Of course, in the past half month, it was impossible for the three of them to completely digest all of their previous gains, especially when it came to cultivating the Pure Origin Manual and practicing the Swiftstep technique.
Naturally, everyone's progress differed, so Icarus didn't force anyone.
Another thing worth mentioning was that after Houndour broke through to the Ordinary Level, there was not much left to improve in the short term regarding Pokémon training.
Airi's Poliwag had already mastered both Icy Wind and Ice Punch proficiently, greatly expanding its offensive options.
Stone's Graveler had already been discussed before, so there was no need to repeat it.
As for Weepinbell and Pidgeotto, after half a month of experimentation, they also achieved their intended goals.
Weepinbell's Poison Bomb had finally taken shape. Its power was impressive, exploding on contact while releasing highly corrosive acid.
This Move was essentially a combination of Acid and Seed Machine Gun. Considering Acid's strong corrosive properties, no Pokémon would willingly take a direct hit from it.
The principle itself was not difficult. It simply borrowed the firing method of Seed Machine Gun while replacing the compressed seeds with the Acid stored inside Weepinbell's body.
The real challenge lay in controlling the flowing Acid and compressing it into a seed-like form. In the end, Graveler's compressed rock projectile technique inspired Weepinbell, allowing it to finally succeed.
Meanwhile, Pidgeotto successfully evolved Peck into Fury Attack. Although its power was definitely weaker than Fearow's version, learning the Move was still a good thing. Anyone daring to approach Icarus's Pidgeotto recklessly would definitely receive a nasty surprise.
Finally, after breaking through to the Ordinary Level, Houndour learned a brand-new Move: Odor Sleuth.
This Move greatly surprised Icarus because it could even function without consuming energy.
However, it also lost the original Foresight effect, meaning it could no longer affect Ghost-type Pokémon. Instead, it became a purely scent-based tracking Move, drastically enhancing Houndour's sense of smell.
Of course, when activated with energy, its sense of smell became even stronger, though that was merely a secondary effect.
The truly important aspect was that the Move temporarily caused a strange transformation within Houndour's internal energy. Although temporary, Icarus speculated that this mixed special substance was what allowed certain Moves that normally couldn't hit Ghost-types to suddenly become effective.
Still, Icarus was not a researcher, and his academic background from his previous life was fairly average. There was no way he could analyze the exact nature of that substance. As far as he was concerned, as long as it worked, that was enough.
After all, that level of scientific research was far beyond his abilities.
Although Icarus had modified and combined many Moves, he merely altered their forms or applied simple concepts from his previous life. That was already the limit of what he could do.
If someone asked him to fundamentally alter the essence of a Move, he absolutely could not manage it.
Since this world ultimately revolved around Pokémon, after discussing it together, the three of them adjusted their plans. They would now resume taking on normal full-day missions instead of working only half days.
After all, during the past half month, their finances had barely improved. The money earned from half-day missions was mostly spent feeding their Pokémon anyway.
As for Alliance contribution points, Icarus had already accumulated 690 points.
He briefly considered exchanging them for something but eventually dismissed the idea.
After all, he had not even fully absorbed the gains from the previous exchange yet. It was better to properly master the secret manuals they already possessed before seeking anything new.
In the blink of an eye, nearly another month passed.
Airi's Poliwag finally broke through to the Ordinary Level mid-stage.
Although it did not learn any new Moves, its energy reserves had increased noticeably.
At the same time, Airi also began preparing to select her second Pokémon.
However, before that, the group decided to help Stone obtain his second Pokémon first.
Because of Stone's persistent requests, coupled with the stable growth of Graveler, Icarus noticed that Stone had gradually become idle lately.
Thus, he finally agreed to Stone's request and prepared to help him capture a Sandshrew inside Diglett Cave.
Early in the morning, the three of them entered the cave together.
Since they intended to capture at least one Sandshrew with good aptitude, they would definitely need to venture deep into the cave.
To stay safe, Icarus also brought along the ultrasonic horn that had been unused for a long time.
Each Pokémon was equipped with a pair of night-vision goggles as well.
Because they were mass-produced, the quality was only average, but correspondingly, the price was affordable.
Combined with the glowing plants and luminous minerals embedded throughout the cave walls, the goggles were more than sufficient.
As for the source of these glowing minerals and plants, Trainers exploring the cave had gradually scattered and planted them over time.
After all, these items were inexpensive and incredibly convenient.
Whenever someone entered a dark area, they could casually toss down a few fluorescent stones and scatter some glowing grass seeds.
It required almost no effort and helped both themselves and future explorers avoid danger.
The Alliance even encouraged this practice, so fluorescent grass and fluorescent stones were sold extremely cheaply.
These luminous materials themselves contained no useful energy, so unless conditions became excessively cold, the cave's Pokémon generally ignored them.
"It's so beautiful, Brother Icarus~"
Airi stared at the softly glowing cave walls and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"Yeah…" Icarus also sighed softly while looking at the pale white glow emitted by the minerals.
They reminded him a lot of pearls from his previous life, except these came in all sorts of bizarre natural shapes.
