Before School Starts

Su Hao knew nothing of his father's concerns. Before going to bed, he opened his status panel.

Name: [Su Hao]

Gender: [Male]

Age: [17]

Attributes: [Normal, Fighting-type]

Special Ability: [Wave Power (Intermediate)]

Moves: [Aura Resonance, Aura Bullet]

Pokémon: [Carbink, Incineroar]

System Currency: 25000 (twenty-five thousand)

Items: [Rare Rock, Fairy Energy Powder Diamond x5, (various miscellaneous items stored by the host)]

After half a month of diligent training, Su Hao's Wave Power had finally broken through to the intermediate level three days ago. Its detection range had also expanded to roughly fifty meters in diameter around him.

Perhaps because his talent was exceptional, the moment he broke through to Intermediate Aura Power, Su Hao immediately began practicing the Aura Synchronization Resonance technique and Aura Bullet from the Aura Manual.

After just three days of training, he had mastered both techniques.

Yesterday, when Su Hao went to the Spiral Secret Realm for Actual Combat, he had tested them against the Scyther clan leader.

An Aura Bullet condensed with all his strength required the Elite Level Scyther to use a move with all its strength to block it.

Then there were Carbink and Incineroar.

After half a month of training, Incineroar had finally evolved yesterday under the intense pressure of battling Scyther, evolving from Litten into Incineroar.

Pokémon in this world did not necessarily evolve at fixed levels. They could evolve early or late.

Incineroar had only evolved at Level 20, a full three levels later than usual.

Incineroar looked very similar to Litten, sharing essentially the same color scheme. He was somewhat larger, his gaze had become more resolute, and his claws were sharper.

The markings on his head occupied more space than they had on Litten and extended out from his forehead. The color of the fur at the center of his head matched the color of his forehead markings.

The bell-like organ around his neck was the "Flame Bag," an organ capable of producing fire. The Flame Bag's temperature rose with Incineroar's emotions and sprayed flames while producing a loud, bell-like sound.

Su Hao received the custom-made Soothing Bell the day after leaving the Flowing Water Dojo.

When making his request, Su Hao had asked for the collar securing the bell to be made from materials capable of withstanding Pokémon Moves.

The Sales Assistant recommended the current blue scarf, which could withstand Pokémon's attribute moves without being damaged.

Of course, it could only endure them; the scarf itself had no defensive properties.

Still, the scarf's performance perfectly suited Su Hao's needs. After receiving the Soothing Bell delivered by Qianda Department Store, Su Hao immediately gave it to Litten.

Litten loved the scarf with the Soothing Bell attached.

Other than when bathing, he was completely unwilling to take it off.

When Litten evolved while wearing the Soothing Bell, his Evolutionary Light suddenly fused with the Soothing Bell and scarf.

After evolving, the Soothing Bell around Incineroar's neck did not disappear. Instead, it transformed into his "Flame Bag," while the scarf remained around Incineroar's neck.

Strangely, the scarf seemed to have become part of Incineroar himself after his evolution and could no longer be removed.

Although Incineroar's agility had not increased after evolving, his strength and endurance had both improved substantially.

Combined with several moves Su Hao had taught Incineroar using System Currency, Incineroar was now capable of contending with Elite Level Scyther.

Pokémon: [Incineroar (wearing a blue scarf)]

Attribute: [Fire-type]

Gender: [♂]

Ability: [Intimidate]

Item: [Charcoal]

Level: [20]

Moves: [Scratch, Ember, Growl, Fake Out, Heat Wave, Nasty Plot, Revenge, Lick, Roar, Fury Swipes, Fire Fang, Flamethrower, Bulk Up, Protect, U-turn, Shadow Claw, Parting Shot]

Perhaps because the Soothing Bell and scarf had fused with Incineroar during evolution, Incineroar's item slot had become [None] again. Su Hao could only exchange for a Charcoal from the system, which provided a 20% Fire-type Power Boost, for Incineroar to hold.

Su Hao had also specially tailored moves for Incineroar that would suit him both now and after he evolved into Incineroar in the future.

Under Su Hao's training, Incineroar had already mastered the technique of combining Fake Out with Intimidate.

By instantly unleashing Intimidate and Fake Out at the start of a battle, Incineroar could complete a round of [Bulk Up] or [Nasty Plot] enhancement while the opponent flinched.

He could also seize the initiative while the opponent was unable to act, directly using powerful moves to reduce the opponent's stamina.

There were many ways to combine moves and techniques. To adapt flexibly during Actual Combat, Su Hao had also trained at his father's dojo.

Next was Carbink. Carbink herself was already extremely powerful, so over the past half month, she had focused more on training energy and move control techniques. For this, Su Hao had brought Carbink to learn from Coalossal from his father's team, who was particularly gifted at Energy Control.

Although she had not focused too much on raising her strength, Carbink had still broken through to the initial Elite Level over the past half month.

Pokémon: [Carbink] [Mutation 35%]

Attributes: [Rock, Fairy]

Gender: [♀]

Ability: [Clear Body]

Level: [30]

Item: [Diancie Mega Stone]

Moves: [Tackle, Harden, Dazzling Gleam, Meteor Beam, Reflect, Light Screen, Ancient Power, Defense Curl, Flail, Sharpen, Knock Off, Stealth Rock, Protect, Safeguard, Power Gem, Moonblast]

Carbink had not learned many new moves. Only Safeguard had been taught to her through the system's training function. As for Power Gem and Moonblast, Carbink had comprehended them herself while using Ancient Power and Dazzling Gleam.

Even when their levels were insufficient, Pokémon in this world could still learn through training and talent moves that, before Su Hao crossed over, required [Elite Level] and [Professional Level] to learn.

Having learned Safeguard, Carbink now had the means to resist Status Condition moves even though she moved slowly.

Power Gem was more suited to Carbink's talents than Ancient Power, since Carbink was inherently exceptionally skilled with beam- and light-based moves.

Compared to Dazzling Gleam's wide-area attacks, Moonblast was instead specialized in single-target breakthroughs like Meteor Beam, making it tremendously powerful.

Carbink could now battle Scyther with great ease.

When commanding Carbink, Su Hao could now trade blows with and defeat the Mid-Elite Level and late-Elite Level Pokémon Su Hao's father kept at the dojo.

When Su Xu personally watched his son command Carbink to defeat the Mid-Elite Level Torkoal he had carefully raised in the dojo, he excitedly slapped his thigh and shouted, "My son has the bearing of a Champion!"

Although he had merely defeated an Elite Level Torkoal without a Trainer's command, Su Hao had accomplished this only one month after receiving his Starter Pokémon. In Su Xu's memory, he was still the first to do so.

Even the geniuses of the Imperial Dragon Tamer Clan who had started at the same time as Su Hao, and the geniuses of the Sea People of Shanghai Clan, had only managed to defeat initial Elite Level Pokémon after playing every trump card and giving it their all, as far as Su Xu knew.

This was because, a few days ago, Su Xu's former university roommate from the Dragon Tamer Clan had spent quite some time boasting to him on their messaging app.

Su Xu did not understand what there was to brag about over a nephew. After all, his own son had directly crushed a Mid-Elite Level Pokémon.

Su Hao's father also did not ask whether his son had used his full strength. After being a dojo Trainer for so many years, he had a keen eye. It was obvious that Su Hao and Carbink had handled the battle with considerable ease.