In the castle's back garden, Aven sat quietly.
Since he had already set his goal to grow stronger, he naturally had to act immediately.
At present, he already possessed quite a few advanced-level Pokémon, but among them, only two had reached King-level — his Froslass and Garchomp.
Leaning back in his wooden chair, Aven had a quill and notebook floating before him through telekinesis. While planning the next stages of training for his Pokémon, he was also striving to strengthen himself.
After recording the pre-training data of each Pokémon, he lifted his right hand, releasing the telekinetic control that held the quill and notebook aloft. The items floated back gently to the desk behind him.
His gaze drifted toward the distant sky — where two radiant suns hung in the heavens. It was the effect of Cherrim's move, Sunny Day.
At this moment, Cherrim's entire body was glowing with a faint, milky-white radiance. Through its Flower Gift ability, it continuously gathered solar energy, letting its energy expand outward like rippling waves.
The power of Flower Gift spread across the field, enveloping all the Cherrims and Cherubis, helping them absorb the energy of the sun.
"Cheer~ chee~"
The Cherubis, with their cherry-like bodies, swayed gently, absorbing solar energy into the cherries on their backs and storing it there.
Once they had accumulated enough solar energy, they would successfully evolve — transforming into Cherrim, and acquiring the same Flower Gift ability.
Now, in the entire Aspiration City, it was strictly forbidden to eat a Cherubi. Every Cherubi captured or bred would instead be transported to the Pokémon Domain, where they would be raised and nurtured into Cherrim.
After all, the Flower Gift ability could collectively increase the Attack and Special Defense of nearby Pokémon — an incredible advantage for army-scale battles.
In particular, since the city's knight order all rode Rhyhorn, the addition of Flower Gift would raise their combat power by an entire tier.
Because of this, once Aspiration City discovered this ability's potential, they immediately began to breed and raise many Cherrims, assigning them to the Breeding House. After the Oddish breeding program, this became the breeding house's second major project.
"Cheer~"
Cherrim watched quietly over the Cherubis and its fellow Cherrims below.
Especially the Cherubis — it could feel that many of them were already on the verge of evolution.
Perhaps, after absorbing enough solar energy today, they would bloom into their new forms.
"Lil~"
Nearby, Petilil was also within the range of the Flower Gift's energy.
The ability itself was a refined manipulation of solar energy.
Sensing the energy flowing through her body, Petilil tried to completely master that radiant solar force.
"Lil~"
With a low hum, Petilil drew upon the power of nature within herself.
Her ability to merge with nature allowed her to harmonize with the Flower Gift energy, drawing the sunlight into her own body.
Gradually, the temperature around her began to rise rapidly. The leaves atop her head curled slightly, warmed by the condensed power.
After a while, the milky-white radiance around her faded. Vital energy surged within her body, quickly healing the minor damage caused by the intense solar energy — nothing she couldn't handle.
"Cheer~ chee~"
Not long after she stopped, Petilil suddenly heard cries from the Cherubi group.
Her eyes brightened, and she hurriedly ran over, anticipation written all over her face.
Before long, a dazzling white light erupted from one Cherubi.
Life energy overflowed from its tiny body, shining brilliantly as the cherry stem atop its head pulsed with energy.
The smaller cherry, the one that stored its evolution energy, was now radiating with dense sunlight and life essence.
The two forces intertwined and merged into Cherubi's body. As the tiny cherry shriveled, the evolutionary light intensified — until, at last, the transformation completed.
Petals unfurled.
The Cherubi had successfully evolved into a Cherrim!
"Cheer~!"
The newly evolved Cherrim cried joyfully, its petals fully spread, its entire form wrapped in a warm, white glow.
"Cheer~ chee~!"
Seeing one of their own evolve, the other Cherrims and Cherubis danced in delight, spinning in the sunlight.
"Lil~"!
Petilil quietly watched this beautiful evolution, her eyes thoughtful.
For her to evolve, she would need to use the Sun Stone, combining its solar energy with her life energy to trigger the ascension of life.
The process Cherubi underwent — merging sunlight and vitality — offered invaluable insight for her own evolution.
She replayed the image of the intertwining forces in her mind, experimenting silently with her own energy. Waves of power radiated from her small body.
"Not enough… still not enough," Petilil murmured inwardly, raising her gaze toward the sun overhead.
Because another Cherubi had evolved, the strength of the Flower Gift aura had increased even more. Seizing the opportunity, Petilil once again tried to attune herself to the sun's energy.
