As Felix entered his family's compound, he found himself surrounded by ancient Chinese style buildings, tended to by various pokemon. The hustle and bustle of the compound reminded him of his time as a human, when he lived in the city. On one hand this meant bad memories, but on the other hand the familiar environment was something Felix understood, could grasp on to. This was in stark contrast to the wild environment he had found himself in for the past week or so. Felix was startled out of his reverie by a gurdur that had swung around a plank and almost hit him by accident.
"My deepest apologies, sir! Please forgive me!" the gurdur proclaimed while bowing profusely. Felix noticed the slight shiver of his hands.
'I suppose my family calls the shots here. Is he scared of losing his job?'
"Uhm, at ease worker. I'll ignore your, uh, transgression this time. Continue as you were." Felix said, trying to gage their difference in status appropriately.
'Normally I wouldn't be much of a stickler for formality like this, but I don't want to have to prove my strength every 5 minutes like in my past life. Not to mention that it does feel quite good to act haughty.'
The gurdur, still tense, scampered off with his plank. Felix resumed his walk towards the main building, which stood the tallest, with the exception of a large tower that looked like a pagoda. When he arrived, he was greeted by an absol and a houndoom, acting as guards. He greeted them while they opened the gates.
On the other side stood a tropius.
"Greetings, young master. I am called trovirum, the head retainer of the hydreigon family, which I have served for nearly 240 years now. I act as the personal assistant and guard of the patriarch, your grandfather."
"Well met, trovirum. My name is F... Ah. Well..., I don't have a name yet."
Felix caught himself before he said his old name. He didn't want to get any weird looks for 'choosing' a name for himself. He also just wasn't sure if he wanted to be called Felix anymore in the first place. He'd left his human life behind in bitterness, and wanted a new start. But there wouldn't be any sense in completely abandoning his old identity either. It was a part of who he was! Felix decided to leave that matter aside for the moment and focus on the present.
"No need to worry, young master. I'm sure the patriarch will grant you a name in the near future, seeing as your naming ceremony will occur within a week or so. Speaking of your grandfather, he has requested to see you in his study. I understand that you are probably quite tired after your journey, but this takes precedence. Please follow me closely."
Without another word the tropius turned and led the way deeper into the building. Both remained quiet along the way, Felix in particular, lost in thought.
'How will this go? Will I be kicked out if I don't do well? Do I need to fulfill certain conditions to become part of the family?'
They soon arrived at his grandfathers study, and stood at the door.
"Reporting to the patriarch. I have brought the young master." the tropius declared.
A muffled voice rumbled from the inside.
"Very well, have him enter alone. Resume fulfilling your other duties, trovirum."
With trepidation, Felix entered the study to meet his first actual family member in either of his lives. He felt both excitement and fear, afraid that he might be rejected by this being from whom he craves acceptance and love. Felix would never admit to that fear, of course. He'd lived his entire life up until this point by himself. The thought of giving up that independence was not one Felix liked.
As he entered the door was shut behind him. In front of him stood a large desk, with his supposed grandfather sitting on a special chair made for his stature behind it.
The first thing he noticed about his grandfather was his size. A normal hydreigon would look like a floating, person sized, dragon. His grandfather on the other hand, was the size of a school bus. How he could sit atop an elongated wooden chair without breaking it was a mystery.
His grandfather looked at him with all three heads in silence.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Uh... hi?" Felix tried.
"Hmpfff. The correct form of address is 'Greetings, patriarch' or 'Reporting, patriarch' for retainers specifically. You will address me as such in public."
"Sir, yes sir! Greetings, patriarch!" Felix stood at attention with his head raised.
"In private you will call me grandfather."
"Sir, yes sir!"
"..."
"..."
"We are currently in private, grandson."
"Uh, right, Grandfather."
"Better. Now that introductions are over, how has your journey been? I understand that your clutch of eggs was placed in a cave a few days away from here? How well did you manage?" his grandfather inquired.
"That's right. Well, I broke out of my egg. One of my siblings tried to attack me, but I shook him off and ran out of the cave. Then I crossed the forest and arrived here, defeating a whole bunch of mons in the process."
"Ah yes. Your siblingsare dead by the way, to the surprise of no one. Blind hatchlings don't tend to live long when fighting experienced pokemon. And yet we honour our tradition. Out family is one of warriors, grandson. Never forget that. Speaking of warriors, what level are you now?"
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"I'm level 13, I think."
Felix wasn't sure if he saw correctly, but his grandfather seemed to reel back in shock upon hearing that.
"And what of your ability? What effect did you choose?" the old lizard asked, a little hurried and panicked.
"Uh... I just picked the one that sounded the best. 'Strength of a lord.' It's an epic effect. Did I pick right? Should I have waited?"
"You foolish child! You're lucky, incredibly lucky that you were even offered an Epic effect! To answer your question, yes you should have waited. The better your level 10 effect, the faster you will pass the later level trials. Picking an affect below Rare rank would basically guarantee that you wouldn't ever be able to reach the law realm and level up past level 70.
It would also have lost you your position as heir of the family had that occurred. We try to make sure the heir of the family is offered an epic effect through training and certain resources which increase the chance of getting such an effect. The fact that you were offered one without this speaks of your talent, but it was still reckless to pick one without consulting an expert opinion. What kind of effect did you receive?"
"Well lucky me, I guess... uh I suppose. To be fair, I didn't even know I had a family until recently. As for my effect, strength of a lord increases my attack and special attack by 35% each and gets rid of the accuracy deficit that hustle normally gives. The downside is that I can no longer land critical hits."
