Chapter 183: A Tremendous Boost for Petilil 

Inside the room, Petilil was intently observing the Life Orb placed on the table.

"Petilil, let's try out the effects of this Life Orb now," Aven said with a serious expression. Since returning, he had already explained to Petilil how the Life Orb worked.

"Lil Lil, Lil Lil," Petilil replied, full of anticipation yet visibly apprehensive.

That purple-red orb was said to absorb the user's life energy—this was no trivial matter.

On the other side, Froslass was floating near the Life Orb. She could feel an incredibly tempting power emanating from it. If she could absorb the life energy within, she had no doubt her strength would increase substantially.

However, the energy inside the orb would primarily boost her Ghost-type abilities. Considering she already had to be extremely cautious when using that part of her power, absorbing more life energy would be akin to playing with fire.

Sighing softly, Froslass floated further away, worried that if she lost control, she might end up swallowing the orb on impulse.

"The Life Orb is extremely dangerous. All of you, be careful," Aven warned, glancing at the distant Froslass. He then turned his attention back to Petilil and Cherrim.

Cherrim, who had been curiously peeking from Aven's shoulder, nodded and leapt down, retreating to the opposite bed to watch from a safe distance.

Once everything was ready, Aven turned to Petilil. "The Life Orb's function is to convert life energy into strength. Try gathering your life energy and channeling it into the orb."

Petilil nodded immediately. A faint green glow began to appear around its body as it concentrated its Grass-type energy. The soft green light gathered and flowed toward the leaf atop its head, which began to glow even brighter. Life energy surged.

Using Absorb, Petilil successfully gathered energy and directed it into its healing leaf, where it started to condense into pure life energy.

"Lil Lil, Lil Lil" Petilil chirped excitedly, having successfully created life energy. It then channeled the energy into the Life Orb.

Instantly, the orb emitted a sinister, purple-red glow. The ominous light poured out and seemed to form a connection with Petilil, flooding into its body.

Petilil was quickly engulfed in the energy, staring at its own hands in confusion. It could feel its power increasing rapidly. The sensation was somewhat similar to the stat-boosting effects of Growth, but far stronger!

"Petilil, try using Absorb again!" Aven called out.

Petilil nodded, and the energy around it surged into a thick green beam that shot out the window!

Aven watched the powerful green beam with surprise. Petilil's strength had indeed grown significantly after absorbing the Life Orb's energy!

"Lass~" Froslass also expressed her astonishment. Compared to Aven, as a Pokémon, she could sense the boost in Petilil's strength even more keenly.

Originally, Petilil's power had only been at the level of an average Intermediate-tier magical beast. But now, its almost catching up with the Rhydon.!

"Lil Lil, Lil Lil!" Petilil felt amazing. Looking out the window, it spotted Rhydon jogging past with its trademark white ribbon tied around its head. Petilil's eyes gleamed with eagerness.

But just then, the purple-red glow around its body suddenly began to fade, and the power it had gained also began to diminish. In moments, the energy disappeared completely.

Petilil turned to look at the Life Orb on the table, its eyes sparkling with excitement. This item had dramatically boosted its power!

"Petilil, did you feel anything unusual?" Aven walked over, checking Petilil's condition thoroughly.

"Lil Lil, Lil Lil." Petilil closed its eyes and focused, then happily chirped. It felt perfectly fine.

Since Petilil could generate life energy itself, it was very aware of its own bodily state. Everything was normal.

"Really no side effects?" Aven was briefly stunned, then smiled in relief.

Just as he had suspected, the Life Orb was essentially an energy converter—it transformed life energy into a special purple-red power that enhanced a Pokémon's abilities.

Under normal circumstances, this meant Pokémon had to give up their internal life energy in exchange for temporary strength. But since Petilil could generate life energy on its own, the orb was simply converting that generated energy—no harm done!

If that was the case, Petilil could potentially use the Life Orb indefinitely to enhance its power as long as it could supply the energy.

Unfortunately, the power boost was temporary, similar to the effects of Growth or the Flower Gift ability.

"But... if we could understand how the Life Orb converts energy..." Aven mused. "If Petilil could learn the principle behind the conversion, it might be able to control the power at will."

Just as the thought occurred to him, he shook his head. Even in his previous life, top researchers had surely investigated the Life Orb in-depth. If even they couldn't unlock its secrets, how could a Pokémon breeder like him hope to do so?

"Lil Lil, Lil Lil?" Petilil, however, looked up thoughtfully after hearing Aven mutter to himself.

Putting aside his impractical thoughts, Aven resumed testing the Life Orb with Petilil, carefully recording data from each experiment.

Next, they tried a sequence where Petilil channeled life energy into the orb, and then used various moves to deplete the resulting purple energy.

As time passed, the wave patterns of the purple energy slowly faded from the Life Orb, transforming back into stored life energy within it.

Since the Life Orb was formed from life energy, it required a constant supply to maintain its existence. Without it, the orb would eventually shatter and vanish completely.

That's exactly what had happened with the previous Life Orb. It had been passively draining Viscount Daly's life energy to maintain itself, weakening him over time.

If Petilil hadn't discovered the orb in time, Daly would have died, and next in line might've been Sir Enzo or Lady Phyllis, who inherited the secret chamber.

In the end, the Daly family would've been completely drained by the Life Orb and slowly faded into obscurity—perhaps even erased from history altogether.

So in a way, the meeting of Petilil and the Life Orb was fate. With Petilil's abundant life energy nourishing it, the orb no longer needed to passively drain anyone.

Once Aven was completely sure the orb wouldn't harm Petilil, he finally relaxed and decided to entrust the once-cursed item to Petilil's safekeeping.

…

Early Morning

A ray of sunlight spilled across the pristine white stone walls of the castle.

A carriage slowly rolled out of the castle grounds and headed toward the inner city.

It was quite a convoy, and the heavy wheels made deep impressions in the earth. But for the Rhydon pulling it, the weight was trivial.

After all, this Rhydon was used to running laps around the castle while carrying giant boulders daily. Compared to that, the carriage was barely a workout. It didn't even feel like proper training.

"We're finally going home," Aven said with a smile, holding Petilil in his arms as he looked out the window.

Fruitvale Village—the place where his dream had started. After half a year, he already regarded it as his true home and its people as his family.

Rhydon picked up speed, and the carriage quickly passed through the inner city, then the outer city, and finally exited toward Fruitvale Village.

"Rhydon, head toward that open field ahead," Aven instructed.

"RHHHYY!"

Once they were clear of the city limits, Rhydon let out a mighty roar.

In the open field outside the city, several carriages were already parked, and many people stood nearby.

"Just a little longer, and we'll be home," Fessen said to his fellow knights, a smile on his face. The sturdy warriors' eyes lit up with excitement.

These were the knights who had chosen to follow Aven after Fessen rallied them.

Thump... thump...

As Fessen spoke, the ground trembled slightly. Everyone tensed, and soon they saw the massive figure of a Rhydon pulling a carriage approaching.

The moment they saw the Rhydon, the battle-hardened knights and veterans instantly recognized it. They knew its strength all too well. It was a symbol of power.

Even though they hadn't yet met their new lord—the Earl of the Southeast Border—just seeing the Rhydon was enough to earn their respect. Their future lord wasn't just kind; he was also incredibly strong.

The carriage came to a stop in the field.

(End of Chapter)