Proficiency Growth

After gathering half a bottle of shells, the sun had completely set.

Yu Hai casually grabbed a few handfuls of kelp and stuffed them into the bottle before they prepared to head back. They would leave the conches behind; cleaning them was too much trouble.

Poliwag had eaten its fill by then, so Yu Hai handed it the plastic bottle full of shells.

"Yo yo, yo yo." Poliwag seemed to have noticed Yu Hai's exhaustion as well. It quickly bit down on the mouth of the bottle and voluntarily helped share Yu Hai's burden, swimming back to the shelter from the shallows.

Seeing this, Yu Hai smiled in relief. The little guy was finally starting to act grown up.

Although he and Poliwag still had trouble communicating, Poliwag seemed to understand him better and better. It was becoming increasingly human-like.

It was no longer the silly, adorable little tadpole from the beginning that understood nothing no matter what he said.

Watching Poliwag swim away ahead of him, Yu Hai brought up Poliwag's Proficiency Panel and checked its Water Gun proficiency.

[Poliwag]

[Attribute: Water]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 31%]

[Level: 6.22%]

[Ability: Damp/0.53%] [Hidden Ability: Swift Swim/1.23%]

[Mastered Moves: (Mind Reader/0.11%) (Ice Ball/0.31%) (Soothing Mist/0.21%) (Bubble/1.31%) (Hypnosis/0.52%) (Chain Slap/2.24%) (Pound/0.21%) (Water Gun/1.67%)]

The moment Yu Hai saw Poliwag's Proficiency Panel, he immediately noticed the changes. Its experience had gone up a little, as had Chain Slap, Pound, and Water Gun.

All three moves had increased in proficiency. Water Gun had risen the most, by more than a full point.

Pound had probably increased alongside Chain Slap, since the two moves had quite a few similarities.

Such improvement in a single day without supervision was already quite good. In any case, they had plenty of time and could take things slowly.

He had no idea how much longer he would have to stay on this Deserted Island, but he had all the time in the world to train Poliwag and help it grow.

After closing the Proficiency Panel, Yu Hai stepped out of the shallows and looked at the long road back to the shelter. He was truly numb.

His whole body was already sore, yet he had dragged that aching body out to scour the beach. He had nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

It was all that sneaky old Magikarp's fault. It had left him too weak even to scour the beach, forcing him to slowly make his way back to the shelter with his sore, exhausted body.

By the time he returned to the shelter, it was completely dark. The first thing he did was light a fire.

During this long night, only the fire before him and its warmth could give him even a little sense of security.

Of course, there was also Poliwag, welcoming him home and constantly hopping around him. That little tadpole was part of his sense of security too.

"Yo yo, yo yo..." Poliwag kept calling to Yu Hai and ran out of the drafty shelter to greet him.

"Alright, get down. I don't have the strength to hold you," Yu Hai said helplessly in the face of Poliwag's enthusiasm.

It was not that he did not want to; he simply had no strength left to hold Poliwag. He bent down and set the little tadpole that had leaped onto him back on the ground.

Now was not the time to rest. He still needed to deal with the ingredients and had no time to play with Poliwag.

This place was safe. This was their home. Though simple, this home was everything they had, their only harbor for the soul.

Only here could Yu Hai truly relax.

It could not be helped. This was his first time in this unfamiliar world, and one could never be too careful around anything unknown.

After soothing Poliwag, Yu Hai did not deal with the shells or kelp. Instead, he released Magikarp.

The Magikarp that had been knocked out earlier had already awakened, but so what?

"Poliwag, Chain Slap!" Seeing Magikarp trying to flop back into the sea, Yu Hai immediately called out to Poliwag.

"Yo yo, yo yo!" Poliwag had not gone far. Upon hearing Yu Hai's call, it sprang up at once, raised its tail, and smacked Magikarp across its gaping mouth as it repeatedly opened and closed it to breathe.

Chain Slap instantly sent Magikarp flying, crashing it into the huge boulder Yu Hai often leaned against while resting.

But Magikarp had not fainted and still had the strength to flop around. Before Yu Hai could say anything, Poliwag rushed forward to finish it off and used Chain Slap again.

Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!

Before Magikarp fainted, it was probably thinking, A warrior may be killed, but never humiliated!

But Magikarp never got the chance to power up before it blacked out.

"Yo hoo, yo hoo." Only after seeing Magikarp faint did Poliwag stop and start panting heavily. Its body clearly had not fully recovered yet; using moves consecutively still left it weak and short on stamina.

"Nicely done, Poliwag." Yu Hai walked over to the Magikarp lying unconscious on the sand, crouched down, and reached out to stroke Poliwag's round blue head.

The praised Poliwag immediately stopped feeling tired. Instead, it closed its eyes and enjoyed Yu Hai's touch. This human was truly gentle, and those large hands made Poliwag feel so comfortable.

Its body and heart both felt wonderful, and Poliwag happily basked in the feeling with its eyes closed.

After praising Poliwag for a while, Yu Hai withdrew his hand.

But the instant he did, he saw Poliwag smacking its little pink lips with an unsatisfied look, staring intently at his withdrawn palm as if it wanted to rub against it again.

Yu Hai did not refuse. However, his attention was no longer on Poliwag, but on Magikarp.

If this stupid thing had not been knocked out by Poliwag, it would have been difficult for him to handle. It weighed around ten kilograms, after all. If it started whipping its tail at him, he really would not be able to take it.

He had not eaten anything all day and was already terribly weak.

Moreover, just now, he had glanced at Poliwag's Proficiency Panel again. Its experience and Chain Slap proficiency had increased once more, though not by much—only around 0.12.

That made him wonder whether he should keep this Magikarp around for Poliwag to farm experience and move proficiency.

But in the end, he gave up on that idea. As for sparring partners, fish in the sea were hard to find, but there were plenty of weaklings along the island's shore.

He did not dare provoke Beedrill. After all, if he beat the young one, the adults would come. Beedrill were also social Bug-type Pokémon, so he could not afford to mess with them.

But there was another Bug-type Pokémon that he really wanted to bully.

He just wondered whether Rayquaza would come looking for trouble if he beat up the little ones.

The Pokémon he was talking about was naturally Caterpie. Those two were a pair of idiots, after all. They were both common starter bugs.

Besides those two, the local birds Spearow and Pidgeotto were the same, though those two also had an age-old feud.

They often fought fiercely over limited living space and the food within it. Over time, it gradually became a generational grudge.

Both kinds of Pokémon existed on this island, though not in great numbers. He only caught sight of one or two occasionally.

Thanks to Huichun Muxue for the hundred Book Coins, and thanks x3. Hope everyone enjoys reading.