Egg Move?

The difficulty of raising one's Soul Power Level increased progressively. Moreover, a Soul Master's Martial Soul, the Soul Rings they added, and the nature of their Soul Power all differed.

The Soul Power of a strength-type Soul Master was heavier, while that of an agility-type Soul Master seemed light and nimble. Support-type Soul Masters had gentle Soul Power, and control-type Soul Masters had exceptionally resilient Soul Power.

A Body Martial Soul could undergo a Second Awakening, and Ralts would also evolve as its Soul Power Level increased. After evolving, Ralts would surely become one of the top Psychic-type Martial Souls on Douluo Continent.

In their first year at Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy, the Soul Power Ralts cultivated, added to the Soul Power Bai Cai cultivated, had only just reached level ten. As their Soul Power capacity gradually grew, Bai Cai and Ralts needed more time to practice Calm Mind. So, aside from attending classes, Bai Cai lived a highly regimented life, rarely venturing out.

Dormitory, classroom, library, cafeteria—the same unchanging route.

Most students at Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy were below level ten. Those who had already become Soul Scholars either prepared to continue their studies or resigned themselves to acting as lackeys and hired muscle for noble children.

Dean Anuoji had already discussed matters with the nobles in Farnos City. Even if Bai Cai refused their recruitment, they would not resort to underhanded methods to force him. Unless noble children had nothing better to do, who would defy their fathers' orders and lead a pack of lackeys against an exceptionally low-profile commoner genius?

Ralts had outstanding talent. With Confusion and Telepathy, it could defeat Soul Masters with Soul Rings despite being at a lower level. After all, Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy was relatively weak. Most of its senior students had formed their own teams to hunt Soul Beasts for Soul Rings, and Hundred-Year Soul Rings were exceedingly rare.

Spending a fortune to hire an instructor or the dean to help was enough to obtain a Hundred-Year Soul Ring. Unfortunately, commoner students couldn't afford the fee.

The first academic year was about to end. Bai Cai had become a Soul Scholar and was carefully planning his First Soul Ring.

A First Soul Ring generally reflected a Soul Master's path of development. Most offensive, agility, and defensive Soul Masters chose attack-type Soul Skills. Control-type Soul Masters usually chose restrictive Soul Skills. Support Soul Masters, of course, chose enhancement-type Soul Skills.

Of course, if one had the talent to become a high-ranking Soul Master, a Battle Soul Master could choose an enhancement-type Soul Skill, sacrificing the attack skills of the Soul Scholar and Soul Grandmaster stages in exchange for a powerful attack skill at the Soul Elder stage.

Ten-Year Soul Rings, Hundred-Year Soul Rings, and Thousand-Year Soul Rings marked the thresholds at which Soul Skill effects underwent qualitative change. Soul Scholars could withstand Soul Rings of up to roughly four hundred years, though the exact limit varied from person to person.

Noble Soul Masters were physically strong and could absorb older Soul Rings. As for commoner Soul Masters, if they had unbreakable resolve and happened to hunt a Soul Beast of the exact upper limit, taking the risk wasn't out of the question.

Some Soul Master sects had studied their inherited Martial Souls so thoroughly that their roles were clear, and their combinations of Soul Skills were well balanced. At the Soul Elder stage, they didn't need to add attack-type Soul Skills.

For example, the White Tiger Martial Soul passed down by Duke White Tiger had an almost fixed combination of Soul Skills before the Soul Ancestor stage: the First Soul Skill, White Tiger Protection Barrier; the second, White Tiger Intense Light Wave; and the third, White Tiger Vajra Transformation.

The White Tiger Martial Soul had formidable attack power and stamina to spare. The First Soul Skill, White Tiger Protection Barrier, covered everything: protection and enhancement. It consumed little Soul Power, allowing the user to withstand harassment and probing Soul Skills from enemy Soul Masters while reducing damage.

The second Soul Skill, White Tiger Intense Light Wave, was a ranged attack with moderate Soul Power consumption. It could harass enemy agility-type and support-type Soul Masters, while also serving as a finishing move.

The third Soul Skill, White Tiger Vajra Transformation, enhanced the user and unleashed explosive power, but consumed a great deal of Soul Power. Its boosts to attack, defense, and strength could make the user a pillar of support for their side, standing firm and unshaken.

Everything had its pros and cons. Attack-type Soul Skills from Thousand-Year Soul Rings consumed vast amounts of Soul Power. They were suited to deciding the outcome of a battle, but not to serving as a team's vanguard or shield.

Pursuing the utmost output inevitably weakened one's ability to fight over time or withstand damage. Pursuing restraint and control inevitably meant giving up explosive single-target power.

"Detached Martial Souls of the Psychic type need Soul Rings from rare Soul Beasts. Sigh."

Taking out the Soul Beast Pokédex he had borrowed from the library, Bai Cai sighed and hugged Ralts as he searched for suitable Soul Beasts.

There were very few Soul Rings suited to Psychic-type Martial Souls. Even though Huo Gua performed well, the Soul Master division of Shrek Academy still rejected him. Apart from Innate Soul Power and Martial Soul quality, the scarcity of Psychic-type Soul Beasts was probably part of the reason.

Psychic-type Soul Beasts was a broad term for Soul Beasts with powerful minds. Most were stronger than their age suggested, and some were skilled at disguising themselves and escaping.

For example, the Ice Silkworm, primarily Psychic type and secondarily Ice type, lived in the Cold Pine Forest or Ice Plain in the Far North. It was not only skilled at camouflage, but could also create illusions to deceive its enemies. Though it lacked any real attacking ability, ordinary Soul Masters still found it difficult to capture.

Soul Beasts capable of psychic attacks were exceptionally powerful and old. Unless one hunted a juvenile, absorbing their Soul Rings could cause anything from Martial Soul damage to a body bursting apart.

Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy was located within the Star Luo Empire. The Soul Beasts raised in captivity there were few in variety and young.

Ralts was a Psychic-type detached Martial Soul with extraordinary talent. By precisely controlling Confusion to cancel out or evade enemy Soul Skills, it could make up for the weakness of detached Martial Souls: sharing damage with their hosts.

Enhancing Confusion would increase both attack and defense. At the Soul Scholar and Soul Grandmaster stages, if Ralts added Soul Rings that enhanced Confusion, its true strength would be no less than Huo Gua's.

"To apply to Shrek, your Soul Power Level has to be above fifteen, and you have to have a Soul Ring." Bai Cai hesitated. "The first Soul Ring..."

"Ralts!" the little blue-haired Pokémon comforted Bai Cai.

"I want you to grow stronger, but not at the cost of your potential." Bai Cai sighed. "You'll become Gardevoir, the Psychic Queen, my guardian angel."

Bai Cai could empathize with Huo Gua's tragic struggle after he had reached a dead end and tried to absorb a Wind Baboon's Soul Ring.

"Ralts..." Ralts hesitated for a moment. "Ralts!"

Maybe it didn't need to absorb a Soul Ring.

"Why?" Bai Cai asked in surprise. "If you give up adding a Soul Ring, what happens to your Soul Power Level?"

"Ralts, Ralts," Ralts mumbled.

An unknown power lay dormant within Ralts's body. Ralts tried to guide it, and the bottleneck in its Soul Power Level had begun to loosen.

Of course, after Ralts sensed something was different, it hadn't tried again.

"An unknown power?" Bai Cai asked curiously. "When did this happen?"

"Ralts, Ralts." Ralts relaxed a little.

The unknown power had always been there. As its Soul Power Level rose, the power gradually grew clearer. Ralts didn't want to worry you, so...

"An unknown power... an Egg Move?"