Before long, the chameleon was devoured clean, and its skeleton was tossed out of the nest.
Motomu looked at the skeleton sitting beside Big Eyeball, and an idea sprouted in his mind.
It seemed he could leech some experience!
The animals snatched by the giant owl had no thoughts other than escaping.
Take this chameleon, for example.
As long as he attacked before Noctowl executed them...
Perhaps the system would register it as a battle.
Soon, the giant owl brought in the next unlucky victim.
A peregrine falcon struggling in its talons—most likely another one of Noctowl's neighbors.
Motomu ordered Big Eyeball to use Psychokinesis on it directly.
An invisible ripple surged through the air.
The frantically struggling falcon was instantly dazed by a slap of telekinetic force.
[SYSTEM: STARAVIA (LEVEL 18) HAS ACCEPTED YOUR CHALLENGE]
Just as the system prompt chimed, Noctowl happened to release its grip.
[SYSTEM: BATTLE VICTORY!]
[SYSTEM: STARAVIA (LEVEL 18) HAS FLED]
[SYSTEM: RIGHT EYE EXPERIENCE +160]
[SYSTEM: RIGHT EYE HAS LEVELED UP. IT SEEMS TO HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING...]
[SYSTEM: 1. SLACK OFF 2. BITE]
[SYSTEM: 3. EXTRASENSORY 4. TAKE DOWN]
Holy crap!
That's some serious experience!
Without watching the poor bird meet its brutal end, Motomu shifted all his focus to the system panel.
In an instant...
Big Eyeball had jumped several levels, reaching Level 9: 14/90.
The experience gained from fighting higher-level mobs was terrifying!
Seeing Big Eyeball fully restored to its peak, Motomu was no longer in a hurry to leave.
He glanced at the three chicks gorging themselves, then at the motherly Noctowl overflowing with affection.
Motomu had an epiphany!
Struggling on his own just to grind out a single level was exhausting.
How could it ever compare to this?
A Level 26 Noctowl could catch just about anything, and it would be better than what he could find.
'A wild foster dad is just fine!'
'He who gives experience is my mother!'
He only wanted to say one thing now.
"Mommy, I'm hungry!"
However, things didn't go quite the way Motomu imagined.
The three chicks were quickly satiated after their meal.
Their round little bodies tucked in their necks, and they stopped moving, seemingly having fallen into a deep sleep.
To this, Motomu simply showed his patience.
"Check descriptions for moves 3 and 4."
[SYSTEM: EXTRASENSORY: GENERATES AN IMPACT FORCE EQUAL TO SPECIAL ATTACK X WEIGHT. DEALS SPECIAL DAMAGE TO SMALLER ENEMIES.]
[SYSTEM: TAKE DOWN: THE POKEMON CHARGES FORWARD OVER A DISTANCE.]
'Hmm, Extrasensory overlaps with Psychokinesis, and I don't really need Slack Off right now.'
'But Take Down is exactly what Big Eyeball needs for an escape.'
After less than half a second of thought, Motomu decided to replace the original Tackle with Take Down.
Since there was nothing else to do, Motomu gave Big Eyeball a silent command and withdrew his attention.
With this spare time, he wanted to see what these Three Basic Jutsu were all about.
He opened the textbook and Guy's notes.
Motomu began to study them intently.
The Three Basic Jutsu referred to the Transformation, Substitution, and Clone techniques.
The prerequisite for using them was learning how to use hand signs to guide chakra within the body to form specific circuits.
The twelve hand signs were illustrated in the textbook.
Motomu examined them.
Rat: Thumbs overlapped, usually with the left thumb on top.
Ox: Right hand horizontal, left hand vertical, with fingers interlaced.
Tiger: Both thumbs must be straight...
He followed the diagrams and tried them out. Forming the gestures wasn't very difficult, but the crucial part—guiding the chakra—felt a bit foreign.
In his previous tree-climbing and water-walking training, his chakra had only been concentrated in his feet; he had never tried it in other parts of his body.
Motomu could only say it was a little challenging, but not excessively so.
Soon, using his extremely proficient chakra control, he completed his first internal exploration of the twelve signs.
