Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Skull Ghoul Ape looked down at its fleshless hands. It was impossible to discern its emotions from its hollow eyes.
It then raised its head again and looked at Gao Peng and simply stood there, staring blankly at him.
[Monster Name]: Skull Ghoul Ape
[Monster Level]: Level 11 (Elite tier)
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Ghoul
[Monster Condition]: Weak (Excited)
[Monster Weakness]: Light
[Requirements for Promotion to Epic Grade]: …
A perfect grade monster. Once it managed to hit level 20, it could immediately be elevated to commander tier.
This could be said to be a monster that would definitely become a commander tier monster. It would be an exaggeration to say that it was worth a whole city, but that would not be far off. It was definitely worth a fortune. It was also rare; even more so because ghoul-type monsters were already rare in the first place. If it were seen by ghoul-type lovers, they would definitely be willing to spend a fortune to buy it.
But all this had nothing to do with Gao Peng anymore. This monster was provided by the Monster Breeder Association. Even the venue and the materials used were provided by the Monster Breeder Association. He had no reason to expect to gain possession of the Skull Ghoul Ape.
This was only a small display of his capabilities anyway. With that ability of his, as long as he had the materials, monsters of this grade could easily be mass produced.
As he turned to leave, the Skull Ghoul Ape suddenly reached his hand out and grabbed on to the edge of his shirt, gently whimpering.
“C’mon, your grade already went up; is there anything you’re not satisfied with?” Gao Peng smiled and loosened the Skull Ghoul Ape’s grip on his shirt.
The Skull Ghoul Ape stared blankly at Gao Peng once again. It looked like an abandoned child. Even the flames in its eye sockets grew dimmer.
“This… this seems like a never-before-seen new species of monster,” a senior member of the association said while clutching his chest, as though he were seeing a rare treasure of absolute beauty.
Then his burning gaze turned to Gao Peng. No, the real treasure isn’t the new monster species, but the one who managed to create this new monster.
Gao Peng’s young age shocked him. A special talent! A genius!
In his head, he had no hesitation whatsoever in giving this child overwhelming praise.
“Haha, this monster seems pretty attached to you,” the senior member of the association said, laughing out loud. “Since that’s the case, you can have the monster.”
“But, director.” A member of the staff could not help but butt in. He seemed unwilling to let the monster go.
The other members of the staff also had complicated expressions on their faces.
These successfully upgraded monsters were usually awarded to members of the staff with the best work ethic. It was a form of welfare provided by the Monster Breeder Association.
Having suddenly lost such a possible reward naturally made some of them bitter.
Gao Peng was staring in shock at this man in his thirties who was apparently the director of the Monster Breeder Association.
“How many times has this Red River Ape been tested on, huh?! Did you really think I wouldn’t know? According to the association regulations, how many times is a monster allowed to be experimented on before being eliminated?” The director’s expression turned cold. “It was lucky that this kid has talent. Anyone else would have definitely failed the test. Word could have gotten around that the Chang’an Monster Breeder Association couldn’t even afford a healthy monster. I am here wiping your *sses after you have failed to do your job properly!”
The various staff members hung their heads and said no more.
Even the contestants who were around the area could not help but feel awkward as well. Even though that was the truth, there probably was no need to spell things out so bluntly.
But as for the director, these members of staff were simply his employees. What he lacked the least was employees. He could simply holler out in Chang’an City and job applicants would come lining up all the way to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. His employees could easily be replaced.
Gao Peng however was a different case. This was the first time he had met someone as talented as Gao Peng.
He had heard of such Monster Breeder geniuses but never had the luck to meet one. He never thought that he would get a chance to meet one in person today.
He was a person that did not believe in luck. The use and applications of all the materials used by Monster Breeders had to be extremely precise. Even if the materials used were exactly the same, any errors in obtaining the correct amounts and ratios of materials used would result in failure.
“My young friend, if you would not mind, could you explain your thought process and let Old Chen here learn a few things?” the director said with a laugh.
This request was phrased in a way that allowed Gao Peng a way out.
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A lot of people in the examination venue were suddenly all ears.
Gao Peng hesitated for a moment and sighed on the inside. Since he could not keep a low profile, he might as well do the opposite.
After all, there was probably no way he could keep a low profile after the events today.
Gao Peng’s usual casual expression turned serious. He stayed silent for a while to try to get in the right mood.
“I figured that those examinees who experimented on this Red River Ape previously had no idea what they were doing,” Gao Peng began coldly, not mincing his words at all.
“Although there’s the word “river” in the Red River Ape’s name, its attribute has nothing to do with water. Its name comes from the Red River which runs next to the area where these apes are found.
“Some fool thought to feed the Red River Ape large amounts of water-type and Yin-type ingredients just because of the word “river” in its name. It would have been alright if only water-type ingredients were used, but the Red River Ape’s weakness is actually the Yin-attribute.” Gao Peng paused before continuing. “That kind of thinking was not only limited to one fool. One or two bad experiments would not have been enough to cause this Red River Ape to be in the state that it was in.”
