Powerful Ivysaur

"Just as I thought—it evolved!"

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

Although Ivysaur did not look all that different from Bulbasaur, there was quite a gap in their strength. That was clear enough from the difference in their base stats.

"Da Na, Da Na~"

But unlike the delighted Qing Mu, Bulbasaur pulled a long face after sensing the changes in its body, seemingly unhappy.

Seeing that Bulbasaur... Ivysaur did not seem very happy, Qing Mu paused in surprise and asked, "Ivysaur, what's wrong?"

"Da Na, Da Na~"

Ivysaur dejectedly explained the reason to Qing Mu.

After hearing Ivysaur out, Qing Mu's lips twitched slightly. Bulbasaur disliked evolving because it thought Ivysaur was not as cute as Bulbasaur.

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

If it could barely accept Ivysaur's appearance, then wouldn't the sky come crashing down once it evolved into Venusaur?

After considering it over, Qing Mu decided not to tell Ivysaur about it. He had never been one to overthink things. He would worry about future problems when they came.

However, Ivysaur apparently had not given up. It closed its eyes, clenched its teeth, and seemed to exert every ounce of strength in its body, as though trying to turn back into Bulbasaur.

Qing Mu could only laugh helplessly at that. His martial soul was simply too adorable.

Before evolving, it could still reject evolution through sheer willpower; there were precedents for that.

But after evolving, reverting to a pre-evolved form was almost impossible. Otherwise, Pikachu would not have been so resistant to evolving.

"Forget it, let it do as it likes. It'll have to accept reality eventually."

Qing Mu shook his head with a smile.

Yet just as Qing Mu thought Bulbasaur would give up after trying for a while and realizing it would not work, what happened before his eyes made them widen in shock.

White light suddenly flickered around Ivysaur's body once again. As the white light emerged, Ivysaur's body began changing again, and moments later, it actually reverted to Bulbasaur.

"Da Na, Da Na~~"

After changing back into Bulbasaur, it seemed to have exhausted all its strength. It collapsed onto the ground and panted heavily.

"No way... It really changed back."

Having witnessed his martial soul revert from Ivysaur to Bulbasaur with his own eyes, Qing Mu stood frozen in place in utter shock.

He had not expected Bulbasaur to truly change back from its evolved form, Ivysaur.

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

In an instant, the previously thin layer of grass began growing wildly, while a faint green glow emanated from the lawn.

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

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

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

"Da Na, Da Na~~"

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

Having gone through it once, Bulbasaur's form-switching was clearly no longer as difficult as before. Besides, it now had Qing Mu's Grassy Terrain supporting it.

Upon seeing this, Qing Mu could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. It was good that it 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 difference between Bulbasaur and Ivysaur, not to mention Venusaur and Mega Venusaur later on.

But Qing Mu soon realized that Bulbasaur being able to switch forms was a good thing. Not only could it protect the secret that his martial soul could evolve before it grew stronger, it could also make his enemies misjudge his strength, leaving him with enough Trump Cards.

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

At that time, he would be like a final boss—after defeating his normal form, there would be a second phase; after the second phase, a third; and after the third, there might even be a fourth.

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

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

"Da Na, Da Na~"

Hearing Qing Mu's words, Bulbasaur nodded. Its body suddenly grew larger, transforming into Ivysaur once more.

"Ivysaur, use Leaf Blade!"

"Da Na!!"

In an instant, numerous leaves, far larger than those from Bulbasaur's previous form, shot out from both sides of Ivysaur's body and attacked in the direction of the dummy.

After evolving into Ivysaur, Bulbasaur had become far more adept at using moves. Despite having only recently mastered Leaf Blade, it managed to aim 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.

Qing Mu could not help swallowing at the sight. He had expected Bulbasaur to become much stronger after evolving into Ivysaur, but he had never expected it to become this much stronger!

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

But if one factored in the number of moves it could unleash and its endurance, then it was a completely different story.

The number of Leaf Blades Ivysaur could fire in a single burst was at least more than double Bulbasaur's. Combined with the difference in power behind each individual leaf, the gap between them was far more than a mere increase in base stats—it could only be called a qualitative transformation!

Ivysaur's might was terrifying indeed!

At the same time, Qing Mu could not help but wonder: if even Ivysaur was this strong, then what about Bulbasaur's final evolution, Venusaur?

And beyond Venusaur, just how powerful would Mega Venusaur be?

It would probably surpass even the god-tier martial souls of this world!