I haven't decided on a name for my Pokémon trainer yet.

However, Ye Feng can accept any Pokémon, no matter what kind. If trained properly, even a Caterpie can become very strong.

Chapter 42 Catching a Magikarp

That day, Ye Feng brought Kirulian to a small river on the outskirts of Jinghai City. This river was a tributary that branched off from the Yangtze River.

There are many water-type Pokémon living here, especially Ye Feng's target this time - Magikarp, which can be said to be everywhere.

Ye Feng had no experience with the previous paper on the Body of Flames and didn't know that he needed to provide experimental data, which luckily prevented any serious consequences.

Therefore, I specifically went to find a Magikarp with the timid characteristic to use as evidence.

Magikarp, despite its small appearance, possesses remarkable survival skills. It can thrive in even the dirtiest waters, found in the ocean, rivers, ponds, and even puddles. Is it like a Pokémon version of a scavenger?

The search for Magikarp wasn't for capturing it and evolving it into Gyarados. Ye Feng couldn't train a third Pokémon yet—before becoming a beginner trainer, he could only have two Pokémon. Besides, Magikarp had almost no combat power before evolving—that legendary Magikarp that could fight Ash's Pikachu to a draw wasn't something you could just train casually.

It's for Magikarp's ability—Fright. When attacked by Dark, Ghost, or Bug-type attacks, the Pokémon's Speed ​​increases due to Fright.

Ye Feng brought a water tank and a lot of Energy Cubes. After all, Timid is a hidden ability, and there aren't many Pokémon with this ability. Magikarp is the easiest to find, but even Magikarp with the Timid ability isn't easy to find.

At that time, Kirlia will definitely need to use Shadow Ball to attack Magikarp, but if he attacks a wild Pokémon casually and angers Magikarp into evolving into Gyarados, Ye Feng feels that he will be in some danger.

Ye Feng wasn't worrying unnecessarily. Currently, there are two most widely accepted ways for Magikarp to evolve.

One method is through growth and evolution, where Magikarp evolves by absorbing nutrients from its food, following the laws of nature. However, wild Magikarp generally struggles to obtain adequate nutrition due to their environment. Therefore, this is the training method chosen by most trainers. This method is extremely time-consuming and resource-intensive, but that's understandable, since evolving a weak Pokémon like Magikarp into a powerful and imposing Gyarados requires some sacrifice. Similarly, Gyarados evolved in this way are generally very strong and are usually a trump card in the trainer's hands.

The second type is evolution through anger. Various environmental factors in the wild affect Magikarp, causing its body to mutate. Experts have discovered that the energy of anger can also cause this mutation in Magikarp, leading to its evolution into Gyarados. However, Gyarados that evolve in this way all lose their rationality, becoming extremely ferocious and almost completely disobeying their trainers' commands. This type of evolution is considered incorrect and abnormal. Therefore, many wild Gyarados are violent in nature, and even if captured, they require a great deal of effort to tame.

However, Ye Feng guessed that, based on his memories from his previous life, Magikarp seemed to have another way of evolving.

Similar to the mythical story of "carp leaping over the dragon gate," some exceptionally strong Magikarp, in certain special locations such as waterfalls, break through their own limits while fighting against powerful natural forces, thus achieving an improvement in their life level and eventually evolving.

In short, to prevent Magikarp from being angered and evolving, Ye Feng specially prepared Energy Cubes to bribe it in advance. With such delicious treats, getting hit by a Shadow Ball shouldn't be a bad deal... right?

"Kirlia, you go look over there, I'll go this way." After calling out to Kirlia, the two of them split up to search for Magikarp.

Just as Ye Feng had predicted, a large group of Magikarp, with golden crowns on their heads, long whiskers, and red scales all over their bodies, lived here.

When Ye Feng found them, they were leisurely swimming around in the water, blowing bubbles.

I tried observing them for a while, but I couldn't see anything special about these Magikarp. Since I couldn't figure it out by looking, I had to take action.

The human and the elf exchanged a glance, and Ye Feng nodded, pulling a handful of energy cubes from his backpack—these were things he had spent several days crafting. He threw them directly into the river.

The Power Cube was thrown into the river, splashing water everywhere. The Magikarp were startled and scattered, but after a while, they seemed to be attracted by the aroma and slowly gathered back, their blank eyes fixed on the Power Cube floating on the water.

However, faced with those energy cubes floating around, perhaps because they had never seen anything so fragrant, not a single Magikarp dared to step forward and taste them.

