When the ferry docked, May actually took the initiative to invite Lorze to adventure and train together!
Lorze honestly thought this was a fantastic idea.
Not only would he get a stunningly beautiful sparring partner for free, but he’d also be networking with a Gym Leader’s daughter.
It was an insanely good deal.
But unfortunately, both he and Zorua harbored far too many secrets that couldn’t be exposed just yet, so he had to politely decline.
May wasn’t just outgoing and talkative; she was also incredibly perceptive.
She likely guessed Lorze had some secret hell-training planned, so she didn’t push the issue.
After trading contact info, they parted ways.
Mt.
Pyre was the largest sanctuary and gathering place for resting souls in the Hoenn region.
The vast majority of people visiting the island were here to mourn their deceased Pokémon.
Of course, there were also many Trainers like Lorze who flocked here for its reputation, eager to drag their Pokémon through intense adventuring and trials.
Consequently, Mt.
Pyre was roughly divided into two zones.
The first was the artificial main path, which was the primary area for mourners paying their respects.
The Ghost-type Pokémon on Mt.
Pyre had been strictly disciplined by League heavyweights and would never attack anyone on the main path.
As for the Trainers here to adventure, they deliberately sought out the isolated, rugged trails, or marched straight into the barren wastelands at the higher altitudes of Mt.
Pyre.
That area was a massive free-fire zone designated by the League for wild Pokémon, teeming with an unknown number of terrifying ghosts.
The deeper you ventured toward the summit, the deadlier the Ghost-type Pokémon became, and the higher the probability of finding priceless Ghost-type natural treasures.
Trainers had to carefully gauge their own strength before deciding how high to climb.
Lorze obviously wasn’t going to bite off more than he could chew.
After parting with May, he cautiously chose a narrow, winding trail heavily blanketed in eerie fog, intending to test Zorua’s practical combat abilities first.
This dense fog was the physical manifestation of highly concentrated Ghost-type energy; even moves like “Gust” couldn’t disperse it.
Anyone walking through this dense fog, even a heavily experienced veteran Trainer, would inevitably feel suffocating discomfort and intense anxiety!
But Lorze was the fucking exception!
For some reason, the moment he stepped foot on Mt.
Pyre, the magic power coursing through his veins began to hum with excitement, as if drawn to something.
And the second he stepped into the fog-shrouded wasteland, the flow of his magic rapidly accelerated.
Every breath he took felt indescribably, intoxicatingly refreshing.
Feeling a massive jolt to his spirit, Lorze instantly fired up the meditation technique provided by the Necromancer Academy, causing his magic power to multiply rapidly.
This feeling was just like stumbling into a supreme cultivation sanctuary from an Xianxia novel.
He never expected the ghost fog of the Pokémon world to be so incredibly compatible with necromancy.
It was a massive, unexpected jackpot.
Lorze figured that if he just lived inside this ghost fog long enough, breaking through the bottleneck to become a formal Necromancer would be a guaranteed breeze. You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.
On top of that, the dense fog that would normally blind humans and most Pokémon didn’t hinder him in the slightest.
In fact, while standing in it, the scanning range of his spiritual sense rapidly expanded.
“I really didn’t expect the Ghost-type energy of the Pokémon world and the necromancy from my world to produce this kind of insane chemical reaction.
That said, I wonder if I can use necromancy to directly cast Ghost-type Pokémon moves.
I should definitely test that out later!”
As he formulated these thoughts, Lorze was already deep into the foggy wasteland, with Zorua leading the way and keeping watch!
Currently, Zorua had dropped its disguise and reverted to its Hisuian form, intensely scanning the surroundings.
In truth, given Lorze’s insanely buffed sensory perception within the ghost fog, his radar already covered a massive area.
But he deliberately didn’t alert Zorua, wanting to use this opportunity to temper its own combat reflexes.
Suddenly, Lorze sensed something.
A bizarre, dark shadow shot toward them from the distance at breakneck speed.
He didn’t immediately shout a warning, choosing instead to observe Zorua’s reaction.
It wasn’t until the shadow was inches away and Zorua still hadn’t reacted that he finally prepared to yell out.
But just a split second before he could send a telepathic warning, the little fox actually sent a message to him through the Undead Contract:
“Master, a ghost is coming right at us.
Let’s hold our ground and lure it in.”
“Well well~ It already noticed.
Did it recognize the incoming attack as a Ghost-type move and decide to counter-attack after drawing it out?” Lorze thought, immensely gratified.
