Monster Pet Evolution

Taira no Masakado hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He had no choice but to accept his terms. There would be trouble if Gao Peng were to turn and abandon them now. At this point, they had no other choice but to hope that their enemies were weaker than they had initially thought.

Taira no Masakado was thankful that Gao Peng had decided to drop by the Nihon region. Otherwise, they really would have been at their wit's end.

"Are you serious, sir? We can't accept those terms. This devious Huaxia man wants to use us as cannon fodder..." The rest of the sentence wasn't heard, as Taira no Masakado's cold glare instantly shut his men up.

"What choice do we have?" he asked.

"Sir, we could send someone over to talk with these people. Maybe someone more cautious, or perhaps someone who won't yield to anyone?"

Taira no Masakado fell silent. Then he said, "I'll go."

"What?" The department's higher-ups stared at him, wide-eyed. "No!" was their resounding reply.

All of them were against the idea of sending him out there, not because they were concerned about his safety, but because he made up a sizable portion of the region's military power. They couldn't afford to lose a heavy hitter like Taira no Masakado.

"If we send a mere nobody over to speak to them, they'll think that we're not taking them seriously. Would you willingly have a serious conversation with an ant?" said Taira no Masakado, scanning the room for anyone who might have had a better idea than him.

All the higher-ups had fallen silent. None of them dared to raise any further arguments. Considering Taira no Masakado's stubbornness, they knew that any attempts to talk him out of something would only prove futile.

...

"Tong Xiang, is this the ancestral site that our ancestors spoke of?" said a stocky young man. His voice was clear and loud. He seemed to be the group's leader.

"Seems like it," replied a burlier and slightly rotund young man. "Tong Mo, this place certainly seems rich. We just saw a King-tier monster when we came out. It was quite powerful, as well. Must have been at least four stars."

"Haha, my One-Eyed Giant Demon was still able to cut it down with its ax. It's a Metal-type monster, so it's naturally stronger against Wood-types," said Tong Mo happily. He sounded proud of himself. At the same time, he stole a few looks at the only lady in the group.

Said lady was standing on the right side of the group. Her dark green hair fell past her shoulders and was tied up like a scorpion's tale. She had a slender pair of eyebrows, beneath which were a pair of almond eyes and a cute nose. Her skin was gold like wheat.

Upon hearing Tong Mo's bragging, the lady wrinkled her nose. She hugged the big ball of golden fur in her arms, which split open to reveal a huge eye. It blinked at her, and the lady's face relaxed a bit. She smiled at it.

A black-feathered eagle circled the sky overhead, surveying its surroundings.

"Someone approaches," said a black-robed young man on the edge of a cliff.

"Hmph, must be the natives of this land. My father sent us to this place to check these people out. They're just the descendants of those we abandoned here. How strong can they really be?" muttered Tong Mo, annoyed.

"We didn't abandon them. We just—" Tong Xiang faltered.

"All right, all right, not another word from me," said Tong Mo, interrupting him.

"Tong Ying, test our welcoming committee with your Black Lightning Eagle," said Tong Mo to the black-robed young man standing on the edge of the cliff.

Tong Yin nodded, then gave a mental command to the Black Lightning Eagle, which hurtled into the distance in the form of a black streak of lightning.

Boom!

A crack of lightning resounded in the clear sky. In the next second, there was a flash of light in the distance, as if said lightning had struck something.

Taira no Masakado was electrocuted to a crisp by the sudden lightning, along with the Sokou, which he was riding on. Both trainer and familiar were reduced to a pile of ash in an instant.

One of the twelve elders of the Monster Trainer League had been killed on the spot with no one around to hear his final words.

"So how strong was he?" asked Tong Mo.

Tong Ying frowned. "I killed him. He was just an ordinary Lord-tier trainer."

"Only Lord-tier, huh?" Tong Mo sounded disappointed. He licked his lips. "Looks like these natives aren't that strong."

"Tong Ying, let's visit their village."

"Too risky," warned Tong Ying.

"Risky, my *ss. The most powerful trainers in this world right now are King-tier, and it just so happens that our familiars are the most powerful King-tier monsters in our tribe. What do we have to fear?" asked Tong Mo impatiently.

"We've been ordered by the chief to simply scout the area. We aren't allowed to stray too far from our mission," said Tong Ying, stepping in front of Tong Mo.

Tong Mo narrowed his eyes at him. "He's my father, not yours. Now get the hell out of my way."

Tong Ying hesitated.

"We're just going over there to take a look. We'll stick close to each other so that we won't be picked off by the natives. We'll be fine as long as we have each other's backs," said Tong Xiang, smiling.

...

Gao Peng saw a streak of black lightning fall from the heavens on the monitor bank. Immediately after, the screens went completely dead. Gao Peng frowned.

"I didn't get a good look at whatever that was." He couldn't check out a familiar's stat sheet if the only thing he was able to catch was a mere glimpse of it.

Judging by the impact and speed of that bolt of lightning, it's probably King-tier at best, thought Gao Peng. Thank God it's not beyond the boundaries of King-tier. Dumby had temporarily dropped to Legendary-grade as a result of its rise in monster tier. However, its highest attainable grade was still Mythical.

The only difference distinguishing Dumby from other high-level Legendary-grade monsters was that the former was endowed with one extra monster trait. In other words, Dumby was much stronger than other Legendary-grade monsters of the same tier. Unless, of course, its opponent had dropped from Mythical-grade to Legendary-grade as well...

Bzzzt! The screen before Gao Peng suddenly buzzed to life. A low voice said, "Gao-kun, they're heading towards the Higashida base city."

Four familiars were displayed on the screen.

[Monster Name]: One-Eyed Giant Demon

[Monster Level]: Level 58

[Monster Grade]: Epic

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[Monster Name]: Black Lightning Eagle

[Monster Level]: Level 57

[Monster Grade]: Perfect

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[Monster Name]: Golden Light Holy Spirit Beast

[Monster Level]: Level 58

[Monster Grade]: Epic

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[Monster Name]: Six-Tusked Brahman Elephant

[Monster Level]: Level 59

[Monster Grade]: Epic

There were four of them: three Epic-grade familiars and one Perfect-grade. Their levels were all King-tier.

Gao Peng sighed in relief. There were no signs of a Legendary-grade familiar. Any sensible person would send their strongest warriors to scout an uncharted area, lest the natives attack. This meant that Legendary-grade familiars were a rarity on the other side of the rift, too.

Also, their group wasn't composed entirely of Epic-grade familiars. The Black Lightning Eagle was a Perfect-grade familiar that seemed suited for reconnaissance missions. None of the other Epic-grade familiars seemed capable of flight.

Gao Peng was relieved by this. I might have a chance against these people.

There was a monster tier cap in place in their world right then. Anything above King-tier wouldn't be able to cross over the rift. As soon as there was room for Emperor-tier familiars on this planet, his own familiars would naturally fill that space.

In a confrontation between two familiars of the same monster tier, the only factor determining the outcome would be their monster grades. So...