Monster Pet Evolution

"Good job!" exclaimed Gao Peng.

Da Zi seemed to have entered a rebellious phase. Its personality had become pricklier recently. As Da Zi grew older, its sense of self and desire to become more independent grew more intense.

Of course, human teenagers and familiars tended to enter this phase for different reasons. Human teenagers would rebel against their parents to prove their own existence to the outside world.

On the other hand, familiars entered this phase to prove their own existence, for fear that they might be neglected by their masters.

This was one of the main differences between humans and familiars.

"Can you bring it out?" asked Gao Peng.

Happy to be praised by its master, Da Zi replied, "No problem."

Ten minutes later, Gao Peng felt slight panic from Da Zi through their blood contract.

Half an hour passed. Da Zi's panic intensified and eventually turned into anger. "Damn it, damn it!" cursed Da Zi.

"What's wrong?" asked Gao Peng, frowning.

Da Zi seemed reluctant to answer at first. Then it replied, "I can't get out."

Did it not know the way out?

Gao Peng was stunned. He began to worry that the centipede might actually have been lost.

Gao Peng ordered Dumby to stamp on the ground outside the cave's entrance and send out vibrations to Da Zi, who was especially sensitive to vibrations on the ground.

After ten minutes of sensing the vibrations, Da Zi's feelers poked out of the cave, followed by its beady eyes.

Seeing Da Zi carrying nothing out of the cave, Gao Peng asked, "Where's the thing that's giving off earth-elemental energy?"

"Squeak?" Stripey was looking expectantly at Da Zi. It knew that the thing its big brother was supposed to bring out from the cave was going to help it evolve.

Da Zi opened its mouth and began making retching sounds.

Half a minute later, a yellow object no bigger than a coin fell out of Da Zi's mouth. It was dripping with a sticky fluid.

Gao Peng blinked at it, then looked at Da Zi.

Stripey seemed conflicted about this. It remembered its master saying that it was supposed to swallow this stuff in order to evolve.

How was anyone supposed to swallow it like that?

Stripey began panicking. It frantically dug a hole in the ground and stuffed its head inside.

The object that Da Zi had spit out was as big as a coin. At a closer look, Gao Peng realized that its surface was uneven. The intricate carvings on it made it look like a little heart.

[Item name]: Small-scale Earth Spirit Core

[Item effect]: Rich in earth-elemental energy, it has the ability to allow earth-type monsters to evolve.

It was just a small-scale Earth Spirit Core.

Gao Peng seemed hesitant about using it. Would it really work?

He remembered reading that Stripey required only an Earth Spirit Core to evolve. There had been no mention of how big the Earth Spirit Core needed to be.

Black Blue soil was easy to find. One had a higher chance of finding it in places rich in Yin and earth element. Black Blue soil also had a unique smell. A typical monster wouldn't be able to forget such a smell.

Gao Peng had no idea what the soil smelled like to his familiars. However, the first time he had smelled it, he had thought it smelled like grass being ground to a pulp in the wet earth.

He had only smelled a sample of the soil back in the laboratory.

"Let's go." There were other places where Gao Peng believed they could still find Black Blue soil. He began leading his familiars back the way they came.

Just as Gao Peng turned around, he saw a couple of trees shaking violently. A brown wolf-like creatures stepped out of the low trees and made eye contact with Gao Peng. It was stunned for a moment, then it turned around and scampered away.

They didn't encounter any danger in their search for Black Blue soil. They finally found it in the first region they entered as they retraced their steps. Stripey's sturdy legs pushed aside the dirt beneath it to reveal a layer of black and blue soil. A pungent grassy smell wafted from the soil.

Gao Peng handed the Earth Spirit Core to Stripey and moved away from the soil with his nose pinched.

"Lay on it. We'll wait by your side for three days," said Gao Peng. He had decided to wait three days until Stripey evolved.

Stripey obediently lay on the Black Blue soil, swallowed the Earth Spirit Core, and fell into a deep sleep.

Gao Peng said to the others, "We'll be standing watch over Stripey here."

He began tidying the place up by sweeping away the dried leaves on the ground and putting up his camouflage tent.

While Gao Peng laid out his mattress inside the tent, Da Zi's head poked inside, waving its feelers sheepishly.

"What's wrong?"

Da Zi began tugging at Gao Peng's pants with its claws. It was wagging its tail like a dog.

"Are you hungry again?!" said Gao Peng, dumbstruck.

Da Zi nodded eagerly.

"Didn't I just give you a fried chicken two hours ago?" said Gao Peng with a sigh.

"Hungry! Hungry!" Da Zi's voice resounded in Gao Peng's head.

"The only thing you think about is food!" said Gao Peng angrily. "Let me ask you, does Dumby eat as much as you do?"

"No," answered Da Zi, its head hanging down.

"Is Dumby thin?"

Da Zi began imagining Dumby's skeletal figure. "Yes."

"Is Dumby strong, then?"

"Yes."

"The reason why Dumby is so strong is because he doesn't eat so much!"

"But, but..." Da Zi wanted to refute its master's logic.

"No buts. Let me ask you again, is Flamy fat?"

"Yes! He's a fatty!" answered Da Zi excitedly.

"Is Flamy strong?"

Even though it was always at odds with Flamy, Da Zi replied without any hesitation, "He's strong!"

"Flamy gets to eat so much only because he's strong!" said Gao Peng with a huff. He knocked on Da Zi's head a couple of times.

Da Zi was left speechless.

"One final question. Is Stripey fat?"

This time, Da Zi didn't give a response immediately. After careful deliberation, it replied, "Yes, he's as fat as a crab!"

"Then tell me, is Stripey strong?"

Da Zi began thinking about the fat spider, who was only ever good for target practice and carrying its master around. "No, he's a weakling!"

"Hmph, he's weak because he's fat. And you still have the nerve to ask me for food? Go drop a few pounds now!" Gao Peng kicked Da Zi out of the tent.

Da Zi, who had been chased out of its master's tent so cruelly, shivered as a cold wind blew past it.