"That's an impressive effect with little downsides. I haven't heard of it before though. What were the requirements?"
"You need IV's above 26 on all stats, and you need to defeat at least 15 opponents each 10 levels higher than you with one attack."
"By Mew those requirements! How did you manage to fulfil them?"
"I might have accidentally... maybe.... attacked a flock of adult spearow?"
Felix' grandfather looked at him with a mix of pride and disappointment, seemingly at a loss for words.
"I don't know if I should praise you for your bravery or chastise you for your recklessness."
"I would prefer praise, actually." Felix replied in jest, trying to lighten the tension. He wanted to make a good impression, and so far he'd had mixed results.
"Well done making it this far, grandson. I'm proud of you." his grandfather replied seriously, not a hint of humour or insincerity on his face.
Felix was momentarily caught by surprise at the serious reply of his grandfather to his subpar joke. Having someone be proud of him for the first time in his life brought a small tear to his eye. Felix still had the mental age of a child after all, having died in his early teens in his first life.
Luckily his grandfather couldn't see the tears because of the scales in front of his eyes. 'At least these are good for something.' Felix thought, while recovering from his small moment of emotion.
Wanting to change the subject because he felt a little uncomfortable, Felix resumed conversation.
"So... what are these level trials everyone keeps talking about?"
"They are what separate the strong from the weak. There are two factors that determine progress in strength. First and foremost, it is talent. The more talent a pokemon has, the faster they will level up. Talent is separated into four categories: low, mid, high and pinnacle. A pokemon with low talent would only level up to maybe level 50 in 100 years, if they passed all their level trials flawlessly, while a pokemon with pinnacle talent might reach level 50 in 10 years if they work at it diligently, with the same advantage of passing the level trials flawlessly.
Leveling becomes more difficult later on. A pinnacle talent will only reach level 100 after 750 years or so, if they pass their trials flawlessly. That might seem like a long time, but many species of pokemon can live for several hundred years, with dragons living for an average of 1000 years. The higher the level of a pokemon, the longer they live. Of course, the final levels take the longest, but provide the biggest difference in strength as well.
Going back to the difference between levels. A level 10 pokemon could almost fight on even ground with a level 11 pokemon, but due to the level trials and the bonusses they provide each level the difference between a level 91 and a level 92 pokemon can't be surpassed. The current dragon emperor is a dragonite that has lived for 1300 years, and he reached level 96 a decade ago. I estimate that it will take him another 80 or so years to reach level 97.
As for the second factor of strength, the level trials, they are both more complicated and simpler at the same time. From level 10 onwards, every 20 levels a pokemon must prove or understand something to progress. At level 10, one must prove to the world that they deserve an effect. By achieving something or proving their strength, they will be acknowledged and offered an effect, sometimes multiple to choose from. Most pokemon can do this eventually. I suppose you achieved this by knocking out a flock of spearow with a single attack. Those that reach level 10 have therefore entered the Effect gathering realm.
At level 30, a pokemon must create a concept by themselves. Concepts can be anything, but must be understood well enough to be recognised by the world. Once a concept is understood, this concept will empower the pokemon in question. A concept of speed will, for example, make a pokemon faster by a certain percentage, whereas a concept of burning might increase your chances of burning an opponent.
At level 50 a pokemon must form their concept into an intent.
An intent is basically a stronger version of a concept that can be used in different ways. That same speed concept could now make certain attacks twice as fast, making them more powerful in the process. As for the burning concept, you could basically burn anything, sometimes even with attacks that normally shouldn't be able to. I once saw a serperior use frenzy plant with some kind of burning intent. Charred, burning vines each the size of a tree erupted and ensnared their foe.
Forming a concept can take a while, sometimes decades, and it has nothing to do with levelling talent. Some never achieve it in their lifetimes. The ones that do enter the concept founding realm.
Forming that concept into an intent takes far longer still. The overwhelming majority of pokemon never reach level 49, and of the ones that do maybe 10% will be able to form an intent, the others remaining stuck at that level. The ones that do, reach the intent formulation realm.
At level 69 one must comprehend a law. Each pokemon type is also a law, so the fire law, fairy law, and so on. On top of that there are also laws that don't fit into any type, such as the aforementioned speed law, gravity law, space and time law, and many more. The dragon emperor has comprehended the Astral law, strengthening his draco meteor to absurd levels.
Finally at level 89 one must express their individuality. I can't tell you anything about this, seeing as it's something very personal. Those that achieve it enter the individuality expressing realm. I myself am currently stuck on this step. If I pass it, I receive the title of grand dragon elder and could replace the emperor upon his death. I would of course not be anywhere near as strong as the current emperor even if I achieved this level. Concepts, intents and individuality each give stat multipliers to certain stats based on the total level of the pokemon, so at level 96, the dragon emperor would be an order of magnitude stronger than myself."
"Huh." Felix answered numbly. He'd tried to follow the explanation, but much of it still flew over his head.
"Now then. Why don't we go measure your talent before proceeding. I figure you should have pinnacle level talent due to your fast levelling speed. Most dragons have at least Mid level talent, but if you have Pinnacle talent like myself and your mother, you will advance far more quickly."
The great lizard floated out of his chair and onto the balcony. He grabbed Felix and put him on his back. Together, the two headed towards the pagoda nearby.
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Standard lvl 0-9
Effect gathering realm lvl 10-29
Concept founding realm lvl 30-49
Intent formulation realm lvl 50-69
Law comprehending realm lvl 70-89
Individuality expressing realm lvl 90-99
??? lvl 100
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Low - mid - high - pinnacle level talent.