Lou Gao's gaze swept across the surrounding "new desert," a wasteland completely reshaped by the devastation, before returning to Tyranitar. His eyes lingered on the armor covering its body, now noticeably dimmed from the violent surge of berserk energy, with even faint scorch marks visible in some places. The sight made his heart ache so much that the corners of his mouth twitched.
"Look at the mess I've caused. Sigh! My liquor sure, it's strong, but it shouldn't have turned such a huge fellow into this, should it?"
Lin Xia was gently stroking the armor plate on Tyranitar's scorching forehead, carefully guiding gentle starlight Soul Power through its body to soothe the chaotic energy currents left behind by its berserk state.
Hearing his teacher's question, he slowly raised his head. Deep confusion and helplessness that even he couldn't understand appeared on his face.
He let out a long sigh filled with indescribably complex emotions. The sound echoed clearly across the now silent desert, carrying a profound sense of helplessness toward the unknown.
"Teacher."
Lin Xia's voice was low as his gaze shifted away from Lou Gao and settled once more on Tyranitar, as though he were examining an enormous unsolved mystery.
"To be honest I don't know either."
"You don't know?!"
Lou Gao's voice shot up instantly, his crimson-gold eyebrows nearly standing upright.
"Even you don't know?! This big fellow is your Martial Soul! You're connected heart and soul! How could you not know what's happening inside its body..."
Before he could finish, he saw Lin Xia slowly and heavily shake his head.
"Our hearts are connected, that's true."
Lin Xia smiled bitterly as he continued.
"I can sense its emotions, its power, even every subtle change it undergoes during evolution. But this reaction to alcohol. It's like a completely independent trigger that exists outside all of its instincts and characteristics, an uncontrollable fuse."
He paused, seemingly recalling that unforgettable incident, his voice tinged with lingering fear.
"Teacher, you called it 'a sip of alcohol'... You're seriously underestimating what happened before. Today's incident was only the second time it has happened."
"The second time?!"
Lou Gao and Zhu Zhuqing, who had been quietly standing guard nearby, both exclaimed in shock.
Even Zhu Zhuqing's normally calm eyes were filled with astonishment. She had never imagined that such terrifying loss of control wasn't the first occurrence.
"Yes. The second time."
Lin Xia nodded firmly, his expression growing solemn.
"It happened about two years ago, not long after Tyranitar completed its final evolution. At the time, we were exploring a rare metal vein deep within the Blackstone Mountain Range, far from any inhabited area."
A trace of painful remembrance entered his voice.
"The exploration went very smoothly. Tyranitar's ability to detect mineral veins was unbelievably accurate. After the mission ended, everyone relaxed. There was an old blacksmith in our team who loved alcohol more than anything. He always carried a small gourd of 'Men Dao Lu' liquor, supposedly brewed from his family's secret recipe, wrapped inside his towel. That day, he'd drunk a little too much, leaned against a rock, and fell asleep, leaving the gourd beside him."
Lin Xia took a deep breath, as though the disastrous scene were still vividly etched into his memory.
"Tyranitar has always been curious about anything new, especially things with strong smells. It probably caught the rich aroma escaping from the gourd and noticed the old blacksmith sleeping soundly. Just like it accepted your wineskin earlier, it curiously nudged the gourd with one of its claws. The gourd tipped over, and at least half a jin of strong liquor spilled all over it. More precisely, it soaked the obsidian inner armor covering its chest and abdomen, which was still relatively 'immature' compared to what it is now."
"That time..."
Lin Xia's voice became even lower, still carrying the lingering fear of someone who had barely survived disaster.
"It was even more sudden and far more violent than today. It entered that crimson-gold berserk state almost instantly. Although it didn't completely return to its hundred-meter true form, it still expanded to around forty or fifty meters tall."
"A terrifying sandstorm engulfed the entire temporary campsite in an instant, several times more destructive than the one just now! The grains of sand infused with chaotic energy sliced through tents and transport carts as easily as flying blades. Fortunately, we were deep within an uninhabited mountain range, and I reacted quickly enough to immediately deploy the prototype of my Starvault Barrier to protect the people who were closest and in the greatest danger."
His eyes sharpened, as though he had returned to that desperate battle.
"That fight was far more difficult than today's. My Soul Power Level was much lower back then, my control over Tyranitar's newly evolved power was nowhere near as refined as it is now, and I didn't have powerful allies like you and Zhuqing to help me."
"It completely lost control. Its destructive power was unimaginable. It single-handedly obliterated an entire primeval forest several miles across, reducing not only the forest but even the bedrock beneath it to rubble and sand."
"I exhausted almost all of my spiritual power. At the very last moment, I barely managed to imitate a specific soothing mental wave similar to a dragon's roar. Combined with the power of the Starcore Tear, I finally pulled it back from the brink of its berserk state and forced it into unconsciousness from exhaustion."
Lin Xia looked at Lou Gao, his eyes filled with deep helplessness and a trace of weariness that was difficult to notice.
"After that incident, it took me an entire month to completely repair the energy backlash the berserk state had inflicted upon its body. I immediately issued the strictest order throughout the Blacksmith Association, especially to the core members who regularly worked with Tyranitar."
"Any beverage or item containing alcohol was absolutely forbidden from coming within ten meters of Tyranitar's sight or senses."
"Anyone who violated that order would be severely punished. I also warned it over and over again that alcohol was more terrifying to it than the deadliest poison, and that it must never, ever touch it."
Lin Xia shook his head with a bitter smile. His gaze fell once more upon the sleeping giant, carrying the affectionate exasperation of someone frustrated with someone they deeply cared about.
"But what I never expected was that Tyranitar actually dared to drink it again! And this time, it accepted it directly from you! It knew exactly what it was. It had already experienced that unbearable suffering. I saw the look in its eyes just now!"
"There was curiosity, trust toward you because you were friendly to it, and maybe... just maybe it was thinking, 'Last time it only spilled onto my armor. Maybe it'll be different if I actually drink it this time.' Or perhaps it was simply swept up by your enthusiasm and acted on impulse. I honestly..."
Lin Xia couldn't continue.
He pressed a hand against his forehead, feeling both exasperated and amused, while still carrying lingering fear from what had just happened.
After hearing the full explanation, Lou Gao stood there completely dumbfounded.
The weathered face that had been tempered by divine flames alternated between red and pale. Regret, heartache, shock, and a sense of sheer absurdity all mixed together before finally becoming a long sigh filled with disbelief.
"This... this..."
Smacking his lips, he paced around Tyranitar's enormous body. His molten gold eyes swept over every plate of armor like searchlights, lingering especially on the deep obsidian chest armor and the triangular vents set into its plating, as though trying to uncover the secret behind its bizarre reaction to alcohol.
"So it's one of those cases of someone who can't handle their liquor, yet still can't resist drinking it?"
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