Monster Pet Evolution

As Stripey swallowed the golden-red crystals from the lava, its body temperature increased, and its skin began to turn a reddish-black color… A massive breath pierced through the clouds. The blackish-red clouds above Stripey became thicker, as if they were the core of the earth, and at that moment, the power inside Stripey became terrifyingly strong. It was to the point where the rampaging energy within Stripey could almost explode.

The being that was squashed under Stripey tried to escape multiple times but laid quietly for a long while after Stripey had moved its butt a few times.

"What's that thing under it?" said a frowning Gao Peng.

"It's probably the leader of those little fellas," replied Fatty Big Sea.

Looking around, Gao Peng saw many Flame Giants climb out of the volcanoes in the distance and wander around helplessly through the labyrinth. They tried moving closer as they obeyed their Flame Giant leader's summons from under the volcano. However, the walls within the labyrinth prevented them from traveling in a straight line and didn't allow for them to scale the walls, thus they were forced to follow the rules of the labyrinth and reach the center through straightforward trial and error.

Hence, the dim-witted Flame Giants wandered helplessly through the labyrinth.

Gao Peng had observed that labyrinths like this that were restricted by rules were still usually stronger than other rules of a similar level, even though there were many restrictions. For example, a three percent water rule was unable to destroy walls created by a three percent labyrinth rule.

"Stripey, how long will it take for you to digest these crystals?" asked Gao Peng.

The hardworking and studious Stripey began counting its fingers earnestly. "About three months!" replied a proud Stripey.

Three months… Gao Peng shook his head silently. That would take too long, and they would be long gone from the ruins by then. Since everything inside the Familiar Space was paused, Gao Peng simply let Stripey swallow all the crystals and then recalled it back into the Familiar Space. He would let Stripey digest these crystals after they left the place; the most important thing right then was to explore the divine border.

This area was filled with volcanos, each with a Flame Giant living inside of them. These Flame Giants' abilities were easily at Overlord-tier. Even the Flame Giant leader currently squished under Stripey's butt was at peak Overlord-tier.

After Gao Peng and the others were long gone, the Flame Giant hiding in the volcano emerged cautiously and roared in the direction they had departed in. After that, Fatty Big Sea led Gao Peng through the divine border, which was much bigger than imagined and contained various different biomes.

One of the spaces was filled with mountains made from iron and had many divine weapons stuck on its peaks. However, these weapons were all rusted and chipped. The smell of rust hit them as soon as they stepped foot in the area. Through the ravaging of time, all these divine weapons on the peaks had long since lost their gleam from times before.

"Without the protection of rules, not even items crafted from the finest materials can survive the ravages of time." In that moment, it was as if Fatty Big Sea was a melancholic poet.

There was another space that was an entire ocean formed of Heavy Dark Ash Water. Heavy Dark Ash Water was a strange liquid that was both heavy and light. When on land, it would become very light, to the point that its weight would decrease until it became as light as a feather, but as soon as it left land, its weight would gradually increase until it was a hundred times heavier than normal seawater.

Even though Gao Peng had no idea what to use it for, he decided to collect a few hundred tons of the water using Silly's space in the spirit of eliminating waste. Even if it was regarded as some sort of toy to bring back, this amount was enough to fill a small pond.

A week later, they finally arrived at a place that looked like a treasure chamber. It was a huge hall. The metallic black hall had an ancient and regal feeling to it, with the perimeters structured from black walls covered in beautiful carvings.

The carvings depicted different dragon-shaped monsters, and from the order of them, it seemed to be the records of some sort of story.

"This is a god's epic," said Fatty Big Sea, blinking with a sense of nostalgia. "It records the life story and achievements of the god, including how it prospered."

Gao Peng was uninterested. "If you want to tell all these tall tales, I'll give you two bottles of liquor and listen to you do that once we get back. But for now, let's just focus on finding treasure." Gao Peng rushed Fatty Big Sea.

Fatty Big Sea licked his thick fish lips.

"Actually, if you take a closer look at this god's epic, you should be able to tell which god it belongs to, as well as the spoils of war within the treasures. You're too impatient, young man."

The expressionless Gao Peng pointed at the gigantic walls, thousands of feet tall and so long that there was no end in sight from the left to the right. "I doubt you could even finish studying this in two months, so why don't you just stay behind and look at it slowly."

"Ahem." Fatty Big Sea let out an awkward cough before turning around. "Let's go. You can summon that little rat of yours, right? It's more capable of finding treasure than us."

Gao Peng nodded. "I'm preparing to summon it. This place should be safe, right?"

"It's hard to say. It depends on the personality of this god. If it's the kind that's sly, even the toilet will be booby trapped." Fatty Big Sea shook its head. "But from our experience so far, I doubt that this god is the sly type."

Gao Peng summoned Moneymaker with a snap of his fingers. Moneymaker's tail stood up as soon as it was summoned, and it stood up on its hind legs as its two front paws gripped its chest.

"Oh my god." Moneymaker's features contorted as joyful tears filled its tiny eyes. "I'm so touched, Master. How did you find such a wonderful place?!"

"Ahhhhh." Moneymaker let go of its paws as its heart beat faster and faster until a heart shape was imprinted on its chest.

"Oh, be still, my beating heart." Moneymaker stood up like a human and began sprinting with its two hind legs like they were wheels being led entirely by its pounding heart.

Fatty Big Sea paused awkwardly.

Gao Peng quickly summoned Da Zi and hopped on its back. "Da Zi, let's go!"

The treasure chamber's topography wasn't complex. There were simply tightly shut doors appearing on both sides of the corridor every now and then. Perhaps the owner of the treasure chamber hadn't considered much when building it and merely thought that simplicity would be best.

Moneymaker continued racing forward through the wide corridor, ignoring the surrounding sealed rooms and mumbling to itself as it ran. "I can't take it anymore. I'm dying, I feel like dying, I need to find some treasure fast to release this stress."

Urgently turning with a step and a hop of its right leg, Moneymaker made a 450-degree turn in the air and kicked on a door to its left with its little rocket-like right leg.

Clang— The door was kicked wide open.

Inside the empty room sat a giant tree with a platform beside it, and on the platform, there was a fruit basket weaved from branches and filled with red fruits. A small elf with two horns and a fierce-looking face sat on top of the platform. Before the elf could put the fruit in its left hand into its mouth, it froze in confusion at the sudden sight of intruders.

Gao Peng's gaze was immediately drawn to the fruit in the dumb-looking elf's hand. It was the size of a fist and looked slightly like dragonfruit. However, it was covered with light red scales and had two dragon horn-like stems on the top.

[Item Name]: True Dragon Fruit

The nearby fruit baskets were all filled with the same red fruit as well and seemed heavy. A basket full of… True Dragon Fruit? Since when could these things be counted in baskets?!