Chapter 25: Bai Jing Explains Aura

Two hours later, after Riolu had been beaten black and blue and was exhausted, Bai Jing finally stopped.

"Riolu!"

Riolu indicated he could keep going.

"Rest. Too much is as bad as too little. Martial arts are not achieved in a day."

Bai Jing took out a healing potion and applied it, seeing its dejected and gloomy expression, and quickly spoke to comfort it.

"Don't be discouraged. Human potential is limited, but your talent is excellent. Surpassing me is only a matter of time. In the future, I will rely on you for protection!"

"Lu!"

Riolu indeed reignited its fighting spirit and urged Bai Jing to continue training.

"No, effort must have limits. Leaving lasting injuries would be bad!"

"Next, I will teach you to cultivate Aura."

Riolu was overjoyed; this was the moment it had been waiting for.

"Use an Aura Sphere once so I can see!"

Riolu placed its hands on its hips, an Aura Sphere condensed, and it flung it away.

It fell to the ground in the distance, exploding and leaving a crater.

The Aura Sphere is a very useful move; it can also sense an opponent's Aura and comes with a built-in tracking and locking function.

Riolu looked at Bai Jing expectantly.

Bai Jing nodded. "It's passable, nothing outstanding."

"The power of Aura resides in my heart!"

"Look at mine!"

Bai Jing raised one finger, and an Aura Sphere condensed at his fingertip.

"You must achieve complete control!"

As he spoke, the Aura Sphere gradually shrank to the size of a fingernail, then rapidly expanded into a huge ball, containing extremely terrifying power!

Riolu stared in shock; what immense power was this!

This is my master? He is actually this powerful!

The Slakoth also stopped, staring blankly in this direction, feeling a chill in its heart.

My master is actually this terrifying!

It's over. If one day he takes a dislike to me and hurls an Aura Sphere like that at me, will I still be alive?

So scary. Can I change my trainer?

Speak of the devil!

Bai Jing shrank the Aura Sphere into a tiny dot and flicked it over, scaring the Slakoth into fleeing in panic!

Boom! The rock where it had been standing was blown to smithereens!

The Slakoth was terrified out of its wits; he wants to kill me! Waaah~~

"Don't be lazy, continue training!"

The Slakoth shouted a response and threw itself into vigorous exercise!

Even for the sake of its own life, work hard! One day, when its strength surpasses his, it won't need to be afraid!

The effect of intimidation was excellent; Bai Jing was very satisfied!

"How was it?"

Turning his head, he saw stars in Riolu's eyes; it was just short of kneeling to worship!

"No need to envy; you can do it too in the future!"

Yes, I am an Aura Pokémon; I can do it too!

After beckoning it to sit, Bai Jing asked, "Aura is defined as a Fighting-type attribute, but do you know its true nature?"

Riolu had never actually thought about this question, because it was born with this power.

"Aura is described as the spirit of every living being, similar to Psychic power, but there is a difference between the two."

"Both are extensions of spiritual energy. If Psychic power is pure spirit, then Aura is life force."

"Life force is equivalent to the combination of spirit and body; it is the essence, energy, and spirit of a living being!"

"This is my understanding of Aura!"

"Of course, this is just my personal opinion; I don't know if it's accurate, because Aura is inherently a power that is difficult to understand."

Riolu half-understood, but still accepted Bai Jing's explanation.

"There is no need to fully understand the essence of Aura; we just need to know how to cultivate and use it, which is what I want to teach you."

"As I said above, Aura is the combination of spirit and body, so how to cultivate it is quite clear!"

"Strengthen your spirit, train your physique, then combine the two to transform them into Aura for use; this is a slow process."

"Simply put, you still have to work hard; there are no shortcuts to becoming stronger!"

Riolu nodded, indicating it would definitely work twice as hard.

"I believe in you!"

"Strengthening Aura requires slow accumulation. Now I will teach you the techniques of usage."

"First, practice controlling the Aura. I will guide you from the side. As for other applications, such as protective barriers, reconnaissance, etc., I will teach them to you slowly later. Without the mastery that comes from practice, you cannot learn these."

"Riolu!"

At this moment, Riolu was full of energy and began to mimic Bai Jing's earlier actions, controlling the size of the Aura Sphere.

But...

Watching the Aura Sphere swell larger and larger, and seeing it on the verge of going out of control, Riolu turned green with fear.

At the critical moment, Bai Jing stepped in, covering it with his Aura, suppressing the rampage.

"Riolu~~"

Riolu sheepishly scratched its dog-like head. So embarrassing... no, so embarrassing for a Pokémon!

"Don't rush it. Increase it bit by bit. Once you've practiced enough, it'll come naturally."

Time passed little by little. By the time the sky darkened, Riolu could already manage to control the size somewhat—it just wasn't skilled yet, but at least it wouldn't rampage again.

"Alright, that's it for today!"

"Slothra, let's go back and eat!"

To it, those words were a release; it dropped straight to the ground, playing dead fish completely.

"Not bad, worth a compliment!"

Bai Jing had no choice but to recall it into its Poké Ball, still taking the trouble to praise it a few times.

"Let's go!"

Riolu dragged its exhausted body along beside Bai Jing.

"Aren't you going to take the weights off?"

"Riolu! Lu~~"

Riolu indicated it wanted to keep wearing the weights; this too was a form of training, whether for body or spirit.

"Very good. I believe with your effort, your strength will soon surpass Slothra's."

"Slothra, if you don't want to be overtaken, you'd better keep working hard!"

The Slothra in the Poké Ball was too lazy to respond; all it wanted now was to rest and sleep.

"Special training today, battle tomorrow. The targets are the wild Pokémon in the forest. This period should be enough to get you both to the Elite level."

There are two ways for Pokémon to raise their strength.

One is training—experience is average.

Two is battle—that's the way to get strong fast.

But there are limits too. Defeating an opponent of the same level gives decent experience; going up against higher levels gives more.

If the opponent is weaker than you, the experience will be very little, or even none.

Most of the wild Pokémon in this forest are at the Newbie level, with a few at the Ordinary level; Elite-level ones are few and far between.

If all else fails, you can still go to the Battle Hall and find someone to battle!

The real world isn't like a game—a Pokémon's growth isn't that exaggerated; it has to be accumulated.