Monster Pet Evolution

The slightly oversized mouse squeaked indignantly in Dumby's hands as it scrabbled wildly in the air.

"What a pleasant surprise," Gao Peng said cheerfully as Dumby passed him the mouse.

Although the mouse looked tiny in Dumby's hands, it could barely fit in Gao Peng's.

It was actually the size of a cat. Its fur was raised stiffly, making it almost like a tiny porcupine. Staring ferociously at Gao Peng, it bit down hard.

A quick cuff from Gao Peng was enough to make the mouse see stars.

[Monster Name]: Prosperity Mouse

[Monster Grade]: Normal

[Monster Level]: 18

[Monster Attribute]: Mystic

[Monster Condition]: Healthy (Fearful)

[Ways of Evolving to Elite-grade]: 3

This little mouse had a very old-fashioned name. It's level wasn't very impressive, either. The only thing that caught Gao Peng's eye was the fact that it was a never-before-seen Mystic type.

Statistically speaking, this type was almost impossible to find. In fact, this mouse was possibly the only one of its kind in the world.

Its low grade was something Gao Peng could work with.

The mouse struggled mightily after being captured by Gao Pengall the while snarling and growling to seem as menacing as it could. When Gao Peng didn't react, it started whimpering and begging pitifully to be let go.

Emotionless, Gao Peng tossed the mouse high into the air. It was promptly caught by a swooping Flamy and brought over to where Stripey was.

It looked like there were quite a lot of goodies to be found in the wild. Unfortunately, first dibs would go to the Monster Hunting Squad's own familiars should they have found these goodies. Only the second-tier or unusable items would be sold in the market.

Take this Prosperity Mouse, for example. Gao Peng could tell how special it was just from the name alone. If a Monster Hunting Squad got ahold of it instead, they probably wouldn't know enough about it to do business and would end up keeping it. If Gao Peng hadn't come personally, he wouldn't have encountered this mouse.

After an hour or so, all the Bladed Bees were collected and placed in a giant heap in the middle of a huge clearing.

Flamy incinerated the mountain of corpses with a gigantic flame.

In the piles of ash left behind, scores of golden Core Crystals glowed brightly. After another giant gust of air cleared the ash, a veritable trove of Core Crystals was left.

While the corpses of the Bladed Bees were indeed flammable, their Core Crystals were not. In fact, they were naturally resistant to any element, not just fire.

Even though these were relatively low-level Elite-tier Core Crystals, the sheer volume of them meant that he would still be walking away with a handsome profit.

Gao Peng was struck with the realization of just how easy it was to become rich if one had power.

No wonder Core Crystals were used as the official currency in high-value transactions. The market economy would have been too easily disrupted if that wasn't the case.

In a year, becoming a monster trainer had become the hottest job in the world.

Before, maybe half of the student population had wanted to become a monster trainer after they graduated. Now, that number was closer to nine in ten.

Wealth, social status, proving your strength—this job would allow you fulfill all three desires and more.

More importantly, the requirements to becoming a monster trainer weren't exactly strict. Anyone could do it as long as they had the passion and grit for it. Even though the mortality rate for trainers who didn't undergo proper training was incredibly high, there was no shortage of new trainers every month.

People fantasized all the time about hitting the jackpot—coming across two Lord-tier monsters fighting each other to the death, collecting their corpses for loot, picking up their young as a bonus after. These stories could be heard being peddled to potential new trainers every day.

In reality, they would probably be destroyed by the baby.

As he collected his thoughts, he stashed the Core Crystals in a pit in Stripey's back. They glittered brightly, the honey-golden hue a startling splash of color in the otherwise drab surroundings.

After a few minutes, a tiny shadow flitted into the pit. It was Silly.

Even though Silly's eyes were closed, its tentacles were still actively in tune with its surroundings. As it wiggled around in the air, it eventually came to lay on the pile of Core Crystals. It felt so good that its body almost went numb.

Silly had never seen so many Core Crystals before in its life. It didn't know what they were, but it did feel extremely good lying on a bed of them.

After a while, it couldn't help but consume a Core Crystal using its tentacles.

Its eyes were shut during the entire duration of the heist.

If I close my eyes, it doesn't count as me taking Gao Peng's things. Silly chuckled happily.

Having just completed his training, Goldie came sauntering by, too, and caught sight of the Core Crystals.

Slowing down, it grabbed a handful of the Cores and popped them into its mouth.

It shook its head in disgust as it ate. How bitter!

Then he grabbed another handful.

Ugh! How bitter!

...

With less than half a month to go on his current expedition, Gao Peng managed to convince the final Mountain Spirit to join his coalition of Mountain Spirits.

He was overwhelmed by a sudden sense of accomplishment as he traced his fingers along the map in front of him. The map was filled with a sea of red dots, each indicating the location of a Mountain Spirit.

Besides these red dots, Gao Peng had discovered quite a few new areas as well, some still untouched by human civilization.

Of course, with Stripey escorting them, they encountered no trouble at all.

"Looks like these mountains are pretty safe after all," Gao Peng said rather reluctantly.

"Come, let's go back." Gao Peng squinted toward the east, in the direction of Yuzhou City.

Underneath him, a mountain-sized creature grunted in response. The clouds roiled as it slowly made its way eastwards.

"Hm. I clearly recall putting the Core Crystals here, though." Gao Peng wracked his brains. Was he missing something?

Gao Peng stood at the edge of the pit, wondering where in the world he could have put them. He was quite positive that he had put all the Core Crystals in the pit here.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Silly looking at the pit rather guiltily. Then it hit him.

"Did someone steal them?" Gao Peng wondered aloud.

Silly trembled like a leaf.

"If I ever found out who did this, I'm going to skin them alive!"

Silly fainted...