Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gao Peng nodded approvingly. Indeed, Grandfather was astute and cautious.
It was getting late. Grandpa was the chairman of the Southern Sky Group, the director of The Explorer’s Union, and the principal of Tiange Academy, so he was extremely busy every day.
While getting ready to leave for work, Grandfather suddenly thought of something. He stopped and told Gao Peng, “Right, that Teacher Guan in the school made a Blood Contract with a student.”
Gao Peng was stunned. A student had actually signed Teacher Guan. This… He had never thought his old joke would actually turn into a fact.
A myriad of thoughts flooded his heart. Gao Peng thought for a while, then said, “Which student was it?”
Grandfather certainly wouldn’t remember the names of most students, but the student who had managed to sign Teacher Guan, the legend, had caused quite a stir, and furthermore, he was currently working for him. “Li Junzong.”
Li Junzong. A blurry face emerged in Gao Peng’s mind. On the edge of the training ground in the Southern Sky division of the Baiye District, a small, dirty, and unkempt figure would burrow through a corner of the wall to train secretly, then clean the training ground every time he finished his training.
“That’s the guy.” Gao Peng nodded. “Did he manage to sign the Blood Contract with Teacher Guan on the first try?” Gao Peng was a bit curious, as a lot of Soul Power was required to sign Teacher Guan. After all, this was a powerful Lord-tier monster.
“It would definitely be impossible to do so under normal circumstances, but Teacher Guan was the first familiar that he signed. This can be considered a loophole. It was just enough for him to sign it in the end, but this also allows us to know that there’s such a loophole, that the requirement of Soul Power for signing one’s first familiar is much lower. So far, it seems that the limit for signing one’s first familiar is the Lord tier,” said Grandfather. “This will enhance our speed in developing forces. Those who are able to sign on Lord-tier familiars are the minority. The majority can merely sign on Commander-tier monsters at most the first time. Li Junzong is quite gifted.”
“Then what’s his position in the group now?” Gao Peng asked.
“He holds the post of captain in the Department of Law Enforcement.”
Gao Peng nodded. Teacher Guan was upright and righteous, best suited for this position.
“I’ll visit him when I have the time.” Gao Peng understood what Grandfather was trying to say. Grandfather wanted him to cultivate disciples. He had brought Xiao Nuoyan out from the Baiye District, and besides, Gao Peng was his old principal. In a sense, Xiao Nuoyan had been labeled Gao Peng’s disciple, unless he himself declared loyalty to another person in public.
After Grandfather went to the group’s tower, Gao Peng walked towards the foot of the mountain along with Xiao Hua and the others.
Moneymaker’s body was much bigger than it had been three years ago when it was first brought out. Its body length was almost three feet, not counting its tail, but with the tail, it would be a total of six feet. It had golden scales surrounding its whole body, and even its eyeballs were a yellowish-orange amber. There were silver tiger stripes on its back. After three years of trials, Moneymaker was no longer as timid as before, when it would look left and right as it was walking while flicking its tail, making people think it was a cat.
Along the way, they encountered some monster trainers with their familiars. There was a trace of disdain in Moneymaker’s eyes. It had, after all, survived the turbulence in the Black Fog World, so it felt a sense of superiority when it looked at these familiars from Earth Star.
Two girls dressed casually walked over from the right, one of them wearing a red dress and the other a white low-cut top with short sleeves and light blue jeans. They were followed by two big cats the size of leopards, one black and the other white. Their green eyes were eerily cold. The White Phosphorus Leopard Cat on the left looked at Moneymaker mockingly, eagerly anticipating Moneymaker making a fool of itself.
Who knew that Moneymaker would remain calm and simply yawn, letting its imposing manner slip for just a split second.
“Meow.” The White Phosphorus Leopard Cat whined fearfully and ran away with its tail straight in the air.
“Meow, meow, meow,” The Black Phosphorus Leopard on the right made even more of a fool out of itself. It immediately sat and laid down, straightened its paws, and started rolling on the floor, moving further and further away.
“Da Bai,” the girl in the red dress exclaimed. The girl in the white low-cut top glanced at Gao Peng and turned to look at the familiar who had slipped away like a toy racecar, then couldn’t help but blush out of embarrassment.
After the girls had walked away, Gao Peng looked down and berated Moneymaker. “You’re a King-tier and yet you still went and intimidated two Commander-tier cats. Shame on you.”
Moneymaker laid down meekly on the floor after Gao Peng’s scolding. It hugged its head with its two paws and looked to the front with dull eyes, making no attempt to retort.
“Calm down, Master. Eat some oranges to cool off.” Bei Zhi, who was six feet tall and as skinny as a beanpole, quickly peeled an orange and handed it to Gao Peng.
Gao Peng blocked the orange that was handed to him, “Oranges can cause excessive internal heat. The two of you go off and play.”
Bei Zhi smiled, took back the orange, and put it into its mouth. It looked even slimmer standing next to Nan Ju, who was tall and robust.
“Move. Stop playing dead.” Gao Peng kicked Moneymaker’s butt, causing him to follow them joyfully.
They came to the riverside, where a shipyard had been constructed. The ships were made ashore and put into the river through rails. The fire was going full blast in the shipyard, and black exhaust fumes were discharged through a chimney. Strong and robust dark-skinned Minotaurs carried reinforced steel weighing several tons from the east factory to the west factory.
Gao Peng watched for a while, then headed upstream, and along the way, the number of people became fewer and fewer. The riverside was full of dense water plants, and he could see movements of monsters beneath the water plants from time to time.
Although the human population was constantly expanding, monsters were reproducing madly, as well. Some of them were integrating into the human world via a special method. For instance, Gao Peng saw that there were monster trainers supervising the Minotaurs.
Gao Peng stood by the river for a while. The water in front of him gradually bubbled, and monsters emerged from the water, calling Gao Peng “Grandpa” excitedly.
The water in front of him rose up, coagulating into a water person whose whole body was composed of water. “Master,” The water man transmitted its voice to Gao Peng’s mind through Soul Resonance.
“Hmph, Master, this fellow didn’t even use its real body to see you, just its doppelganger,” Moneymaker slandered.
The water man turned to look at Moneymaker, then withdrew its gaze. “Master, my real body isn’t around, it’s downstream… It’s rushing over now, but for the time being, I can only use this method to see you. Please forgive me, Master.”
“It’s fine. Your real body doesn’t have to come. I’m only here to see your progress in taking over the river.”
[Monster Name]: Growing Brain (Doppelganger)
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attributes]: Psychic
[Special Characteristic]: String of Thoughts
(Active Effect 1: Take over thought processes.
Passive Effect 1: Extraordinary liveliness.
Hint: Current takeover of river, 65% done)
Many of its attributes couldn’t be seen, as it was merely a doppelganger, but the progress of taking over the river had reached 65%, which was far beyond Gao Peng’s expectations. This illustrated that the Growing Brain was progressing successfully, and its level had increased greatly, otherwise its progress wouldn’t have been so fast.
