After dealing with the four major families in the Town, Team Rocket seemed to quiet down completely.
Icarus had originally thought Team Rocket would eventually make a move against the Gym Leaders as well, but surprisingly, nothing happened.
Or perhaps…
It was simply because his level was still too low, leaving him unaware of what was happening behind the scenes.
Regardless, matters involving Gym Leader-level powerhouses were far beyond his current reach.
After earning a fortune from the missions involving the three major families, Icarus continued partnering with Aoi to complete ordinary Team Rocket missions.
Another two months passed.
Thanks to the profits she had made, Aoi's Pidgeotto advanced rapidly under abundant resource investment and finally broke through to Ordinary mid-stage.
At that point, Icarus amicably ended their cooperation.
He could already clearly sense that Aoi had grown extremely dissatisfied with being exploited by him. Continuing to work together would inevitably lead to conflict.
Besides, some of the Trainers they had previously lured into Team Rocket had quietly begun setting traps for Aoi after returning.
Although those people didn't dare openly attack her for fear of exposing themselves, secretly causing her trouble was still possible.
Icarus had no intention of getting involved in those messy affairs, so he simply stepped away cleanly.
To put it bluntly:
He had taken most of the benefits.
Aoi had taken most of the blame.
Still, the girl no longer cared much about those minor troubles. She already possessed two Ordinary mid-stage Pokémon and was rapidly cultivating a third.
With her growing strength, the younger generation within her family had also begun accepting her into their circles.
After losing Aoi's support, Icarus's rate of earning Team Rocket contribution points naturally slowed down.
He still spent several days each week handling Team Rocket missions, averaging roughly ten contribution points per day, giving him around sixty points weekly.
His Alliance missions, however, remained stable.
And just like that—
Another year and a half passed.
Icarus officially became an Ordinary high-stage Trainer.
Now approaching eighteen years old, both his Pidgeotto and Weepinbell successively broke through to Ordinary high-stage, while Houndoom also became a veteran Ordinary mid-stage Pokémon.
Of course, these rapid breakthroughs came entirely from overwhelming financial investment.
For the past two years, ever since obtaining third place in the tournament, Icarus had practically spent every single day completing missions.
Alliance missions.
Team Rocket missions.
Occasional opportunities and side profits.
Altogether, he had earned approximately:
50 million Alliance currency
18,000 Alliance merit points
8,000 Team Rocket contribution points
The reason the Team Rocket contribution points lagged behind so heavily was because, during the latter half of those two years, he mostly handled Team Rocket missions alone in his spare time.
Of course, although he earned a terrifying amount…
He spent just as much.
The secret cultivation manual for Weepinbell alone cost him 6,000 Team Rocket contribution points.
That was already after Mitsui Mina gave him a 25% discount because she appreciated his Weepinbell. Otherwise, the original price would have been a terrifying 8,000 points.
At the same time, Icarus also finally learned how absurd the price gap between ordinary and elite-grade cultivation manuals truly was.
The price difference was literally tenfold.
For example:
The ordinary public cultivation manual for Weepinbell, from newborn stage to Ordinary high-stage, only cost around 400 points.
But the Elite-level version covering Ordinary high-stage to Elite high-stage cost 4,000 points.
Originally, Icarus had intended to purchase the public version.
However, after breaking through to high-stage himself, his status within Team Rocket also rose accordingly.
He officially became a Squad Leader.
And with increased authority came access to things he previously couldn't even see—
Secret cultivation manuals.
Their prices were double those of the ordinary versions.
But naturally…
If something better existed, he would choose the better option.
After submitting the exchange request, Icarus originally expected to simply collect the manual from the counter.
Instead, the staff informed him that the manual's owner wanted to meet him personally.
Feeling uneasy, he went to the arranged location—
Only to discover it was Mitsui Mina.
The beautiful Team Rocket young lady he had interacted with several times before.
After carefully inspecting his Weepinbell, she unexpectedly offered him recruitment.
