Following the chubby boy's defeat, and whatever he told his friends, many other kids who had recently received their starter Pokémon came forward to challenge Ace in the days that followed.
Facing these young challengers, Ace naturally took on as many as came.
Over the next two days, Ace defeated ten kids in total, achieving a ten-win streak and completing the "Winning Streak King" side quest.
Unfortunately, because he was challenging young kids, even though the ten-win streak earned Ace a thousand gold coins, the task evaluation was only a D, granting him just one task point.
After the ten-win streak, Zubat predictably leveled up, now at level five.
With all three energy cubes consumed, Ace stroked the swollen area near Zubat's cheekbones, nodding with satisfaction.
Three days of continuous special training allowed Zubat's body to perfectly absorb the energy from the energy cubes, and its poison glands had now developed.
"It's time to start attempting to train Poison-type moves."
Lying on the bed, Ace stroked Zubat's head, smiling. "Zubat, starting tomorrow, flying special training will be suspended. We're going to start practicing how to control your venom."
Zubat nodded thoughtfully. In these three days, it could feel the changes in its own body.
With the development of its poison glands and the generation of venom, Zubat felt it should now be able to use its venom to deal with opponents.
The next morning, after breakfast, Ace and Zubat once again went to the ship's railing.
This time, however, Ace didn't have Zubat fly. Instead, he let it rest on his shoulder and said to it, "Zubat, now I'll assist you. You need to try and see if you can secrete the venom from your poison glands."
As he spoke, Ace reached out to help Zubat massage the area near its cheekbones. Using the technique mentioned in the manual—two clockwise rubs, three counter-clockwise rubs, followed by a gentle flick—he slowly began to massage Zubat.
It had to be said, the manual provided by the system was indeed effective. Zubat was incredibly comfortable from the massage, and it slightly opened its mouth.
Facing the morning sun, Ace keenly noticed that Zubat's hollow fangs slowly began to glow purple, and some purple liquid began to slowly seep from the tips of its fangs.
"Zubat, now! Spray the venom!"
Ace immediately let go. Zubat, being massaged, was a bit slow to react. It wasn't until Ace repeated the command that Zubat finally reacted, an instinct etched into its genes driving it to quickly open its mouth.
As two streams of liquid sprayed out, Zubat slumped, feeling a bit weak.
Using venom for the first time was indeed a tall order for a developing little Pokémon like it.
Ace looked at the almost transparent, pale purple liquid, lost in thought.
"The manual states that Zubat's venom is divided into several stages: pale purple, purple, deep purple, and the strongest black."
Rubbing his chin, Ace mused, "Basically, to teach Zubat Toxic, its venom must first reach a purple level. This is the prerequisite for learning Toxic."
He stroked Zubat's head. Toxic, as an evergreen Poison-type move, had high requirements for venom potency.
But just because it couldn't learn Toxic didn't mean it couldn't learn other moves.
For example...
"Poison Fang..."
Ace quickly thought of the most suitable Poison-type move for Zubat to learn right now.
Toxic and Poison Fang differed by only one word, but their effects were vastly different.
"Learning Poison Fang should be the simplest for Zubat," Ace said with a slight smile, looking at the recovered Zubat. "Hollow fangs are key for Zubat to use Poison-type moves, so Poison Fang is a very fitting move for Zubat."
Learning Toxic would be a long battle, and the side quest had no time limit, so it could continue even after they disembarked.
However, the remaining task had to be completed as soon as possible.
Looking at the "Level Up" side quest, Ace felt a headache.
He had won ten consecutive battles against young kids, and Zubat had only leveled up twice. This showed how low the experience gained from those opponents was.
At this rate, reaching level ten before disembarking would be almost impossible.
Unless...
Ace's gaze fell upon the trainers who had come out for some fresh air. Most of them were battle-hardened. If Ace could battle them and win, the experience gained would certainly be immense.
But Ace knew very well that the prerequisite was winning.
If he were to battle these people now, the probability of losing was at least 99%!
"No matter what, I'll learn Poison Fang first. If I can inflict poison, then there's a certain chance of victory."
Ace stopped thinking about other things and continued to massage Zubat. This time, however, he wasn't asking Zubat to spray venom but to find a way to coat its fangs with venom.
This was a challenge for Zubat.
After all, having to convert from secreting venom from its fangs to having venom coat its fangs felt a bit strange to Zubat.
What Zubat didn't know was that Poison Fang had already appeared in its skill list on its status panel.
However, compared to other skills, the font of this newly appeared Poison Fang skill was still somewhat translucent.
This meant that Zubat hadn't fully mastered the skill yet.
Even more importantly, what Ace was asking it to do was actually a very high-level use of the skill.
The effect of Poison Fang was to attack the opponent by biting them with venomous fangs, sometimes poisoning the opponent.
But for Ace, that wasn't enough.
He wanted Zubat's poisoning effect to have a one hundred percent trigger rate. This was Ace's trump card for defeating those trainers.
Otherwise, relying on mere probability, Ace would surely lose!
To ensure Zubat could achieve his goal, Ace gritted his teeth and spent another four hundred gold coins, purchasing four more customized High-Grade Energy Cubes.
If the venom wasn't potent enough, then he would simply stack it up!
You have to spend money to make money.
Ace was all in!
After consuming the High-Grade Energy Cubes, a large amount of energy once again began nourishing Zubat. Zubat instantly gained a strong backing and began continuously practicing coating its fangs with venom.
And through this continuous use of venom, Zubat gradually no longer needed Ace to massage and detoxify it; instead, it began to freely secrete venom on its own.
Although it was still far from Ace's requirements, such growth made Ace nod in satisfaction.
From morning until dusk, Zubat once again gathered its venom. This time, the venom did not drip from its fangs but began to slowly adhere to Zubat's fangs in an anti-gravity manner!
Poison Fang, complete!