Experience 100, New Points

Experience 100%, New Points

When Old Man Qian woke up again, it was already broad daylight.

In Mark's room, the two bottles of Potion had vanished, leaving only a sheet of paper on the table.

"That kid left again?"

Old Man Qian shook his head helplessly and picked up the paper covered in writing from the table. His brow gradually furrowed.

"Hmm..."

He had assumed Mark had left behind some words of thanks.

In fact, there was indeed one sentence of thanks on the paper, but the rest had nothing to do with gratitude.

According to what Mark had written, page 38 of Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia Volume One described Caterpie's food preferences, stating that Caterpie disliked spicy and bitter foods and preferred sweet-and-sour foods.

There was also a multiple-choice question about Caterpie's food preferences among the exercises on page 39.

The question asked readers to select a food Caterpie disliked, and the answer was sweet-and-spicy food.

However, based on Mark's personal communication with Caterpie, while Caterpie did dislike spicy food, mixing sweet food with spicy food created a type of food Caterpie liked very much, second only to sweet-and-sour food.

"Is Mark trying to say that the book is wrong?"

"That does seem to be the case. If some Mustard Powder is added to Caterpie feed, the Caterpie's appetites clearly improve. They'll happily eat even old feed that has been left sitting for a long time and isn't very fresh anymore..."

Old Man Qian rubbed the stubble on his chin, suddenly recalling something.

"No, something's off. That kid and Caterpie were injured that badly yesterday. Fine, he woke up before me without resting properly, but why would he have the mind to write about something like this?"

"And after writing this, did he take Caterpie back into the forest?"

Old Man Qian scratched his head, then suddenly noticed the basket of Purple Sweet Peaches.

Irritably, he picked one up and took a bite, only to find that it was quite tasty...

Clear Stream Forest.

While Old Man Qian was eating peaches, Mark and Caterpie each took a small sip and drank nearly half a bottle of Potion.

"Looks like Potion works not only on Pokemon, but on humans too. And unlike in games, Potions aren't single-use items. You don't have to finish an entire bottle at once. The only downside is that it tastes awful—kind of bitter and astringent. It would probably taste better with some sugar added."

Mark gave his assessment of the Potion, then suddenly noticed Caterpie's expression.

"You think the Potion tastes fine? It doesn't taste bad to you?"

"Caterpie!"

"So you don't dislike bitter food?"

"Caterpie, Caterpie."

Caterpie shook its head repeatedly. It still disliked bitter food, but Potion was different.

Mark fell into thought. He pulled Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia Volume One from his backpack, then took out the Pokemon Taste Section from Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia Volume Two and examined it carefully.

There was no clear conclusion in the books, but Mark had already formed some guesses.

"So humans and Pokemon have different taste ranges? What tastes bitter and astringent to me may not taste bitter and astringent to Pokemon?"

As Mark pondered this, he suddenly heard Caterpie cry out, seemingly asking why he was studying such profound things.

Mark smiled and explained, "I already told you. This can speed up the accumulation of the Experience Bar, and learning knowledge is always beneficial. Don't you want to take part in the kind of battles you see on TV?

"If you want to battle like that, I first have to become a Trainer. And the prerequisite for becoming a Trainer is mastering enough knowledge to pass the exams.

"Actually, it's not just me. You should try learning too.

"It isn't only for accumulating Experience. It also concerns your future growth path.

"If I remember correctly, in the Pokemon games, Butterfree's Special Attack Base Stat is twice its Attack Base Stat.

"Training Tackle now is like making a mage train muscles. You get twice the effort for half the result.

"Besides, Butterfree is one of the few Bug-type Pokemon that can naturally learn Telekinesis as it grows. Developing your brain is necessary..."

Caterpie tilted its head, its face full of confusion. It clearly hadn't understood much.

Mark patted Caterpie's head. "I've decided to teach you mathematics, but not now. You don't need to think too much about it. What we need to do right now is still use the Caterpie Group to hone our combat skills and accumulate Experience."

"Caterpie!"

Caterpie nodded heavily and looked toward the depths of the forest.

As they continued deeper into the forest, they were already very close to the Caterpie Group's territory.

Mark noticed the scenery around them as well and asked Caterpie, "Looks like we're almost there. What do you think? Are you confident about today's battle?"

"Caterpie!"

Caterpie gave an affirmative response and accelerated toward the Caterpie Group's territory.

Before long, a disturbance erupted in the Caterpie Territory, and the battle began once more...

Two days of battle passed in the blink of an eye.

