That night, Su Hao sat at his computer desk, fingers clattering against the keyboard as he searched for information related to ultimate moves.
A spirit without mastering an ultimate move wasn't a qualified spirit. Old Chen had also mentioned that once a spirit's spiritual power reached thirty, it could attempt to learn an ultimate move.
However, the school's courses on ultimate moves wouldn't start until late October.
Luckily, when in doubt, ask the Thousand Net.
The classification, strength, and brief descriptions of ultimate moves could all be found on the Thousand Net.
Like spirits, ultimate moves were divided by element.
Spirits could generally only learn ultimate moves of the same element; cross-element learning was extremely difficult, and the power would be greatly reduced.
Of course, it wasn't absolute.
For example, the final evolution of the Little Stone Elephant, 'Elephant General,' was famously capable of learning multiple elemental ultimate moves.
Non-earth elemental moves like Explosive Fist and Ice Fang Thrust were also within the Elephant General's ability to learn.
Su Hao already had an idea of what to teach Silkworm Baby.
The ultimate move 'Charge'!
'Charge' didn't belong to any specific element; it was a universal ultimate move.
Any spirit could learn it, and it was one of the easiest ultimate moves to master.
And it wasn't weak.
Currently, Silkworm Baby's main combat method was ramming.
It wasn't slow, its impact was considerable, and its skin had been reinforced. Once it learned 'Charge,' its combat power would definitely leap to a whole new level.
"Learning an ultimate move is also a way for a spirit to deepen its use of spiritual power. Starting with something simple is the best approach."
Besides 'Charge,' Su Hao also wanted Silkworm Baby to learn 'Roar.'
'Roar' was also a universal ultimate move, a way for a spirit to intimidate enemies by letting out a roar.
But the practical effect of 'Roar' was far inferior to 'Charge.'
Su Hao wanted Silkworm Baby to learn it because it could serve as a foundation for the superior ultimate move 'Intimidate.'
'Intimidate' not only used spiritual power but also carried some mental attributes.
It would be somewhat helpful for Silkworm Baby's future evolution into Dreamy Butterfly.
"Decision made. Learn both 'Charge' and 'Roar' at the same time. After all, these two moves have different directions, so they can be trained simultaneously..."
Both Charge and Roar were common ultimate moves, and methods for training spirits could be found on the Thousand Net.
"The first stage of learning Charge is to have the spirit combine speed and power to meet a certain standard. "The second stage is to use spiritual power during fast running to increase the spirit's speed. "The third stage is to master the use of spiritual power and attach a protective layer to the spirit, releasing the spiritual power at the moment of impact..."
It seemed clear and well-structured.
But in reality, how to combine speed and power, how to use spiritual power, how to attach a protective layer, and so on, were not explained in detail.
Whether the ultimate move could be mastered depended entirely on luck.
That was all that could be found on the Thousand Net.
More detailed and efficient training methods were core knowledge held only by high-level spirit masters, various schools, and academies.
Relying solely on the half-baked methods from the Thousand Net wasn't impossible.
But the efficiency was too low.
It wasn't Su Hao's choice.
Ask the school? Ask the homeroom teacher, Old Chen?
That was feasible.
After all, Ancheng No.1 High School was the best high school in Ancheng; it definitely had detailed training methods for basic ultimate moves like Charge.
Su Hao thought it over but decided not to consult Old Chen.
It wasn't about hiding his abilities.
Silkworm Baby's current strength was indeed above many freshmen of the same year.
But compared to true pay-to-win players or those with higher-level backing, it was just average.
In a month, he had only raised Silkworm Baby from a weakling to a slightly less weakling.
Ordinary.
Unremarkable.
Far from shocking the world; at best, it was moderately decent.
Nothing worth hiding.
Consulting Old Chen would yield "the training method for Charge" and "Old Chen's favorability +1."
But after getting the method, would he follow Old Chen's guidance or the plan unlocked by intelligence points?
Su Hao chose the latter.
"So, asking Old Chen equals too much trouble. Forget it."
A panel appeared before Su Hao's eyes.
In the upper right corner, the intelligence points had accumulated to 66.
In the original cultivation plan, the item ⑥ that hadn't met the unlock conditions had now changed after he searched online for the general training methods of 'Charge' and 'Roar':
[Cultivation Plan: ① Basic Cultivation (Unlocked) Click to view details; ②~⑤: Omitted; ⑥ Ultimate Move Learning Click to open branches.]
Among the currently unlockable ultimate moves, there were two:
Charge (Unlock with 1 intelligence point); Roar (Unlock with 1 intelligence point).
Su Hao was pleasantly surprised by how cheap it was.
This was also why he didn't plan to consult Old Chen.
With it being this cheap, did he need to freeload?
"Ding-dong~!"
Two intelligence points were deducted, and in an instant, some information flowed into his mind.
"I see. Making Silkworm Baby learn Charge and Roar... doesn't seem that hard?"
...
Donghu Mountain, the back mountain.
Coming here felt like returning home to Su Hao; it was very familiar.
Only Silkworm Baby was listless, no longer able to play with the familiar spirit friends.
"Silkworm Baby, let's continue training the Charge ultimate move!"
"Gu nuo~" Silkworm Baby called out weakly.
At first, Su Hao did take Silkworm Baby to train at school.
But he couldn't bear Silkworm Baby knocking down quite a few trees in the campus grove... Even though that grove was meant for spirit training, Su Hao still felt embarrassed.
His skin was still too thin.
There were open training grounds on campus, but Su Hao felt that if Silkworm Baby didn't hit something while practicing Charge, it wouldn't be complete.
In the back mountain forest, Su Hao had cleared a twenty-meter-long open space, at the end of which stood a tree three or four meters tall.
Silkworm Baby slowly waddled to the open space, ready to start training.
Su Hao saw that this wouldn't do.
This Silkworm Baby had no drive at all.
Although it obediently trained under his watchful gaze, it lacked initiative. When would it ever learn Charge and Roar at this rate?
This wouldn't work.
"Silkworm Baby, if you can learn Charge, I'll... I'll take you out for a big feast."
"Gu, gu nuo?"
Silkworm Baby's body trembled, and it suddenly turned its head, staring at him with big, watery eyes.
Really, really?
It had never had a big feast before, gu nuo nuo!
"Of course, have I ever lied to you?"
Silkworm Baby thought about it.
It seemed, apparently, that he really hadn't.
Suddenly filled with motivation, it shook its plump body, slightly hunched over, and its pale yellow figure shot out instantly.
Its speed grew faster and faster.
On its surface, a faint green glow formed by the dispersion of wood-element spiritual power appeared.
Silkworm Baby's speed increased another notch.
Su Hao's eyes lit up.
Indeed, under the temptation of a big feast, Silkworm Baby had made a new breakthrough, elevating its use of spiritual power to a higher level.
It wasn't far from truly mastering Charge.
Bang—
Silkworm Baby couldn't brake in time and crashed straight into the thick tree trunk three or four meters tall.
At the moment of impact, the faint green glow on its surface shattered first.
Then, its plump body squeezed forward, compressing like a pancake before suddenly rebounding.
It bounced quite far, flying high into the air.
Su Hao quickly ran over to catch it, and both he and Silkworm Baby tumbled to the ground together.
"Gu, gu nuo~(@[]@)~"