Grind Is All You Need!

Bang!

Bang!

At the Boulder Pile, Caterpie began practicing Tackle once again.

Compared to its training in the dream, Caterpie had now grasped the Power-Up Tackle technique. Its Tackles were far more imposing, each charge like a tiny cannonball.

Caterpie's expression did not change. It still wore that earnest look.

Mark recalled those three and a half years of training. In those memories, Caterpie had looked just as serious as it did now, tirelessly Tackling again and again.

Mark sighed. "Caterpie, you're a lot like I used to be... Back then, I stayed in my rented room and did practice problems over and over..."

"Si?"

Caterpie turned back in confusion, looking at Mark with a puzzled expression.

It could probably understand Mark's words, but it could not understand what they meant.

Hadn't Mark spent all these years wandering through the village and its surroundings with it?

When had they ever done practice problems?

And what exactly were practice problems?

Mark walked over to the thoroughly confused Caterpie, reached out to stroke its head, then gently rubbed the swollen spot on its forehead—the place where it had struck the rocks.

The swelling did not seem too serious.

"I actually transmigrated many years ago. I'm a transmigrator. It's just that my memories only awakened a few hours ago, which is why I've been so foolish all these years... You're asking what transmigration is? It's going from one world to another. I transmigrated as a soul... Soul transmigration means the soul. You're asking what a soul is... Sigh, I don't even know how to explain it to you..."

Mark kept trying to explain to the confused Caterpie, gesturing with his hands a few times, but he could never make it clear. In the end, he shook his head helplessly.

Mark sighed. "Forget it. There are some words you've never encountered before. You'll probably understand them after some time. Let's continue practicing Tackle."

Caterpie tilted its head and thought for a while before nodding. "Si!"

Mark suddenly thought of something and stopped Caterpie, which was about to resume training. "By the way, Caterpie, your Power-Up Tackle technique is getting better and better. You could say it has already reached the goal we set at the beginning. Its power is already quite good.

I think it might be time to move on to the next stage.

Our current Tackle requires a charging phase before it begins. Although that process isn't very long, in a real battle, it could be a fatal weakness."

Caterpie tilted its head, showing that it did not understand.

"How should I explain this..." Mark pinched his chin lightly. "Caterpie, have you heard this saying? All martial arts under heaven are unbreakable; only speed cannot be broken!"

"Si?"

Mark said, "Let's use our Tackle as an example. Our Tackle already has power, but it's useless if it can't hit the opponent.

For example, if we Tackled ten thousand times without hitting the opponent even once, then no matter how powerful the Tackle was, it would be meaningless!

So, for our next training, we need to reduce the charging time as much as possible, so Tackle can be launched faster.

Talking is useless. Caterpie, try Tackling once at your fastest speed right now."

"Si!"

Caterpie nodded. In the blink of an eye, it launched a Tackle at the rock it had been practicing on.

Bang!

The impact was much quieter than before. After the collision, Caterpie was even sent flying two meters by the recoil, landing unsteadily.

Overall, compared to an ordinary Tackle, Caterpie's charge was stronger and faster this time, but only slightly.

Mark shook his head slightly. "The startup is indeed faster than an ordinary Tackle, but it's still not fast enough. And the power is clearly insufficient. We should try to improve it further..."

As Mark spoke, he pressed a hand to Caterpie's head and used the Spirit Master's Tackle Training Method to transmit his insights and understanding into Caterpie's mind...

Soon, Caterpie began Tackling the rock again.

According to Mark's memories, some Geodude and Diglett occasionally appeared at this Boulder Pile. Perhaps Caterpie's Tackling had been too loud today, but not a single one of those spirits appeared.

Mark did not pay much attention to it.

As he observed and considered Caterpie's shortcomings in Tackle, he offered it guidance. Every so often, he also opened the Spirit Master's system panel to study it, checking whether it had any functions he had not discovered before.

Then, Mark really did discover something.

—The Experience Bar on the Trainer Panel was rising.

"Caterpie, stop for a moment..."

"Si?"

"Alright, you can continue Tackling!"

Caterpie continued its Tackles while Mark unconsciously took a deep breath.

After the pause, the Experience Bar began increasing once more.

That was right. Eating was not the only thing that could raise experience. Caterpie practicing Tackle could also raise experience.

This mechanism for gaining experience reminded Mark of The Elder Scrolls games he had played before transmigrating.

In those games, experience gains did not depend on killing enemies, but on every aspect of combat and daily life.

Swinging a sword repeatedly increased slashing experience, repeatedly getting beaten increased light armor and heavy armor experience, practicing enchanting increased enchanting experience, eating alchemy ingredients increased alchemy experience, pickpocketing increased pickpocketing experience, and even trading with merchants increased speech experience.

Mark felt that this Trainer System possessed a similar mechanism.

—As long as the actions he and his spirit carried out helped them grow, they would gain experience.

For example, when he and Caterpie ate, the nutrients from the food were absorbed and helped them grow, so they gained experience. Caterpie practicing Tackle over and over also helped them grow, so it gained experience as well.

With that thought, Mark joined in himself.

As he carefully guided Caterpie, occasionally offering suggestions and using the Tackle Training Method to transmit his insights into Caterpie's mind—

The result was obvious. The rate at which experience increased rose once again.

Compared to Caterpie Tackling by itself, the rate of experience gain was clearly higher when he practiced together with Caterpie.

Although this rate of gaining experience was far inferior to eating, it had the advantage of being sustainable. After all, neither he nor Caterpie could keep eating nonstop.

Mark smiled.

A method for rapidly gaining experience and obtaining Points had appeared before his eyes.

The method was simple: diligently practice Tackle, consume as much stamina as possible while gaining experience and make themselves hungrier, then eat more food to gain more experience and stamina. Once their stamina was replenished, he and Caterpie could practice Tackle more times, gaining more experience and consuming more stamina. They would become hungrier and be able to eat even more...

As long as they kept cycling through this method and kept grinding, the speed at which he and Caterpie gained experience would only become faster and faster.

If he had previously estimated that it would take two to three months to raise the Experience Bar to 100%, then now, it might take only a little over a month to fill it.

With that thought, Mark cast aside his distractions and focused on practicing Tackle with Caterpie at the Boulder Pile.

Time slowly passed.

The sun moved from the east to the west. Just as Mark began to feel hungry again and planned to take Caterpie into the forest to find some food, several noisy voices rang out.

Man and bug stopped training and listened carefully.

Before long, several children returned from the forest, noisily running over...