Sato held a vial of translucent blue Potential Enhancement Serum, hesitating slightly.
Why did the Fire-type serum look so different after being optimized by the Joy family?
"Are you sure you didn't give me the wrong one? This looks more like a Water-type Potential Enhancement Serum."
"Don't worry! Kiki specifically reminded me multiple times to give this to you."
The Joy stationed at the remote Pokémon Center smiled as she spoke.
"What kind of preparation do I need to do?"
"Just make sure Houndour rests properly. No battles or training for seven days. Each day, inject a precise amount of Potential Enhancement Serum at the scheduled time."
She showed Sato the clearly marked dosage scale on the syringe, starting with a tiny dose on the first day, only one-twentieth of the vial.
"Whether or not the serum triggers a breakthrough depends on luck. Even if it doesn't work, don't let it get to you, your Pokémon will still benefit from the process."
She seemed slightly worried that Sato might become too obsessed with results, If it succeeded, that was great.
But if it failed, there was a chance he might take out his frustration on Houndour.
Houndour's potential couldn't be measured by numbers alone, Its intelligence was practically a cheat code compared to other Pokémon.
The serum was just a bonus, success or failure wouldn't change how much he valued Houndour.
So, Sato decided to stay at the Pokémon Center for the next seven days, ensuring that Houndour completed the serum injection process.
To maintain a strict routine, he set the injection time at 6:00 AM, right before morning training.
However, the team had just completed intensive training in Olivine City. What they needed most now wasn't more practice, but real battles.
As Sato debated what to do, the Joy nurse provided a solution: Join her on an ecological field survey!
A Joy assigned to a remote Pokémon Center was far more capable than those working in small towns.
In the wilderness, a Joy wasn't just responsible for treating Pokémon, she also had to monitor the surrounding Pokémon populations, ensuring ecological balance.
Before the Ranger profession became widespread, maintaining the local environment was a core duty for any exceptional Joy.
This meant that a Joy stationed in the wild needed strong battle skills and the ability to handle emergencies.
For Sato, tagging along on Joy's survey had two major advantages:
- He could find worthy opponents for battle.
- If anything went wrong with Houndour, Joy would be there to help.
And after just one outing, Sato quickly realized, the benefits were far greater than he had imagined.
"This plant, Frost Dew Grass, is everywhere, and it's great for stopping bleeding, but it stings when applied."
Joy pointed to a small, dark-green herb that looked completely ordinary.
Sato nodded. He actually knew this one.
But before he could react, Joy pointed to another blue-green shrub, its branches adorned with spiral-shaped white flowers.
"This one is called Spiral Bloom. Its pollen makes your skin itch, but if you grind it together with Frost Dew Grass, it stops bleeding without pain and prevents scarring."
Sato examined the Spiral Bloom carefully, committing its appearance to memory.
Ten minutes later, as Joy continued casually listing medical herbs, her list had already exceeded seven ingredients.
At this point, Sato couldn't hold back any longer.
"Wait! Repeat all of that again."
He had to memorize it all, every single recipe she had just mentioned was incredibly useful.
"Alright, enough about herbs for today. Now, let's go settle a family dispute."
Joy smiled and picked up Chansey, picking up the pace as she ran toward another area.
When Sato arrived at the scene, He immediately understood.
A Nidoking and Nidoqueen were brawling fiercely.
Just pure fists and brute strength!
"Don't be fooled. They fight all the time, but their bond is really strong. The first time I had Chansey try to break up the fight, they actually teamed up and knocked her away. Want to battle them?"
Joy laughed as she spoke.
The Nidoking couple seemed quite familiar with her, even nodding in greeting before resuming their fight, completely unfazed.
Sato watched the Nidoking and Nidoqueen, who were expressing their bond through brute force, and felt a rush of excitement, both were at Mid Elite!
Sato chose his recently evolved Ariados and Larvitar, who had already reached Elite-level power in certain aspects.
The moment the two Pokémon appeared, the Nido couple immediately stopped fighting, standing shoulder to shoulder as they turned toward their new opponents.
They locked eyes, There was no need for words!
"Ariados, String Shot Web! Larvitar, Dragon Dance!"
Their cries were identical, and their moves were exactly the same.
On the first day, every Pokémon except Houndour went through at least three battles each, and the battle quality was extremely high.
It seemed like the wild Pokémon here all recognized Joy, and they also knew that Chansey could quickly heal them.
So, when challenged by Sato, none of them refused!
Even the weakest opponents were at Ordinary (Peak Level), more than enough to give Carvanha the training it needed.
For the next few days, Sato accompanied Joy on her ecological surveys, helping Pokémon resolve various disputes.
And with Sato around, if a problem could be solved by fighting, he fought.
If it couldn't be solved by fighting, he still fought anyway.
Joy couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.
Every morning began with brief herb identification lessons, which Sato found incredibly valuable.
After so many days of direct tutoring, he didn't believe for a second that Joy was doing this on her own.
The Joy family was definitely profiting from the Potential Enhancement Serum, helping Houndour receive free injections was just a minor gesture.
The real show of gratitude was assigning Joy to help Sato grow stronger.
And for Sato, this style of "guided training" was pure bliss!
- No wasted travel time.
- Multiple high-level battles every day.
- Improved wilderness survival skills.
It was like playing a fully leveled-up character in an RPG, Power-leveling a new account through Pokémon Dungeon farming: efficient, convenient, and with no drawbacks!
And on top of that, the high-level character was also a dedicated healer, taking none of the battle experience for itself.
On the seventh morning, as Sato watched Joy inject the final one-third dose of the Potential Enhancement Serum into Houndour, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation.
Unlike the other Pokémon, who had been fighting intensely every day, Houndour's past week had been nothing but eating and sleeping.
And during this fattening process, Houndour really did bulk up.
It was already larger than normal for its species, and now, it was almost the size of a fully evolved Houndoom.
A brilliant evolution glow erupted from Houndour's body...