Elf: Starts with small diamonds, then mutates into Diancie.

These three moves have a base power of 150, making them truly powerful techniques.

Unfortunately, the only drawback of these three moves is that after using them once, the Pokémon will temporarily enter a "cooldown" state and be unable to move, requiring a certain amount of time to recover its mobility.

Of course, some trainers have also made a point of addressing the inability to move.

Aside from various techniques to ensure one is not attacked while in a cooldown state, the simplest way is that the side effects of using ultimate moves are greatly reduced when one has a strong physique.

Incineroar's Special Attack isn't very high, but with the help of "Candy" which boosts all Effort Values, its Special Attack output is more than commensurate with its level.

Even though the explosion and burning technique is a special attack move, Su Hao felt it was worth learning.

All the basic conditions have been met; now all that's needed is for the Blazing Roaring Tiger's flames to undergo a transformation similar to its physical body.

In a flash, Su Hao cleared his mind and turned his expectant gaze to Xia Jie, waiting for his next move.

Xia Jie was very pleased with Su Hao's attitude, which gave him a strange sense of satisfaction.

Xia Jie took out a Poké Ball whose red paint had faded somewhat, pressed the power button, and the Poké Ball opened instantly. A ball of red light slowly solidified into the figure of a tall Pokémon.

This is a Fire-type Pokémon covered in fur—Typhomon.

Su Hao noticed that the fur of this Tyrannosaurus was much darker than the picture in the encyclopedia, and in some places, patches of fur were matted together.

This is proof that the Pokémon is old; this Typhlosion is probably a veteran in Xia Jie's team.

When Typhlosion leaves its Poké Ball, it doesn't roar to the sky like its young and spirited brethren, nor does it burn the flames connecting its back and neck to show its dominance.

Its only concerns are being Buddhist-like and what to eat for dinner tonight.

Xia Jie smiled and stroked his old companion's fur, saying softly, "Old friend, I'll need you to teach that little tiger how to use [Explosive Flames]."

The Firestorm Beast nodded slightly, squinting its deep eyes at the Blazing Roaring Tiger, seemingly observing the Blazing Roaring Tiger's aptitude.

"Ow~"

After a while, the Firestorm Beast gestured for the Blazing Roaring Tiger to come with it, seemingly asking it to follow it to the mountain forest area behind the villa.

He looked just like a reclusive master preparing to impart unparalleled martial arts skills.

"Crack?"

The Blazing Roaring Tiger turned its gaze to Su Hao, awaiting his opinion.

Su Hao took a square box out of his bag and handed it to it, instructing, "Go, study hard."

Incineroar knew that Su Hao had given it a box containing energy cubes; they often bribed wild Pokémon in this way when they were in the wild.

The Fiery Roaring Tiger took the box and followed the Firestorm Beast into the forest, looking back every few steps.

"Alright." Xia Jie stroked his chin and took out another Poké Ball. "While Incineroar is learning Explosive Flame from Typhlosion, Xiao Hao will learn from me how to train its Flame trait."

Before the second trial of the Tower of Lakes opened, Su Hao also wanted to learn as much as possible in order to improve his strength.

Grandpa Xia was willing to let him stay here to study, which Su Hao couldn't have asked for more.

Su Hao nodded slightly in agreement, then asked, "What do you mean by cultivating flames?"

Is it the kind he imagined?

Xia Jie did not answer Su Hao's question directly, but instead...

The question was asked: "Do you know why your father's Charizard was able to reach the Champion level much earlier than the other Pokémon in his team?"

Su Hao hesitated before replying, "...Because it's his starter Pokémon?"

Just like Diancie, he always stayed far ahead of the other players in his team.

However, since Grandpa Xia has said so, there must be other factors involved.

"Yes and no."

Xia Jie shook his head, looking like he wanted to keep Su Hao guessing.

But he was confused by Su Hao's next reply.

"Is that so?"

"Ahem..." Xia Jie's face showed embarrassment. He lost interest in keeping them in suspense and directly revealed the secret: "How to transform the flames of Fire-type Pokémon into special flames."

"His Charizard was able to reach the Champion level ahead of schedule, entirely thanks to my nameless style."

"There are countless types of flames: flames with life force, flames with an evil aura, flames with extremely low temperatures, flames with explosive properties, and so on."

"It is precisely because of the ever-changing nature of fire that schools of thought have no names."

“Your father has never mentioned these things to you, probably because he felt it wasn’t the right time yet, after all, this is one of the paths to the Heavenly King level.”

Xia Jie's words immediately piqued Su Hao's curiosity: the path to the Heavenly King?

To be honest, most of the Pokémon in his team had their paths clearly laid out, so he never really worried about the Elite Four's path.