In the next fraction of a second, the bizarre dark shadow violently accelerated, slamming directly into Zorua’s body.
Then, something utterly absurd happened!
The “Shadow Sneak” executed by the dark shadow phased harmlessly straight through Zorua’s body, achieving absolutely nothing, before reforming into a Pokémon that looked like a tiny jack-o’-lantern.
“A Pumpkaboo!
I didn’t expect Zorua’s very first battle to be against this thing!”
But a moment later, Lorze realized he was dead wrong, because this Pumpkaboo didn’t even have the fucking qualifications to be considered Zorua’s opponent.
Zorua’s reflexes were God-tier.
In the exact instant Pumpkaboo’s shadow form phased through its body, Zorua had already shifted its stance, exploding forward as a streak of silver light.
In the brief moment Pumpkaboo realized its sneak attack had completely failed and turned around in sheer bewilderment, Zorua closed the gap like a teleporting assassin.
Thrusting a spiraling vortex of wind pressure ahead of it, it struck from an incredibly vicious, inescapable angle.
The spiraling vortex violently tore through the air, completely shredding the surrounding ghost fog and whipping up violent turbulence.
“Aerial Ace!”
This was a Flying-type move, which was super effective against the Ghost/Grass-type Pumpkaboo.
The strike ruthlessly blasted it to the ground, leaving it writhing in agony, completely unable to stand back up.
Pumpkaboo couldn’t fathom how its move—the absolute most reliable, foolproof skill on Mt.
Pyre—had utterly zero effect on Zorua.
The attack should have been devastating.
What it didn’t fucking know was that Hisuian Zorua possessed the absolutely god-tier, unprecedented typing combination of Normal and Ghost!
Forget a low-level Pumpkaboo; even formidable wild Pokémon or elite human Trainers would easily get their asses handed to them by this typing if they weren’t careful.
Its Ghost typing made it completely immune to Fighting-type moves that terrified Normal-types, while its Normal typing allowed it to completely ignore the Ghost-type moves that were supposed to hit Ghost-types for super effective damage.
This flawless synergy was practically broken.
Combine that with Zorua’s “Illusion” Ability acting as the ultimate deceptive camouflage, and once it fully grew into its power, it would become an inescapable nightmare for any opponent.
Pumpkaboo struggled on the ground a few times but failed to get up.
Seizing the opportunity, Lorze quickly walked over, performed a simple spell, and extracted a ball of black energy right out of it.
This orb of black energy was tiny and incredibly weak, perfectly mirroring the pathetic strength Pumpkaboo had just displayed.
But the moment it was violently extracted, Pumpkaboo, which had still retained a shred of stamina, instantly lost every ounce of its strength and collapsed completely.
Lorze flicked his finger, shooting the speck of black energy straight at Zorua, who instantly devoured it.
Its energy fluctuations grew by a microscopically tiny sliver.
Lorze was overjoyed.
“Just as I thought.
Necromancy really can extract the core primordial power of Ghost-type Pokémon.
With this trick, I can insanely accelerate the growth rate of my Ghost-type Pokémon when training them.”
Normally, Ghost-type Pokémon could only grow by passively absorbing the resentment and life force of other Pokémon or humans, or by forcefully devouring the soul energy of other ghosts.
But the conversion rate for that method was pure garbage; otherwise, the Ghost-type Pokémon would have launched into a chaotic, cannibalistic battle royale long ago.
However, the necromancy Lorze brought over from the magical world could operate directly on Ghost-type Pokémon, highly efficiently refining their raw soul energy.
This was literally like turning on a cheat code for his Pokémon’s cultivation.
But this specific Pumpkaboo didn’t just have terrible eyesight by picking a fight with the wrong opponent; its energy tier was also complete trash.
To Zorua, the soul energy extracted from it didn’t even count as a fucking appetizer.
Therefore, Lorze merely used it as a test dummy for the technique and had zero intention of completely draining it dry.
Pumpkaboo felt as though it had only lost a bit of stamina, while its core essence remained completely intact.
After lying on the ground for a bit, it wobbly floated back up and began frantically begging Zorua for mercy.
Zorua didn’t make a sound, only looking at Lorze.
Lorze stepped forward, crouched down beside Pumpkaboo, and said:
“I’m going to ask you a few questions.
If your answers satisfy me, letting you off the hook isn’t out of the question.”
“Rest assured, rest assured, I will absolutely tell you everyth—Wait, huh?
How the hell can you understand what I’m saying?!
This isn’t right!
I’m seeing a ghost, but wait, I’m the fucking ghost here!”