Infinity Edge, Giant Slayer, and Bloodthirster!
In a split second, veteran tactician Xia Chi thought of the recipes combining these three component items with the B.F.
Sword.
At first glance, Infinity Edge seemed like the optimal choice.
This completed item had a high probability of increasing critical hit rate and critical damage, offering the most explosive offensive power.
But did Sprigatito lack offensive power?
Yes, but not to an extreme degree.
Every Pokémon could benefit from more offensive power, and the more the merrier.
However, Xia Chi’s future plan for Sprigatito wasn’t just to make it a glass-cannon assassin.
Relying on its Protean ability, Sprigatito could easily handle defensive duties by shifting its typing.
Furthermore, its Grass synergy and the Trinity Force, two of his major trump cards, already provided it with quite a respectable amount of bulk.
It was practically the perfect template for an all-around brawler!
Thus, the final piece of the puzzle that Sprigatito lacked was obvious.
Sustain!
With this in mind, Xia Chi didn’t hesitate.
“I choose the Negatron Cloak to synthesize Bloodthirster!” [Negatron Cloak forged successfully!] [Bloodthirster successfully synthesized: +10% Physical Attack, +10% Special Defense.
Unique Passive: Physical attacks grant 20% Life Steal on damage dealt!] *Tsk, the numbers are slightly nerfed, and the life shield effect is gone.
Did it fail its visa application?* Xia Chi complained inwardly before equipping the Bloodthirster onto Sprigatito.
As long as the life steal was there, the other details were secondary.
Having finished with the gear, Xia Chi used his mind to navigate the system to the [Pokémon] interface.
Sprigatito’s chibi portrait sat there all by itself.
[Sprigatito] [Type: Grass] [Ability: Protean] [Gender: Female] [Level: 13] [Stats: HP 38 (+22), Atk 24 (+18), Def 20 (+12), Sp.
Atk 22 (+13), Sp.
Def 20 (+15), Speed 28 (+17)] [Moves: Petal Blizzard, Bite, Shadow Claw, Magical Leaf, Hone Claws, Acrobatics, Protect, Trailblaze…] [Equipment: Trinity Force (+33% Atk, Sp.
Atk, Def, Sp.
Def, Speed, HP, and move-casting speed!)] [Equipment: Bloodthirster (+10% Physical Attack, +10% Special Defense.
Unique Passive: Physical attacks grant 20% Life Steal on damage dealt!)] [Synergies: Dark (2) — Defeating an opponent collects Fear points.
Every 100 stacks of Fear provides 5% bonus damage and a Fear Chest.
Open the Fear Chest to receive rewards!
(Fear Chests evolve with the number of stacks.
Current Fear: 0, Bonus Damage: 0%)] [Synergies: Grass (Inactive)] [Synergies: Speed Striker (Inactive)] [Special: Chosen Pokémon (All stats +20%, Dark trait +1, exclusive skill upgrade [Inactive])] Oh, it even came with an “Eye of Information,” a must-have for the protagonist of any classic Pokémon web novel.
However, this function seemed to be a stripped-down version.
Not only could it only display his own Pokémon’s information, but the data only showed basic stats and moves.
Despite his complaints, Xia Chi still quite liked this feature.
Stats didn’t represent everything, but they were ultimately a direct indicator of strength.
Moreover, this data revealed an important piece of information—the stat-boosting algorithm of equipment and synergies seemed to be an even more exaggerated exponential calculation.
The stat boosts from Trinity Force and Chosen Pokémon weren’t a simple addition of 20% plus 33%.
Instead, it was 120% multiplied by 133%, which resulted in a coefficient of roughly 1.6.
This meant that any future equipment or synergy boosts would continue to multiply on top of the current 1.6 coefficient!
“As long as I stack enough synergies, I’ll slay Arceus himself to show you!” Xia Chi was about to make a grand declaration, but when he remembered that this world was created by that very deity, he decided to keep his disrespectful words to himself.
In any case, Sprigatito’s current strength already far exceeded that of Pokémon of the same level.
At the very least, he had some confidence for the upcoming low-profile Hushi Cup.
But this didn’t mean Xia Chi could just sit back and do nothing.
No matter how powerful the system’s equipment and synergies were, they were ultimately just the icing on the cake.
Only when the Pokémon’s own strength was formidable enough could the system’s functions be maximized.
As Professor Zhou lectured in a rhythmic, cadence-heavy voice, Xia Chi sneaked onto the internet to watch online lessons from Erika, the Grass-type Gym Leader of the Kanto region.
Since he had never thought of becoming a serious trainer before, he knew very little about training Sprigatito or any other Pokémon.
He had to admit, Miss Erika’s general tips on raising Grass-type Pokémon were incredibly white—cough, no, incredibly good.
At least for Xia Chi, who had never systematically studied Pokémon training before, it was like a sudden ray of light parting the clouds, leaving him thoroughly enlightened.
He hid his phone behind his textbook and took notes like crazy while wearing his earphones.
He also had to pretend to listen to the lecture, occasionally looking up at Professor Zhou on the podium and nodding in sudden realization.
This made Professor Zhou feel extremely gratified.
He thought to himself that this highly talented but usually flighty student had finally turned over a new leaf.
After spending the entire morning diligently studying online, the moment the dismissal bell rang, Xia Chi could not wait to head to the Silph Pokémon Department Store to buy the things he had learned about that morning.
Seeing Xia Chi hurrying toward him, Professor Zhou smiled inwardly and deliberately slowed down his packing of the lecture notes.
He cleared his throat and said, “Xia Chi, about that Giratina you mentioned in class last time…” Professor Zhou had originally wanted to say, “I’m glad you’ve finally given up on that fictional mythical Pokémon Giratina you lectured about last time.
I hope you’ll read less unofficial folklore in the future…” and so forth.
But Xia Chi was in a hurry to go shopping at Silph.
He glanced at Professor Zhou and said, “Professor, do you want to hear the legend of Giratina’s banishment?
I’ll tell you next time.
I’ve got something to do right now!” With that, he bypassed Old Zhou and walked straight out the door.
Professor Zhou’s hand stayed frozen in mid-air, the corners of his mouth twitching.
“…” *If I ever believe this kid has turned over a new leaf again, I’ll turn into a Growlithe!* *** On an afternoon with no classes, Xia Chi had a shopping spree at the Silph Department Store.
Even though this was a Team Rocket enterprise, and every penny he spent today might fund their evil schemes…
In any case, the quality of Silph’s goods was indeed undeniable, but they were also incredibly expensive.
Most of the money Xia Chi had earned from streaming over the past two months was thrown in, and it still wasn’t quite enough.
With his current financial power, if he wanted to buy everything on the list, he could only resort to that one move— “Come, hand over your phone, let me upgrade your cabin!” Xia Chi wasn’t in that much of a hurry.
He bought enough supplies to raise Sprigatito for a month and chose to head back to the dorm.
“Sprigatito, don’t you think this place is a bit small?” Putting his things away and looking around, Xia Chi spoke thoughtfully.
After catching his starter Pokémon, he began to find flaws in this dorm, which he had been quite satisfied with just two days ago.
“There isn’t even a place for you to do your daily training.” Sprigatito shook its head obediently.
“Meowphee~” During its time wandering the wild, it hadn’t even had a fixed place to stay.
Now, having a place to shelter from the wind and rain was more than enough.
Although Xia Chi believed in the philosophy of “no matter how bitter the struggle, the child must not suffer; no matter how poor we are, education must not be compromised.” But because of his current tight budget, renting an apartment outside was a plan he couldn’t realize yet.
He had no choice but to put it aside for now.