At night, the moonlight, like water, gently spilled into Jiang Mo's yard, casting a quiet and peaceful veil over the entire space.
Jiang Mo was currently focused on helping Pupitar clean its freshly shed outer shell in the yard.
During this critical growth stage, Pupitar would continuously shed its skin as its internal energy accumulated. With each shed, its size would visibly grow larger, making its already imposing body appear even more majestic.
In his hand, Jiang Mo held a specially formulated medicinal agent that he had meticulously prepared. This agent combined the essence of various rare herbs with special ingredients that could stimulate Pokémon cell vitality.
He carefully and evenly applied the agent to Pupitar's hard, rough body, then proceeded to massage it using a special technique.
During the massage, Jiang Mo subtly infused a bit of Tokiwa Power. This power could penetrate Pupitar's body, aiding in its absorption of the medicine and maximizing its efficacy.
"Pupi~"
Jiang Mo's technique was skilled and precise; every movement was just right, causing Pupitar to let out a comfortable cry, tinged with contentment and satisfaction.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Pupitar, be good when you sleep tonight. This medicine is very expensive, so you need to absorb it well."
Jiang Mo let out a long breath, stood up, and stretched his somewhat sore lower back.
After all, giving such a large Pupitar a full-body massage was no easy task; it consumed a lot of his energy and physical strength.
Pupitar seemed to still want more. Its large, bell-like eyes were fixed on Jiang Mo, revealing a hint of reluctance.
Besides its enthusiasm for training every day, the thing it enjoyed most was Jiang Mo's full-body massages. The deep comfort made it incredibly attached.
However, when it heard Jiang Mo tell it to be good while sleeping, it looked a bit troubled.
It was naturally active and had an almost fanatical dedication to training, so getting it to sleep quietly was truly difficult.
But under Jiang Mo's serious and undeniable gaze, it still reluctantly nodded in agreement.
Jiang Mo also felt quite helpless about this. His Pupitar was naturally a training maniac, constantly adding extra training for itself all day long, as if it had endless energy.
Especially after its origin was completely restored by the nourishment of Tokiwa Power and Groudon fragments, it became even more excessive, training until three or four in the morning every day.
Its huge body constantly jumped and used Tackle in the yard, making a "thump, thump, thump" sound, and the entire yard seemed to vibrate along with it.
Fortunately, Jiang Mo's home was a detached villa, with a considerable distance between it and the neighbors; otherwise, such noise would surely lead to daily complaints.
In fact, Jiang Mo knew that Pupitar's most important task at this stage was to properly digest the accumulated energy within its body. Excessive training would actually be detrimental to its growth.
To make Pupitar understand this, Jiang Mo had gone to great lengths during this period.
At this moment, Jiang Mo was about to put away his tools and end his busy day to rest in his room when he suddenly heard Lin Zhiqiu calling him from the window.
"Xiao Mo, come in quickly. Your eldest uncle called, and it seems he has something important to tell us."
"Got it, Mom, I'm coming right away!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mo immediately stopped what he was doing, recalled Pupitar into its Poké Ball, and then jogged back into the house.
"Mom, what does eldest uncle want to tell us?" Jiang Mo asked Lin Zhiqiu, puzzled, after returning to the room.
Lin Zhiqiu pressed the speakerphone button and said, "Let your eldest uncle explain the specifics."
Lin Zhixuan, on the other end of the phone, heard the commotion from Jiang Mo's side and immediately said, "It's like this, Xiao Mo. In a while, there will be a grand banquet held by the Alliance in the capital. At that time, all the major forces of the Shenzhou Alliance will gather, and the scene will be very spectacular."
"The Lin family wants to invite you and your mother to attend as members of the Lin family. This is a rare opportunity."
"Eldest uncle, you know, my mother and I are no longer part of the Lin family," Jiang Mo said with a slight frown and a somewhat stiff tone.
Lin Zhixuan sighed softly upon hearing this, his voice filled with a hint of helplessness and regret, and continued, "Xiao Mo, your eldest uncle understands your thoughts. I'll be honest with you; if you hadn't shown such heaven-defying talent recently, the Lin family wouldn't have changed its attitude like this."
"You've captured the Child of the Mountain God, and you've achieved extraordinary accomplishments in the field of research. All of these have made the Lin family look at you with new eyes."
Jiang Mo understood in his heart that it seemed his various performances during this period had indeed attracted the Lin family's attention.
The Child of the Mountain God, high-quality papers, and innovative research results—these achievements combined forced the Lin family to re-evaluate their relationship with him.
However, Jiang Mo did not like being re-evaluated because of interests and achievements, and neither did Lin Zhiqiu.
This feeling was as if the Lin family was condescendingly bestowing upon them, as if saying, "You two are now qualified to join the Lin family; this is your honor."
Even Lin Zhixuan, who was the kindest to them, seemed to subconsciously harbor this thought.
In Lin Zhixuan's view, if his sister could bring her nephew back to the Lin family, they would be able to live a good life.
But he overlooked the deep-seated self-respect and independent spirit of Jiang Mo and his mother.
Jiang Mo strongly disliked this feeling of being looked down upon only to be re-accepted for profit.
It was the Lin family members who had ostracized his mother and him in the first place.
As for debts, Jiang Mo only felt indebted to his eldest uncle's lineage.
After all, only his eldest uncle's lineage saved them from the Alliance back then, bearing all the resources and costs. This indirectly led to his eldest uncle's lineage losing significant influence within the Lin family, while the other lineages stood by, gloating and watching with cold eyes.
Lin Zhixuan seemed to sense Jiang Mo's resistance and knew he couldn't persuade him, so he changed his approach.
"Xiao Mo, although this banquet is nominally to strengthen the connections between various forces within the Alliance, it is actually a feast for dividing interests."
"Some time ago, the Alliance discovered a new secret realm within the Neon Country. As long as one can participate, they will more or less gain some benefits. This is a rare advantage."
Lin Zhixuan's words immediately drew Jiang Mo's full attention to the new secret realm he had just mentioned.
A new secret realm meant a large amount of resources. As time passed, the social resource pie had already been mostly divided among various forces, but new emerging forces continued to rise, leading to increasingly strained resources and growing conflicts between the various powers.
And this newly discovered secret realm was like timely rain; the vast resources it contained could precisely alleviate this tense situation and solve the immediate crisis.
A complete secret realm could serve as the foundation of a force, just like the Lin family, which has stood strong in the Alliance for many years by relying on the Evergreen Secret Realm.
And Dawn was currently lacking such a solid foundation to support its further development and growth.
For this reason, Jiang Mo secretly pondered and felt it was necessary to attend this banquet to probe the situation.
However, he did not intend to attend as a member of the Lin family...