After a screen full of question marks, teasing and insults followed one after another.
"Magikarp: Huh? I'm challenging a Gym? (Confused.JPG)"
"Streamer, with just a Magikarp that just learned Tackle, who gave you the courage to challenge a Gym? Floatzel?"
"Shelter from the sand and wind!"
"Streamer, Streamer! Although the Cerulean Gym is the weakest and most unprofessional Gym in our Kanto region, challenging it with a Magikarp is a bit disrespectful."
"Damn it! What did the Cerulean Gym do to you? Do you know how hard the Cerulean Sisters work? Their bowls are big and round, and their noodles are long and white. (Image attached.jpg)"
"You better be talking about bowls and noodles, kid."
"Brother, if you're going to post, post more. We love to see it, hehe!"
"I don't care about this or that!"
...At first, everyone was still mocking Adrian for being overconfident, but as photos of the Cerulean Sisters appeared, the tone of the bullet comments and comment section gradually started to shift.
Sure enough, netizens are all passionate people.
Looking at the beautiful photos of the Cerulean Sisters and synchronized swimming GIFs that occasionally appeared in the comment section, Adrian couldn't help but 'criticize' them.
By the time he had 'criticized' all the photos and GIFs, time had unknowingly arrived at noon.
"Hiss~ I was hurt by the beautiful pictures and comments, wasting time like this?"
After glancing at the time displayed on his phone, Adrian first took a sharp breath, then solemnly declared: "From today onwards, I'm quitting comments!!!"
After turning off his phone, Adrian first fed poffin to the Magikarp in the glass tank, then washed up, and finally had breakfast and lunch together.
"Nothing to do today, fishing in the small lake!"
Adrian hummed a tune, carrying his fishing gear, and happily left the house.
He didn't take the netizens' doubts and mockery to heart.
On the contrary, this was actually what he was happy to see.
After all, being infamously popular is still popular!
Precisely because everyone thought 'challenging a Gym with a Magikarp' was impossible, the reversal after he succeeded would be all the more exciting and explosive.
At that time, with the complete turnaround, netizens would be amazed, naturally turning from haters to fans, and even becoming 'die-hard fans'.
These were all mature and feasible strategies!
With his cheat ability, Adrian was full of confidence in raising Magikarp.
After all, the Cerulean Sisters' battle level was not even worth mentioning!
"Let's set a small goal: first, max out the skill levels of Magikarp's Tackle and Splash!"
Adrian came to a small lake, looked at the shimmering water, and sent out Magikarp again: "Same old routine, try to lure Water-type pokémon towards this area."
"Karloo~"
Magikarp's eyes were stern as it took the order and left.
Before long, Adrian started getting bites one after another... Time flew by, and ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Adrian sat by the river under a willow tree, fishing.
Whoosh!
The float suddenly sank into the water, indicating a fish had taken the bait.
"Up!"
Adrian mechanically pulled up the rod.
Soon, a large fish was pulled out of the water, its red body dazzling like a jewel in the sunlight.
Adrian's face was calm: "Sure enough, it's another Magikarp."
Because in these ten days, he had lost count of how many Magikarp he had caught, but it was definitely two or three hundred.
He was already numb!
As for other Water-type pokémon, they simply weren't interested in his bait.
[Caught 'Magikarp', rewarded with 1 bottle of 'Attack Enhancer'.]
However, as the cheat ability's notification appeared, Adrian's pupils constricted.
"I got a rare reward!"
After confirming that he hadn't seen wrong, Adrian's face showed wild joy.
He had caught two or three hundred Magikarp, and received two or three hundred rewards.
Among them, the most common were undoubtedly energy cube, followed by TM, and there was nothing else besides those.
But now, he had finally gotten a rare reward, a probability of a few thousandths.
"Let me see!"
With just a thought, a bottle of orange nutritional drink appeared in his hand.
[Attack Enhancer: A pokémon's nutritional drink. After consumption, it can enhance the pokémon's attack ability.]
"Enhances a pokémon's attack ability? Simple enough! Brutal enough! I like it!"
Seeing the description, Adrian was overjoyed and said: "With this, my confidence in challenging the Cerulean Gym is even higher."
"Magikarp!"
After his joy, Adrian was too lazy to fish anymore. He stood up and loudly called out to Magikarp.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
A sudden dark current vortex appeared on the distant water surface, and a red figure was rapidly swimming towards him across the water, as fast as lightning.
Its golden dorsal fin broke the surface, creating ripples that continuously spread outwards.
Boom!
When it swam closer, the underwater figure suddenly leaped out of the water, reaching a height of tens of meters, as if it could fly.
It was Adrian's Magikarp.
"Karloo~"
Magikarp glided freely in the air, smug and joyful.
Compared to before, Magikarp's body was now noticeably larger, its muscles more compact, full of explosive power.
In addition, the scales on its body had also become much harder and thicker, each like an iron plate, seemingly gleaming with a metallic luster, indicating excellent defense at a glance.
In just ten days, Magikarp seemed to have been reborn, which was simply incredible.
And this, of course, was inseparable from the nourishment of the energy cube.
Because energy cube can accelerate a pokémon's growth, and Adrian could harvest dozens of energy cube almost every day. Now, he only favored Magikarp, so it was hard for it not to become stronger.
"Karloo~ Karloo~"
After soaring dozens of meters through the air and landing precisely on the shore, Magikarp raised its head and gently rubbed Adrian's hand, appearing very docile.
Because Magikarp knew that all these changes in it were brought about by Adrian.
"Good! Very energetic!"
Adrian stroked Magikarp's cold, hard scales. With just a thought, the latter's attribute panel immediately appeared.
