Monster Pet Evolution

"Fatty Big Sea has been promoted to Saint-tier." Every familiar on the island had sensed the sudden change in the sea, their reactions varied.

Even though they were all Gao Peng's familiars, there was still a rivalry going on between them. This was to be expected, since there were so many of them and only one trainer. The only thing that truly mattered to them was Gao Peng's affection.

Dumby was quietly staring at the newly promoted Fatty Big Sea. A fierce look suddenly crossed its face. Standing up, it walked over to the front of its palace and splayed out its right hand.

The surface of the sea began to froth and bubble violently. Bones emerged from its depths of the sea, forming a skeletal layer on the surface. At times, huge skeletal forms swam past beneath the layer of bones, their spirit flames illuminating the water below.

A ghoulish clam opened its shell, revealing its fleshless interior. Spine-like bones lined the inside of its shell, where a singular purple flame burned brightly. Behind it, the bones of a Skeleton Forest Yu Demon began reassembling itself. The sea had become a veritable skeleton paradise.

Booom! A sudden explosion from the depths of the sea rocked the island. Moments later, a blood-curdling shriek pierced the air.

The waves sloshed about wildly. The layer of bones had exploded, their fragments scattered across the surface of the sea. A dark figure slowly emerged from the water like a sturdy plant growing out of compost.

A seemingly unending black fog began rising from the sea, threatening to bring death, fear, madness, malice, violence and more to the world. The dark, shadowy demon tree had taken root in the middle of the ocean, its branches blocking out a huge portion of the sky.

Rings of iridescent light spread out from the demon tree's roots. A change occurred in all the ghouls that were touched by the light.

A ten-foot-long skeletal fish was minding its own business in the water when suddenly it was enveloped by the tree's light. Its body was swathed in a dark fog, and its bones grew sturdier, its teeth more wicked-looking. There was now bloodlust in its eyes. It swam away quicker than before in search of prey beneath the waves.

"Uhm?" Fatty Big Sea looked back at the ocean. It had a bad feeling about this.

To most monsters, nothing good ever came from Ghoul-type monsters. As part of their undead existence, their very existence was antagonistic to the concept of life.

The blackened tree seemed to have broken through the ocean's surface like a malevolent shadow. It began shrinking as it flew towards Dumby's palm.

Dumby half-closed its hand. The Amorphic Hell Tree's roots entwined themselves around Dumby's fingers. Its bottom was planted firmly on Dumby's palm, through which the latter absorbed the rings of light radiating from the tree's body. Held out like the devil's fingers, the tree's fine branches seemed to be exuding an almost mesmerizing power.

The Amorphic Hell Tree had amassed all six forms of malevolent energies inside itself: Violence, Bloodlust, Fear, Death, Malice, and Despair. It was now close to reaching the Overlord tier. It only needed to absorb a seventh form of energy at this point in order to reach the Saint tier. The Amorphic Hell Tree could evolve continually by absorbing all kinds of negative energy.

Dumby exited the palace while carrying the Amorphic Hell Tree in one hand. The latter didn't seem to mind becoming one of Dumby's accessories.

Gao Peng summoned all of his familiars to him. When everyone had assembled around him, Gao Peng said, "I think it's time we leave. I'm sure all of you have gotten a lot out of this place, but there wouldn't be much point in training for so long and not showing off the fruits of your training to everyone else, wouldn't you agree? By the way, do you all still remember the labyrinths we encountered on our way here?"

"Yeah."

"I still have nightmares about the creatures there," confessed Silly.

"I'm still not over last time. The labyrinths' treasures were ours to begin with, but those shameless fiends swiped them right in front of us," spat Desolion.

Da Zi had no idea what they were talking about, as it hadn't been with them back then. "What labyrinths are you talking about?" it asked.

"Really big ones. Each labyrinth was as big as a city, and in every one of them was a treasure of inestimable value," explained Flamy.

"Was it edible?" asked Da Zi. Shame that I wasn't there with Gao Peng and the others back then. He even told me that he wasn't eating anything fancy behind my back…

"However, every labyrinth was protected by a powerful monster. None of us were a match for them," added Flamy.

Da Zi clicked its mandibles reassuringly. "Fret not, we have Dumby and Fatty Big Sea with us."

The group of familiars began discussing how they should ration their food for the upcoming trip. It was as if they already had the labyrinths' treasures in their bags.

Unlike the other familiars, the Dragon Slaying Chapter didn't require nourishment and so saw no point in joining the conversation, so it idly flipped through its pages in a corner while listening to the ongoing chatter.

...

The coastline finally appeared on the horizon. Fourth Baby was flying towards it comfortably, its silver wings leaving a trail of light in their wake.

It had been flying in this direction for a whole month. Thanks to its innate monster traits, Fourth Baby had been able to improve its speed in small increments as it flew in a fixed direction. After flying for a month, it could now fly at breakneck speed, so it was twice as fast as Da Zi.

In the next second, it appeared directly above the coastline. Before Gao Peng even realized what was going on, Fourth Baby had left the coastline far behind it.

Gao Peng didn't ask it to stop. This was only the coastline. The labyrinths were located deep within the mainland to the south. He looked down impassively at the land that stretched far and wide below him. Suddenly, he caught sight of something.

"Stop, Fourth Baby."

There was an ordinary-looking labyrinth not too far away from them that wasn't terribly big. A labyrinth of that size could only hold monsters that were Emperor-tier or lower. At that moment, something seemed to be challenging the present master of the labyrinth for its title.

When Fourth Baby was close enough, the two Emperor-tier monsters ceased their battle and cautiously looked at the newcomer. They could sense that the newcomer was an Emperor-tier monster just like themselves and knew better than to continue fighting with each other, as it would only give Fourth Baby a chance to kill two birds with one stone.

The Mountain Giant angrily tore a huge chunk of land off the ground and threw it at Fourth Baby, letting it know that its presence wasn't welcomed there. With a flash of light, Fourth Baby's wings cleaved the incoming chunk of land into four neat sections.

The Medusa, which had come to a stalemate with the Mountain Giant, looked up at the newcomer. It didn't recognize Fourth Baby, but for some reason, there was something familiar about the aura that it was giving off...

"Yo, long time, no see," said Gao Peng cheerily, poking his head out from behind Fourth Baby's back and waving a hand at the two monsters on the ground.