“Xun?”
Upon hearing its Beast Tamer's words, Little Xunbao first wore a confused expression. Once it realized what was happening, it hurriedly teleported in front of the full-length mirror in the living room to take a look.
In the next second, the entire house echoed with Little Xunbao's scream.
“XUN!!!”
Two minutes later.
In the living room.
“Ya ya...”
Yabao patted the sobbing Little Xunbao with its paw, offering comfort.
So what if it became smaller after evolving? It was no big deal...
“Xun xun!”
Little Xunbao glanced at Yabao, who was N times larger than itself, and immediately cried even harder.
They both evolved, so why was the difference so huge!
“Lu lu.”
Shuiluyana nodded in agreement from the side.
The difference was indeed quite large.
“Xun!”
Qiao Sang looked at the scene of the three pets interacting from the sofa, feeling very gratified. With Yabao and Shuiluyana comforting Little Xunbao, there shouldn't be any major issues.
She took out her phone and went online to look for answers.
Although Little Xunbao's current appearance was much cuter than a normal Treasure-Hunting Demon, it still wasn't a normal situation.
In reality, it was very difficult to encounter someone who had contracted a Treasure-Hunting Ghost, but as soon as one searched for related questions about "Treasure-Hunting Ghosts" online, a huge number of Beast Tamers who had contracted them appeared in the discussions.
Qiao Sang went to a forum.
She posted a thread titled #Why did my Treasure-Hunting Ghost's size decrease after evolving into a Treasure-Hunting Demon, and why is the color a bit different?#
Before long, she received dozens of comments.
【Asking because I don't know, is this a humblebrag?】
【No pics, no truth. Unless you post a photo.】
【One look at the OP's ID and you can tell they're a pro humblebragger.】
Humblebrag?
Qiao Sang was momentarily bewildered. What did humblebragging have to do with this?
In the short time she spent thinking, dozens more replies appeared.
【Could it be that the Treasure-Hunting Ghost was malnourished, leading to a small size after evolving into a Treasure-Hunting Demon?】
【The person above is an honest soul. Diagnosis complete.】
【Everyone just disperse. Why gather here to listen to the OP brag?】
【How can you say that about the OP? Don't you know that the average person online has one iridescent pet?】
Iridescent?
Qiao Sang froze at those two words, instantly understanding why the netizens were calling it a humblebrag. It turned out they thought she was showing off the different color of her Treasure-Hunting Demon.
She looked up at the still-grieving Little Xunbao and quickly shook her head to clear the unrealistic thoughts from her mind.
Little Xunbao already possessed the Psychic type; if it were iridescent on top of that, wouldn't it be too broken?!
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Qiao Sang typed a reply
【I am seriously asking a question. I can guarantee my Treasure-Hunting Demon is not an iridescent pet. Its body is gray, just like a normal Treasure-Hunting Demon. Only the tip of its hair is a bit different in color. Putting the color aside for a moment, the main thing I don't understand is the size issue.】
A netizen immediately commented below
【Does the OP not know about partial iridescence?】
【Holy crap, I thought the OP was bragging at first, but after this explanation, it feels like it might be true.】
【If I'm not guessing wrong, the OP's Treasure-Hunting Demon should be a partially iridescent pet. Some iridescent pets have a certain chance of undergoing an energy mutation. It's not impossible for the size after evolution to differ from pets of the same species. Like Cui Tong's Gale Steed—only its tail is iridescent, but its size is double that of other Gale Steeds.】
【The person above actually took it seriously.】
【Floor 47's analysis makes a lot of sense, but have you considered that the OP only noticed the color difference after the Treasure-Hunting Ghost evolved into a Treasure-Hunting Demon? That means the color was normal when it was a Treasure-Hunting Ghost. Iridescent pets are basically determined at birth; it's impossible for iridescence to appear only after evolution.】
【Brother, you have a point. I thought about it wrong.】
【That's why I say the OP doesn't even draft their lies. Just saying the Treasure-Hunting Ghost's color was different would have been enough, but they insisted on saying the evolved Treasure-Hunting Demon's color was different.】
The thread continued to refresh, but Qiao Sang stopped scrolling. Instead, she stared at the reply from Floor 47 and thought in silence for a long time.
