"Knightly Spirit…"
"…"
"…"
"The Knight's Way…"
"…"
"…"
"The Will to Protect…"
"…"
"…"
The lecture tour began at 9:00 a.m. and continued until 11:00 a.m., lasting a total of three hours.
Throughout those three hours, Wikstrom gave an extremely detailed explanation of the Knightly Spirit, the Knight's Way, and the Will to Protect.
Anyone who had remained attentive and listened carefully to Wikstrom's entire lecture now had a relatively clear understanding of these three concepts.
For example:
The Knightly Spirit was a form of faith. It regarded one's sense of personal honor as something worthy of reverence, incorporating some of the positive elements of the ancient martial spirit of the Kalos region. It represented the noble character and virtues of a knight.
The Eight Virtues of a Knight were: honesty, compassion, courage, justice, sacrifice, honor, and the soul.
The Nine Knightly Vows were:
"I swear to treat the weak with kindness."
"I swear to courageously stand against tyranny."
"I swear to fight against all wrongdoing."
"I swear to fight for those who cannot defend themselves."
"I swear to help anyone who asks for my aid."
"I swear never to harm any woman."
"I swear to aid my brother knights."
"I swear to treat my friends with sincerity."
"I swear to remain faithful to the one I love until death."
"…"
"…"
Compared with Trainers who had no idea how to comprehend a Mental Will, or even what kind of Mental Will they should strive to comprehend, many people listened extremely attentively to Wikstrom's teachings about the Knightly Spirit and Knight's Way.
Some had already begun preparing to imitate Wikstrom and embark upon the path of the knight.
Ash, however, listened to and evaluated Wikstrom's teachings about the Knightly Spirit and Knight's Way from a more analytical perspective.
And compared with those concepts themselves, Ash was far more interested in the Will to Protect.
The comprehension of a Mental Will was essentially a process of organizing and integrating everything one had learned throughout their life.
It required a deep analysis and excavation of one's own personality, experiences, knowledge, skills, beliefs, and everything else one had accumulated.
Ultimately, one would have to comprehend a Mental Will that belonged solely to oneself—a Mental Will that could truly represent one's own existence.
Although a Mental Will was something acquired through personal comprehension after birth, and different Mental Wills could vary enormously from person to person, they were similar to the innate Abilities that Pokémon possessed from birth.
Mental Wills could possess all kinds of effects and functions.
The way to determine whether someone had successfully comprehended a qualifying Mental Will was to see whether the Mental Will they had developed could bring them various enhancements, much like an Ability.
Wikstrom's Knight's Way was a path centered around combat.
The Mental Will he had comprehended from this martial path provided a considerable boost to combat strength.
According to Wikstrom's own explanation, the greatest advantage of the Knight's Way was its balance.
If one comprehended an ordinary Knight's Will, its enhancements would presumably be:
HP +10%, Attack +10%, Defense +10%
Sp. Atk +10%, Sp. Def +10%, Speed +10%
The enhancements provided by the Knight's Will were incredibly balanced, granting a 10% increase to every one of the six stats.
That amounted to a total enhancement of 60%.
It was practically like equipping six separate enhancement items at once—and, most importantly, it didn't even occupy an item slot.
However, the Mental Will Wikstrom had comprehended wasn't an ordinary Knight's Will.
He had comprehended the Will to Protect belonging to a guardian knight, so its enhancements were more heavily weighted toward HP, Defense, and Special Defense.
In other words:
HP +15%, Attack +5%, Defense +15%
Sp. Atk +5%, Sp. Def +15%, Speed +5%
The Will to Protect still provided a comprehensive enhancement to a Pokémon's overall strength.
Although it leaned more heavily toward defensive attributes, its total enhancement remained 60%.
Mental Wills were divided into four quality tiers: Low, Mid, High, and Peak.
Low: ≤20%
Mid: 20% < X ≤ 50%
High: 50% < X ≤ 100%
Peak: >100%
Wikstrom's Will to Protect, as well as the Knightly Spirit comprehended by senior members of his family, provided a total enhancement of 60%.
That was unquestionably a High-quality Mental Will.
If Ash hadn't already seen something even better, and if he weren't extremely confident in himself and his Pokémon, while also lacking any Pokémon particularly suited to walking the knight's path, he might genuinely have been tempted by the Mental Wills of the knightly path.
But Ash had already seen his cheap teacher's Nidoking.
That Pokémon could stand firmly on the ground and remain extremely difficult to knock down, possessing a total enhancement of more than 100% through the Earth Will.
After witnessing that Peak-level Mental Will, Ash naturally wanted to help his own Pokémon comprehend Peak-level Mental Wills as well.
Right now, Pikachu is the only one among my Pokémon who has just entered the Gym-Class level. Greninja, Pidgeot, and Fearow should be able to break through to Gym-Class soon as well.
And among my four main Pokémon, three of them are particularly suited to following specialized paths.
Fearow does have a little connection to the concept of a knight, but the Knight's Way is far too balanced for it.
Fearow has instead chosen an extreme path, focusing its training almost entirely on Attack and Speed.
Ash didn't look down on that path, nor was he so arrogant as to dismiss it simply because it didn't resemble Wikstrom's.
When he had been studying under his cheap teacher, Giovanni, Ash had received an extremely valuable piece of advice from him.
Whether it was the Mental Will comprehended when breaking through from Gym-Class to the Elite Four level, or the Heaven-and-Earth Momentum, Power of Nature, and Natural Laws that came later, one should never pursue improvements to the six stats blindly.
Nor should one place too much importance on the overall percentage of the enhancement.
Instead, the most important thing was whether that particular Mental Will was suitable for one's own Pokémon.
After all, a Mental Will wasn't merely something that enhanced the six stats.
Those six-stat enhancements were only the most basic benefit.
The truly rare benefits were special effects in the form of unique Buff traits.
The reason Mental Wills were regarded as acquired Abilities was precisely because they could possess such traits.
A Mental Will with special traits could allow a Pokémon to obtain all kinds of unique abilities, just like an Ability, rather than merely providing straightforward enhancements to its six stats.
Of course, that didn't mean one shouldn't pursue higher six-stat enhancements.
They were still valuable, and naturally, the higher the enhancement, the better.
No one would deliberately choose a Mental Will with weaker enhancements.
Ash's expectation for his several ace Pokémon was that, like Giovanni, they would eventually comprehend Rare · Peak-level Mental Wills that possessed special traits perfectly suited to each Pokémon while also providing total six-stat enhancements of more than 100%.