Monster Taming Broadcast

I pondered for a long time about who to evolve.

Which fellow should I use the Evolution Ticket on?

The Dog Spider with incapacitation abilities.
The Jellyfish that casts powerful buffs.
The Fire Slime, pure strength at its finest.

Despite considering all these options, the final result of the evolution ultimately relied on luck.

Sure, how they currently look and their abilities do affect the evolution, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll become a completely new entity unrelated to their current form.

In simpler terms, their appearance or abilities could change entirely.

Ah, what should I do?
I couldn’t make a decision easily.
If only I had three tickets…

As I continued to ponder while stroking my chin, the assistants expressed their opinions.

Pururu─The cutie should stay as is!
Pururu─Let’s leave the cutie as is. What if they evolve and end up looking weird?

Cutie refers to the Dog Spider’s nickname.
Pururu didn’t want the Dog Spider to evolve.

003─You said the first monster you tamed was the Dog Spider, right?
003─Then let’s evolve the Dog Spider!
003─There’s a proper order to things!

Conversely, Ha Yumi wanted the Dog Spider to evolve.
The reason was simply that it was the first monster she tamed.

Mysticism─
Mysticism─
Mysticism─

What do you want?
At least chat a bit!

Pururu─Don’t evolve the cutie, okay?
003─Let’s evolve the Dog Spider. It probably wants to as well!
Mysticism─

The opinions of the assistants were divided.

Pururu─What do you know? The cutie doesn’t want to evolve. -_-
003─Sigh. Then let’s go with the Jellyfish, the second one you tamed.

Mysticism─
Pururu─I’ve seen the evolved form of the Jellyfish already.
003─I haven’t seen it!
Pururu─You have. Kong showed it while drawing!
003─Ah, you mean that monster called Jellyfish Queen?
Pururu─Yeah, yeah. So it’s better to evolve the Fire Slime.

Pururu seemed to misunderstand a bit about evolution.
The evolved form of the Jellyfish couldn’t be guessed.
Thinking it would necessarily be the Jellyfish Queen was a mistake.
The two monsters might not even share any relation, and even if they did, the evolution paths for monsters aren’t fixed.

There was a possibility that it might evolve into a different entity instead of the Jellyfish Queen.
Let’s not mention that.
We might end up with even more divided opinions.

Mysticism─
Pururu─Look, Missy has been suggesting evolving the Slime since earlier.
003─Ah, that was a Slime emoji?

I didn’t know.
I didn’t realize it was a Slime emoji!

003─Then I also agree to evolve the Slime. After all, the final decision lies with Kong anyway.
Pururu─LOL, Kong, Slime go go!

Mysticism─

After a short discussion, everyone converged their opinions.

*

I gathered the monsters in front of me.
I needed to hear their thoughts too.

“Hey guys. I’m going to evolve one of you now, so if any of you really want to evolve, step forward.”

The monsters exchanged glances, but fell silent.
No one stepped forward, eager to evolve.
They seemed to be hesitating.

“Come on, it’s not like you all dislike evolving, right?”

[Shii.]
[Pi.]
[Seung.]

From their reactions, it didn’t seem like they had any aversion to evolving.
003─It seems they are all trying to give the Evolution Tickets to each other. They’re not selfish kids after all, haha.

Pururu─I guess once they’re tamed, they get nice.
Mysticism─

“If you want to evolve, just say so…”

They still showed signs of hesitation.
So I softly encouraged them again.
“Don’t be shy, if you have the desire to evolve, step forward!”

A moment of silence passed.
Then, the Dog Spider, Jellyfish, and Fire Slime cautiously stepped forward at the same time.

[Shii?]
[Pi?]
[Seung?]

The three looked at each other and jumped back in surprise.
They glanced at each other as if they had made a promise, then simultaneously stepped back.

Pururu─LOL, what are you doing?
003─How cute!
Mysticism─

While it was a bit frustrating, it was also a sight that brought a smile.
You could feel their warm hearts, caring for one another.

“…I’ll just decide who to evolve. Okay? Don’t sulk just because I didn’t let you choose.”

They nodded.
The monsters bobbed their heads.

The Dog Spider.
If I evolve it, it might lose its incapacitation ability.
The Jellyfish.
Similarly, its currently useful buff magic might also disappear. Even if the buff magic gets strengthened, I probably wouldn’t want to directly go into battle, so it wouldn’t be very useful.

