CH43 (407), The Next Step (3)

It took us close to two weeks, but finally today, three days before our day off on Grouday, and 10 days before the month ended, or 9 if we only counted the days left, we managed to successfully produce all versions of the Mystic Yache Essence Gem. We decided to remove the Ice from the object name making it a bit shorter, even if it was still too long.

Anyway, we had already managed to produce and test the 60%, 75%, 80%, and 90% versions a few days ago. Unfortunately, all of them failed, so we kept working on the 100% version. Thankfully, the report from the structural analyzer just now confirmed that our latest attempt turned out successful, so we could test the final version of the Mystic Yache Essence Gem.

I did not cheer out loud when I read the report since I stopped doing that after the 80% version turned out to be a bust. Due to that, I had to call Carl and Sibel the regular way. Still, I decided to observe the object first before calling the others, to see if something had changed in its description.

While the previous versions had shown higher energy ratings during the preliminary tests, their description had practically the exact same text as the regular Mystic Ice Gem, and I wanted to see if it was the same for the best possible version as well.

'Name: Mystic Yache Essence Gem

Type: Ice

Class: D

Uses:

The Mystic Yache Essence Gem is a compound item created through the infusion of highly concentrated Yache Berry Essence into a Mystic Ice Gem, and as such can not be found in nature. Despite that, the Mystic Yache Essence Gem is an object containing a high concentration of refined ice energy.

Due to the nature of the materials used in its creation, it is capable of increasing the power of ice-type moves by a third. It is further capable of increasing the training speed of ice-type moves and there exists a small chance that the Mystic Yache Essence Gem might trigger moments of inspiration regarding the ice element. Additionally, the Mystic Yache Essence Gem releases trace amounts of its ice energy into its surroundings which has a soothing effect on ice-type Pokemon."

Well, it was easy to see, that there was an obvious difference, or rather two differences, compared to the previous versions and the original Mystic Ice Gem. These changes/additions made the 100% version of the Mystic Yache Essence Gem a frankly superior object compared to the original Mystic Ice Gem, so our efforts were rewarded even if the evolution test ended up failing once again.

I was obviously hoping that it would not fail, but it was always good to know that the work we put into this round of experiments was not for nothing. Well, one of the two differences was an increase in the epiphany likelihood, so it would probably take a while to prove its existence.

Still, the D-Class Mystic Yache Essence Gem seemed to have the same likelihood as the C-Class Mystic Ice Gem, so that was a pretty good improvement in my books. The more obvious additional effect was the soothing effect aimed at ice-type Pokemon, and I was sure that proving that one would be a piece of cake.

Also, considering that the production cost of the Mystic Yache Essence Gem was "only" 20k to 25k higher, I could see it being more popular than the original Mystic Ice Gem. It was likely that only those that were unwilling or unable to pay the extra money would go for the Mystic Ice Gem instead of the Mystic Yache Essence Gem.

Hmm, maybe the professor would give the original gem a lower price, now that we had produced a superior version. To think that the original became an "older model" before it was even published. Possible consequences aside, I called Carl as well as Sibel over and told them about the report.

They smiled happily and began reading through the report as well before we put the Mystic Yache Essence Gem through the preliminary tests, which the gem passed without any problems. Once that happened, we requested an Eevee for the evolution test and moved our object to the central working station.

The others also moved there, but none of them looked as enthusiastic as they had been two weeks ago. Well, to be honest, that was not really surprising considering that this was our sixth attempt/evolution test within two weeks. Since the previous five all failed, the other researchers were probably all thinking something along the line of "here we go again".

Well, maybe I was exaggerating a bit. They were researchers after all, and they should have been used to a lot of experiments failing. Regardless, they still did their part professionally and set up the recording devices. Once that was done, all of us began to wait for Samantha, who had become the unofficial Eevee-Fetcher of our research project.

