Chapter 468 - Skill Exchange

The massacre was led by Honchkrow, who immediately initiated the attack.

Honchkrow and Sneasel became the primary attackers in this battle, dealing the most damage to the enemy forces.

Meanwhile, Slowking, Haunter, and Skorupi played more defensive roles, holding back the chaotic onslaught of the Grumpig horde.

After an hour of intense combat, a total of twenty-one Grumpig, including their leader, lay motionless on the ground, their lives extinguished.

Although Honchkrow and Sneasel were immune to Psychic-type moves, the Grumpig didn't rely solely on them. The Grumpig leader, for example, could use Thunder Punch and other non-Psychic attacks.

However, once their Psychic moves became ineffective, the Grumpig were like snakes without fangs—their offensive capabilities plummeted.

As the battle dragged on, Honchkrow's Overconfidenace ability activated repeatedly, increasing its confidence with each successful strike. The last few remaining Grumpig were almost instantly taken down in one final assault by Honchkrow.

Despite the victory, Honchkrow, Sneasel, and Slowking all suffered varying degrees of injuries.

Still, defeating twenty-one opponents with just five Pokémon was a remarkable feat.

Aoki had killed Pokémon before, but most of the time, he simply let his Muk absorb the remains as nourishment for its growth.

This time, however, he had to take a more hands-on approach.

There was no way around it. Aoki had tried to avoid this outcome, but now, he had no choice.

After half an hour, the soil in the battlefield had sunk by three centimeters. Under Aoki's orders, his two Muk absorbed the processed remains of the Grumpig—along with the bloodstains and even the earth itself.

Now, both Muk had reached dark green in potential. However, one of them seemed to have hit its limit—further absorption would only increase its level, with minimal improvement in potential. The other Muk, with its higher potential, still had room to grow.

Aoki estimated that this Muk would reach its limit once it achieved light blue potential.

Additionally, absorbing such energy-rich Pokémon corpses had significantly boosted their levels. One Grimer had already reached level 32, and at this rate, it would evolve into Muk at level 38 without any issues.

This kind of Pokémon, which had been trained primarily in level growth rather than battle tactics, had great potential and high value.

As long as a Trainer refined its combat rhythm and strategies, these two Muk could become formidable in battle.

However, for Aoki, they were more like test subjects. Once he returned, he planned to hand them over to his subordinates to strengthen their forces.

Aoki examined the five Mind Stones in his hand—small, unassuming black stones that had been cleaned and purified.

He was surprised by how difficult it was to obtain them.

Twenty-one Psychic-type Pokémon had only yielded five Mind Stones.

Without his system's precise scanning capabilities, an ordinary person would have had no way of identifying or extracting these rare items.

At first glance, the Mind Stones appeared to be nothing special—dull and matte, like ordinary rocks. Even holding them in his hand, Aoki felt nothing except for a faint warmth.

"Can this really enhance Psychic abilities?" he murmured, feeling the gentle heat emanating from the stones.

Through his observations, Aoki discovered that Mind Stone production was closely tied to a Pokémon's strength and lifespan. The stronger and longer-lived the Pokémon, the larger the Mind Stone formed within its body.

"The conditions for creating these stones are ridiculously strict. I doubt we'll actively hunt for them in the future."

If wild Psychic-type Pokémon realized that humans were targeting them for these stones, they would go berserk.

Psychic Pokémon had incredibly high intelligence—on par with humans. If they discovered that a rare resource within their bodies was being harvested, it could trigger massive retaliation.

And if the Mind Stones were ever proven to be truly effective, then Psychic Pokémon everywhere would face mass slaughter at the hands of greedy hunters.

That would have consequences far beyond Aoki's control.

He carefully placed the five Mind Stones into his storage space. The area still reeked of blood, making it a poor place to rest and examine the stones further.

It was time to leave.

Soon, other wild Pokémon would invade the now-vacant Grumpig territory.

Any Pokémon bold enough to claim this land would undoubtedly be strong, and Aoki wasn't in the mood to deal with them right now.

Just as he was about to leave with his Pokémon, Slowking—who had suffered no physical injuries but was visibly drained—tugged on Aoki's sleeve, his face pale.

Aoki glanced at him, surprised.

Slowking's telepathic voice echoed in his mind:

"Master, I sense more Pokémon ahead. Their Psychic fluctuations are similar to the Grumpig we just fought, but much weaker."

Aoki narrowed his eyes.

Weaker Psychic fluctuations… similar to the Grumpig… Could it be Spoink?

Spoink evolved into Grumpig, meaning this was likely a group of their unevolved forms.

While few Trainers actively used Grumpig, there was a special niche use for Spoink—something Aoki realized from his past experiences playing Pokémon games on Earth.

Spoink and Grumpig had access to two very special moves:

Role Play – Copies the opponent's ability, making the user's ability identical to the target's.

Skill Swap – Uses Psychic energy to exchange abilities between the user and the opponent.

Individually, these moves were interesting but not particularly powerful.

However, when used together, they had a game-breaking effect.

Essentially, Pokémon with these two moves could act as ability converters, temporarily transferring any ability to a different Pokémon.

Even though it was only temporary, with training, the effect could last for longer periods.

Previously, when Aoki had discovered a Slakoth colony in the forest behind his base, he had already considered experimenting with Ability Swapping between Slowking and other Pokémon.

If he could find Spoink with both Role Play and Skill Swap, he could manipulate abilities at will.

However, in the previous battle, none of the Grumpig had possessed both moves.

Even if they had, after witnessing their kin's massacre, they would never have cooperated with Aoki.

But these new Spoink—who had no idea what had just transpired—were different.