"Can a Fire-type Pokémon reach the Champion level simply by cultivating a special flame?"

"What about the other Pokémon that reach the Champion level?"

This was the first time Su Hao had ever heard of conditions being required to advance to the Heavenly King level.

Upon hearing this, Xia Jie cursed inwardly that his disciple Su Xu was practically letting Su Hao grow up without guidance. He then explained helplessly, "The process of a Pokémon's strength improvement is to continuously optimize its life essence. As the Elite Four level is a realm that only a very few Pokémon can reach, we must let the Pokémon find its own path in order to witness the splendor of the Elite Four level."

"Find the way?" Su Hao stroked his chin, lost in thought.

This term sounds familiar to me?

“Yes, find the path.” Xia Jie nodded slightly and continued to explain to Su Hao, “What is your Pokémon good at? Does it have any special talent in a certain area? Develop that talent and determine the path your Pokémon should take in the future.”

"For example, my Pokémon is good at using fire with a certain psychic quality, which can cause more damage to Pokémon with weak psychic abilities."

Xia Jie lightly tapped the Poké Ball in his hand, and a Pokémon resembling a fox appeared amidst a flash of red light.

------------

伽勒尔地区

Chapter 421 But... it seems like I already have all the Pokémon in my team.

A fox Pokémon with shimmering golden fur, silky smooth body hair, and an elegant and noble demeanor appeared before Su Hao.

The moment this Pokémon appeared here, the blazing sun seemed to favor its vicinity, showering down a vast expanse of sunlight.

Its nine smooth and long tails swayed gently, exuding an air of the unknown and mystery, while also revealing that it was in a good mood.

"Nine-Tails... or rather, it has the Solar Beam ability."

Su Hao's eyes widened slightly, his eyes filled with longing for the nine-tailed fox in front of him.

The soft and thick fur must be so nice to pet.

Unfortunately, this Nine-Tails is probably my grandfather's age, which feels a bit immoral, so I'll pass.

Xia Jie greatly admired Su Hao's excellent observation skills, as he was able to determine the characteristics of the Nine-Tailed Fox based on just a few details when it appeared.

Nodding in satisfaction, Xia Jie continued, "This is a technique I've studied my whole life. Take a close look."

"Nine-Tails, use Flamethrower on the ground!"

Upon hearing this, Su Hao strained his eyes, trying not to miss any detail.

Nine-Tailed Fox let out an elegant cry, and a pillar of orange-yellow fire, scalding hot, shot out from its mouth toward the nearby muddy ground.

Xia Jie smiled and asked Su Hao, "So, did you notice anything different about this flame compared to others?"

Su Hao observed for a while and even tried to probe with a waveguide.

He quickly discovered the hidden power within the seemingly ordinary pillar of fire of the Nine-Tails.

First of all, it's hard to spot the pinkish-purple hue hidden within the pillar of fire unless you look closely.

And the familiar power sensed by the waveguide...

With two Psychic-type Pokémon in the team and having lived and eaten with Mewtwo for almost a month, Su Hao quickly recognized that the pillar of fire that spewed flames also contained a certain amount of spiritual energy.

Without hesitation, Su Hao answered under Xia Jie's increasingly surprised gaze: "It's psychic power. The pillar of fire contained psychic power that only Psychic-type Pokémon and a small number of other Pokémon can skillfully use!"

Xia Jie was surprised that Su Hao had revealed the secret hidden in the jet of flames so accurately, but considering the two special abilities he possessed, it made perfect sense.

With such abilities combined with the trainer's talent, it's only been a few years since Grandson became one of the Elite Four and even the Champion.

Xia Jie decided to give Su Hao another big gift before he left, but unfortunately, the only thing he had was something whose origin he still didn't know, but which should be very useful to Pokémon.

Thinking of this, Xia Jie praised, "You're right, the flames contain the spiritual power of the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Su Hao asked, "Does adding mental energy to flames have any special effects, like being extremely effective against Poison-type Pokémon?"

“It’s impossible for the effect to be perfect, because that would involve creating your own moves.”

Xia Jie shook his head. If he could create a move with dual attributes, he would be the former champion instead of the former king.

"Listen carefully, this secret technique merely adds some different properties to the flames at best."

"For example, the effect of Nine-Tails's flame attack is, in game terms, [burning the opponent's mental energy upon impact]."

"My Firestorm Beast, for example, has the Flame Burst trait, which further enhances the power of the flames."

"That's why I want your Blazing Roaring Tiger to learn Explosive Combustion from it. Giving fire the Explosive trait is the easiest way."

"By further developing the unique properties of the flames, one can achieve the power to break through to the Heavenly King level; this is the so-called path."