"Congratulations Duke Satoshi," Duke Chu said after the referee declared me the victor, and he was only the first one to congratulate me. The referee directly followed suit as well. I thanked them for that before I headed for the exit; I did not bother with any other pleasantries or try to uphold any kind of small talk since I wanted to set up the ducal battles for my other dark gold stage Pokemon as quickly as possible.
It was already past 8 p.m., and I wanted to enter Utopia for dinner, so the quicker I handled everything that needed to be done the better. I could feel Duke Chu's amusement behind me, but as long as it was not resentment or slight, things were fine, so I did not bother stopping and left the battlefield. I also did not bother pausing at the waiting area and directly went to the reception.
Luckily the counter of the receptionist I had signed up for the advancement challenge with was free, so I directly went up to her and greeted her. She gave me a polite smile and congratulated me on successfully becoming a Duke. I thanked her for propriety's sake and just as I wanted to mention the registration issue, she began to list stuff I apparently needed to know now that I was a Duke. The first one was that I could now if I wanted to, change the title I registered with.
Apparently, this was a one-time privilege that only lasted for a week, and was given as a reward for trainers that reached this level and regretted registering with the title they did, which I could understand since some titles could be a bit cringe. She mentioned that if I decided to keep my title, I would be stuck with it until I became an Emperor, which equaled a Master-Class trainer. Only at that point would I get another chance to change to adjust my title.
That was fine with me since I had no plans to change my title to my name or anything else. Even after I found out that there seemed to be a Satoshi Masara out there who was not only a Professor but also a Master Class trainer, I still wanted to honor the Ash who accompanied me through my childhood in my own way. Well, I could change my title to Ash I guess but that seemed redundant, so I told the receptionist lady that I was fine with my title.
She nodded and simply told me that I still had a week to change it if I changed my mind before she moved on to the next point. It appeared that aside from the internal ranking of the Battle Club, I was also able to use my Battle Club alias and my Battle Club record to register for the regional, continental, and global Elite Rankings. However, if I did that the Battle Club would have to verify my identity first to ensure that I was not already on the list under another identity.
Apparently, registering on the Elite, Champion, or Master's list with multiple identities was not allowed, so even if I managed to advance all my various club aliases to the Elite rank, I could only sign up on the Elite List with a single one. The reason for that was pretty simple. One's ranking on the list came with certain privileges and bonuses, at least at the upper rankings that was the case, so someone trying to make multiple accounts to stack rewards was a no-go.
I had no plans to use my Battle Club alias for the rankings since I preferred to use my official ID instead. When I shared that, she nodded before informing me that I could link my Battle Club record to my registered ID if I wanted to, though doing so would officially announce that I, as in my registered ID, was Duke Satoshi. That was good to know, but since I, as Mikail Geo, had not signed up for the Elite List yet, I couldn't do that even if I wanted to, so I declined, at least for now.
I would probably do that in the future since I did not even bother masking my face nowadays. Following that, the receptionist Rea shared the adjusted prize money rates. She also listed the rules and regulations that applied to Dukes as well as Duchesses along with the opportunities provided by the Battle Club. Acting as a standby Duke was one of those, and from what she shared, the pay was pretty good when compared to the workload, which was pretty small.
Anyway, once she went through all that stuff, she eventually declared that that was all she had to share, so I finally moved on to the matter I wanted to handle in the first place, which was the registration for a bunch of ducal-level battles. When Rea heard that I wanted to sign up for 15 battles tomorrow, she gave me an incredulous look, before she released a giggle, probably because she thought I was joking.
Rea still said that it was impossible for me to book so many battles since it was impossible to arrange them. When I asked her what the maximum number I could sign up for was, she gave me a startled look. Realizing that I was serious, she asked for a moment and focused on her PC. She fiddled around for a while before she began to speak while still looking at the display. She told me that she could definitely arrange 4 battles for tomorrow, which was the limit she could guarantee at such short notice.
