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Holidays are always short-lived.
Every student would agree with this sentiment.
For Li Xiang, who had been stuck at home for a long time and couldn't go out to have a 1v1 manly showdown with Lin Feng, this feeling was even more pronounced.
At the end of March, the Trainer Academy reopened.
Li Xiang returned to his normal life, dutifully attending classes in the morning and enduring Duan Tianxing's relentless training at the martial arts hall in the afternoon, all to earn more candies. Everything else was beyond his concern.
Whether it was Mrs. Yin's sudden promotion to Deputy Director at just over thirty years old, once again becoming Su Yiliu's superior, or Li Zhehan's losses being covered by insurance, with most workers only suffering minor injuries—his company didn't even lose a hair, and in fact, orders increased—Li Xiang couldn't even intervene. He could only watch.
At most, he spent his days observing the rising stock prices of a certain phone company and keeping an eye on the changes in online shopping domestically.
The timing of his transmigration was slightly awkward because many of the globally renowned companies from his previous life had changed their names and were already well-established. Becoming immensely wealthy was no longer a possibility.
At best, he could sip some soup. (TL - get small return on investments/profits)
However, the real path to wealth and success lay in becoming a Trainer.
Li Xiang wasn't short on money either. The affluent Li Zhehan was very accommodating; as long as Li Xiang had a legitimate reason and wasn't buying anything frivolous, he was willing to purchase almost anything for his son.
...
With the new semester came a reshuffling of classes based on the final exam results, and many new faces appeared in the classroom.
The girl who used to sit to his right had been moved to a lower class, replaced by an unfamiliar boy, which was a pity.
Now, he was surrounded by boys on all sides, except for the window to his left.
The handsome Song Jie still exuded an otherworldly aura, giving off the vibe of an aloof, reserved and cold young master.
But the moment he opened his mouth, he ruined the entire image.
"I have Abigail's WeChat ID. Do you want it?"
Li Xiang: "?"
Wait, why do people always think he's interested in underage girls?
First, there was Lin Feng, and now Song Jie. Was his reputation as Li Xiang-gege (big brother) really that untrustworthy?
"I went through a lot of trouble to get it from my sister for you," Song Jie said, looking like he was seeking praise and recognition. He then struggled to lift the Larvitar, which had been licking its fingers on the floor, onto the table.
After all, Larvitar was a terrifying creature with an average weight of 70 kilograms.
Li Xiang looked at the little dinosaur with tear-like markings under its eyes and thought it was quite cute.
Especially when it glanced at him and then went back to nibbling on its fingers.
Ah, so adorable!
"Hey! Did you hear me? Abigail's WeChat ID! I got it for you!"
Song Jie cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted into Li Xiang's ear.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
Li Xiang casually handed over a piece of paper and began trying to play with Larvitar.
Song Jie looked at Li Xiang suspiciously. Back on Qiong Island, Li Xiang had been calling Abigail "senior" so affectionately. Now that he had gone through the trouble of getting her WeChat ID, why was Li Xiang acting so indifferent?
But he still wrote it down.
Li Xiang took the note, glanced at it briefly, stuffed it into his pocket, and ignored it, focusing entirely on playing with Larvitar.
Only when the little guy couldn't take it anymore and angrily tried to bite him did Li Xiang teasingly pull his hand back.
"Hahaha, I'll stop messing with your Pokémon."
Li Xiang stood up and, accompanied by Torracat, who was giving him a look as if he were a scumbag, went to find Yang Tianwang and the others.
After not seeing them all winter break, it seemed like these two had added new Pokémon to their teams.
Hmm, what a coincidence.
"You're really committed to going all-in on a rain team, huh?"
Li Xiang glanced at the Pokémon on Qu Sheng's shoulder and couldn't help but marvel.
This Pokémon had an enormous head wrapped in a bubble, with six limbs in total—three raised to stabilize its head and three used for movement. It looked quite peculiar.
—Dewpider, the Bug/Water-type Pokémon from the seventh generation.
Although its offensive stats were mediocre, it had an ability called Water Bubble, which reduced damage from Fire-type moves and boosted Water-type moves.
Thus, it wasn't weak by any means.
"I already have Magnemite and Wartotle. What else am I supposed to do besides a rain team?"
Qu Sheng's expression was calm. Team composition was often easy to guess. Unless it was a mixed-type team, it usually fell into one of a few categories.
As for Yang Tianwang...
Li Xiang turned his gaze and noticed a dark glow behind Yang Tianwang's head.
Upon closer inspection, it was a round, human-faced cannonball emitting purple gas.
—Gastly, the Ghost/Poison-type Pokémon.
"You're not specializing? I always thought you were going to rival Qu Sheng with a sun team!"
Li Xiang exclaimed in surprise. This didn't align with the script he had imagined, where Qu Sheng and Yang Tianwang were supposed to be rivals in love and war!
Yang Tianwang's forehead twitched. "What do you mean by 'rivaling'? How do you expect me to run a sun team with one Grass-type and one Bug-type—"
Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly widened his eyes. "Huh? Am I seeing things? Since when did you have a Froakie on your shoulder?"
