Ren stood in front of the fifteen-meter tall plant. 

His eyes were attracted by the sight of the 1 meter in diameter fruit. 

Ren paid attention to the actual external appearance of the fruit. Its skin was coated in a deep blue. Swirls of black and white covered the fruit.

It sort of reminded him of his own skin. 

Ren turned to the Ralts. 

‘Just eat these corpses.’ Ren said as he motioned to the pile of corpses on the roots of the berry tree.

The Ralts nodded before extending one of its hands to one of the corpses. 

It activated [Drain touch]. 

‘That should keep it busy for a while.’ Ren thought. 

It was only fair. He had made the largest contribution to the battle so he should get the larger prize. 

Ren began to climb the plant. He stuck to the stem of the plant and began to swirl around the plant stem, slowly climbing the stem. 

After a few minutes of trial and error, he had made his way to the top of the plant. His body lay on top of the large fruit. 

He stared at it. 

‘How should I do this…?’ Ren questioned. 

Was he simply meant to begin eating? Was there some ritual?

Light was emitted from the skin of the plant. 

It was glowing!

It had absorbed enough corpses. 

The pure blue light began to intensify. 

It mesmerized Ren. It was enthralling. 

Tendrils of blue light spread out from the fruit and began to engulf Ren. 

‘Eat me… and become one with me…’ A sweet feminine voice whispered into his ear.

Ren was filled with a strange desire. 

He could feel his body burning up. 

He wanted to eat it…

Ren reached down from the fruit. 

‘No!’ Ren thought to himself. 

His instincts were screaming. If he bit into this fruit, it would be the end of him! 

Still, his body would not listen. 

It continued edging towards the fruit. 

Ren’s mind was now fully away. 

His mind began to process all of the surrounding information. 

‘The fruit is attracting me…no shit Ren. What can I do about it?’  

Ren considered the issue. 

The Ritual that the Oranguru had worked hard to set up was finally finished and the fruit had become mature. 

What was shocking was that the fruit had consciousness. The seductive voice that he heard was the manifestation of the consciousness of the fruit.

‘The Oranguru was probably manipulated by the fruit…’ Ren concluded. 

The fruit had probably used some of its mental weaknesses to manipulate it into giving it food. Then, when it was finally finished feeding it would use the Oranguru as some type of vessel. 

Now that the Oranguru was dead, Ren became the next best choice. 

This was an extremely high-level Berry.

‘Ok, now I know what it wants to do. How do I stop it?’ Ren questioned. 

The Berry continued to exert its influence. 

Ren desperately resisted. It only served to slow down his descent. 

He thought back to how the berry had begun manipulating him. 

‘It was the light.’ Ren concluded. 

As soon as the blue light began being emitted by the Berry, Ren had fallen into a state of drowsiness. 

‘I have to destroy it.’ 

It was the only solution he could think of. He did not want to become some puppet to a conscious fruit! He had goals!

Ren congealed his spirit outside of his body. 

With great control, Ren slowly flattened the spirit and used it to cover the blue light. 

The blue light fought back, taking back the territory Ren had carved out. 

‘This is the solution’ Ren reasoned. 

With greater control, Ren channeled more and more red light into his surroundings. The Red aura began to surround and envelope the blue light. 

‘Its getting stronger…’ 

Not just the counterattacks of the Berry. It was also his own aura. The more Blue light his Red aura absorbed, the stronger and more powerful it became. 

‘Come on… come closer… Don’t resist…’ The soft tone of the seductive voice whispered into his ear. 

Ren ignored it. 

With greater control, Ren further expanded the area of his Red aura, further covering more and more of the fruit. 

‘Please…’ The voice tried once again. The Charm factor increased. 

Still, Ren resisted. 

His iron will held out in the face of temptation. 

Ren continued expanding the range of Red aura. More and more of the Berry was covered in Red. In fact, more of the Berry was covered in Red aura than Blue light. 

‘Die!’ The seductive voice transformed into a grating and harsh sound. 

The Blue light once again surged but it was too late. 

Ren’s aura covered the whole fruit, masking it in a layer of pure red aura.

The screams of the fruit echoed out before dwindling into nothingness.

Ren stared eagerly at the fruit. 

‘What effects does this fruit have…?’ He had given up all the corpses on the roots of the tree for one reason. 

This fruit. 

Ren could tell that it had some unique properties. 

The consciousness of the fruit had been removed.

It was time to eat. 

Of course, Ren was still cautious. He began to lick the skin of the fruit, trying to detect if there was anything wrong with the fruit itself. 

Not sensing anything, Ren using his sharp fangs and pierced into the fruit. He ripped out a small section of the fruit and engulfed it. 

A sweet taste entered his mouth. It was similar to the taste of meat, yet very different. It was refreshing and uplifting. 

Ren observed the area that he had bit into. The inside of the fruit looked watery and fresh like a peach. 

‘A blue fucking peach in another world… perfect.’ Ren thought to himself. 

As Ren continued biting into the fruit, he could feel his body heating up. 

‘Is my Bioenergy escaping…?’ Ren thought, scared. 

He had previously reasoned that the Berry was a fruit and not a monster. Therefore, it would not provide bioenergy. If Ren ingested any more Bioenergy, he was sure that his body might explode!

