Awakening Ambition!

Time ticked by second by second. After a full half-hour, Electivire finally woke up.

"Are you alright now?"

Tong Si had stayed faithfully by Electivire's side throughout the entire half-hour.

"Ele-ki!"

Electivire nodded.

It stretched out its arms and shook them, feeling as though a continuous stream of power was welling up in its heart.

It had nowhere to release it!

Through the scanner, Tong Si checked the data panel and saw that Electivire's potential had successfully risen to the Champion rank!

"That's fantastic!"

Tong Si was overjoyed.

With this, he now possessed two Pokémon with Champion-rank potential.

[Beep-boop]

[Congratulations to the host for completing the quest: Elevate a Pokémon's potential to the Champion rank. Reward: 500,000 points. Additionally, a new application in the mall, "Special Channels," has been unlocked.]

[New quest added: Hatch the Pokémon egg gifted by the system.]

Hearing the system chime, Tong Si was left utterly speechless.

Hatch the Pokémon egg gifted by the system?

Did they think hatching an egg was as simple as just saying so?

Tong Si had been carrying it around with him this whole time—why didn't they try making it hatch?

This egg was as stubborn as a rock, showing absolutely no signs of hatching whatsoever!

It was the ultimate, immovable nail house of an egg!

To think the system actually had the nerve to issue such a command.

Tong Si really wanted to smash the egg open just to see what was inside.

Why was it so difficult?

After letting out a silent vent of frustration, Tong Si calmed down.

Complaints aside, he still needed to check out the system's newly unlocked application.

Opening the system mall, Tong Si spotted a section labeled [Special Channels].

He opened [Special Channels], eager to see what new items were available inside.

[Armament Haki] Exchange cost: 1,000,000 points.
[Observation Haki] Exchange cost: 1,000,000 points.
[Locked]
...

"???"

"Only two items? And both cost a million points each?"

"Haki? What on earth is that..."

Tong Si was somewhat bewildered; he had no idea what this so-called Haki meant.

(This is written from the perspective of someone who has never watched One Piece, please don't flame!)

However, seeing that the exchange cost was a million points, Tong Si's brow furrowed tightly.

Whether it was a good item or not, he wasn't sure, but it was definitely a money pit.

"Should I... give it a try?"

Tong Si thought to himself. He still had over 1.3 million points left anyway, so spending a million points to exchange for some Haki shouldn't be too unreasonable, right?

At worst, when they headed to the next city later, he could just have Electivire and Murkrow grind for a few more points.

"System, exchange..."

When it came to actually making the exchange, Tong Si began to hesitate.

Armament Haki? Observation Haki?

What was the difference between the two?

After a moment of hesitation, Tong Si made his decision.

Armament Haki sounded a bit cooler, so he would go with Armament Haki.

"System, exchange for Armament Haki!"

[Beep-boop]

[Exchanged for Armament Haki *1. 1,000,000 points have been deducted. Exchange successful.]

Seeing that numerical balance drop, a dark cloud formed over Tong Si's head.

So this turned out to be a one-time consumable item after all?

Opening his [Inventory], Tong Si used the data panel to carefully read the instructions for Armament Haki.

Armament Haki:
This item is a one-time consumable product that allows any Pokémon to superficially comprehend Armament Haki.
Once activated, Armament Haki can enhance the Pokémon's physical attack, physical defense, special attack, and special defense for a short period.
It also hardens the surface of the skin.
The duration of Armament Haki depends on the Pokémon's level, potential, physical constitution, and endurance.
...

After reading the instructions for Armament Haki, Tong Si realized that this thing acted like some kind of amplifier?

It could simultaneously boost both offensive and defensive stats!

This was far stronger than ordinary boosting moves.

In his memory, it seemed there wasn't a single move that could simultaneously raise four different attributes.

"Teach Armament Haki to Electivire!"

Without any hesitation, Tong Si decisively imparted Armament Haki to the Electivire before him.

If it proved useful, he could eventually let Shuckle or Murkrow—both of whom harbored deep dreams of becoming brawlers—learn Armament Haki as well.

[Beep-boop]

[Imparting Armament Haki to Electivire. Impartation successful.]

As the system chime faded, Tong Si noticed Electivire's entire body shudder, and its physical size actually seemed to expand just a fraction.

"Electivire, do you feel any different?"

Tong Si inquired.

"Ele-ki..."

Electivire closed its eyes, beginning to absorb the knowledge the system had just transmitted to it.

About ten minutes later, Electivire opened its eyes.

"Ele-ki!"

It let out a sharp roar, its fur standing completely on end.

Immediately afterward, Tong Si noticed that the aura radiating from Electivire had become somewhat fierce and intimidating.

"Why don't you try using Thunderbolt?"

Tong Si wanted to test the power of Armament Haki.

"Ele-ki!"

A golden bolt of lightning erupted from Electivire's body.

Amplified by the combination of the Cell Battery and Magnet.

It was a Thunderbolt at nearly one and a half times its normal power, carrying an added surge of magnetic force.

At the same time, the power of Armament Haki was beginning to manifest itself slightly.

The might of this Thunderbolt was remarkably domineering.

"Did its move just become a bit more aggressive and wild?"

Tong Si was puzzled.

If that was all it did, wouldn't this one million points have been wasted?

"Let's try Brick Break next!"

Tong Si said, steeling himself.

Having Electivire use Thunderbolt just now was actually more of a test for the utility of the Cell Battery.

Sure enough, the Cell Battery combined with the Magnet could amplify Electivire's move power by fifty percent.

And that was without even factoring in the electricity stored within its energy reserves.

Otherwise, it would be at least double the power.

If it were a dual-powered Thunderbolt... Tong Si didn't even dare to imagine it.

Wouldn't challenging opponents above his level be an absolute breeze from now on?

Returning to the present, Electivire executed Brick Break.

The originally pearly-white glow suddenly shifted to pitch black.

A black Brick Break?

"What's going on? Electivire, did your Brick Break move evolve?"

Tong Si asked, somewhat bewildered.

"Ele-ki?"

Electivire scratched its head with its free hand, equally perplexed as to why it had entered this state.

However, the Brick Break move did indeed feel somewhat stronger than before.

Boom—!

Electivire slashed through the empty air, and Tong Si could feel that aside from the wild, domineering presence brought by Armament Haki, the power of the move itself seemed to have grown slightly stronger.

At the same time, when using Brick Break, Electivire's fist felt noticeably sturdier than before.

Like a solid block of iron.

"Could it be that the localized hardening of Armament Haki refers to this?"

Tong Si speculated.

Next, Tong Si proceeded to test Electivire's other moves one by one.

The conclusion he could draw was:
Armament Haki could significantly boost the power of physical-type moves.
As for special-type moves, the effect was slightly inferior.
Furthermore, whenever Armament Haki was activated, Electivire would enter a berserk, domineering state.
This exerted a terrifying intimidation effect on other Pokémon.
It was essentially equivalent to giving Electivire an extra Intimidate Ability?
In fact, compared to ordinary Pokémon with the Intimidate Ability,
Electivire's ferocious aura seemed even more overbearing.
As for the duration of Armament Haki, for now, it lasted only three minutes.
After three minutes, Electivire would be utterly exhausted.
Clearly, Armament Haki consumed a tremendous amount of Electivire's stamina.
Looked at this way, Armament Haki could only be used in conjunction with pink-blue Pokéblocks.
One consumed stamina to an extreme degree, while the other quickly restored it.
However, since pink-blue Pokéblocks could only be consumed once a day, the number of times Armament Haki could be activated each day could not exceed twice either.
... (To be continued)