The slightly oversized mouse squeaked indignantly in Dumby's hands as it scrabbled wildly in the air .
"What a pleasant surprise," Gao Peng said cheerfully as Dumby passed him the mouse .
Although the mouse looked tiny in Dumby's hands, it could barely fit in Gao Peng's .
It was actually the size of a cat . Its fur was raised stiffly, making it almost like a tiny porcupine . Staring ferociously at Gao Peng, it bit down hard .
A quick cuff from Gao Peng was enough to make the mouse see stars .
[Monster Name]: Prosperity Mouse
[Monster Grade]: Normal
[Monster Level]: 18
[Monster Attribute]: Mystic
[Monster Condition]: Healthy (Fearful)
[Ways of Evolving to Elite-grade]: 3
This little mouse had a very old-fashioned name . It's level wasn't very impressive, either . The only thing that caught Gao Peng's eye was the fact that it was a never-before-seen Mystic type .
Statistically speaking, this type was almost impossible to find . In fact, this mouse was possibly the only one of its kind in the world .
Its low grade was something Gao Peng could work with .
The mouse struggled mightily after being captured by Gao Pengall the while snarling and growling to seem as menacing as it could . When Gao Peng didn't react, it started whimpering and begging pitifully to be let go .
Emotionless, Gao Peng tossed the mouse high into the air . It was promptly caught by a swooping Flamy and brought over to where Stripey was .
It looked like there were quite a lot of goodies to be found in the wild . Unfortunately, first dibs would go to the Monster Hunting Squad's own familiars should they have found these goodies . Only the second-tier or unusable items would be sold in the market .
Take this Prosperity Mouse, for example . Gao Peng could tell how special it was just from the name alone . If a Monster Hunting Squad got ahold of it instead, they probably wouldn't know enough about it to do business and would end up keeping it . If Gao Peng hadn't come personally, he wouldn't have encountered this mouse .
After an hour or so, all the Bladed Bees were collected and placed in a giant heap in the middle of a huge clearing .
Flamy incinerated the mountain of corpses with a gigantic flame .
In the piles of ash left behind, scores of golden Core Crystals glowed brightly . After another giant gust of air cleared the ash, a veritable trove of Core Crystals was left .
While the corpses of the Bladed Bees were indeed flammable, their Core Crystals were not . In fact, they were naturally resistant to any element, not just fire .
Even though these were relatively low-level Elite-tier Core Crystals, the sheer volume of them meant that he would still be walking away with a handsome profit .
Gao Peng was struck with the realization of just how easy it was to become rich if one had power .
No wonder Core Crystals were used as the official currency in high-value transactions . The market economy would have been too easily disrupted if that wasn't the case .
In a year, becoming a monster trainer had become the hottest job in the world .
Before, maybe half of the student population had wanted to become a monster trainer after they graduated . Now, that number was closer to nine in ten .
Wealth, social status, proving your strength—this job would allow you fulfill all three desires and more .
More importantly, the requirements to becoming a monster trainer weren't exactly strict . Anyone could do it as long as they had the passion and grit for it . Even though the mortality rate for trainers who didn't undergo proper training was incredibly high, there was no shortage of new trainers every month .
People fantasized all the time about hitting the jackpot—coming across two Lord-tier monsters fighting each other to the death, collecting their corpses for loot, picking up their young as a bonus after . These stories could be heard being peddled to potential new trainers every day .
In reality, they would probably be destroyed by the baby .
As he collected his thoughts, he stashed the Core Crystals in a pit in Stripey's back . They glittered brightly, the honey-golden hue a startling splash of color in the otherwise drab surroundings .
After a few minutes, a tiny shadow flitted into the pit . It was Silly .
Even though Silly's eyes were closed, its tentacles were still actively in tune with its surroundings . As it wiggled around in the air, it eventually came to lay on the pile of Core Crystals . It felt so good that its body almost went numb .
Silly had never seen so many Core Crystals before in its life . It didn't know what they were, but it did feel extremely good lying on a bed of them .
After a while, it couldn't help but consume a Core Crystal using its tentacles .
Its eyes were shut during the entire duration of the heist .
If I close my eyes, it doesn't count as me taking Gao Peng's things . Silly chuckled happily .
Having just completed his training, Goldie came sauntering by, too, and caught sight of the Core Crystals .
Slowing down, it grabbed a handful of the Cores and popped them into its mouth .
It shook its head in disgust as it ate . How bitter!
Then he grabbed another handful .
Ugh! How bitter!
. . .
With less than half a month to go on his current expedition, Gao Peng managed to convince the final Mountain Spirit to join his coalition of Mountain Spirits .
He was overwhelmed by a sudden sense of accomplishment as he traced his fingers along the map in front of him . The map was filled with a sea of red dots, each indicating the location of a Mountain Spirit .
Besides these red dots, Gao Peng had discovered quite a few new areas as well, some still untouched by human civilization .
Of course, with Stripey escorting them, they encountered no trouble at all .
"Looks like these mountains are pretty safe after all," Gao Peng said rather reluctantly .
"Come, let's go back . " Gao Peng squinted toward the east, in the direction of Yuzhou City .
Underneath him, a mountain-sized creature grunted in response . The clouds roiled as it slowly made its way eastwards .
"Hm . I clearly recall putting the Core Crystals here, though . " Gao Peng wracked his brains . Was he missing something?
Gao Peng stood at the edge of the pit, wondering where in the world he could have put them . He was quite positive that he had put all the Core Crystals in the pit here .
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Silly looking at the pit rather guiltily . Then it hit him .
"Did someone steal them?" Gao Peng wondered aloud .
Silly trembled like a leaf .
"If I ever found out who did this, I'm going to skin them alive!"
Silly fainted . . .
Chapter end
Report
|
Donate
Oh o, this user has not set a donation button.
|