The research assistant who received Aomori was the same one as before.
He had light blue hair, a delicate appearance, and a very approachable smile.
"My name is Kenjiro. Sabrina-san has already informed me. I will now take you on a tour of our Awakening Labs."
"Thank you for the trouble."
"This way, please."
They returned along the previous path. Kenjiro was quite a talkative person and shared many interesting stories about the Saffron Gym along the way, helping to quickly close the gap between them.
"Aomori-san, you are truly impressive. You are the only person I have ever seen who challenged Ms. Sabrina and emerged safe and sound, looking completely unfazed. Many previous challengers had to be sent to the hospital in tears."
"Is Sabrina-san normally that terrifying?" Aomori felt her image in his mind had completely collapsed.
"She inspires reverence, I suppose, but she's a very good boss. We've arrived. Let's start here." As he spoke, Kenjiro led Aomori to a large door and swiped it open with the ID badge hanging from his chest.
Inside, many people in white coats were coming and going. Some were staring at spoons, others were looking at playing cards arranged on a table. They all ignored Aomori and Kenjiro's entrance.
"This is Lab No. 1. It mainly recruits volunteers to test various methods for awakening Psychic power," Kenjiro introduced as they walked.
"Common methods include bending spoons, seeing through playing cards, and Telekinesis. If you follow the rhythm step-by-step, it takes an ordinary person three to five years to reach the threshold of entry, but most people still fail to awaken Psychic power."
"Traditional methods are too time-consuming and inefficient, which is why we want to research new awakening methods." Kenjiro led Aomori to the second laboratory.
"In Lab No. 2, we hope to explore the mysteries of Psychic power from the behavior and brain structure of Psychic-type Pokémon."
Lab No. 2 was filled with many Psychic-type Pokémon, such as Abra, Slowpoke, Drowzee, and Exeggcute. Electrodes were attached to their bodies to collect physical data.
Kenjiro glanced at Aomori and smiled. "Of course, our experiments are very gentle and have little impact on the Pokémon."
Seeing Aomori remain silent, Kenjiro took him to Lab No. 3.
"Lab No. 3 is the most important laboratory in our Saffron Gym. Most of our research projects enter their final practical testing phase here."
This lab was larger than the previous two combined and contained various types of large, complex equipment, clearly high-end.
"Please look over there."
Aomori followed the direction Kenjiro pointed and saw a group of researchers working on a peculiar helmet wrapped in various wires. The helmet was semi-sealed, nearly covering a person's entire face.
"That is our latest research result, called the Detection Helmet," Kenjiro explained, pointing. "Its main purpose is to detect the Spirit numerical value of a person or Pokémon. It can help screen for talented individuals or Pokémon and verify the results of their practice. This project is nearly complete. The accuracy of the detected value is currently 90%, and once it reaches 98%, it can be mass-produced."
"Oh, really?" Aomori looked at the helmet with interest, wondering what level his Spirit would be among Pokémon.
Kenjiro observed his expression and said, "Aomori-san, would you like to try it?"
"Is that allowed? I'm an outsider, perhaps it's inappropriate. Maybe we should check with Ms. Sabrina?" Aomori was tempted but didn't want to cause trouble unnecessarily.
"It's fine. I can authorize a simple test myself. Don't worry, I won't leak the helmet's parameters to you," Kenjiro replied, smiling with narrowed eyes.
"Alright then."
Kenjiro and Aomori walked closer to the helmet, which was currently on the head of an Abra. Someone activated the machine. After a series of beeping and clanging sounds, the large screen connected to the helmet displayed a value of "103".
"Wow!" The researchers exclaimed in surprise.
Kenjiro's eyes also showed astonishment.
"What? Is that score very high?" Aomori asked.
"Yes, remarkably high," Kenjiro answered. "We set the average Spirit value of adults obtained from big data to 10. Generally, 50 is considered an entry-level Psychic. Among newborn Pokémon, Abra's average level is around 70. The highest I've seen before was only 90. For this Abra to score 103 indicates its talent is one-in-ten-thousand."
"I see."
Afterward, to ensure the machine wasn't malfunctioning, they tested this Abra several more times, with results consistently around 100.
The researchers were all beaming with joy, while the Abra still looked ready to fall asleep.
"This Abra is very fortunate. It will most likely be personally trained by Sabrina-san herself and will soon become another one of her ace Pokémon," Kenjiro remarked with emotion.
Just like players in a game, being able to quantify a Pokémon's talent is beneficial for selecting outstanding individuals, which is immensely helpful for wealthy individuals.
"Aomori-san, it's your turn." Kenjiro seemed to be a high-ranking manager. All the researchers greeted him, and no one objected to his suggestion of testing Aomori's mental power.
Aomori nodded and sat in the chair inside the sealed glass booth, just as the Abra had done. A researcher helped him put on the Detection Helmet, connected all the wires, and pressed the test switch.
In that instant, Aomori felt a faint electric current pass through the helmet and into his brain. Stimulated by the current, he couldn't help but tense up, as if it were helping him concentrate.
Ding-ding-dong, ding-ding-dong...
As the music played, the numbers on the screen above Aomori kept jumping.
"63, 69, 77..." Kenjiro watched the continuously rising numbers in astonishment. He hadn't expected Aomori to be a Psychic as well.
The researchers below were relatively calm, assuming Aomori was a Psychic Kenjiro had brought in to help test.
But soon, their expressions froze as well.
"It's already reached 100 and is still increasing."
"It's 120! Could this be a Psychic Master?"
When the number reached 125, the change gradually stabilized, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
By this time, Aomori had grown accustomed to the helmet's operation. It worked by providing stimulation to trigger the test subject's automatic Spirit rebound. His passive Spirit reaction had reached its limit, but he still had his active abilities.
Mind's Eye activated!
His Spirit abruptly surged. The numbers on the screen started jumping again, quickly reaching 200, and finally stabilizing at 211.
Hiss!
Everyone in the room gasped simultaneously, thinking: This person is terrifying!
Aomori took off the Detection Helmet and walked back to Kenjiro amid the respectful gazes of the crowd.
"I never imagined you were a Psychic Master!" Kenjiro was excited. "No wonder you received such courtesy from Sabrina-san."
He finally understood everything.
Whatever makes you happy.
Aomori waved his hand at him and said, "Let's go."
"Master Aomori, Sabrina-san instructed me to arrange a top-tier room for you so you can rest comfortably."
"That works too."
Saves me the trouble of running back and forth. Given how skilled the man in the baseball cap is, he should probably know by now that I defeated Sabrina, Aomori thought.
…
The man in the baseball cap was hiding in a corner, observing the Saffron Gym.
"Strange, why can't I see through the inside scenes today? Is it an aftereffect from last night?"
He rubbed his aching eyes, deciding to wait a while longer.
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You can read the ahead chapter on Patr-eon if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]