77 Chapter 77:

Cain lay prone, his mind lost to time's grasp. When his eyes fluttered open, his skull felt ready to split. He clenched his teeth and, with Slowpoke and Murkrow's support, rose to his feet. His fingers dug into his temples, and his furrowed brows unknotted, allowing his eyes to open.

Slowpoke and Murkrow, their anxiety palpable, gazed at him as he croaked, "Slowpoke, Murkrow, are you safe? And Gastly? Where is he?"

"Keke~" came Gastly's fragile voice, wafting toward Cain on a faint breeze.

His hazy body, once dense with purple, now appeared insubstantial, bobbing aimlessly.

Of all his Pokemon, Gastly had suffered the most. Although Sabrina hadn't focused her assault on him, the fallout of her overwhelming psychic energy nearly dissipated his body. Nevertheless, Gastly was fine, albeit still weak.

Cain's relief at Gastly's condition gave way to renewed torment, as his headache flared once more. Slowpoke eyed him warily before extending a paw, laying it on Cain's throbbing temple. With a surge of blue psychic energy, it directed psychic energy into Cain's mind.

An instant later, Cain's agony ebbed, replaced by a soothing coolness that traveled through his head. He struggled to keep himself from moaning in pleasure as he gazed at Slowpoke in astonishment, realizing for the first time that its psychic energy held the power to heal.

The pain subsided, allowing Cain to rise to his feet slowly. He shook his head, muttering, "Sabrina's got some serious fire in her belly, doesn't she?"

He yearned to hurl a vulgar insult, but the memory of Sabrina's sudden arrival stifled his words.

Slowpoke pondered, mulling over something of great import.

Cain spotted Slowpoke's peculiar behavior and queried, "What's the matter, Slowpoke?"

In response, Slowpoke activated its telepathy, and a gentle voice echoed in Cain's head: "Master, have you … awakened?"

"Awakened? What do you mean?" Cain was befuddled. Awakened? What awakening?

Just then, Murkrow arrived, holding a manual in its beak.

Cain took the booklet out of Murkrow's mouth, revealing a slim volume titled "Psychic Training Manual (Volume 1)."

"< Psychic Training Manual >? Awakening? Did I awaken psychic powers after being struck by Sabrina?" Cain didn't know how to process this revelation.

Slowpoke, Murkrow, and Gastly nodded in agreement with Cain's musings. When Cain had first roused, they were unable to move, but they sensed the presence of psychic energy within him.

Despite its faintness, it was undoubtedly present.

"But why don't I feel anything?" Cain wondered aloud. His Pokemon were sure he'd awakened psychic powers, yet he felt nothing.

Slowpoke and the others were equally perplexed.

Murkrow and Gastly lacked psychic energy, rendering them mute on the subject. Though Slowpoke possessed psychic energy, he'd been born with it and knew little of awakened psychics.

Suddenly, Cain recalled the book in his hand, likely the training manual Sabrina had left behind. The answer he sought was likely within its pages.

Fortunately, the manual was brief and void of fluff. The opening page outlined how to harness psychic energy at the earliest stages.

The easiest way to wield psychic energy was to channel it into an object, then manipulate its movement or shape.

For fledgling psychic users, moving an object was the ideal way to test their power.

Cain read through the first page of the manual, then gazed upon a fist-sized rock at his feet. He concentrated intently on the rock, straining to move it.

His eyes bulged, his vision blurring as he labored, but the rock remained inert.

"Perhaps it's too heavy?" Cain conjectured. Disbelieving, he swapped the rock for a pebble the size of his thumbnail, focusing once more.

At last, a faint cyan psychic aura suffused the pebble, causing it to drift upward as Cain directed.

A spark of amazement kindled within Cain, but it was fleeting; the concentrated will dissipated, and the pebble tumbled to the ground with a dull "thwack."

"I've awakened my psychic power, but it's so weak it's hardly useful." Though Cain was thrilled to have become a psychic user, his disappointment over the frailty of his ability was palpable. Sabrina's power dwarfed his, and even Slowpoke boasted stronger psychic energy.

"Ah, forget it," Cain sighed. "I'm lucky enough to have awakened my psychic ability. Perhaps I can improve it with training."

Psychic users were rare and valuable, capable of contributing greatly to daily life and battles. However, the caveat was that Cain had to hone his ability to make it more potent.

Unbeknownst to him, Cain hadn't initially possessed the potential to awaken his psychic energy. However, after living three lives, his mental fortitude had strengthened, and he exceeded most people in terms of experience and age. Yet, even with these advantages, it remained immensely difficult to awaken psychic energy.

In the end, it was Sabrina's fierce palm strike that brought about Cain's awakening. Though her sole intent was to incapacitate him for a few hours, she focused all her psychic energy on his brain. Inadvertently, she unshackled Cain, thus enabling him to awaken his psychic ability.

Despite his excitement over this newfound power, Cain's confrontation with Sabrina had left him feeling powerless once again.

He tucked the manual into his belt; now wasn't the time to pore over it. He had already overstayed his welcome and needed to depart.

He returned Slowpoke back to its Pokeball, while Gastly, weak and sluggish, concealed itself in his shadow. Murkrow eyed him uncertainly before settling onto his shoulder. With a nod of farewell, Cain donned his black cloak and strode away.