Although the Potion given by the Village Chief could treat some injuries, depleted stamina still had to be restored through rest. As a result, Mark and Caterpie still fought for only around seven or eight hours each day, and their Experience gains were fairly ordinary.

Overall, they gained about 7% Experience each day.

On the afternoon of the third day, Mark's Experience reached 100%, and he obtained a Point as he had hoped.

After confirming that he had successfully accumulated a Point, Mark did not continue fighting the Caterpie Group with Caterpie. He immediately disengaged.

Now that he had obtained a Point, naturally he had to use it at once.

Saving Points for an emergency, planning to add them in a critical moment, was downright brain-dead stupidity.

After finding a relatively safe area and preparing some necessary food to deal with the hunger after adding a Point, Mark opened the system panel and began allocating it.

Caterpie

Five-Dimensional Potential:

Strength: F(+) Constitution: F-(+) Agility: F+(+) Spirit: E Perception: E+

Ability: Shield Dust (+) (Shield Dust: A layer of fine powder covers the body's surface, allowing it to resist some special energy damage. Can be enhanced.)

Special Ability: Evolution (+)

Skills: Tackle (Power-Up Tackle) (+), String Shot (+)

...

Mark

Spirit Master Talent: None

Trainer Skill: Tackle Training Method (Power-Up Tackle) (+)

Special Talents: Robust Health (+), Poison Resistance (+)

Mark gave the system panel a quick look.

Compared to when he had first transmigrated, Caterpie had gained a few more options that could receive Points.

Just like the previous time he had allocated Points, its F-rank Strength, Constitution, and Agility could still be enhanced, while its E-rank Spirit and Perception could not.

As for Abilities, Caterpie's Shield Dust had awakened over the past two days.

It had likely appeared naturally as Caterpie's body developed. After Caterpie slept one night, it suddenly gained this Ability.

A layer of cool powder formed on Caterpie's skin. It felt somewhat like baby powder, though much cooler, and it carried a grassy fragrance.

There was now an additional (+) after Shield Dust on the system panel, indicating that it could receive a Point.

In the games, Shield Dust prevented Pokemon from suffering additional effects from moves.

In reality, according to the system panel's description, this layer of powder could resist special energy. It could probably resist special energies such as flames, frost, and electricity to a certain degree.

Of course, he did not yet know the exact effect, because Caterpie had not encountered enemies with abilities involving flames, frost, or the like.

In short, Mark did not plan to invest a Point in an Ability that had never been used even once.

Aside from Shield Dust, Caterpie's Evolution could also receive a Point.

Mark guessed that as long as he invested a Point into Evolution, Caterpie would evolve immediately.

He had not even finished using Points to build Caterpie's foundation. Wasting Points on Evolution and forcing its growth was out of the question.

As for the remaining two skills, String Shot was the same as before. Mark still had no plans to invest a Point in it, since it lacked offensive power.

Therefore, Caterpie only had one option worth investing in: Tackle (Power-Up Tackle).

Although Tackle's power was limited, and investing Points in Tackle for a Pokemon destined to follow a special attack path seemed wasteful—

This was the real world.

Tackle's power truly was not great, and it did not appear worth enhancing. But even the simplest act of drawing and swinging a blade, after being honed tens of millions of times, could become a terrifying draw slash.

Caterpie had already Tackled a million times and developed Tackle (Power-Up Tackle). What would happen if it went a step further?

If Tackle were enhanced to its limit, would its power necessarily be inferior to those powerful moves?

Mark took a deep breath.

Besides Caterpie's Tackle (Power-Up Tackle), the other option Mark wanted to enhance was his Spirit Master skill, Tackle Training Method (Power-Up Tackle).

The last time he enhanced Caterpie's Tackle, he had gotten a bonus and gained the Spirit Master skill Tackle Training Method (Power-Up Tackle).

Then if he enhanced Tackle Training Method (Power-Up Tackle) this time, would he also get a bonus and allow Caterpie's Tackle move to advance further?

With that thought in mind, Mark asked Caterpie, "Caterpie, should we enhance your Tackle this time, or my Tackle Training Method?"

"Caterpie?"

Caterpie tilted its head and shook it. It still could not understand what adding Points meant, so it left the choice entirely to Mark.

Mark closed his eyes and thought for a while. "Logically, enhancing your Tackle would be safer. It would steadily improve your strength. But this kind of enhancement has to be tested sooner or later. Testing it sooner is better than testing it later. It can help us avoid a lot of detours..."

Having reached that conclusion, Mark did not hesitate any longer and tapped the (+) after Tackle Training Method (Power-Up Tackle).

Buzz—

The roaring sound appeared once more...