Lian glanced at his moveset list, and his gaze locked onto Weather Ball following Fire Punch; it appeared dimmed.
"Indeed, I can learn it."
He promptly activated the Weather Ball move. However, this move relies on weather conditions for its effectiveness. Currently, Lian hadn't learned Sunny Day, so he would have to depend on Ninetales' hidden Ability instead.
Ninetales' hidden Ability is Drought, which could already be enabled, allowing seamless switching without consuming Combat Points once activated.
However, with insufficient Combat Points, enabling it seemed to require 1,000 points. Since there was still ample time before the competition, Lian wasn't in a rush.
With only 906 Combat Points, Lian pondered what else to enhance. He noticed that his Normal-type Energy Control Rating had increased to 5%, likely due to recent practice combined with learning Weather Ball.
The Dragon-type Energy Control Rating remained unchanged at 10%. Unless Lian could learn new Dragon-type moves, further improvement would solely rely on accumulating Combat Points.
Surprisingly, Lian noticed that his Fire Energy Control Rating had increased by 1%, which delighted him immensely. He suspected it was due to using Fire Blast earlier, even though he only released it once and hadn't fully mastered it. Nonetheless, the system recognized it as learned.
A 1% increase in Control Rating is equivalent to gaining 2,000 Combat Points - what a massive boost!
Lian laughed heartily, feeling incredibly fortunate. This also indicated that learning more Fire-type moves could indeed help improve his Control Rating. If he could grasp additional Fire-type techniques, his mastery might continue to rise automatically.
However, currently, there seem to be very few Fire-type moves available for him to learn; most are inaccessible.
No wonder most Pokemon have low Control Ratings. Without the system, simply practicing moves to enhance control would progress at a snail's pace. Only Legendary Pokemon typically possess significantly high Control Ratings.
This is precisely why Legendary Pokemon are so powerful. Their superior Control Ratings enable them to effortlessly manipulate energy according to their will. Even if regular Pokemon achieve similar growth levels, they cannot match up against such opponents.
For example, Moltres continuously unleashing Flamethrower—how could anyone evade that? It's like Moltres operates in an infinite firepower mode, while other Pokemon function in normal mode.
Lian increased Weather Ball's proficiency to 20 points, which should be sufficient. Combined with Ninetales' Drought Ability, it would yield impressive results.
"Hmm, seems my Steel-type Control Rating has also improved."
Lian noticed his Steel-type Energy Control Rating had previously dropped to 0%, as he had exchanged all those points for Combat Points. Now, he found it had replenished back to 2%.
During this period, Lian consistently practiced Steel-type moves, refining his mastery of Steel energy, and it proved fruitful.
He promptly converted the Steel-type Control Rating into Combat Points. With a 2% Control Rating, he gained 400 Combat Points, smoothly increasing his total to 1,306 points.
"I can now activate Ninetales' Drought Ability."
Excitement stirred within Lian. Although he could learn Sunny Day himself, doing so would waste a valuable attack opportunity during battles, considering how much fire energy Sunny Day likely consumes.
Moreover, he didn't have a Move Disk for Sunny Day yet, unsure when he might acquire it.
With Ninetales possessing the Drought Ability, Lian's Solar Power would finally come into play. Ever since activating the Solar Power Ability, it felt like it had been gathering dust without much use.
Lian couldn't wait any longer; combining Sunny Day with Solar Power would be absolutely unstoppable, blasting through everything in its path!
Spending one thousand Combat Points was neither too much nor too little, and Lian didn't mind at all. Now, upgrading his Control Rating required consuming two thousand Combat Points per increment, making a mere thousand points insignificant.
Once the Drought Ability is activated, he could effortlessly switch between Abilities. For future Fire-type gym battles, simply swapping back to Flame Body would suffice. Compared to Flame Body, Drought has greater utility.
If only I could choose the target for combat ratings myself, Lian thought. Currently, each day's first battle determines the combat rating, leaving it entirely dependent on luck. Encountering different opponents results in varying amounts of Combat Points gained.
