When it came to Nathan, things were completely different—so long as a Pokémon became his partner, it could receive full, unrestricted resource training.
On one hand, this was because Nathan had the System's shop, which allowed him to purchase virtually everything he needed.
On the other hand, it was because he was simply wealthy.
He could afford to be willful!
While his other Pokémon were still eating and drinking happily, Nathan released Xerneas as well.
"This is my mystic realm," Nathan said after letting Xerneas out. "For the next two days, you can freely explore here."
Xerneas nodded slightly, then looked around. What it saw left it stunned—Nathan's Pokémon were feasting on resources, piles of rare berries, potions, and training aids.
As a Legendary Pokémon, whose intelligence was no less than a human's, it understood perfectly well what those items were for.
Yet it hadn't expected a human like Nathan to own so many resources.
Even it, a Legendary, felt a tinge of envy.
In its old world, even for a Pokémon of its stature, obtaining such a massive amount of resources would have been extremely difficult.
But here, with Nathan, these items were spread out like they were as common as street goods, every Pokémon having their own huge pile.
"You… you have so many of these?" Xerneas asked with a trace of envy in its tone.
"What's wrong? Do you want some? I can give them to you," Nathan said at once, his eyes lighting up.
There's a saying: once you eat a man's food or take his gifts, it's hard to refuse him later.
If Xerneas ate his resources, wouldn't that make capturing it in the future far easier?
But Xerneas shook its head. These items, while rare, had little real effect on it.
Seeing it refuse, Nathan couldn't help feeling disappointed. The road to capturing Xerneas still seemed far away.
Because Volcarona's injuries had not yet fully healed, Nathan decided not to push it into training. Instead, he chose Mewtwo.
There were two reasons for this.
The first was Mewtwo's future potential. As a genetically-engineered Pokémon, its abilities in every aspect were top-tier. With near-perfect natural talent, it was the ideal candidate to be raised as Nathan's second ace.
The second reason was Mewtwo's body—it was the closest in form to a human's.
In fact, aside from the extra appendages sprouting from the back of its head and the long tail behind it, its body was almost identical to that of a human.
And this kind of body was perfect for the special training Nathan had in mind.
Because Nathan was going to teach his Pokémon the Navy Six Styles.
And Mewtwo, with its humanoid form, was the most suitable to start with.
Previously, his Pangoro had already practiced some of the Six Styles. Though it hadn't mastered them all, it had successfully learned Shave and Iron Body. Even with just those two, Pangoro was practically invincible when facing opponents of the same level.
If a Pokémon could master the entire Six Styles, it would undoubtedly crush foes of equal rank and even hold its ground against those stronger.
Just imagine the last challenge—if Mewtwo had known the Six Styles back then, Nathan was certain that the outcome wouldn't have been a narrow loss. Mewtwo might have even advanced one step closer to Legendary level.
Pulling Mewtwo aside, Nathan began explaining the principles behind Iron Body.
The Navy Six Styles were simple, yet also extremely difficult.
Simple, because they were merely different methods of controlling one's muscles.
Difficult, because this kind of precise muscle control was nearly impossible for ordinary humans—it would take years, and even then, much depended on natural talent.
Pokémon, however, far surpassed humans in this area.
"Can you control your muscles and blood circulation?" Nathan asked after finishing his explanation.
Mewtwo nodded. For him, this was easy. With a brain so developed, it would be ridiculous if he couldn't surpass Pangoro in muscle control.
"Then try tensing the abdominal muscles, according to the principle of Iron Body I just explained," Nathan instructed.
He had high expectations. Even though Mewtwo could already fly and didn't need to learn Moonwalk, he still wanted it to master the other five techniques.
Following Nathan's explanation, Mewtwo began contracting the muscles in his abdomen.
Nathan gently tapped twice with his fist, and indeed felt a noticeable hardening there.
But compared with Pangoro, who had nearly mastered Iron Body, the density was still far off.
"Use this while you practice," Nathan said, pulling out weighted wrist and ankle bands from the System shop.