We only had to wait for two or so minutes, before Samantha appeared with an Eevee in her arms. The Eevee initially looked excited, but when it saw the gem in the middle of the table its excitement turned into disappointment, which meant that Samantha had once more brought the same Eevee that had participated in the last 5 tests.

Honestly, seeing his reaction, I kind of felt bad for Eevee, due to how often we failed to deliver/fulfill his wish. Yet, Eevee still dutifully walked up to the Mystic Yache Essence Gem and put his paw on it. Everyone waited to see if he would erupt in light, but Eevee released a sigh and lifted his paw off the gem around ten seconds later when nothing happened.

It trudged back to Samantha who pulled him into her arms and left to return him to his area. The others began cleaning up the devices and returned to their workstations, while James patted each member of our trio on the shoulder before going back to supervising all research groups.

Carl and Sibel released a disappointed sigh and I took the gem before we went back to our workstation as well. Still, I told them about the ice energy the Mystic Yache Essence Gem was releasing and the two easily confirmed that the gem was indeed releasing a small amount of energy into its surroundings, so we began doing all kinds of tests to determine the scope and effect of the phenomenon.

We did all sorts of measurements for the rest of the day and a big part of the next to determine the affected radius. We quickly learned that it depended on the period the gem remained in a spot. The radius reached a meter within 12 minutes, 3 meters within 64 minutes, and its maximum of 5 meters within 342 minutes, after which it stopped increasing since the effect simply dispersed at that point.

Anyway, Dialday was nearly over when we were done with our study into its "ice aura"/energy radius, so we began discussing if we should call Weiss to test the exact effect of the energy zone or if we should simply draft some of the ice types at Oak Labs.

We had tested the zone ourselves but failed to notice anything aside from a pleasantly cool feeling. The same was true for the Pokemon that we decided to involve in our tests. I refrained from calling out Manami/Lapras since she was quite large and involving her for the whole duration of the tests would be uncomfortable for her.

I could easily let her experience the effect inside Utopia without the hassle of the lab. It was better to leave the testing phase to smaller Pokemon/individuals or to change the test venue. Since we wouldn't do the latter, we had to go with the first.

Anyway, we decided to simply request the help of 2 or 3 of the Glaceon that had managed to evolve in the course of our Glaceon research project, and once they entered our gem's energy zone they quickly informed us about the soothing effect.

We used the rest of the day to determine how exactly the soothing energy affected the Glaceon and came to an interim conclusion that it loosened their body, helped them relax, and slightly sped up their recovery speed, both stamina as well as energy.

Just the data from 3 Glaceon was obviously not enough, but it gave us an idea of what the energy zone did, and before we left the lab, we decided that we would request more ice-type Pokemon for our tests the next day.

When I entered Utopia after returning to my dorm room, everyone was already waiting for me, and it became clear why, when Nyx/Umbreon came up to me to tell me that she had gotten the feeling of wholeness as well, and instead of waiting for me to confirm it, she had shared the news with everyone and got them to assemble in advance for her breakthrough.

I just smiled and checked her status screen to confirm whether she was right or not. The result was once again positive, and since that was the case, I told them that we would move to Nyx's area for her breakthrough, but only after dinner.

It had been more than 1.5 years since she had officially started her limit-breaking, so I could understand Nyx's excitement on the matter, but she would still have to wait until everyone was full. Besides, it would probably be better for her to start her breakthrough with a full belly. I mean that kind of seemed logical.

Anyway, once dinner was over, Nyx urged everyone to hurry to her place so that she could break through, and she had the faster ones help with the slower ones. It was kind of funny and adorable to see her eagerness, and we lost no time circling her once we made it to her area/habitat.

I gave her a final hug and a pat on the head before I joined the others. Nyx initiated her breakthrough once I gave her the signal, and the breakthrough was a perfectly smooth one. I swiftly went up to her to congratulate her on reaching the gold stage and rewarded her by scratching her favorite spot.

