Powerful Ivysaur

"Just as expected, it evolved!"

The moment Qing Mu saw Bulbasaur evolve into Ivysaur, he was immediately delighted.

Though Ivysaur did not look all that different from Bulbasaur, there was quite a gap in their strength. This was clear from the difference in their Base Stats.

"Bulba, Bulba~"

But unlike the delighted Qing Mu, Bulbasaur wore a long face after sensing the changes in himself, seemingly rather unhappy.

Seeing that Bulba... Ivysaur did not seem very happy, Qing Mu froze for a moment before asking in confusion, "Ivysaur, what's wrong?"

"Bulba, Bulba~"

Ivysaur somewhat dejectedly explained the reason to Qing Mu.

After hearing Ivysaur's words, Qing Mu's mouth twitched slightly. The reason Bulbasaur disliked evolving was actually because he thought Ivysaur was not as cute as Bulbasaur.

Qing Mu wanted to say something to Ivysaur, but after thinking it over for a while, he gave up.

After all, if Ivysaur's appearance was already somewhat unacceptable to him, then wouldn't the sky come crashing down once he evolved into Venusaur?

After some thought, Qing Mu decided not to tell Ivysaur about this. He had never been one to overthink things; he would worry about future problems when they came.

However, Ivysaur apparently had not given up yet. He shut his eyes, clenched his teeth, and seemed to exert every last ounce of strength in his body, as though trying to turn back into Bulbasaur.

Qing Mu could only laugh helplessly at this. His Martial Soul was simply too adorable.

Before evolution, it was still possible to resist evolving through sheer willpower. There had been cases like that before.

But after evolving, reverting to a previous form was nearly impossible. Otherwise, Pikachu would not have resisted evolution so fiercely.

"Forget it, let him try. He'll have to accept reality eventually."

Qing Mu smiled and shook his head.

But just when Qing Mu thought Bulbasaur would give up after trying for a while and finding it impossible, what happened before him made his eyes widen.

White light suddenly began flashing around Ivysaur once more. As the white glow appeared, Ivysaur's body changed again. A moment later, he actually returned to Bulbasaur's form.

"Bulba, Bulba~~"

After turning back into Bulbasaur, Bulbasaur seemed to have spent all his strength. His body went limp as he collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.

"No way, he really changed back."

After witnessing the entire process of his Martial Soul changing from Ivysaur back into Bulbasaur, Qing Mu stood rooted to the spot in shock.

He had never expected Bulbasaur to truly revert from the evolved Ivysaur.

But Qing Mu quickly came to his senses. His First Soul Ring immediately lit up, and ripples of pale green energy spread from his body.

In an instant, the originally thin layer of grass began to grow wildly, faint green light shimmering across the lawn.

Then, some green motes flew out and merged into Bulbasaur's body, rapidly restoring his exhausted form.

Before long, under the healing of Grassy Terrain, Bulbasaur had recovered his usual vigor.

At this moment, Qing Mu crouched down and asked Bulbasaur, "Bulbasaur, can you turn back into Ivysaur?"

"Bulba, Bulba~~"

Bulbasaur nodded. Then, right before Qing Mu's eyes, he transformed into Ivysaur again and began constantly switching between the two forms, having the time of his life.

After getting through the first time, Bulbasaur's form switching was clearly no longer as difficult as before. Besides, he now had Qing Mu's Grassy Terrain to support him.

Seeing this, Qing Mu could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. It was good that Bulbasaur could still turn into Ivysaur. He had genuinely been worried that Bulbasaur would be unable to change back!

After all, there was still quite a gap between Bulbasaur and Ivysaur, not to mention the Venusaur and Mega Venusaur that would come later.

But Qing Mu soon realized that Bulbasaur's ability to switch forms was a good thing. Not only could it protect the secret that his Martial Soul could evolve before it had fully grown, but it could also cause his enemies to underestimate his strength, leaving him with enough Trump Cards.

A faint smile curved Qing Mu's lips. He could already imagine his opponents smugly believing they had figured out his true strength, only to see him summon Ivysaur, Venusaur, or even Mega Venusaur.

At that point, he would be like a final boss: after defeating his normal form, they would face a second phase; after the second phase, there would be a third; and after the third, perhaps even a fourth.

After playing around for a while, Bulbasaur finally settled back into his Bulbasaur form. Not only did Bulbasaur consider this his cutest form, but it also consumed far less energy than Ivysaur's form.

Once Bulbasaur stopped, Qing Mu clapped his hands and said, "All right, Bulbasaur. Let's test the strength of your Ivysaur form."

"Bulba, Bulba~"

Upon hearing Qing Mu's words, Bulbasaur nodded. Then his body abruptly grew larger, transforming into Ivysaur once more.

"Ivysaur, use Leaf Blade!"

"Bulba!!"

In an instant, many leaves even larger than those Bulbasaur had previously fired shot out from both sides of Ivysaur, flying toward the training dummy.

After evolving into Ivysaur, Bulbasaur had become far more adept at unleashing moves. Though he had only recently mastered Leaf Blade, he actually aimed most of the leaves at the dummy's neck.

One leaf, two leaves, three leaves...

Under the relentless barrage of sharp leaves, the dummy finally could not hold on any longer, and its neck bent backward.

Witnessing this, Qing Mu could not help swallowing. He had known Bulbasaur would become much stronger after evolving into Ivysaur, but he had never expected such an enormous increase!

If they considered only the attack power of each individual Leaf Blade, Ivysaur's improvement over Bulbasaur was indeed only around twenty percent.

But once the number of attacks he could unleash and his endurance were factored in, it became a completely different story.

The number of Leaf Blades Ivysaur could launch at once was at least more than double Bulbasaur's. Combined with the increase in the power of each leaf, the difference was far more than a mere increase in Base Stats. It could be called a qualitative transformation!

The might of Ivysaur was terrifying indeed!

At the same time, however, Qing Mu could not help wondering: if even Ivysaur was this strong, then how powerful would Bulbasaur's final evolution, Venusaur, be?

And beyond Venusaur, just how terrifying would the strength displayed by Mega Venusaur be?

Perhaps not even this world's God-level Martial Souls could compare!