Munchlax's evolution had been expected, of course.
Still, when the Snorlax who had left such a strong impression in the original series of Pokémon actually appeared in front of him, Dark couldn't hold back his excitement.
Compared to Munchlax in its "infant stage," Snorlax was clearly more mature, and even softer.
Dark hadn't done a single thing yet before he flopped straight onto its belly, pressing his whole body against it and letting out a sigh of pure "wish fulfilled."
Snorlax's body was close to blue or navy, its belly white, and its eyes were always squinted shut. It seemed no one had ever seen them open.
It was obviously sleepier than it had been as a Munchlax. It had barely evolved, and it was already swaying on its feet.
If its master Dark hadn't been enjoying its belly, it would have flopped onto its back and gone straight to sleep.
Snorlax was gentle by nature, just as its appearance suggested.
When it lay on its back, its huge belly became a playground for small animals.
But whatever you do, never wake it while it sleeps. That would send it into a rare tantrum to show its displeasure.
In short, it ate until full and slept, woke and ate again. With its mighty stomach, it could digest anything with its gastric juices, and it would eat even poisonous or rotten things without a second thought.
Its weight had jumped from 105 kg to 460 kg, and its appetite had risen right along with it, to 460 kg of food. That was a full nine hundred and twenty jin!
If it didn't eat 460 kg of food in a day, Snorlax would feel miserable.
Compared to Greed, Dark had always felt that Gluttony and Sloth suited it better.
But for now, its compatibility with Greed seemed high enough.
…
After quite a while, Dark remembered that Snorlax's evolution lasted only about fifteen minutes, and he reluctantly tore himself out of the belly trap.
Even the contours of his face seemed to have gone soft, and his eyes were all mushy, as though he'd been infected by the "Snorlax factor."
Meanwhile, the moment Snorlax noticed its master had left, it finally gave in. It plopped down on its rear, rolled onto its back with its belly to the sky, and began to snore. It had actually fallen asleep just like that!
"What happened to sleeping after we eat?"
Dark took the chance to check its paw pads once more, then picked up the Magic Guide Card and poured in magic power to view its data.
▼
[Card Name: Snorlax]
[Type · Spirit Card]
[Type: Standard]
[Level: ✪✪✪✪✪✪]
[Species: Animal species]
[Attribute: Normal-type]
[Magic Power: 4000]
[Attack: 2000]
[Defense: 2500]
[Ultimate Moves: Pickup, Rest, Bulldoze, Earthquake]
▲
"It's a full star higher than Mismagius!"
"A six-star Magic Guide Spirit. That's already on par with Blue-Eyes Baby Dragon."
"It's just what I need to make up for my shortage of high-star Magic Guide Spirits."
Dark was a little delighted.
This Snorlax had brought him a pleasant surprise from the very start.
On top of its six stars, Snorlax had high stats to match that rank.
Compared to its Munchlax days, its magic power, attack and defense had all more than doubled, with defense growing the most.
A base defense of 2500 wasn't top-tier among six-star Magic Guide Spirits, but it was already very good.
And its magic power had reached a terrifying 4000, a top-tier figure that should only belong to an eight-star Magic Guide Spirit!
The pity was that after evolving from Munchlax to Snorlax, it had lost its most crucial Stockpile Ultimate Move.
That meant its defense could no longer gain the 1.5x bonus and could only stay at 2500.
Still, the very first of its four Ultimate Moves was Pickup, the move that embodied Greed!
Seeing Pickup retained let Dark breathe a little easier.
Stockpile was admittedly brutal, but Munchlax's core Ultimate Move had always been Pickup, and it was indispensable.
As for the second Ultimate Move, Rest, it made up a little for the loss of Stockpile.
▼
[Rest: After use, the user falls asleep for 1 round. Every ten seconds, it recovers one-third of its magic power and cures all status ailments.]
▲
"The sleep shrank from the original two rounds to one, and the magic power is recovered in stages, but it still cures every status ailment."
"Basically, a Snorlax with Rest has double the magic power in the short term."
"In a Magic Guide Duel, I could even have Snorlax hug a Magic Sphere and then use Rest, turtling up completely."
"Let's see what the cooldown on Rest is. It can't be too short, or that would be ridiculous."
An idea struck Dark, and he gave Snorlax a direct order: "Snorlax, use Rest!"
Snorlax: (~ ~)~zZ
Dark: "Snorlax?"
Snorlax: (~ ~)~z
Dark: "..."
So here was the problem: how was he supposed to tell whether a sleeping Snorlax had actually used Rest?
Have someone hit it with a volley and drop its HP bar?
Dark patted his head, then leaned in close to its ear and whispered like a demon: "Sweet-and-sour fish slices, crystal pork knuckle, sweet-and-sour ribs, braised pork belly, fish-fragrant shredded pork, plum-blossom pork slices..."
"Kabi!"
Snorlax gave a violent twitch as if shocked, and its belly rippled like a wave.
But it didn't wake.
So Dark knew it really had used the Rest Ultimate Move.
Next, he turned to the third Ultimate Move: Bulldoze!
