Chapter 114: I Can’t Even Beat a Rattata
"It's precisely because of that talent that Ogerpon can more flexibly sense the changes different attributes produce inside her body."
However, Ogerpon wasn't like Volcanion.
She couldn't convert one attribute into another.
That would be far too terrifying.
Ogerpon's power could only shift between life energy and her four elemental attributes.
When it came to understanding life energy alone, Ogerpon actually surpassed Volcanion.
Thinking about it that way, Sora realized—
Ogerpon really had stepped into the divine realm of martial arts.
Life energy was essentially equivalent to ki from Dragon Ball.
"Instead of converting life energy into attributes, she simply applies it directly to herself."
Sora explained:
"This dramatically increases a Pokémon's raw stats. The essence of many strengthening moves is actually the use of life energy."
"It's just that this life energy is usually hidden beneath elemental enhancement moves."
Only Ogerpon had skipped the attribute-conversion process entirely, applying every bit of life energy directly onto herself.
"S-so amazing…"
Korrina understood now.
She finally grasped why Ogerpon could casually catch ultimate moves barehanded and walk away with nothing more than scraped skin.
This was basically a monster.
"The same principle applies when attacking."
"Life energy—or rather, the Life attribute—has no type advantages or disadvantages against any element. It always deals neutral damage."
"And when facing attacks that counter her, she can directly consume life energy to offset the damage."
It could attack.
Defend.
Recover itself.
It practically fused together the strengths of countless techniques into a single system.
"I call it the Life Circulation Mode."
Abandon elemental conversion entirely.
Focus solely on enhancement.
Overwhelm the enemy with raw stats.
In addition, Sora had discovered something else:
while in Life Mode, Ogerpon was almost immune to status effects.
The principle was probably similar to how genjutsu worked in Naruto.
Because life energy constantly circulated through her body, external elemental energies found it extremely difficult to disrupt her internal balance.
"The only flaw of Life Mode is energy consumption."
Sora explained:
"Ogerpon's level is extremely high. Only Pokémon who've reached this level of strength can ignore the drain and sustain long-term combat."
"As expected of Master!"
"Such incredible techniques truly deserve the title Divine Arts!"
Korrina completely believed in the existence of Divine Arts now.
And Sora was undoubtedly the martial arts grandmaster who had stepped into an untouched realm.
"Ahem… i-it's not that amazing…"
Sora felt himself getting a little carried away from all the praise.
After all, this whole system had basically been developed by accident.
"Still…"
Korrina looked somewhat dejected.
"I'm too weak. I'm completely unqualified to learn Master's Divine Arts."
Through Korrina, Sora finally gained a basic understanding of how martial artists in this world were ranked.
The lowest tier consisted of ordinary martial artists—
people still painstakingly tempering and refining their bodies.
Higher-level martial artists gradually transcended rigid move frameworks, focusing more on real combat and integrating all techniques into one.
Beyond that was entering the Hall—
becoming a Hall-level martial artist.
People like Bruno and Gurkinn belonged to this category.
Hall-level martial artists devoted themselves to developing a Pokémon's heart, skill, and body to the absolute limit.
Then breaking through those shackles, allowing Pokémon to reach an even higher realm—
which Sora interpreted as level 70 and above.
The meaning of "Hall" was transformation.
A realm where Pokémon continuously evolved and became stronger.
That was why people called such trainers "masters."
Because they truly possessed the ability to cultivate any Pokémon into a top-tier powerhouse.
Korrina once heard her grandfather say that Bruno's strongest Pokémon had already undergone a unique transformation.
"A unique transformation…"
So that meant breaking through from level 79 to level 80.
Nothing strange there.
The Kanto Elite Four were freakishly strong to begin with, noticeably stronger than Elite Fours from other regions.
Every single one of them possessed near-Champion-level strength.
The reason none became Champion was mostly due to mutual type countering.
For example—
Flying-type master Lance got absolutely hard-countered by Lorelei.
"Level 80 is the threshold for approaching Divine Arts."
No longer constrained by moves or elemental energy.
Every gesture and strike itself became martial arts.
The true realm of masters.
If your Pokémon hadn't even reached level 80, then forget the divine realm entirely.
Go polish yourself properly in the Hall first.
"What about old Mr. Gurkinn?"
"As for Grandpa… only his Lucario has reached Hall-level."
In other words—
only one of his Pokémon had surpassed level 70.
The others were merely in the 60s.
That level of strength among Gym Leaders was absurdly overpowered.
Similar examples included Norman from Hoenn.
Both men could easily be called quasi-Elite Four level.
"For some reason, I'm suddenly getting nervous."
Sora didn't consider himself a martial artist at all.
In terms of actual fighting ability, he probably couldn't even beat a Rattata.
Yet somehow—
he had inexplicably reached the pinnacle of the martial arts world.
Wasn't that kind of ridiculous?
He was honestly worried.
If word got out that he had stepped into the divine realm—
would powerful martial artists start coming to challenge him?
Please no.
"According to what you said just now, then…"
"Yes."
Korrina showed no shame whatsoever about her own weakness, openly admitting it:
"I'm still in the first stage, tempering the body."
"Uh…"
Honestly, that sounded pretty reasonable.
Still—
was Korrina really this weak?
"Then if someone comes to beat me up, Korrina, you'll protect me, right?"
Korrina might not be as strong as Bea, but she should still be capable of holding her off for a while.
"???"
Korrina genuinely couldn't understand what Sora meant.
Only after Sora explained that he knew no martial arts and couldn't even beat a Rattata did she burst out laughing.
"Master, what are you talking about? How could something like that happen?"
In this world, the full title of martial artists was Fighting-type Trainers.
But people like Korrina—or Bea from Galar, those human-shaped Pokémon—
weren't just martial artists.
They were martial combatants.
Combatants didn't only train Pokémon.
They also trained themselves.
For example, Bea could fight a Machamp evenly in direct combat.
That level of strength was downright terrifying.
Yet even someone like Bea was still considered only first-stage.
"So I can't even qualify for the first stage?"
Sora said:
"Both martial combatants and martial artists in the first stage need physical training, but I've never trained at all."
"No, no, that's not how it works."
Korrina hurriedly denied it.
"If one cannot attain enlightenment, then even a body tempered into indestructibility is meaningless."
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Pat reon Advance Chapters: /YonkoSlayer