Because Bug-type Pokémon generally have relatively short life cycles, they develop and grow quickly, reach maturity and evolve quickly, and even their Eggs tend to hatch much faster than those of ordinary Pokémon.
For a Weedle Egg to require two full years to hatch was already astonishing enough.
Now, its estimated hatching time had actually increased to three years.
Naturally, this left Clarissa both amazed and filled with questions.
Ash had told her that the Egg had been given to him by his cheap teacher, Giovanni, the Gym Leader of Viridian Gym.
However, he had never revealed any information regarding his own Source Cleansing.
Source Cleansing was far too important.
The fewer people who knew about it, the better.
Ideally, no one other than Ash himself should know its true details.
"It might simply be because the Pokémon inside hasn't fully developed yet."
Ash gave a simple explanation and didn't allow the conversation to remain focused on the Weedle Egg.
"Mm~"
"But, Ash, the Weedle Egg still has another two or three years before it hatches, and you still have some time before you officially set out on your journey."
"Besides, all the Pokémon you currently have are already so powerful, and your daily training doesn't require you to worry about them very much anymore."
"Do you have any plans to capture and raise new Pokémon next?"
Clarissa asked curiously.
"Mm..."
Hearing her question, Ash fell into thought for a moment.
According to his original plans, Ash had intended not to capture or raise any new Pokémon before officially setting out on his journey.
After all, he already had more than enough Pokémon under his command.
Before his official debut journey, he had planned to use the remaining time to study and improve his own combat abilities.
But who could have expected that the incident involving Mewtwo's fertilized embryo would lead to Giovanni, the mastermind behind Team Rocket, accepting him as a disciple?
Under Giovanni's guidance, Ash had been able to study knowledge related to capturing Pokémon, raising Pokémon, commanding them in battle, and various other aspects of being a professional Trainer.
Originally, learning all of this would have required Ash to spend a tremendous amount of time studying on his own.
But with Giovanni—the cheap teacher he had unexpectedly acquired—personally teaching and guiding him, the amount of time Ash needed was drastically reduced.
Then there was the development of his own Aura and the improvement of his combat abilities.
Because Ash had handed responsibility for taking care of the Pokémon belonging to customers of his Skill Online Shop over to Melanie, the shut-in employee living at the Pokémon rehabilitation village, even more of his time had been freed up.
With his schedule once again opened up, Ash had more time and energy to devote to developing his Aura.
On top of that, the system was severely damaged and lacked intelligence, allowing Ash to exploit a loophole.
Using Aura Sphere as the trigger, his subsequent techniques—Aura Jujutsu, Aura Laijutsu, Aura Rasengan...—all gained access to the system's Skill Proficiency function.
As a result, the amount of time Ash needed to develop his Aura and improve his personal combat abilities was drastically shortened once again.
Originally, all of these tasks combined should have been enough to keep Ash constantly occupied until his debut journey.
Yet unexpectedly...
He had completed all of them far sooner than anticipated.
At the same time, the strength of his Pokémon had been advancing at an astonishing rate.
Most of them had already matured into powerful combatants capable of standing on their own, meaning they no longer required Ash to constantly supervise their training.
In other words, Ash had now been freed from a large number of miscellaneous responsibilities.
He finally had the time and energy to capture and raise new Pokémon.
His previous plan had been not to capture any new Pokémon before officially setting out on his journey.
But looking at the situation now...
Perhaps that plan could be revised.
Although he already had plenty of Pokémon under his command, as a professional Pokémon Trainer—especially one who aspired to climb all the way to the pinnacle of the profession—it was impossible for him to complain that he had too many Pokémon.
The core of the Pokémon Trainer profession was essentially:
Capture, raise, and battle.
Perhaps for ordinary mid-level professional Trainers, their time and energy were limited.
The resources they could obtain were also restricted.
Therefore, when deciding which Pokémon to capture and raise, they had to be extremely selective.
They had to consider their own personalities, the abilities and types of their Pokémon, team composition, tactical compatibility, and many other factors.
In the end, they would capture only a small number of Pokémon and continuously focus their resources on those few Pokémon, stacking more and more combat power onto them.
The strategy of raising only a small number of Pokémon and pursuing an elite route existed because of limitations in time, energy, and resources.
It was also influenced by the Trainer's ambitions and goals.
But none of these limitations applied to Ash.
With the system at his disposal, raising Pokémon was much easier for him.
The amount of time required to fully develop a Pokémon's combat power was far shorter than what other Trainers needed.
At the same time, Ash possessed the Viridian Blessing · Source Cleansing.
Because of this, he didn't need to be overly cautious when deciding which Pokémon to capture.
He didn't have to worry about raising a Pokémon to a certain level only for it to encounter a talent bottleneck and become unable to improve any further.
[0 Please send flowers... 0]
And Ash was no longer the same as the original protagonist from the anime.
The original Ash had come from an ordinary civilian family and had possessed very limited resources for raising large numbers of Pokémon.
Even if he captured many Pokémon, most of them ultimately had no choice but to remain in the backyard of Professor Oak's Laboratory, where they would spend their days doing little more than eating and waiting around.
Ash was completely different.
He was fundamentally different from ordinary Trainers in the outside world.
And he was even more different from the original Ash from the anime.
The current Ash possessed all the conditions necessary to capture and raise a large number of Pokémon.
Moreover, if he wanted to climb to the absolute pinnacle of the Pokémon Trainer profession, having only a handful of Pokémon simply wouldn't be enough.
Raising only a few Pokémon and possessing an in-depth understanding of only those few Pokémon might allow someone to become a powerful Trainer.
It might even allow them to become the strongest Trainer in the Pokémon world.
But that alone was absolutely insufficient to become a true Pokémon Master.
...
As for why the Elite Four of the various regional Leagues in the modern Pokémon world generally specialized in raising Pokémon of a single type, the reason was actually quite simple.
It was exactly what Ash had explained above.
1. Insufficient time and energy.
Without a system, their efficiency in raising Pokémon was naturally inferior to Ash's.
Moreover, they weren't dedicated solely to the Trainer profession.
For example:
Giovanni had to manage Team Rocket.
Steven had to spend his time excavating and collecting rare stones.
Cynthia had to explore ancient ruins, investigate mythology, and conduct archaeological research.
Diantha had to act and maintain her career as an actress.
And so on.
They simply didn't have enough time and energy to raise a huge number of Pokémon simultaneously.
2. Their ambitions weren't grand enough.
An Elite Four-level or Champion-level Trainer might already be considered an incredibly powerful individual within the Pokémon world.
They might already belong to the tiny group of the strongest people alive.
But even that was still not the pinnacle of the Trainer profession.
A Champion-level Trainer was not necessarily a true Pokémon Master.
In Ash's view, the reason someone was called a Pokémon Trainer was because they should capture rare and powerful Pokémon, raise powerful Pokémon, and uncover more of the mysteries surrounding Pokémon through travel and exploration.
And the strongest lifeforms in the Pokémon world were the Legendary Pokémon.
Perhaps when a Trainer had come to understand the various mysteries surrounding Legendary Pokémon, could capture and command them, and could even raise ordinary Pokémon until they possessed strength comparable to Legendary Pokémon...
Only then could that Trainer truly be considered to have reached the pinnacle of the Pokémon Trainer profession.