Chapter 4: Enhancing Special Attack

Level 11!

Lian finally understood why this Bellsprout could withstand his Ember attack—it was six levels higher than him. Such a significant gap made it nearly impossible for type advantage to compensate.

Fortunately, Lian still emerged victorious. Considering Bellsprout's overall ability values, which were significantly superior, a slight misfortune would have led to his defeat.

Next, he checked the battle rating with delight, surprised to find it had reached D+. Previously, his lowest score was F-, but now it had skyrocketed directly to D+.

This improvement wasn't entirely unexpected, given that the Bellsprout was Level 11. The Combat System likely favors battles against opponents of higher levels as they embody its core principle: becoming stronger through challenging encounters.

Hence, the high rewards, although even with these benefits, Lian didn't plan on engaging in such level-disparity battles again. His preference leaned towards easy victories over weaker foes, enjoying a simple and uneventful routine.

As he continued scrolling down, he noticed the Level Difference Reward granted him a substantial 6 Combat Points. However, it was clear that the level difference wasn't the primary reward; after all, a wider level gap also signifies greater disparity in abilities.

The second category, Race Difference Reward, deducted one Combat Point. Clearly, Bellsprout's species had a lower base value compared to Lian, but this deduction was insignificant.

The third category, Ability Difference Reward, yielded a substantial 42 Combat Points. This alone surpassed several times the Combat Points earned from previous battle ratings.

However, the final Output Difference Reward was the most significant, totaling over a hundred points and reaching an impressive 156 Combat Points.

Including the Energy Difference and Level Difference Rewards, the total Combat Points awarded amounted to a staggering 203!

It was evident that the Combat System's rating mechanism directly correlated risk with reward. Nonetheless, if given the choice again, Lian would not challenge a Bellsprout at such odds.

His victory this time was purely due to luck. Curious, Lian clicked on the detailed information next to the output column, discovering that Ember inflicted damage amounting to less than half of Bellsprout's HP. Conversely, just one Vine Whip attack from Bellsprout depleted half of Lian's HP.

The critical factor was Ember's hidden effect: Since fire-type moves deal increased damage against grass types, it more easily triggered the Burn status condition.

Burn is an abnormal status similar to Poisoning, causing intermittent searing pain and impairing the effectiveness of a Pokemon's moves. Lian's victory was purely due to luck, as he accidentally inflicted Burn on Bellsprout, enabling him to triumph.

Otherwise, with just one more Vine Whip, Lian would have lost his battling capability without any chance for surprise tactics.

Analyzing the detailed combat data, Lian felt a sense of relief mixed with determination. He resolved to carefully select targets, focusing only on weaker opponents, like ripe fruits waiting to be picked.

Unfortunately, Lian couldn't directly view a Pokemon's level; he could access this information only through the Combat System's attributes panel, which required engaging in battle first—a significant drawback.

Judging strength by appearance alone was impossible. The only reliable indicator was the stage of evolution. For example, no matter how strong a Caterpie might be, it remains relatively weak until evolving into Metapod, indicating its level wouldn't be too high.

203 Combat Points!

Lian's eyes gleamed as he stared at the number displayed at the bottom of the data panel. Previously, just nine Combat Points allowed him to grasp the Ember move, albeit not perfectly mastered. However, during critical moments, it proved invaluable.

With a total of 203 Combat Points this time, Lian rubbed his hands eagerly and clicked on the link next to the Blaze Ability.

However, to his disappointment, the plus sign remained grayed out, indicating that merely two hundred Combat Points were insufficient to enhance the Blaze ability.

Alternatively, it could be that Lian currently lacked the necessary qualifications or prerequisites, preventing him from upgrading it.

What left Lian speechless was discovering a link with a plus sign after the gender field, which he hadn't noticed before. Feeling a sudden chill, he hesitated, wondering if clicking it might change his gender.