Dark's impression of an unremarkable move like this was hazy, so he poured magic power into the Magic Guide Card and read it carefully.
▼
[Bulldoze: Stamps hard on the ground to form a ring-shaped shockwave that strikes all opponents around the user and stuns them.]
[Bulldoze (additional effect): When used together with [Earthquake], has a chance to trigger [Fissure].]
▲
"A crowd-control Ultimate Move with average power, but a wide-area stun?"
Dark's eyes lit up the moment he finished reading.
In his current lineup, quite a few Magic Guide Spirits had single-target control moves, though many came with restrictions.
But a group-control Ultimate Move? This seemed to be the first!
Besides, you could never have too much group control!
And this Bulldoze seemed to come with an extra Ultimate Move effect attached!
"Used together with Earthquake, it has a chance to trigger Fissure. What's Fissure?"
With a trace of puzzlement, Dark moved on to the last Ultimate Move: Earthquake!
▼
[Earthquake: Shakes the earth, producing a terrifying shockwave that strikes all opponents around the user.]
[Earthquake (additional effect): When used together with [Bulldoze], has a chance to trigger [Fissure].]
▲
Since Snorlax was only a Normal-type Magic Guide Spirit and both Bulldoze and Earthquake were Ground-type Ultimate Moves, it couldn't enjoy any boost from its own attribute, so both moves would be somewhat lacking in power.
But Earthquake's power seemed to have been tuned up, since the description even used the word "terrifying."
Then again, thinking it over, an Ultimate Move that could create an "earthquake" was bound to be powerful.
And as for Earthquake's additional effect...
"So what exactly is Fissure?"
Dark couldn't help pouring more magic power into the card.
After a while, just as he noticed Rest's cooldown was about to finish, he finally fished the information on Fissure out of the depths of the Magic Guide Card.
And then his mind was thoroughly blown!
▼
[Fissure: Drops the opponent into a crack in the earth to attack. If it hits, it brings the target to the brink of death in one blow.]
(Fissure deals fixed damage equal to the opponent's current HP. As long as skill immunity isn't 100%, it can bring the target to the brink of death in one hit. If the user's level is lower than the opponent's, the move fails.)
▲
"A move that looks strong, and really is strong..."
"It's just that the coverage is a bit narrow, and the hit rate doesn't look very high."
Dark pictured how Fissure would look when it appeared.
A Snorlax who had just woken up and wanted a big meal suddenly finds the food on its plate has turned to stone. It swallows it down anyway.
No, wait. Try another angle.
A Snorlax who has just eaten its fill and wants to sleep is suddenly woken by a noise. It rolls over and keeps sleeping =.=!
…
A Snorlax who's been starving all day suddenly spots DemiDevimon eating alone. It rises in fury and slams a Bulldoze at DemiDevimon!
The ring-shaped shockwave it creates hits DemiDevimon instantly, rattling its brain and leaving it dizzy.
Then Snorlax immediately casts Earthquake. Power seeps up from beneath DemiDevimon's feet and shakes the earth, producing an ever more terrifying impact that blasts DemiDevimon flying.
Amid its screams,
Fissure triggers.
The ground splits open in the tremors, and a terrifying crack races from in front of Snorlax's feet to beneath DemiDevimon, swallowing it whole.
Then the crack slams shut, crushing DemiDevimon into a meat patty before the earth spits it back out.
Snorlax happily bounces over, picks up the DemiDevimon-card meat patty off the ground and gulps it down. No, wait. The more normal scenario would be that Fissure's wind-up is far too long, so once DemiDevimon snaps out of it, it flaps its wings and shoots into the sky, escaping the crack.
MISS!
…
"Setting the hit rate aside, the trigger chance for Fissure doesn't look very high either. It's probably close to the chance of the Holy Sword ignoring defense. And it can't work on a Magic Guide Spirit whose level is higher than the user's."
"But against a Magic Guide Spirit whose level isn't higher, Snorlax can handle things comfortably even without triggering Fissure, so it has little practical meaning."
"All in all, it might be an Ultimate Move with more flash than real value."
"Snorlax's movement speed is slow to begin with, and adding an Ultimate Move with such a low trigger chance and hit rate is pretty pointless."
Once he'd confirmed all that, Dark recorded Snorlax's Rest cooldown.
Three minutes. Not actually long, but in a Magic Guide Duel where every second counts, it was basically too long to use a second time.
But if Snorlax could control Rest at will, maybe it could sleep for thirty seconds every three minutes to keep its stamina up on outings. That would be ridiculously stupid!
The thought made Dark burst out laughing.
He turned to look at Snorlax's snow-white belly, suddenly chuckled "heh heh," and pounced right onto it!
"Puyo~"
…
All in all, though this Magical Transmutation had gone off-course, it had gone off-course in the best way, in the cleverest way, in the most splendid way!
Besides, Dark still had two Dragon-Bug Fruits in hand, exactly one green apple and one red apple, which could still be used to Forge Applin.
The only catch was that his Greed reserve was down to 4 points, and today was already the tenth day of July. He had just one extraction left, so there was no chance of gathering a full seven points this month.
So Dark planned to save the two Dragon-Bug Fruits and use them in August.
