Aaron glanced up at the sky.
The sun had already set, and night was closing in. Even if they made it to Crown City tonight, it would be late by the time they arrived, so he decided to camp outside for one more night.
"Charizard, take us over there. There's a river."
He waved toward the Pokémon below.
"Tonight, grilled fish is on me."
"GRAAAH!"
"Snooor!"
"Grenin!"
The moment they heard that, the Pokémon's eyes lit up.
Charizard carried Aaron and Greninja down toward the river, with Gyarados following close behind on its Flame Clouds.
The river was clear enough to see straight to the bottom, fish swimming lazily through the water. A Krabby was even crouched near the bank, busy catching its own dinner.
Aaron smiled.
"Same as always, everyone."
"You're up first."
The Pokémon immediately understood and split up. Some went to catch fish, others gathered firewood, while the rest went to pick wild fruit or hunt down something extra for dinner.
Meanwhile, Aaron took a long grill out of the system space, followed by seasonings, skewers, and everything else he needed.
Corviknight watched quietly from beside him.
She could no longer eat grilled fish herself, and there was a faint trace of regret in her heart. Still, being able to stay with Aaron and the others like this was already enough.
She was happy.
Aaron sensed her mood and smiled.
"Corviknight, watch closely."
"I'll teach you how to grill fish."
Corviknight's eyes focused on his hands as her voice echoed in his mind.
I want to learn. How do you make it smell that good?
"Heh. Then pay attention."
Before long, the Pokémon returned with plenty of food.
Aaron entered full grill-master mode, and after twenty minutes of careful roasting, the meal was finally ready.
The moment he gave the signal, everyone descended on the food like starving wolves, tearing happily into the grilled fish.
After dinner, the Pokémon sprawled out across the grass, playing, relaxing, and messing around with one another. Their faces were full of easy, satisfied smiles.
Seeing them like that, Aaron could not help smiling too.
Corviknight leaned close beside him, joy flickering in her eyes.
Then Aaron suddenly froze.
"System... holy crap."
"I almost forgot. Where's my reward?"
The mission had already been completed, but that damn system still had not paid out. Aaron immediately questioned it in his mind.
Red Dragon?
Pong.
The system's voice sounded in his head.
Aaron's face twitched.
This thing was still playing mahjong?
Stop yelling. I'll give it to you after this round.
A second later, the system shouted again.
Ha! I win!
Pay up. System Coins, now.
Aaron: "..."
The corner of his mouth twitched harder.
This system was getting more and more ridiculous.
Where had the reliable system from before gone?
Please come back.
Stop yelling already.
As a dignified system, how could I possibly withhold your reward? If that got out, the other systems would laugh at me.
Cheapskate.
Issuing reward now.
Congratulations on completing the mission: Capture Aotum.
Congratulations, you show-off, for obtaining the mission rewards: Skill Card: Ice Teigu — Demon's Extract ×1, Pokémon Candy (Elite) ×2.
The system sounded a little reluctant, but the rewards finally arrived.
Aaron gave the two Elite-tier Pokémon Candies to Gyarados and Sceptile.
Both of them immediately reached Elite peak, putting them at the same level as Charizard and Snorlax.
Beedrill had also reached Elite peak during the Corestone battle. It had probably gained a huge amount of battle experience after assassinating so many Gym-level and Champion-class Pokémon.
No wonder Pokémon above Champion-class were so rare in this world.
The experience needed to keep climbing was absurd.
His Pokémon had fought that many Gym-level opponents, and gaining even one level was still difficult.
As expected, medicine really is the shortcut.
Aaron thought this to himself, then turned his attention to the new reward in the system backpack.
Skill Card: Ice Teigu — Demon's Extract.
[Name: Demon's Extract (Modified Version)]
[Category: Special]
[Power: Status]
[Type: Ice]
[Description: Can only be used by Pokémon. Grants the Pokémon the power of an Ice Demon, giving it terrifying ice-manipulation abilities.
Skill 1: Frost Bloodline (Passive): Increases the power of Ice-type moves by 100% and increases the activation speed of all Ice-type moves by 50%.
Skill 2: Ice Arrow (Power 120) (Special): Condenses an arrow of ice and fires it at the enemy, dealing heavy damage.
Skill 3: Ice Shield: Instantly creates a shield of ice to block enemy attacks.
Skill 4: Glacial Meteorfall (Max Power 500) (Special): Condenses a massive ice meteor in the sky and sends it crashing down onto the enemy. The more Ice-type energy infused into the move, the greater its power.
Skill 5: Mahapadma (Special) (Status): Uses ultimate freezing power to instantly freeze space-time within a certain range for 1 second. Within the frozen space-time, only the user can move.
Note: The stronger the enemy, the shorter the freeze duration. This skill consumes enormous energy and can only be used once per day.
Note: Pokémon can independently develop additional skills from this power, giving it limitless potential.]
...
Aaron's pupils shrank.
This Skill Card was more than a little broken.
The passive alone doubled the power of Ice-type moves. That had to be the highest multiplier of any Skill Card he had seen so far.
And on top of that, it increased activation speed by 50%.
That was practically half a priority boost.
The first two active skills were straightforward enough. One attack, one defense. Ice Arrow and Ice Shield were simple but useful.
But starting with the fourth skill, things became absurd.
Glacial Meteorfall could reach a maximum power of 500.
Aaron stared at that number for a moment.
If Frost Bloodline applied on top of that, would the effective power hit 1,000?
Even Champion-class Pokémon would take one look at that and want nothing to do with it.
But the real monster was the final skill.
Mahapadma.
Freezing space-time.
That was outrageously broken.
Once that skill activated, even Greninja's Flying Thunder God might become useless. If he got caught inside the frozen space-time, he could be turned into frog-leg stew on the spot.
Of course, whether it could actually catch Greninja was another question.
His reflexes were ridiculous. The instant he sensed someone using a move like that, he could probably activate Flying Thunder God and escape the area within a fraction of a second.
Still, there was no doubt about it.
This Skill Card ranked near the very top of everything Aaron had obtained so far.
A brilliant smile spread across his face.
"Broken is good."
He looked at the card with clear satisfaction.
"I like broken."