Monster Pet Evolution

“No problem. Just leave it to me,” said the Growing Brain. It could hear the exasperation in its master’s voice. It had no idea what these two had done to anger Gao Peng.

The Growing Brain looked at their unconscious forms on the ground sympathetically. Then, without any hesitation, it plunged into their memories.

An irresistible psychic power pierced through their minds and into their memories like a blade. Their whole lives played out before the Growing Brain like a film from their perspectives. All sorts of sounds, colors, and sensations swirled around it at that moment.

In the real world, the Growing Brain’s gray matter gleamed for a moment, then it simply floated there, motionless. Despite its extraordinary psychic powers, it still required some time sifting through these memories in order to extract anything useful from the two.

Suddenly, the Growing Brain’s voice echoed in Gao Peng’s head. “Master, I’ve found what you’re looking for. They were originally spies sent from the Yinglie region to infiltrate the Nihon region. Then, they were dispatched by the Nihon region to assassinate you. Their last orders were to disguise themselves as representatives of a nameless organization.”

“That’s quite a convoluted background they have… So does this mean that they’re from the Yinglie region? Or did the Nihon region catch on to their treachery and decide to punish them all by sending them my way?” asked Gao Peng, his brows furrowed. “Do you have anything concrete for me?”

“No…” said the Growing Brain, eyeing Gao Peng warily.

Gao Peng fell silent. After a while, he turned around to leave. “All right, thank you. You can take your kids back now.”

…

In the North pole, a Blood Eye Bearded Vulture circled the air above a frozen palace before gracefully landing in front of the building. It shattered the chains wrapped around its right talon with its beak, and a dark green box slid down from its leg. Carefully, it placed the box before the palace doors.

A moment later, a Frozen Asura Knight came out of the palace. Glancing at the Male Magnetic Beast strapped onto the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture, it bent down to pick up the dark green box and carried it back to the palace.

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture simply nodded at it before launching itself back into the sky. Aside from delivering its package, the vulture had another important mission to fulfill—to find Frost Breaths for its next evolutionary stage.

After six months of rigorous training, the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture’s body had gained a few more scars, which gave it an even more ruthless look.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a serious-looking familiar,” said Bei Qing Yan before turning away from the window. She looked at the bag of spicy sticks in her hand and tentatively bit into one of them.

After eating a couple of them, her face began to turn red. Her nostrils flared as they hungrily sucked in air. She stuck out her tongue, fanning it with her hand.

Seeing what had happened to its mistress, the Frozen Asura Knight shouted, “Not good, the mistress is poisoned! To be able to circumvent my inspection… What manner of poison is this?”

Bei Qing Yan gave the Frozen Asura Knight a strange look. After some thought, she opened another bag of spicy sticks and offered the knight some. “Here, try it. It’s not poisonous. The taste is… exotic. I’ve never had anything like it before.”

The Frozen Asura Knight’s eyes intently followed Bei Qing Yan’s every move, fearful for its mistress’ life. “Thank you for your kind offer, mistress, but I’m not the adventurous kind when it comes to eating,” it said. It preferred eating snow. It simply relished the coldness of snow spreading to every corner of its body as it slid down its throat and into its stomach.

“All right then. I was just going to ask you to inspect my body to see if I really was poisoned,” said Bei Qing Yan, sighing.

The Frozen Asura Knight hesitated for a moment. Then it said, “Wait, Mistress.”

A minute later, the Frozen Asura Knight’s face grew solemn. “What… what is this? It has such a peculiar taste,” it said as it chewed on a spicy stick.

While saying this, it popped another one into its mouth. Realizing that its mistress was looking at it, it tried to explain itself. “I’ve never tasted anything like this. Please understand, Mistress. I’m just doing some food testing for you to see if it’s really poisonous.”

Bei Qing Yan simply smiled at it.

…

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture’s eyes stared ahead unblinkingly as it flew against a biting wind in a glacial valley. In the next second, it broke through a glacial wall, leaving a huge hole in it.

It had swallowed a cloud of Frost Breaths in the valley. The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture fell unceremoniously on top of a mountain. Its skin turned stiff, and its veins were slowly losing their elasticity, causing its blood circulation to slow down. A cold aura was beginning to build up around its body.

The vulture’s chest was rising and falling violently, its heart beating like a frenzied water pump. A faint beating sound reverberated through the air. It was growing louder and louder. Thump.

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture’s body shook, shattering the layer of frost that had accumulated on its skin. The light in its eyes grew fiercer than ever. It stretched its neck upward and let out a screech that echoed across the glacial field.

“What a fine bird.” Somewhere at the bottom of the valley, a Spatial Rift had opened up. It flickered in and out of existence as if it could go out at any minute. A couple of human beings stepped out of the rift.

Some of these humans were clad in robes made from specially treated monster skin. Others were embellished with monster parts. Their monster hide robes didn’t seem at all crude or barbaric. In fact, they gave off an air of beauty and elegance.

The one who had spoken was an old man clad in a red robe and a blue patterned scarf around his shoulder. He gazed at the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture in admiration. “Magnificent. This is one strong-willed monster.”

“Don’t hurt it, Bei Gulao. Just leave it be,” he said as a burly young man stepped forward, ready to let his familiar capture the Blood Eye Bearded Vulture. Upon hearing the high priest’s words, the young man quickly stopped his familiar.

Behind him stood a 22-foot-tall Four-Armed Abominable Snowman. Its fur was white, its face devoid of a nose. There was only a single eye and mouth on its face.

The Blood Eye Bearded Vulture sensed that it was in danger. Seeing the group of people and their familiars slowly approaching it, the vulture shook its wings and took off into the sky without a moment’s hesitation.

Half an hour later, the group of people arrived at the frozen palace. The high priest’s expression was solemn as he knelt on the ground and announced, “I am the high priest, and we’ve come to pay our respects.”

Everyone behind him followed suit. “We’ve come to pay our respects.”

Still chewing on a spicy stick, the Frozen Asura Knight stepped out of the palace and looked over the high priest. It asked in a low voice, “Which high priest are you?”

The high priest raised his head, his eyes filled with sincerity. “Honorable Frozen Asura Knight, I am the 50th high priest of the Arctic tribe.”

After a while, a young girl stepped out of the palace barefoot, an inscrutable expression on her face. “The 50th, you say…”

She examined the kneeling high priest for a while. Then she said, “Get up, all of you.”

“Thank you!” It was a strange sight indeed, seeing a 70-year-old gentleman acting so deferentially towards a 20-year-old maiden. However, neither one of them thought that there was anything strange about their exchange.