"Daily Task (Learning) completed. Task evaluation: A. Reward: 10 gold coins, ten task points."
After Ace diligently read the manual for an hour, the daily "learning" task was successfully completed.
Because Ace read attentively and understood a significant amount about Zubat, his task evaluation directly reached an A!
"Zubat, come here."
Temporarily putting the manual away, Ace called out to Zubat.
Zubat obediently landed on Ace's shoulder. Ace picked it up, reaching out to touch the area around its cheekbones.
Ace could feel two slight bumps there. From the knowledge in the manual, Ace knew this was where Zubat's poison glands, which store venom, were located.
However, the poison glands were still quite small. Given Zubat's current condition, trying to use undeveloped poison glands to perform Poison-type moves would be practically impossible.
"I still have three hundred gold coins. Just barely enough. Luckily, I didn't spend carelessly."
Touching Zubat's head, Ace quickly opened the system store and began customizing High-Grade Energy Cubes.
To learn Toxic, he had to promote the rapid development of Zubat's poison glands.
After reading the manual, Ace understood that only High-Grade Energy Cubes, similar to those provided by the system, could specifically promote the development of the poison glands.
Only by ensuring the poison glands could mature would Zubat be able to master Poison-type moves.
According to Ace's request, three purple energy cubes, each half the size of a single Pokémon food pellet, were produced.
Ace's remaining three hundred gold coins instantly vanished.
Picking up an energy cube, Ace brought it close to his nose and sniffed.
There was no unusual smell, but at this moment, Zubat was acting like a mad creature, desperately trying to get to Ace's hand.
Although the energy cubes had no scent, their appeal to Zubat was no less than catnip's appeal to a cat.
"It's fine for you to eat, but after you finish, you need to train well for me, or it'll be a waste."
Ace chuckled as he fed the energy cube to Zubat, who eagerly swallowed it.
Though it had no eyes, Ace clearly saw a deeply satisfied expression on Zubat's face.
However, Zubat's satisfaction didn't last long before Ace picked it up by the wings and walked out of the room.
"First, let's start exercising your wings and flying speed."
Standing by the ship's railing, Ace released Zubat. Watching Zubat flap its wings and follow him, Ace said seriously, "So, now I'm going to teach you how to fly."
Zubat: ???
A face full of question marks seemed to hang over Zubat's head. It couldn't believe that its first training lesson was about how to fly.
If it couldn't fly, then what was it doing right now? Floating?
"There are many intricacies to flying."
Noticing Zubat's indifference, Ace quickly said, "Although you can fly now, for every wing flap, only a little over sixty percent of the force supporting your flight is actually used. More than thirty percent of the force is wasted."
Carefully observing Zubat's flying posture and combining it with what he had read in the manual, Ace quickly identified the problem with Zubat's wing movement during flight.
"Don't flap your wings vertically; apply force at a forty-five-degree angle..."
"No, the angle is too much..."
"No, this time the force is too great. Be gentler. While that's faster, it wastes too much stamina..."
"Feel the direction of the sea breeze. Using the wind's power is much better than haphazardly exerting your own strength..."
After nearly an hour of coaching, it was soon lunchtime, and Zubat landed on Ace's shoulder, looking a bit dejected.
With Ace's instructions, Zubat felt like it was forgetting how to fly altogether. Although it really wanted to cooperate with Ace, it instinctively reverted to its usual flying habits.
"It's okay, take your time."
Ace stroked Zubat's head, comforting it, "Habits are hard to change. Try your best to modify your habits. After all, training has just begun; doing this well is already quite good."
Ace encouraged Zubat, bringing the somewhat dejected Pokémon back to full spirits. At the same time, Zubat secretly vowed to do better in the next practice session.
Meanwhile, Ace silently watched Zubat. Soon, a line of text appeared above Zubat's head.
"Energy is being absorbed. Absolutely do not feed High-Grade Energy Cubes again."
Products from the system were always top-notch.
One energy cube was enough for Zubat to train intensely for at least ten hours. The system's reminder also told Ace not to spoil Zubat.
If Zubat, while still digesting and absorbing, continued to eat energy cubes, it would only lead to energy loss and wouldn't result in better absorption.
Ace took Zubat to the ferry's restaurant for lunch. The food on the ferry was buffet-style, so as long as one could eat it, they could eat endlessly.
Of course, this was also included in the ticket price; otherwise, it wouldn't be so expensive!
Ace and Zubat found a secluded corner to eat. While eating, Ace observed the other people in the restaurant.
Many were noble children on vacation with their families. This ferry would pass through Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn, before returning to Sinnoh.
There were also some people heading to other regions, so the entire ferry was quite a mixed bag.
Noble children disdained eating in such a public hall, so there was a private dining area next to the main restaurant. That was where those people went, but dining there wasn't free; it required payment.
Ace couldn't possibly spend that kind of money, especially since he only had a little over a thousand left.
Ace was currently observing, looking for any relatively weak opponents he could try to have Zubat battle.
But after looking around, the trainers in the restaurant were immediately ruled out by Ace.
Just by glancing at their Pokémon, Ace could tell that they were basically battle-hardened and not to be trifled with.
Then, thinking about his own level three Zubat... he decided against it.
"The only ones I might be able to handle..."
Ace's gaze fell upon the private dining area. Perhaps only these young children, who had just received their initial Pokémon, would be opponents Ace could handle.
As he thought this, Ace overlooked the fact that he himself was also just a little kid.
If he could deeply understand this point, he might be able to infiltrate these kids' circles and then propose sparring.
But clearly, Ace hadn't quite realized this yet.
After finishing his meal, Ace once again took Zubat to the ship's railing, letting Zubat take flight and once again adjust its flight according to Ace's instructions.
And as the training slowly progressed, the energy cube Zubat had consumed was gradually being absorbed by its body.
While nourishing Zubat's body, it was also relieving Zubat's fatigue from training.