Rea then added that she could also try to set up another 5-6 battles for the day after tomorrow/Palkiday along with 5-6 more battles on Dialday, though she couldn't guarantee those since she would have to wait to see if they would accept the battle application/request. She added that there was a good chance that the applications would get accepted since they would be sent out to Dukes and Duchesses close to Fallabor City, but she also mentioned that there was always a chance that they could get declined.
Still, Rea assured me that I could just apply for more battles for Kyoday and Grouday if I did not reach the numbers I wanted. Since that was how things were I saw no reason to complain and asked her to please go ahead with the applications. She nodded and worked her keyboard and mouse for a few minutes before telling me that the applications were sent out. She then asked me to keep an eye on my phone tomorrow since I would get a message through the club's app with the timing of the battles at least an hour before they took place.
Following that Rea inquired if there was anything else, and after I shook my head she gave me a polite smile before wishing me a good evening. I naturally reciprocate before leaving the Battle Club. Once I found a secluded spot I entered Utopia, where I was instantly greeted by everyone since they had already been waiting for me at my place.
Munchlax came rushing at me and I could hear his belly rumble, so I had to chuckle a bit before I gave him some snacks to tide him through until I was done handing out everyone's dinner. I saw Larvitar, and Squirtle give Munchlax envious looks, so I gave them some snacks as well, much to their joy before I immediately began distributing everyone's dinner to avoid having to hand out even more snacks, which would mess up our dinner.
It took less than 5 minutes for everyone to get their share of food, and once everyone had their portion we began to eat. We talked about the battles that took place today while we ate, and as usual, everyone ate at their own pace, with some gobbling up a second or even a third serving before they were satisfied. It was a bit past 9 p.m. by the time we began to clean up, and as I was transferring the spray-cleaned dishes that everyone brought over to the dishwasher in the mansion, Kun/Azuraid came flying up to me.
I naturally asked him what was up, and he released a happy laugh before he asked me to check him out since he had felt that sensation of completeness earlier this noon. When he said that I remembered the moment during lunch when he froze up briefly. I had already suspected at that point that something had happened, but I let it be since Kun said it was nothing and we still had to go back to the Battle Club.
The latter was probably also why Kun waited until now to share the news, so I pat his smooth forehead as I checked his status/parameter sheet to see if he was right. It turned out that he was right, so I told him as much before I announced the good news to everyone else. We collectively headed for Kun's place, and once there we waited for roughly 15 minutes to see if anyone else wanted to join us at the shore of Kun's lake.
Once the time had passed, I had everyone from the circle while Fortuna and I went to the center with Kun, where we gave him a hug and wished him good luck during his breakthrough to the dark gold stage. I knew for certain that he would unlock a third ability since his potential was slated to advance to light aurora, but I had no idea what he would unlock. There was also the possibility that he might unearth/unlock a modifier or a second talent, so we were all looking forward to seeing how things went.
Anyway, after we wished him good luck, we joined the other in the circle and I gave Kun the go-ahead signal, following which he initiated his breakthrough. The breakthrough went pretty much as I expected it to; Once things calmed down and Kun's (mid) dark gold undulations spread, I made my way over to his side. I felt our bond deepen as I walked but I ignored that to congratulate Kun on reaching the dark gold stage.
He gave me a happy laugh at that and thanked me before he urged me to check his status sheet since he could apparently feel some changes that he was unsure about. I naturally did not mind and pat his head before I Observed him.
'Name: Kun-Peng (Kun)
Species: Azuraid
Gender: Male
Age: 12+ Years
-
Type: Water, Flying
Potential: Light Aurora (12.17%)*
{Deep Purple (42.86%) -> (44.34%) -> Light Aurora (12.17%)}'
I saw the expected upgrade to light aurora without any missing percentages, so what Kun was feeling was likely not a modifier. Unless he got a nature blessing or something like that but I was pretty sure that that would have caused some kind of noticeable phenomena during his breakthrough. Still, even though he did not get a modifier, he did unlock the complimentary third ability.
