Monster Pet Evolution

"I've been watching you this whole time. You can't hide from me," said Gao Peng's voice. It was coming from one of the surveillance cameras he had installed in the training ground.

Da Zi finally determined where Gao Peng's voice was coming from.

"Gao Peng, let me explain—" said Da Zi, panicking.

"And how do you intend to do that?" asked Gao Peng coldly.

"I-I..." stammered Da Zi as it tried to think of a good excuse.

"I really like you!" it blurted.

Did you honestly think that would work on me? thought Gao Peng, frowning.

"I'll let this one slide," said Gao Peng. "Get all 10,000 sets done by today. I've got my eye on you."

Will Gao Peng really be looking at me all day? thought Da Zi. That doesn't sound very feasible.

Gao Peng turned off his phone when he was done reprimanding the centipede, then looked at the television in the room. The lot-drawing process for the tournament's second round was being broadcast live on it right then.

Even though Huaxia's number one contestant, Yu Ge, had been eliminated from the tournament, the rest of the team had performed quite well.

Out of the 12 contestants, eight of them had managed to get through to the second round.

Gao Peng realized that three of them had lost their matches while he had been acting as referee, including Yu Ge and Han Lei.

He suddenly felt bad about this. Did my awesomeness put too much stress on them? They really should have pulled themselves together, thought Gao Peng.

There were 32 contestants in total in the second round. The Huaxia team made up a quarter of that number. Their red uniforms looked particularly striking out on the field. Some of the contestants from the other regions were now looking at the Huaxia team with a mixture of admiration and apprehension.

Like the first round, contestants from the same region wouldn't be matched with each other.

When the lot-drawing process was done, all the contestants returned to their respective break rooms.

There was no telling what would happen in the tournament. In the first round, those whom people had thought would come out on top ended up losing, while those who were thought to be weak and not worth anyone's time had surprised everyone by emerging victorious.

This was especially true for the contestants from the Southeast Asian and African regions. Most people tended to think that those from less developed regions wouldn't be able to raise powerful familiars.

However, the performances of both regions' contestants so far had been a huge slap in the face to those who had taken them lightly.

The familiars from both regions had also seemed especially vicious. This was perhaps due to the harsh training they had received in an equally harsh environment.

All 13 contestants from both regions were able to move on to the second round.

"The contestants and familiars from the Southeast Asian region seem extremely brutal," said Li Yu.

"I'm from Kunzhou. It's quite near the Southeast Asian region, and let me tell you, they train their familiars by pitting them against each other," said the third referee, Guo Qingshan, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa.

"Really?"

"Yeah. All the major Southeast Asian countries were combined into a single region when the New World Allied Government was formed. A lot of children lost their parents in the early days of the Cataclysm. These orphans were placed in training camps by the government. When they came of age, the government would assign each of them their own familiars and then let them fight it out until only one of them remained..."

"Didn't the government come under fire from all those human rights associations?" said Li Yu, stunned.

"Nope," replied Guo Qingshan. "Most of these orphans voluntarily signed themselves up for this. Anyone who managed to come out of the government's training regiment alive would be able to enter the upper echelons of society in the Southeast Asian region. He or she would be guaranteed access to everything, from money to women, you name it. I don't think they had much of a choice. They would probably have been left for dead if they chose not to participate."

Guo Qingshan then added with a sigh, "It all looks impressive out there until you realize that some of these contestants had to climb over the corpses of others just to get to where they are now. Also, I've heard that a number of monster trainers from the Huaxia region snuck into the Southeast Asian region just to participate in their training camps."

Gao Peng began thinking over Guo Qingshan's words. He could probably set up a similar training camp in his own home with a few details adjusted in order to help his familiars improve their monster grades quickly.

However, he would still have to discuss this matter with his grandfather.

...

In the tournament's second round, every contestant was allowed to send all of their familiars out on the field.

There was no limit to the number of familiars one could bring in, as the number of blood contracts one had signed was testament to one's own mental fortitude.

There was a half-hour break in the afternoon for the spectators and contestants to eat and rest.

The Monster Trainer League had also provided food for Gao Peng and the other referees. Their meals consisted of top-quality monster meat and exotic fruits. Gao Peng sat on a chair and began stuffing pieces of meat into his mouth while watching a live stream of Da Zi's exercise routine on his phone.

When he was done eating, Gao Peng looked at the time. The first referee to go out on the field would be Li Yu, followed by Guo Qingshan, and finally, Gao Peng. This meant that Gao Peng still had time to take a short nap.

"The third match is between Gang Mu of the Southeast Asian region and Lucas of the Great Britain region."

The gates slowly opened up. Lucas entered the field from one corner with two of his familiars behind him. On his left was a 13-foot-tall gorilla with silver hair lining its arms and spine. On his right slithered the Swamp Monster.

From the other gate emerged a huge monster covered in short yellow fur. It had big round eyes that looked around nervously. Its head made up a third of its body.

A young boy with slightly dark skin and thick, wavy hair was beside it, stroking it gently. He whispered to it, "Calm down, Mom. As soon as we're done here, I'll treat you to your favorite food, crickets."