Chapter 501: Dark Demon’s Godly Refinement (5k)
As the saying goes, flowers don’t bloom when you plant them with care, but willows grow from casual planting.
Dark’s sentiment towards “Pokémon” actually stemmed more from the first season’s original series.
Upon discovering that the randomly conjured golem would lean towards Pokémon, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters, he immediately thought of those well-known Pokémon from the original series.
Pokémon like Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Pikachu were his favorite golems—alas, he had never managed to conjure any of them.
Fortunately, the cute Lil’Eevee warmed his heart right from the start.
Then there was Huhu and the Big Milk Jar to satisfy his appetite.
Pokémon like Caterpie, which appeared in later generations, didn’t hold much significance for him.
Therefore, it wasn’t too disappointing that this conjuration veered off course.
After all, he still had two “Dragonfruit” left, didn’t he?
The key now was where exactly it veered off to.
“Whoosh!”
Water washed over the magic card, rinsing away all the slime.
Dark picked up the magic card again, dried it, and sat back down at the experiment table.
Looking at it, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Perhaps this is fate?”
“Unfortunately, it’s still somewhat lacking.”
“If only it were a Cubone right away!”
Indeed, on the face of this magic card, there was clearly a small Cubone lying on its back!
Little Cubone was the juvenile form of Cubone, with deep blue skin and a tiny pink belly, a Pokémon that made one want to hug and squeeze it.
Compared to Cubone, which slept after eating and ate after sleeping, Little Cubone was much more active.
But its appetite was still astonishing.
It was said that Little Cubone would eat food equivalent to its own weight every day, swallowing almost everything without chewing.
Little Cubone would hide food in its long fur, but during frantic eating, it would forget about the food hidden in its fur.
At first glance, Little Cubone seemed to have excellent compatibility with the “Capital Sins.”
Whether it was “Greed,” “Gluttony,” or “Sloth,” it should get along well with these.
Unfortunately, unlike Ibut, it did not have multiple evolutionary forms. Even if different “Capital Sins” were used, the final evolution would still be Cubone.
“Little Cubone is a general-type golem, capable of absorbing most attributes.”
“But using Dragonfruit as a base and conjuring a Little Cubone is still an extremely rare occurrence.”
“However, using the Basic Conjure Method, I’ve barely deviated in almost a year. Sooner or later, it had to happen.”
Dark smiled slightly, injecting his mana into the “Little Cubone” magic card.
A series of related information then flowed into his mind through the feedback of mana.
[Name: Little Cubone]
[Type: Elemental Card]
[Level: ???]
[Race: Avian-beast Kin]
[Attribute: General Type]
[Mana: 2000]
[Attack: 1000]
[Defense: 1000]
[Ultimate Skills: Pick Up, Charge, Rain Dance, Seed Bomb]
“It’s an Avian-beast Kin!”
Dark breathed a sigh of relief.
Whether Little Cubone was an Avian-beast Kin determined whether it could be used in “Zoo.”
Since Dark couldn’t tell if it was a bear, sloth, or fat cat, he couldn’t determine its race. But since it was confirmed as an Avian-beast Kin, further investigation was unnecessary.
“The level is three stars, and the attribute is General Type, fitting perfectly within the first tier, allowing direct regular summoning.”
“If ‘Gluttony III’ is used, it should evolve into the second-tier Cubone.”
“But who knows if the evolved Cubone will be five stars or six stars?”
“The Mana Nightmare Demon evolved from the Mana Dream through ‘Bliss III’ is likely a five-star, so the probability of Cubone being five stars is also high.”
“For now, no rush. Let’s study the data of Little Cubone thoroughly first.”
Dark continued reading with great interest.
Little Cubone’s stats… weren’t particularly strong.
Its mana value of 2000, exceeding the top value of three stars by 500 points, indeed raised its HP significantly, but as a tank, its defense was only 1000 points.
“Looks so chubby, yet the defense isn’t high?” Dark pondered.
Little Cubone’s attack and defense were both 1000 points, indicating it couldn’t handle heavy attacks nor serve as a solid shield.
This meant it could only rely on its ultimate skills.
But since it’s a gold card, among its four ultimate skills, there should be at least one rare and powerful skill.
Dark turned his attention to Little Cubone’s ultimate skills and injected more mana to analyze them deeply.
Among Little Cubone’s four ultimate skills, the first was “Pick Up,” not the “Glutton” that Dark had guessed.
Both “Pick Up” and “Glutton” were skills that demonstrated “Greed.”
Between the two, “Glutton” which automatically eats tree fruits when its HP is halved, was clearly inferior to “Pick Up” in reality.
But the original effect of “Pick Up” was also overly gamified.
