"You're that confident?"
Dax Jonas shot Auron Vale a doubtful look, then thought it over.
Knowing the sort of wild ideas Auron came up with, maybe it really could work.
After all, who else could read a few scattered lines in some ancient text and then infer how an Onix could evolve into a Steelix?
Never mind the wild idea—he had the guts to try it, and the key point was, he actually pulled it off. Absolutely ridiculous.
"You'll understand later."
Auron smiled mysteriously and left him hanging.
In Auron's mind, if he taught one person, that meant two Steelix; that left seven more.
For the rest, two Slowking, two Politoed, two Gliscor—nothing excessive there. And with one spot left over, that'd be easy to handle.
There was, in fact, an official reward that hadn't been issued yet. So right now even Auron didn't know about it. Not just Auron—even Dax Jonas didn't know.
The completion condition for this mission was, after all:
"Introduce a partner to Elite Dax Jonas and make it a success."
What's more, the mission had three stages, each with its own reward. Among those in the know, the mission was jokingly called the safest legendary mission—of course, it was also the hardest to complete.
The first stage was bringing the other party to meet the parents. Auron had already cleared that stage; the reward the officials gave him corresponded to that first stage.
The second stage was registering the marriage.
The third stage was the birth of a child—one child, one reward each time.
Among these, the second reward was the most generous, while the third had the greatest quantity.
When this mission first came out, there were even people who wanted to drug Dax Jonas to get it over with.
In the end, they had to admit that would be illegal, which was the only reason Dax Jonas dodged that bullet.
You couldn't exactly blame the authorities. Most other Elites or top brass already had kids; those who didn't at least were married.
But him—he was the odd one out: no kids, not married, no plans to marry, and straight as a—
Which was exactly why the officials quietly meddled in his love life.
"So can I go live now?"
Wang Hechuan edged closer to ask.
As a celebrity who doted on his fans, the moment he saw the new Pokémon he wanted to start a livestream so everyone could see.
But Dax Jonas had said it wasn't the right time. Whether to reveal anything wasn't up to Wang to decide.
Helpless, Wang Hechuan not only had his livestream request rejected by Dax Jonas; his Ludicolo also got pounded by the new Pokémon. Total loss.
Dax looked to Auron; Wang followed his gaze to Auron as well.
"Go for it. The article on the evolution condition is pretty much done, and the official rewards have already come down. We're not worried about anyone plagiarizing it."
"Sweet!"
The moment Auron finished, Wang Hechuan ran to stand in front of the Steelix, pulled out his phone, and started the stream.
"Hey, my beloved fans! As an 'excellent' outdoors streamer, I can't believe I haven't streamed outdoors for this long. I've really failed you. But I've got a surprise for you today—hang on a sec!"
Wang more than lived up to his celebrity status. As soon as the stream went live, the room flooded with viewers. And when they heard him call himself an "excellent" streamer, the chat barrages came in, all in unison:
"Pfft."
"Pfft."
"Pfft."
When he mentioned a surprise, the chat shifted to a chorus of oohs.
"Big bro really spoils us!"
Seeing Wang hustle backward, trying to widen the frame so Steelix could fit head to tail, Auron quickly patted the tiny butt of the Victini perched on his head.
"Hey, little guy, do you see him? Don't drop your invisibility, okay? Otherwise the whole country will see you, and you won't get a moment's peace."
Victini didn't quite understand. It tugged Auron's hair, asking him to explain why.
Auron sighed. He had no idea where Victini had picked up this hair-pulling habit.
Starting yesterday, any time it didn't understand something, or saw something new, or had a question, it would yank on Auron's hair for an explanation.
Also, it seemed to have gotten addicted to lying belly-down across his hair. It had sprawled up there right after breakfast and still hadn't come down.
In a low voice, Auron explained to Victini why being seen would mean the entire country would be watching—and then what would happen if that happened.
Victini went pale on the spot.
(M—mom, are that many people going to steal my little round cookies?)
That's right; the "consequence" Auron told it was that if it got exposed, people would snatch away its beloved little round cookies and not let it eat them.
You had to admit, Auron's explanation was a fib—but it worked wonders. Now Victini didn't dare move a muscle. It just lay there on Auron's head.
After finishing the Steelix segment of the stream, Wang Hechuan, laughing amid waves of fan adoration, announced he'd tag along with Auron's group for some fun.
Auron had no objections. No one else did either.
In the end, not only did Wang join in, even Dax Jonas said he wanted to cut loose and enjoy himself.
The only one hard done by was Victini. Now it absolutely couldn't pop out at random.
At the end of the livestream, Wang let out all his Pokémon for a quick face reveal.
Besides the Ludicolo from the beginning, he also had Froakie, Squirtle, Slowpoke, Swampert, and Starmie—a full Water-type lineup.
Before ending the stream, and only after checking with Auron, Wang pointed the camera at Auron's back.
"He's the one who figured out the evolution condition for Onix to become Steelix. I can tell you this much: he's about your age, my fans. He just finished the college entrance exams a few days ago."
"First things first: you are the future of the country. Don't spend all your time chasing stars—meaning me. You must give it your all and become people who can contribute to your country, all right?"
Auron had thought Wang was going to leverage him to pull more viewers. He didn't expect him to say something like that.
It surprised Auron enough that he decided to fan the flames even higher—get Wang's words carried even further by the media.
"Actually, it's not just that we've worked out how Onix evolves into Steelix. There are more Pokémon you think don't have further evolutions that I'm researching."
Auron paused for a beat, and in that single beat the chat exploded.
"For example, your Slowpoke doesn't only evolve into Slowbro—it has another way to evolve."
Auron had already shared his hypothesis on Slowpoke evolving into Slowking with Dad (Ashen Vale). But his dad had thought he should focus on the college entrance exams first, so he hadn't let Auron join the verification.
As long as the method proved correct, though, Auron's cut of the credit would be guaranteed.
Dax Jonas and Wang Hechuan both froze. Their friends stared, stunned.
The chat feed also stuttered, then erupted even harder.
Seeing the barrage already starting to lag, Wang hurriedly ended the live.
But what he didn't know was that not only Auron's last claim, but even the Steelix appearance and Wang's admonition to the fans had already begun trending across major media outlets.
Every reporter was racing to ride the wave, and the heat of the topic spiked higher and higher.
Until finally, when the officials weighed in and gave it another push…
(End of this chapter.)