Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After landing a solid punch on a certain jellyfish, Gao Peng dropped the the issue.
While those Core Crystals were indeed valuable, they had actually been pretty useless just sitting there anyways. Absorbing the essence of the crystals to grow stronger might have actually been a better use for them.
The moment they set foot in the Southern Sky Group, Silly, who was still perched on Gao Peng’s head, let out a string of unintelligible sounds that sounded like, “Fish, fish!”
Right next to the lake, a new pool the size of a soccer field had been built. Within the pool lay an enormous creature, silent and unmoving.
Nasty-looking spikes could be seen growing out of its electric blue skin, like the teeth of a chainsaw.
The moment Flamy caught sight of the creature, it started snarling violently, every feather on its body quivering in rage.
Sensing the disturbance, the creature’s enormous tail swished gracefully through the water as it swept a lazy glance in their direction.
“Where did Grandfather find this crocodile?” Gao Peng was puzzled.
It looked like something out of the Jurassic era. It was a 65-foot-long crocodile with electric-blue scales. It’s yellow eyes were clear and serene.
There was a lake not far from there that was the White Dragon’s territory.
If the White Dragon could accept the presence of this creature, that must have meant that the crocodile was Grandfather’s latest acquisition.
This wasn’t surprising, to be honest. Ever since the White Dragon had evolved to Emperor-tier, Grandfather’s soul strength had to have increased considerably. Taming a few more creatures like this one was hardly a difficult task.
“He’s back.” Upon hearing the commotion from the mountain out back, Ji Hanwu knew.
Seeing how thin Gao Peng had become, Ji Hanwu was proud and sympathetic all at once. “You got a tan.”
Ji Hanwu pointed at the crocodile by way of introduction. “A month ago, there was a huge flood at the Pearl River Delta that unearthed an enormous underwater cavern. That’s where it crawled out from. I was just feeling like training a new familiar, so I caught it and brought it home with me.”
“I didn’t know there were crocodiles in the Pearl River Delta…” Gao Peng couldn’t quite hide his confusion.
“Crocodile remains have been found there before, so it’s not entirely impossible. Maybe this one escaped from a zoo? Or some rich family’s private collection?” Ji Hanwu didn’t really care where it had come from. All that mattered was that it was his now.
“This crocodile is majestic.” Gao Peng sighed in admiration.
His grandfather’s familiars were all so dang cool. A regal dragon and a ferocious crocodile. Just their appearances alone exuded a sense of absolute, indomitable strength.
He couldn’t help but notice that his grandfather’s familiars were all amphibious. The White Dragon, the Thunder Shell Lord, and now this crocodile.
[Monster Name]: Ancestral Viridian Crocodile (Ancestral Variant)
[Monster Level]: 46 (Lord-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Water
[Monster Ability]: Water Control Level 3, Harden Level 3, Explosive Crunch Level 4
[Special Ability]: Berserker Blood (Blood undergoes violent mutation. High chance of inducing bloodrage.)
Effect 1 (Passive): Gains a violent bloodlust proportional to the severity of the damage taken, which increases strength and explosiveness for a short period of time.
[Monster Condition]: Healthy (Calm)
[Requirements for Epic grade]: (The Ancestral Viridian Crocodile is currently in the process of reversing its mutation. This is an irreversible process, and it will not be able to evolve until the process is completed.) Needs to consume Water-type treasures. The more it consumes, the faster its blood will reverse the mutation, and the purer it will become.
As an Ancestral Variant, all it needed to evolve was to consume Water-type treasures. Even though it was unable to evolve before completing its mutation, it actually wasn’t the worst thing in the world. One wouldn’t need to find any rare materials for it to evolve. All one needed was money!
“This kind of familiar really suits you well,” he said to his grandfather.
“Oh!” Flamy let out a loud cry as it flapped his way into the shade of a large tree.
Then it wrapped its wings around itself and tucked its head in. Wisps of flame rose and coalesced around it like a cocoon.
The swirling flames gradually dissipated, leaving behind a blood-red egg carved with intricate feather-like markings.
Flamy had already hit level 40 half a month earlier. It had been waiting all this time for the right place to commence its evolution.
Evolution wasn’t an easy process. It was best done in a quiet environment without being disturbed.
Da Zi could feel the strength leaving his body. It started to itch all over and was overcome by a sudden wave of fatigue. Just as it plopped down on the ground for a quick nap, Gao Peng abruptly hauled it off towards the research lab.
As they entered the research lab, Gao Peng threw it into a silver glass container as tall as him and sealed it shut. The container was filled with a liquid that was charged with Electric-energy.
Still groggy, Da Zi looked around in a daze. “Why did he throw me in here? What’s going on?”
“I made this Electric-energy charged formula for you. Be a good boy and evolve well in there,” Gao Peng told him.
Da Zi pressed its claws to the glass wall as it tenderly watched Gao Peng’s figure slowly disappear from sight.
…
“Boss, the creatures you bought the last time have been trapped in storage for almost a month now. I’ve had to feed and clean them every day.” Xu Qingzhi glared balefully at Gao Peng.
Could he have been any more irresponsible? He would spend less than a third of his time in the lab, then disappear mysteriously somewhere.
This time, he had been gone for nearly a month and a half. Sometimes, she felt less like an assistant and more like a janitor.
“Have you mastered the Petrochemical drug I taught you last time?” he asked suddenly.
“Yeah… Around 70 percent of the time?” She sounded unsure.
“Too slow. If it’s taking you this long to master such a simple drug, then it looks like you still have a ways to go before you can take on the mantle.” He shook his head. “Since you’ve already got most of the petrochemical drug down, I’ll teach you another formula first. However, I’ll still check on your progress periodically.”
“Got it…” she said weakly.
Even though these low-level drugs could be mass produced in any decent factory, there was still value in learning how to create them personally.
Only low-level drugs could be made in one shot, because they weren’t hard to make. All one needed to do was mix certain pre-set ingredients in a certain ratio. The higher the level of the drug, the more complicated it became. Even the size and weight of the materials could affect the process by adding or subtracting several seconds needed. Those few seconds could be the difference between failure and success.
