Chapter 60: The Mighty Late Bloomer and the Rock-Type Bond!

After the three Pokémon had acquainted themselves in this special way, Xiachi finally introduced, "Floragato, Misdreavus, this is Larvitar, our new partner from now on. Its condition is a bit unique, so you both need to take good care of it."

Given Larvitar's growth rate, it would evolve into Pupitar at level 35, and only reach its true evolution as the desert tyrant, Tyranitar, at level 55.

For quite a long time, it would remain the team's mascot.

Fortunately, it wasn't a Deino.

Otherwise, waiting until level 50 just to evolve into a Zweilous with preliminary combat capability would be even more agonizing.

"Meow-ti~"

Floragato nodded in agreement.

As far as it was concerned, anyone who posed no threat to its intimacy with Xiachi was completely unworthy of attention.

Larvitar was naturally no exception; taking care of it would just be a casual task.

"Mee-reo~"

Misdreavus also spun around happily and nodded.

For it, with Larvitar joining the team, its family status automatically rose by one rank. Happy!

Xiachi thought for a moment and specifically warned, "Right, Misdreavus, don't feed Larvitar in private. Its daily energy intake is strictly limited."

Misdreavus wouldn't mess up serious matters. Though it didn't understand why, it still nodded in consent.

Having introduced Larvitar to Floragato and Misdreavus, Xiachi then said to Larvitar, "Larvitar, they are Floragato and Misdreavus, your partners from now on. When I'm not around, if you have any trouble, you can ask them to help you."

"Garu?"

Due to its physical condition, Larvitar's brain was still in a developmental stage, and it tilted its head in thought for quite a long time.

Only after Xiachi repeated it once more did it nod with a look of half-understanding.

To prevent Larvitar from chewing up things around the house, Xiachi had intentionally set many restrictions for it.

For instance, aside from the items in its own room, it was forbidden to bite anything anywhere else.

And its room was naturally that super-duper large Pokémon chamber—

Floragato insisted on sleeping with Xiachi, and Misdreavus didn't really care where it slept, hovering in the air for a nap whenever it felt tired.

Giving the entire Pokémon room exclusively to Larvitar was completely fine.

Thus, the breeding supplies provided by the breeding center for Larvitar finally came in handy.

They were placed in the room for it to chew on freely anyway, since they were freebies, and there would be no heartbreak if it chewed them to pieces.

After taking Larvitar around the house to familiarize it with the environment, Xiachi settled it into its quarters.

Then, he took out the universal healing capsule from the system and placed it in front of Larvitar.

Patting Larvitar's little head, he softly said, "Eat it, and the pain will end. You will begin a brand-new... Pokémon life."

Larvitar swallowed it whole without any hesitation, and then groggily collapsed onto the floor.

Watching this scene, Xiachi asked in his mind, "Is there anything I need to do during this period?"

[No, the treatment will be completely finished in 24 hours.]

Xiachi nodded in reassurance. Giving one last gaze to the deeply sleeping Larvitar, he quietly stepped out of the room and closed the door.

The routine task after catching a new Pokémon was naturally checking its stats.

Only now, having settled everything, did Xiachi have the time to take care of it.

Opening the system's Pokémon status interface, right below Floragato and Misdreavus, Larvitar's chibi avatar impressively appeared.

