind.

After establishing the Blood Contract, Gao Peng was astonished to find that Granny Chen had never actually had a Blood Contract with her Striped Gray Plate spider. Perhaps this was simply something that the older generation persisted on not doing.

Gao Peng had chosen the evolutionary pathway of a Gray Armored Spider for the Striped Gray Plate Spider. Just from the name alone, one could tell that this was a species of spider with a strong defense.

Report chapter

Chapter 75: Stripey

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng was wearing a mask. His entire body was covered up properly, and a pair of white rubber gloves protected even his hands. He was hurrying about the lab preparing various concoctions.

There was a timer placed on top of the table. At fixed intervals it would set off an alarm.

Then Gao Peng would add in the ingredients at the correct times.

At the side of the laboratory bench was a large container. Attached to the container was a white oxygen tube that continually pumped oxygen into the liquid within the container.

Gao Peng added a few drops of a dark green liquid into a test tube containing a blue liquid. Small dense bubbles began to emerge from the mixture.

Gao Peng stared deeply into the test tube and gently swirled the blue liquid in it. At the bottom of the test tube, a golden-red precipitate was slowly forming.

All right, the solvent was successfully made.

Gao Peng walked over to the side of the container, then poured all of the liquid from the test tube into the container.

At the bottom of the container, there was a spider the size of a millstone frantically struggling and twitching. Its slender limbs were festering and had swollen considerably. Lumps of highly distorted flesh were clumped together, like many tumors growing along its limbs.

Its limbs looked abnormally thick; at least five times the normal thickness, making it look almost like a mutated crab.

"Your body color is gray, and you're a Striped Gray Plate Spider. After evolution you will become a Gray Armored Spider.

"Since Silly and Dumby all end with an –y," muttered Gao Peng to himself, "I shall call you Stripey, then."

The name reminded Gao Peng of a certain anime character. This might be one of the worst insults that character has ever faced.

Waves of numbing pain were passed on to Gao Peng through the connection to Stripey's soul. Gao Peng's heart felt heavy.

But this was unavoidable. In order to evolve from a Striped Gray Plate Spider to Gray Armored Spider, this was the only path they could take.

This evolution process was different from Da Zi's and the others. This time, the materials needed for Stripey's evolution were easy to obtain, but the procedure was difficult.

Just take certain rare, precious breeds of goldfish for example. Such goldfish could be sold for an exorbitant price of over a million dollars, but a few normal goldfish could be bought just for a few dollars. The only differences between them were the color, size and body proportions.

Which was why, for a simple evolutionary route, there would be fewer changes required in the monster.

But for a goldfish to evolve into a carp, the process would be a little more complicated. For a goldfish to evolve into a grass carp, the difficulty would be a little higher. For it to evolve into something like a shark or a whale, the difficulty would be much higher.

Of course, the use the goldfish is just an example to illustrate a point. The actual situation was not like that.

The evolution of a Striped Gray Plate Spider into a Gray Armored Spider belonged to a rather high difficulty level, which was why the procedure was rather cumbersome and required many complicated steps.

Gao Peng had specially made the trip to his studio in order to make use of the equipment there.

"Little Boss, there's a customer here," Xun Quanquan's voice came from outside.

Gao Peng, who was in the middle of monitoring Stripey's evolution process, heard her. He took a look outside, then back at Stripey who was immersed in the solvent. Stripey was not far from completing its evolution.

Right now, all the ingredients that were needed for Stripey's evolution had been properly added. All that was left was the painstaking process of developing Stripey's defensive capabilities.

Immersed in the liquid, Stripey would continually grow. A hard outer shell would form, which would gradually become brittle and fall off, allowing new body tissues to form. Its body would be bigger than before it shed its outer layer. Then it would repeat the cycle of the outer shell hardening, becoming brittle and falling off…

Such a process would consume a large amount of energy.

Gao Peng called Xun Quanquan into the lab.

"Little Boss," said Xun Quanquan as she stepped gingerly inside. Everything in the lab was extremely mysterious to her. It looked absolutely mystical!

All the lab apparatuses and equipment gave her a feeling of something very high-end.

Without permission, she was not allowed to come in.

"Mm. Later on, the moment you see that the liquid in the container turning into a lighter color, just pour the contents of this test tube on the table into the container," said Gao Peng, pointing to the high-energy solution that was prepared on the table.

Xun Quanquan looked towards the silvery-gray workbench and saw five test tubes on the test tube rack, each containing a milky white liquid.

"Ah? Oh, understood." Xun Quanquan nodded her head.

Gao Peng had already cleared away all the other materials in the laboratory, leaving only the high-energy solutions in the test tubes.

This task was not difficult. He believed that anyone with a bit of intelligence would be able to do it without any problems.

Right now, Stripey had safely entered into a benign evolutionary process. All that it needed was time.

"Mr. Gao," greeted the man who was seated in the waiting room. He wore silver-rimmed spectacles. There was even a bodyguard in a suit standing right next to him.

The man was extremely enthusiastic. He got up to shake Gao Peng's hand the moment he saw him enter.

"Hello." Gao Peng was a little perplexed. This person seemed a bit too enthusiastic.

"I have long heard of your good name, Mr. Gao. It is my pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh," said the man in silver-rimmed glasses with a smile. "Let me introduce myself. I am Lu Xie. I am currently a freelancer. Previously I owned a small herb garden, which was sadly destroyed by Brutal Gray Devil Spiders. My garden is still under repair now."