“Oh; are you saying that the Red River Ape’s weakness is Yin-type?” Director Chen was a little surprised. “Shouldn’t it be wood-type?”
“According to the interactions between the Five Elements, wood should be part earth right?” Someone who was listening also voiced out his suspicion.
“For such a simple matter, a simple test would be enough for us to find out. Hongshui Apes don’t exist in large numbers but they shouldn’t be hard to catch either, right?” Gao Peng said casually.
“A monster’s attribute doesn’t always follow the interactions of the Five Elements. It’s just that most of them do. There are still some rarer examples of monsters that deviate from this norm,” Gao Peng continued. This was a point that Director Chen himself knew as well.
“The water-attribute and Yin-attribute energies had already run so deep into the Red River Ape’s body that it had permeated the bone marrow. To totally remove them from its body would have wasted too much time and energy, so I decided to work in a direction opposite of the usual.”
“For the past three days, I gave it Black Candle Grass to strengthen its soul and its willpower. Afterwards, using the Yin-attribute as a base, I gave it undead-type and ghoul-type materials as well as a ghoul-type monster core crystal to stimulate its evolution.” Gao Peng kept this part concise. There was nothing worth hiding regarding the materials that he used as anyone could easily find out if they tried.
The crux of this procedure lay in the amounts and the order of the materials used.
Gao Peng was no fool. He had not requested for the exact amount of materials that he needed. For every material, he had asked for just a little more than was necessary.
If someone tried to do the same experiment with the amounts that he had ordered, the experiment would surely fail.
Even if someone wanted to deduce the exact ratio and amounts needed, the amount of energy and resources that had to be expended would be astronomical.
“Truly a fearsome youth,” said Director Chen while nodding his head. “The most I can give you right now within the limits of my authority is an intermediate Monster Breeder certificate. You will have to go to the Yanjing Headquarters and pass the assessment there in order to obtain an advanced Monster Breeder certificate. With your abilities, possessing only a basic Monster Breeder certificate would be an injustice.”
“I was just lucky”, Gao Peng said humbly.
“This is definitely not as simple as mere luck,” Director Chen laughed.
Everyone in the crowd was absolutely green with envy. They had all put in their blood, sweat and tears just for a basic certificate. Over here, this guy had immediately gotten an intermediate certificate.
But despite being envious, they knew well what their own standards were and did not foolishly jump to kick up a fuss. If they had such time and energy to spare, they knew they might as well focus on getting that basic certificate…
The spectating examinees quickly dispersed. The events of the day was a great motivation to them.
In no time at all, with Director Chen’s assistance, the Skull Ghoul Ape’s identity card was created. Every Familiar had to be registered with the government. This was mandatory according to the law.
Without an identity card, a Familiar not considered an illegal resident. Only with a card could a Familiar be used for participating in tournaments or competitions.
But all of this was not done for Gao Peng unconditionally. At the end, Director Chen also brought up a request. He hoped for Gao Peng to represent Chang’an in next year’s World Monster Breeder Tournament.
Director Chen did not try to rely on the benefits that he had given Gao Peng to convince him to join, but instead put forth a sincere request. “There are few talented Breeders among us Monster Breeders in Chang’an. You are the most talented one I have met, so I do sincerely hope that you will represent Chang’an for the World Monster Breeder Tournament.”
The World Monster Breeder Tournament had no age limits. As it was only three years after the cataclysm, be it old people, middle-aged people, or young people, everyone was basically standing on the same starting line on the path to be a Monster Breeder.
Initially, Gao Peng was not really interested. He found this matter too troublesome and he was not the kind that enjoyed the limelight either.
But Director Chen added, “As long as you enter the top thousand, you will be able to get a reward. The better your standing, the better your reward will be. If you make it to the top ten, you would receive at least 10,000 Alliance Credits…”
“With great power comes great responsibility. I’ll do it, Director Chen; you need say no more,” Gao Peng replied calmly.
Leaving the Monster Breeder Association, Gao Peng looked at the Skull Ghoul Ape standing next to him. It felt unbelievable somehow, to end up with an additional Familiar after going for the assessment.
Of course, as Gao Peng’s soul capacity was not sufficient; he could not establish a Blood Contract with the Skull Ghoul Ape yet. To be more accurate, it still was not his Familiar yet.
But the difference was not big. He was just missing a Blood Contract.
Establishing a Blood Contract required mutual agreement between both monster and human, so Gao Peng had no fear of anyone taking this silly ape away from him.
Thank goodness it was a ghoul-type and did not need to eat food, or else food expenditures for his household would increase again. With this thankful thought in mind, Gao Peng walked out of the Monster Breeder Association entrance with his Skull Ghoul Ape, which had a 100% rate of causing people’s heads to turn.