Xia Huanao acted on his thoughts immediately. What would be needed to cut out a crystal in one go?
First, the attack needed to be fast. A swift chop before the crystal could react, cutting out the entire outline in one go. But Guagua's hand speed made this difficult. Although Xia Huanao wanted to try entering a bond transformation state with Guagua, he knew that even with the bond transformation buff, hand speed wouldn't improve much.
Since the first plan wouldn't work, he moved to the second: get more knives. Xia Huanao thought, if hand speed wasn't enough, knives could compensate. He could empty the PP of his Water Shuriken all at once, and that should be enough to shape the crystal.
However, it was getting late. He decided to postpone the experiment until tomorrow. More importantly, he needed to retrieve the crystal fragments scattered somewhere at the bottom of the swimming pool.
Xia Huanao sighed and dived into the water, searching for the crystal fragments. Fortunately, with Diancie's assistance, Xia Huanao and Guagua finished searching the entire pool in less than an hour.
Rockruff, sitting by the shore, mistook Xia Huanao and Guagua's search for a new game. But after getting a little wet, Rockruff quickly retreated to a safe distance.
The night passed without incident…
The next morning, after breakfast, Xia Huanao was training Rockruff and Breloom. The training progress for these two Pokémon was still quite low. Even though they might not be used in a two-on-two battle against Mu Zhishui, it was better to be prepared.
Su Xiaojiu looked over and asked, "Where's Guagua? Why are you training Rockruff and Breloom today, Boss Xia?"
Xia Huanao smiled and said, "Well, Guagua has his own ideas, and I don't want to interfere too much. But if you want to, you can go see him. He's in the swimming pool."
Su Xiaojiu pondered for a moment, "Okay, then I'll go with Coral with him. They're both water-type Pokémon, so maybe it'll help him too."
Xia Huanao continued the special training for Rockruff and Breloom. Meanwhile, in the swimming pool, Guagua was sitting in the water, spinning shurikens.
Although Xia Huanao hadn't said anything the previous night, he had indeed thought of a way that morning while getting ready. Guagua was now verifying this method.
Guagua first spun out a Water Shuriken. The shuriken then slowly rose upwards while spinning. At this moment, Guagua began to condense a second shuriken.
However, before the second shuriken could fully form, the first Water Shuriken dissipated, taking with it the half-formed second Water Shuriken.
Just as Guagua was about to try again, he saw Su Xiaojiu and Coral approach. "Guagua, what are you doing?"
Guagua poked his head out of the water. Seeing Su Xiaojiu, he jumped out of the pool and went over to her. He gestured wildly. Su Xiaojiu tilted her head and watched for a while before asking, "So, you're practicing Water Shuriken?"
Guagua nodded. Su Xiaojiu then brought Coral in front of Guagua. "Guagua, Coral is also a water-type Pokémon. You might be able to learn something from him."
…
Meanwhile, on the other side, Xia Huanao was still engaged in special training with Rockruff and Breloom. Mu Zhishui, along with her Rockruff and Magearna, approached. "So, aren't you training with Guagua today?"
"Why are you both asking this? Guagua is training by himself. If I'm always with him, my thoughts will have too much influence on him, which isn't conducive to his development."
"How long are you planning to let him figure things out on his own?"
Xia Huanao thought for a moment. "Just this morning. Let him explore his ideas in the morning, and I'll help him build upon them in the afternoon. Diancie has also been sent out to explore her ideas."
Mu Zhishui smiled. "I saw. Diancie is making sculptures with Sister Xiaoxiao. Is that also a way of exploring ideas?"
"Yes, I believe they will find what they need to do in their own directions."
On the other side, Guagua had a somewhat leisurely battle with Coral, not revealing his full strength. He first lured Coral into the water for a water battle, then used Ice Beam to freeze Coral, winning the match. He felt no sense of accomplishment.
Su Xiaojiu returned to the training ground with a pouting face. Xia Huanao and Mu Zhishui glanced at her. Xia Huanao asked, "What's wrong? Didn't you go find Guagua?"
Su Xiaojiu complained, "Guagua must have learned bad habits from you, or he wouldn't have thought of that method."
Xia Huanao was confused but could tell that Su Xiaojiu had suffered a slight loss against Guagua. He smiled and comforted her, "Alright, alright. I'll educate him this afternoon. Are your Pokémon okay?"
Su Xiaojiu nodded. "Yes, they were rescued by Guagua's Water Shuriken."
After saying this, Su Xiaojiu took her Coral to recover. Xia Huanao shrugged. "Can you blame me for this? This is Guagua's battle instinct."