"City east's herb garden?" Gao Peng ears pricked up after hearing the man's words. He looked at Lu Xie.

He laughed heartily. "That's right. I did not think that Mr. Gao would know of my little garden as well. I am honored.

"Mr. Gao should be aware of what happened a while back then. To be honest, that night still gives me nightmares." Lu Xie smiled while shaking his head. But from the look of his expression, it seemed as though he did not receive too much of a scare.

"This is the Familiar I have brought for you to strengthen. Please take a look, Mr. Gao. Any price is alright, I am aware of the fees that Mr. Gao charges," said Lu Xie very directly.

This was… really too zealous. Gao Peng was slightly suspicious. He did not think he was that well known, and this was the first time the two of them had met.

Lu Xie waved at his bodyguard to stand back, and then stepped forward and spoke softly. "Mr. Gao, from your expression, it seems that you are unaware. Just a while back, the Magma Fire Toads developed by the military contributed greatly in the frontlines up in the north of the city. The ones responsible for developing the new Magma Fire Toads were you and Director Chen. During the banquet, Director Chen had said himself that you had definitely been the key contributor to the research process." Gao Peng finally understood.

Just a while ago, Director Chen had invited him to attend some banquet. But after finding out that those attending were all the social celebrities and influential decision makers within Chang'an city, Gao Peng had lost interest in attending.

In fact, Gao Peng really had zero interest in attending any such events, especially after the event that happened to him when he was young… Gao Peng had become rather averse to any such occasions.

Lu Xie brought in a black hound. But what was different about this hound was that it was a whole nine feet tall. A ring of vicious looking bone spurs grew out of its neck, making it look as though it were wearing a necklace. Its eyes were pitch black, its fangs were as sharp as knives, and a blood-red tongue was lolling out form the side of its mouth.

It looked fierce, evil and absolutely imposing.

Its presence gave an aura of horror that felt pressurizing to anyone around it.

Gao Peng squinted his eyes at the hound.

This was a commander tier Familiar.

Report chapter

Chapter 76: [Wild Evolution] – Gray Armored Spider

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Ebony Night Hound!

That was the scientific name of the jet-black hound.

According to what was known, all dog-type monsters had the possibility of evolving into an Ebony Night Hound. The Ebony Night Hound was already established as a possible alternate evolutionary pathway for dog-type monsters.

This type of dog species had jet-black fur that perfectly blended in with the darkness of the night. The color of its fur was the perfect camouflage.

Its jet-black fur was also capable of absorbing most wavelengths of light, making it the perfect assassin under the cover of the night. This also made it an ideal watchdog. Many manor and garden owners made this their choice of Familiar.

"I am aware of the way you charge your fees. For commander tier Familiars, the price is determined by you," said Lu Xie. "Please feel free to state your price."

Gao Peng looked at the Ebony Night Hound and checked its various evolutionary pathways.

After some careful thought, Gao Peng quietly nodded his head. He had eliminated the two rarest and strongest paths for its evolution, leaving eighteen different possible pathways.

After identifying the pathways that required materials that were too rare or procedures that were too complex and time consuming, he eliminated another five more, leaving a total of thirteen pathways.

"Director Lu," said Gao Peng, looking towards Lu Xie.

Lu Xie jumped slightly. Director Lu?

He had never actually had someone address him that way…

But it was actually a rather novel feeling.

"Promoting the grade should be no problem at all. I even have quite a few evolutionary pathways for you to choose from. Of course, the prices for each of them are different and the strengths of the Familiar after the evolution will differ accordingly as well. As a businessman, you should understand that you get what you pay for…" Gao Peng gave Lu Xie a meaningful smile.

Lu Xie slapped his forehead and said without any hesitation, "I'll have the most expensive one!"

"Umm… 5,000. 5,000 Alliance Credits, and you will need to pay for the materials needed as well. It's the most expensive and the best." After a moment's pause, that was the price that Gao Peng offered.

Lu Xie was astounded. 5,000 Alliance Credits. This price was… a little too horrifying.

Even though he was mentally prepared, he was still shocked.

He was even expected to pay for the materials as well…

In total, no matter how he looked at it, he would need to pay at over 6,000 credits.

"Then… what is the price of the cheapest set?" Lu Xie asked, feeling conflicted.

"1,000 Alliance Credits." Gao Peng held up a single finger.

One thousand Alliance Credits meant that only the grade of the Ebony Night Hound would be raised, and nothing else.

"I'll take the most expensive one then!" Lu Xie gritted his teeth, slapped the table, and made his decision.

Before the cataclysm, Lu Xie was simply an attendant in charge of looking after the grounds. Since then, he had managed to become a big boss that owned half of the steel market in Chang'an City. All that was because of his guts!

He knew never to hesitate when it was the time to let go.

You can only win some after you lose some!

Before he had come to look for Gao Peng, he had sent people to look up Gao Peng. They found quickly that they could dig no deeper regarding Gao Peng's information, but what they found on the surface was enough.

No one had noticed yet, but ever since Gao Peng had started as a Monster Breeder, he had yet to fail; not even once!

That alone was amazing!

The notion that Gao Peng would not fail when he got down to work meant that he had a success rate of 100%.

