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This was Kael's second Death as a Pokémon.
Compared with his first, brief, and powerless stint as a Caterpie, this time he'd met many people and lived through many things in the Pokémon world.
There was pain, and there was joy; regrets, and contentment too.
Taken together, it felt like he had lived an entirely new life and even now, he still felt a lingering wistfulness.
"Haa…"
He let out a long breath, letting his body relax.
Overall, he was satisfied with this life as an Ampharos.
Back when he had just become a Mareep, he'd already laid out a broad plan for himself:
Play it safe, grow steadily, build a solid foundation, and prepare for evolution.
Later, due to circumstances and, frankly, his own personality, he hadn't exactly played it safe on missions. He'd even skirted death more than once.
But the results were good. He had evolved into Ampharos, and thanks to the groundwork he'd laid, he'd stepped into that new form with far more power than most.
He glanced at the flood of points listed in his system interface and couldn't help smiling with pure, simple delight.
Looking back on this life, there was still a lot he could have done better.
Take the final battle on Ashen Isle, for example: at least half the reason he died came down to his own arrogance.
He had just evolved, his power had skyrocketed from his Flaaffy days. After steamrolling opponents in the League, a deep complacency had crept in his ego had quietly inflated.
But with the mobility and sensory acuity he had at the time, if he'd been careful plus a bit lucky he might have survived even Groudon's onslaught.
And at the very end, as he was leaving the Pokémon world, if his guess was right, Kyogre Groudon's nemesis had already awakened.
When those two clashed, they'd have no time for him.
With luck, he might even have scavenged some spoils at the edges of their battlefield blood, scales things that would have been immensely valuable to him.
Of course, thinking about it now is just hindsight.
The real lesson is to learn from it and avoid making the same kind of mistake again.
Reflection done, Kael turned his eyes to the future.
"Heh-heh."
"Five thousand points…"
Like a miser stroking a hoard, he stared at the tally and grinned like an idiot.
His half-transparent human form had returned to that original pure-white space.
The ornate metal badge had dissolved into starlight and sunk into the depths of his soul.
Unlike store redemptions that only function within a single world, commemorative badges are permanent.
In other words, no matter what Pokémon he reincarnated as, it would always be with him, quietly working.
Its effects weren't spectacular right now.
But as he lived more cycles and gathered more badges, all those small effects would stack eventually becoming terrifyingly potent.
Swish—
The system popped up and expanded on its own in front of him.
In the upper corner, the Exchange button, which had been grayed out for his entire time in the Pokémon world, lit up again.
Heart racing, he tapped it with his index finger.
Like a pop-up on an old web page, a small window unfolded from the system panel.
The interface was still that same plain blue.
Lines of items filled the screen:
[IV Enhancer (Small) – 50 points
Randomly increases total IVs by 5–10.
Note: Distributes randomly across stats; no stat can exceed 31. Limited to one use per cycle.]
[IV Enhancer (Medium) – 100 points
Randomly increases total IVs by 10–15.
Note: Distributes randomly across stats; no stat can exceed 31. Limited to one use per cycle.]
[Attribute Choice (Intermediate) – 350 points]
[Choose your species typing at birth.
Note: At the start of the next cycle, five typings are offered at random; select one as your species' type.]
[Terrakion's Fortress Shoulder Guard – 1,500 points]
[Greatly increases Fighting-type energy affinity.]
[Grants +20% power to physical moves.
Note: A special armament named after the Legendary Pokémon Terrakion. The keen might even glean insight from it.]
[Shaymin's Gracidea Blossom – 2,500 points]
[Greatly increases Grass- and Flying-type energy affinity.]
[In battle, restore 0.5% Max HP per second; out of battle, the effect is doubled.]
[Sky Forme: During daytime, the bearer can activate Sky Forme in battle, gaining flight and a small boost to Flying-type move power (Duration: 10 min; Cooldown: 12 hrs).]
[Zamazenta's Heart (Incomplete) – 3,000 points]
[Veteran of a Hundred Battles: Any single hit dealing ≤25% Max HP has its damage reduced by 50%; when your HP falls below 30%, this reduction becomes 75%.
[Lord of Shields: In battle, generate a special Shield Gauge; upon reaching 100%, gain the Lord of Shields special-form bonus.]
[Note: A rare relic tied to the Legendary Zamazenta. It isn't whole but you won't want to miss it.]
[Points balance: 5087]
[Tip: The shop refreshes once per cycle.]
Gulp.
In the silent white void, the sound of swallowing was comically loud.
His heart pounded; his hands trembled.
Heat flushed through him, breath quickening; his whole body felt feverish with excitement.
Light burst in his eyes; the corners of his mouth curled up in a foolish grin. He practically drooled over the list.
"Th-this…"
Tongue-tied, Kael stared, eyes glued to the items.
It was like he'd boarded a liner bound for two lifetimes' worth of luck finally paying off.
Whoosh—
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and muttered:
"Calm down… calm down…"
"Don't rush. Don't rush."
The sudden windfall had rattled him.
After a while, the ripples in his heart smoothed out, and he found his composure again.
He opened his eyes and studied the system list carefully this time thoughts already clicking into place.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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