Partial iridescence...
Previously, she hadn't considered the possibility of iridescence at all. On one hand, Little Xunbao looked no different from an ordinary Treasure-Hunting Ghost when it was still one.
On the other hand, iridescent pets were simply too rare and uncommon.
Little Xunbao already had the Psychic attribute. If it were also iridescent, having these two elements concentrated in one pet—even the developers of the Beast Taming game wouldn't dare design it that way.
But thinking back now, Little Xunbao's eye color was different from ordinary Treasure-Hunting Ghosts even when it was still a ghost.
Little Xunbao's eyes were golden-yellow, while normal Treasure-Hunting Ghosts had medium-yellow eyes.
If this wasn't a genetic issue, but rather that Little Xunbao was born iridescent, then everything clicked...
Because it was an iridescent pet and was lucky enough to undergo an energy mutation, it developed the Psychic attribute while possessing the Ghost attribute.
And because it was an iridescent pet, the size of the Treasure-Hunting Demon it evolved into was a size smaller than those of its own kind.
The logic held up.
At this moment, Qiao Sang felt as if she could hear her own heart beating violently.
She looked at Little Xunbao, who was still immersed in sorrow, took a deep breath, pulled two tissues from the coffee table, and stepped forward to hand them over.
“Xun...”
Little Xunbao looked over with teary eyes.
Qiao Sang said gently, “Stop crying. Crying more won't make you any bigger.”
Little Xunbao: “...!”
After Qiao Sang explained for nearly ten minutes, Little Xunbao's pouting mouth finally returned to its usual state.
“Xun xun!”
Little Xunbao floated in front of the full-length mirror, turned sideways, and excitedly looked at the tips of the hair on its back.
So it was an iridescent pet!
No wonder it always felt it was so much handsomer than the ones of its kind it saw online!
9:15 PM.
Hongying Beast Battle Club.
Wang Yiding stared blankly at the drastically changed Little Xunbao and asked, “Big Shot Qiao, your Treasure-Hunting Ghost evolved?”
“Yes,” Qiao Sang smiled. “It just evolved today.”
Wang Yiding remained silent for a long time before uttering four words: “...As expected of you!”
Big Shot Qiao truly lived up to the name! Both of her pets had actually evolved to the Intermediate level! Moreover, the Treasure-Hunting Demon before him looked different from ordinary ones; its size was clearly much smaller.
If this were anyone else's Treasure-Hunting Demon, he would definitely suspect it was underdeveloped, but since this was Big Shot Qiao's, only one phrase came to mind—concentration is essence.
“Let's start trai—” Qiao Sang's sentence was cut off halfway.
“Xun~”
Just then, Little Xunbao spun around, specifically showing off the golden-yellow tips of its hair.
Wang Yiding's attention was instantly drawn over. He said in surprise, “Big Shot Qiao, did you dye your Treasure-Hunting Demon's hair?”
Little Xunbao: “...”
“It's getting late, let's start the training immediately,” Qiao Sang directly changed the subject.
Little Xunbao's iridescence was a partial one, not as obvious as other iridescent pets, and explaining it would be too troublesome.
Furthermore, iridescent pets were truly rare in reality.
Several Beast Tamers with iridescent pets had complained online that whenever they claimed their pets were naturally iridescent rather than dyed, people would demand the pet take a bath to prove it.
Once the pet finished bathing and others saw that the runoff water hadn't changed color, people would then ask which salon did the styling, as the color didn't fade.
In short, even if you talked until your lips were sore, some people would still doubt whether your pet was truly iridescent.
Rather than that, it was better not to bring up the topic at all.
Wang Yiding's purpose for coming here was for Crowned Meow to learn Teleportation, so he naturally had no objections.
This time, Qiao Sang didn't go and sit to the side, but accompanied Little Xunbao and Crowned Meow to the training ground.
Once they were in position, she looked at Little Xunbao and said, “Hypnosis.”
“Xun~”
“Crowned?”