Only then did Icarus finally understand her real status.
Although her own strength was merely Ordinary high-stage, her family background gave her the same Squad Leader rank as him.
Furthermore, she was also an undercover operative.
Her Alliance identity still remained fully valid.
Clearly, she saw potential in Icarus.
His Weepinbell had been exceptionally well-trained.
And since she had personally recruited him before, he already counted as part of her faction to some extent.
So after seeing his exchange information, she suddenly decided to formally recruit him under her command.
Naturally, Icarus had absolutely no reason to refuse.
In fact—
He desperately wanted this arrangement.
Because of Mina's special status and relatively weak personal strength, she almost never received dangerous frontline assignments.
As one of her direct subordinates, Icarus would likewise avoid many compulsory combat missions.
The dangerous forced interception mission from before would probably never happen to him again.
And beyond that…
His superior was a gorgeous, wealthy alchemist beauty.
Even if nothing romantic ever happened, simply having access to her connections and item refinement abilities was already invaluable.
Not to mention—
Upon joining her faction, she immediately gave him the maximum 25% discount on the cultivation manual, directly saving him 2,000 Team Rocket contribution points.
He was naturally more than willing to join under Mina.
Unfortunately, when exchanging for Pidgeotto's secret cultivation manual later, there was no such lucky discount.
The public version only cost 600 points.
The complete secret version, however, required a staggering 12,000 Team Rocket contribution points.
Naturally, Icarus didn't possess that many.
But—
He did have Alliance merit points.
Although Alliance regulations prohibited merit-point trading…
This was Team Rocket.
Who cared about Alliance laws?
Not to mention Team Rocket—even black markets openly traded merit points.
Thanks to Mina's connections, his 12,000 Alliance merit points were skillfully laundered through a series of "legal" procedures and exchanged one-to-one into Team Rocket contribution points.
Never underestimate the influence of true great families.
In practice, Icarus was simply taken around several times to "complete" or "submit" dozens of fake missions.
Then suddenly, his merit points naturally ended up in someone else's account.
Naturally, using those channels required payment.
He paid Mina 1,000 contribution points as compensation.
Even after all that, though, he still lacked enough points for Houndoom's secret cultivation manual.
Although he still hadn't fully figured out the true value of Alliance merit points, he wanted to keep several thousand reserved just in case.
So in the end, he directly spent 10 million Alliance currency to exchange for another 10,000 Team Rocket contribution points and finally purchased Houndoom's manual as well.
After two full years, his remaining assets became:
Roughly 5,000 Alliance merit points
Roughly 1,000 Team Rocket contribution points
But it was all worth it.
Because after using the secret cultivation manuals…
Icarus finally understood why the descendants of true great families advanced so quickly.
Why elite heirs could reach Elite-level in their twenties.
Why some monstrous geniuses even reached Gym Leader level before thirty.
The answer was simple:
The secret cultivation manuals contained actual Pokémon cultivation methods.
Not just training plans.
The public manuals merely provided scientifically optimized training schedules.
Pokémon still absorbed energy naturally according to their innate talent.
Passive growth.
The secret manuals, however, taught Pokémon how to actively cultivate and absorb energy efficiently.
They transformed primitive energy absorption into advanced controlled cultivation.
How could ordinary Trainers possibly compete with that?
For example—
Weepinbell reaching Ordinary high-stage in just over a year had cost Icarus over 10 million.
And Pidgeotto later caught up almost entirely because it began practicing the special cultivation method.
According to Icarus's original estimates using ordinary methods, even with heavy spending, Pidgeotto would still need another six months to break through.
But after learning the secret cultivation method, its absorption speed and energy efficiency skyrocketed.
As a result, it broke through in just over a year while costing about one million less than Weepinbell.
And that was despite learning the method late.
According to Icarus's calculations—
If both Pokémon had learned the cultivation method from the very beginning, he could have saved over one-third of his expenses.
More than six million Alliance currency.
Enough to purchase an entire Starter Pokémon.