"Alright, Mr Lu. I assure you that you will not be disappointed," Gao Peng smiled.

This business deal was the prime example of what people mean when they say "the stall may be closed for three years, but once open can feed the owner for three years".

Indeed, evolving commander tier monsters was where the big money was.

In actual fact, the fee that Gao Peng had charged was not high. Fees for promoting a commander tier Familiar could range from a few hundred Alliance Credits to tens of thousands of Alliance Credits. When converted to Alliance Dollars, that would mean millions or billions of Alliance dollars.

Gao Peng had only asked for 5,000 in order to prevent potential customers from being scared off by his fees. Running a small business was not easy, after all.

Gao Peng had made a serious loss from this deal, but Lu Xie had really profited big time!

The price difference for various commander tier monsters was rather high and determined by the difference in the monster's level and grade.

Even between commander tier Familiars, there were rather large differences in ability. Some people even came up with ways to divide commander tier into different ranks such as early-stage, middle-stage, late-stage, and pinnacle.

Such a fantasy-like ranking system left Gao Peng speechless.

He had no clue how what kinds of criteria were used to come up with such ranks.

To Gao Peng, commander tier monsters had a total of 20 levels. Levels 21 to 40 belonged to commander tier monsters.

Xun Quanquan was staring with her mouth wide open at Stripey, who was in the container. This giant spider had practically doubled in size and its large body was now covered in short gray fur.

Its two largest forelimbs looked as though they were heavy shields. It was as though two shields were attached to the limbs. The shields had an uneven surface riddled with gray grooves that ran both vertically and horizontally across the shields. There were even some light gray spurs that grew out from the sides.

Dong –

The two forelimbs swung out and smashed against the reinforced glass, giving off a dull sound. Cracks appeared in the place that was struck, like a spider web.

Stripey once again viciously swung its forearms against the glass!

The reinforced glass suddenly burst into pieces. Xun Quanquan hid behind a table and screamed as she watched the monster in the container struggle its way out.

The ruckus in the lab alarmed the people outside.

After opening the door, what they saw was a gray armored crab in the center of the lab, flaunting its majestic form, and looking insufferably arrogant.

No, that's not right.

That wasn't a crab.

It was more like a spider…

The group of people outside stared with their jaws hanging open at the spider in the middle of the room. It was a strange looking spider, over a meter long with armor-like scales all over its body.

A row of words flashed over Gao Peng's eyes.

[Wild Evolution] Success…

Successful evolution – Gray Armored Spider!

"Stripey," scolded Gao Peng. "How could you break the lab's equipment!"

Upon seeing that it was Gao Peng, Stripey seemed to deflate like a balloon. Its air of superiority suddenly vanished. It hurriedly used its two shield-like claws to cover its eyes and avoid looking at Gao Peng. Then it shifted sideways and started retreating.

Dong

It hit the leg of the table and stumbled.

What a silly fella. Gao Peng suddenly realized that all the Familiars under him seemed to be rather silly.

There is a saying that a man is known by the company he keeps…

Gao Peng suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly banished such random thoughts from this mind.

"Go to my office first, and don't break anything there. When you're there stay quiet, and don't touch anything," nagged Gao Peng at Stripey.

The rest of them were confused. Would the spider actually understand such complex words?

What they saw next almost made their eyes fall out of their sockets. Stripey actually nodded in a human-like manner and obediently crawled out of the lab. The only thing that was strange was the manner in which it crawled. It was crawling sideways.

Although Stripey's level was not high, its intelligence was not low. After being around Granny Chen for such a long time, it could understand some human speech.

The materials needed for the Ebony Night Hound's evolution were still not available right there and then. After all, it was a commander tier monster. The required materials were rather rare in the market, and a certain amount of time would be needed to prepare them. Hence, Lu Xie arranged a time to meet with Gao Peng. He would come back next week.

After everyone had left, Gao Peng bent over to pick up the glass debris and clean up the lab.

After cleaning up the bits of glass and drying up the floor with a mop, Gao Peng finally left the lab and went to speak to the finance department. "Order a new container for me, one larger than the previous one. Place the fees for this under my tab."

After work, Gao Peng left the studio with Stripey. In the elevator, he saw a young man in a suit. On his shoulder perched a Black Light Parrot.

The Black Light Parrot's eyes widened as it saw Gao Peng and it screeched, "B*stard!"

Its voice was filled with misery, as though it had just encountered its mortal enemy.

Report chapter

Chapter 77: A Crab-Like Spider

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

PS:

[Monster Name: Black Light Parrot

[Monster Weakness: 1. Wind-type. 2. Smell of Qianxin Herb induces vomit and diarrhea in the Black Light Parrot. If it consumes Qianxin Herb, Black Light Parrot will faint. 3. The Black Light Parrot hates Thunderbolt Macaw Fruit; to the bird, Thunderbolt Macaw Fruit tastes like sh*t.

This Black Light Parrot…

Gao Peng thought for a moment, then finally recalled the identity of this Black Light Parrot.

"Sorry, sorry," said the young man in a suit, "I'm so sorry, my Hei Guang has a bad temper, please forgive us…"

It seemed as though the foul-mouth of this Black Light Parrot had given this young man trouble so often that he became used to apologizing.

