Chapter 329: Spirit Masters and Life Jade

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Sato had once known little about the profession of Spiritualists/Spirit Masters, but after receiving the Grimoire of Dark Spirits from the village chief of White River Village, a descendant of the Mt. Pyre Guardians, he began to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this enigmatic profession.

In fact, the Mt. Pyre Guardians were a prominent family of Spirit Masters.

Spirit Masters are humans born with the innate ability to suppress and combat ghostly entities, much like how some humans are born with psychic abilities.

They possess a mysterious power known as "spiritual energy," which allows them to resist the deathly aura emitted by Ghost-type Pokémon, preventing them from falling ill.

Additionally, they can use this spiritual energy to exorcise or seal away Ghost-type Pokémon.

Yes, in ancient times, before humans invented tools like PokéBalls to control Pokémon, Spirit Masters, along with martial artists who honed their physical strength and psychics who trained their mental powers, were one of the three great combat professions tasked with protecting humanity.

Among these three ancient professions, martial artists were the most common, with a relatively low barrier to entry.

Anyone who mastered certain body-refining techniques could become a martial artist.

Of course, while the entry threshold for this profession was low, its ceiling still heavily depended on individual talent.

Only those with extraordinary physical gifts could hope to reach a level where they could single-handedly challenge powerful Pokémon.

Psychics, on the other hand, were the most talent-dependent of the three professions. Only those born with exceptionally strong mental powers could naturally awaken as psychics.

Psychics were the rarest of the three professions, but their combat prowess was undoubtedly the highest.

However, exceptions did exist. Some individuals could awaken psychic abilities through sheer effort or serendipitous encounters later in life, though their achievements were usually limited.

As for Spirit Masters, the key to their profession lay in their bloodline.

Only those with a certain concentration of spiritual bloodline could possess and cultivate spiritual energy.

Because of this, Spirit Masters rarely married outside their kind. They typically married within their own families or with other Spirit Master families, seldom allowing their bloodline to spread beyond their circles.

In fact, due to the unique nature of their profession and the importance of bloodline inheritance, Spirit Master families rarely appeared in public.

Even in modern times, they maintained a tradition of seclusion.

In the Kanto region, the most famous Spirit Master family was undoubtedly the Yurei Clan.

This family, which also adhered to the tradition of seclusion, gained its renown largely due to Agatha, one of the current Kanto Elite Four.

Yes, Agatha's full name was Agatha Yurei, and she was the elder sister of the current head of the Yurei Clan.

Agatha's ability to command such powerful Ghost-type Pokémon and live to such an old age is closely tied to her identity as a Spirit Master.

Through the Grimoire of Dark Spirits, Sato learned that Spirit Masters possessed many unique abilities, such as seeing and communicating with spirits, freely controlling Ghost-type Pokémon in battle, temporarily enhancing the power of their Ghost-type Pokémon, and even casting some curses on others, much like Ghost-type Pokémon themselves.

Of course, for Spirit Masters to command Ghost-type Pokémon in battle, spiritual energy alone wasn't enough.

They also required special tools to enhance their powers.

For example, the female trainer standing before Sato wore a kimono adorned with embroidery patterns strikingly similar to those described in the Grimoire of Dark Spirits.

According to the book, these embroidery patterns were protective seals that, when combined with a Spirit Master's spiritual energy, granted the clothing the ability to block the deathly aura emitted by all the Ghost-type Pokémon.

However, the kimono alone wasn't enough to convince Sato that this woman was a rare Spirit Master.

What confirmed her identity was a jade pendant hanging from her waist.

The pendant was about the size of a woman's palm and was entirely emerald green.

Due to the distance, Sato couldn't make out the pattern on the pendant, but he did notice a faint green glow emanating from it moments earlier.

If Sato wasn't mistaken, this emerald-green pendant was likely the "Life Jade" mentioned in the Grimoire of Dark Spirits.

Life Jade was an item crafted by Spirit Master families for their members, serving as a symbol of their identity—essentially an ID card in the Spirit Master world.

However, this ID card was far more powerful than the standard League ID cards Sato carried.

Although Sato found it hard to believe, the Grimoire of Dark Spirits stated that the Life Jade contained a fragment of the Spirit Master's soul.

As a result, the orb could only be used by the Spirit Master themselves.

If the Spirit Master died or willed it, the Life Jade would shatter, and the soul fragment within would attach itself to the enemy, acting like a tracking device that provided clues for the Spirit Master and their family to follow.

Additionally, the Life Jade had the powerful ability to automatically collect life energy from its surroundings.

In fact, every living being constantly loses life energy, though the process is so slow that it only becomes noticeable over time (essentially the process of aging).

The Life Jade's function was to absorb this naturally lost life energy and store it.

While the amount of life energy a single person loses daily is minimal, the combined life energy lost by many people each day amounts to a significant quantity.

This was how Spirit Masters sustained their Ghost-type Pokémon without resorting to cruel methods like stealing life energy from living creatures.

Thanks to Life Jade, Spirit Masters could feed their Ghost-type Pokémon at no cost and without moral repercussions.

As Sato gazed at the exquisite emerald-green pendant hanging from the woman's waist, a spark of desire ignited in his eyes. With the Grimoire of Dark Spirits in his possession, he had long harbored thoughts of raising a Ghost-type Pokémon.

However, the issue of feeding a Ghost-type Pokémon, which required a constant supply of life energy, had always been a concern.

Raising such a Pokémon was not only troublesome but also terrifying.

Knowing that Ghost-type Pokémon typically fed on life energy, Sato had once considered using Bellossom's Energy Ball as a food source for a Ghost-type Pokémon.

However, this idea was ultimately unfeasible.

According to the research of Spirit Masters over countless generations, life energy could be divided into two types: plant-based life energy and flesh-based life energy.

Plants, being living beings, also constantly lose life energy, which falls under the plant-based category. Flesh-based life energy, naturally, comes from living creatures.

While the Energy Ball move involves collecting life energy from nature to attack, it is ultimately a Grass-type move. Therefore, the life energy collected by the Pokémon using this move is drawn from plants.

Ghost-type Pokémon, however, typically feed on flesh-based life energy. While they could consume plant-based life energy, doing so over the long term would weaken them.

After all, eating only vegetables would leave anyone feeling weak, let alone inherently malevolent Ghost-type Pokémon. This would make it nearly impossible for them to grow stronger.

Moreover, what Ghost-type Pokémon would willingly follow a trainer who only fed them plant-based life energy? They might eventually snap and drain their trainer dry.

The Life Jade, however, could perfectly blend these two types of life energy, creating a balanced diet of both plant-based and flesh-based life energy for Ghost-type Pokémon.

"If only I had a Life Jade like that..... it would save me so much trouble in raising a Ghost-type Pokémon. If I get the chance, I should try to make contact with her. There might be something to gain."

Sato's mind raced, but he quickly snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention to the Pokemon standing before the female Spirit Master - a Haunter.

This Haunter, undoubtedly raised by a Spirit Master, was unlike any ordinary Haunter. The moment it appeared, a chilling black mist emanated from its body, dropping the temperature within a ten-meter radius by several degrees.

Within this mist, the Haunter's body was completely concealed, with only its glowing red eyes visible, signaling its presence.