Three months ter, ihe basic training room.

  "Gastly, use Toxic!"

  "Kehehe~"

  Gastly's figure suddenly appeared beside a training target in the ter of the room. A deep purple toxic mist rapidly enveloped the target.

  The potent poison sizzled as it corroded the sturdy training dummy, produg a faint hissing sound.

  Sato stepped forward to examihe damage. The surface of the dummy was riddled with tiny holes—up close, it was almost disturbing to look at.

  "Not bad! Zorua, destroy the target with Dark Pulse."

  "Zor!"

  Bergy waves struck the dummy evenly, the powerful destructive and corrosive properties of Dark-type energy redug it to nothing but a pile of wood shavings, erasing any trace of the toxic corrosion.

  Previously, Sato had obtaioxic Gas through the trading ptform and had Gastly absorb small amounts daily, iing it into its natural gaseous body.

  It took half a month fastly to learn Toxid another half a month to fully master it.

  Judging by its progress, Gastly's Poison-type affinity wasn't as strong as its Ghost-type affinity, but it still reached Elite level.

  Its Shadow Ball training had also tinued without interruption, with its power and quantity being a trade-off between strength and rapid-fire capability.

  Currently, Gastly could now charge a single, fully-powered Shadow Ball in one sed, or alternatively, form six smaller Shadow Balls in half a sed for rapid bombardment.

  One move, two variations—greatly increasing bat flexibility and almost funing as a minor area attack.

  Zorua had also made signifit progress.

  Now that its physical dition had caught up, its Elite Four-level potential had fully emerged.

  It could now effortlessly use Dark Pulse, and through specialized training, its Fake Tears move had bee so effective that any oppo witnessing it would feel heartbroken and start tearing up.

  After three months orous training, both Zorua and Gastly had undergone substantial level increases.

  Pokémon:

  Zorua

  -Gender: Male

  -Level: 21 (High Ordinary)

  -Potential: Elite Four

  -Ability: Illusion

  -Moves: Scratch, Leer, Pursuit, Fake Tears, Dark Pulse, Fury Swipes, Sucker Punch, Scary Face.

  Gastly

  -Gender: Male

  -Level: 20 (Mid Ordinary)

  -Potential: Pseudo-Elite Four

  -Ability: Levitate

  -Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Spite, Mean Look, Shadow Ball, Toxic, Curse, Night Shade, fuse Ray.

  Judging from their levels, both Pokémon had surpassed level 20, successfully learning all the natural moves they should have acquired.

  However, most of these moves were still basic at best—their power and mastery still required improvement.

  In terms of battle style, their bat approaches were now being distinct.

  Zorua's moves could be categorized into two primary roles—Weakening the oppo. Direct attacks.

  Gastly, oher hand, specialized in status effects—Sleep, paralysis, poison, fusion, curse. If an enemy was hit by even one of these ditions, they would suffer greatly.

  Sato silently gratuted himself.

  He had taken a gamble.

  He had bet that Kalo, the Blue-rank assassin, wouldn't stop him from obtaining an initial Pokémon. If he had been limited to just Zorua, his pns would have been far more difficult to execute.

  "Beep beep beep!"

  The doorbell of the training r. The eical voice immediately snapped Sato out of his good mood.

  "Sir, the trial begins tomorrow. You still have 100 points remaining. Would you like to…?"

  "I've already sent you the list. Buy everything and deliver it to my room."

  Sato cut her off, stepping past Rika, who had been waiting by the door, and walked straight back to his quarters.

  Rika secretly let out a breath of relief.

  In three months, the number of times they had spoken could be ted on one hand. Every versation required mental preparation on her part.

  She hesitated for a moment befng ihe training room.

  The scattered wood shavings on the floor proved the iy of Sato's training.

  Recalling how other White-rank attendants stantly bragged about which recruit was the stro, Rika stuck out her tongue slightly. The one she was assigo robably the one hiding the deepest.

  A vibration from her identification badge snapped her out of her thoughts.

  Sato had already sehe supply list.

  Not daring to waste time, Rika quickly locked the training room and hurried off to make the purchases.

  Meanwhile, Sato browsed internal annous on his badge.

  With his current rank, he could only access basiformation, such as assassins receiving rank promotions or ret additions to the trading ptform. However, in his past life, he had been a master of reaissa a single piece of data was meaningless.

  For example, recruits were currently studying basic disguise and reaissaeiques, meaning that certain supplies would see high demand.

  Therefore, items used for ter-dete and ter-surveilnce were things Sato o analyze and collect.

  Soon, Rika delivered everything he had requested—spendily 100 points.

  "Sir, I wish you victory irial and a high ranking position!"

  Rika hurriedly blurted out her well-wishes before Sato could shut the door in her face.

  "…Hm."

  Closing the door, Sato quickly put Rika out of his mind.

  Although her association with him might bring trouble, she uood that ging to him was her best ce at survival.

  After three months together, Rika wasn't pletely clueless about his strength. So how much of her well-wishing was genuine, and how much was calcutive—even she probably didn't know.

  After cheg the delivered supplies, Sato sorted them into his spatial backpack. Then, he silently reviewed his pns.

  That night, Sato her slept nor meditated, he simply sat motionless until dawn.

  -----

  At 8:00 AM, Sato exited his quarters and headed for the training grounds.

  By 8:30 AM, all twenty recruits had assembled, and along with them, twenty Red-rank assassins who would serve as trial observers.

  Among them, Sato immediately reized two familiar presences.

  One was the Red-rank assassin he had cshed with in the bloody cage trial. The other was the assassin who had kidnapped him—a Green-rank assassin, higher-rahan Red, and one of the vianders for this trial.

  Perfect. He could kill them both in one go.

  L his head, a faint smirk formed on Sato's lips.

  "The details of this trial were sent to your badges st night. Any questions? Figure it out yourselves. HL Division has 20 partits—let's see how many of you actually survive."

  The ander of the trial was a Blue-rank assassin—not Kalo, but a burly brute whose physique hardly resembled an assassin's. Alongside him were two Green-rank vianders, plus twenty Red-rank assassins.

  The lineup was undeniably formidable.

  "Akazam, use Teleport!"

  "Akazam!"

  All anizational movements were handled exclusively through Telep Pokémon, ensuring maximum secrecy—a clear sign of the anization's immense wealth.