016: The First Calm Mind (2)!
However, during initial psychic training, aside from recorded biometric warnings compiled by Curry, a psychic researcher affiliated with the Lavender Town Paranormal Monitoring Bureau, there was no documented evidence that Calm Mind directly consumes mental power. This theoretical gap existed despite decades of research by Saffron City's Psychic Association and figures such as Sabrina, the strongest known Psychic-type Gym Leader.
As a result, most cases of mental exhaustion caused by Calm Mind occur during a first attempt, when users unknowingly push themselves past their psychic limit. Even so, due to the human body's built-in self-defense mechanisms similar to the autonomic neural responses observed in experimental subjects by the Hoenn Institute of Psychic Studies complete mental depletion during one's first Calm Mind is extremely rare. It's widely considered a one-in-a-million event, and in controlled environments, thought to be nearly impossible.
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Because individual mental reserves vary significantly, the Psychic Association assesses talent by measuring a user's initial Calm Mind duration under safe conditions. This test serves as a benchmark for determining one's innate psychic capacity.
As of the current psychic registry records for six-year-olds:
The fastest entry time into the Calm Mind Contest Condition is 7 minutes,
The longest recorded first session lasted 29 minutes and 46 seconds.
But Ash didn't even need a full minute to enter samadhi, and his first Calm Mind lasted an astonishing three hours. If this were made public, it would likely send shockwaves through the Psychic Association. For many high-level psychics especially Sabrina's apprentices this kind of performance would be seen as not only unprecedented but bordering on mythological.
Just this record alone would easily qualify Ash for the classification of a "Mega Genius" the highest natural psychic tier acknowledged by the Association.
However, what truly defied logic wasn't just the speed or duration of Ash's Calm Mind it was the fact that he managed to fully deplete his mental energy and still recover.
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Children born with psychic potential typically have higher-than-average mental energy. Still, mental capacity fluctuates depending on genetics, training environment, and even spiritual lineage as noted in historical case files such as the mysterious child "Hope" from Rota, rumored to have aura sensitivity.
Different Calm Mind methods vary slightly in how they consume mental energy, but generally, most children of a certain age fall within a standard mental strength range. Thus, the duration of a first Calm Mind is a strong indicator of total capacity.
This principle is expressed through a standard Psychic Association model:
At age six, the average mental power is assigned a pseudovalue of 10.
All officially sanctioned Calm Mind techniques drain mental energy at similar rates.
From this baseline, evaluators can estimate mental consumption percentage:
For example, if a child performs Calm Mind for the first time and sustains it long enough to expend 7 units of mental energy (out of the pseudovalue 10), their efficiency is calculated as 7 ÷ 10 = 70%. This number reflects not only psychic capacity but also potential compatibility with advanced techniques such as Mind Merge, Extrasensory Feedback Loop, or Dual-Type Contest States.
Thanks to Curry's biometric feedback record, once the body triggers a "psychic distress" alarm usually at the exact threshold discovered during the first Calm Mind the same percentage becomes the future limiter. No matter how much mental power is gained over time, once the consumption exceeds that established threshold, the user's self-preservation response forcibly ends the Calm Mind session.
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There's also the concept of mental fatigue and cooldown even with multiple short Calm Mind sessions in a day, total frequency is limited by biological constraints. While hard work matters, if two people train equally, the one with the higher first-time percentage will always have a higher ceiling for growth.
According to Association guidelines, here is the standard psychic aptitude scale based on first Calm Mind efficiency:
Below 30%: Common Talent
30–50%: Excellent
50–70%: Genius
70–80%: Mega Genius
Over 80%: Theoretical Danger Zone
Exceeding 80% on a first Calm Mind carries grave risk. Historically, children whose mental power consumption passed this point often suffered irreparable harm: some fell into comas, others into vegetative states. In one tragic incident detailed in the Saffron Archives, a prodigious girl named Mina reached 91% and never woke up.
But Ash, on his first attempt, reached a full 100%. According to psychic theory, this level has never been recorded in practice only in simulation or theoretical models. It was considered impossible.
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Generally speaking, longer Calm Mind duration and higher efficiency are both indicators of stronger future psychic cultivation potential. But the reason the Association warns against efficiency over 80% is simple: the brain suffers irreversible trauma when pushed beyond its endurance. Even in advanced psychic soldiers from the Galarian Warfront, such a threshold wasn't survivable without massive augmentation or psychic dampeners.
And yet, despite clearly exhausting his mental energy to a theoretical 100%, Ash simply fainted—and woke up unharmed. No signs of neural damage. No signs of mental regression.
He was still alive. Still functional. Still whole.
Still standing… as a theoretical "One-in-Eternity" Psychic Talent.
And yet, he didn't even know it!!!
"Next time… I really can't mess around like that."
After searching psychic health forums and archived journal entries on his bedroom computer, Ash began to grasp the scale of the risk he'd taken. A cold sweat broke across his forehead.
In his previous life, he had died in his early twenties after jumping into a river to save someone. Drowned before help arrived.
Now that he'd been granted a second life in the world of Pokémon and as Ash Ketchum, no less he wasn't about to throw it away again.
"I got into the meditative state in under a minute… stayed there for three hours… It's gotta be because I'm not just any six-year-old. Maybe it's the soul of my past self or maybe the mental strength of someone who's already lived a life."
"And the fact that I actually survived 100% consumption… must be some kind of protagonist aura."
He let out a shaky laugh, half-joking, half-grateful.
"Hoo... hoo..."
Ash stepped toward the window. He opened it wide, feeling the wind rush in. He raised his arms to the sky, letting the breeze cool the tension in his body. In that moment, clarity returned and resolve.
Then, without hesitation, Ash called out softly:
"System"
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