Chapter 5: Advancement
Chapter 5: Advancement
Bally Ranch lay to the north of Shiyuan Town, famed as the largest ranch in the vicinity and renowned far and wide for its high-quality Mareep wool and rich Moo-Moo Milk.
At the heart of Bally Ranch stood a three-story wooden house.
Creak.
Bally pushed open the front door, and a blinding shaft of sunlight struck his face. He instinctively raised his arm to shield his eyes.
It was a while before he lowered his hand, gazing with pride at the vast, fertile pasture before him, though this pride soon gave way to a quiet sigh as he bowed his head.
Alas.
As the eldest son of his generation, Bally had inherited the ranch two years ago when his father retired, becoming the new master of Bally Ranch.
Yet, with the market in a slump, the ranch’s income had dwindled, and Bally found himself increasingly anxious about the future.
Shaking his head as though to scatter his worries, Bally set out to begin his daily chores.
He made his way to the storage shed beside the house, dragging out several heavy sacks of feed of various kinds, and emptied them one by one into a bowl-shaped machine.
From the depths of the shed, he fetched a small box, carefully removing several yellow berries and placing them into the machine as well.
He closed the lid and, with a gentle press of a button, the machine began to hum, producing one by one pellets of fine feed gleaming with a golden light.
This was the Bally family’s special Mareep feed. With prolonged use, it enhanced the quality of the wool, making garments made from it far more durable, elegant, and beautiful.
Sadly, with the recent advent of synthetic materials, even the ranch’s signature wool had seen a sharp drop in sales.
Baa...
As Bally drove his small feed truck into the Mareep pasture, the Mareep flocked toward him in a swarm.
Their dark blue skin was wrapped in fluffy pale yellow wool; their ears and tails were striped in black and yellow, and at the tip of their long tails hung an orange orb, within which faint sparks of electricity could be seen.
Bally poured the feed into the trough, leaned against his truck, and watched the Mareep eat greedily. A trace of satisfaction crept across his face.
But he failed to notice that, in the corner, one seemingly ordinary Mareep’s eyes gleamed with intelligence.
...
Today marked the second day since Lu Yun was born on this ranch known as Bally Ranch.
Though he had become a Mareep, Lu Yun was quite pleased.
He knew that, as a Pokémon raised by humans, he was under the protection of the ranch and could live a carefree, well-fed life, safe from danger, focusing on his growth and working diligently to gather points.
Lu Yun opened his system interface to check his stats.
Species: Mareep
Level: 1 (17/100)
Moves: Tackle, Growl
Evaluation: An ordinary, ranch-raised Mareep
Held items: [IV Enhancer (Small)], [TM: Hidden Power]
“Huh? There’s a new attribute,” Lu Yun noticed. Compared to before, his status bar now included a “Held Items” section.
“How do I use it?”
Beep!
As Lu Yun pondered, the system chimed when his gaze focused on an item.
“Use [IV Enhancer (Small)]?”
Lu Yun glanced at the other Mareep around him, then hurried to an inconspicuous corner and silently willed: “Use!”
A surge of warmth flooded from the top of his head, sweeping through his entire body. Lu Yun felt waves of comfort spreading through every limb.
Soon, as the warmth faded, another system notification sounded.
“Item [IV Enhancer (Small)] has been used.”
“HP +2”
“Special Attack +3”
“Speed +3”
Lu Yun’s heart leapt with delight.
“Looks like I’m pretty lucky—out of a possible ten points, I gained eight.”
“But… how do I view my full individual values?”
Beep!
“Individual values are hidden attributes and cannot be checked.”
Lu Yun frowned, but let the matter drop.
In the world of Pokémon, a Pokémon’s individual values—or IVs—were fixed at birth and could not be changed, not even through evolution.
IVs were divided into six stats: HP, Special Attack, Attack, Special Defense, Defense, and Speed, each ranging from 1 to 31.
These values determined how well each attribute grew over time. While two Pokémon of the same species might not differ much at first, as they leveled up, those with higher IVs would eventually outpace those with lower ones by a wide margin.
In the “Pokémon” games of Lu Yun’s previous life, players would often breed and hatch eggs to acquire Pokémon with the best possible IVs for their main battle team.
In short, IVs were akin to what people call “aptitude.”
That made the [IV Enhancer (Small)]—a rare item that could alter a Pokémon’s innate potential—particularly precious.
Although Lu Yun could not see his own IVs, he believed that, as a Pokémon with a human soul, even if his aptitude was low, he could steadily improve himself step by step—especially now that he had used such a special item.
“Next... it’s your turn!” Lu Yun’s gaze shifted as he decided to use the other item he had redeemed earlier.
Beep!
“Use [TM: Hidden Power]?”
“Use!”
Pokémon moves came in all shapes and forms, and “Hidden Power” was among the most peculiar. First, almost every Pokémon could learn it; second, while it was classified as a Normal-type move, the energy it produced varied for each individual Pokémon.
For example, a Fire-type Tepig might unleash a Water-type Hidden Power, and a Water-type Marshtomp might awaken an Electric-type.
As the item was used, specks of deep blue light slowly gathered in the air around Lu Yun. With a sense of elegance and nobility, the particles drifted toward him, forming a translucent, deep blue halo.
Buzz!
When the energy reached its peak, the halo suddenly contracted inward, then burst outward in a luminous ring, sending waves of dazzling energy radiating in every direction.
Crack!
The tall grass around Lu Yun was shredded the instant it touched the blue energy.
From above, one would see that the halo had torn all the grass in a five-meter circle around Lu Yun, leaving a scene of utter chaos.
Baa...
The nearby Mareep, startled, scattered in all directions.
Lu Yun’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly fled the “scene of the crime” as well.