"It's alright," smiled Gao Peng. "Oh right, I've heard that Black Light Parrots like to eat Thunderbolt Macaw Fruit, did you know that?"

The young man in the suit was stunned for a moment. That question sounded familiar, as though someone had said the same thing to him before…

Because he was busy with his everyday work, he had forgotten what Gao Peng looked like, and only thought that he had looked rather familiar.

Only after Gao Peng had specially tried to remind him did he take a good look at Gao Peng again in surprise and thought carefully where he had seen him before. He suddenly slapped his forehead. He remembered.

"You're the friend that recommended Thunderbolt Macaw Fruits to me before, aren't you," the young man laughed.

"Yup, that's me." Gao Peng saw the young man smiling so happily and felt a bit of fear creeping into his heart. He couldn't have found out, right? That would be awkward.

"Ah, I still need to thank you for that. Since then, I've been forcing my Hei Guang to eat a few every night. This little fella is a quite stubborn and won't eat more. I have to stuff it down its throat each time."

Gao Peng was a bit confused. Was this fella that naïve? "What if it is because it doesn't like it?"

"Heh-heh, how could I stop then? My grandfather taught me since I was young that good medicine is bitter to taste! Since Hei Guang doesn't like to eat it that means it's good for its body. These little pets are all like this, very mischievous," said the young man with a sheepish smile.

"B*stard!" shrieked the Black Light Parrot in anguish. It jumped off the young man's shoulder and flapped its wings, hitting the young man's face.

"Hey, hey, I'm doing this for your own good." The young man raised his arms to protect his face. Seeing that his Black Light Parrot was still very agitated, he brought out his secret weapon. "If you keep doing that, I won't bring you to see Xiao Hong anymore!"

The Black Light Parrot stopped and went back to the young man's shoulder, gripping it tight with its little claws. The young man's suit was crumpled together, becoming badly creased. This little fella was evidently furious. It was breathing heavily from its nostrils and had its head raised high, refusing to look at anyone.

Ding. The elevator reached the first floor. As the lift doors opened, Gao Peng coughed and said his goodbyes to the young man in the suit.

Right as the young man was about to leave, Gao Peng waved at the young man and said, "Actually it's quite a simple thing to deal with this parrot of yours. Just buy some Qianxin Herb and you'll know what I mean." Gao Peng was beaming when he said that, his eyes squinting into two crescent moons.

After they left, Gao Peng could hear the anxious voice of the Black Light Parrot from behind him going, "Don't buy! Don't buy…"

"Ok ok ok, I won't buy it…"

As they were walking on the streets, Gao Peng noticed that Stripey was walking sideways, just like a crab.

This made him wonder if he had done the evolution wrongly and had evolved Stripey into a crab instead.

He checked Stripey's information tables a few times properly. All of them said "Gray Armor Spider".

He gave Stripey a kick. "Walk properly!"

Stripey tilted its head and looked at its owner. Zhi?

"You're a spider, not a crab," Gao Peng explained patiently.

Zhi? …

This proved it. It is indeed enjoyable to walk sideways.

Although Gao Peng had corrected Stripey's gait, it would still occasionally walk sideways, jumping and skipping a bit as it walked.

In Gao Peng's eyes, he could see that there were the words (Severe energy deficiency) at the back of Stripey's condition.

Gao Peng roughly figured that it was because Stripey needed energy to continue growing. Right now, Stripey's size had grown much bigger than before, but it was still far from being the meat shield that Gao Peng intended it to be. There was no way a three foot long and 1.5 foot tall little spider could be able to take on the role of a meat shield, so it definitely had more room for growth.

Actually, what Mr. Zhang had taught from the textbook was right. Stripey's nature was indeed the kind that was gentle. It was even a little timid.

Although it was walking sideways, whenever it encountered any person or monster coming in from in front of it, it would quietly stop and allow them to pass first.

There was a kind of high-energy food bar that was available in the market. It was made up of large amounts of monster meat as well as a few kinds of high-energy ingredients. Highly compressed, with a long shelf life, and high energy content, it was very suitable for a monster's consumption.

Of course, humans could eat it too. A human would only require a small amount, the size of a soybean, and a glass of water in order to be full.

It was also expensive. A box the size of a tin can would cost 0.3 Alliance Credits.

Gao Peng bought 500 of them at one go, and gave his address to the store for them to be delivered his home.

After buying the food, Gao Peng hailed a taxi to head to the real estate agency.

The driver saw Stripey and told Gao Peng to just put the small monster in the back seat. "This little crab of yours isn't that big, just place it in the back seat."

"…" Gao Peng stayed silent. He held back to urge to tell the driver the truth that it was actually a spider.

Stripey's body was not large. After curling itself together, it was practically half its normal size. With its long spider legs wrapped around its body, it became like a grey ball of yarn.

Sitting at the back of the car, Stripey remained super quiet.

At the real estate agency, the salesperson saw Gao Peng and went forward to welcome him. "Do you need anything, mister? Might you be looking for a place to rent?"

"I'm intending to buy a house. Do you have a villa in the outskirts of the city? Preferably one that's large, comes with a garden and a basement, and has clean surroundings," Gao Peng asked directly.

This was potentially a large business deal, and the sales person was rather excited. "Just a moment, sir, I remember that there are a few houses that suit your requirements."

The salesperson hurriedly opened up his laptop, his fingers moving across the keyboard… and then stopped.