"We've only just entered, so it's still fairly bright. But once we go deeper, the fluorescent stones and glowing grass seeds we bought should become useful," Stone added while patting his backpack.
That was right. The three of them had also brought extra fluorescent stones and seeds. It was only a small effort, and it would benefit them as well.
After walking farther into the cave, the density of Pokémon gradually increased, while the brightness steadily dimmed.
"Poliwag, Water Pulse Barrage!"
"Yobo Shiu shiu shiu!"
Poliwag rapidly fired Water Pulses from both fists and its mouth.
"Hey cha Cha!"
Several Geodude that had surrounded them were instantly blasted away.
The difference between a Newbie-tier Pokémon and an Ordinary Level mid-stage Pokémon was already huge, not to mention the overwhelming type advantage. Being one-shot was completely normal.
"Hahaha! Poliwag, you're amazing! You're invincible!"
Seeing this, Airi burst into excited laughter and shouted dramatically.
"Alright, alright, Miss Invincible. Shouldn't we clean up the battlefield first?"
Icarus looked at her speechlessly. He honestly didn't know how she could act so proud after defeating a bunch of rookie-level Pokémon with a type disadvantage.
"Oh… right!"
Airi awkwardly nodded before taking out her small hammer and beginning to collect the core minerals from the Geodude.
For the first section of the journey, Poliwag handled most of the battles while Icarus and Stone simply observed.
It wasn't because they were being lazy. Airi herself wanted Poliwag to gain real combat experience after recently breaking through.
Soon, another ambush arrived.
"Poliwag, Bubble Beam! Deal with the distant enemies first!"
Airi remained calm even as several Diglett surrounded them.
"Gulu gulu~!"
Poliwag spat multiple Bubble Beams from its mouth.
Bang!
The attacks shattered the incoming Rock Throws before striking the Geodude behind them.
"Hey cha~!"
The Geodude collapsed onto the ground, their rocky bodies riddled with holes.
The destructive effect wasn't caused by the explosions themselves, but by the Water-type energy contained within them.
"Poliwag, jump! Use Ice Punch!"
Several Diglett that had tunneled close suddenly emerged from underground.
Before they could even react, icy fists smashed directly into their heads.
Bang! Crack!
The game of "whack-a-Diglett" immediately excited Poliwag.
One Diglett after another became frozen into blocks of ice.
However, Poliwag failed to notice an Ordinary Level Diglett sneaking up behind it.
"Digu~!"
Dark-type energy coated the Diglett's body as it launched a Sucker Punch toward Poliwag.
"Moo moo~!"
At that exact moment, a barrage of Seed Machine Gun attacks shot toward it.
Although Airi and Poliwag hadn't noticed the danger, Icarus had seen everything clearly.
The moment the Diglett emerged, he ordered Weepinbell to attack.
Bang!
The Seed Machine Gun intercepted the Sucker Punch head-on.
The Diglett was knocked backward, but it still retained some fighting ability.
Unfortunately for it, Weepinbell's vines followed immediately afterward.
Slap! Slap!
The Diglett was instantly subdued before it could retaliate.
"Brother Icarus, thank you!"
Airi finally noticed the situation behind Poliwag and quickly thanked him.
"Alright, from now on we'll work together," Icarus replied. "Relying on Poliwag alone won't be enough the deeper we go, and it's draining too much stamina."
"You let Poliwag recover first. Stone and I will handle clearing the path. Once we reach Sandshrew territory, Poliwag will still be our main force."
"Okay!"
Airi nodded without objection.
After fighting continuously for so long, she already understood Poliwag's current limits.
"Brother Icarus, I think we knocked out a Sandshrew nearby earlier. Maybe we should check it first? We might not need to go any deeper."
"Good idea."
Icarus immediately called Stone over.
"Maybe Airi's luck really works."
Stone hurried over excitedly.
Earlier, they had already encountered two Sandshrew, but both were obviously underdeveloped and thin.
Just by appearance alone, their aptitude was clearly mediocre.
Still, to be safe, Icarus had Stone capture them and check their aptitude with the Pokédex.
One turned out to be lower-grade aptitude, while the other possessed middle-grade aptitude.
The lower-grade one had already been dismantled for materials.
The middle-grade one was kept alive to be sold later.
Stone had even generously fed it a low-grade Ground-type energy cube so it would appear healthier and fetch a better price.
"Oh? This one looks much better."
Icarus crouched beside the unconscious Sandshrew.
Its body was plump and healthy-looking, exactly matching the standard textbook appearance.
"Yeah, this one definitely eats well," Stone agreed excitedly.
Bang!
He immediately threw a Poké Ball.
Swish!
The Sandshrew was sucked inside.
Shake… shake… bang!
The Poké Ball burst open.
Stone wasn't discouraged and immediately threw another.
Shake… bang!
This time it escaped even faster, and the Sandshrew began showing signs of waking up.
"Sleep Powder," Icarus ordered immediately.
"Moo~"
Weepinbell released a cloud of powder.
The Sandshrew instantly fell into deep sleep again.
Swish!
Stone threw another Poké Ball.
Shake… shake… click!
Success.
"Good luck, Stone."
Icarus handed over the Pokédex with a grin.