Chapter 74: Soaring

Chapter 74: Soaring

Within the space of the Poké Ball, a pink, woolly Mareep lay atop a pale yellow tuft, a faint emerald glow shimmering on its chest, its gaze unfocused and dazed.

At this moment, Lu Yun had already awakened from his fainting spell. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling above, his mind a tumult of thoughts.

He still couldn't quite understand Zeraora's actions. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Why, after helping him, had Zeraora driven him out of the Electric Gorge?

With a soft sigh, Lu Yun set aside his heavy doubts. If the opportunity arose in the future, he resolved to return to the Electric Gorge. No matter what, Zeraora had helped him, and he hadn't even managed to say thank you. Whether from gratitude or propriety, he owed Zeraora another visit.

Shaking his head, Lu Yun slowly sat up and opened the system interface in his mind.

Because of the incident earlier, Lu Yun knew that after consuming the mysterious fruit, his strength had increased significantly, but he hadn't yet checked the system in detail.

…

"Experience +20"
"Experience +18"
"Experience +21"
"…"

The first thing that greeted his eyes was a long list of experience gains, filling the entire message log.

Lu Yun nodded in satisfaction, guessing it must be the result of the peculiar fruit.

"Looks like I should level up quite a bit this time."

Thinking this, he casually scrolled down the message log.

Suddenly, Lu Yun's expression changed.

This wasn't because he had come across any special notification—the log was still filled with those "Experience +20" and "Experience +19" messages. The problem was, there were simply too many…

He swallowed involuntarily. If a page of the log could hold ten messages, then with every scroll, at least twenty lines of experience were visible.

Which meant—

"At least four hundred experience points."

"And…" Lu Yun’s eyes glazed over, his finger trembling slightly as he tapped the system interface before him.

"There’s still more…"

His pink finger continued dragging down the message log, but this time, his movements were slow and deliberate, reminiscent of scratching off lottery tickets in his previous life.

Line after line, page after page…

The experience notifications streamed endlessly past Lu Yun’s gaze, and his initial joy gradually shifted to shock, then finally to numbness.

"At last…"

Lu Yun let out a long breath, gazing at the end of the message log. His feelings were complex.

He had lost count of how many pages he’d scrolled through. He only knew that the boost he’d received this time was likely to be utterly astonishing.

With mounting excitement, Lu Yun opened the stats panel.

…

Species: Mareep
Level: 30 (1263/100)
[Evolution]
Skills: Tackle, Growl, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Dragon), Thunder Shock, Cotton Spore, Charge, Thunder Punch, Magnet Rise, Take Down, Electro Ball, Dragon Breath, Confuse Ray
Status: Overcharged (Electric-type skill power +20%)
Duration: 14 days 20 hours
Evaluation: Is this really a Mareep?

…

Lu Yun blinked, rubbing his eyes as if dazzled, and after confirming he wasn’t mistaken, his mouth hung slightly open.

"This…"

"…"

"Chuckle… Ha ha ha!"

His body trembled, and laughter he could not restrain burst from his throat, turning into unrestrained mirth and satisfaction.

This was, by far, the greatest improvement he had ever experienced!

First and foremost, the most dramatic change was his level.

It had soared from level 26 straight to level 30. If evolution didn’t require his own confirmation and he wasn’t capped at the maximum level a Mareep could reach, then with all the experience he’d stored up, Lu Yun estimated that once he evolved into Ampharos, he could immediately reach the mid-forties in level just from the overflow.

His finger hovered over the [Evolve] button, as though about to press it, but finally moved away with determination.

Lu Yun was a patient person. He knew he still had a great deal of undigested electricity within his body. To evolve into Ampharos now would be unwise and wasteful. There was no need to rush—he’d already overcome so many difficulties, so a little more patience wouldn’t hurt. All he needed to do was wait quietly, and even without any extra training, once the stored energy was fully absorbed, he could evolve into Ampharos perfectly and without regrets.

Next, he glanced at the skills section.

Not much had changed, only the addition of [Confuse Ray].

Lu Yun knew it was a Ghost-type control move, but he wasn’t particularly interested. Perhaps it would come in handy in future battles…

His eyes quickly skimmed over and paused at the newly updated status section.

"Overcharged?"

A spark flashed in Lu Yun's eyes. He surmised it must be from soaking too long in the plasma pool, causing high-density electric energy to flood his body and resulting in this effect.

But there was nothing bad about it. A 20% boost to Electric-type skill power set Lu Yun’s imagination alight.

Twenty percent might not sound like a lot, but at this point, the raw power of his Electric moves was already formidable. Against Pokémon of the same level, even without type advantage, he could often knock them out with a single attack. With the extra 20%…

He shook his head gently—this state had a time limit. Fourteen days was a long time; perhaps by the time the next mission arrived, it would have expired. If he didn’t encounter any battles during that window, it might not make any difference at all.

At last, his eyes landed on the freshly updated evaluation section, and an amused smile crept onto Lu Yun’s lips.

"Still as cheeky as ever."

But in a way, it was true. At this point, even most Ampharos raised by ordinary trainers would be no match for him.

With ample resources and the system’s formidable support, Lu Yun had become something of a monster among Mareep.

"And yet…"

The effect of that fruit was almost absurdly strong—a faint sense of doubt arose in his heart.

What he didn’t know was that the special training Zeraora had put him through hadn’t increased his experience or levels at the time, but had laid the foundation for this final breakthrough.

It was the painful, repeated cycles of “discharge—recharge” that enabled Lu Yun to absorb the immense energy contained within the fruit.

For an ordinary Electric-type Pokémon, the vast electric power in that fruit would likely have burst their bodies apart.

And Zeraora’s act of submerging him in the plasma pool meant that while absorbing the fruit’s energy, Lu Yun also received the high-quality current from the pool as supplemental aid.

With all these conditions met, and a stroke of luck, Lu Yun’s improvement had become nothing short of extraordinary.