"It's a pity… we still haven't found a Sun Stone this time."
From afar, Aven sighed softly as he watched.
Among the spoils taken from the Ironblood Fortress, he had acquired a large number of elemental stones — though most were Dusk Stones.
He buried those stones deep in the cemetery, where they thickened the ghost-type energy of the land. Aven had even built a stone tower near the graves to channel it further.
The Water Stones he found, on the other hand, were placed into Bibarel Lake, enhancing its aquatic ecosystem.
Now, with the eastern coast of the Black Forest finally stabilized, all the poison-type Pokémon had been relocated to the Drapion Territory.
There, Glooms absorbed the toxins from the soil while Tentacruels purified the river water. Soon, the Fair River would once again flow untainted — connecting Bibarel Lake directly to the southern seas.
Once that happened, the Bibarel of the lake would be able to swim freely to the open ocean, while water-type Pokémon from the south could also enter the inland rivers of the Pokémon Domain.
"Still, with enough mastery over solar and life energy and enough accumulation of experience and grass energy, Petilil might be able to evolve even without a Sun Stone," Aven mused.
"Once she learns Sunny Day and completely masters solar power, we can try it."
Spring — that was the deadline he and Petilil had agreed upon.
Now, in the depths of winter, the environment was ill-suited for a grass-type Pokémon relying on sunlight. But when spring came and nature recovered, it would provide the perfect setting for her evolution.
As he pondered, Aven turned his eyes toward the training field.
"Odd~ oddd~!"
On the warm grass where Cherrims trained, other grass-types often gathered.
With winter's chill setting in, this sunlit patch had become a rare refuge.
Grass-type Pokémon clustered there, basking in sunlight and quietly absorbing its warmth to aid their growth.
"Glooo~!"
Glooms and Oddishes grouped together, their bodies shimmering faintly with green light.
Nearby, Vileplume used Grassy Terrain, covering the field with vibrant energy.
Under the influence of that emerald glow, the surrounding grass grew thicker and taller. The power of grass energy flowed strongly here along with the effect of the move Growth, makes plants flourish at extraordinary speed.
Aven often called it the ultimate farming technique.
Most grass-type Pokémon possessed at least the potential to use Growth, and their mere presence could nourish nearby vegetation.
But mastering the move fully was difficult. Among all of Aven's Pokémon, only Tangrowth and a few Tangela had completely mastered it — proof of how hard it truly was.
Even so, Aven never gave up. He constantly encouraged every grass-type Pokémon to practice and personally studied ways to make the move easier to learn.
If even a handful of Pokémon could fully wield Growth, they could revitalize vast tracts of farmland, producing enough food to sustain countless people.
Moreover, Growth wasn't just for agriculture — it was a powerful support move, greatly boosting Attack and Special Attack. Used in battle, it could massively enhance combat effectiveness.
With the combined use of Sunny Day, Rototiller, Grassy Terrain, and Growth, a grass-type army could become an legion capable of matching even legendary Pokémon in sheer power.
In fact, in his previous life, many Champions and Elites were known to stand against Legendary Pokémon singlehandedly — not merely because of their main partners, but because they had trained entire Pokémon groups to fight alongside them.
Centered around their main Pokémon, with a coordinated army supporting them, they could unleash power rivaling the divine. Countless battles had already proven this.
That was why, when Aven considered how to counter legendary Pokémon, his first idea was to form a Grass-type Legion, centered on those four key moves — Sunny Day, Rototiller, Grassy Terrain, and Growth — for full-scale, army-level warfare.
Of course, this was still just a concept.
To truly fight as a group, having many Pokémon wasn't enough — they had to move, attack and defend in perfect unison.
The "Triple Powder" tactics his team had used before didn't truly count as coordinated legion warfare. Only when Petilil had channeled the grass energy of the many grass-types into a single massive Energy Ball did it barely qualify.
It reminded him of the knights and Rhyhorns during the siege of the Ironblood Fortress — when their charging formation perfectly merged their individual auras into a unified power.
That, Aven thought, was the essence of legion combat — even the simplest kind of energy fusion could unleash strength far beyond any single individual. Even a King-level Pokémon would struggle to face it head-on.
And yet, the most famous example of true army warfare still belonged to the Vespiquen colonies, with their Attack Order, Defend Order, and Heal Order — a perfect symphony of coordinated combat.
Indeed, many army-based tactics were inspired by the Vespiquen hive's combat system, merging the strength of individuals into one.
This was exactly what Aven intended to study next.
(End of Chapter)