He carried the laptop over. "Please take a look at this villa. Does it fit your requirements?"

The laptop showed pictures taken at different angles. In the pictures was a villa located on the top of a small hill. Surrounding it were wide-open spaces covered in green lawn. The villa was European style, with white cement walls and a red- tiled roof. Its design was simple but not inelegant. There was even a short white fence surrounding it.

"This villa has no basement, but the surrounding area all belongs to the same property, so it is still possible to build your own basement."

"Which area is this located?" asked Gao Peng.

"Near the Prosperous Dragon Lake area. Ahem ahem, the price is very cheap, only 2000 Alliance Credits, and it includes a few acres of the surrounding land as well." The salesperson looked around, and then said quietly, "Actually, because it's the outskirts, there's very little overseeing of the area. It's as good as having a large portion of the surrounding area for free."

Report chapter

Chapter 78: Buying a House

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Gao Peng looked at it for a few seconds, then muttered, "This picture was taken before the cataclysm, right?" Gao Peng could tell that none of the plants in the background of the picture were species that appeared after the cataclysm. That came across as strange, as the effects of the cataclysm were vast. Practically all forms of flora and fauna were altered in one way or another, but none of these changes were apparent in the picture.

The atmosphere was suddenly awkward.

Then, the salesperson had an idea. "That's right. Think of it this way, sir: a standalone villa from before the cataclysm that comes with a few dozen acres of garden is practically impossible to find within Chang'an City nowadays.

"Now it is selling only for 2,000 Alliance Credits, which means only 20,000 Alliance Dollars. This is a really cheap price. And although the place is rather secluded, there is an expressway right at the foot of the hill. If you buy a car as well, it will be really convenient to get around."

Gao Peng glanced at the salesperson. He knew that the salesperson had left out plenty of details such as safety issues, and issues regarding renovations.

This was in a rural area after all, and there was plenty of unrest in society during the early stages after the cataclysm. Such a villa in a rural area would either have been fortified into a fortress or deserted and left in ruins.

After three years, if the actual villa were 60% as new as the picture showed, Gao Peng would have been more than satisfied.

But regarding the other aspects of this villa, Gao Peng was actually rather pleased. The location of the villa was on the tablet. It was in a new development area that was unfortunately not completely developed back then when the cataclysm happened. After things began to stabilize, it became a new development area again, and currently housed the Monster Breeder Association and the Monster Hunting Association. Even his school was only a twenty-minute drive away.

"Actually, this property is going for a rather low price. The seller is making a loss from this deal," said the salesperson in a low voice. "After all, this is the Chang'an City area. Buying an acre of land will usually cost at least a few million. Of course, this was the price that the land was going for before the cataclysm, but even after the cataclysm, the price of the land did not drop by much. The price of land in such a rural area might be lower but it definitely has not dropped by that much."

The salesperson was speaking as though he was seriously considering Gao Peng's position, and was making seem it as though Gao Peng was getting a great bargain.

Gao Peng felt that this scenario was extremely familiar…

"I wish to take a look at that villa right now. Would that be convenient?" Gao Peng did not wish to waste too much time on buying a house. As long as it fulfilled his two main criteria of being quiet and spacious, other factors such as the convenience of the location, the condition of the villa, and so on were all secondary.

As for matters of safety, they were actually the least of Gao Peng's concerns. Although rural areas might have some sporadic monster appearances, there definitely would not be any monsters that were commander tier or above. Even elite tier monsters would be extremely rare. He would most likely encounter some normal tier monsters.

With the group of Familiars that he raised at home, even if monsters were to attack, they would most likely become an additional meal for his Familiars.

"Mm, wait a moment. Let me contact the seller," said the salesperson hurriedly, before taking out his mobile phone to make a call.

In a moment, the owner of the villa, a pot-bellied middle-aged man who looked a lot like a businessman, drove over in a car.

Without much idle chit chat, he fetched Gao Peng and the salesperson over to the outskirts of the city.

On the way there, the man briefly explained his own circumstances. He was a businessman and owned a villa in the city area along with quite a few other houses. The villa on the outskirts was actually bought for his parents to enjoy their retirement in.

At this point, the man who wore a large gold chain around his neck chuckled. "What is the purpose of living in this world? Isn't it just to live out our days more comfortably? My parents were villagers, who worked themselves to the bone their entire lives. As a son, after achieving some success in life, I naturally wanted them to enjoy the rest of their lives. Don't you think that makes sense?"

Although the man was laughing, Gao Peng could hear that there was more to his story.

With his left arm still on the steering wheel, the man casually wiped his eyes with his burly right arm and took in a deep breath.

He slowly let it out as though he were letting a heavy weight off his heart.

The car fell into silence for a while.

"But they didn't make it in time to enjoy anything, not even for a day! They slaved away their entire lives!" The man's voice sounded almost like a sob. "This godd*mned world!"

Having lost both his parents as well, Gao Peng could completely empathize. He quietly looked out of the window.

The scenery rushed across his eyes in a blur.

Very soon they reached the villa. The car stopped right in front. "We're here."

The man got out of the car. His expression was normal again, as though he had not said anything earlier.

"This road is still rather safe as there are military troops who will clear the roads on a regular basis. But it is still a rural area, so it is hard to avoid encountering some small monsters. Young man, if you do buy this place, I would suggest buying a few good Familiars to watch the house for you. This would ensure your safety and let you stay here with peace of mind."