After a while, one of the Magikarp finally mustered up its courage, stared with slightly dazed eyes, and slowly swam toward the nearest spot. Ye Feng always felt that the Magikarp was still observing him.

After patiently waiting, the Magikarp finally approached the Power Cube.

At this moment, Magikarp truly realized that this thing it had never seen before must be a kind of food, and it emitted an extremely tempting aroma. It went up and took a bite, and then took a big bite.

Seeing this, the other Magikarp swarmed around and began vying for the fragrant Energy Cubes.

"That's about enough." Ye Feng saw that the Energy Cubes were almost gone, so he winked at Kirlia, "Try to keep the power low and don't hit Magikarp directly."

Given Kirlia's current strength, Ye Feng was worried that these wild Magikarp wouldn't be able to withstand the attacks and would go to meet their parents in heaven. In that case, he might be sent there by the Ula Ula cart.

Kirlia nodded, quickly conjured a Shadow Ball between her hands, and then threw it towards the center of Magikarp.

"Boom!" Although Kirlia had tried her best to control the power, it still caused a huge splash. Several Magikarp were affected and flew into the sky, flapping their tails.

"..." Ye Feng's lips twitched, but there was nothing he could do. He could see that Kirlia had done her best. He just hoped that these Magikarp wouldn't be too weak, otherwise tomorrow's headline would be "Shocking! Rookie Cup Champion Slaughters Weak Magikarp in the Wild!"

I'll be too ashamed to face anyone then.

Fortunately, Ye Feng's worries did not come true. Although Magikarp was a bit weak, it was still very resilient. After being attacked, it scattered immediately, and its speed surprised Ye Feng.

"Watch closely, and if any Magikarp is particularly fast, catch it!" Ye Feng reminded him, while carefully observing the Magikarp.

Perhaps he was just too lucky, because Ye Feng actually found a Magikarp that swam incredibly fast. This Magikarp seemed to be the same one that had just led the way in eating the Energy Cube, and it even had half an Energy Cube still in its mouth when it ran away.

The Magikarp swam swiftly ahead like a lead fish, followed by several others, gradually widening the gap between them.

"That's it, grab it!" Ye Feng pointed to the leading Magikarp and ran over to it.

"Ru!" Kirlia responded, instantly teleporting to the nearby shore. She unleashed her psychic power and pounced on Magikarp, catching it in one swift motion.

"Very good. Next, use Psychic to surround this area of ​​water, and then use Shadow Ball again," Ye Feng commanded. He wanted to confirm whether this Magikarp had the Timid ability or was simply faster.

Kirlia nodded, stretched out her left hand and released a large amount of psychic energy, surrounding the water around Magikarp to prevent it from escaping. At the same time, she gathered a Shadow Ball in her right hand and threw it directly at Magikarp.

"Boom!" This time, Kirlia deliberately controlled the landing point of the Shadow Ball, ensuring that the Magikarp was indeed damaged by the Shadow Ball, but not to the point of being knocked unconscious.

Magikarp was blasted into the sky, then splashed back into the water, and immediately began swimming around in the water at a speed even faster than before.

Ye Feng's eyes lit up. He was so lucky to have found a Magikarp with the Timid ability right away.

Ye Feng quickly opened the water tank lid and used Kirlia's psychic powers to control Magikarp and throw it into the tank.

Ye Feng crouched down and took a closer look.

"It is indeed a bit different." Ye Feng was somewhat surprised. This Magikarp was different from the other Magikarp. Its eyes did not look so dull. Even after being caught, it did not panic. It just swam around leisurely in the tank. Ye Feng even felt that this Magikarp was watching him all along.

"Isn't it supposed to be Timid? Why does it seem... pretty bold?" Ye Feng was a little confused. Could it be that abilities don't affect a Pokémon's personality as the name suggests? Or is this Magikarp just special?

Never mind that for now. Ye Feng caught another ordinary Magikarp for comparison and then set off on his way home.

Chapter 43, Part 2: The Trait of Timidity

Timid and Hidden abilities are commonly found in Magikarp, Ladybug, and Pokémon of similar level to Dextrojan and Garchomp.

Pokémon possessing this characteristic will experience a significant speed boost when attacked by Ghost, Dark, or Bug-type attacks...

When subjected to a series of attacks, this characteristic is triggered with each subsequent attack...

At the same time, timidity is also effective in intimidation...

Some Magikarp appear timid and afraid of battle, but this isn't a personality flaw; rather, it's a special ability they've evolved to avoid powerful enemies due to the harsh environment of the wild...