The others joined us a few moments later and began to congratulate her as well. As always I used the time they were busy to check her status screen to see what had changed.

'Name: Nyx

Species: Umbreon

Gender: Female

Age: 9+ years

-

Type: Dark

Potential: Deep Purple (17.46%)

{Light Purple (54.69%) -> (57.46%) -> Deep Purple (17.46%)}

Genetic modifiers: None

Abilities: Synchronize, Inner Focus

Talents: Stealthy

Affinities: Normal, Dark

-

Bond: Mikail (strong)

Quirk: Lively, Curious

----

Parameters:

Stage: Gold Stage (mid)

Vitality: D

Strength: E

Endurance: C

Agility: E

Energy Capacity: E

Energy Density: B

----

Immunity:

Psychic

-

Resistance:

Ghost (Minor), Dark (Minor)

-

Weaknesses:

Bug (Minor), Fairy (Minor)

-

Standardized:

Fighting, Bug (in progress)

----

Condition: Healthy, Joyful, Elated

----

Masteries:

Neutral Energy Manipulation (Advanced)

Dark Energy Manipulation (Proficient) -> (Advanced)

----

Techniques:

-

(Unofficial) Initial:

N/A

-

Novice:

Covet, Guard Swap, Last Resort

-

Beginner:

Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand, Double Edge, Body Slam (new, +)

-

Proficient:

Baby-Doll Eyes, Baton Pass, Charm, Sand Attack, Take Down, Refresh, Snarl, Assurance, Pursuit, Moonlight, Mean Look, Calm Mind, Confuse Ray (+), Screech (+), Foul Play (+), Taunt (new, ++), Mimic (++), Thunder Wave (new, ++), Psychic (new, ++), Fake Tears (new, ++), Fake Baby-Doll Tears (C, new)

-

Advanced:

Quick Attack, Swift, Shadow Ball, Iron Tail, Endure, Focus Energy, Dig, Bite, Stored Power, Dark Pulse, Protect (+), Feint Attack (+), Crunch (new, +++)

-

Mastered:

Copycat, Work Up

-

Combo/Custom:

Fake Baby-Doll Tears (Proficient)'

Well, her potential, which had only risen by less than 3% during the last 1.5 years got a huge upgrade thanks to the usual 160% potential boost. Nyx now had joined the group that had deep purple potential, even if she belonged to the lower end since she ended up with less than 20% towards the next potential grade.

Aside from that, nothing had changed right until the parameter section, but I had expected as much, seeing how smooth her breakthrough had been. As for her parameters, they were certainly not bad, but she definitely had some work to do if she wanted to reach the (high) gold stage. Since exercising/training could be considered a staple of my Pokemon, that was not a problem.

Moving on, Nyx's resistance training was still ongoing. She was not as diligent in this aspect as she had been when she was training her fighting resistance, but she was still slowly but steadily going through with it, and I did not force her to rush it. Acting like that would be counterproductive, especially with Nyx who would simply make me feel bad if I tried it.

She would use her only custom move on me and regardless of what one thought, saying no to her when she used her Fake Baby-Doll Tears on you was really, really hard. That was actually how she ended up learning the damn move, by requesting stuff from me and her fellows while acting all coy, shy, and sweet. Looking at us with those accursed adorable wide, shimmering eyes.

Anyway, aside from her cute killer weapon, she had only learned a handful of new moves and improved a bunch of others that she or I wanted to improve. Her dark energy manipulation had risen to advanced mastery in the process which naturally was good news.

That was actually pretty much it for her status screen, so after I was done looking through it, I declared the start of the celebration for Nyx's rise to the gold stage. We moved back to my part of Utopia, and since Nyx requested it, we started off her celebration by watching a movie.

I naturally also handed out some snacks for everyone. That we had dinner less than 30 minutes ago did not matter since everyone had more than enough room for snacks.

-----------------------------

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