◉◉◉◉◉
If Kael had learned monstrous physical durability and all-type resistance from Infernape…
Then from his second instructor, he had gained something far more refined:
Superior fighting technique and razor-sharp perception.
These didn't look as flashy as raw power or defense, but in Kael's eyes, they were just as valuable perhaps even more.
After all, the soul inside Kael's Machop body was a reincarnated adult, carrying memories from three different lives.
In a world overflowing with fragmented information in his past life, Kael had absorbed countless ideas, perspectives, and analytical habits most Pokémon would never understand.
These advantages made Golurk's teachings feel almost natural to him something he learned at terrifying speed.
So fast, in fact, that he had begun to innovate on his own.
From the outside, his rapid progress would've shocked anyone.
With Golurk's precise martial foundation beneath him, Kael was confident he could one day forge a unique fighting style one that belonged only to him.
The walk from Blazing Peak to the dorms wasn't long, and chatting with Farfetch'd made it feel even shorter.
Before long, they reached the lodging area.
Kael waved goodbye, then approached his room.
The door was painted in a pale white coat, thin enough that the messy wood grain beneath was still visible.
A simple wooden door nothing unusual to the eye.
But what happened next was anything but ordinary.
Kael stood still in front of it.
Hands at his sides.
Not reaching for the handle.
Not moving at all.
His crimson eyes stared straight ahead.
A faint wind seemed to ripple outward from him subtle, invisible, but charged with a strange clarity.
If someone stood in front of Kael right now, they would've noticed something odd—
His crimson pupils glowed faintly with an icy silver-blue light.
Hummmm…
Soft blue sparks materialized in the air like a swarm of tiny glowing fireflies.
The lights drifted together, merging into a larger shimmering cluster.
Graceful as floating mist, the cluster drifted to the door handle.
The metal handle lit up with the faint blue glow—
Creaaaaak…
Under the telekinetic pressure, the handle slowly turned.
Click.
The latch released.
The door eased open, revealing the tidy room within.
Kael smiled proudly at his handiwork.
That pale-blue energy had been none other than the Aura he'd learned from Lucario.
Unexpectedly, Aura had been his biggest breakthrough in the past three months.
Lucario had mentioned that Kael possessed extraordinary Aura affinity, but even so, the rate at which he learned this power had shocked him.
What Kael just demonstrated was a simple form of Aura materialization a basic application.
This wasn't even Aura's specialty.
The ability that made Aura famous across the Pokémon world was its mind-sense or, more accurately:
Empathic perception.
Psychic resonance.
Heart-reading.
Aura was the spiritual energy of all living beings.
Those who mastered Aura could sense the emotional waves radiating naturally from other creatures revealing their intent before they even acted.
In daily life, this gave Kael a frightening advantage.
He could sense someone's emotions and motives with uncanny precision.
Communication became effortless even with humans.
Language barriers simply… disappeared.
With Aura, Kael could reach into the heart's wavelength like a psychic-type Pokémon and exchange thoughts directly.
If he trained long enough, Kael believed he could one day communicate with plants as well.
Even flowers were technically living beings.
Their waves were faint, but not nonexistent.
In battle, Aura's applications were even more incredible.
Through empathic sensing, Kael could read the opponent's intent, predict their next move, react ahead of time sidestepping, countering, or striking instantly.
It worked very much like a certain sensory ability from an anime in his past life…
A "future sight" of instinct.
Of course, there were limits.
Against opponents of similar or slightly higher strength, his Aura affinity allowed him to track their emotional wavelength clearly.
But against beings vastly stronger than himself or Pokémon with formidable psychic resistance he'd be blind.
For example, if he tried reading the Aura of the mythical Zeraora from his past life…
Its electromagnetic field would immediately repel his spiritual reach.
Worse, it might trace the connection back and zap him through the psychic link.
So choosing the right targets to sense was crucial.
Aura had many other applications too:
environment scanning,
x-ray-like perception,
defensive barriers,
energy blasts…
Kael had experimented with all of them.
But true mastery required choosing the right technique for the right moment.
Kael sat on the edge of his bed and stretched lazily.
The things he'd learned from his three instructors couldn't be measured by simple numbers or stats.
Those lessons, the intangible ones, were everything he had just reflected on.
As for the quantifiable parts of his growth?
Those were stored in something else.
Something quietly waiting in the corner of his vision.
Level progress.
Skill ratings.
Energy reserves.
Kael narrowed his eyes and focused on the faint, translucent Poké-emblem hovering at the edge of his sight.
Ding!
A crisp chime rang out.
A familiar blue interface unfolded So simple and janky it felt like it came from a third-rate programmer in his past life.
The system menu filled his vision completely.
◉◉◉◉◉
~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◉◉◉◉◉
For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access Patreon normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!