Quickly closing the link, Lian reassured himself as a proud man; despite appearances, the thought of changing his gender never crossed his mind.

Unfortunately, there seemed no way to increase his level directly. Lian's gaze fell on the Level section, noticing neither a link nor a plus sign. This indicated that leveling up likely required natural progression and couldn't be accelerated through Combat Points.

As expected, the real-world Pokemon universe differed from video games. In a game, defeating a level 11 Bellsprout would undoubtedly result in leveling up, but here, Lian still remained at level 5.

Next were the moves; currently, Lian only knew Scratch, Growl, and Ember. Upon clicking the links, he noticed plus signs appeared afterward.

Lian definitely needed to allocate points for his moves. Based on previous observations, upgrading them not only increased proficiency but also potentially enhanced their frequency of use and power.

For the Growl move, there was no need to invest points immediately. In the game, it seemed to lower the opponent's attack effectiveness, but in reality, it had minimal impact. Although enhancing it might yield surprising results later, the cost-benefit ratio favored the other two skills more significantly.

Comparing Scratch and Ember, they were quite evenly matched. Currently, Ember could be used only once per encounter, while Scratch could be continuously employed.

This analogy resembled basic attacks versus special abilities in games. Upgrading Scratch would ensure sustained output, whereas improving Ember focused on short bursts of high damage.

For Lian, instantly defeating an opponent with flair sounded more appealing, naturally leading him to choose Ember. Moreover, enhancing Ember might enable multiple consecutive uses, which aligns perfectly with Charmander's signature attacking style.

With determination, he pressed the plus sign next to Ember. His 203 Combat Points momentarily blurred before changing to 202, while the word "Ember" became noticeably clearer.

Lian continued adding points, and this time it directly consumed 5 Combat Points, reducing his total to 197.

Spending five Combat Points at once clearly indicated that the cost for upgrading moves would increase progressively. Unfortunately, Lian couldn't determine exactly how these upgrades affected the moves; otherwise, he could experiment while incrementally adding points to understand their impact better.

He decided to pause momentarily and focus on enhancing ability values first. Without knowing the specific effects of upgrading a move—whether it's unlimited or capped, if it increases power or frequency—he preferred not to rush. Investing six Combat Points to upgrade Ember twice must have already brought about noticeable changes, but there was no need for haste. Prioritizing ability value enhancements made more sense.

Although increasing ability values might slightly diminish the potential rewards from combat rating discrepancies, Lian could strategically enhance just one ability to achieve a higher level in that particular aspect.

For instance, focusing on Attack, once Lian significantly boosts this attribute, even against stronger Pokemon, victories would come easily. In such cases, high ability values become advantageous rather than a hindrance, ultimately leading to greater benefits from combat ratings.

For instance, increasing Special Attack has a high likelihood of enhancing the power of moves like Ember, thus also improving the final battle rating.

Therefore, for Lian with the Combat System, balanced development is least effective. Instead, focusing on enhancing a single ability value and continuously striving for higher ratings through battles creates a snowball effect.

Being versatile can mean being ineffective; specialization reigns supreme.

Lian began allocating points to his Special Attack ability. Upgrading abilities consumed more Combat Points than he anticipated - five points were used just to increase Special Attack by one, from 110 to 111.

Realizing that it took five Combat Points for such a minimal increment, Lian felt relieved about previously choosing to enhance his moves rather than abilities.

Continue!

Although upgrading abilities was costly, Lian still had nearly two hundred Combat Points, ample enough for further investment.

111...115...120...130!

The Special Attack ability value continued to increment steadily as Lian consumed one hundred Combat Points, raising it to 130 points.

Now with only 97 Combat Points remaining, Lian decided not to use them all and save for enhancing his moves tomorrow.

For the time being, he preferred avoiding further battles. Lian craved a relaxed lifestyle rather than constant daily confrontations.

As soon as the thought of leaving the space crossed his mind, everything went dark. Upon waking up, it was already the next day.