[pokémon: Magikarp]
[Type: Water]
[Ability: Rattled (When hit by a Dark-, Ghost-, or Bug-type move, its Speed is boosted due to fright.)]
[Skills: Splash (Perfected), Tackle (Perfected), Flail (Proficient)]
"Perfected Splash and Tackle, proficient Flail, plus a terrifying physique. Now, Magikarp should be called the 'King of Magikarp'."
Looking at the displayed panel data, Adrian nodded in satisfaction.
Learned, Proficient, Mastered, Transcendent, and Perfected – these were the skill levels divided by the cheat ability.
According to Adrian's experience, only one TM was needed to enable a pokémon to learn a certain move.
From Learned to Proficient required two TM, from Proficient to Mastered required four, from Mastered to Transcendent was eight, and from Transcendent to Perfected was sixteen.
Magikarp had already learned Splash and Tackle before, but after this period of stat distribution, their skill levels had now reached the Perfected stage, with no further room for improvement.
These were all achievements Adrian 'grinded out' one fish at a time!
Besides that was 'Flail', which Adrian later obtained from a TM and naturally taught to Magikarp.
[Flail: A Normal-type move. The user attacks by wildly flailing about. The lower the user's HP, the greater the move's power.]
The only regret was that the reward rate for Flail was much lower than for Splash and Tackle, so it had only been raised to 'Proficient' for now.
However, a proficient Flail was sufficient for general battles, and at critical moments, it might even have the miraculous effect of turning the tide.
"Come, open your mouth, I'll give you something good."
Adrian lifted Magikarp's mouth and poured the Attack Enhancer into Magikarp's mouth.
"Karloo~ Karloo~"
Magikarp swallowed it in large gulps, and soon felt a ball of fire burning fiercely in its stomach.
Magikarp was greatly surprised.
It felt like it was on fire, its whole body tingling and aching.
This feeling was more than a hundred times stronger than the energy cube!
"Don't panic, it'll pass if you just bear with it!"
Looking at the restless Magikarp, Adrian quickly reassured it.
Before long, the medicine's effect wore off, and Magikarp was overjoyed, swimming and leaping continuously in the water.
Because it could feel that its muscles had been significantly strengthened, and both its explosiveness and stamina had improved remarkably.
"The Ten-Mile Slope Fish King should also emerge from seclusion!"
Seeing this, Adrian's eyes narrowed, knowing that the time was ripe to challenge the Cerulean Gym.
If they could succeed, Adrian and Magikarp's popularity would absolutely explode.
After all, pokémon like Magikarp were universally recognized as useless, and using one to challenge a Gym was simply a fantasy.
So, taking advantage of the time Magikarp was adapting and getting familiar, Adrian filmed several clips, edited them into a video, and uploaded it online.
"After another ten days of special training, I feel that Magikarp's strength has grown unprecedentedly. So I've decided to officially challenge the Cerulean Gym tomorrow."
"At that time, I will start a live stream, so everyone can witness Magikarp's shining moment together."
"Friends who haven't followed yet, quickly hit the follow button, and it's best to subscribe to my video channel. That way, you'll get a notification when I go live tomorrow and won't miss any exciting content..."
As soon as the video was uploaded, the comment section immediately exploded, with thrill-seekers flocking in.
"Adrian, are you serious?"
"The Streamer is crazy! Challenging a Gym with a Magikarp is simply a pipe dream!"
"Indeed! If Magikarp were that strong, what would I need the starter pokémon for?"
"Waiting to see the Streamer and Magikarp get thrashed by the three older sisters!"
"I'll make a public pledge! If Magikarp can successfully challenge a Gym, I'll live stream myself eating a Pocky stick while standing on my head, I swear!"
...Looking at the constantly refreshing comments, Adrian selectively replied to a few, using interaction to boost popularity.
"@MyFavoriteGardevoir: The Streamer is an honest person, true to his word. He said he'd challenge the Gym tomorrow, and he definitely will, no backing out."
"@Jenny'sGrowlithe: Making a pledge is fine, but no tricking people into buying you food and drinks!"
"@CharmanderIsTheCoolest: The Streamer admits the starter pokémon are strong, but Magikarp also has great training potential. Tomorrow's Gym challenge, the Streamer will prove everything."
...Seeing that Adrian dared to respond, the netizens in the comment section became even more excited.
"Is the Streamer determined to humiliate himself? What kind of mindset is this?"
"A scheming frog, always touching your belly! I know! The Streamer definitely has some McDonald's attributes; he just wants to get pleasure from being painfully attacked and humiliated by the Cerulean Sisters (Mudkip has already Detect everything.jpg)."
"Streamer, are you really challenging a Gym? I'm almost too embarrassed to expose you, but you just want to enjoy spiritual pleasure. You're despicable!"
"So, according to you, those of us watching the live stream are also part of Old Fish's play? To increase his attack speed?"
"Eww~ The Streamer is so perverted, I love it! Followed and subscribed, don't disappoint!"
..."???"
Adrian frowned slightly, feeling that strange knowledge had increased again.
Besides the doubts and mockery, there were also a very few comments that were relatively fair.
"The Streamer's Magikarp is fat and large, robust in physique, and its scales gleam. It's indeed very well-trained. And have you noticed, the Streamer's Magikarp swims very fast, jumps very high, and its overall qualities are outstanding."
"Go, Streamer! If you can get a badge with Magikarp, I'll directly tip you a thousand Pokedollars, I won't go back on my word."
The video's popularity was still rising, and Adrian's goal had been achieved.
"Return, Magikarp!"
Recalling Magikarp, Adrian decided to go back early today, to rest and prepare for tomorrow's Cerulean Gym challenge... The night passed uneventfully.
The next day, Adrian woke up early and arrived at the Cerulean Gym with Magikarp.