” Sprigatito could vaguely feel that its body had undergone a major change over the past two days since being caught by Xia Chi.
But once it got into actual combat, it realized this wasn’t just a change—it was a full-on mutation!
Sprigatito, unable to see the system’s detailed interface, naturally had no idea that it had reached this state even without several major traits being activated.
It was a state achieved solely through the [Chosen Crest], [Trinity Force], and [Bloodthirster].
The Chosen Crest and Trinity Force provided Sprigatito with over a 50% boost to all stats, while the Bloodthirster provided crucial sustain.
And just these three boosts alone, to say nothing of the qualitative leap they gave Sprigatito’s combat power, made handling a few Mankeys in the starting area an absolute breeze.
But even without knowing the truth, Sprigatito understood this was entirely due to Xia Chi.
He had given it meticulous care and warmth, restored its self-esteem as a battle Pokemon, and significantly boosted its strength.
At this moment, Xia Chi’s image and position in Sprigatito’s heart had risen to an incomparable height.
A loyal warrior dies for the one who understands him.
Although it had never heard this idiom, Sprigatito understood the sentiment perfectly.
At this moment, its eyes sparkled with light, and it swore an oath in its heart.
It would accompany Xia Chi to a peak that no one else could reach!
*** On the other side, Xia Chi, who had passively transformed into Ash Ketchum, was in no hurry to go back and check on things after deducing the most likely scenario.
Mainly because he had no way to contact it, and even if he went back now, he wouldn’t find Sprigatito.
Safety shouldn’t be much of a concern.
This fellow had hung around the school’s wild areas for over half a year; even when isolated, hadn’t it lived perfectly fine?
Not to mention now, with the trait and equipment boosts from System Bro.
If the kid likes to play, let it play.
Coincidentally, the Dark-type trait’s Dread stacks needed to be accumulated by defeating Pokemon.
It was better for him to relax and attend classes in peace, letting Sprigatito farm Fear Points in the wild.
Moreover, modern Pokemon raising science showed that among groups of similar Pokemon with similar strength raised in the same way…
Without pushing physical limits to the extreme, the group that fought more frequently had slightly faster average strength growth.
From this, it was clear that although reality wasn’t like a game where battles gave massive EXP to level up, it still had a similar, albeit weaker, effect.
In other words, Sprigatito was indeed “grinding monsters to level up.” Xia Chi thought to himself.
But then again, defeating one Pokemon—especially when defeating one of a higher level—only yielded a decimal point of Dread.
At this rate, wouldn’t it take several months to accumulate one hundred stacks?
And one hundred stacks was only the starting point for the Fear Points.
According to the game mechanics of the Golden Spatula, to get good stuff from this kind of loot box, one had to accumulate several hundred stacks of Dread.
In the short term—to say nothing of the long run—it would be impossible to “graduate” this for at least two or three years.
But regardless, Xia Chi’s “Winning-Streak Cash-Out” plan had finally taken its crucial first step.
Thus, he spent the entire World Pokemon Mythology History class listening to System Bro’s voice announcements: [Sprigatito has defeated Mankey…] It felt quite like the joy of an idle gold-farming game.
Of course, Xia Chi wouldn’t forget that this joy was built on Sprigatito’s hard work and sweat.
From this perspective, adopting a Pokemon that others didn’t want wasn’t a bad thing.
This kind of Pokemon was more sensible than untrained ones, and they would even train themselves.
Sprigatito’s final score for the morning was five Mankeys, accumulating a whopping 1.1 Dread.
On a battle court, this would be a terrifying 1v5 sweep.
Even with System Bro’s help, pulling off this kind of record at a lower level against higher-level opponents was no small feat.
So who said this Sprigatito was no good?
This Sprigatito was absolutely amazing!
As for whether Sprigatito returned home safely in the end, Xia Chi wasn’t too worried.
First, he figured since the system announced victories, it would probably notify him of defeats too.
Second, he knew Sprigatito was a very sensible little cat.
They had known each other for months.
No matter how battered it was, it would always drag its relatively healthy body back to his dorm around nine in the evening to eat.
This fellow’s current fighting ability might only be A or B rank, but its escape ability was definitely S+.
Sure enough, when Xia Chi finished his morning classes and returned to the dorm with a nutritious lunch and medicine, Sprigatito was already waiting there as if nothing had happened.
Although it pretended to be calm and had groomed its fur very clean before Xia Chi returned, its slightly unsteady steps and several obvious new wounds gave it away.
“Running off to do real combat training on your own and not telling me just so I wouldn’t worry, you little Haji-cat…” Xia Chi rubbed the head of the Sprigatito that welcomed him home, then took out the wound medicine he had bought on the way back.
As he applied the medicine, he frowned and said, “I told you, right?
I’ll support whatever you want to do.
So don’t hide this from me in the future.
Don’t make me worry.” “Meow-phi…” Sprigatito didn’t care that Xia Chi used the nickname it disliked again.
Half-guilty and half-touched, it lowered its head and obediently accepted his scolding.
But then, remembering something, a look of surprise appeared on its face.
It raised its head and looked at Xia Chi suspiciously.
“Meow-phi?” *Wait…
he brought medicine back with him.* *So, Xia Chi, how did you know beforehand that I went out to fight this morning?* Reading the look in Sprigatito’s eyes, a guilty Xia Chi looked left and right, his face twitching into an awkward, half-smiling grimace.
*When you know the other person is lying but can’t call them out because how you found out is also a secret.jpg* *** Freshman courses were relatively sparse, and Xia Chi had no classes this afternoon.
He had originally planned to use this free time to edit videos, but he took some time to bring Sprigatito to the Silph Department Store to buy a portable Pokemon tracker.
This precision instrument, concealed inside a collar-style cat tag, could not only display Sprigatito’s exact location on an app on Xia Chi’s phone…
But it could also monitor its various body metrics and specific conditions.
If necessary, he could even use his phone to call the Sprigatito wearing it.
It was practically a must-have high-tech item for wild-loving Pokemon like Sprigatito.
Although the price was as beautiful as its functionality, Xia Chi still bought it without hesitation.
Putting this on Sprigatito would give him more peace of mind when it went out to “train” itself in the future.
Afterward, Xia Chi and Sprigatito agreed on a three-point covenant for its independent training: First, don’t provoke Pokemon that are far stronger than you when outdoors.
Second, make sure to disengage from combat before your stamina or condition is completely depleted.
Third, meow three times into the tracker every half hour so Xia Chi can confirm your safety.
And fourth, make sure to return home on time before dark.
As for why there were four rules in a three-point covenant…
As everyone knows, the Elite Four has five members, so it’s perfectly reasonable for a three-point covenant to have four rules, right?