Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

However, even if he knew, there was nothing he could do but passively endure it.

Fortunately, through his and the elves' efforts, after defeating countless Psychic-type elves, they finally approached the place that held such great attraction for him.

slam-la-

Before me was a small pond, with splashing water like hanging silver ribbons falling into it, creating a lot of water droplets and a misty spray.

Behind the waterfall, a dark shadow was the destination of our journey.

"Is it in the cave behind the waterfall?"

The Psychic-type Pokémon he defeated along the way all gave Xia Yan Psychic "shards" of varying sizes. Although they didn't bring about the same changes as the first time, the continuous accumulation of these psychic abilities still brought him considerable benefits.

Xia Yan had been wondering if he could keep defeating elves in this space and then keep gaining these benefits.

But he later realized he was overthinking it.

The further he went, the less these "thin slices" of superpowers affected him. In fact, the changes brought about by the Psychic-type Pokémon he had just defeated before approaching the pond were almost imperceptible.

It was as if he had entered a bottleneck period, encountering a shackle that hindered his continued growth.

If he can't break free from this shackle, no matter how many Psychic-type Pokémon he defeats, it won't bring him much benefit.

"This may be what Arknom was referring to: the lack of a key to unlock the treasure vault."

Xia Yan had a feeling that if he could obtain this so-called "key," unexpected changes might occur, and of course, changes that would develop in a positive direction.

"And is it just a coincidence? Why did we happen to reach this bottleneck right after arriving here? Or... is it Arknom's arrangement?"

Arknom's arrangement is more likely.

"So......"

Xia Yan looked at the pond and waterfall. "At this final juncture, it should also arrange a powerful Pokémon as the boss guarding the last level, right?"

as predicted.

As Xia Yan finished speaking, a dark figure slowly emerged from behind the waterfall.

The rushing water fell on it, but had no effect on it.

His steps were neither too fast nor too slow, but very steady.

When Xia Yan saw its tall figure, pink body, and those intelligent eyes...

His pupils contracted violently and uncontrollably; he was completely taken aback by the appearance of this elf.

The word "Holy crap..." escaped from his native tongue.

Chapter 122 Magic Space

'Holy crap?'

The Arknom in the sky repeated Xia Yan's words, albeit somewhat awkwardly.

Tilting his head, he looked at Xia Yan, who had a surprised expression, nodded as if he had just realized something, and showed a look of sudden understanding.

"Holy crap, that's a word you'd use when you're extremely surprised, right?"

Arknom was happy to have learned a new word.

It has always been confined to the alternate dimension of Lizhi Lake and its surroundings, rarely leaving or finding it inconvenient to leave.

However, he is quite curious about human civilization, and learning the language of people who pass by or visit Lake Ritsushi has become one of Arknom's few hobbies.

So when it heard Xia Yan blurt it out, it instantly memorized the word.

It wasn't particularly happy as it circled in the air, muttering to itself...

'Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit...'

And the more they read it, the happier and more excited they became.

...

...

below.

Xia Yan certainly never imagined that his uncontrolled, profound, and multifaceted remark would be copied by Arknom.

If he knew, he would definitely be amazed...

That's pathetic; they don't even know how to say "damn it."

However, his attention was clearly drawn to the elf that had appeared before him.

Standing nearly two meters tall with a smooth, pink body, the most striking feature is the seashell-like crown atop its head, with a ruby ​​in the center that symbolizes its status. Around its neck is an orange and white umbrella-like structure, and the eyes that meet Xia Yan's gaze are calm yet full of wisdom.

"Dazed King!?"

That's right, the Pokémon that surprised Xia Yan was Slowking.

A branch evolution of Slowpoke.

Currently, no one in the Pokémon world knows how Slowpoke evolved into Slowking; all that is known is that there must be a connection between the two Pokémon.

Wild Slowking do exist, and some people have even seen them.

However, the conditions for wild Slowpoke to evolve into Slowking are too demanding, requiring them to carry the extremely precious "King's Token," so their numbers are very small, and they were once considered to be a Pokémon on the verge of extinction.

