Just three seconds later, he felt that he was twice as strong as before.
Before, he could only lift fifty kilograms. Now, lifting one hundred and fifty was no problem!
"Mm..."
It felt so good, warm and cozy.
Unbeknownst to him, the person who had just sat down at Su Yi's table was Jiang Shuya.
Su Yi's involuntary moan had not only reached Jiang Shuya's ears; everyone in the room had heard it.
Jiang Shuya frowned.
She thought Su Yi had made that sound on purpose, because people didn't normally make noises like that while eating.
To be honest, she wasn't used to dining in a place like this.
But she had no choice. She was taking part in the Trial, and eating out in the wild with food in hand—especially near a Pokémon Center—could be dangerous.
She might run into a powerful Pokémon that liked to steal food.
Losing the food would be a minor problem. The trainer's safety was what mattered most.
"Shuya, what gives this kid the right to sit with you? And how dare he make a sound like that at you?"
A burly boy glared furiously at Su Yi, then slapped him without a word.
Not every rich kid was well-mannered.
A tiny minority of them acted as if their tails were practically sticking up into the sky.
His name was Ning Tao, and he had been pursuing Jiang Shuya for a long time.
Jiang Shuya was a bit of a two-timer. She wasn't interested in Ning Tao, but there were so many people pursuing her that she found it annoying. So she never outright rejected him. She even said she wanted to put him to the test, and Ning Tao eagerly volunteered to fend off all her other suitors.
Wherever she went, Ning Tao was always nearby, a shameless lapdog through and through.
Jiang Shuya said she was only testing him, so Ning Tao refused to listen to anyone who tried to talk him out of it.
She had just handed her Pokeball to the Pokémon Center staff to look after, and she didn't want to sit and eat with Ning Tao.
So she had turned him down indirectly, saying she liked sitting in the corner.
She looked around. Su Yi's table was the only one in a corner; all the other corner tables were taken.
And Su Yi's was a two-person table facing the opposite way.
There was only one seat left.
Su Yi had just finished testing his newfound strength.
Then he sensed danger.
It was Ning Tao's hand.
Ning Tao was used to throwing his weight around. He was sitting at the table beside Jiang Shuya's, and when he saw her frown—and remembered that he hadn't managed to sit with her—he decided to shove Su Yi out of the seat opposite her.
Then he could take the seat himself.
Suddenly, Ning Tao's hand felt as if it were trapped in an iron vise. The grip tightened and tightened!
Su Yi glanced sideways at Ning Tao.
This guy was vicious. That slap probably wouldn't have hurt him much, but he had a bowl of hot soup on his tray.
If that soup splashed into his eyes, would he still be able to take part in the Pokémon College Entrance Exam Trial?
Su Yi wasn't about to hold back. He grabbed Ning Tao's hand and squeezed hard!
He'd just become twice as strong. Ning Tao was the perfect test subject!
"Argh!!!"
A scream like a slaughtered pig finally burst from Ning Tao's mouth.
What incredible strength!
Su Yi had dislocated his wrist!
The excruciating pain made Ning Tao scream. He tried to wrench his hand free but couldn't budge it, so he clenched his other hand into a fist without hesitation and swung it at Su Yi's head!
If that punch landed, a concussion would be the least of Su Yi's worries.
Su Yi's gaze turned cold. I've got a system backing me up. How could I let someone push me around?
He stood up and kicked without the slightest hesitation!
At the same time, he flung the entire bowl of hot soup at Ning Tao.
If you don't mess with me, I won't mess with you. That was his principle.
Silence!
Everyone in the Pokémon Center fell silent.
Only after they saw Ning Tao on the ground, clutching his wrist and groaning in pain, did they begin to murmur.
"Quiet ones are always the ruthless ones. Ning Tao's ranked nine hundred and twentieth on the Trial Ranking. I never thought he'd pick a fight with the wrong person and get wrecked."
"Right? His wrist looks dislocated, and he's covered in hot soup. He was trying to stand up for Jiang Shuya, wasn't he? Is this what they mean by 'the lapdog who sticks it out to the end...'?"
"But I think that guy's in trouble. Wait, isn't that Su Yi from South Lake Province?!"
Someone recognized Su Yi.
The name Su Yi landed in everyone's ears like a bombshell!
He was first on the overall Knowledge Ranking, the top scorer in the high school graduation exam for Pokémon trainers, and the first person ever to get a perfect score!
The thought of Su Yi made those who envied him gloat.
Ning Tao himself was ranked only in the top thousand, but many people knew he had a cousin named Ning Zhi, who had recently broken into the top two hundred on the Trial Ranking.
And Su Yi?
