As for the Bluk Berries, after hesitating for a moment, Lu Li still carefully peeled one open. After removing the pit inside, he fed the remaining flesh to Feebas.
Lu Li had never expected those two Bluk Berries alone to make Feebas evolve. After all, that was far too unrealistic. Besides, fruit generally did not have a long shelf life, especially fruit that could be eaten like this.
Although he did not know how Indeedee had preserved these Bluk Berries, Indeedee clearly had the ability to keep them fresh, while he certainly did not.
Thinking of this, Lu Li felt even less reluctant to use them.
At the same time, Lu Li watched Feebas crazily devouring the Bluk Berry with a broad smile on his face.
If it had not been for Feebas, Indeedee definitely would not have given him Poké Balls and Berries. It would have given him something else instead.
Indeedee had clearly put a lot of thought into preparing the gift. The outer packaging had a picture of Milotic printed on it, the Berries inside were Bluk Berries specifically used to increase Beauty, and there were also three Poké Balls.
“Little Beauty, look.” Lu Li placed that sheet of paper in front of Feebas.
“This is your evolved form. As long as you train hard, you’ll definitely be able to evolve into this someday. Do you want to evolve?” Lu Li’s tone carried a hint of coaxing and expectation.
Although Feebas only roughly understood what Lu Li meant, its eyes were filled with longing for the future and envy toward Milotic.
“Can I really evolve into something like that?” Feebas thought with some uncertainty.
Seeing the longing on Feebas’s face turn into self-doubt, Lu Li hurriedly encouraged it, “You definitely can. Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
Lu Li’s voice was full of encouragement, and his expression was utterly certain, as though evolving was something that was simply meant to happen.
Faced with such a serious and determined Lu Li, Feebas’s heart wavered again.
Its lack of confidence slowly faded away, replaced by longing and anticipation for the future.
“Yes, I’ll definitely be able to evolve someday. And I really have gotten quite a bit prettier lately,” Feebas thought to itself.
Thinking about evolution, Feebas could not help looking at Lu Li again and wondering, “If I can evolve, then maybe the fake human can evolve into a real human someday too?”
Lu Li had no idea that Feebas was thinking about making him evolve. Right now, he was simply happy because Feebas looked much more confident.
Back when he browsed forums and read novels, there had been many theories about Feebas’s evolution, such as evolving through Beauty or evolving through self-confidence.
Lu Li had no way to accurately determine which one it was, so he simply decided to try all three methods at once. They could be carried out simultaneously anyway; at worst, it would only take a bit more effort.
“So now, we’re going to start training. Evolution basically means becoming strong enough to reach a certain level,” Lu Li continued encouraging it.
Feebas nodded solemnly, looking as though it was fully prepared.
“Very good. That’s the spirit!”
“Then let’s begin formal training now.”
As Lu Li spoke, he took out the wooden board again and placed it in front of Feebas.
“What you need to do now is smash this wooden board. If it hurts, you can try absorbing the energy inside your body or the energy around you, then cover your head with it.”
Lu Li did not know whether there was anything wrong with his training method, but for now, he could only feel his way forward using the experiences of fanfiction protagonists.
It would naturally be great if it succeeded. If it failed, that was fine too.
At worst, all the effort would have been wasted.
To borrow a line from Ekko—I’d rather make mistakes than make nothing at all. [TN: Ekko from League of Legends or Arcane.]
Happy times were always short.
The same was true for training.
Although Feebas had shown no obvious improvement by the end of the day, Lu Li was still very satisfied.
At the very least, Feebas was already following his commands and trying to train. That alone was a very good start.
As a breakthrough from zero to one, this was undoubtedly miraculous.
Lu Li decided to properly remember this day, because too many miracles had happened today.
The number of Poké Balls had gone directly from zero to three, the training progress had similarly gone from nothing to something, and there was also the information Indeedee had brought him.
Over the next few days, aside from going to the cafeteria for meals, Lu Li spent all his remaining time in his room training Feebas.
Although the goal of smashing through a wall had not yet been achieved, the training had still made a breakthrough.
Feebas’s head had hardened quite a bit, and it could already smash wooden boards with ease. The next step was to smash through a wall.
That sounded somewhat like torturing a Pokémon, but for Pokémon, it really was nothing serious.
Although Feebas had remained energetic the entire time, the corresponding cost was also quite high.
The fish food that was originally enough to last a week had been completely used up by the third day.
Its appetite was already like a bottomless pit to begin with. After training, its appetite increased even further, so the fish food naturally disappeared at an astonishing rate.
After putting Feebas into the Premier Ball, Lu Li went to find Jun Shutong.
“Well, look who finally decided to show up!”
“I thought you were planning to hole up in there and never come out again.”
Jun Shutong could not help teasing him when she saw Lu Li.
There was no helping it. Lu Li, as deputy leader, was far too good at being a hands-off manager.
She had not seen him for three whole days. If Fatty Lei had not kept reporting that Lu Li was still at home, she would have started wondering whether something had happened to him.
“Hehe, I’ve been a little too absorbed in research lately.” Lu Li embarrassedly scratched the back of his head, smoothly spouting an excuse without even needing to think.
Though technically, it was not really an excuse. Training Feebas did count as research—research into how to make it learn Tackle.
Jun Shutong let Lu Li off and stopped teasing him.
“Go on, then. What does a busy man like you need from me?” Jun Shutong asked.
“I want you to take me to the second floor to collect some health supplements,” Lu Li said somewhat sheepishly.
After running out of fish food, Lu Li had thought of replacing food with various nutritional supplements.
Those things were more nutrient-dense, and given the vitality and level of existence of Pokémon, they could indeed treat nutritional supplements as meals.
“Why go to the second floor? There are at least two demon beasts there. It isn’t safe,” Jun Shutong asked with a frown.
“I need to collect some nutritional products, like protein powder, milk powder, and things like that,” Lu Li explained.
Jun Shutong looked at Lu Li. Seeing the sincerity in his expression, she hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do you need a lot?”
Lu Li nodded solemnly. “A lot. If possible, I’d even like to clear out all the nutritional supplements on the second floor.”
“If that’s the case, then the two of us can’t go alone. We’ll need more people to help carry everything,” Jun Shutong analyzed.
Of course Lu Li hoped someone would lend a hand, but this was a risky private matter, and he could not bring himself to ask.
Previously, when he proposed the sacrifice plan, it had been for the safety of the entire camp. That had been official business.
But now, he wanted to collect nutritional supplements merely to solve Feebas’s food problem. At the end of the day, this was still his personal matter.
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