If I’m just safely watching from the sidelines without participating in combat, the current buffs would be sufficient.

Considering those two reasons.
And accepting the assistants’ opinions.
I decided to evolve the Fire Slime.
Since it had the best basic combat abilities.

Evolving it might enhance other abilities, but it could also weaken its own strength, but that was all up to luck.

I took a deep breath and prepared to use the Evolution Ticket.

There wasn’t a physical ticket.
It was a special authority that I could activate with my will.

Pururu─I’m looking forward to an SS-Class Monster!
003─Isn’t it an A-Class?
Pururu─That’s the nerfed danger level. The actual danger level is SS-Class!

Evolving doesn’t automatically raise the danger level.
It could become a higher entity within the same danger level, and even if it becomes a higher entity, it might weaken.

I didn’t bother explaining this.

Pururu─But there wouldn’t be a failure in evolution, right?
003─How could that be?
Mysticism─

I declared in my heart to use the Evolution Ticket.
The subject was the Fire Slime.

Whooooosh—

In an instant, light began to gather around the Slime.
A brilliant white light enveloped the Fire Slime.
I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them.

The intense light gradually changed.
From pure white to silver, then to a soft golden hue.
Finally, the light condensed into an egg-like shape.

003─So it doesn’t evolve right away?
Pururu─Is that egg like a pupa?
Mysticism─
Pururu─Don’t drool!

How long do I have to wait?
Just as I had that question, words appeared before my eyes.

Seems like it won’t take too long.
I think I can just sleep and wake up.

*

Day 3 in the Labyrinth.
Once again, there was no monster attack.

Also, the Poison Apple I had kidnapped for food died.
It seemed to die a certain time after falling from the tree.
If it had exerted its power under special conditions, would it have survived?
I don’t know.
It’s not something to worry about.

Anyway, since I lost the food source, I’ll have to go back to Passage No. 5 later and fetch a new one.

I shifted my gaze slightly to the left.

Waking up now, there’s just over 3 hours left until evolution.
I plan to avoid cave exploration until the egg hatches.
If I leave my position, and the egg is attacked by monsters, it would be bad news.

There’s no way I can go exploring with the Jellyfish and Dog Spider left behind.
Even though there haven’t been any monster attacks so far, I can’t let my guard down.
Most Labyrinth monsters seem to defend their territory, but exceptions can occur, so I can’t ease my vigilance.
A wandering monster could invade at any time.

And so, while waiting for evolution,
I examined the tickets I bought yesterday.
The tickets that don’t have physical forms were like letters in the air that only I could see.

Dispatch Ticket.
The authority to send monsters to another dimension for 24 hours.
What benefits could there be from sending a dispatch?
Can I perhaps bring items from another world?
If so, it would be a highly useful ticket.

I’ll have to send out a dispatch on my rest day.

*

Designated Dispatch Ticket.
It has the same authority as the Dispatch Ticket.
The only difference is that I can send them to a world I designate.

Since it’s said to be a connected dimension,
I could probably send them to the other world I visited or to Earth.
But, will a connection form to the places my monsters have visited with a normal Dispatch Ticket?
Well, I’ll find out later.

*

Transferable Return Ticket.
An authority that sends one back to their world, which I cannot use.
This one can materialize.
I could give it to a Drifter should I run into one.
Of course, I’d probably make them hand over all they have first.
I deserve some reward for sending them home, right?
I’m not a volunteer.
I paid for those tickets, so I can’t just hand them out for free, right?

*

Reverse Support Ticket.
The authority to send items back to my assistants.
Currently, I can only reverse support Pururu.
I’ll have to think a bit more about how to utilize this.

*

Mysticism─

45 minutes remain when Missy arrived.
And as time passed…

When there were about 5 minutes left…

Pururu and Ha Yumi arrived with a slight gap between them.
It seemed they had set alarms for the evolution time.

Pururu─Hey, Undertaker High. You changed your nickname and entrance phrase.
Yumi─I’m not an undertaker. I can only be one for you, Pururu.
Pururu─LOL;;
Yumi─How did you know I was coming?
Pururu─You basically revealed it yesterday. Duh.
Yumi─Got it.
Pururu─How did you become a doctor with that head of yours?
Yumi─I’m smarter than you, you know.
Pururu─Oh, I see.

Mysticism─

The chat window lit up.
Having a conversation with my assistants, those 5 minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
And then,
Creeeak—!

The egg finally began to crack!

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