It was the twelfth day since Cain arrived at Mythical Island.
After a night of meditation, Cain had managed to process most of the memories he had acquired. The sense of pressure in his head disappeared, and his psychic abilities improved considerably.
Although he hadn't reached the level he hoped for—becoming an intermediate-level psychic—his powers had increased more than they had from absorbing the shining stones.
Now, Cain could vaguely sense the barrier to the intermediate level of psychic abilities.
In the world of Pokémon, psychics weren't uncommon, but most were at the beginner level or individuals with psychic abilities that had not yet fully awakened, as Cain once was.
However, the number of intermediate-level psychics dropped drastically, as the difficulty of advancing compared to the beginner level increased exponentially.
As for advanced-level psychics, there wasn't much to say. So far, Cain had only met one psychic of that level: Sabrina.
Thus, the fact that Cain was close to reaching the intermediate level delighted him greatly.
What excited him even more, though, was that the system had managed—after gathering Mew's memories from Cain's mind and using its analytical capabilities—to find a way to use the strand of hair with Mew's blood.
Cain knew that only one of his Pokémon was suited to use it: Slowking, the Water- and Psychic-type Pokémon.
Since evolving into Slowking, its development toward psychic abilities had become increasingly prominent, and now it seemed destined to follow this path to the end.
Cain called Slowking to come closer.
"Slowking, I'm going to perform an experiment with you. If at any point you feel like you can't handle it, we'll stop immediately," Cain said seriously.
Though that strand of hair with Mew's blood was extremely valuable, for Cain, no matter how rare it was, it wasn't more important than Slowking.
Slowking nodded solemnly, understanding the gravity of the situation. Although it had a hunch about what Cain was planning, it said nothing, and its determined gaze showed its resolve. If its trainer trusted it, it couldn't let him down.
Cain took out the crystal box where he had stored the strand of hair the previous day. Though he had just put it away, now he had to take it out again.
Using tweezers, Cain lifted the strand and placed it on Slowking's crown. On the top of its head, right where the red gem that adorns its crown was located, Cain slightly lifted the gem and placed the strand underneath.
That gem wasn't Shellder's eye; Shellder's eye was on the back of the crown.
Cain suspected it was an evolution of the King's Rock that had been absorbed during Slowpoke's evolution into Slowking, leaving a permanent mark of its royal status.
Cain knew that if he gave this strand of hair to Team Rocket, he would receive great rewards. However, after having lived as that strand and been with Mew for so long, the idea of handing it over felt unpleasant.
Moreover, now that he had discovered a way to use it, it was clearly better than giving it to Team Rocket.
Not to mention, he couldn't contact Giovanni at the moment or convince him that the strand belonged to Mew.
More importantly, Cain had entered Mew's true relic, and when Team Rocket returned and found nothing, they would surely suspect him.
Thus, he decided to keep the strand and use it on one of his Pokémon.
At first, Slowking didn't feel anything unusual, but after a while, it began to experience changes.
Originally, Slowking already had a large amount of psychic energy, but the amount it could use at once was limited. It was like a large tank of water: even though there was a lot of it, the amount that could be drawn depended on the size of the container.
Now, what was limiting Slowking was the amount of psychic energy it could release at once.
As the strand of Mew remained on its head, Slowking's psychic energy began to increase. The nearby tree leaves began to move without wind, and stones and dry leaves started to float.
Slowking's eyes turned light blue, and then the color deepened into a rich, dark blue.
This represented the amount of psychic energy it was using.
In just ten minutes, Slowking had doubled the amount of psychic energy it could use at once.
Cain, standing next to Slowking, could feel more than anyone the change occurring in his Pokémon, as he himself was also a psychic.
His clothes began to float as Slowking's energy increased, and Cain observed with a frown. This time, he had been a bit reckless in using the strand.
When Cain had made psychic contact with Mew's blood, just that alone had caused him to fall into a long sleep.
Now Slowking was directly absorbing that blood, and Cain wondered if even a Pokémon—legendary or not—could withstand the blood of a top-tier legendary Pokémon.
The veins on Slowking's head began to bulge, a sign that it was using all its strength.
"Slowking, that's enough. If you can't handle it, we'll try again later when you're stronger. I was too impulsive," Cain said, beginning to doubt himself.
Just then, a powerful burst of energy erupted from Slowking, pushing Cain several meters back.
With Drapion's help, Cain managed to steady himself.