[Larvitar]
[Type: Rock / Ground]
[Ability: Guts]
[Gender: Male]
[Level: 18]
[Stats: HP 46 (-18), Attack 38 (-15), Defense 31 (-12), Sp. Atk 24 (-9), Sp. Def 31 (-12), Speed 24 (-9)]
[Moves: Stomping Tantrum, Rock Slide, Bite, Assurance, Outrage, Focus Energy, Rock Throw, Tackle, Leer]
[Bond: Dark-type (2): Winning against opponents collects Fear Values. Every hundred layers of Fear Value will provide 5% additional damage and grant a Fear Chest. Opening a Fear Chest grants rewards! (Current Fear Value: 94.3)]
[Bond: Rock-type (Unactivated): Bond Pokémon possess (15/20/25%) fixed damage reduction. Each time a move is used, Special Defense increases by (5/10/15%) (Stack limit of twenty layers)! (Six Rock-type: When Special Defense reaches the stack limit, the Pokémon's size and HP will increase by 100%!)]
[Bond: Late Bloomer (1): The Pokémon cannot gain attribute stat increases before level 10, returning to normal after level 10. For every 10 levels gained, Late Bloomer Pokémon will additionally gain (5/10/15%) of their current all-attribute increase (when the bond upgrades, the extra attributes gained from previous level-ups will be automatically retrofitted). Every 20 levels gained, the Pokémon can choose a direction for enhancement! (Six Late Bloomer: Level cap increased to 120!)]

...

Hiss—

Is this what a pseudo-legendary is?

Xiachi was stunned by these two new bonds.

The new Rock-type bond was purely a defensive-type bond.

Yet its strength was terrifyingly high.

The noble fixed damage reduction combined with the stacking Special Defense from using moves—if paired with Light Screen,

it could genuinely be called a Wall of Sighs for special attackers in the true sense of the word!

And the stat bonuses from the Late Bloomer bond happened to build sufficient advantages for it in the early stages of combat, complementing each other perfectly.

The only flaw was perhaps that the growth cycle was far too long.

Roughly calculating, when Larvitar reached level 20, it would have 30+ HP stats, and a 5% increase would only be 1.5.

However, when it reached level 50 and had 100+ HP stats, that 5% would turn into 5 points!

Moreover, when Larvitar evolved into Pupitar at level 50, its HP stats would definitely far exceed a mere 100 points.

Equipment bonuses and the extra attributes accumulated previously would stack exponentially like a compounding game.

And this was merely the primary-level bond; the attribute bonus for the six-piece Late Bloomer bond reached as high as 15%!

Putting everything else aside, if Larvitar could reach level 120, the attribute bonus from the Late Bloomer bond alone would yield a benefit of over 400%!

Of course, achieving the condition of reaching level 120 itself sounded like an absolute fairytale.

Compared to that, assembling the six-piece Late Bloomer bond didn't seem quite as absurd.

Regardless, even though Larvitar was currently, and would remain for a long time, a harmless little mascot,

there is an old saying: Never bully a youth into poverty!

As long as Larvitar is given enough time to grow, it will eventually make the world tremble!

"Piplup-piplup~"

The suddenly ringing notification sound from the Piplup chat app interrupted Xiachi's train of thought.

Opening his phone, he saw it was a message from Lin Lange.

"Want to battle? Larvitar versus Beldum."

Xiachi: "......"

He had just finished talking about not bullying a youth into poverty, and an aggressive villain had already shown up. Unfortunately, Larvitar was currently still a "fallen genius" and couldn't take on this battle.

Besides, for the current Larvitar, battles held no benefits; its top priority was to nurse its health back to shape, at least until it evolved into Pupitar.

Xiachi had no choice but to throw down some harsh words on Larvitar's behalf: "Don't bully a youth for being poor, for the tides turn every thirty years!"

Lin Lange: "?"

Xiachi: "Let's wait a bit. It was just caught, so I can't tell much yet."

Lin Lange had no choice but to drop the matter.

Since it was a Pokémon purchased from the breeding center, the relevant paperwork for catching Larvitar could simply be handled by the center.

Soon, Xiachi's Trainer ID had a third Pokémon registered under his name: Larvitar.

As for Larvitar's training guide, Xiachi felt it wasn't really necessary.

Because his Larvitar was far too special; its energy intake had to be maintained at an extremely delicate equilibrium point.

Everything had to rely on crossing the river by feeling the stones.

Was it troublesome? Definitely.

Yet when Xiachi looked at Larvitar, lying flat on the ground fast asleep like a plush doll,

he felt that everything was worth it.