If Lian could lock onto specific targets, selecting Trainers with Pokemon like Snorlax or Miltank, he could easily earn three to four thousand Combat Points from a single battle, possibly even more.
Lian glanced at Ninetales' attributes panel; despite being Level 32, its abilities were still quite mediocre.
Currently, Ninetales had not yet learned Fire Blasts but had mastered Nasty Plot instead. Unfortunately, Lian couldn't learn Nasty Plot himself; if he could, it would make him virtually unbeatable.
Nasty Plot was indeed powerful. When facing a Pokemon with high Special Attack output, Ninetales could endure the opponent's moves, use Nasty Plot once, and then leverage the significantly boosted Special Attack ability to defeat them.
Quickly, Lian activated Ninetales' Drought Ability. With Drought active during battles, it was akin to having Steel Fire Mountain constantly present. The weather advantage provided a substantial boost to combat effectiveness, far beyond just minor improvements.
After activating Drought, Lian switched his own Blaze Ability to Solar Power. In typical battles, Lian avoided putting himself in danger, making it difficult for the Blaze Ability to trigger frequently. Now, switching to Solar Power seemed more advantageous.
With Combat Points running low, Lian began practicing moves. He hadn't yet mastered Heat Wave, suspecting that his fire energy might be insufficient, so he temporarily set it aside.
Lian planned to learn Dragon-type moves such as Dragon Claw and Dragon Pulse. With the system space providing a five-fold increase in Energy Control Rating, his current Dragon-type control stood at 50%.
He aimed to rapidly enhance his Dragon-type mastery but decided not to rely on Combat Points for this purpose; instead, he would focus on learning Dragon-type moves.
Lian had already mastered Dragon Breath and Dragon Rage. Dragon Pulse is essentially an advanced version of Dragon Rage, both releasing powerful shockwaves.
However, compared to Dragon Rage, Dragon Pulse possesses greater potency. Learning Dragon Pulse was essential for Lian's future repertoire, as it is considered one of the stronger Special Attack moves among Dragon-type techniques.
With Dragon Pulse, he could effectively replace Dragon Rage. Combining Flamethrower with Dragon Pulse would create a formidable move set. Given that Dragon Pulse has a base power of 85, it undoubtedly surpasses Dragon Rage in strength.
Of course, mastering Dragon Pulse wouldn't be easy. Lian would have to gradually learn and explore using the increased Control Rating from the system space. Achieving the correct execution of Dragon Pulse likely requires significant time, but fortunately, having Dragon Rage as a reference provides some guidance rather than starting from scratch.
***
At the Pokemon Academy's southern training grounds.
Kalia finished her breakfast early and arrived promptly at the training area. However, there were few students present as most were attending classes, including those from the mid-level class. They typically only came to train after their lessons concluded.
Observing the empty training grounds, Kalia prepared to start her session by releasing three Pokemon.
As soon as Lian emerged, he looked towards Ninetales, noting that its Ability had been changed to Drought. According to this Ability's effect, upon entering battle, it should trigger intensified sunlight, transforming the weather into Sunny Day conditions.
Indeed, Ninetales sensed something unusual. After landing, it swayed its tails, suddenly feeling intensely heated, which also radiated warmth around it. The fire elemental energy in the air began steadily increasing.
"Why is it so hot?" Kalia wondered aloud. Although it was summer, it was still morning, usually a comfortable time temperature-wise. Yet, after standing for just a moment, she felt uncomfortably warm and started sweating.
Ninetales was even more puzzled, sensing its influence on the surrounding sunlight. It never possessed such a capability before; how did it suddenly emerge?
Lian noticed Ninetales looking up at the sky, realizing that it had discovered the change. However, it depended on whether Kalia would notice too, as incorporating the Drought Ability could significantly impact battles once acknowledged.
Standing beside Ninetales, Lian decided to test his Solar Power ability, which he hadn't had the chance to try until now. This was an opportunity to experience the changes brought about by the Solar Power Ability.