A few thousand meters away from the lake where the pseudo-cornucopia was born.
SPLASH!
There was a sudden eruption from the river, and a large shadow jumped out of the water, revealing a huge white-striped fish.
In midair, the white-striped fish quickly morphed into a furry yellow mouse and landed gracefully on the ground.
This is obviously Wang Shóu.
With water still dripping from his yellow furry body, Wang Shóu knelt on the ground, gasping for dear life.
'I was this close to being dead!'
Wang Shóu still felt the lingering fear that had penetrated deep into his bones when he sensed the crushing power of the white tiger's aura, pressing down on him as if the world were against him.
'Thankfully, I chose to disguise myself as Basculin.'
The decision to transform into Basculin wasn't a coincidence. From the moment he used Charmeleon's form to meet Xiong Yong and Zhuzhu, he had been nervous that they might sense a similarity between Pikachu's aura and Charmeleon's aura.
Every lifeform has a distinct unique aura, and in Douluo Dalu, a supernatural world, creatures are able to sense the unique aura emanating from every lifeform.
Wang Shóu isn't afraid of them finding out; it's just that it would be a huge hassle to explain. So, to his relief, Xiong Yong and Zhuzhu had not reacted to meeting Charmeleon other than seeing a new face.
This also confirmed that, for some reason, he could transform into different Pokémon with unique auras as if they were never the same person.
'Anyway, I got some awesome harvests from this trip!'
Wang Shóu grinned as he looked at his inventory, where he could see a large tree with delectable red fruits hanging from its branches.
'Hehehe, they look so good~.' Wang Shóu thought, his mouth almost watering.
'Hey, system. Compared to heaven and earth treasures, how much would they be worth?'
[Strictly calculating by cultivation age, each fruit is around 10,000 years old.]
'Woah, and there are... how many fruits are there again?' Glancing at the fruit tree, Wang Shóu estimated that there were more than hundreds of them, 'Damn! That's a lot of fruits!'
It is truly worthy of the name of cornucopia, even if it is pseudo.
'Anyway, system. Scan it and tell me its information.'
Soon after a few seconds of scanning, the system obtained the fruit's information.
[It is a heaven and earth treasure known as Scarlet Blood Fruit. It is created after the condensation of the blood of powerful spirit beasts over a long period of time. It can grant the user powerful Blood Essence and has the effect of purifying bloodlines. It is compatible with all creatures of various attributes.]
'I see, it is compatible with any creature. Good, good, good.'
Wang Shóu nodded, relieved since he could use it to make his Charmeleon form evolve into Charizard.
And there are hundreds of these Scarlet Blood Fruits, meaning that he can use them to level up his Clefairy, Corvisquire, and Basculin forms and possibly evolve them too!
Wang Shóu couldn't help but get excited at the thought of receiving huge power boosts, just like the protagonist who finds a secret treasure and immediately becomes more powerful.
[I would recommend against it. Due to its intense Blood Essence, only spirit beasts over 5,000 years old can consume it without immediately exploding.]
'Oh, okay, I suppose that is not feasible then...' Wang Shóu soon calmed down. But after calming down, he had a new question, 'What is Blood Essence, though?'
'I vaguely remember in Legend of the Dragon King, Tang Wulin used his bloodline of the Golden Dragon King as a source of power. But I don't understand it, though.'
[In simple terms, Blood Essence is an energy derived from one's bloodline that utilizes the vitality within their bloodline as a power source. All creatures are born with a certain bloodline, and it can serve as an alternative power source to soul power and spiritual power.]
'Huh, I understand. So, it is just another power source... How exactly is this helpful to Pokémon?'
In Wang Shóu's understanding, Pokémon are essentially energy-based life forms, able to use their respective elemental types at will.
If he understood it correctly, Pokémon use their life force to fuel these elemental abilities.
Life force is the energy that allows creatures to exist, which is why some Pokémon that are incorporeal can exist and use their power.
So... this means that Blood Essence is not very useful for Pokémon because it utilizes the vitality contained in the bloodline, while Pokémon directly utilize their life force.
And Pokémon's primary power comes from their elemental power, enhancing their physical moves or using elemental abilities.
Therefore, using Blood Essence would instead make Pokémon weaker, as their bodies have adapted to solely using elemental power.
[Indeed, it is not particularly useful for Pokémon outside of enhancing their vitality, thus their survivability. But the key effect lies in its ability to purify bloodlines.]
'...Purify bloodlines? How is that helpful to Pokémon?' Though Wang Shóu considered himself fairly knowledgeable about Pokémon, he was still confused by what the system meant.
[In a game, some Pokémon have to reach a certain level in order to evolve, correct?]
'Uh-huh, and if I want the Pokémon to evolve, I would have to level it up to a certain level to meet the criteria.'
[Yes, and in real life, Pokémon follow a similar principle. They need to meet certain criteria before they can evolve, such as vitality, life force, elemental power, etc.]
[That is where purifying bloodlines comes in. It directly lowers the criteria needed to evolve. Meaning a Pokémon that requires level 30 to evolve now requires level 26.]
'??' If Wang Shóu had initially understood what the system was talking about, he was now completely confused.
'So... it lowers the criteria for evolution, which is great. But how does purifying bloodlines lower the criteria work?? Wasn't bloodline unnecessary for Pokémon?'
[You are mistaken in thinking that bloodlines are unnecessary for Pokémon.]
[In ancient times, there was a huge abundance of natural energy permeating the planet. Due to this, every Pokémon was already in their final form, and there was no concept of evolution. However, as time passed, the natural energy began to decline, and with its decline, Pokémon's bloodlines degraded until they eventually devolved in order to require less energy.]
'Okay, now it makes sense.'
Wang Shóu nodded, finally understanding. Though he still felt it was not too important, as Pokémon would eventually evolve one way or another. It was probably most useful for Pokémon who wanted to obtain power quicker.
However, the system dropped a bombshell.
[That is why Scarlet Blood Fruit is so useful, as it allows Pokémon to have the ability to Mega Evolve.]
'...explain.' Now Wang Shóu was just tired of new information that sought to confuse him, 'Explain how it would allow Pokémon to Mega Evolve...'
[Back in ancient times, some Pokémon's final forms were their Mega Forms. But after they devolved, the criteria became too harsh to evolve again due to a lack of natural energy. Because of this harsh criteria, humanity has called it Mega Evolution.]
[So Key Stones and human bonds with Pokémon were founded as an alternative to fill those criteria temporarily. However, it is unnecessary if the criteria were to be lowered.]
[To put it simply, this can allow Pokémon to have the ability to Mega Evolve without needing a Key Stone or human bonds to meet those criteria. Of course, due to the lack of natural energy, especially on this Douluo Dalu planet, Mega Evolution is only temporary.]
'...Okay, now this is a huge game-changer...'
Now Wang Shóu needed to go walk and calm down, processing all this new information.
---
A/N: I am finally back from a month trip to Germany. It was lot of fun, going to different cities by train and I even went to Austria and Switzerland. But now I'm back home. Of course, do forgive me for using the last few days to recuperate. Now that nothing is occupying my time for next few weeks, I will do my best to update. Btw sorry if the information in this chapter were wordy, I tried my best to keep it as simple while letting you readers understand what's going on. But if I fail, then I apologize. Anyway, I'm glad to be back.