As expected of a shiny Pokémon, both her potential and base stats were far beyond an ordinary one.
She had not even reached her final evolution yet, and her aptitude was already at Champion level. If she evolved into Gardevoir later, it would probably rise again.
Still, Amon had no intention of throwing Kirlia into battle just because she was strong. She was far too cute. To him, this little girl was better suited to staying by his side, keeping him company and making the voyage less dull.
That said, no one would ever complain about having more strength. If he came across a suitable Devil Fruit later, he could always let her use it. A Human-Human Fruit might be especially interesting. He really did wonder what would happen if Kirlia ate one.
"Right, I still haven't given you a name."
He stroked her pale blue hair, then paused to think.
"How about Lily?"
"Kirlia, Lily... yeah, Lily suits you."
He could not be bothered wasting too much effort on names, so he simply named her whatever came first in his mind. Surprisingly, it sounded quite nice. A soft, simple name like that fit a little girl much better.
The small Kirlia seemed very pleased with it too. She gave an excited little cry.
"Li... Lily, kiru!"
Amon froze.
"You can talk?"
He stared at her in shock. If he had not heard wrong just now, she really had tried to imitate human speech.
Then it clicked. Her hidden Ability was Telepathy. That had to be why. Pokémon with that trait were said to be highly intelligent and capable of communicating with people.
"Mas... ter... Lily doesn't know either," she said weakly, blinking her red eyes. "It just felt like I could speak, so I did. If Mas... ter doesn't like it, Lily won't say anything anymore..."
"Who said I don't like it? I like it a lot."
Amon answered at once. A talking companion was only better. It made things far more lively, and there was no way he would dislike that.
"Oh, and don't call me Master anymore. Call me Brother Amon instead."
Being called Master by a little girl felt strange. Brother was much better.
He had always wanted a younger sister, both in his past life and this one, but never had one. Looking at Lily now, he suddenly felt as if that old wish had taken shape in front of him.
"Mas... Brother Amon?" Lily nodded obediently. "Okay. Lily will call Master... Brother Amon from now on."
She had just come into this world, and Amon was the first person she had seen. That gave her a strong sense of attachment to him. Whatever he wanted her to call him, she would.
"Good girl."
He rubbed her head as a reward, delighted to hear her call him brother.
"Lily will be even better," she said seriously, leaning into his hand. "Whatever Brother Amon wants Lily to do, Lily will do."
"All right. Then go look around the cabin for a while. I still have a few things to deal with. When I'm done, I'll make something tasty for you, okay?"
He still had two cards left to use, along with the mysterious gift from the system. After giving her one last firm rub on the head, he sent her off to play first.
"Mm, okay!"
Lily nodded and trotted toward the cabin. The interior of the ship was large enough for her to wander around comfortably.
Amon watched her go, thoroughly satisfied with this summon, then turned his attention back to the remaining two cards.
One was the God-Tier Medical Skill, the other the Swordsmanship Upgrade Ticket.
After thinking it over, he decided to use the medical skill first.
He pressed it to his chest and said the command. At once, the golden card dissolved into a stream of light and entered his mind.
The moment it did, an enormous amount of medical knowledge flooded into him. Theory, treatment methods, diagnostic principles, surgical techniques, all of it poured in at once. It was not just dry information either. Like the god-tier cooking skill before it, this card granted practical experience as well, as though he had already performed countless real procedures himself.
It was absurdly complete.
By the time the integration ended, Amon felt he became a medical professional.
Of course, he had no immediate use for medicine at the moment, but a skill like this was never wasted.
Once that was done, he looked at the last card again.
The Swordsmanship Upgrade Ticket.
This one, he was looking forward to.
He used the ticket the same way.
A flash of blue light entered his body.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. Swordsmanship Upgrade Ticket used successfully. Swordsmanship has advanced from lv7 to lv8.]
As the system notification rang out, a new wave of insights surged into his mind. Countless realizations about the sword unfolded one after another, refining everything he already knew. When lv8 swordsmanship fully merged with him, Amon could immediately feel the difference.
His understanding of the blade had stepped into a higher realm.
His grasp of sword intent had become even broader and deeper.
At that moment, he had a clear feeling. If he met Kizaru again, then even without using Martial Arts, he could beat him down through swordsmanship alone.
Of course, that assumed Kizaru had not improved as well. Back then, the man had gotten a pretty good item from him, and who knew how much his strength had risen since. Besides, during their last fight, Kizaru had definitely not gone all out. Probably seventy to eighty percent at most.
Then again, Amon had not used his full strength either.
At that same moment, far away at Marine Headquarters, Kizaru suddenly sneezed while in seclusion.
"Oh? I wonder which lady is thinking about me."
He flipped another page of the book in his hand, looking perfectly pleased.
"Oh? This Principles of Light really is a fine thing. My fruit ability feels much sharper now."
He slowly rose to his feet.
"Time to head out..."