"Who knows."
…
During lunchtime, Xia Huanao and his Pokémon ate alone in the room. Xia Huanao asked Guagua, "What happened this morning?"
Guagua explained everything, and Xia Huanao nodded. "Really, don't do it again. But speaking of which, how's your practice going?"
When this was mentioned, Guagua became somewhat excited. He stood up, wanting to demonstrate a shuriken. Xia Huanao quickly pushed Guagua back. "Alright, alright. I'll see it this afternoon. The most important thing right now is eating, right, Rockruff?"
Rockruff lifted its head from its bowl. It first licked the meat crumbs from the corner of its mouth with its tongue, then nodded in agreement with Xia Huanao.
Xia Huanao ruffled Rockruff's head. "Alright, alright, little eater, keep eating your food."
Rockruff buried its head back into the bowl. Xia Huanao chuckled, "Your appetite is growing."
Because Xia Huanao and Guagua were both preoccupied, they finished their meal quickly. After finishing lunch in a flash, Xia Huanao told Diancie and the others to eat slowly and then left with Guagua.
One should not engage in strenuous activity immediately after a meal, so Guagua and Xia Huanao walked around the training base for two laps. Xia Huanao kept checking his watch. It had only been half an hour since lunch when Xia Huanao brought Guagua to the training ground. "Guagua, it's time. How was your training this morning?"
Guagua extended his right hand. Three small Water Shurikens appeared in succession on his palm and began to spin at high speed. Guagua then extended his left hand, seemingly wanting Xia Huanao to give him a crystal piece.
Xia Huanao took a crystal from a nearby cabinet and placed it in Guagua's hand. Guagua gently placed the crystal on top of the three spinning Water Shurikens in his right hand. The crystal bounced back and forth under the impact of the three Water Shurikens, but it couldn't escape their attack range.
Xia Huanao waited for a few minutes. Guagua's movements stopped. A perfectly smooth sphere rested in Guagua's hand. Xia Huanao's eyes widened at the sight of the sphere. It was truly a marvel of craftsmanship.
Guagua then opened a bottle of special beverage and drank it. He then took out another crystal and began processing it with his right hand. This time, he successfully formed a crystal in the shape of a Water Shuriken in one go.
Xia Huanao took the crystal and compared it with the previous 95-point one. This new crystal was even more perfect than the 95-point one. Xia Huanao excitedly patted Guagua on the shoulder. "Guagua, well done!"
However, Xia Huanao also noticed a problem: this operation consumed a huge amount of PP. The bottle Guagua had just drunk was a drink that fully restored PP. Guagua's Water Shuriken PP had been continuously enhanced by Xia Huanao to a maximum of thirty-two. Even so, processing just one crystal had exhausted all of its PP.
Xia Huanao couldn't help but ask the system, "System, what's going on?"
The system had witnessed the magical scene. Its explanation for this result was: "Thirty-two PP, with a maximum of five attack times per shuriken, so it took over a hundred cuts to make a sphere. While it's a bit strange, just consider yourself lucky. As for the later crystal, the average expectation for a Water Shuriken is only around three. Using over ninety cuts to make such a crystal is a bit of overkill, but the goal has been achieved."
Xia Huanao listened, half understanding. He began to study the new small trick Guagua had displayed. "Guagua's hands are too small to hold a fourth shuriken, so there are only three knives..."
With that, Xia Huanao took out another bottle of mint lemon potion and gave it to Guagua. "Guagua, let's do it again."
Although Guagua had depleted the PP of his Water Shuriken twice in a row, with the encouragement of Xia Huanao's mint lemon potion, he used the technique for a third time. Xia Huanao watched the spinning three knives and gently rested his chin on them.
The system was so scared by his suicidal behavior that it almost crashed. But the默契 (mòqì - unspoken understanding) between Xia Huanao and Guagua prevented any accident. After a while, Xia Huanao moved his chin away and held a hand mirror, looking at his chin. "Hmm, it's good. Not a stubble at all."
The system teased, "Really, you're like a eunuch. You didn't have much beard to begin with, but you're really bold to try something like this."
Xia Huanao pointed at Guagua's hand. "Honestly, as my chin moved, I could feel the Water Shurikens in Guagua's hand changing position. My chin could feel the moisture but not the blade. It's great, system. Look at Guagua's setup, blue skin, three movable shurikens in his hands."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Isn't this a fully washable design, three-ring arc blade net, Guagua's razor, you deserve to own it."
"..."