Bug Bite, Awakening from Bloodline Genes (Please Read On)

Buy one, get three free—or rather, buy one, get six.

With a single allocation of points, not only did he gain three derivative techniques from the Tackle Training Method, but Caterpie also gained three derivative techniques of Tackle. Altogether, they had acquired six abilities.

The only drawback was that the process was rather unpleasant.

In that incomparably real Dream World, he had failed to discover how to achieve Return to Simplicity even by the time he died of old age. It left him deeply regretful and filled him with an intense sense of defeat.

In that world, he did not remember possessing the Trainer System Panel. There were no living creatures besides himself and Caterpie, not even the Wimpod Pokemon Egg in his backpack.

There was no Clear Stream Village there, only an endless forest.

Even among the books the Village Chief had given him from Clear Stream Village School, only the pages he had read from Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia (I) and Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia (II) remained.

Mark opened his backpack, intending to look through several books, when his abdomen suddenly cramped.

The aftereffects of allocating points had appeared again. An overwhelmingly intense hunger washed over him.

Before long, man and Pokemon were wolfing down the Sweet Chestnut Fruit they had prepared earlier.

Several dozen minutes later.

Mark was more or less full. Though his body still felt slightly hollow, it was no longer severe.

Caterpie beside him was still eating, but its pace had slowed considerably. It would probably be full before long as well.

Mark opened the Trainer Panel.

Mark

Class: Spirit Master

Experience: 8%

Points: None

Pokemon: Caterpie

Compared to the 12% experience he had reached after becoming full last time, he had gained less experience this time. Once Caterpie was full, the Experience Bar would probably reach 9%.

Mark guessed that this might be related to Caterpie's increase in size.

After the first allocation of points, Caterpie's body had grown from forty centimeters to sixty-five centimeters, so it had consumed more food.

This time, although Caterpie had gained more from the allocated points, it had not grown much larger. Thus, it consumed less food and naturally accumulated less experience.

As he pondered, Mark spread his fingers and measured Caterpie's length.

After a simple measurement, Mark found that Caterpie had grown from around sixty-five centimeters to roughly seventy-three centimeters.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss."

"Oh? You mean your body won't keep growing?"

"Hiss, hiss."

Caterpie nodded repeatedly.

As it continued eating, its body developed a little more.

Then, during that development, it felt as though something had abruptly come to a halt, as if its body had already reached its limit of growth.

To put it more specifically, it was like continuing to pour water into an already full bottle. It naturally had no effect.

Caterpie was still thinking when Mark lightly pinched his chin. "It seems you've fully realized your potential and grown to your body's limit, which is why you can feel the bottleneck.

"If you want to keep growing, we can only allocate points to your Five-Dimensional Potential, or, as the books say, feed you some food or Berries that can raise your potential.

"Right, I remember that the Caterpie Leader is already over a meter long. There also doesn't seem to be any Caterpie in the entire Caterpie Group close to its size. Do you know why the Caterpie Leader can grow so large?"

"Hiss."

Caterpie shook its head. It did not know why the Caterpie Leader was so large, much less what its aptitude was like.

Caterpie wanted to describe more, but suddenly sensed something and reached out with its forelegs to touch its teeth.

"What happened to your teeth?"

Concern appeared on Mark's face. He initially thought Caterpie had gotten something stuck in its teeth while eating fruit, but after covering its teeth, Caterpie suddenly curled up on the ground and kept squirming.

"Hiss?"

Caterpie did not know what was happening either.

Its teeth neither hurt nor itched. It could not describe the feeling exactly. It was very strange.

Creak—

In a daze, Caterpie seemed to hear the sound of a door opening in its mind, or perhaps the sound of shackles breaking apart.

Something surged into its teeth. They became sturdier, while indescribable things surfaced in its mind, seeming to be the technique for using a move.

Just as it had known Tackle and String Shot from the moment it was born, it now understood a brand-new skill move...

"Bug Bite?"

Noticing that Caterpie was acting strangely, Mark opened the Trainer Panel. In Caterpie's skill section, after Tackle and String Shot, a brand-new skill had appeared—Bug Bite.

Bug Bite: Bite the opponent with sharp, sturdy teeth. Has the effect of siphoning nutrients from plant fruits.

In the Pokemon games, Caterpie could learn very few moves. Aside from Tackle and String Shot, which it knew from birth, it could only learn Bug Bite and Electroweb later on.

Electroweb could not even be learned through leveling up; one had to use a Move Tutor to comprehend it.

Mark remembered that, in the games, Bug Bite allowed the user to bite the opponent and eat the Berry they were holding.

But in the real world, Bug Bite obviously could not be exactly the same as in the games.

According to the system panel's description, Bug Bite had the effect of siphoning nutrients from plant fruits.

However, the description was extremely vague. Mark could not imagine what its exact effect would be.

Mark looked at Caterpie and saw it fiddling with its teeth, seemingly confused by its sudden comprehension of Bug Bite.

Mark gently patted Caterpie's head. "Don't be so surprised. This is a Pokemon's trait. As your body grows, you'll comprehend certain skill moves from your bloodline genes, just like the Tackle and String Shot you mastered at birth.

"Caterpie is a Complete Metamorphosis Pokemon. Your true bloodline genes will take shape when you evolve into Butterfree.

"You've only comprehended Bug Bite right now. Once you evolve into Butterfree, you'll comprehend many skill moves from your bloodline genes, like Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Poison Powder, and Quiver Dance."

"Hiss, hiss hiss?"

"You're asking what Complete Metamorphosis and bloodline genes are? How should I explain it... You definitely wouldn't understand if I told you about the bloodline inheritances from that world of swords and magic. Right..."