‘Maybe I was wrong. Could it be that the Berry actually provides bioenergy...?’ Ren pondered.

Ren dismissed this thought quickly. Even the system had not reacted to the fruit. 

He could conclude that it was something else. 

Ren observed the insides of his body. 

His blood was fine. His muscles were all properly functioning. 

Ren delved deeper. 

‘Spirit…’ 

Ren located the source of the heat. 

His spirit! It was rapidly increasing in temperature. 

Ren congealed his spirit into the surroundings and observed it. 

‘The color.’ Ren remarked.

The red color of the Spirit was rapidly intensifying. 

Ren wondered what changes this fruit would make. From what he could see, this ‘refinement’ of his spirit had no real consequences. 

Ren continued to slowly consume the fruit, paying attention to his body condition.

Bite after bite. 

The juicy flesh flowed down his throat into his stomach. 

Finally, after more than

[You have ingested the Watmel Berry. Spirit dramatically increases. Wisdom Increases. Other stats slightly increase] 

[Ding! Conditions have been met. Wisdom and high spirit work in conjunction. ‘Spirit Manipulation’ has evolved into the skill ‘Spirit Control’. Abilities to control Spirit dramatically increase.] 

The messages of the system went off in his head. 

Ren immediately checked his status. 

 

‘Status’ Ren thought out. 

A status window appeared before him. 

 

Host Name: Ren

Species: Draconic Ekans (Adolescent)

Element: Poison

Level: 2 [Limit: 5]

Bio-Energy: 100/50

Length: 201 cm

Spirit: 35

Power: 21

Wisdom: 16

Agility: 22

Defense: 21

Skills: Breathless Breathing Technique [22%], Poison sting [28%], Terrorize [47%], Acceleration [65%] Tier 2 - Limit breaker [22%] Pokémon Appraisal [35%] Spirit Concentration [31%], Stealth [7%]  

Passive Skills: Tier 2 - Spirit Control [1%], 

Racial Skills: Shedding [20%], Draconic body [7%]

 

Ren was shocked. 

It was not the Spirit increase that shocked him. 

It was the increase in his wisdom. 

Even with his breathless breathing technique, his potential grew slower than other stats. This fruit had actually, allowed it to nearly double. 

This was what the Oranguru was fighting for. A chance to increase its wisdom.

Although potential was seemingly the most useless stat, Ren knew that a lot of his most important skills like spirit concentration and spirit control could only have been gained with a high potential stat. 

It was the stat that made the largest difference. 

Ren was happy with this expedition. He had unlocked new skills. His stats had rapidly increased. He was even ready for another level up. 

Ren slithered down from the top of the tree, leaving behind a few scraps. 

Ren observed the Ralts using [Drain] and consuming the Pokémon under the tree.

It had been a rather ‘in sighting’ experience meeting up with another intelligent Pokémon. Ren did not have any fancy thoughts of ‘sticking together’ or anything like that.

Such things were but a mere fantasy. 

They had been temporary allies against a common foe and that was it. Nothing more and nothing less.

Ren turned around and started to slither towards where the cave tunnel had previously been. 

He stared at the Earth wall, which was still present at the mouth of the cave. 

‘Drill…’ 

Ren commanded his spirit to form a drill-like shape. The sharp contours on the surface of the drill helped to increase its penetrative force. 

With great force, the drill penetrated into the earth, reopening the tunnel. 

‘It’s time to head back…’ 

Ren wanted to go back to his cozy little tree and hole himself in there. He wanted to level up in peace. 

Ren started to slither into the tunnel before abruptly stopping. 

Slowly he turned his head. 

Floating behind him was the Ralts.

‘What are you doing?’ Ren asked as politely as he could. 

The Ralts tilted its head to the side. 

‘Following you.’ The Ralts answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ren wanted to slap his head. He cursed his armless body once again. 

‘I mean... why are you following me?’ Ren asked.

He could still see a few corpses resting under the tree. Although there were not many corpses, they would still provide some bioenergy especially the Blue tier Pokémon corpses.

The Ralts once again tilted its head to the side. 

‘I want to.’ It once again replied simply. 

‘What the fuck.’ Ren was speechless. Did this Pokémon not understand even the most basic rules of survival? 

Ren could no longer be bothered to be shocked. He had already classified the Ralts as some outlier Pokémon.

Ren stared at the Ralts for a second. 

‘I am going to be very clear. Listen, ok. You stay here and finish consuming these Pokémon. I will wait outside the tunnel.’ Ren states very clearly. 

The Ralts nodded its head naively before turning back and heading into the cavern. 

He once again marveled at the nativity of the Pokémon. There were truly no others like it.

Ren stared at the Ralts departing figure. 

‘Sorry for this… but it’s for the best.’ 

Ren did not need anyone else.

He could not and did not want to rely on anyone else. He did not want to let another living creature into his heart. 

Ren would continue on his journey by himself.

He slithered through the cave tunnel. After a while, he managed to escape the tunnel. 

He breathed in the fresh air. 

‘Outside is the best.’ Ren thought optimistically as he slithered away into the vegetation, leaving the unsuspecting Ralts behind.

---

Please wait until the next chapter before beating up Ren.