If all went well, those two apple-type Dragon-Bug Fruits should yield at least one Applin.
That left only one last Magic Guide Spirit in the upgrade plan for [Paradise].
For that last Magic Guide Spirit, Dark actually wanted to use Water Dragon Lizard blood crystal together with a [Fruit of Greed (Dragon)] to Forge a water-affinity Dragon Breed.
The trouble was that so far he hadn't figured out which water-affinity Dragon Breeds fit Greed.
And if a Magic Guide Master didn't have a relatively clear goal, the success rate of Forging a Magic Guide Spirit was hard to guarantee.
Dark's success rate in Forging Magic Guide Spirits had always been especially high.
That was precisely because nearly every time he Forged, he had a clear goal.
And deep down, he also had a fairly firm grasp of the Magic Guide Spirit he wanted.
…
About fifteen minutes later, Snorlax reverted to Munchlax.
Watching the Munchlax who'd been woken by the reversion lie right back down, Dark said lightly, "Don't say your master didn't warn you. Dinner's ready soon."
"Kabi!"
Munchlax jolted awake, both of its triangular ears standing straight up.
Then it popped upright on the spot and trotted after Dark, chewing on its fingers.
Dark smiled and quickly tidied up the leftovers of the experiment, recording the results.
By the time everything was done, it really was almost dinnertime.
But the Magic Guide Spirits, who should have finished school long ago, still hadn't come back to their rooms.
"Kept after class again?"
"Looks like the tutors are due a raise."
Dark laughed and headed toward the classroom with Munchlax.
Though it had only just been born, learning waited for no one. While the tutors hadn't yet clocked out, it was a perfect time to take it to meet its teachers.
Munchlax had no idea what kind of hell awaited it. It followed behind Dark with a face full of cuteness, eyeing the decorations in the corridor with a bit of greed.
Dark soon arrived at the tutors' office.
Three teachers were inside: the [Silent Sage] Cyrus, the [Silver Wolf Knight] Camilla, and the [Princess Tutor] Cook.
Dark looked at Ms. Cook, a little surprised. "Is Ms. Plante teaching the last class today?"
Ms. Cook nodded. "Senior Plante missed her class this morning, so she's making it all up in this last session."
Dark nodded and stepped aside so the tutors could get a look at Munchlax.
"Is this the Magic Guide Spirit you wanted to Forge?" Sage Cyrus perked up and asked directly.
Dark gave a sheepish laugh. "It came out off-course."
Then he turned around and pushed Munchlax to the front. "Come and meet everyone. These are your teachers from now on."
"Kabi?" Munchlax tilted its head up, completely baffled.
But Dark had already started introducing it...
The tutors quickly realized that this Magic Guide Spirit called "Munchlax" was a little sleepyhead who understood nothing.
"It's at zero foundation right now. It can't take classes with the other Magic Guide Spirits."
Ms. Cook thought it over for a moment. "But I could stay in the evenings and tutor it one-on-one. How does that sound?"
Dark frowned slightly and studied Ms. Cook closely. A proposal suddenly came to him. "How about this: I'll clear a room for you at the Duke's estate, and you move in. That way, if the students hit a hard problem at night, they can ask you too."
"Move into the Duke's estate?" Ms. Cook nodded without much thought. "I suppose that's not impossible. I'm alone in the world, so it's no inconvenience."
"Great." Dark's brow smoothed. "Then Munchlax will join your study group for now. But if we want it to study seriously, we'll probably need to deal with its excessive sleepiness first."
"That's not hard." Sage Cyrus studied Munchlax with keen interest. "All it takes is a little brain-clearing reagent."
"The second one to go to school on drugs?" Dark couldn't help lowering his head to pat Munchlax's skull, moved by the determination it was showing for the sake of its studies.
Munchlax: "Kabi???"
…
Only after the Magic Guide Spirits' final afternoon class had finally ended did Dark take Munchlax to Ms. Plante so she could get a look at its face.
Then he invited the tutors straight to dinner.
Perhaps because it really was quite late and the master of the Duke's estate was away, the tutors didn't decline this time.
Dark introduced Munchlax to the Magic Guide Spirits and asked Gatomon to look after it for the time being. Then he sat at one table with the tutors, chatting over dinner about the students' progress and the group test in the middle of the month.
Diana and Aurora couldn't get a word in at that table.
In the end, Diana's eyes darted, and she dragged Aurora over to the Magic Guide Spirits' table to fight over food with the little cuties.
Diana had one look at Munchlax and fell for it. She shamelessly squeezed in beside it and kept feeding it.
Munchlax's affection for her shot up like a rocket.
Diana's eyes curved like crescent moons as she snuggled closer and closer.
Munchlax had no idea its "good looks" had been spotted by someone, and it was already dazzled by the table full of delicacies.
…
But while the mood at the Duke's estate was warm thanks to its newest family member, incidents were breaking out all across the royal capital.
Alvit and Claire didn't return to the estate until deep in the night, exhaustion showing in their eyes.
After extracting the last of this month's Pride, Dark began writing Arithmetic II.
Time flew by.
…
…
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