Yang Tianwang's comment immediately caught Qu Sheng's attention, who also looked surprised upon seeing it.
"Camouflage, guys! Camouflage! You 60 and 70-point slackers! Sun Chengbin is going to be furious."
Li Xiang sighed. This time, it wasn't Froakie's low presence ability at work. It had simply turned invisible and then reappeared.
With so many strangers around, Froakie was feeling a bit shy.
Yang Tianwang and Qu Sheng's faces turned red.
The former grumbled, "Alright, alright! You've been nagging all winter break. Enough already!"
"It was a mistake, purely a mistake. I didn't know there were questions on the back of the exam paper," Qu Sheng explained objectively, justifying his 60-point score that nearly landed him in the regular class.
The shameless adult soul within Li Xiang sneered, using his first-place-in-class to mercilessly mock the two slackers in academics.
Even though he was only 0.5 points ahead of the twelve-year-old Song Jie.
"Get lost!" ×2
The two boys were furious and chased him away, not even bothering to ask about Froakie's situation.
Li Xiang had no choice but to leave and return to his seat, continuing to dote on the adorable Larvitar.
Song Jie, who had been reading at his desk, lifted his eyelids. "Oh, the class topper is back?"
His tone was somewhat sarcastic.
But then again, Li Xiang had left him without a word to go talk to others.
"You didn't want to battle them and build some rapport. Young master Song, you're making things difficult for me."
Li Xiang pinched Larvitar's little claws.
The latter chomped down on the fleshy part of his hand, then spat it out, giving Li Xiang a disdainful look. Inedible things were all trash!
This little guy was quite tsundere.
Li Xiang retracted his hand, which didn't even have a tooth mark, and calmly extended the other one.
"Do you think a foreign bandit can become good friends with the children of the house?" Song Jie spoke in riddles.
Li Xiang, displeased, knocked on the table. "If you don't know how to use metaphors, don't use them! The Language teacher would die of anger!"
Song Jie had no choice but to explain, "Don't worry about it. I have you, and that's enough."
"Hey, hey, hey! Watch your words! We're all dudes here!"
Li Xiang leaned back in shock. Why did this kid's words sound so weird?
Song Jie was puzzled. "What's wrong with that?"
"Everything's wrong with that!"
Li Xiang complained. After some banter, Song Jie turned his attention to Froakie. "So this is the shiny Pokémon you mentioned?"
"Yep," Li Xiang said, tossing Froakie next to Larvitar.
The two Pokémon stared at each other...
"Roar!"
Larvitar lunged forward, trying to get a taste.
Froakie narrowly dodged, its eyes narrowing into slits as its hand instinctively reached behind its head.
"Stop!"
Li Xiang successfully interrupted Froakie's transformation, while Song Jie lightly tapped Larvitar's head.
"Behave!"
Larvitar widened its eyes. It hadn't even chewed on the table or chairs. Wasn't that well-behaved enough?
Humans were so hard to please, completely different from what its mom had said!
The little guy glared at Song Jie resentfully.
Li Xiang noticed and smirked. "Your Larvitar is quite human-like, huh?"
Pokémon, including Psychic-types, generally became more intelligent and developed stronger thinking abilities as their energy levels and age increased.
To put it simply, when Torracat first came to Li Xiang's home, its intelligence was equivalent to that of a six or seven-year-old child, naive and instinctively dependent on Li Xiang.
Now, Torracat's intelligence was on par with an eleven or twelve-year-old. Riolu, who was slightly stronger, could even help Li Xiang with math problems.
This intelligence could be inherited.
The higher the energy levels of the parents, the smarter and more capable their offspring would be. This was a hidden genetic trait.
Some Pokémon could even sense changes in the outside world and develop their own thoughts and emotions while still in their eggs.
Skilled breeders could help these eggs learn more knowledge in advance, essentially providing prenatal education.
"A family elder gifted it to me."
Song Jie's expression remained neutral. In breeding centers, pseudo-legendary Pokémon rarely had high energy levels. Even after being well-fed and cared for, they usually capped out at level 40 or 50.
To obtain a pseudo-legendary with high-level parents and excellent genes, you needed connections to get one from a high-ranking Trainer.
On a certain obscure website, there was a pinned post offering a 100 million yuan reward for an offspring of Xia Chunyu's Charizard, with a follow-up comment saying, "We can go higher if needed."
Of course, this didn't mean all Pokémon bred in breeding centers were inferior.
Many high-ranking Trainers wanted their Pokémon to breed, and when they couldn't find suitable partners, breeding centers were their first choice.
After all, breeding centers had a large number of Pokémon, allowing Trainers' Pokémon to choose freely.
"Lar~~"
Larvitar let out a soft cry, its gaze still fixed on Froakie.
Its instincts urged it to taste the little frog, but its rational mind told it that biting would only earn it another scolding, even if it didn't hurt.
In the end, the little guy chose to stay rational.
What else could it do?
Mom said to it be good and obedient.