Only then did he finally understand:
The true geniuses were always concentrated within the great noble families.
Even if commoners somehow obtained Starter Pokémon, they still developed slower than the heirs of powerful clans.
Because the Alliance exchange system simply didn't offer secret cultivation manuals at all.
At least—
Not at Icarus's current authority level.
He already possessed over 10,000 merit points and Ordinary high-stage strength, yet the Alliance still hadn't unlocked those manuals for him.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket openly offered them to Squad Leaders.
At that moment, Icarus genuinely felt that Team Rocket was playing an incredibly ambitious game.
Perhaps their slogan truly wasn't meaningless:
"The Alliance is corrupt. Team Rocket shall be reborn."
Under Team Rocket's system, Squad Leaders could exchange for secret cultivation manuals, massively strengthening the organization's middle and lower backbone members.
Naturally, such a system ensured Team Rocket would never lack capable grassroots officers.
Of course, the prices remained astronomical.
Ordinary people still couldn't afford them.
But in another sense, it also acted as a filtering mechanism.
Those without determination and ambition would naturally fall behind.
What Icarus didn't know was that Trainers like him—
Those possessing strong Pokémon and purchasing secret cultivation manuals—
Had already been quietly placed onto the branch director's priority development list.
In the eyes of Team Rocket's higher-ups, he had already become a promising seedling.
Perhaps someday in the future…
If he continued growing…
He might truly rise into Team Rocket's upper echelon.
After reviewing contribution points, it was time to calculate his remaining cash.
Although he earned around 50 million in two years, Weepinbell and Pidgeotto alone consumed nearly 20 million through resources, Move training, and combination techniques.
Houndoom's secret manual cost another 10 million.
That already reduced his funds to around 20 million.
Then came daily maintenance costs.
Although Luna gradually helped reduce expenses after becoming a competent breeder, lowering daily food costs from over 10,000 to around 5,000, the total feeding expenses over two years still reached nearly 4 million.
And that wasn't even counting:
The portable crafting machine for Luna — over 1 million
Energy Cube formulas gathered from auctions, Team Rocket, and black markets — nearly 10 million
After all, formulas were essentially permanent money-making assets.
Even ordinary mid-level formulas couldn't be bought cheaply.
So after all expenditures…
Despite earning enormous wealth over two years, Icarus only had around 5 million cash left.
If converted according to Team Rocket's Starter Pokémon prices, he had effectively spent the equivalent value of more than ten Starter Pokémon over those two years.
But again—
It was absolutely worth it.
Because now, Icarus had finally stepped onto the same starting line as the direct descendants of true great families.
Not the tiny "great families" of Aoki Town whose strongest members were merely Elite-level.
But genuine ancient families possessing Gym Leader-level powerhouses.
Families like the Mitsui Family behind Mina.
Of course, unlike him, Mina didn't need to struggle for any of this.
For her, secret cultivation manuals were practically free.
Meanwhile, if Icarus wanted manuals for a fourth or fifth Pokémon in the future…
He would still have to risk his life earning them himself.
Naturally, he also considered exchanging directly for a Starter Pokémon through the Alliance.
He already met the conditions.
But after thinking carefully…
Why buy one himself when he could win one for free?
That's right.
He intended to use his final opportunity to participate in the Aoki Conference.
Ever since placing third years ago, he had participated again the following year but stopped at Top 8.
This year, however—
He was determined to take first place.
After participating twice, he fully understood the tournament's structure and hidden rules.
And now, he had already publicly revealed his breakthrough to Ordinary high-stage.
This time…
He would absolutely become champion.
Because he had already secretly investigated all the high-stage Trainers from the family factions.
None of them planned to participate this year.
Without secret cultivation manuals, advancing to high-stage simply wasn't easy.
Which meant—
As the only Ordinary high-stage Trainer…
As the rising hope of the common people…
"I, Icarus, will definitely become the Champion of the Aoki Conference!"
-------------Author---------------
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