"I didn't expect your instincts to be right this time. That boy actually succeeded in awakening."
"But he doesn't seem like someone who can be easily controlled. Are you sure he won't betray you later?"
Inside the Saffron Gym, Sabrina, who had temporarily suspended Gym battles, asked calmly.
"Relax, I'm confident in that. Besides, once he sees more of what's out there, he might be even more determined to stand on my side."
The voice of Shadow came through the communicator.
"Tch. Let's see how you clean up the mess when you screw up."
Saying that, Sabrina hung up like a child cutting off a call in irritation.
***
In the hotel room, after finishing the book's introduction, Gu Yuan couldn't help but feel excited.
He had guessed what kind of reward Shadow might give him, but he hadn't expected such a surprise.
The awakening of a Psychic can be innate or acquired.
Innate means being born with psychic power; acquired means awakening it later with the help of another Psychic.
Neither method is inherently superior.
Some who awaken their power innately may only reach the Beginner level, while some who awaken it later can grow to the Advanced level.
But compared to innate awakening, acquired awakening is far more difficult.
The reason is simple: for acquired awakening, help from a high-level Psychic is required.
The process itself is also grueling. Even Advanced lower-tier Psychics might fail. Only Advanced middle-tier or higher can ensure success without problems.
And it still depends on the individual. After all, those who didn't awaken at birth have only a faint hope of awakening later.
Because of this, almost no one is willing to spend a fortune to gamble on such a slim possibility.
Yet now, with Sabrina's help, Gu Yuan had successfully awakened. The books in his backpack were the methods and insights Sabrina used to train her psychic abilities.
For any Psychic, these were priceless treasures.
After calming his excitement, Gu Yuan began following the book's instructions to try using and strengthening his psychic power.
Before long, he sensed the presence of psychic energy in his mind.
It was as if a spring had appeared within his consciousness, continuously producing psychic energy for him to use.
Soon, Kadabra sensed the psychic fluctuations around Gu Yuan and began to form some guesses about his newly awakened power.
Gradually, Gu Yuan discovered that his psychic strength was too weak. He could only release a tiny amount, far from enough to form an attack.
After some experimenting, he started to feel dizzy. This was one of the symptoms of psychic overuse.
Realizing his current weakness, Gu Yuan smiled helplessly.
"Alright, no need to stay so tense. Keep playing."
"Charizard, you had a tough battle today. Get some rest early. We have another round of eliminations tomorrow."
"Kadabra, I'll need your help again. Keep watch for me while I train with my newly awakened psychic power."
Opening his eyes, Gu Yuan signaled Sylveon and the others to relax.
Charizard lay down comfortably, saving strength for tomorrow's match.
Kadabra became the busiest one, continuing to release psychic waves to stand guard.
Closing his eyes, Gu Yuan began to restore his psychic energy as taught in the book.
The growth of psychic power was simple: continuously release and recover, refining the energy through specific techniques during the process.
With long-term practice, both the quantity and quality of psychic power could increase.
When it reached a certain level, one could begin to expand the mental spring within the mind.
Each expansion meant a higher level; the third time marked a breakthrough to the next rank.
Gu Yuan had only just awakened his ability. Even so, by following Sabrina's methods, his recovery speed was fast. Before long, he was refreshed again.
Instead of immediately continuing, Gu Yuan began studying the telepathy technique described in the book. This was one of the reasons it was so valuable.
Normally, a Beginner Psychic could learn telepathy, while an Intermediate Psychic could learn Teleport.
But those were just general guidelines. The techniques didn't appear in one's mind automatically; they had to be learned.
Otherwise, even an Intermediate Psychic without guidance would waste a lot of time figuring it out alone.
Relying on the book's content and Sabrina's insights, Gu Yuan soon grasped the key points and succeeded.
Suddenly, Sylveon, who had been playing, heard Gu Yuan's voice echo inside its mind.
Kadabra had demonstrated this power before, so Sylveon wasn't surprised. It was only curious that Gu Yuan could now do the same.
For a moment, Sylveon wanted to learn as well, but then thought better of it. Since Gu Yuan already knew it, why bother? Playing sounded better.
Having thought it through, Sylveon stopped caring about telepathy and happily chatted with Gu Yuan instead.
Without Kadabra's presence, it could finally share little secrets with him through this new way of talking.
Unfortunately, Gu Yuan couldn't maintain it for long. Although he had learned telepathy, his new power wasn't stable enough for regular use.
Facing Sylveon's eager look, Gu Yuan finally gave up and began meditating seriously.
Now, strengthening his psychic ability wasn't only for battle, it was also to avoid seeing that disappointed look in Sylveon's eyes again. For a man, that kind of pain was hard to bear.
Immersed in training, Gu Yuan lost track of time.
Though powerful Psychics could replace sleep with meditation, Gu Yuan wasn't at that level yet.
To be ready for tomorrow's elimination match, he turned off the lights and went to bed around nine.
The next morning at six, Gu Yuan got up early, washed, and began training again.
After awakening his psychic power, his energy was overflowing; he felt stronger than ever.
By the time he finished and arrived at the arena, it was already past eight. The battles would start at nine.
Only twenty contestants remained in the waiting room now, and the matches were conducted one by one.
Finding a seat, Gu Yuan noticed several people glancing at him.
It couldn't be helped. As one of the current top three strongest competitors, no one wanted to be matched against him.
The other two who enjoyed the same kind of attention were the sweet-looking Ayako and the cold, unapproachable Reima Mizutani.