Most people had only noticed his name when he first surged onto the Trial Ranking.
They hadn't seen it for a long time after that.
But now...
"Holy crap, Su Yi's twentieth on the Trial Ranking!"
Twentieth?
Su Yi's brow twitched. He hadn't even been deliberately farming points, yet he'd still made it to twentieth.
But that ranking seemed to have its advantages. When he heard Su Yi was twentieth, the guy whose wrist Su Yi had dislocated stopped cursing and instead held it in.
There were tens of millions of trainer candidates. Anyone could understand how terrifying a top-twenty ranking was!
"First on the Knowledge Ranking and twentieth on the Trial Ranking. That's terrifying."
"I still think Zhang Kuang, the second-ranked guy on the Knowledge Ranking, is more impressive. He's first on the Trial Ranking."
"They're both impressive. It's not over yet. Who knows who'll still be smiling at the end?"
"I'd love to challenge him, but time is money right now. It wouldn't be worth it if my Pokémon got injured in a battle. I know I'd lose anyway."
"..."
Ignoring the people whispering around them, Jiang Shuya stood up. Ning Tao was on the ground, getting treated for his burns with help from the Pokémon Center staff, but she didn't even glance at him.
Her attention was on Su Yi.
"Hello, Su Yi. I'm Jiang Shuya. I know a place with lots of wild Pokémon. If you're interested, maybe we could work together..."
Ning Tao stared at Jiang Shuya in disbelief. He had been the one to tell her about that place. He'd hoped she would go there with him to earn points and levels, and maybe they'd get some time alone together.
Jiang Shuya had clearly turned him down back then, saying she wasn't interested!
And now she was using the information he'd given her to approach Su Yi, the very person who had hurt him?
"Cough, cough..."
After a coughing fit, Ning Tao passed out from anger.
Using the Spirit Watch on Ning Tao's wrist, the Pokémon Center manager had already contacted the Spirit Academy Ning Tao attended, outside the Spirit Primal Forest.
As long as trainer candidates didn't deliberately kill anyone or disrupt the Pokémon Center's normal operations, the manager wouldn't interfere in their conflicts.
No matter how powerful your connections were, the Pokémon Center answered only to the Pokémon League.
Jiang Shuya finished speaking. And yet...
Just as Jiang Shuya had ignored Ning Tao, Su Yi seemed not to hear her at all.
He simply left.
The Pokémon Center was huge, with plenty of rooms. He wanted to get some rest.
Jiang Shuya?
She was maybe an eighty out of a hundred, looks-wise. How could she compare to his beloved older sister Su Xiyan, the ultimate doting sister?
Besides, he didn't like girls who played mind games. She could be as pretty as she wanted, but she'd never be as beautiful as Su Xiyan!
Jiang Shuya stared in surprise at Su Yi's retreating figure. She had thought there was no way he would turn down the chance to travel with a pretty girl like her.
She kept up the appearance of not caring, but inwardly, Jiang Shuya made a mental note of Su Yi.
Early the next morning, after grabbing something to eat at the Pokémon Center, Su Yi exchanged all 130,000 Gold Coins he had on him for Energy Cubes—high-grade ones.
Little Pokémon needed to eat too, and Energy Cubes were their nutritious meals.
High-grade Energy Cubes were more expensive than ordinary ones. Training and raising Pokémon was definitely an expensive profession.
The Good Luck Card only had a few hours left, so Su Yi headed straight for a nearby lake while he still had time.
He happened to have a Mystic Rod, and the Water Type Pokémon he caught could give Mareep some good skill practice.
The biggest lake nearby was called Yamo Lake.
Trainers who specialized in Water Type Pokémon loved large lakes like this.
Su Yi found an empty corner and took out the Mystic Rod from Spatial Storage.
He baited the hook, and just a few minutes later, reeled in a Polliwag.
"Pokémon": Polliwag
"Potential": White
"Level": Lv.12
"Type": Water
"Ability": Swift Swim
"Moves Learned": Bubble, Growl, Supersonic, Round
Polliwag was the juvenile form of Seismitoad. After getting reeled in, it let out a croak, and Su Yi sent Mareep out.
Mareep's Shiny coloring immediately drew the attention of everyone nearby.
Shiny Pokémon attracted attention wherever they went.
"Baa~"
Mareep rubbed against Su Yi's leg.
"Mareep, use Thunder Wave."
Mareep was only Lv. 8, but it wasn't afraid of the Lv. 12 Polliwag at all.
It stomped the ground hard with its front hooves. Electricity surged through its fluffy pink-and-white wool.
The currents gathered into a Thunder Wave and struck Polliwag.
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