Monster Pet Evolution

"Look at all those people," said Tong Ling, wide-eyed. She was deeply shaken by the sight of Higashida City up ahead.

They were gazing down at Higashida City from a hilltop. A 30-foot-tall brick wall surrounded the city's moat. It had been built shortly after the Cataclysm.

They could only see a small portion of the city from where they were standing. However, they could tell from what little they were able to see that the place was huge. They had never seen such a huge city before. The pedestrians bustling through the streets were like rows of ants hurrying off to who knew where.

"I've never seen so many people in one place. There are probably more people here than in our Sang Tong tribe," exclaimed Tong Ling.

"Maybe we should turn back? This place is a bit too big for my taste," she commented with a worried tone.

In their world, a tribe's strength was predicated on the size of its population. The more people a tribe had, the more powerful trainers it could have. This notion was deeply rooted in their minds. Watching the bustling streets beneath them, they couldn't imagine how many powerful trainers the city might have had in store for them.

"Tong Mo, we've already seen the place. Let's go back, or there will be trouble," said Tong Xiang.

Tong Mo was just about to turn back when he stopped and fell silent for a moment. "No, I'm not going back just yet. I want to challenge the city's strongest trainers. Like my father said, the strongest this world has to offer is probably at the peak of King-tier. What are the odds that we would come across someone capable of defeating my One-Eyed Giant Demon so soon?"

Tong Mo wasn't one to back down without a fight. After all, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to test his strength against the natives of another world.

His One-Eyed Giant Demon was a four-star familiar. Unless trainers with five-star familiars or familiars with godlike monster grades he had never seen before existed in this world, his One-Eyed Giant would be able to handle almost anything here.

Right now, his King-tier familiar was probably the strongest in this world. As soon as the planet eased its familiar tier restriction, some of the other natives' familiars would be able to surpass his One-Eyed Giant Demon in terms of tier. If that came to pass, the latter's four-star monster grade would mean nothing at all.

Tong Mo wasn't one for affectation, but there was something he desired more than anything else right now—to show off his manly side to the girl of his dreams. I, Tong Mo, am the strongest trainer in the Sang Tong tribe.

Half an hour passed. No one had come out from Higashida City to greet them. The four figures on the hilltop looked at each other, growing impatient. "Why hasn't anyone come out yet?"

Someone should have sensed their presence by now. They were standing just outside the city, and they weren't making any effort to hide their familiars' auras; all four King-tier familiars were letting their auras spread out in the air to their hearts' content.

Back in their world, if King-tier trainers like themselves arrived at the doorstep of other tribes, the latter would make the logical choice to send forth their strongest trainers to determine if they had come as friends or foes. If they were judged foes, they would be chased off or outright exterminated. If they were judged as friendlies or neutrals, an order to stand down would be given to their welcoming committee.

Such precautions were necessary, as most of the people in a tribe weren't monster trainers. More often than not, they were merely common people at the bottom of the tribe's hierarchy. They existed simply to expand their tribe's population size and carry out menial functions in their society.

If proper background checks weren't enforced, enemies could easily infiltrate a tribe's village and slaughter its entire population to their hearts' content. No tribe could afford to take such a huge hit. They couldn't possibly rely on just a handful of elite trainers to reproduce and maintain a population.

Of course, such occurrences weren't rare. High-level monsters would appear and kill every human they could find in a village, just like humans would venture into the wilderness to hunt weaker prey. This was one of the reasons why most of the tribes back in their world couldn't maintain large populations.

"Maybe no one has noticed us yet?" asked Tong Xiang.

They all paused as the air became tense. All four of them looked at each other, their expressions varied.

"How long until we reach Higashida City?" asked Gao Peng. He was sitting cross-legged in a fighter plane. Beside him stood Dumby and Desolion.

The Skeleton Dragon wasn't as fast as a fighter plane, which only took an hour to fly from Nishikyou to Higashida.

"Around 20 minutes," shouted the pilot over his shoulder. He was one of the local military's ace pilots who had flown many difficult missions in the past. He had always believed that he was doing his part to realize the Nihon region's resurgence.

The mission he had been entrusted with this time was especially difficult. His superiors had ordered him to transport the person sitting behind him to Higashida City as soon as possible, along with his familiars.

"Bzzt... Higashida City is currently under attack, requesting backup! I repeat, Higashida City is under attack..."

The pilot's forehead was beaded with sweat, his heart thumping fast. He was now flying the fighter plane at top speed. The plane's instrument panel was blinking red, indicating that it was flying past its safety limits.

Gao Peng remained seated behind the pilot, not showing the slightest hint of panic on his face. As he wasn't from the Nihon region, he wasn't particularly affected by whatever crisis was unfolding in Higashida City. He was only a tad bit pissed off by the fact that some unruly visitors from another world were attacking his fellow earthmen.

A huge city began rising on the horizon before the plane. Smoke was issuing from the city. "We've reached Higashida City," said the pilot, his face pale. His body could barely handle the strain of flying a fighter plane at breakneck speed.

Crack!

A streak of black lightning hurtled towards them in the air.

While Gao Peng could barely see a streak of lightning barreling towards them, the pilot couldn't even see what was going on.

"How barbaric," muttered Gao Peng, shaking his head.

The Desolate Frost Lion narrowed its eyes, then let loose a rush of cold air from its body, conjuring a frozen barrier around the fighter plane.

The streak of black lightning barely left a small chink in the frozen barrier. Due to the difference in monster grade, there was a considerable gap between the Black Lightning Eagle and the Desolate Frost Lion in terms of power level, as well. Even though the Desolate Frost Lion was four levels lower than the Black Lightning Eagle, this difference in monster grade more than made up for the level difference.

"Someone's coming. Someone strong," said Tong Ying in a low voice.

Tong Mo, who was sitting on the One-Eyed Giant Demon's shoulder, grinned. "One-Eye, let's go meet our new friend."

Tong Xiang's eyes lit up as he recovered his good-natured attitude. "Six-Tusked Brahman Elephant, let's go back Tong Mo up."

At that moment, a winged metallic beast flew overhead with a layer of frost around it.

"Is that a Metal and Ice-type familiar? I've never seen such a pairing," exclaimed Tong Mo. He had never seen or heard of such an unusual creature in his homeworld.

"Doesn't matter. One-Eyed Giant Demon, this one's all yours."

The One-Eyed Giant Demon raised its head. A golden light began radiating from its platinum eyes. The light grew brighter and brighter until it was all but blinding.

Boom! A golden pillar of light surged up towards the fighter plane in the sky.

The light collided against the layer of frost around the plane's fuselage. The frozen barrier was slowly turning into steam, causing a cloud of vapor to expand around the plane.

Three seconds passed and the frozen barrier was destroyed. In the plane's cockpit, the pilot closed his eyes in despair.