After settling the two little ones, Icarus prepared to sell the harvest he had obtained that morning.
He still went to Grandpa Arai's Grocery Store. Although the old man still kept a cold expression, Icarus politely greeted him after entering.
After completing several transactions, he earned a little over 2,000 Pokédollars. After receiving the money, Icarus helped the old man tidy up the shop as usual and took away the trash at the door.
Then he went to the butcher shop and sold the meat from those Caterpie, Weedle, and Rattata to Boss Wu Er. Together with the earlier earnings from the grocery store, his card balance increased by another 3,000 Pokédollars, and he still had more than 2,000 Pokédollars in cash on him.
As for the Arbok snake he had captured earlier, Icarus thought about it and decided to give it to Uncle Sam.
After all, Uncle Sam's ace Pokémon was an Arbok. As long as his relatives had any sense, they would definitely choose Ekans as their primary Pokémon to train.
With an elite-level Arbok guiding them, the future achievements of that Ekans would definitely not be low.
As for why Icarus didn't keep the Ekans himself, it was because he already had a plan for his third Pokémon, and that plan also fit the team's configuration.
Besides, he didn't think Uncle Sam would share all his experience raising Ekans with an outsider.
It would be better to give the Ekans to one of Uncle Sam's relatives and deepen their relationship.
Unfortunately, when Uncle Sam checked the Pokémon with a Pokédex, he discovered that this Ekans only had mid-tier ordinary potential. It was already at ordinary-level strength, and even if it evolved into Arbok, its potential would still be limited.
Because of that, his relatives weren't very interested. Still, they expressed their gratitude to Icarus for the gesture.
With no other option, Icarus sold the Ekans to the Pokémon Center's trading office, bringing the total balance on his card to 8,000 Pokédollars.
In a small town like this, only the Pokémon Center accepted ordinary-level Pokémon. The shops in the black market didn't accept them, and they didn't have the means to control ordinary-level Pokémon anyway.
After handling everything, it was almost night again. Icarus abandoned the idea of hunting at night.
Instead of going out to hunt a few Growlithe and earning one or two thousand Pokédollars, it was better to rest properly. Tomorrow he would head into the wilderness with the team and make real money.
---
After returning home, the three of them had dinner, trained briefly, and then went to sleep.
In Icarus's opinion, this daily training was extremely necessary. It was the reason he had been able to catch up to Aze in such a short time.
After all, Aze was already 20 years old, and Ashu was 21.
They had been trainers for five or six years, yet their strength wasn't much higher than Icarus's.
Through discussions and conversations during the day, Icarus realized that most civilian trainers in this world were limited by lack of knowledge and narrow perspectives.
When training Pokémon, they usually only focused on mastering moves inherited through their Pokémon's bloodline.
They rarely thought about how to shorten the casting time of moves or make them more powerful.
Even Ashu's combo techniques had been developed through years of battle experience. It was only recently, after receiving advice from a senior apprentice at a Gym, that he began thinking about combining moves.
Another very important reason was money.
After most civilian trainers earned some money early on, they usually spent it on improving their family's living conditions.
Only after their family life improved would they start investing heavily in Pokémon training.
This was also the biggest reason their strength improved so slowly.
When Icarus heard this earlier in the day, he felt it was very similar to the mindset of ordinary people becoming wealthy in his previous life.
Imagine being a worker earning 3,000 per month, with parents earning about the same.
Then suddenly you receive a promotion or win the lottery and gain hundreds of thousands.
Most people's first thought wouldn't be to invest the money to earn even more.
Instead, they would buy a house, buy a car, improve their family's life, or deposit the money in a bank.
Only someone like Icarus, an unusual civilian who had watched Pokémon anime in his previous life and had no family responsibilities here, would spend every Pokédollar he earned on Bellsprout and Pidgey.
If he had truly been a native of this world, the first thing he would have done after making money would have been to move out of the shack near the garbage station.
---
"Ring! Ring!"
The alarm clock rang.
Icarus got up, prepared breakfast for Bellsprout and Pidgey, and then woke the two little ones.
"Sprout~"
"Pidgey~"
After a quick wash, the trio finished breakfast and headed toward the city gate.
At this moment, Aze, wearing mid-level protective gear, was already waiting there.
When he saw Icarus approaching, he immediately greeted him.
"Good morning, Icarus!"
"Good morning, Aze."
The two began waiting for Captain Ashu at the city gate.
A nearby guard noticed Icarus and Aze standing together and asked:
"Hey kid, Icarus, are you forming a team now?"
"Yes, sir. I'm not very strong yet, so I thought teaming up would be safer and more profitable."
Icarus replied politely.
"Hmm, that's true. Just be careful out there."
The guard nodded, then turned toward Aze.
"Hey! Take good care of this kid, alright? We guards chat with him quite often."
"Oh! Yes, sir! Don't worry — we're in the same team!"
Hearing that it was a member of the guard unit speaking to him, Aze nodded quickly.
"Good. Be careful in the wild."
The guard nodded in satisfaction and returned to his post.
At that moment, Aze turned to Icarus with a shocked expression.
"Icarus-kun, you said you weren't from a big family, but even the guards are speaking up for you!"
"Ah… Aze, I already told you not to use honorifics. I'm really not from a big family. My home is still in the civilian district. I just talk with those guards a bit whenever I pass through the city gate."
Icarus explained helplessly.
"Really?"
Aze clearly didn't believe him.
Those were members of the guard unit, after all — each one at least an ordinary-rank trainer, or even an Alliance member.
"Really. Next time you can chat with them too and you'll understand. Besides, do I look like some pampered noble kid?"
As he spoke, Icarus rolled up his sleeves, revealing the scars left from past training.
"Hmm… you're right."
After examining the scars and Icarus's clothing and demeanor, Aze realized he really didn't resemble the noble children he had seen before.
"I'll try talking to the guards more in the future then."
"Aze! Icarus! I'm here!"
At that moment, Ashu, the team captain, finally arrived at the city gate wearing protective gear.
"You're late again, Captain Ashu! Don't stay up so late!"
Aze pointed at his watch.
The time displayed was 7:10 AM.
"Hahaha! Don't worry about the details! Let's go, let's go!"
After being exposed, Ashu quickly changed the topic and dragged Icarus and Aze toward the wilderness.
Their first team expedition had officially begun.
(End of Chapter 100)
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