There would likely be some adjustments on this Little Cubone.
[Pick Up: During battle, can pick up discarded items, temporarily gaining their use; the owner cannot retrieve or cancel it.]
[Pick Up (Additional Effect): Little Cubone has an insatiable desire for anything it doesn’t possess, especially food. It often picks up discarded or placed items (food).]
“Temporarily gain usage?”
Dark’s heart stirred as he instantly sensed something profound from this simple description.
In this world, due to the presence of magic, many things carried strong personal magical imprints, making them difficult to use even if taken.
Magi would etch mind locks onto magic cards to prevent theft.
High-end magic cards with distinct personalization were unusable even without mind locks.
Thus, in magic duels, even if someone took an opponent’s weapon or item, it would mostly serve a physical purpose and not activate its effects.
But with the passive ultimate skill “Pick Up,” Little Cubone could temporarily gain the use of dropped or discarded items, and the opponent couldn’t immediately cancel the summon!
Actually, Ibut’s “Desire” and Meow’s “Steal” also had similar “seize” effects.
But compared to “Desire” and “Steal,” the effect of “Pick Up” was much stronger.
Dark even suspected that if he dropped “Solo Sword Sheath,” Little Cubone might pick it up and use it—a higher margin of error!
Currently, among his golems, only Deoxys and Lion Beast with “Hero Qualities” could truly activate “Solo Sword Sheath.”
But if “Pick Up” really worked on Little Cubone, it might provide another possibility.
“This ultimate skill might prove surprisingly useful in critical moments!”
Dark couldn’t help but daydream.
After a while, he looked at the additional effect of “Pick Up.”
The additional effect of “Pick Up” was very similar to “Meow’s” “Treasure Accumulation Skill (Additional Effect)” in name.
The difference was that Meow could summon real treasures, while Little Cubone… might just “pick up” expired food =.=!
Dark always believed his comprehension skills were decent.
“If my understanding is correct, I’ll have to bathe it frequently to avoid it picking up expired food and hiding it in its fur, causing it to rot…”
He rubbed his forehead, feeling that this additional effect might be problematic.
And unlike “Treasure Accumulation Skill,” which is occasional, “Pick Up” is described as “frequent.”
Thinking carefully, wasn’t this even more terrifying?
…
Dark tried to stay optimistic and moved on to the next ultimate skill.
Little Cubone’s second ultimate skill was called “Charge.”
If not for the information from the magic card, Dark wouldn’t have remembered this skill.
It was so unremarkable.
[Charge: By eating, it accumulates strength to increase its defense. Can store up to three times, each increasing the base defense by 50%.
Accumulated strength can be “Spewed Out” or “Swallowed.” Each layer of accumulation restores the defense increased by “Charge” when consumed.]
[Charge (Spewed Out): Spews out accumulated strength to attack. The stronger the accumulation, the stronger the attack. The attack power equals the number of accumulations multiplied by the base attack.]
[Charge (Swallowed): Swallows accumulated strength to restore mana. The more accumulated, the more restored.
Restored mana depends on the layers of accumulation consumed. One layer restores 25% of full mana, two layers restore 50%, and three layers restore full mana!]
“Why does this feel like three ultimate skills instead of one?”
Dark’s gaze was peculiar, and he examined it carefully again, gaining a deeper understanding of the “Charge” ultimate skill.
Even standing alone, this ultimate skill could be considered divine.
By simply accumulating strength through normal eating, Little Cubone’s defense could be boosted from 1000 points to a staggering 2500 points!
This would greatly enhance Little Cubone’s survivability.
With 2000 mana and 2500 defense, it was hard to imagine this being a first-tier magic golem.
Even Huhu didn’t have such panel data.
Moreover, with “Spewed Out” and “Swallowed,” Little Cubone could sacrifice defense for a burst of attack or healing.
The challenge might lie in… feeding it?
Feeding a magic golem?
At first glance, it seemed absurd.
But for Dark Demon’s magic golem, it seemed quite normal.
But to fully feed Little Cubone, it would require 105 kilograms, or 210 pounds of food!
Assuming feeding once allows “Charge” to accumulate one layer, it would take three consecutive feedings to get three layers of “Charge.”
And when it’s full, it can also be hungry, potentially reducing the “Charge” layers…
Under such circumstances, calling it a “Gold-Eating Beast” wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
It was certainly beyond what an ordinary person could afford.
Dark shook his head slightly.
There was plenty of food in the Duke’s mansion.
Even returning to the Mana Academy, with the high remuneration from writing the Mathematics textbook, it wouldn’t let it starve.
“Luckily, your master is wealthy enough.”
