What Was Caterpie Afraid Of?

Bang!

Bang!

Repeated crashing sounds echoed from Clear Stream Forest.

In Mark's memories, there had been many wild Caterpie in Clear Stream Forest.

Back when he and Caterpie had foraged in Clear Stream Forest, they had often seen wild Caterpie.

But despite deliberately searching for them now, they had yet to find any, so he began practicing Tackle with Caterpie again.

More accurately, they would find a tree and practice Tackle against it for a while. Once it felt about right, they would leave and continue searching for wild Caterpie. If they found none, they would practice Tackle again.

It was Caterpie's Tackle practice time now.

Caterpie adjusted its rhythm as it tackled, constantly correcting itself. After practicing for some time, its Tackle seemed to have become a little smoother.

A few meters away, Mark held a copy of Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia, Volume One, and kept flipping through it.

This book was the textbook the Village Elder had brought him from the school.

It was not very difficult, but the knowledge was scattered and required rote memorization.

For example, estimating a Rattata's age from the growth rate of its incisors; or determining whether the messy feathers on top of a Pidgey's head formed two clumps or three based on its palm prints; or calculating Diglett's mating season and the family structure of Dugtrio based on the humidity, temperature, and season of their burrows...

Mark flipped through several pages, roughly estimated the time, then opened his system panel to check the changes in his Experience Bar.

Just as he had estimated before, the Experience Bar really did rise faster when he studied. It had increased by quite a lot, too.

It was roughly 1.5 times the experience gained from guiding Caterpie's Tackle practice.

If he counted his and Caterpie's total experience together, it was roughly equivalent to increasing their total experience by 15%.

The only drawback was that he could not multitask. He currently could not study the knowledge in books while guiding Caterpie's Tackle practice to achieve double the experience accumulation.

"I remember watching a documentary before I transmigrated. It seemed that multitasking could be trained later in life. I wonder whether that was true..."

Mark lightly pinched his chin. His brows suddenly rose as he thought of something, and he opened his own system panel.

Mark

Spirit Master Talent: None

Trainer Skill: Tackle Training Method (Charged Heavy Strike)

Special: Robust Health, Poison Resistance

"As a Spirit Master, could I gain an ability to multitask?"

Mark pondered continuously, then suddenly thought of something. He opened the Pokemon Egg Backpack behind him and took out Wimpod's egg.

He had yet to find a way to turn this Wimpod Pokemon Egg into his Spirit.

However, he had thought of a way to nurture Wimpod.

Now was the right time to give Wimpod prenatal education.

Mark stretched out his hand and stroked the Pokemon Egg. A warm current gathered from his brain into his palm, then flowed along his hand and into the Pokemon Egg. It was his Trainer Skill, Tackle Training Method (Charged Heavy Strike).

Mark decided that every so often, he would use Tackle Training Method (Charged Heavy Strike) on the Wimpod inside the Pokemon Egg. Perhaps after Wimpod hatched, it would have mastered some Tackle techniques.

Just as during the attempt several hours earlier, when it sensed his thoughts approaching, Wimpod's consciousness became incomparably terrified and fled frantically within the Pokemon Egg.

Mark had to expend some effort before finding the right angle to form a Consciousness Connection with Wimpod and pass on his insights into Tackle.

Wimpod's Pokemon Egg trembled for a while before quickly calming down.

Mark gently stroked the Pokemon Egg, nodded, and put it back into his backpack.

Wimpod's consciousness had now fallen asleep like an infant.

Mark continued looking at the system panel, then suddenly noticed something and slightly raised his brows.

—His experience had risen from 84% to 85%.

He could gain experience by giving Wimpod prenatal education too?

At this rate, Mark estimated that his Experience Bar would reach 100% in around four more days.

Mark pumped his fist and looked at Caterpie with a smile. "Caterpie, our Experience Bar has reached 85%!"

Caterpie was stunned for a moment, then quickly began hopping about excitedly. It looked extremely happy.

In truth, although Mark had explained a lot about the Experience Bar to it over the past two days, it still did not know what the Experience Bar actually was.

But Caterpie understood one thing: the more Experience Bar it had, the stronger it would become.

Becoming stronger was wonderful!

Compared to Caterpie's excitement, Mark only wore a faint smile and looked very calm.

But in truth, Mark enjoyed it even more.

Having an Experience Bar allowed him to see his own progress anytime, anywhere. As soon as his experience reached 100%, he would immediately receive Points and then add Points to grow stronger!

If Mark had to describe it, it felt as though every pore on his body had opened up, like soaking in a hot spring, filling his heart with satisfaction and joy!

Mark smiled. "Then, Caterpie, let's keep becoming stronger together!"

"Sii! Sii!"

Mark held out his fist, and Caterpie extended a foreleg. Man and bug bumped fists.

Mark thought of something and said, "Come to think of it, you've been with me for several years now, right? According to the Village Chief, Caterpie seems to evolve after staying full for a period of time. I remember your diet is very broad. Even if you just ate grass, you could stay full as long as you kept eating. Why haven't you evolved after all these years?"

Caterpie tilted its head.

In fact, it had never really figured out how it was supposed to evolve.

Although it had seen Kakuna at the Caterpie Breeding Base, as well as Butterfree emerging from their cocoons, and although Mark and the Village Elder had explained some things about evolution, it was ultimately just a bug and could not understand anything too complicated.

As Mark pondered, scattered images suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Although Caterpie could eat its fill on leaves and grass, it had always followed him around.

Over the years, when Caterpie searched for food, it would usually look for food that Mark could eat, and then the two of them would eat together.

Usually, Caterpie would only eat a little after Mark had eaten his fill.

Mark frowned. "So the reason you haven't evolved all these years was actually because of me?"

"Sii?"

Caterpie tilted its head, clearly not understanding.

Seeing Caterpie's innocent expression, Mark felt somewhat uneasy.

But Mark quickly recovered.

Misfortune and fortune depended on each other.

Caterpie's failure to evolve over the years was perfect for building a foundation now.

And if Caterpie had already evolved by now, its future growth would instead have been locked in.

Without dwelling on it, Mark rubbed Caterpie's head. "If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. Remember to build a solid foundation. Evolve only after you can no longer grow any further. Ignore everything else!"

"Sii! Sii!"

Mark smiled. "You've practiced for a while just now. Work and rest should be balanced, so let's go look for wild Caterpie again. Oh, right, I forgot to ask you earlier. Since you're a Caterpie yourself, do you know where in the forest there are more Caterpie?"

At Mark's question, Caterpie's expression inexplicably became a little panicked.

It felt like what had happened at the Caterpie Breeding Base several hours ago. Caterpie seemed to be afraid of something...

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