Each weighed one hundred kilograms.
When he set them on the ground, even Nathan himself couldn't lift them.
Mewtwo, following his order, picked them up and strapped them on.
For the first time, surprise flickered across Mewtwo's face. The bands looked small, but once he held them, their crushing weight was obvious.
Though Mewtwo was powerful, his movements were still slightly hindered after strapping them on.
But this was only the beginning. Nathan knew Mewtwo's potential—especially once it Mega Evolved into Mewtwo X, whose strength was enough to swing around a Dynamax Gyarados. These two hundred kilograms were nothing more than an appetizer.
[System notification: Discounted items have been refreshed.]
Just then, the System's familiar, slightly irritating voice sounded.
But this time, when Nathan opened the shop, he was pleasantly surprised. The System really knew how to be adorable sometimes.
Among the new discounted items, the first one caught his eye immediately—
Gravity Regulator.
[Gravity Regulator: Alters local gravity through magnetic field manipulation. Price: **]
[Gravity multiplier: ~100.713]
[Effective range: 3,000 meters]
The effects, the range, the price—everything was perfect. Nathan bought it instantly.
The Regulator looked like a plain black box, with only a few adjustment buttons and a display screen. Its inner workings were impossible to see.
There were just five buttons: a power switch, two for multiplier control, and two for range control. After a glance, Nathan already understood how to operate it.
He set the range to maximum, the multiplier to ×1.0, and turned it on.
The instant it activated, Nathan's heart began pounding faster.
His blood circulation sped up, and his legs felt the sudden heaviness pressing against them.
The difference between gravity training and simple weighted training was enormous.
Weights only stressed the muscles. But altered gravity applied pressure to every cell, every organ, every part of the body.
Mewtwo and the other Pokémon all felt it too.
"How do you feel?" Nathan asked, turning to Mewtwo.
"Not bad. It doesn't affect me much," Mewtwo said casually, swinging an arm.
Nathan couldn't help feeling envious.
He thought then of Elite Four's Gray—the man who once used his human body alone to battle Elite-tier Pokémon. Even now, Nathan remembered that moment vividly.
That was the strongest human he had ever seen. Now, with his Pokémon undergoing intense training, Nathan decided he would train alongside them as well.
When he used Synchronization before, he could never last long.
Part of it was because his mental strength wasn't enough, but part was because his physical body couldn't keep up.
The stronger the body, the more spiritual power it could bear.
Besides, Nathan wanted to learn the Navy Six Styles himself—especially Moonwalk.
After all, what man didn't dream of commanding such overwhelming control over his own strength?
"Alright then, let's train together!"
With that, Nathan stripped off his shirt and joined Mewtwo in training.
Under the increased gravity, he first ran two laps around the area.
Just ten minutes in, he was already gasping, sweat soaking his bare torso.
After slowing down a few steps to catch his breath, he sat cross-legged and began practicing psychic power.
Picking up a pebble from the ground, he focused all his concentration on it.
Back on the plane before, he had already managed to make a spoon float—barely stepping into the threshold of psychic use.
Now, his goal was to control small objects and move them at speed.
Emptying his mind, he poured all his will into the stone.
After a few attempts, it began to hover.
Excitement welled in Nathan's heart, but a sudden ripple in his mental state made the pebble clatter back down.
For the next two days, he and all his Pokémon trained relentlessly within the gravity zone.
The multiplier rose from ×1.0 to ×1.2.
Though it looked like only a 0.2 increase, in practice the difference was massive.
For anyone with a weak heart, the added strain could be lethal, pushing their body past its limit.
But after those two days, Mewtwo's Iron Body had already reached a decent level.
It wasn't perfected yet, but his muscle hardness had increased by at least twenty percent.
When Nathan finally shut off the Regulator, he felt his body suddenly grow light, as if he'd ascended to heaven itself.
The sensation was intoxicating.
He gave a little jump—and soared over a full meter high.
(End of Chapter)