Mark thought of something. He took Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia (II) from his backpack, opened it, and turned to the section on Pokemon skill moves. There was an illustration of a Double Helix Structure on one of its pages.

Like humans, Pokemon genes also had a Double Helix Structure.

"This Double Helix Structure represents bloodline genes. If we used an electron microscope to observe your flesh and blood, we would see a similar Double Helix Structure. The Bug Bite ability you just comprehended was hidden within this Double Helix Structure."

"Actually, this Double Helix Structure contains not only ability moves, but all kinds of information. For example, that your skin is green, or that the antennae on your forehead are Y-shaped..."

"You're asking what an electron microscope is? It's something that can magnify objects. Look at this grain of sand in my hand. What do you think it would look like if it were magnified tens of thousands of times..."

"Hiss?"

"How much is tens of thousands of times? I'll teach you that after teaching you math. You don't need to think about how much that is yet. Just imagine magnifying this grain of sand until it is as large as I am. An electron microscope is something that can visually magnify objects."

"Alright, let me continue explaining the Complete Metamorphosis you asked about. In the world I came from before crossing over, Complete Metamorphosis was used to describe insects. But in this world, Complete Metamorphosis..."

As Mark spoke, he opened several other textbooks and kept flipping through them.

After searching for a while, Mark shook his head slightly.

"Only this Hia Kingdom Pokemon Common Sense Encyclopedia (II) mentions Complete Metamorphosis Pokemon. It says that Caterpie, Beedrill, and Magikarp within the Hia Kingdom all fall under the category of Complete Metamorphosis Pokemon, and that they can comprehend very few skill moves before evolving into their final forms."

"As for the criteria and specific traits of Complete Metamorphosis Pokemon, we'll probably have to ask the teachers at school or look in the Pokemon Academy library. Perhaps the Village Chief knows as well. We can ask him when we return."

Mark put down the books and looked at Caterpie, only to find it tilting its head with a dazed expression.

It was clear that Caterpie was trying very hard to understand his answers, but simply lacked the ability to do so.

Mark rubbed Caterpie's head. "Your intelligence is actually enough. You just don't understand many words, and you've never systematically learned knowledge before. Take it slow. Let's first take a look at the Bug Bite you just comprehended from your bloodline genes. Can you use Bug Bite on this tree?"

Caterpie nodded and immediately rushed at the tree Mark indicated, biting a very obvious tooth mark into it.

Compared to the initial Tackle move, Bug Bite's attack power was clearly much stronger.

After all, when Caterpie had first used Tackle, it could not leave any marks on trees. It could only make them tremble slightly.

Mark examined it briefly. The tooth marks where Caterpie had bitten were very deep. If Caterpie used more force, it might be able to bite off a piece of wood.

Its power was decent enough, but Bug Bite's effect of siphoning nutrients from plant fruits had not appeared.

Mark lightly pinched his chin, picked up a Sweet Chestnut Fruit, and placed it before Caterpie. "Caterpie, use Bug Bite on this fruit."

Caterpie nodded and lightly bit the Sweet Chestnut Fruit, leaving behind two inconspicuous tooth marks.

Yet compared with those unremarkable marks, the fruit in Mark's hand underwent a drastic change—it became lighter.

Mark broke the fruit open and found that the flesh inside had been hollowed out, leaving only a small amount of shriveled residue.

Caterpie stared in astonishment at the empty shell of the fruit in Mark's hand.

After all, it was the first time it had used Bug Bite's special effect, so it found it very novel as well.

Mark was thoughtful and suddenly thought of something. "Caterpie, can you use Bug Bite without touching the fruit?"

Caterpie was puzzled, but it still did as told and bit at the air beside another Sweet Chestnut Fruit Mark held up.

It bit at the air more than a dozen times. Just when Caterpie felt that it would not do anything, it suddenly felt a sense of fullness in its abdomen as nutrients flowed into its stomach.

Mark raised an eyebrow and broke the fruit open.

There were no marks whatsoever on the surface of the Sweet Chestnut Fruit, but just like the one that had been bitten earlier, its insides had been hollowed out.

That really broadened my horizons. I never expected that Bug Bite eating the Berries carried by opponents in the Pokemon games could be perfectly replicated in reality... Mark silently marveled.

Without thinking too much about it, Mark changed the subject. "Caterpie, after allocating points, you comprehended Instant Strike, Adamant Penetrating Strike, and Multi-Strike Combo, but you haven't used them yet. Let's go to the Caterpie Group and test them in actual combat!"

At Mark's words, Caterpie abruptly raised its head, suddenly realizing something.

That was right. It had been so focused on thinking about the chaotic things its master had said, things it did not fully understand, and so muddled by its newly comprehended Bug Bite, that it had completely forgotten the powers it had mastered through relentless training in that long dream.

Compared to its Tackle (Instant Strike), Tackle (Adamant Penetrating Strike), and Tackle (Multi-Strike Combo), the Bug Bite it had awakened and comprehended from those so-called genes was an optional little piece of trash.

It was interesting to use and could even eat fruit from afar, but it was completely useless in actual combat.

Forty-seven years of training flashed through Caterpie's mind like a revolving lantern...

With its current strength, it should be able to break through the Caterpie Group's layers of blockade head-on and truly fight the Caterpie Leader, right?

Caterpie clenched its forelegs and wore an eager expression.

Before Mark could say anything, it impatiently headed toward the Caterpie Group's territory, repeatedly urging the lagging Mark to hurry up...

Recommendation votes, monthly votes—cast them!