'Abilities: Swift Swim, Keen Eye, Infiltrator*'
I had to admit that I had been hoping for Water Absorb or Drizzle, but Infiltrator made some sense with the whole concept thing that seemed to pertain to their line. There were certainly worse abilities out there than one that let one's moves remain unaffected by a target's barriers, substitutes, or other stuff like that.
Looking down to the next section, I saw a change that probably explained why Kun was feeling that something had changed. It appeared that Kun's new ability, likely in conjunction with his breakthrough, had caused a mutation in his Sniper talent. Sniper was gone from his status sheet; It had been replaced by a talent called Pierce, and honestly, the meaning/implication behind that title was the only reason why I assumed that his new talent was responsible for the change.
'Talents: Pierce*'
Nonetheless, assumptions aside, I opened up Pierce's description to see what exactly it did, and I had to say that it was a pretty great talent. This was a definite and absolute upgrade from Sniper, and after reading the description, I was basically certain that it was his new ability that induced the change.
'Pierce:
Allows attacks to bypass defensive boosts and Protect, reduces type resistance by a level (up to neutral) if previous/first effect was not used'
The fact that Pierce would allow Kun's moves to disregard Protect alone was already quite impressive, but that it also allowed his moves to ignore any defensive boosts elevated it to a high-level talent. Add the resistance bit on top and Pierce became a top-level talent for sure.
It was a bit unfortunate that the resistance part only worked for actual resistances and in case no extra defenses had to be passed, but ignoring even that and/or wanting it to induce actual weaknesses was a tad much I guess. Still, it was an incredible talent either way, so I hurriedly looked through the rest of his status sheet to see if there were any other changes so that I could share the incredible news with him.
'Techniques:
-
Beginner:
Thunderbolt (+), Blizzard (new)
-
Proficient:
Bounce (+), Whirlpool (+), Roost (+), Wing Attack (+), Thunder (++)
-
Advanced:
Tailwind (++), Surf (++), Scorch Pump (C, +)
-
Mastered:
Hydro Pump (+), Air Cutter (+)'
After I confirmed that no further changes had taken place as a result of his breakthrough, I told Kun about his upgraded potential, new ability, and more importantly his new talent.
---------------------
---------------------
This part is purely to display Kun's status screen in one piece and does not count toward the word count.
'Name: Kun-Peng (Kun)
Species: Azuraid
Gender: Male
Age: 12+ Years
-
Type: Water, Flying
Potential: Light Aurora (12.17%)
Modifier: None
Abilities: Swift Swim, Keen Eye, Infiltrator
Talents: Pierce
Affinities: Water, Flying
-
Bond: Mikail (deep)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Dark Gold Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: D
Endurance: E
Agility: C
Energy Capacity: C
Energy Density: E
----
Resistance:
Fire (Minor), Water (Minor), Fighting (Minor), Bug (Minor), Steel (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Rock (Minor)
-
Standardized:
Electric, Rock (in progress)
----
Condition: Healthy, Happy, Surprised
----
Masteries:
Water Energy Manipulation (Advanced)
Flying/Air Energy Manipulation (Advanced)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
N/A
-
Beginner:
Thunderbolt, Blizzard
-
Proficient:
Psybeam, Aurora Beam, Bullet Seed, Lock-On, Endure, Soak, Rain Dance, Thunder Wave, Gust, Hyper Beam, Flamethrower, Protect, Liquidation, Bounce, Whirlpool, Roost, Wing Attack, Thunder
-
Advanced:
Water Pulse, Focus Energy, Ice Beam, Bubble Beam, Charge Beam, Aqua Jet, Hurricane, Air Slash, Tailwind, Surf, Scorch Pump (C)
-
Mastered:
Water Gun, Scald, Hydro Pump, Air Cutter
-
Combo moves/Custom moves:
Scorch Pump (Advanced)'
-----------------------------
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