Gao Peng looked at the man. To think that such sellers existed. He was really seller with a conscience.

Gao Peng was just thinking about this, only to have the man smile and hand him a name card. "My name is Liu San. Right now I am also selling Familiars. Young man, if you buy your Familiars from me, I'll give you a 20% discount."

"You really know how to do business, Mr. Liu," said Gao Peng dumbfounded, as he accepted the name card.

The villa was exactly like he expected. It was a little run down. The brick fence surrounding the compound was missing bricks here and there, and it was covered in creepers.

"Business has been busy over the past two years, and I hardly had time to manage the place." Liu San stood next to Gao Peng and handed him a cigarette as he spoke. "But if I frequently maintained the place, it wouldn't have gone for such a low price."

"I don't smoke, thank you," Gao Peng refused.

Liu San then offered the salesperson a cigarette as well. He was shocked to be treated so nicely but accepted it.

"Won't you go in to take a look?" asked Liu San as he handed the villa's keys to Gao Peng.

"No need. I'll just look at the surroundings. Everything will have to be renovated anyway," Gao Peng shook his head as he replied.

"I'll buy it at this price then. Can I sign the contract now?" Gao Peng did not wish to waste any time.

The contract was already prepared and brought along by the salesperson. The papers were signed and the transaction was carried out quickly.

Under the policies of the new government, such contracts and agreements were much more convenient and required fewer of the complicated procedures that were needed in the past.

After taking over the contracts for the property and the land, and with the addition of the villa keys that he just received, the plot of land now belonged to Gao Peng.

Under the policies of the new Allied Government, all land could be legally bought or sold. The tenure for each transaction was 100 years, and within these 100 years, the plot of land would belong to the buyer. Even the Allied Government would have no authority to interfere with whatever the land was being used for.

After contacting a construction company, and informing them of the designs that he wanted, Gao Peng realized that the money he had gotten earlier that morning was now gone. The 50% deposit that Lu Xie had paid him was practically completely spent.

But at least he now finally had a spacious home for all his Familiars. He would no longer have to worry about them crashing through the ceiling or making too much noise and troubling the neighbors at night.

Report chapter

Chapter 79: Leaving the City

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When he got home, Gao Peng went to the guard post to collect his cans of high-energy food. He gave his thanks to the security guard, and even gave him a packet of cigarettes.

The moment he opened his front door, Stripey rushed in immediately.

Entering his home, the first thing he saw was Dumby sitting in a corner, staring absentmindedly at nothing at all. Because Dumby was so tall, it had to sit down in order to not constantly hit the ceiling.

Dumby was chewing on a piece of Yin Cedar Needle, absorbing the fumes that were produced. It was not sad nor lonely. It was simply used to sitting there, watching the sun rise and set from the windows.

Gao Peng placed the box on the table and opened it up. Hearing the sound of the box opening, all the Familiars in the house automatically made their way over. Their eyes were shining with curiosity, full of anticipation for what was in the box.

Da Zi's antennae were shaking non-stop, as it was evidently very excited. Dumby quietly bent forward and stared dumbly at the box, as though hoping for something to pop out of it. Stripey, being the newcomer, seemed a bit afraid, but fought against its fears to join the rest. Silly on the other hand simply flopped onto Gao Peng's head.

Gao Peng took out the cans of high-energy food from the box.

The Familiars became uncontrollably excited.

"You can stop looking, since you can't eat it anyway," said Gao Peng, patting Dumby on its head. Dumby was entirely made up of bone and was only capable of consuming fumes. It was unable to eat solid foods such as these.

Dumby stared at Gao Peng in response, with eyes full of disbelief, as though it did not expect its owner to tell him such a painful truth. It rubbed its chin, which was empty and had a hole on the bottom. Dumby then turned around and returned quietly to his corner.

Gao Peng opened up one of the cans and handed it to Stripey. It crawled over and started picking up the food with its claws, evidently enjoying it.

Gao Peng opened another can for Da Zi as well. Da Zi lost interest only after a few bites. It still preferred fresh meat or the food prepared by its master. Canned food was not to its liking.

After all the hustle and bustle, Gao Peng lay down on his bed. He had been busy the whole day and this was finally his chance to rest. Fatigue soon overcame him, as he lay sprawled across his bed.

Soon a consistent snoring sound could be heard from the bedroom.

"He bought a villa in the outskirts of the city?" Uncle Liu was troubled when he heard the news. He rubbed his face, frustrated.

Why does this kid enjoy running all over the place this much?

The distance did not bother Uncle Liu. He did not find it troublesome. Buying a piece of land and building a villa nearby was not a problem to him.

The real problem was finding a convincing reason to move over there as well.

There was no way he could just move in the very next day after Little Gao bought his villa, smile at him and say, "Oh, what a coincidence."

That would be too obvious.

Children would tend to develop their own ways of thinking, and would want to have their own private space when they grew up. Uncle Liu could not help having the "they grow up so fast" kind of feeling.

Behind Uncle Liu, the semi-transparent giant chameleon began to slowly emerge from its camouflage. It silently looked toward Uncle Liu.

