Monster Pet Evolution

"This isn't bone ash, is it?" said Xu Heti, laughing uncertainly.

No matter how he looked at it, the stuff in the urn just looked like a pile of bone ash.

"It's not just bone ash. It's ash derived from the bones of Ghoul-type monsters," said Lin Xinrui matter-of-factly. She then opened the urn and began powdering her combat uniform with the urn's contents. She even put some on the backs of her hands and her cheeks.

Xu Heti's face spasmed as he did the same thing on his own body. Even if the ash wasn't human, it still gave him goosebumps.

Still, he rubbed the Ghoul powder across his body all the same.

They then applied the bone ash to some of their familiars. In doing so, they used up the two urns of bone ash in Lin Xinrui's backpack.

"Let's pick up the pace. The bone ash only lasts for four hours. When those four hours are up, it loses its effectiveness."

The three humans and five familiars began moving forward at top speed. The surrounding scenery grew more desolate. The vegetation on the ground became more sparse, and the dark red earth beneath their feet seemed to be soaked with blood.

After a while, they came upon a clump of tall blood-red grass. Even their roots were the same shade of red. On the tips of the blades were tufts of black hair.

"Hemoblade Satintail Grass. They sell for around ten Alliance credits," said Lin Xinrui, as she bent forward to pick up a clump of grass and place it carefully in her backpack.

The other high-level combat officer who had followed them all the way there looked greedily at Lin Xinrui's haul. That's at least 100,000 Alliance dollars. This place is practically a gold mine.

Rather than rejoicing over her good fortune, Lin Xinrui looked at her surroundings warily. "There's much more to this place than meets the eye."

"What makes you say that?" asked the high-level combat officer.

"There's treasure just sitting here untouched. Why hasn't anyone come to claim it? There's only one explanation: this place is much more dangerous than it seems," said Lin Xinrui, glancing back at him. Her gaze swept across her surroundings once more.

This was true. The people of Gao Ping city rarely came to Changping village. Only the desperate would be foolish enough to go that far for fame and fortune.

When Lin Xinrui became a World Hunter, she had trained herself to constantly be alert to her surroundings and never let her guard down for even a second. Danger could be lurking in any corner. Even a seemingly innocuous plant growing out of the sidewalk could be the appendage of a highly toxic Plant-type monster.

The place they were standing in just then wasn't exactly a boundless stretch of wasteland. All around them were hills and valleys undulating into the distance. Bunches of gnarly trees grew as they pleased, their branches twisted into the claws of ravenous beasts. Crows were perched atop the branches motionless like statues. Each of them had three legs and burning red eyes.

The branches waved about like ghostly limbs in the wind.

Squawk—

A shiver ran down all three of their spines. They turned around to see a crow take off into the air and fly circles above a withered tree.

After a while, it landed back on the tree branch, where it then remained, motionless.

Every now and then, they saw the same curious scene in their path.

A gentle downward slope came up before them. A stone tablet was planted in front of it. The words "Changping Village" had been carved onto it.

"We're almost there," said Xu Heti quietly, looking warily at his surroundings.

"This bone ash of yours is really effective. The previous two teams were attacked multiple times on this stretch of road. Who knew we would be able to reach here safely?" he added.

They began walking down the slope. Looking out from the high ground, they could vaguely see rows of houses concealed amid a forest of lush trees in front of them. Their dark green leaves were stacked on top of one another, making it hard to see what was beneath them.

Suddenly, a bony claw erupted from the ground and grabbed ahold of Xu Heti's ankle.

The Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo's eyes lit up. It raised its right foot and slammed it down on the claw.

Bam!

The bony claw instantly disintegrated.

The kangaroo stuck its foot deep into the ground until a dull boom sounded beneath them. All this happened in the blink of an eye. It was over before any of them could take a breath.

"Be careful now. We're only hiding our presence with the Ghoul powder... The monsters here can still sense us if we're too close."

"Go back, go back…" From the distance came long, low wails that echoed across the empty wasteland.

Leaves rustled as a fierce wind howled across the ground.

The clang of steel and the clop of hooves could be heard in the fierce wind. A few moments later, a troop of ghostly blue soldiers in leather armor carrying dagger-axes in their hands passed through the forest from the west to the east.

"These must be the ghost soldiers," said Lin Xinrui, furrowing her brows. She then ordered the others to hide. Even though this was her second encounter with these ghostly entities, she still had no idea what their abilities were.

Better safe than sorry, she thought. There were too many of these ghost soldiers. Lin Xinrui estimated that there had to be more than a thousand of them at the very least.

"Thousand-Year Heart of Darkness, Commander Bone, Flames of Darkness." Lin Xinrui silently repeated to herself the names and characteristics of the items that they had been ordered to find.

She had no idea how Gao Peng had come across such information. She had never heard of these items, let alone the strange ways to collect them.

"The Commander Bone and the Thousand-Year Heart of Darkness can be found at the center of the village. However, the Flames of Darkness spawn randomly. We may even find them outside the village. Let's start searching the vicinity. If we don't find anything in an hour, we'll just have to move our search to the center of the village."

Forty minutes later, the three saw the Flames of Darkness floating in a pit not too far away. The blue flames bobbed in the air like fog.

The flames were a dark blue in the middle and a shade of light blue at the periphery.

Around the flames stood three withered trees in a triangle. In order to get to the flames, one would have to break through the three gnarled trees.

"Let's finish this quickly," said Xu Heti to his kangaroo. As a gentleman, there was no way he would let Lin Xinrui's familiar put itself in harm's way first.

The Golden Dazzling Light Boxing Champion Kangaroo narrowed its eyes at the three withered trees around the Flames of Darkness and the crows perched atop their branches.

Reluctantly, it hopped forward.

It began to move faster and faster as it bounced up and down on the balls of its feet. Then it propelled itself forward in a flash of golden light!

Its long, thick tail swayed about behind it, keeping it stabilized as it sprinted forward. Its feet and tail now formed the three points of a triangle beneath it.

The kangaroo took a great step forward with its left foot. Its tail drooped to the ground while its right foot aligned itself behind the kangaroo. Dirt sprayed up into the air as it stamped its left foot on the ground.

With its left foot firmly planted on the ground, it powerfully swung its right foot around.

Boom!

One of the withered trees exploded upon impact. Shards of its bark were sent flying into the air.