Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
My name is Gao Peng. I’m an ordinary monster trainer.
Today, I brought my familiar to the Goddess Peak of the Shaman Canyon to retrieve some things and warmed up a little along the way. I retrieved three stones, a bowl, and a book.
I don’t even know who dropped them there. Since there wasn’t anyone there, I’ll take them and bring them home. On the way back, one of the rocks exploded, then the two orange trees of my… my familiar became two weird children wearing yellow shirts.
What should I do now? Do I make the children pay for my orange trees?
Gao Peng’s head was aching as he rubbed his temples. While he was fishing, he heard an explosion, and just as he realized what happened, he saw that the small Calming Stone had exploded into two pieces and flown into the orange trees; the trees then became human.
“Where are the oranges? Do you still have them with you?” asked Gao Peng.
“Where are the oranges?” The two children repeated what Gao Peng had just said, looking dazed and at a loss.
The two children in yellow looked hideous. Overall, they looked human, but if one were to examine them closely, it could be easily recognized that they weren’t actually human, just monsters that looked like humans.
Their faces looked yellow. Their hair was as dry as dried grass, just as dry as the branches of the orange trees had been before. This was because of the long-term lack of nutrients.
The pupils in their eyes were completely black and their skin was yellow-brown tree bark. They were short, only about three feet tall, and their dry, bony claws extended out from the yellowish tree bark.
Gao Peng took a look at their status.
[Monster Name]: Orange Tree Monster
[Monster Level]: Level 21 (Commander-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Excellent
[Monster Attribute]: Wood/Life
[Monster Summary]: They were originally ordinary orange trees, but after absorbing monster blood and souls as nutrients for long periods of time, then the nutrients of the Calming Stone in its final stage, the tree morphed into an Orange Tree Monster.
They really were two orange tree monsters, and they were even Commander-tier.
Stripey, who was walking in the river, stopped its steps, realizing what had happened on top of its head. Were they not the orange trees that Da Zi planted on top of my head? How did the two orange trees suddenly become two little human beings?
Stripey felt dumbfounded. It had taken good care of them all this time. When it was raining, it would disperse the clouds on top of its head to allow the rainwater to water the orange trees. Besides that, it even found soil in the mountains and spread it at the feet of the trees. Sometimes, it also took leftover bones and buried them under the orange trees.
Stripey hadn’t thought too much when it was burying the bones. It had only thought that since it ate monsters sometimes for seasoning, the orange trees would want to eat them, too. However, Stripey also knew that overfeeding them would bring negative effects instead, hence, it only fed the trees a tiny amount every time.
So… it must be because I took such marvelous care of them!
Now that the orange trees had become humans, Stripey felt proud of what it had done. “Gao Peng, they were raised by me.”
“You fed them?” said Gao Peng as he tried to conceal his astonishment.
“Yeah! The orange trees were raised by me, and now they have become little humans,” said Stripey proudly.
“How excellent of you.” Gao Peng nodded.
“Of course!” humphed Stripey.
Perhaps it was because the orange trees had grown up on Stripey’s head, but the two orange trees felt bonded with Stripey. On the other hand, although they felt wary toward Gao Peng, at least they didn’t show any signs of aggression. Conversely, they were completely in love with Stripey. They were touching Stripey’s head and its body happily, smiles plastered on their faces.
This wasn’t the first time Gao Peng had come in contact with mutated monsters; they were things that he was familiar with. Looking at the attitude of the orange trees, Gao Peng understood why those people could tame high-level monsters.
They naturally wouldn’t show aggression toward the owner if they had lived with the owner for a long time or were in frequent contact with the owner. Instead, they would show dependence and closeness.
All monsters had intelligence. They weren’t simply monsters who only knew of destruction. In this kind of situation, the owner would naturally be able to tame these monsters more easily.
“Since you like them so much… You should keep them by your side as your followers, since they won’t take up much space anyway.”
Gao Peng thought for a while to decide on names for these two orange trees to address them easier. “From now on, you two will introduce yourselves as orange delivering children; you will be Nan Ju, and you will be Bei Zhi.” Gao Peng named the child who was less than an inch taller Nan Ju, and the other Bei Zhi.
As he thought about Bei Zhi, Gao Peng immediately thought about Miss Bei Qing Yan from the Arctic. Since both of them shared the same surname, they could even be called family.
The two Orange Tree Monsters struggled to repeat the words. Their accents were off, making it sound rather odd.
“Lan Ju.”
“Bei Zi.”
“Let me do it. I’ll teach them how to speak.” volunteered Stripey.
…
When Gao Peng returned to the Southern Sky Group, the two Orange Tree Monsters could already pronounce their names easily.
Just as they reached the shore, Gao Peng quickly fed Stripey a Guise Fruit. After eating the fruit, Stripey returned to its “innocent” size. The Guise Fruit tree that had been transplanted successfully some time ago looked healthy, probably because it had a strong will to live. Now, the Guise Tree was fully grown. It would flower in a month and ripen, providing more fruits. So far, Stripey’s consumption speed was no longer a worry.
Right beside the north of the river, there was a road leading to the city.
There was a parade of trucks driving toward them. Their tires screeched to a halt.
At the very front was a truck with a pitch black tractor. The two sides of the car had impressive looking paint. Perhaps only the rich could afford such a brand.
Throughout his journey back, Gao Peng had already met tens of fleets of trucks. These trucks purposely slowed down or sped up when they saw Stripey.
“Gao Peng!” The large truck at the end of the line slowed down and its window rolled down, showing a fat surprised face. Gao Peng looked at him for a while and finally recognized him.
“Chen Hanqiao.” Gao Peng sounded surprised. He recognized his ex-classmate and even remembered that he had seen Chen Hanqiao driving the Electric Luster Bear familiar that his father gave him when he was venturing out for the first time in a huge bus.
Who would have thought that Chen Hanqiao had already stepped into society? Looking at his attire and the wrinkles on his face, he had most probably entered his father’s monster hunter association and inherited his father’s business. Rumor had it that his father was the leader of a monster hunter association.
Chen Hanqiao’s chubby cheeks cracked into a friendly smile. “You still remember me, old friend! Haha.”
The team of cars at the front stopped. The truck at the front of the line rolled down its window, and a northwestern man peeked his head out. “Dad, this is my ex-classmate,” shouted Chen Hanqiao loudly as he pointed at Gao Peng.
Chen Hanqiao’s father looked at Stripey, which Gao Peng was still sitting on, and nodded. He signaled for the team of cars to stop and rest for a while to let his son speak with Gao Peng.
“Long time, no see. You’re now the best monster trainer in the world. You’re the most successful out of all of our classmates. Sometimes, I even brag about the fact that you and I were high school classmates.” Chen Hanqiao smiled and handed a cigarette to Gao Peng.
Gao Peng took the cigarette.
The orange delivering child, Bei Zhi, took a step forward. With a wave of his sleeve, a large golden orange appeared in its palm. “Orange, eat!”
