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Kael stood on the damp grass, bored out of his mind and unable to muster any energy.
Honestly, the battles in the Gym were still fine. No matter how fragile his opponents were, at least he could warm up and get some practice.
This dull waiting time was what was truly boring and irritating.
Because he had to wait for challengers, he could not return to his room to train.
The only person at the edge of the field was the square-faced referee, who always had that cold, unapproachable expression. Kael could not even interact with him to kill this tedious waiting time.
Step. Step.
The sudden sound of slow, cautious footsteps immediately made Kael perk up.
He raised his head slightly and looked toward the entrance of the battlefield, where the sound came from.
There, under the light, a tall and slender figure gradually became clear.
"Oh?"
Kael's broad tail swayed gently behind him.
Although there was nothing particularly eye-catching about the newcomer's behavior, Kael could tell from his extremely handsome, almost celebrity-like face, as well as that strange aura of detachment from the world, that the opponent he was about to face was eighty percent likely to be a player.
Kael was happy.
The reason he was happy was not that he could crush another player.
Well…
Perhaps that was part of it.
The main reason was that, in Kael's impression, players were generally much stronger than the NPCs who came to challenge the Gym during the same period.
In that case, his battle experience would also be much better.
Moreover, the higher the quality of the battle, the more experience he would gain afterward, which would help him carry out his next strategy of holding back his level and stockpiling experience.
At the same time, Quinn, who stood on the other side of the field, secretly let out a breath of relief.
"Looks like my luck is pretty good after all."
"A one-in-five chance, and I actually got it."
"This is fate."
While secretly feeling pleased, he confidently took a Poké Ball from his system backpack.
Its classic metallic red-and-white design gleamed brightly under the overhead lights.
Seeing the Trainer across from him act with such confidence, as if victory were already guaranteed, Kael could not help becoming more serious in his heart.
Although none of the players he had encountered so far had been especially outstanding in terms of strength, that did not mean Kael looked down on players.
His decades of experience as a human in his previous life told him that there were absolutely hidden dragons and crouching tigers among players. There would definitely be many extraordinary individuals.
Whether it was the legendary "grind kings" who played games with their lives on the line, the "luck emperors" blessed by the heavens, or the most numerous and generally strongest kind, the "pay-to-win emperors," once they entered Pokémon: World, they would all become existences far beyond ordinary civilian players.
Even though Kael had already decided that he would not hold back in battles against players and would prevent them from winning a Badge from him, he had also prepared himself mentally for the possibility of being defeated because he was not strong enough.
Walk by the river often enough, and your shoes would eventually get wet.
He could not guarantee victory in every battle against players whose strength varied wildly.
Even his own condition would sometimes rise and fall, would it not?
Kael's clear blue pupils stared at the handsome young man across from him, his sharp vision catching every slight change on the other party's face.
Confidence.
Nothing but confidence.
That strangely overflowing pride, combined with the other party's calm and composed expression, made Kael raise Quinn to a level in his mind that he did not actually belong to.
Whirr.
Quinn only tossed the Poké Ball lightly, but under the effect of the game system, it rapidly flew upward.
It was so fast that it even left a faint afterimage in the air.
Click.
The Poké Ball, spinning at high speed, suddenly stopped in midair, and its upper and lower halves snapped open.
Illusory red light burst from the Poké Ball and landed on the soft grass below.
Kael's body tensed.
His earlier lazy, listless appearance had completely vanished.
What replaced it was extreme seriousness and caution.
Every movement the Trainer across from him had shown before seemed to silently hint to Kael that this opponent was definitely very powerful.
He had to treat this carefully.
His slender legs bent slightly, terrifying explosive power gathering within them.
Whether dodging or charging, Kael was already prepared.
His gaze locked tightly onto the place where the red light from the Poké Ball gathered.
He waited patiently.
But slowly, as that illusory red light gradually solidified, Kael's eyes became stranger and stranger.
"Uh… this…"
On the soft green grass ahead, a Pokémon even smaller than Kael appeared before his eyes.
Its long caterpillar-like body was only about the size of two palms.
Its whole body was dark brown and covered in extremely fine fuzz. Three white hairs resembling antennae grew from the top of its head, gently swaying.
Three pairs of short, light-brown legs were distributed along its slightly bloated abdomen, providing it with a pitiful amount of mobility.
Scatterbug.
A Bug-type Pokémon commonly found in the Kalos region.
Perhaps because it came from Kalos, some people who were new to Pokémon might think it sounded fairly strong.
But from its plain appearance and tiny body, it did not possess even the slightest trace of the aura a powerful Pokémon should have.
To put it simply, in the eyes of locals from Kalos, Scatterbug's image was basically equivalent to Caterpie in the eyes of people from Kanto.
The Pokémon academic world also believed the same.
Oh, no.
If one went by official Pokémon data, perhaps Scatterbug was still a tiny bit stronger than Caterpie.
After all, its base stats were five points higher.
At that moment, a strange silence appeared on the field.
Kael stared at the Scatterbug across from him, not knowing what to say.
He could not help tilting his head slightly.
At this moment, there was still a faint trace of hope in his heart.
After all, the Trainer on the other side of the field still looked completely confident.
If this were really just an ordinary Scatterbug, surely no one would be this confident, right?
Surely…
Although he knew that Scatterbug, as a Bug-type Pokémon with an extremely fast growth cycle, would naturally evolve into Spewpa at level 9 according to the system's level classification.
In other words, the Scatterbug in front of him most likely was not above level 9.
Even so, Kael still felt that for the Trainer to be this confident, this Scatterbug must be hiding some unexpected method.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!