Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“… I think that the monsters you have over here are rather odd. What do you think?” The Desolate Frost Lion was staring at the over two-thousand-foot-tall behemoth in front of it, its face twitching.
The carcasses of the Labyrinth Watchers were piled outside the rift and were being guarded by Goldie. Gao Peng had offered a daily rate of three hundred dollars a day, and this had Goldie overjoyed. Goldie had immediately patted its chest and ensured Gao Peng that the eight red-furred fish would never fall into the hands of others.
After going through the rift, Gao Peng brought the Desolate Frost Lion home and immediately went back to the mountains to visit Stripey. The lion finally realized why its master’s power was so great.
“Stripey is actually a very good child. It’s very gentle,” said Gao Peng while looking adoringly at Stripey.
Upon hearing Gao Peng, Stripey excitedly nodded. “Yup! Yup! Stripey is the goodest.” Once again, the earth shook and the mountain began to rock… It was a wonder that the Desolate Frost Lion didn’t fall from Gao Peng’s shoulders.
“So what did you mean just now? Are monsters the size of Stripey uncommon in the Black Fog World?” Gao Peng was confused. He had seen that the Labyrinth Watchers were huge as well, and he had thought that such large body sizes were common in the Black Fog World.
“… No sh*t. Monsters that are over a few thousand feet tall would usually be at least Emperor-tier or above.”
“Don’t the bodies of monsters get bigger and bigger? I thought the Emperor and Overlord-tier monsters in the Black Fog World would be thousands or tens of thousands of feet tall…” Gao Peng laughed, embarrassed.
“It’s not possible to be that large. Even if it was, it would be very rare. If something grew that big, what would it eat, and what would it use to sustain its own internal balance? Just the consumption needed to maintain such a large body would be an astronomical amount. That’s why the larger a monster is, the lazier it gets.”
Gao Peng drew in a breath and asked the Desolate Frost Lion in a voice full of expectation, “Then do you have any method to shrink a monster’s body size?”
“Actually, it’s not as though methods to allow your familiar to shrink don’t exist,” the lion started after ruminating for a moment. Its little face was scrunched up in a serious expression.
“What methods are there?” Gao Peng was slightly worked up. He hadn’t thought that there really was a way to shrink down Stripey’s body size.
“According to what I know, there’s more than one method.” The lion cleared its throat and crossed its paws, with one paw supporting its chin.
“The first is to let your familiar evolve and obtain an ability that can control its body size. It’s just that such abilities are rare, and how exactly to obtain these abilities, I’m not sure…” At this point, the Desolate Frost Lion was beginning to lose confidence.
But then it bounced back and retorted, “I’m not that large anyway! And I don’t need such an ability, so not knowing is normal.”
“So what’s the second method?”
“There’s a kind of fruit called a Guise Fruit. It allows a monster to shrink up to a thousand times smaller than its original size. If you can shrink by a thousand times, then your Familiar will only be 20 feet tall!” the lion said, pleased with itself.
“You didn’t learn your math properly, did you?” Gao Peng was speechless, but then he remembered that this was a lion that never even gone through nursery education. He couldn’t expect that much.
“I know, I know, it’s two feet,” Da Zi said loudly as it popped up.
“All right, you can stop embarrassing yourself now.” Gao Peng pushed the excited Da Zi back down.
Stripey stood up and chimed in, “It’s 200 feet… Two hundred feet should be enough for me to go and play with Gao Peng again.”
“Mm, Stripey’s math hasn’t fallen behind.” Gao Peng nodded his head in satisfaction.
Da Zi was in shock. Could it have calculated wrong? Darn it! In order to get Gao Peng’s praise, Da ZI had actually secretly gone to Stripey for extra lessons.
“Do you know which places have Guise Fruits?”
“Let me think… I remember that they appeared before in the Black Phoenix Mountain Range. But few monsters used it since it didn’t do much. After all, once you enter combat mode, the effects of the Guise Fruit will disappear. You have to plan carefully! The Black Phoenix Mountain Range isn’t safe. There’s a black feathered sparrow there and I wouldn’t go head to head with its flames even when I was at my peak.”
“I’ve already made up my mind. This was something that I promised, and I will definitely not disappoint Stripey.”
The Desolate Frost Lion rolled its eyes. “Actually, there are many other methods, but these methods would be up to you.”
“What methods?”
“For instance, if you have a high-level Space-type monster, all you need to do is open up a portable dimension to bring your familiar along with you anywhere. It’s just that your familiar is huge… so the space requirements of the dimension you open up would have to be great as well.”
Without sharing a word, Gao Peng, Goldie, Da Zi, Flamy, and all the rest of them shifted their eyes towards Silly.
Facing everyone’s stares, Silly doubtfully took out a bottle of juice from its portable space, stuck in a straw, and continued to suck without care.
Slurrrrrp—
“Also, I remember that trainers have an ability, don’t they? They can summon a familiar from anywhere to their side to assist in battle. You didn’t awaken that ability?” The Desolate Frost Lion glanced sideways at Gao Peng and laughed coldly. “Or is it just because you’re too much of a noob?”
Confused, Gao Peng still took note of the methods that the Desolate Frost Lion mentioned. These methods would allow Stripey to follow him on adventures again.
For Gao Peng at this moment, the simplest method would be to head to the Black Phoenix Mountain Range to pick some Guise Fruits.
The other method would be to gamble his luck and bet on awakening the ability to summon his familiars to battle once the Desolate Frost Lion regained its Emperor tier title, although Gao Peng still had the feeling that this lion wasn’t a very reliable figure.
Gao Peng sent a text to Xu Qingzhi. “Qingzhi, help me get some Ice-type fruits from the lab.” Then Gao Peng squatted down and gently patted the little white lion on the head. “Is the Black Phoenix Mountain Range far from the labyrinth?”
“Not far, only around 3,000 miles.” The little lion raised its head and blinked. For the lion at its peak, 3,000 miles was a very short distance. It could run that distance in just a few hours.
Gao Peng nodded. This matter still needed careful long-term planning.
Three thousand miles was far, but not that far. However, the dangers that they could run into along the way meant that he had to proceed with the utmost caution.
The Black Fog World greatly exceeded Earth in terms of danger. Lord-tier monsters were rare on Earth, but in the Black Fog World, even King-tier monsters weren’t uncommon.
But for Stripey, Gao Peng would definitely make a trip to the Black Phoenix Mountain Range, because he had promised Stripey he would bring it along on an adventure.
“Boss, here’s a batch of Ice-type fruits that were just transported here from the warehouse.” Xu Qingzhi laboriously brought over a black suitcase and put it on the ground.
The black suitcase had a rough surface and a dull color. With a gentle flip of the buckle, it opened with a pattering sound.
A cold white mist emerged through the gaps in the suitcase. Rows of cherry-sized blue fruits were arranged neatly on ice cubes. Drops of condensation formed the moment they were exposed to air, and the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.
The Desolate Frost Lion squinted its eyes at the fruits in disdain. Even from ten feet away, it could still smell the stench of these low-class fruits.
“How dare you use these low-class fruits as offerings to this divine lion! I’ll tell you, I won’t even eat a bite of such low-class food even if I have to starve!”
