"Cough, cough, cough, that was brutal."
Ace coughed several times, spitting out some bruised blood, before finally getting to his feet. "I think I broke a few ribs, it hurts so much."
But after Ace got up, he noticed Zubat and Raticate lying on the ground.
He quickly walked over and saw a tragic sight.
Zubat's left-wing bone was broken, with only a thin membrane connecting it to Raticate's sharp teeth.
If he didn't have the system, even if Ace didn't understand Zubat thoroughly, he could tell that Zubat was beyond repair.
Raticate was even more gruesome; Zubat's fangs had pierced Raticate's skull, injecting venom directly into its brain.
By the time Ace looked at Raticate, it had already passed away, its body swollen and blackened, indicating the ferocity of Zubat's last attack.
"Thank goodness for the system, otherwise no one could save you, Zubat."
Ace sighed, recalled Zubat into its Poké Ball, and spent five task points to heal Zubat directly.
"System, can my injuries be healed?"
Ace watched the light on the Poké Ball gradually fade, coughed a few more times, and then asked the system, "I feel like if I don't get immediate treatment, I might not make it through the night."
"...Yes."
Under Ace's deliberate exaggeration of his pain, the system was a bit speechless.
After spending another five task points, Ace suddenly felt as though he was immersed in warm water.
An extremely comfortable sensation arose, but before Ace could enjoy it, the feeling quietly disappeared.
"Perfect Body Repair has been completed."
"Three broken bones repaired, thirteen dislocated bones realigned, twenty-eight internal injuries healed, seventy-three muscle tissue damages repaired, respiratory system adjusted, circulatory system adjusted..."
Looking at the dozens of fragmented modification items, Ace nodded. Among the items that could be exchanged in the system, Ace always felt that this Perfect Body Repair was the most cost-effective.
Opening the Poké Ball, Zubat flew out, completely unharmed. Its previously broken left wing was now fully restored.
Moreover, after the battle just now, Zubat's level increased by one, and it was now level eleven.
As dusk settled, Ace took out a Beginner Energy Cube and fed it to Zubat.
He wasn't short on gold coins at the moment, so Ace was a little more extravagant; Zubat's food was now Beginner Energy Cubes.
Spending the night in the forest was extremely foolish, so Ace quickly led Zubat out of the forest and set up camp at the forest's edge.
He gathered some dry wood, and soon a bonfire was lit. Ace placed his backpack as a headrest and pillow. Since it was summer, he didn't have to worry about catching a cold.
Because he had eaten "Tangela salad" earlier, Ace wasn't hungry. As for Raticate, its body was already full of venom, so it wasn't within Ace's consideration for the time being.
Zubat landed on Ace's shoulder, and Ace opened the system store.
Currently, Ace had 10,020 gold coins and 23 task points.
He had a lot of gold coins, but while task points could be earned daily through daily quests, they were also spent quickly.
It should be said that all the spent task points went into the Perfect Body Repair.
Although there were Potions available for purchase in the system store, compared to Perfect Body Repair, it was leagues ahead.
Moreover, fighting in this world wasn't like a game where you could just heal with Potions.
Battles could cause physical damage to Zubat, and over time, minor hidden injuries might accumulate.
More importantly, Zubat was still in its development stage, and its bones were constantly growing. High-intensity training wasn't actually suitable for Zubat at this time.
But it was precisely because of the Perfect Body Repair cheat that Zubat could undergo high-intensity training without restraint, and without worrying about lingering problems.
Because of this, Ace's attention turned to another side quest.
"Side Quest (Skill Learning): Help Zubat learn the Toxic move in advance. Task Reward: 200 gold coins, task points given based on task completion evaluation."
Ace had almost finished reading Zubat's training manual. He could confidently say that, unless it was a Champion-level trainer specializing in this Pokémon, probably no one understood Zubat better than him.
Because of this, Ace also knew very well that without a TM (Technical Machine), it would be extremely difficult for Zubat to learn Toxic, unless it was exceptionally gifted.
After feeding it high-grade energy cubes for so long, Zubat's poison glands were almost fully developed, and there was simply no more room for Zubat to grow.
"If I can't win by quantity, then I'll have to win by quality."
This was Ace's current thought.
And to improve the quality of Zubat's venom, he would need a little external help.
"System, go to the Toxic Orb page."
The system store quickly flipped pages, and soon the Toxic Orb page appeared before Ace's eyes.
"Toxic Orb: A mystical orb that releases toxins upon contact. Price: 6000 gold coins."
The price was steep, but with ten thousand gold coins as a base, Ace gritted his teeth and purchased it.
Soon, a glass bottle appeared in Ace's backpack. When Ace took it out, he found a deep purple orb inside the transparent glass bottle.
"So this is the Toxic Orb... All right, Zubat, it's up to you now."
With that, Ace didn't hesitate to uncork the bottle and poured the orb towards Zubat's mouth.
Zubat trusted Ace implicitly because it knew that no matter how severely it was injured, as long as it returned to its Poké Ball, Ace could heal it.
So even when Ace fed it something непонятно, Zubat knew it was for its own good.
Gulp.
Without a moment's hesitation, Zubat swallowed the Toxic Orb, which was about the size of a longan. It immediately began to convulse, rolling in agony from Ace's shoulder.
This was like the principle of a venomous snake's venom poisoning another venomous snake; a venomous snake could be poisoned to death by another venomous snake's venom.
Even as a Poison-type Pokémon, swallowing the Toxic Orb whole caused its toxicity to instantly erupt within Zubat's body, rapidly spreading through the blood vessels in its stomach lining and circulating throughout Zubat's entire body!
"Come back, Zubat! System, I'm counting on you!"
Seeing Zubat writhing on the ground in pain, Ace recalled it, then spent five task points to give Zubat a Perfect Body Repair.
"Perfect Body Repair has been completed."
"Successfully repaired the severe poison within Zubat... Toxic Orb shattered, unable to reintegrate... Toxin transferred and integrated into Zubat's poison glands... Integration complete."
"Congratulations, Host! Your Zubat has learned Toxic!"