Uncle Liu gave his orders and the chameleon nodded in response. Its eyes turned into slits and it hunched over before slowly disappearing into thin air…

The next day, Gao Peng got up as the sun rose. He brushed his teeth and changed his clothes.

Stripey was to stay at home. Gao Peng had taught it how to open cans. Stripey did not find it difficult and managed to learn the new skill after being taught only a few times.

Stripey could open cans with ease now. It just needed to position its leg at the edge of the can, and with a stab and a pull, using the hook on its leg, the can would easily be opened to reveal the delicious high energy food inside.

Currently, Stripey's mission was to stay home and eat high-energy food in order to grow. At its current level, going out into the wilderness would only make it a burden to Gao Peng.

Today, Gao Peng planned to head out into the wilderness to find Wood Space Hearts. As long as they did not venture too deep in to the jungle, they would not run into too much danger.

Other than Stripey, all the other Familiars were brought along with for the trip.

Silly was weak as well but at least it could fly. Furthermore, it was small and light and was easy to bring around. Most importantly, Silly had its own personal dimensional space that saved Gao Peng the need for a large backpack.

Silly's internal storage space was about the size of a basketball and could store a good amount of hot food and drinks. Because the space was part of another unknown dimension, there was basically no risk of losing the items stored with Silly unless something happened to Silly itself.

Silly was still only at level 5, which was a very low level. As its level increased, its internal storage space would increase as well.

Da Zi was currently a level 15 perfect grade monster. At this level, it could practically act like a tyrant in the outer areas of the jungle. It was in no real danger unless it ran into a commander tier monster.

Dumby was the strongest out of all of them, being a level 16 epic grade monster. It rarely had the chance to take part in any combat, but its combat ability was undoubtedly very strong.

Gao Peng was not sure if Dumby could hold its own against a commander tier monster. Before seeing Dumby in action it was impossible to know, and Gao Peng could only speculate.

Dumby's custom-made black robe was kept in the wardrobe. Gao Peng opened the wardrobe and helped Dumby put on the black robe.

The wide hood covered Dumby's facial features. Only two ghostly flames could be seen. As Dumby moved, the black robe propped up by Dumby's burly skeletal frame swayed with each step. Dull heavy thuds could be heard each time its foot landed on the floor.

They opened the door and headed downstairs. Throughout the whole process, Dumby had to bend at the waist in order to walk through the corridors. Da Zi was draped around Dumby's shoulders like a long purple sash.

In the courtyard, there were a few children playing around. One of the little boys could not stop in time and accidentally bumped into Dumby's leg. He bounced backwards, landing on his bottom, utterly dumbstruck.

The four-meter tall Dumby was like a little giant to the boy, especially up close. Dumby turned around to face the boy. All he saw were two balls of blue flame burning under a pitch-black hood.

The little boy was scared. His face turned pale.

Dumby squatted down, and helped the boy up to his feet. Dumby even patted the dust off the boy's body.

Long after Dumby had left with Gao Peng, the little boy was in shock, staring at Dumby's back as they left.

After leaving his residence, Gao Peng had Dumby pick him up and place him on his shoulder. Gao Peng had thought he would be able sit on Dumby's shoulders in an impressive and intimidating manner. But after sitting down for a while, he found it uncomfortable, as it was rather easy to fall off.

Even though Dumby was 12 feet tall, it was still rather difficult to fit a grown man on one shoulder that easily.

Hence, along the streets, people were looking at a young man, sitting with his legs around the neck of a 12 foot tall, humanoid giant in a black robe.

It was really embarrassing. It was definitely the most embarrassing thing that Gao Peng had done the entire year.

Dumby moved at a very fast pace. With each stride, it could cover a distance of 15 to 19 feet. It did not even need to avoid any small obstacles. With a bend of its legs and a little bit of effort, it could easily jump over them all.

Dumby's ape-like agility seemed to have found its best use here.

In just half an hour's time, they reached Chang'an City's border. Any further outward and they would be in the unknown wilderness. Gao Peng could roughly identify the roadblocks set up by the military just a few hundred meters ahead. There were a number of tanks by the side of the road and even soldiers armed with rifles patrolling the area.

Heading to the outside world was not difficult. He just needed to pay a fixed toll in order to leave the city.

After leaving the military checkpoint, the temperature of the air seemed to drop a few degrees. Gao Peng did not know if he had imagined it.

A damp and cold atmosphere filled the air. In front of him was a large road leading towards the depths of the Dark Ember Forest. Who knew how often this path was actually used. Exposed yellow soil could already be seen on the road. Sparsely distributed weeds had also sprouted out resiliently from the bits of exposed soil.

Report chapter

Chapter 80: Aesthetics of Violence

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Perhaps it was because a lot of people moved in and out of the forest, or because the area surrounding the forest did not have a lot of monsters, but the forest seemed very serene.

Upon entering the forest, visibility instantly decreased. The giant trees and lush greenery blocked out the sunlight.

The wind blew past. Leaves and branches weaved along. Gao Peng felt soft dried leaves and mud beneath his feet in every step.

It would be best if he gathered all the materials today because there were only three days of holiday left, today being the last.

If he failed to gather all the Wood Space Heart he needed, he would have to wait until the next Monday before he had time to go out again. That would delay things too much, and Gao Peng did not want to waste time.

A short while after entering the forest, Gao Peng heard the rustling of leaves from the branches above his head. Through the branches, he vaguely identified a grayish brown figure creeping and hiding in the treetop above him.