Dark rubbed Little Cubone’s small belly gently, and saw the magic card’s image lick its lips, lift its paw to scratch its belly, then flip over and continue sleeping.
Dark couldn’t help but show a warm smile, then moved on to the next ultimate skill.
Little Cubone’s remaining two ultimate skills were “Rain Dance” and “Seed Bomb.”
Just from the names, it was clear that these were water and grass type ultimate skills.
“Was it because I used water and grass attributes during the conjuration?”
Dark pondered briefly and continued checking.
“Rain Dance” was a famous field skill, which he remembered vividly, but he had little recollection of “Seed Bomb.”
[Rain Dance: Pray to the water spirit to bring rain. Rain falls for five rounds, boosting the power of water type ultimate skills by 50%, while suppressing fire type ultimate skills by 50%.]
“A weather-based field skill, with an exaggerated focus on fire types.”
“When Water Star’s ‘Envy’ comes online, perhaps I can add this ‘Little Cubone’ to ‘Envy’s’ deck as a substitute field card.”
After giving “Rain Dance” high praise, Dark turned to “Seed Bomb.”
[Seed Bomb: Creates a large seed with a hard shell, launching it like a bomb to attack the opponent.]
“Seed Bomb” had a power of 80 in Pokémon, falling short of Ibut’s “Moon Power,” but still above average.
But that was all it amounted to.
Compared to Little Cubone’s other three ultimate skills, it was more like a bonus.
“One shouldn’t always expect all four ultimate skills to be overwhelmingly powerful.”
Dark smiled, picked up “Little Cubone’s” magic card, and walked to a relatively open area.
Next, he would summon “Little Cubone” and test “Gluttony III”!
…
“In the name of Dark Demon, Mana Summoning—It’s decided, it’s you, Little Cubone!”
With a calm incantation, the summon light shot from the card face and illuminated the carpet.
A chubby little blue cutie emerged from the card, materializing under the summon light.
“Gurgle-gurgle—”
Fresh to this world, Little Cubone remained steadfast in its sleep.
Dark squatted beside it and poked the tiny pink belly with his finger.
His finger sank deeply into the soft flesh.
The elastic flesh squeezed in from both sides, making it irresistible.
Dark nearly forgot his purpose, quickly retracting his hand as if shocked, reluctantly saying, “Time to wake up, Little Cubone.”
Little Cubone: “Gurgle-gurgle—”
Dark: “… Even a greedy Little Cubone sleeps so much. If it were lazy, wouldn’t it be over?”
He thought for a moment and changed his tone: “Time for breakfast.”
“Kabu?”
Little Cubone blinked groggily, looking at its familiar owner.
“Kabu? Kabu?”
Dark originally intended to lure it with food, but never expected just a word to work.
Since it was already lured, he naturally wouldn’t fetch the food.
Little Cubone, it’s all your fault!
Dark suddenly hugged its head and rubbed it, then unexpectedly received a “Tongue Lick” attack from Little Cubone.
Fortunately, it was just a normal tongue lick, not the actual “Tongue Lick” ultimate skill, otherwise he would have been paralyzed.
Dark wiped the saliva off his face and began to carefully observe Little Cubone.
Little Cubone was about 0.6 meters tall but weighed 210 pounds.
Its outline resembled Cubone, somewhat like a Totoro from Miyazaki’s works.
“Emmm…”
Observing, Dark suddenly met Little Cubone’s eyes.
Immediately, he saw a fierce desire and greed for food in its eyes.
“Grrr—”
Little Cubone sat up and suddenly hugged Dark, rubbing its face against his cheek.
To assert his authority, Dark retaliated without hesitation.
The room filled with a soft sound.
…
There is a natural connection between a magus and their magic golem.
No need for a “familiarization” process; they are already like old friends who have known each other for over a decade.
After Dark and Little Cubone cuddled for a while, he promised: “Cooperate with the experiment, and I’ll treat you to a feast afterward.”
Little Cubone licked its lips and nodded eagerly.
“Really.”
Dark wiped the drool from its mouth with a tissue, then took out the “Gluttony III” card, facing it towards Little Cubone, and began the summoning.
“In the name of Dark Demon, Mana Summon!”
As the regular summoning completed, a deep dark blue glow radiated from the “Gluttony III” card face.
Little Cubone curiously watched the light shining on itself, extending a paw to touch it, but inevitably found nothing.
When it felt disappointed, a “Greed” emblem lit up on its forehead.
The surrounding dark blue light was rapidly absorbed into the emblem, and Little Cubone’s body began to glow.
Under the light of evolution, its body rapidly expanded.
In a blink, the cute little 0.6-meter creature transformed into a towering 2.1-meter giant!
