Training is the only way forward

If you would like to get up to 8 chapters ahead of the official release, head to my pa treon.

www.pa treon.com/TeaDragon1

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

Ren could feel the sunlight against his eyelids.

'Is… it time to wake up…?' Ren's thoughts pondered. Was this how High School students on Earth felt like waking up every morning?

'The agony…'

Ren got a better understanding of their pain. His body just did not want to move.

He could feel an invisible pressure pressing down on him.

'Hmmm a pressure…?' Ren was instantly awake.

Was there something in his home? Any enemy? Was he under attack?

Ren instantly raised his head and peered around.

The sunlight that entered through the hole illuminated the inside of the tree hole.

Ren laid eyes on the figure.

'What are you doing here…?' Ren thought.

It was the Ralts.

The same Ralts that he had clearly seen entering its own tree hole.

Its head lay on his tail, sleeping.

Ren could feel the pressure against his tail.

It was using his tail as a cushion!

Ren was momentarily shocked.

Was its home destroyed?

Ren nudged the Ralts with his tail.

The Ralts stirred.

Ralts continued nudging it until it finally got up. It rubbed its eyes with its arms before staring at him.

[Telepathy] activated.

'What happened to your home?' Ren asked immediately.

'Nothing.' The Ralts replied while shocking his head.

Ren was once again reminded off what he was dealing with.

'Why did you come into my place?' Ren asked as nicely as he could.

This was his personal space. He wanted some privacy.

The Ralts put its arm on its chin, thinking.

'Because I want to.' The Ralts said simply with shining eyes.

'So let me get this straight. There is nothing wrong with your house. You are perfectly fine and you decided to come into my place.' Ren asked.

The Ralts used a few seconds to ponder his words.

'Yes.'

'Goddamn it!' Ren thought.

This fucking Ralts was using him as a pillow!

Ren looked at the shining, pure eyes of the Ralts.

He did not have the heart to further berate it.

Ren decided to slowly 'train' this Pokémon in the art of common sense.

'Don't do it next time, ok?' Ren said.

'Ok!' The Ralts replied immediately.

'It's going to do it again, isn't it?' Ren thought.

Ren used his energy to jump out of the hole and onto the ground.

The Ralts followed him.

Sunlight streamed in through the foliage.

Ren could feel the warm light on his skin. It energized his body, increasing his blood circulation.

His muscles were reactivated.

Snakes were cold blooded.

It was important that he was experienced at least a few hours of sunlight every single day.

Ren used this chance to check his status.

[Ding! You have levelled up! Draconic Body has activated. Bioenergy limit increases]

Ren could feel a gong ding inside of his body, rapidly energizing his body.

'Status.'

Ren activated his status.

Host Name: Ren

Species: Draconic Ekans (Adolescent)

Element: Poison

Level: 3 [Limit: 5]

Bio-Energy: 0/70

Length: 251 cm

Spirit: 37

Power: 22

Wisdom: 16

Agility: 24

Defense: 26

Skills: Breathless Breathing Technique [22%], Poison sting [29%], Terrorize [47%], Acceleration [65%] Tier 2 - Limit breaker [25%] Pokémon Appraisal [35%] Spirit Concentration [31%], Stealth [7%]

Passive Skills: Tier 2 - Spirit Control [3%],

Racial Skills: Shedding [35%], Draconic body [11%]

His body had reached more than 2.5 meters. His other stats had all slightly improved.

Ren turned to the Ralts.

The Ralt's appearance had undergone some changes.

It had grown from more than 50cm to nearly 60cm.

Apart from that, Ren could notice that is hair was more vibrant and its horns were much darker.

'I wonder how I look like.' Ren thought.

He would have to go down to the stream later to check.

First, he would practice. He wanted to be able to use his spirit efficiently and more creatively in the face of new dangers.

'Hey, I am going to be practicing now.' Ren informed the Ralts. 'You can do whatever you want. Just stay to the side.' Ren added.

'Practice… What is that?' The Ralts asked hesitantly. It stared intently at Ren waiting for his response.

The Ralts had never 'practiced' its skills before. It had simply hid and battled.

Over and over in an endless cycle.

Ren tried to think of the best way to explain it.

'You activate skills in fights right?' Ren asked.

'Yes.' The Ralts answered.

