Monster Pet Evolution

Gao Peng made eye contact with the white-robed maiden. Her eyes were cold and clear, like the frozen lake outside.

As looking straight into a lady's eyes was the most impolite thing a gentleman could do, Gao Peng quickly lowered his gaze. She had a red lotus impressed between her brows. How curious... Wait, why am I paying attention to such details?

As Gao Peng tried to keep his head clear of any improper thoughts, the white-robed maiden suddenly asked, "What time is it?"

Gao Peng quickly took out his phone. "It's 7:30 in the evening."

The white-robed maiden frowned as she ruminated on this in silence. Then she nodded wordlessly at Gao Peng.

"It's been a while since I've had guests," she said. "I could feel the elemental energies returning to the planet. How long has it been since the planet's elemental revitalization?"

"Five years," said Gao Peng matter-of-factly. He saw no reason to lie to her. She could simply walk out of the palace and ask any joe on the street for an answer.

"Huh, so it's only been five years..." The white-robed maiden looked at Gao Peng. "Thank you."

Her eyes then fell on Gao Peng's familiars. The look on her face was one of admiration. "To be able to raise a couple of Lord-tier familiars in just five years is no small feat. Also, your little lion is quite something. Its previous tier must have been quite high."

"Forgive me for asking, but are you not from the Huaxia region?" asked Gao Peng. He could tell that there was something off about her. He already had a few pretty wild ideas about her identity.

"I'm not of this era," said the white-robed maiden casually, a smile spreading across her face. She then blinked a few times at Gao Peng. "Would you like to taste my cooking? I assure you, my grilled fish is to die for."

"No need to trouble yourself... I've brought some canned food with me," said Gao Peng, shaking his head. Incidentally, it was now dinnertime. At the mention of grilled fish, Gao Peng's stomach began to growl.

"Canned food? What's canned food?" asked the white-robed maiden curiously.

"It's something really delicious," said Gao Peng. He beckoned Silly over. From its portable space, he pulled out at least ten aluminum cans, each stuffed with different kinds of food.

The white-robed maiden curiously looked at the aluminum cans before she opened one of them. A white substance could be seen floating on the surface of the can's soupy contents, with oily brown chunks of meat settling at the bottom. Dark blobs of oil wobbled as the can shifted slightly in the white-robed maiden's hands.

She took a deep whiff of the aroma wafting from the can. Suddenly, the Frozen Asura Knight stepped forward and said, "Wait, Mistress." It held out its left index finger and fired a small fragment of ice through the can. The blue-white ice fragments turned murky as they came out of the other end of the can.

The knight then proceeded to do the same thing to the rest of Gao Peng's aluminum cans. Finally, it turned to the white-robed maiden and reported, "Mistress, while this so-called canned food is edible, I strongly advise against eating it. It doesn't seem healthy—"

Before it could finish its sentence, the white-robed maiden waved a dismissive hand at it. "All right, I get it." She then stabbed her fork into a huge chunk of meat from the can that she had opened.

While this canned food might have seemed unappetizing, she had to admit that it had a rather exotic taste.

Gao Peng saw the white-robed maiden's eyes lighting up. She seemed to like what she was eating. Soon, she emptied ten of the cans that Gao Peng had brought with him.

Half an hour later, just when it seemed like she still hadn't had her fill, she set her fork down and puckered her lips contentedly. "I'm stuffed. You can eat now."

Her gaze still hadn't left what was supposed to be Gao Peng's dinner. At that moment, she looked like a hungry little deer still wanting to eat until her little heart exploded.

"It's all right. I still have plenty," said Gao Peng. While saying this, he took out ten more cans of food from Silly's portable space, while 'accidentally' taking out a juice box in the process.

Ten soft tentacles entwined themselves around Gao Peng's wrist, stopping him from committing this most heinous of crimes. Silly said seriously to Gao Peng, "That's not yours! It's mine!" It then flicked Gao Peng's fingers away with one of its tentacles before cautiously cradling the juice box in its remaining tentacles.

Hmph, cunning Silly has once again foiled Gao Peng's plot to take away its juice boxes! I'm such a cunning jellyfish. I should let myself drink one more juice box as a reward!

It began sipping happily on the juice box that it had just rescued from Gao Peng's clutches.

"That's really not necessary," said the white-robed maiden while chewing a particularly huge chunk of meat in her mouth.

"I have a canned food factory back home. A canned food factory is a place where canned foods like the ones you just ate are mass-produced and then sold to the public," explained Gao Peng. He seemed to have discovered one of her likes. He was ready to go back home and buy a canned food factory just to impress her. She was, after all, the owner of a familiar which, despite being in a sealed state, was still a King-tier entity.

To his surprise, the white-robed maiden shook her head. She said, "No, I have to be ready for their return."

'They'? Who's 'they'?

She then apologetically put down the canned food in her hands. Glancing at Gao Peng, she pushed the canned food back towards him. "I can't eat any more of this..."

Gao Peng broke into laughter. "It's all right. You've done me a great service. A couple of cans won't be enough to express how thankful I am for your help. Don't worry, I have plenty of things back home that are more delicious than canned food. I promise that I'll send them over to you when I get back."

The white-robed maiden was touched by this. "You're a really good man, you!" she said.

Gao Peng felt somewhat uncomfortable about being described as a good man.

"Oh yeah, how old are you?" he asked in an attempt to alleviate the awkwardness he was feeling right then.

"I'm 26," she replied.

Noticing Gao Peng's look of disbelief, she continued, "I've spent most of my time in the Casket of Eternal Winter. My body can't age while in cryogenic stasis."

Even though Gao Peng's social skills were subpar at best, he still had enough common sense to know that age was a subject best avoided during conversations with ladies. Gao Peng decided not to start a debate with her as to whether or not the human body was indeed incapable of aging while in cryogenic stasis.

He started chatting with the white-robed maiden for a bit. She grew more enthusiastic as they chatted, as if she hadn't had someone to talk to for a long time.

Bei Qing Yan was her name. According to her, everyone in her tribe had the Bei surname.

Tribe… Gao Peng was a bit taken aback by this. He had heard of ancient tribes that had existed on the planet millennia ago. Back then, these primitive human beings farmed the land and hunted for a living. Many relics were unearthed as proof of their existence. However, these ancient tribes were wiped out overnight by a mysterious catastrophe.

Atlantis was said to be one of these primitive civilizations. Some scholars believed that Atlantis was simply a civilized 'tribe' that had existed in ancient times, and that there had been more of them in those days. Unfortunately, this theory wasn't widely accepted by mainstream academia.

"Have you heard of Atlantis?" asked Gao Peng.

"Atlantis?"

Bei Qing Yan looked at Gao Peng. Then she nodded. "I've heard of the Atlantean tribe from my father. It's quite far from the Arctic tribe here, which is the reason why we rarely came into contact with them."

A day passed, and the Desolate Frost Lion crawled out of the tank. Blue steam swirled around it. It twitched its nose. Then, without warning, it let out a huge sneeze!

"Achoo!"

Even though he had been expecting this for a whole day, Gao Peng was still thrilled to see that the lion had finally reached King-tier.

"Awoo!" The King-tier Desolate Frost Lion swaggered towards Gao Peng.

"For now, King-tier is the highest tier a monster can reach. Monsters higher than King-tier can't enter this world while its limits are still in place. It's like the planet's own defense mechanism, keeping out monsters that are far too powerful for its inhabitants to handle presently," said Bei Qing Yan.