Weedle Evolves! The Terrifying Poison Sting!

[ Ding! Detected that Weedle (Xiao Du)'s current potential is Elite Level. Raising it to Totem Level will consume 5 Limit-Breaking Points. Would the host like to proceed? ]

"Only 5 points to raise Elite Level potential to Totem Level?" Mu Yun was slightly surprised.

It was not that he thought it was too much; rather, he had not expected it to be so little. It was about the same as Mutation Enhancement.

"So that means Namikaze, with Normal Level potential, probably won't need many Limit-Breaking Points to raise his potential..." Mu Yun murmured to himself.

Normal Level, Veteran Level, Professional Level, Elite Level, Totem Level...

It only took 5 points to rise to Totem Level, the fifth tier of potential. Normal Level probably only needed 1 point.

The only issue was that if Namikaze enhanced his potential first, his Trait enhancement would have to be postponed.

Still, it did not matter much. Judging from the Traits gained through move upgrades, even without Mutation Enhancement, Namikaze would not be weak.

At the very least, he definitely would not embarrass himself in battles against opponents of the same level.

The following days seemed as though someone had pressed fast-forward. Under a fulfilling and orderly routine, Mu Yun and the two little ones steadily grew stronger.

Three days passed in a flash.

That evening, Mu Yun was doing his usual post-dinner workout at home.

As he finished the final movement of the Calisthenics routine, a system notification suddenly sounded.

Immediately afterward, a faint warm current emerged from his chest.

[ Ding! The host completed one session of Ninth National Fitness Exercise. Skill experience +1! ]

[ Ninth National Fitness Exercise (LV2, 99/1000) → (LV2, 100/1000) ]

[ Ding! Through long-term, regular, and diligent exercise, the host's physical fitness has improved. Constitution level +1! ]

"My Constitution level can improve even without leveling up?"

After the warm current faded, Mu Yun muttered to himself.

But that made sense. His body was not made of pure data. Even without the system, given the intensity of his daily physical training, an improvement in his physical fitness was inevitable.

It was just that the speed of improvement definitely could not compare to having cheats.

Having figured that out, Mu Yun loosened his muscles and opened his host panel.

[ Host: Mu Yun ]

[ Attributes: Constitution: 13 → 14 (a healthy adult has 10), Mental: 20 (a healthy adult has 10), Charm: 8 (an ordinary person with regular features has 5), Luck: 1 (an utterly ordinary person has 1) ]

[ Skills: Yanhuang Language (LV3, 211/10000), Free Eagle Language (LV2, 354/1000), Sakura Language (LV1, 98/100), Cooking (LV2, 103/1000), Ninth National Fitness Exercise (LV2, 100/1000), General Massage (LV2, 110/1000) ]

[ Special Abilities: None ]

[ Energy Points: 0 ]

[ Points: 510 ]

Today was the eighteenth day of summer vacation. Through unremitting effort and a little "tiny" help from the system, he had successfully raised his Constitution to level 14 and his Mental attribute to level 20.

But aside from sleeping more soundly and recovering Stamina more quickly, there were not really any obvious changes.

He still had a long way to go before reaching the imagined level where he could brawl with Pokémon barehanded.

"Sakura Language only needs two more experience points to level up. I've decided—I won't read novels tonight. I'll watch two episodes of anime instead."

Thinking that, Mu Yun picked up a towel and prepared to take a shower.

Just then.

A dazzling white light suddenly flashed on the sofa, and Mu Yun instinctively looked over.

The Xiao Du who had been watching television on the sofa had vanished.

No, more accurately, the chubby Weedle had vanished.

In his place was a golden-yellow pupal shell that could not even wriggle, aside from its pair of large movable eyes.

It was Weedle's evolved form—Kakuna!

"Gu?"

Xiao Du apparently had not expected to evolve so suddenly. Lying on his back on the sofa, he stared at the ceiling and tried to do a sit-up so he could keep watching television.

Volcarona versus Nidoqueen was currently at its most thrilling climax, the final showdown.

He wanted to watch it!!

But unfortunately, no matter how anxious he was or how badly he wanted to sit up, his entire body was wrapped in a hard shell. He could not even turn himself over, much less prop himself upright.

Fortunately, he was not the only one at home.

Once his owner saw him like this, he would definitely come help right away.

Xiao Du prayed inwardly...

Just as he had thought, almost the instant the white light faded, Mu Yun's face appeared in his field of vision.

"Xiao Du, congratulations. You're one step closer to becoming the strongest Beedrill!"

Mu Yun hurried over, picked Xiao Du up, weighed him in his hands, and congratulated him with a smile.

"Guu~~"

Mu Yun's heartfelt joy diluted Xiao Du's urgency. He moved his shell-covered mouth and barely made a sound like clashing metal.

"The cocoon stage will probably last five to seven days. After that, you'll naturally evolve into Beedrill."

As he spoke, Mu Yun curled his fingers and lightly tapped Xiao Du's shell with his knuckles. His finger bones striking the shell produced a series of sounds like knocking on sheet metal.

"Bo?"