[Monster Name: Gray Sand Bobcat

[Monster Level: Level 13

[Monster Grade: Normal

[Monster Attribute: Wood

It was an elite-tier Gray Sand Bobcat. The first monster he encountered in the periphery of the forest was already an elite-tier monster, enough to show the danger of the forest.

Meow… The deep and husky voice of the cat reverberated within the forest. In the next moment, the Gray Sand Bobcat suddenly disappeared from its original position.

Wait. The Bobcat did not disappear from its position; it just naturally blended into its surroundings!

The Bobcat that had successfully camouflaged itself moved and leaped through branches swiftly. It made a couple direction-shifting jumps on tree branches before exploding into its final move.

The attack was accompanied by a strong sense of killing intent. Gao Peng's pupils contracted as he realized he was the target of the Gray Sand Bobcat.

Suddenly, a fist appeared from his side.

Dumby threw a punch just in time to force the Gray Sand Bobcat into retreat.

The Gray Sand Bobcat somersaulted in midair and immediately hid inside a thicket nearby, demonstrating its feline agility.

It was as if the sneak attack had angered Dumby. Dumby silently placed Da Zi on the ground and then turned around to face the Gray Sand Bobcat. It took one giant step to the left and silently put its body between its master and the Gray Sand Bobcat as if to say, "I am your enemy."

It was only after Dumby struck that Gao Peng understood what could be described as the aesthetics of violence.

Thick, strong thighs stomped on the ground with great force. The mud beneath Dumby's feet splattered everywhere, and the black robe fluttered as the sound of the wind accompanied Dumby's actions.

Dumby transformed into a dark shadow and hurled itself towards the Gray Sand Bobcat. Although the black robe covered the shadowy figure, Gao Peng could still feel the violent strength beneath the black robe. It burned crazily, like an uncontrollable generator. It was the Blood-Thread Heart. A Blood-Thread Heart used during a battle could provide explosive strength for Dumby!

Ba-bump! Ba-bump! Ba-bump!

The sound of a rapid heartbeat reverberated throughout the forest.

The Gray Sand Bobcat growled silently and leaped forward. However, the moment it leaped into the air, a fist descended from the sky and violently sent it back to the ground.

The punch struck the body of the Bobcat variant and an explosive sound echoed from the blow as if a steel hammer were striking an empty bottle. It exploded instantly.

Boom!

All the bones in the body broke, and the blood vessels exploded. Multiple cracks appeared as the taupe-colored skin split open. Blood splattered everywhere including on the black robe, dying it a crimson red.

The punch sent the Bobcat to the ground as if it were a tattered doll discarded casually in the wild. Its body, irregular and twisted, no longer resembled a feline. Blood splattered on the fur and coagulated, bare and white bones protruded from joints, and blood mixed with body fluids flowed out before seeping into the ground.

A gust of warm wind blew onto Gao Peng's face as his hair fluttered with the wind.

Gao Peng fixed his sight on Dumby's burly figure from behind. He always knew that Dumby would be strong, but he never imagined that it would be that strong.

Dumby had defeated the enemy, but it still looked confused. It was not used to possessing such great strength so suddenly. It had used a battle skill that it was familiar with, but the result was a completely one-sided victory.

The thing that had changed was not its skill; it was its strength. Dumby's strength had increased since its days as a Skull Ghoul Ape.

"Let's go," Gao Peng shouted to Dumby.

It was only then that Dumby returned to its senses. It turned around and followed its master.

They encountered several other monsters along the way. After all, it was the forest. Because it was daytime it was not peak activity period for most monsters, but even then, it was easy to encounter one.

Those monsters were normal-tiered below level 10, so it was easy to deal with them. To train Dumby's battle strength, Gao Peng let Dumby fight every time and Dumby improved its body control in the few battles.

"I've found it! Bottle Trees grow abundantly in this area," Gao Peng said and breathed a sigh of relief. He had searched for three full hours, going through several areas well-suited for the growth of Bottle Trees.

There were several hundred Bottle Trees in the area, so collecting three pounds of Wood Space Heart would not be a problem.

Sssssst! A Green Tree Snake bounding between tree branches hissed at Gao Peng. Then a white hand wholly composed of bones appeared from the side and grabbed the Green Tree Snake. It squished it into mincemeat before throwing it casually to the side.

"We can't be wasteful. After all, the core crystal can still fetch us some money. Even the legs of mosquitos have meat. It sure isn't easy to take care of you bunch of big-eaters," Gao Peng said. He crouched down and dug out a gray-green colored core crystal the size of a yellow bean from the carcass with a pair of gloves.

Dumby followed closely behind Gao Peng. As long as any living being was brave enough to display even the tiniest bit of aggression towards Gao Peng, it would not show any mercy.

No one knew just how despairing it was when it was a diseased Skull Ghoul Ape. It almost fell into an eternal hell, put inside an ice-cold steel cage, left to count down to its meeting with the Grim Reaper.

Just as it faced complete despair, a master reached out a hand from heaven to save it from hell and give it redemption.

It would never forget that day. The somewhat inexperienced youngster put his hand on its forehead in a naive kind of way and said something it did not understand.

Yes. It certainly could not understand. However, it knew that the boy was everything to it, and that was enough.

Report chapter