Traits and Skills

Blaze and Overgrow were traits that came from Charmander and Bulbasaur, respectively.

The effects of these two traits were not vastly different. In the Pokémon games, when a Pokémon's HP fell below one-third, moves of the corresponding type gained 1.5 times their power.

Based on those effects, Lin Huo had every reason to suspect that, in reality, triggering a trait would most likely require getting injured.

The condition of having less than one-third of his health left was simply too horrifying.

In a game, it was fine. HP was nothing more than a string of numbers.

But reducing someone to a state where they had only one-third of their life left in reality was enough to make one's skin crawl.

After much careful consideration, Lin Huo ultimately decided to set these dangerous traits aside for now.

It was not as though his skill set lacked healing abilities. If circumstances were favorable enough, he might be able to try triggering them later.

For now, he should first figure out everything else.

Below traits came levels. There was not much to say about that; more accurately, they should be called Soul Power levels.

When he had broken through to level six Soul Power in the carriage, the level displayed on the panel had also changed to level six. This proved that Pokémon levels corresponded to Soul Power levels.

Below the level section came skills. These abilities from Pokémon were the real main event.

Compared to a panel that only displayed information, the skills bestowed by his Pokémon Martial Soul were what truly allowed Lin Huo to establish himself in this world.

When he had first awakened his Martial Soul, Lin Huo had only nine skills. Now, he had a full eleven.

The two new skills were Meditation and Growth. One had been acquired after Lin Huo learned to cultivate Soul Power through meditation, while the other had been granted by the Bulbasaur Martial Soul after he broke through to level six.

The appearance of these two skills was undoubtedly tremendous news for Lin Huo. It meant that he had more ways to acquire skills than merely absorbing Soul Rings.

The appearance of Growth showed that as his Soul Power level increased, the Pokémon Martial Soul would spontaneously gain upgraded skills.

Meditation, meanwhile, was even more significant. It meant that after undergoing certain kinds of training, he could acquire additional skills.

Just like a TM in the Pokémon games, it could allow him to learn skills that could not be acquired through leveling up alone.

Thinking of this, Lin Huo's heart grew hot. With Pokémon's countless strange and useful skills, his future potential was boundless.

He could practically see himself punching Bibi Dong and kicking Qian Daoliu.

Suppressing his excitement, Lin Huo returned his attention to the skills.

Of the eleven skills, Ember and Scratch had already been tested when he awakened his Martial Soul, so there was no need to test them again in the training ground.

He could find some free time later for specialized training to improve his proficiency.

The urgent matter was to figure out the effects of the other skills first.

Growl, Belly Drum, Dragon Tail, Tackle, Vine Whip, Toxic, Ingrain, Growth, Meditation.

The names of the nine skills seemed ordinary enough, but Lin Huo, who was familiar with the Pokémon games, had only two words for them.

Utterly vile!

Growl alone could reduce an enemy's Attack by one stage in the games, and the reduction could stack continuously, up to six stages.

That was equivalent to lowering an enemy's attack power to one-quarter of its original value.

If Growl's effects truly worked as they did in the games, Soul Masters of the same rank would not be able to withstand even a single exchange with him. Even fighting across major rank gaps would be as easy as eating and drinking.

As for Belly Drum, Growth, and Meditation, they could improve his Attack, Special Attack, and Special Defense.

Although he did not yet know what these three attributes corresponded to in reality, the fact that all three could be increased up to fourfold was already earth-shattering.

What kind of bullshit Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda only gave a seventy percent boost? It was not even worthy of carrying his shoes.

And Toxic... anyone who had used that skill knew just how nasty it was. What Pokémon player had not been thoroughly disgusted by it?

Lin Huo grew increasingly excited, and his gaze settled on the training dummies in the field.

He had previously read the training ground's instructions carefully. He remembered that some of these dummies were Soul Guidance Devices equipped with automatic attack functions, specially used to help Soul Masters train dodging, taking hits, and the like.

Blazing Fire Academy truly deserved to be called a top-tier Soul Master academy. Even its training dummies were precious things like Soul Guidance Devices.

Put plainly, this was what a top academy on the Douluo Continent should be like!

Lin Huo walked up to a dummy, set the approximate attack strength according to his own condition, and activated it.

The dummy's attack methods were simple. One involved rotating and striking with its metal arms, while the other involved spitting out projectiles for ranged attacks.

The activated dummy spun and swung an arm at him. Already prepared with his Martial Soul possessed, Lin Huo stood his ground and took the blow without dodging.

After the strike, the Soul Guidance Device dummy stopped moving according to its one-attack setting. Lin Huo remained where he was, carefully feeling the strength of that attack.

The force itself was not particularly great, but for someone with only level six Soul Power, it still carried considerable impact.

Now that he had experienced the Soul Guidance Device dummy's attack, it was time to test the effects of Growl.

Staring at the dummy, Lin Huo felt somewhat uneasy. After all, the Douluo Continent and Pokémon were completely different worlds.

He truly could not guarantee whether Growl would work here in the Douluo world.

However, Lin Huo did not hesitate for long. Having reached this point, the only way to know the answer was through practice.

Following the instinctive guidance bestowed by the Charmander Martial Soul, an indescribably mysterious force stirred his Soul Power into motion.

Lin Huo felt a slight itch in his throat, then suddenly cried out uncontrollably:

"Awooo!"

A long howl filled with breath came from Lin Huo's mouth, though with a child's voice, it sounded rather cute.

The skill had activated successfully. Lin Huo hurriedly looked around, only relaxing after realizing this was a private training ground.

He was indeed in a child's body now, but fundamentally, he was still an adult inside.

If he had to howl "awooo, awooo" in front of others, it would be an enormous challenge to his sense of shame.

After sighing, Lin Huo quietly made himself a rule: unless absolutely necessary, he would never use Growl.

Aside from preserving his own dignity, the more important reason was to conceal the unusual abilities of his Pokémon Martial Soul and prevent others from coveting it and harming him.

After calming himself, Lin Huo activated the dummy again. The next strike would reveal the true effect of Growl.

"Bang!"

After the collision, delight uncontrollably appeared on Lin Huo's face.

Although he had not undergone combat training and could not determine exactly how much the attack's force had decreased, he had clearly felt that the dummy's strike had become noticeably weaker!

Even amid his joy, Lin Huo did not forget to stay rational and conducted further tests on the dummy.

In the end, there was nothing wrong with the dummy itself, nor were there any problems with its settings.

Then the answer was obvious: Pokémon skills worked in the Douluo world as well!