Leveling up in succession

After seeing its two companions taken down in an instant, the remaining level 18 Gastly abandoned all its playfulness and threw itself into the battle with intense focus.

First, it dodged two consecutive blasts of Pepper Breath, then used Payback to withstand Agumon's close-range Razor Claw attack before counterattacking once it had finished storing up power.

Knocked flying, Agumon fired repeated blasts of Pepper Breath in midair, while Gastly spat out glob after glob of highly corrosive liquid trailing white smoke.

Qingliu glanced at it and identified the Poison-type move Acid Spray.

"Keep moving. Don't let that stuff touch you."

Agumon didn't need Qingliu to say it. Getting spat on was bad enough, but that stuff looked poisonous, too. It was downright disgusting.

Agumon ran and weaved around the area, dodging every Acid Spray possible and neutralizing the ones that couldn't be avoided with Pepper Breath, then retaliating with a barrage that covered the area.

Watching Agumon straighten up after dodging another Acid Spray and fire several blasts of Pepper Breath in succession, Qingliu's gaze settled on the running Agumon, his expression growing serious.

Although they were evenly matched-and Agumon even held the advantage thanks to outstanding physical abilities-Qingliu had noticed a few problems.

Even after leveling up, Agumon's stamina drops badly after using Small Explosion. If this stalemate keeps going, we'll lose.

They had to end the battle in one hit, and the only move Agumon had that could do that was Small Explosion.

A second Small Explosion!

Using it would exhaust Agumon's stamina, but at this point, there was no other choice.

They would clear whatever floor they could.

Qingliu told Agumon to conserve stamina from that point on, avoiding moves whenever possible and keeping expenditure to a minimum while using hit-and-run tactics to wear down Gastly's patience.

Finally, after five minutes of being strung along, the furious Gastly chose to attack head-on, extending its tongue to use Lick. Taking advantage of the closing distance, Qingliu ordered Agumon to use Small Explosion.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Agumon slumped to the ground in exhaustion. Even the breathing rhythm stabilized through earlier training had fallen completely out of sync.

After using Small Explosion twice in the same battle, Agumon's stamina had reached its limit. Without the Pokéblocks Qingliu had provided, Agumon would probably have collapsed flat on the ground by now.

"How do you feel?"

Qingliu asked as he applied Heal Spray.

"Really tired. My whole body stings, but I can still bear it. And besides the Pokéblocks, it feels like something else is restoring my stamina." After swallowing a few Pokéblocks, Agumon took a deep, ragged breath and answered.

"That's because you leveled up again."

On the panel only Qingliu could see, Agumon's level had changed.

[Level] Level 16 → Level 17

The wealth of experience earned from defeating two level 17 Gastly and one level 18 Gastly had worked its magic again, allowing Agumon to grow stronger.

It was a subtle feeling, as though all the sweat shed during training and the grueling battle just now had come back to them in another form at that very moment.

"Agumon, rest for a bit. We'll take a look at the third floor and gather some information on the Pokémon guarding it, so we can prepare for our next visit."

Agumon gave no response to Qingliu's suggestion, instead asking, "Qingliu, how many Pokéblocks do you have left?"

"Ten. Why?"

"Give me all of them."

Qingliu paused, looking at Agumon. "What are you planning?"

"I can feel my stamina slowly recovering after leveling up. If I eat some more Pokéblocks, I can get back into decent enough shape to battle normally," Agumon said, staring at Qingliu with big green eyes.

Qingliu didn't answer right away, meeting Agumon's gaze instead.

The improvement in overall physical abilities after leveling up did restore stamina, and eating Pokéblocks did, too. But both needed time to take effect. It wasn't as though leveling up or eating would instantly refill health like in a game.

If that really worked, Youngsters would probably be hauling cartloads of Berries over to challenge the Lost Tower.

Even if Agumon was different from ordinary Pokémon, recovery couldn't happen that quickly.

Qingliu wanted to refuse, but the determination in Agumon's eyes reminded him of what had happened before.

Since the Lost Tower offered a way to grow stronger quickly, Agumon probably wanted to gain as much strength as possible before becoming completely unable to battle.

If he refused, Agumon would certainly listen to him, but...

Qingliu opened the panel, scanned Agumon, and focused on the status field.

[Status] Weakened → Recovering (estimated time to peak condition: 12 hours; time to normal condition: 1 hour)

Recovering to normal condition would take an hour, and Pokéblocks could indeed shorten that time somewhat. Besides, the Lost Tower had no time limit, so an hour was certainly manageable.

Looking at the information on the panel and the eagerness in Agumon's eyes, Qingliu sighed. "All right, but from now on, you have to listen to me about things like this. You can't make these decisions on your own again. This is the second time, and it'll be the last."

"Okay!"

Agumon agreed immediately. Helplessly, Qingliu handed over all the remaining Pokéblocks and used Heal Spray to treat Agumon's injuries, helping with recovery as much as possible.

Half an hour later, Qingliu recalled Agumon, who had regained most of that former energy, into the Poké Ball and headed to the third floor.

Upon seeing that the Pokémon on the third floor were a level 19 Murkrow, a level 18 Misdreavus, and a level 18 Gastly, Qingliu immediately summoned Agumon to battle.

Thanks to leveling up again, Agumon was faster, the attacks sharper, and the moves noticeably more powerful.

With those improvements, along with the panel's search function and Qingliu's commands, the battle remained firmly under control even though Agumon hadn't recovered to peak condition.

Then Qingliu once again chose the Gastly that knew Hypnosis as their opening, repeating the same tactic and taking Gastly out of the fight with Small Explosion.

Immediately afterward, they quickly defeated Misdreavus, whose back had been grazed by Small Explosion, hampering movement and drastically reducing speed.

Finally, at the cost of an arm injury from Murkrow's Wing Attack, Agumon seized Murkrow's wing and unleashed a second Small Explosion at point-blank range, clearing the third floor.

The moment the battle ended, the accumulated experience from three battles brought Agumon a major breakthrough, jumping from level 17 to level 19.

That should have been good news, but Qingliu couldn't feel happy about it.

He had discovered something that might disrupt his earlier plans.