On the other side, Namikaze stood atop the sofa's backrest and curiously tilted his head at Xiao Du, whose appearance had changed drastically.

This was the first time he had seen a Pokémon evolve. There was only one thought in his mind now: Would he become a huge cocoon like this after evolving too...?

If he had not seen wrong, this big bug... this big cocoon seemed unable to even open his mouth in this state...

What did that mean?

It meant that the big cocoon could not even eat!!

When Namikaze imagined a long stretch of his future life where he could only look at sandwiches without being able to eat them, his heart filled with sorrow.

Sure enough, Mu Yun's next words directly confirmed his guess. "It's just that in this form, you basically can't eat, and your mobility is limited. If you need anything, you can ask Xiao Feng or me."

Poor big cocoon. Namikaze observed a three-second silence for you~~~

Apparently seeing through Namikaze's thoughts, Mu Yun set Xiao Du down, reached out to rub Namikaze's little head, and reassured him with a smile. "Don't worry. Your evolved form won't be a cocoon, so it won't affect your eating."

As he spoke, Mu Yun picked up his phone and pulled up pictures of Pidgeotto and Pidgeot for Namikaze to see.

"Bo!!"

Upon hearing that, Namikaze instantly regained his vigor!

As long as he could eat, everything was fine!

Still, my evolved form is so handsome!

Looking at the magnificent Pidgeot soaring freely through the sky amid blue heavens and white clouds, Namikaze felt Covet for evolution for the first time.

After reassuring Namikaze and positioning Xiao Du upright on the sofa so he could watch television, Mu Yun finally had time to check Xiao Du's panel.

[ Pokémon: Kakuna (Dugu/Xiao Du) ]

[ Gender: Male ]

[ Type: Bug + Poison ]

[ Level: 8 (Normal Level) ]

[ Ability: Shed Skin (By shedding its skin, it may sometimes heal abnormal conditions) ]

[ Moves: String Shot (Limit-Breaking +1, 180/2000), Poison Sting (Perfected, 240/1000), Harden (Not Beginner, 0/10) ]

[ Potential: Elite Level ]

[ Base Stats: 205 ]

[ Limit-Breaking Points: 1 ]

Xiao Du had leveled up this morning.

He had gained three levels in eleven days and evolved along the way. That was quite good progress.

At this rate, Xiao Du would probably break out of his cocoon and become a bee around the twenty-third or twenty-fourth day of summer vacation.

There was not much to say about his Ability. Shed Skin was not particularly useful.

As for his moves, because Mu Yun had Xiao Du focus on training Poison Sting these past few days, String Shot's growth had been limited.

It had only improved because Xiao Du trained on his own after eating Energy Cubes in the morning.

Compared to the slowly growing String Shot, Poison Sting had improved significantly.

It had directly reached the Perfected level. If not for his sudden evolution, it would probably have reached Limit-Breaking +1 in another five days.

If Namikaze had been able to train alongside him while he practiced Poison Sting, that time could have been cut in half.

[ Poison Sting (Perfected, 240/1000): Poison Sting toxicity +200%, Poison Sting solidity +150%, Poison Sting flight speed +100%, power of all of the user's Poison-type moves +10% ]

Once Poison Sting broke through to the Perfected level, it naturally gained three additional Traits.

There was no need to say much about its toxicity—it had directly tripled.

The increased solidity of Poison Sting manifested as greater needle density and better penetration. It could almost pierce entirely into an ordinary concrete wall.

The doubled flight speed made Poison Sting even harder to defend against.

As for the final Trait increasing the power of all Poison-type moves, that went without saying.

Its already terrifying toxicity had become even more formidable.

To test the effects of Perfected Poison Sting, Mu Yun had deliberately taken Xiao Du to the forest outside the city yesterday morning.

He casually found an old-looking tree and had Xiao Du use Poison Sting on it.

The purplish-black poison needle pierced into the trunk at an astonishing speed and vanished. Then, the area where it had struck began turning purple and black at a visible pace.

Like ink dropped into clear water, it rapidly spread and diffused.

In just over ten seconds, a tree more than ten meters tall and thick enough for one person to wrap both arms around gradually withered away.

It was not the dry, leafless kind of withering seen in the depths of winter, but a decayed withering utterly devoid of life.

Honestly, its power was completely different from the videos he had watched online.

He had searched for videos of Normal Level Beedrill using Poison Sting.

Their poison needles could only lodge in the surface of a trunk, sinking in about half their length. Their power was not great either, at most causing part of the bark to die.

There had never been anything like Xiao Du, who could make an entire large tree decay in just over ten seconds.

Clearly, the effects brought by triple toxicity plus a 10% power boost were not as simple as merely multiplying the results.

Likewise, this made Mu Yun even more determined not to let Xiao Du casually use Poison-type moves, especially in official matches.

With a move this criminal, even ordinary Antidotes would probably struggle to work.

"Forget it, no point thinking about it. Poison Sting won't be needed under normal circumstances anyway. I'll take a shower and watch anime."

"I wonder what effect Sakura Language will have after it levels up..."