Old Ginger Is Spicier

"Hiss?"

Caterpie put down the branch and looked at the Village Elder in confusion.

It might have been a little slow, but learning to count should not have been difficult, right?

Its owner had taught it for nearly an entire day. Besides, it already had some concept of numbers before this. Numbers often appeared in human language, so over time, it had come to understand some of them.

The only problem was that it was now learning to count backward. It always felt like its brain could not make the turn, so it kept getting it wrong.

As Caterpie continued to ponder, it saw the Village Elder take out a Pokeball.

With a flash of red light, a burly Fighting-type Pokemon appeared. It was Old Man Qian's Machamp.

Old Man Qian looked at Machamp and said, "Count for me. Count past twenty."

Machamp scratched its head. Without thinking much about it, it began counting at its owner's command.

Unlike its pre-evolved forms, Machop and Machoke, the evolved Machamp was not only more muscular, but also had two extra arms growing from its back.

This directly doubled Machamp's counting range.

Machamp fiddled with its twenty fingers, muttering under its breath. When it realized they were not enough, it quickly sat down and began fiddling with its four toes.

Machamp's hands had five fingers each, but its feet only had two toes each.

Just like that, when it counted to twenty-four, Machamp suddenly got stuck and fell into a blank, dazed state, as though its brain had crashed.

As Old Man Qian watched Machamp sitting on the ground and counting its toes, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. He then turned to look at Mark's Caterpie.

This was a Caterpie!

Machamp might have been all brawn and no brains, but it should not have been worse than a Caterpie.

Having managed Clear Stream Village's Caterpie breeding grounds for years, Old Man Qian had a deep understanding of Caterpie intelligence.

Saying Caterpie intelligence was equal to Magikarp's was an insult to Caterpie. Still, even if Caterpie were smarter than Magikarp, they were not smarter by much, far below the average Pokemon intelligence level.

Machamp's intelligence, on the other hand, could barely reach the average among all Pokemon.

Suddenly, Old Man Qian noticed something. He saw the patterns Caterpie had drawn on the ground with a wooden stick earlier.

Though they looked crooked and uneven, those patterns were clearly numerical symbols.

It had not only learned to count, but also learned to write numbers?

Was this really a fucking Caterpie?

Old Man Qian looked at Caterpie again and saw it move next to Machamp, enthusiastically helping it count. There was not the slightest trace of pride or complacency on it.

Old Man Qian involuntarily sucked in a breath of cold air.

He had indeed noticed that Mark's Caterpie was smarter than ordinary Caterpie, but he had never imagined it would be this smart.

Thinking of Caterpie's outstanding Tackle technique in the courtyard a few days ago, its larger-than-normal body and robust physique, and how Mark took it into Clear Stream Forest every day to train as diligently as an ascetic—

The time, the place, and the people were all in its favor.

If this continued, this Caterpie was bound to have a promising future.

Even if Mark failed to get into Pokemon Academy, once this Caterpie evolved into Butterfree, Mark could easily join a Bug-type Gym in a small town and naturally become an Official Trainer.

Though he would never compare to Qian Er Niu or that boy Lin Tong, Mark's future already had a safety net.

Old Man Qian's thoughts churned endlessly, but Mark failed to notice. He merely assumed he had done something wrong.

He walked up to Old Man Qian, who had been lost in thought for a while, and asked in confusion, "Village Elder, will there be any problems if I have Caterpie learn math?"

Old Man Qian came back to his senses. He had wanted to praise him properly, but after thinking it over, decided against it.

At Mark's age, he needed to guard against arrogance and impatience. Excessive praise could easily have the opposite effect.

Rubbing the stubble on his chin, he said, "Problems... none for now. You can continue with your methods, but pay attention to the intensity of its combat training. Do not let your Caterpie overdraw its body or suffer any permanent injuries. As for how to teach Caterpie to count backward, you have already seen my Machamp. To be honest, this is not an area I am particularly good at either."

Several meters away, Machamp, still counting on its fingers, seemed to hear something and looked at its owner in confusion. It saw Old Man Qian raise his Pokeball.

A flash of red light passed, and Machamp was recalled.

Caterpie curiously crawled over, staring unblinkingly at the Pokeball containing Machamp.

Old Man Qian raised his brows slightly, seeming to think of something. He patted Caterpie's head and asked, "Do you really like Pokeballs?"

"Hiss hiss!"

Old Man Qian smiled faintly. "Since you like them so much, fine. If you can learn to count backward, I'll subsidize half the cost of your Pokeball for your owner. However, merely being able to say the numbers backward does not count. You have to write them on the ground with a wooden stick like you did just now, and they cannot be crooked."

"Hiss hiss!"

Caterpie excitedly jumped onto Old Man Qian's shoulder and rubbed against his cheek.

Mark glared at the overexcited Caterpie and walked up to Old Man Qian. "Village Elder, there's no need for that. As for Caterpie's Pokeball, I can handle it myself—"

Before Mark could finish, Old Man Qian cut him off with a wave of his hand.

Old Man Qian pulled a stern face and gently soothed the disappointed Caterpie twice. "Raising Pokemon is like raising children. What I said just now gave it something to look forward to. If you directly crush those expectations, do you know how much of a negative effect that could have on it?

It's settled, then. As long as it figures out how to count backward and can write it down with a wooden stick, I'll pay for half of its Pokeball.

Caterpie, do you have confidence?"

"SSS!!"

Caterpie hopped down from Old Man Qian's shoulder. It first struck a determined pose, then immediately picked up the little wooden stick from earlier and began scribbling on the dirt, entering a state of diligent study.

Old Man Qian glanced at Mark, lightly rubbing the stubble on his chin with a faintly amused smile.

Although Mark's performance gave him the feeling that the new generation was replacing the old, Mark was clearly still far too inexperienced when it came to raising spirits.

Old Man Qian said, "I'm not very good at teaching Caterpie to count backward, but you can learn this method of motivating spirits. I can tell your Caterpie is very sensible, but you still need to guide it according to the situation. Learning and training with different mindsets often produces vastly different results."

Mark glanced at Caterpie, which was scribbling on the ground, then looked at the Experience Bar on his Trainer Panel, which was steadily rising.

After Old Man Qian's encouragement, the rate at which Caterpie gained experience through studying mathematics had increased by at least thirty percent.

Mark nodded solemnly. "I've learned a lot. Thank you for your guidance, but that Pokeball still..."

Mark was interrupted once again as Old Man Qian waved his hand.

"Consider it my support for you and Caterpie. I'm the Village Chief of Clear Stream Village—shouldn't I help the promising young people in the village? Actually, if I weren't worried that you'd become dependent on my support, I could have just sponsored a Pokeball once Caterpie met the requirements. Alright, we've already delayed long enough. You and Caterpie haven't eaten yet, have you? Let's grab a simple meal, then head to the village school to register. Oh, right, speaking of eating, more isn't always better. Eighty percent... no, seventy percent full is enough..."