···

After catching the two Magikarp, Ye Feng conducted several experiments, attacking the two Magikarp with Shadow Ball. The Magikarp with the Fright ability would increase its speed significantly, while the ordinary Magikarp with the Swift Swim ability would not be affected.

With concrete evidence as supporting material and detailed theoretical data, that should be sufficient.

Ye Feng looked at the article, which was more professional than the last one, and nodded in satisfaction.

During this time, he also takes time to read published papers and learn more professional writing techniques. This time, there is also experimental data to support it, so it should be able to be published as a paper, right?

After opening his email and sending the paper to Xu Bowen's personal email address—after the last submission, Xu Bowen had given his personal email address to Ye Feng so that he could send any more professional papers he needed to submit directly to him, which would save a lot of review time.

After all, Xu Bowen has other submissions to read on a daily basis, and it's uncertain how long it will take before he sees Ye Feng's manuscript.

Xu Bowen often does this. Although he is unsure whether Ye Feng can write a professional paper, it's always good to have another channel.

"Elf Studies" Editorial Department

Xu Bowen, always diligent and conscientious, sat in his office as usual, browsing through the submissions.

He scratched his head, looked at the few strands of hair that had fallen out of his hand, and let out a long sigh.

As the most authoritative Pokémon magazine, "Pokémon Studies" doesn't have a high entry barrier. In fact, it's quite ordinary. As long as the submission is genuine and related to Pokémon, it has a chance of being accepted. Therefore, "Pokémon Studies" has a wide audience and is very inclusive.

The reason why "Elf Studies" is considered the most authoritative journal is because it has a special section called "Elf Discoveries," which is dedicated to publishing the latest research findings in the field of elf studies, and most of them are articles by well-known PhDs. If no suitable submissions are received, the journal will suspend this section, preferring to lose those pages rather than publish articles of low value.

Thanks to these two policies, "Elf Studies" has gradually become the most recognized magazine by the public.

Xu Bowen, as the editor-in-chief of the "Discovering the Elf" section, often doesn't have much to do, since there aren't that many professional articles.

However, Xu Bowen felt distressed seeing the other editors busy with numerous submissions every day, worrying about which ones to publish.

Although he earned no less than them, no one in the magazine ever said anything about Xu Bowen slacking off. After all, he had worked in the research institute before, but he switched careers because he couldn't bear the hardship of research. His professional abilities were much stronger than others. Moreover, as the editor-in-chief for many years, he had worked in the research institute before and had connections with many elf doctors. This relationship was his greatest asset.

"Sigh, if only I could get this many submissions every day," Xu Bowen sighed.

"Editor-in-chief, it's impossible to get that many professional submissions. One a month is already quite good," Xu Bowen's assistant said with a smile. He admired the editor-in-chief's dedication, but unfortunately, there simply weren't that many submissions.

"Oh well, that's enough for today, I'm not going to look at it anymore." Xu Bowen shook his head, closed the document, and was about to shut down his computer and leave work early when a notification of an unread email suddenly popped up in the lower left corner.

"Huh?! Huh!" Xu Bowen took a closer look and his spirits lifted immediately. This was an email address he had specially registered to contact the professor of Pokémon Studies. It would only receive emails when the professor contacted him to submit a manuscript. Could it be the academic paper he had been eagerly awaiting?

Xu Bowen hurriedly opened the email, only to find a title and attachment, but the body of the email was still blank.

"This style...it seems familiar," Xu Bowen muttered to himself, glancing at the prominent words "features" in the title. He suddenly remembered.

Looking at the author's name, huh? Not the same person? Wait, there's a line of text here.

"For some reason, I didn't use my real name in the last submission. This is my real name now, and I will continue to use this name in future submissions."

Ye Feng is a senior high school student at Jinghai No. 1 High School. His contact information is...

Wow, he's actually a senior high school student? Xu Bowen gasped. Judging from the timeline, wasn't Ye Feng still a junior high school student when he submitted his work last time?

Regardless of how unprofessional the previous paper was, how could someone so young be able to discover new features on their own? Are students these days really that terrifying?

"Let me see what surprises this time has in store for me." Xu Bowen decided to open the document first.

"Huh? Magikarp? Wasn't that Pokémon's ability already discovered? What, a hidden ability? There's a hidden ability?" Xu Bowen was so excited he could barely hold the mouse; it was the first time he'd ever heard of the term "hidden ability."

"Timid; when attacked by Ghost, Dark, or Bug-type attacks, its Speed ​​will greatly increase..."

"It seems we've gained experience this time and prepared a lot of experimental data." Xu Bowen nodded in satisfaction.