Pokémon: World of Wonder

Huang Qiren examined the stone from left to right, turning it over and over until he finally discovered some scattered, blurry characters on it.

"Hmm... 99? That's rare~ Ah!"

Huang Qiren looked at the stone in his hand with some doubt. There are many reasons for the formation of the Flower Rock Monster, but the most obvious feature is that the probability of it forming is greatly increased in places where a large number of living beings die.

Among the unique professions of Taoist priests in the Huangyan region, there is a series of knowledge about raising ghosts, the most common of which is a ghost-raising prop called a soul-summoning banner.

It's really just a gimmick. The real place to raise ghosts is the kind of seemingly ordinary stone that Huang Qiren has in his hand, but which has undergone very special changes after being tainted by a large number of souls.

In the past, the most common place for Taoist priests to raise ghosts was the mortuary. They would make money while taking advantage of the fact that the mortuary held a large number of corpses to nurture the Qi Stone. Then they would bury the nurtured Qi Stone in places with heavy casualties, such as mass graves, and they could easily raise a batch of Flower Rock Monsters.

Before the Alliance era, Huang Yan's Taoist sect was one of the sect's fundamental strengths, capable of quickly producing a large number of qualified (superstitious) Taoists at any time.

Huang Qiren just couldn't understand one thing: how could such an ancient Flower Rock Monster be so weak? Logically speaking, a Flower Rock Monster this old should be considered a combat waste, and it should be able to reach the Elite Four level (60-80) by just by casually hanging around, right?

The Flower Rock Monster, which was sensitive to emotions and was hiding inside the Qi Stone, seemed to sense Huang Qiren's complaints and humiliatingly shrank even deeper into the Qi Stone...

Perhaps it encountered someone who hated evil and was suppressed right after birth? I can't figure it out. Since it didn't want to come out and train, let's just throw it into the sea and give it a hydraulic shock.

As Huang Qiren casually placed the stone into the open trunk of the blue tree next to him, the small stone of the Flower Rock Monster quickly faded and disappeared along with the thumping sound from the hollow tree trunk.

After dealing with the Rockruff, Huang Qiren did a somersault to get off Magikarp and began to examine the enormous, somewhat illogical Magikarp.

Huang Qiren's calloused, rough hands stroked the scales on Magikarp's body as if trying to identify something. Because of its enormous size, the Magikarp's body was covered with dense, shield-like scales that were originally only one layer thick.

The tail is not a simple crescent shape, but a huge, arc-shaped fish tail.

Its entire body is also more slender, and its upper and lower fins are not like the rigid, crown-shaped fins of ordinary carp, which seem to have no purpose. Instead, they are the close-fitting, streamlined shape that only predatory fish have.

His two left and right fins acted like two huge shields, hiding most of his body behind them.

There are also two long, translucent yellow barbels with a purple center, and finally, four sharp teeth that only appear on a thick-lipped fish's mouth, typical of Gyarados.

These shapes are fine if placed on different Magikarp, but if they are all gathered on one Magikarp, and that Magikarp is also incredibly fat, then that speaks volumes.

"Has this guy transformed into a dragon?" Huang Qiren stared intently at the two fish whiskers, seemingly talking to himself.

"Good genes, brain developed, but you know what, Magikarp's transformation into a dragon is really inspiring."

The Dolphin Man, who appeared out of nowhere, stood behind Huang Qiren and spoke with a mix of amusement and surprise.

"Hahaha, I think so too."

Hearing Dolphin Man say that, Huang Qiren smiled and replied.

The Magikarp, lying on the ground like a salted fish, had its mind blank, seemingly oblivious to what Huang Qiren and the others were talking about, its mouth opening and closing instinctively as it breathed.

Dragonization is simply dragonization, a very easy-to-understand term. Pokémon begin to passively activate other, more powerful genetic factors within their bodies, causing them to leap towards a more powerful form.

This change differs from the suddenness and speed of evolution; rather, it is a transformation of the organism itself over time.

The reason it is called "dragonization" is because before the advent of scientific classification methods and modern technologies such as genetics, ancient people liked to use the word "dragon" to describe the power of many powerful Pokémon.

Pokémon like Charizard, Gyarados, Drapion, and Excadrill are examples of this. As time has passed, many modern Pokémon have inherited some of the legacy from the ancient dragon era. The ancients' classification of dragons based on their pictographic representations was mostly accurate.

However, there are still a few errors. Some are just ordinary Pokémon that grow dragon-like features to bluff in front of enemies, while others are actively or passively suppressing the expression of the dragon-type gene to adapt to the environment.

Dragonization occurs when a Pokémon grows beyond its species' limitations and begins to evolve into a more powerful form, while evolving into a weaker form is called Bugization.

However, while dragon transformation is powerful, just like the word "dragon transformation" suggests, it also means a longer growth cycle and a longer period of weakness, requiring a long time and a lot of energy to improve and maintain the body's condition.

Although the overall combat power of the insect-transformation is reduced, it also represents a faster growth cycle and a shorter period of weakness, just like the name "insect-transformation" suggests, allowing it to form effective combat power very quickly.

Whether it's bug-like transformation or dragon-like transformation, it's all an evolution that Pokémon undergo to better adapt to their environment; there's no absolute weakness or strength.

Pokémon's infinite possibilities allow them to continuously evolve into forms that better suit their current living conditions within their limited lifespan. Only time will tell whether they will be dragons or insects.

Thinking back on the Pokémon Jiang Ye carried, Huang Qiren was pondering how to deal with the stunted but severely obese Magikarp when he couldn't help but burst out, "Damn it, why did you carry so many Pokémon? Don't you know six would be more than enough?"

Scratching his backside, Huang Qiren rummaged through his worn-out jacket and pulled out a stack of papers. The first line of the first page read: Name: Jiang Ye, Alliance ID: ...

"Oh, so you were just an ordinary person before you left home?"

"Inspirational brothers?"

"Haha, that's not surprising. Since there's no storage agreement signed, you can only carry it with you."

After making a couple of jokes with a smile, Huang Qiren stuffed the things back into his arms and clapped his hands: "Okay, let him swim a couple of laps with you, and throw him back whenever you're done."

"Follow me? He'll get crushed, won't he?" Dolphin Man didn't even glance at Magikarp lying on the ground.

Huang Qiren chuckled and patted the thick scales on Magikarp's body: "Hehe, don't worry, I've checked it. This guy's scales are thick enough that it doesn't matter if it bleeds. As long as it doesn't die, it's fine. It's too fat, so I'll have some liposuction to help it lose weight."

The human and the dolphin casually uttered some infuriating words, not even glancing at Magikarp. Magikarp, lying with its back to them, let a tear well up from the corner of its eye.