However, wild Slowkings do not need the League's protection because they are very intelligent.

Without exaggeration, Slowking is definitely one of the smartest Pokémon in the Pokémon world, and together with Oranguru from the Alola region, they share the reputation of being "the Sleeping Dragon and the Young Phoenix".

Seeing the dazed king walking towards him with his hands behind his back, a calm expression, and a slight smile, Xia Yan dared not let his guard down because of his seemingly kind appearance.

In fact, because he knew so little about Slowking, Xia Yan was unsure of its strength.

"Ya-dong—"

All that could be heard was a soft call from the Silly King.

A transparent, dark stance quickly spread out from its center.

Magic Space!

Trick Space: Creates a bizarre space where, for the duration of its existence, slower elves can strike first.

Simply put, within this magical space, the speed of the sprites is completely reversed; slow sprites move faster, while fast sprites are greatly restricted.

Xia Yan was very familiar with this move.

Because when he used to play Pokémon battle games, he often used Trick Room teams, and the core of Trick Room teams is Trick Room.

Slowking, a Pokémon whose speed growth is not high to begin with, suddenly opened Trick Room without saying a word, causing Beedrill and others to completely lose their speed advantage and even become a disadvantage.

Trouble.

Xia Yan's expression darkened.

Unfortunately, Kadabra hasn't learned the Trick Room move yet, otherwise he could activate Trick Room to counteract it and cancel out the effect.

At the same time, because of the superpowers displayed by Slowking, Xia Yan was able to roughly judge Slowking's strength.

Master level!

It surpasses the elite level!

The only saving grace is that although this Slowking is a Gym Leader-level powerhouse, it doesn't have the same feeling that Absol gave Xia Yan back then, and it's not even as good as Nidoking, which was completely dominated by Absol.

In other words.

It must have been a recently acquired Master-level skill; it's not that terrifying yet.

Xia Yan's eyes flickered.

"It's not that there's no chance."

He then looked at Beedrill and said in a deep voice, "Beedrill, stop Tailwind and use Electric Net on yourself."

It's been a long time since Beedrill used the Electric Net move, because there's no need for it. These days, Beedrill rarely encounters any creature of the same level that is stronger than it.

I never imagined that the first time I would use the power grid in so long would be for myself.

Without any hesitation, Beedrill used the Electric Net move on itself.

Electric Net: Using an electric net to catch a Pokémon has a very high chance of lowering the opponent's speed.

Because Xia Yan understands the Space Team very well, he also knows how to deal with Trick Space.

There aren't many methods.

The first and best approach is to use preemptive measures like a "high five" or to provoke the opponent by leveraging your speed advantage before they release their magic space, thus restricting their movement.

But this is clearly not applicable to Xia Yan now.

Secondly, to counter Trick Room, your team also has a Pokémon that has mastered Trick Room moves, thus countering it.

Yundira is capable of learning Trick Space, but he hasn't learned it yet.

Third, and the last resort, is to either bring a slower Pokémon to deal with the situation, or simply reduce your own speed.

From Xia Yan's current perspective, this is the only option left.

While the speed of the single-edged sword is slow, it's clearly not suitable to use a single-edged sword with only the strength of a senior-level user as the main attacker against a gym leader-level Slowking.

"Yagira, Psychic Field envelops Togekiss, and Togekiss uses Secret Power on Beedrill."

The secret power within the mental field is converted into psychic power, along with an additional slowing effect.

Xia Yan went to great lengths to slow down Beedrill.

However, just as they were making preparations, Slowking had already taken action.

Originally extremely slow, it now resembled a nimble fat man.

"Ya dong".

His eyes shone with light, gleaming alongside the red gemstone on his head, and a powerful spiritual force surged forth.

It is said that Slowking gained his genius mind and the ability to manipulate mental power freely because of the toxins he was bitten by.

Xia Yan's expression changed.

Beedrill isn't slow enough.