Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As the fight dragged on, the difference in tier worried Gao Peng.
Da Zi was Mythical-grade, and although a Xuanhai Silver-Winged Three-Eyed Python could reach up to the Epic grade, this was merely Excellent grade.
Between the Excellent and Mythical grades, there were three levels—Perfect, Epic and Legendary. Mythical was four levels above Excellent.
Even then, the Xuanhai Silver-Winged Three-Eyed Python could only be killed with the help of Dumby and Stripey. Even though Da Zi didn’t have much experience for this battle, this made Gao Peng aware of the need to pay attention to the gap between the grades of each level, especially in the later stages.
It would be difficult to collect the materials needed for the advancement of each grade, but if the effort in collecting was focused on improving the level of the monsters, the speed of growth would be faster than the former.
Gao Peng always felt a sense of urgency. Back when the ancient tribe returned, from the way Sang Tong killed the Cherry Sky Tree, one could tell that the people of the ancient tribe didn’t regard themselves as compatriots to people like them who lived on the Earth Star.
It was similar to how the Europeans dealt with the Native Americans when they discovered the New World. Without the ability to protect one’s self, everything was an illusion. Even these high-quality beasts of theirs could be stolen.
On one hand, Gao Peng would want to improve his monster’s grade, because the Earth Star was restricted, and with a better grade, his monsters would have an advantage against others of the same tier.
But having the same tier was also important, as if there was a lag in tier, it would largely impact their strength. It would be easier to upgrade tiers than grades.
There was one thing yet to be verified. When one stored an Earth Star-restricted monster of a certain level within the space, was one then ‘smuggling’ the monster in? Loopholes like these were always exceptionally exciting.
As long as one brought them in, it didn’t matter if one couldn’t release them from the familiar space. Gao Peng sighed. He had been away for half a year…. he was beginning to miss home. But he knew that he couldn’t return now.
As they said, “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” Since he had yet to be successful, what was the point of heading home?
In Gao Peng’s opinion, he would need at least an Overlord-tier familiar, and a huge group of Emperor-tier monsters to be considered mildly successful.
The Sang Tong tribe had an Overlord-tier monster but was only considered a second-grade tribe. If he didn’t even have one Overlord-tier monster, he wouldn’t even be on par with a second-grade tribe. With this thought, Gao Peng’s desire to return home was reduced.
Gao Peng took out the altar on Stripey’s back and told Little Black Guy, “Go decompose this Overlord-tier monster. It would be good if you could find something good.”
Even though Gao Peng tried to control his emotions, one could tell that he had a sense of satisfaction.
The little black guy, without any complaints, placed the Xuanhai Silver-Winged Three-Eyed Python on the altar like a tiny curled up silver snake. The little black guy didn’t express any different emotions while decomposing the Overlord-tier monster, as if it was a fairly common affair.
“Sure. I’ll do my best to decompose it better for you.” The little guy nodded and rubbed its palms. “To think of it, it’s been a while since I decomposed an Overlord-tier monster. I’m not sure if my skills have become rusty.”
Gao Peng had a change in expression. “I don’t think you have a name yet.”
“I do have a name. It’s the Great Altar Cutter, and I’ve mentioned this to you.” The little guy was suddenly wary.
“Oh—” Gao Peng nodded in surprise. “But that’s the name of the altar. Although you’re one with the altar, you are, after all, an instrumental spirit of this altar. Calling you a Great Altar Cutter doesn’t sound good. It feels like I am calling out to this altar.”
The little guy was confused. “I am one with the altar. We are one, so you can just call me—”
“I will call you Dark Child!”
Dark Child was speechless. “No, what kind of person—”
“Good name!” Goldie slapped the top of the altar. “I thought Gao Peng would call you Darky. I didn’t expect him to give you such a nice-sounding name!” Goldie continuously slapped the altar, causing it to creak incessantly.
Dark Child was dumbfounded. “Whatever makes you happy.” Dark Child was too lazy to bother. What was in a name? Once upon a time, it’d had many names, so one more ‘Dark Child’ didn’t make a difference.
All these names would eventually disappear in the long river of time. In a million years, ten million years, one hundred million years, or even longer, when the sea dried, when the mountain became a valley, even one’s memory over an eternity would be blurred out.
A name, a title, a code name; who would remember?
Gao Peng’s finger jabbed Dark Child’s forehead, and Dark Child lost its balance, its butt landing on the altar. “Why are you daydreaming? Quickly, get to work,” Gao Peng reprimanded.
Any thoughts of the river of time and eternity became a bubble burst by Gao Peng’s finger. Dark Child glared at Gao Peng. It had been reminiscing but lost its train of thought. But it was too lazy to haggle with Gao Peng.
Once Dark Child started work, Gao Peng began to clean up Stripey’s wound. Gao Peng hadn’t had the chance to clean up the wound when the battle was still going on fiercely.
None of the monsters within the familiar space were injured. Stripey and Dumby were the only ones injured.
Between the two, Stripey’s injury was more severe. Its original height of 2,600 feet was shortened by two layers, and he was left with 2,000 feet. At the same time, the surface of its body was covered with big and small potholes. There were several cracks that almost broke its body. As a King-tier monster, Stripey was proud to be part of this intense battle.
In battle, Stripey’s size was a great advantage. Even though a large size had many inconveniences, nonetheless, the pros outweighed the cons overall. However, it would have been great to be able to flexibly change its size in battle.
Even though Xiao Cao had healing properties, its tier was too low, and Stripey didn’t need it to heal its wound. Stripey walked a distance away from the sea, placed its butt on the ground, retracted its claws, closed its eyes, and started to sleep by the shore.
As Stripey slept, the potholes in its body began to heal.
Gao Peng felt the earth under his feet shake continuously. The earth cracked, and a steady stream of stone flowed from the depths of the earth into Stripey’s body. These stones blended quickly into Stripey’s body and hardened into a piece of stone armor.
At the other end, the Amorphic Hell Tree that was revived by Dumby and a few other King-tier ghouls knelt before Dumby. The cracking sound of bones was heard. From the cracks of the bones, a large number of Soul Flames seeped out and gathered, then entered Dumby’s body.
As the Soul Flame engulfed Dumby, its bones also gradually began to heal.
With regards to healing wounds, it was similar to the Chinese Idiom about the eight immortals who were supposed to cross the sea. Each of them had their magic to cross the sea.
On the other side, Da Zi and Gao Peng, who had just been reunited, embraced each other and chatted. Gao Peng asked Dai Zi the details about its disappearance and its whereabouts for the past six months.
Da Zi didn’t conceal anything and shared all the details with Gao Peng.
After hearing Dai Zi out, Gao Peng understood that Da Zi had gone through two different worlds. From Da Zi’s indignant tone, he felt that Da Zi might have been kicked out, but this fool was unaware and thought that there had been a monster attacking it from behind.
Da Zi’s experience was so coincidental that it seemed as though there was an invisible hand manipulating everything.