'Practice is what we do to improve our skills.' Ren added. 'We use it to improve our chances of winning.' Ren informed simply.

The Ralts was hit by a wave of realization.

'So… if I practice, I win?' The Ralts asked.

Its eyes shined.

It wanted to win.

Ren looked at it.

'Close enough' Ren thought to himself.

'Yes. That is right. Now go over there and practice your skills.' Ren said as he pointed towards the Ralt's tree.

The Ralts nodded before floating towards its own tree.

Ren felt like a parent that was dropping their kid off on their first day of school.

He turned back to his own practice.

'Spirit Control…'

Although Ren's stats had improved, there was no doubt that his 'spirit control' was definitely the largest change to his stats.

Ren had not yet explored the possibilities of this skill.

He congealed his aura in front of him. Like before, his red aura began to form.

'It's much faster.' Ren thought.

Not only did the aura circulate much faster around his body but it also manifested itself much more smoothly.

Ren stared at the aura.

He willed it to change shapes and contort.

A needle formed in front of him. It was sharp and it formed quickly.

'Perfect.'

Then a spear.

Finally a lance.

His execution was flawless. Unlike when he had first started to formulate these basic weapons, he was now able to replicate them perfectly.

'It's too basic…' Ren realized.

These types of simple weapons were fine when he had just begun to experiment with aura.

Now, with his increased control, his new skills and his spirit capacity, Ren wanted to experiment with different killing techniques.

Ren thought back to his fight with the Oranguru.

'Rope…'

He had previously arduously created rope from spirit in order to choke the Oranguru.

Ren recreated the rope.

It was much faster and easier compared to when he was battling.

Ren observed the rope.

'Let's try something else…'

Ren envisioned interlocking parts creating a rope-like structure.

'Chains…' Ren thought.

With great speed, the spirit around him contorted and created a single piece of the chain. He then created links, gradually increasing the length of the chain.

A long chain rapidly manifested in front of him, swirling around his body in a circular manner. Ren stared at the chains.

Although chains were weaker than ropes, they had greater killing potential and they used less spirit to create.

'Go.' Ren said.

The chain was released towards a nearby oak tree more than 6 meters away.

Ren controlled the chain to wrap around the tree.

He could see the possibilities of using chains in battles; not only to immobilize opponents but also to kill.

Ren also noticed another thing.

'My range…' Ren thought.

The range of spirit had rapidly increased from about 4 meters to over 6 meters.

Ren further tested his range and determined that his range now stayed at about 8 meters.

He regathered his aura.

He wanted to try something else.

Ren rapidly gathered his aura in front of him. With his visualization, Ren controlled the shape of the spirit.

'A bear trap.'

Ren wanted to create one.

It was not for the sake of entrapping Pokémon.

No, Ren wanted to use it as a weapon. He wanted a method to tear up his enemies into pieces.

The Aura began to shape according to his vision.

He was bringing his creation to life!

Rows of sharp blades formed, framed by a large metal, circular base.

Ren held the trap in front of him.

Ren controlled the trap. With great momentum, the 'jaws' of the trap clamped down.

'Jaws… I want to test it.'

Ren pushed the bear trap towards his 'practice' tree.

The 'jaws' lay outstretched ready to clamp down.

'Now!'

The jaws clamped down onto the trunk.

Shards of wood chips rained into the air.

'It's not enough.'

The 'jaw' had not been strong enough to penetrate right through the tree.

Ren once again created a new 'jaw'.

He poured more and more enough energy into it, making it larger and larger.

A 'jaw' twice as large floated in front of him.

[Compression x1]

Ren activated Compression.

The 'jaws' rapidly contracted.

It was now the same size as before, yet it contained a much greater amount of explosive power.

With great control, Ren clamped the jaws down on a different tree.

Wood chips once again rained into the air.

Although he was still not able to cut through the whole tree, there was now a much larger shape etched in the tree.

Ren continued practicing with his spirit for another hour.

He worked on refining his new 'spirit constructs'.

***

Ren stared at the practicing Ralts.

The Ralts floated rapidly from one location to another, activating its Mind skills from time to time.

It had definitely improved in agility.

'It needs real-life opponents.'

The Ralts needed real-life opponents to test out the effects of its mind skills.

'I need some more experience as well.'

Ren stared at the forest.