After practicing the twelve signs a few times until they were memorized...
Motomu began attempting the Clone Jutsu.
Ram -> Snake -> Tiger.
He slowly wove the three signs while simultaneously channeling his chakra into the specific pathways.
Poof!
As the white smoke cleared, a twisted, black-and-white Motomu appeared beside him.
He had already anticipated failure.
After dispelling the clone, Motomu began to analyze the reasons for his failure.
First, there was a high probability that he was unfamiliar with the hand signs; his fingers had been a bit crooked when he formed the Snake sign.
Second, he hadn't controlled the amount of chakra well. Judging by the lack of color, he had probably used too little.
Third, it was...
Motomu lay on his bed, eventually drifting off to sleep as he thought.
The next morning, in the Ninja Academy classroom.
On the podium...
Teacher Oki was talking incessantly about the Hokage's great achievements.
A group of brats sat below, listening so listlessly they were practically dozing off.
Motomu wasn't in the mood for this useless information either.
His attention was entirely on the "wild mother" who had started hunting again.
After a few appetizers in the early morning, Big Eyeball's experience bar had already reached Level 9: 78/90.
Looking at the bright sky...
It wasn't hard for Motomu to guess that this might be Noctowl's last hunt of the day.
After all, owls are nocturnal creatures and would likely sleep once it was broad daylight.
Motomu didn't have to wait long.
The giant owl soon ducked back into the tree hollow, carrying an armadillo in its beak.
A telekinetic slap landed hard on the armadillo's face.
[SYSTEM: SANDSHREW (LEVEL 17) HAS ACCEPTED YOUR CHALLENGE]
Just as the system prompt sounded, Noctowl happened to release its talons.
[SYSTEM: BATTLE VICTORY!]
[SYSTEM: SANDSHREW (LEVEL 17) HAS FLED]
[SYSTEM: RIGHT EYE EXPERIENCE +120]
[SYSTEM: RIGHT EYE HAS LEVELED UP. IT SEEMS TO HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING...]
[SYSTEM: DING!]
[SYSTEM: POKEMON HAS REACHED LEVEL 10 FOR THE FIRST TIME]
[SYSTEM: SELECT A SPECIAL PASSIVE MOVE]
[SYSTEM: GROW BIG AND HARD: AS THE POKEMON'S SIZE INCREASES, DEFENSE INCREASES PROPORTIONALLY]
[SYSTEM: STRIKE FIRST: THE POKEMON'S SIZE NO LONGER INCREASES; ALL HP BONUSES ARE CONVERTED TO SPEED]
[SYSTEM: RETURN FROM HELL: GAIN ONE REVIVAL OPPORTUNITY PER LEVEL UP]
[SYSTEM: SURGING VITALITY: HP X 2]
'So these are the passive moves you get every ten levels!'
Motomu's eyes scanned back and forth.
First, he ruled out Strike First. In this world full of large-scale AoE ninjutsu...
...this passive was nothing but a debuff.
If its HP was too low, any random ninjutsu could kick it to death.
'Return from Hell?'
Motomu rubbed his chin. Was it useful? It seemed quite useful!
If he unlocked the Mangekyo later and had this passive, wouldn't that be like having infinite Mangekyo Sharingan uses?!
He kept it as a backup option.
Motomu continued reading.
[SYSTEM: SURGING VITALITY: HP X 2]
[SYSTEM: GROW BIG AND HARD: AS THE POKEMON'S SIZE INCREASES, DEFENSE INCREASES PROPORTIONALLY]
These two were grouped together in his mind since their functions overlapped.
Both were for increasing the margin for error.
But in Motomu's understanding, HP wasn't as useful as defense.
If you had high HP but no defense, you'd still be worn down.
But with increased defense, as long as the opponent couldn't break through, they couldn't deal any damage.
By comparison...
Motomu was more inclined toward Grow Big and Hard.
After all, being able to grow bigger and harder sounded pretty badass!
Staring at Return from Hell and Grow Big and Hard, Motomu's brows furrowed in a tight knot.
Which one to choose?
This is so hard!
"Lousy system, why can't I just have both?!"