Deadly Poison Technique

A faint green light suddenly rose from the soil, enveloping Petilil's body.

A tender shoot suddenly sprouted from its head. It grew rapidly, and before long, it had become a full-grown leaf.

Petilil had originally had three leaves, but Uncle Darby had plucked them off earlier. Now, with the help of the fertilizer, they had grown back.

"The absorption worked really well."

Aiven nodded with satisfaction, looking pleased.

How efficiently Growth Fertilizer was absorbed depended on a Pokémon's aptitude. Petilil's aptitude was quite good.

That meant he could use Growth Fertilizer to raise Petilil quickly and give it some basic combat ability.

Everything was going much more smoothly than he had expected.

That night, Petilil curled up quietly in the flowerpot and fell asleep.

It was the warmest bed it had ever slept in, and even in its sleep, a smile lingered on its face.

In the middle of the night, it woke several times, glancing over at Aiven asleep in the bed nearby, afraid that when it woke again, everything would have returned to how it was before.

The next morning.

Aiven and Petilil woke up at the same time.

Though they had only been together for a few days, they already understood each other remarkably well.

"The Growth Fertilizer really works."

After carefully checking Petilil's growth, Aiven nodded in satisfaction.

He hadn't put Petilil through any direct training over the past few days. He wanted to build a solid foundation first.

"Lili~"

Petilil affectionately brushed Aiven's shoulder with a leaf, its eyes full of anticipation.

It wants to start training as soon as possible? Aiven pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "It's not time yet."

Petilil looked a little disappointed and continued gesturing, as if to ask, "Then when can I start training?"

"Once you've learned a move." He smiled and patted Petilil's head. "Don't worry. You'll be ready soon."

A move... Petilil tilted its head, thinking. Then a faint green light suddenly appeared around its body before vanishing in an instant.

"Is that... Absorb?"

Aiven's eyes lit up. Absorb was indeed one of the easiest moves for Petilil to learn.

Petilil had learned Absorb through its own efforts. It seemed its talent was quite good, and it had plenty of potential.

After managing to force out the move it had learned, Petilil let out a breath and looked eagerly at its... well, trainer, it supposed that was what he was called.

"Alright, I understand. I'll put together a training plan for you in a little while."

"Absorb is definitely a move worth focusing on early in your training."

Aiven nodded with a smile, recalling what he knew about Absorb.

Just as its name suggested, Absorb allowed a Pokémon to replenish its own stamina by draining it from its target.

And its targets weren't limited to other Pokémon. Many things could be used as targets for Absorb, such as trees and soil.

As Petilil trained Absorb, it could also replenish its energy by absorbing it from trees or soil.

If Petilil had learned a move like Growth or Tackle, which used up a lot of energy, he definitely wouldn't have let it train yet.

Using up its potential without replenishing it effectively would lead to overtraining, which would do a Pokémon far more harm than good.

Petilil could replenish its energy with Growth Fertilizer now, but the supply was limited and couldn't sustain strenuous training.

The backyard of the farm.

Petilil rested in its flowerpot, comfortably burying its body in the soil.

After a day of training Absorb, it still had plenty of stamina, but it felt mentally tired and needed a good rest.

"Today's training went very well."

"Absorb has limited combat power, though. It can help you recover, but it can't deal effective damage to an opponent."

At the wooden table, Aiven held a quill and sketched out Petilil's next training plan on a sheet of paper.

Most of Petilil's base stats were in Special Attack, which would be the main focus of its training from now on.

Every Pokémon had different base stats depending on its species.

Based on their species' characteristics, Spiritologists divided Pokémon's base stats into HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed.

Raising a Pokémon meant drawing out its potential. Focusing on the stats that suited its species could produce twice the results with half the effort.

"Special Attack, and then draining moves." Aiven considered the options. Draining moves were those that replenished the user's stamina by draining it from an opponent.

Absorb was the basic move in this category. From there, it could be developed into Super Absorb and Ultimate Absorb.

Other moves, such as Drain Punch, Draining Kiss, Drain Force, and Leech Seed, were variations of Absorb as well.

"The power of Absorb, Super Absorb, and Ultimate Absorb is tied to a Pokémon's Special Attack."

"Petilil is still too weak to make good use of these moves."

"I'll have to teach Petilil some status moves, such as Sleep Powder, Paralysis Powder, Leech Seed, and poison."

After thinking it over, he had a general plan. Status moves were support moves in battle and a Pokémon's trump card for overcoming stronger opponents.

Even Pokémon at the Elite level would lose a significant part of their fighting ability if they were afflicted with a status condition.

If the condition was deadly poison, then given enough time, even a Heavenly King-level Pokémon could be in danger of dying.

Deadly poison... Aiven narrowed his eyes, recalling the move's importance in Spiritology.

Hundreds of years before his time, a ninja had invented a special toxin that almost any Pokémon could learn to use.

Thanks to the Deadly Poison Technique, the ninja had become a renowned Poison-type Pokémon Master of his era, raising the overall strength of Poison-type Pokémon by a considerable margin.

Over the following centuries, the power of deadly poison had also become embedded in Pokémon's genes, turning it into one of their innate abilities.

It was a truly man-made move, and it had profoundly influenced the study of moves in later generations.

"It's a thousand years earlier now. The two worlds are clearly different, but the Deadly Poison Technique probably hasn't been invented yet."

"In that case, the opponent won't have any way to guard against it. It could catch them completely off guard, especially since the Deadly Poison Technique never misses."

After thinking it through, Aiven settled on Petilil's next move to learn. The only problem was that gathering all the materials needed for the Deadly Poison Technique would be troublesome.

"Lili? Lili?"

Petilil had also learned about the Deadly Poison Technique from Aiven.

After he made the plan, Aiven left the choice to Petilil. Being treated with such respect warmed its heart.

Though it had heard that practicing the Deadly Poison Technique could be painful, Petilil nodded without hesitation.

It wanted to grow stronger and protect its trainer. The pain of training was a necessary trial on the path to freedom!

"Good. Then the next step is to gather the ingredients for making the poison." Aiven nodded approvingly, then began recalling the recipe.

Orange Fruit, Biba Fruit, Tongtong Fruit, and Dragon Fire Fruit, along with venom from a Poison-type Pokémon and a few other ingredients.

That was the complete recipe for deadly poison. The League had later refined it so that one of the poisonous berries could be replaced with a different kind of toxin.

However, the resulting Deadly Poison Potion would be less effective. Even though it was still the Deadly Poison Technique, its effects would vary depending on the toxin's strength and properties.

He already had Orange Fruit. He still needed the other three berries, or toxins from other Poison-type Pokémon.

The other ingredients weren't especially rare. Apothecaries usually had them on hand, but they cost quite a bit.

Looks like I'll have to find a way to make money. Aiven fell into thought.