A Title So Long That No One Will Notice Even If I Just Write Whatever!

Late at night, the moon came out.

Clear moonlight spilled over the quiet buildings. Every corner of the world became utterly still beneath its cold, radiant gaze.

But when it tried to pass through a certain home's glass window and enter the living room, it was dissolved by the warm-colored light inside.

Lively, energetic music played in the living room, accompanied from time to time by excited commentary. It sounded like some kind of competition was underway.

"This Scyther's got something. It actually took down Simisear despite the type disadvantage."

Mu Yun sat cross-legged on the sofa, watching the battle commentary on TV while massaging Weedle, who had just finished bathing.

At that moment, the screen happened to freeze on the scene of Scyther defeating Simisear and claiming victory.

Its damaged wings, half burned away; its blackened skin, scorched over most of its body; and its resolute, fearless eyes all made little Weedle's heart tremble.

This was how a great bug should be!

"Woo! Woo!!"

"You want to become a Scyther?"

After spending every day together, Mu Yun had already learned to roughly understand what Weedle meant through his various cries.

Yesterday, after seeing Heracross rampage through its opponents, he had wanted to evolve into Heracross.

Today, after seeing Scyther's handsome determination, he wanted to evolve into Scyther.

Such a child—he changed his mind at the drop of a hat.

Sweetie, you're a Weedle. You'll only ever evolve into a Beedrill.

Although countless words filled his mind, Mu Yun ultimately said none of them aloud.

It was like when they were children, when they wanted to become Xizhilang—ah, no, astronauts, scientists, doctors, heroes, and all sorts of things.

Those wild flights of fancy were what childhood was supposed to be.

So Mu Yun did not criticize Weedle for being unrealistic. He merely smiled, rubbed the little guy's head, and said, "Train hard. When you grow up, you'll be even stronger than them!"

"Woo!!"

Weedle nodded seriously, then shook his head.

He did not want to become Heracross, nor did he want to become Scyther. He wanted to become something stronger than them—stronger than every Pokémon!

One day, he would bring his master to stand atop that sparkling awards podium!

When that day came, he would definitely make his master cook something even tastier—something better than chili fried eggs and chili stir-fried pork!

Watching Weedle sway his head about, his eyes sometimes firm and sometimes dreamy with shining excitement, Mu Yun shook his head helplessly.

Who knew what this little guy was brainstorming now? He was practically drooling.

[Ding! The host completed a serious massage. Skill proficiency +10!]

[General Massage (LV1, 40/100) → General Massage (LV1, 50/100)]

Ten proficiency points secured. Only five more massages until he leveled up.

Unfortunately, only full-body massages after training at noon and at night awarded proficiency. Ordinary kneading and rubbing gave him nothing at all.

What kind of judgment mechanism was that?

Did the one being massaged have to be exhausted all over?

Should he try it on Aunt Wang next door after she had worked all day and was aching from head to toe?

Better not. Showing up out of nowhere to offer a massage felt like the plot would head somewhere uncontrollable.

Fifty points of proficiency was only about three days away anyway. It would not take long.

Coming back to himself, Mu Yun suddenly remembered the afternoon training and looked down at Weedle, who was curled up on him.

"Oh, right, Xiao Du. When you train with Pidgey tomorrow, don't rush to use String Shot Net. Try more normal String Shot attacks first and practice controlling its movement."

"Woo?"

Weedle turned his head, seemingly confused.

String Shot Net was so useful, so why not use it?

And what did controlling movement mean?

Seeing Weedle's confusion at a glance, Mu Yun patiently explained.

"Controlling movement means using attacks on the areas around your target to force it to move according to your intentions. This exercise will help you better judge the target's movement trajectory and increase the chances of your later moves landing successfully."

"As for String Shot Net, it's not that I'm forbidding you from using it. But it's best to wait until the end of training, when you feel like your energy is nearly depleted, before using it."

"First, relying too heavily on wide-area moves is bad for improving your control over a move's precision. Second, a hidden finishing move can often put greater pressure on the target. Using it too frequently will only let the opponent gradually adapt to it. Only by mixing it into ordinary String Shot attacks can it achieve a truly startling effect."

The reason Mu Yun remembered to explain this to Weedle, aside from those perfectly reasonable points, was also because of the issue of proficiency growth.

With Pidgey acting as a sparring partner, he could gain four times the usual Harvest. But if one move locked onto the target, that fourfold buff would enter an Imprison state.

One String Shot Net would tie Pidgey up for over an hour, seriously affecting the growth of move proficiency.

From a long-term perspective, using ordinary String Shot attacks as much as possible would not only better train the move's accuracy, but also grant four times the experience. It was killing two birds with one stone!

"Woo!!"

After hearing Mu Yun's explanation, Weedle fell into thought.

Simply put, he was supposed to deliberately keep String Shot from hitting that "crybaby, greedy, stupid bird" and make it fly according to his wishes.

Teasing birds sounded fun. This training was interesting!

Hehe~

The next morning.

An enticing aroma drifted from Mu Yun's kitchen.

A new day naturally began with a delicious breakfast.

As usual, Weedle began practicing String Shot after eating.

It had to be said, Pokémon grew incredibly fast. This was only the fourth day of training, yet he could already use String Shot twenty times in a row with ease.

On the first day, he had needed a break even between sets of ten.

Compared to that, Mu Yun felt that his own progress was truly much slower.

His Constitution was still level 13, and his gymnastics proficiency was still a long way from leveling up.

His dream of being able to brawl with the strength of a Machamp was even further out of reach.

Compared with that, Chi Duoduo, whose close-combat ability rivaled a Machamp's, seemed more attainable.

Shaking his head, Mu Yun flung those somewhat inappropriate thoughts from his mind.

[Ding! Weedle used String Shot. Proficiency +1!]

[Ding! Weedle felt the host's sincere feelings and burning passion, gaining deeper insight into the move String Shot. Additional proficiency +1!]

[String Shot (Perfected, 218/1000) → String Shot (Perfected, 220/1000)]

After twenty rounds of String Shot training, he easily gained forty points of proficiency.

Adding the eighty points from the fourfold bonus at Pidgey's place at noon, plus another forty points at night, it would take only five days to break through the Perfected level.

By then, summer vacation would only be halfway over.

He had thought one thousand proficiency points looked like a lot, but they actually accumulated quite quickly.

Yanhuang Language's double experience bonus really was amazing!

"Come on, Xiao Du. Time to go running!"

"Woo!!"