Su Yi walked onto the stage.
He was met by Heavenly King Moss's gaze.
They passed shoulder to shoulder. Moss was a burly, middle-aged man.
"Kid, well done."
Su Yi blinked. Well done?
Then he realized—could this man have a grudge against the Zhang Family?
"Not only did Su Yi become the top scorer in both exams, breaking historical records, but his Knowledge Ranking score also broke our headquarters' record. And during the knowledge exam, his answer solved a problem that had troubled our headquarters for years!"
For some reason, Su Yi felt that Heavenly King Moss was drumming up support for him!
What was a Spirit Trainer who had never had fame or fortune most afraid of after gaining both?
They feared someone stabbing them in the back!
For some reason, Heavenly King Moss was building up Su Yi's reputation. The goal was to let everyone know that Su Yi had the Pokémon League headquarters' backing and was important to them. Anyone thinking of going after him had better think twice.
In truth, Su Yi wasn't afraid at all. So what if he let Groudon out?
Still, Su Yi gladly accepted Heavenly King Moss's goodwill.
There was no harm in having a Heavenly King show favor to him.
Zhang Mu, down below, had clearly seen through what Heavenly King Moss was doing.
If Su Yi hadn't appeared out of nowhere, he believed all this should have belonged to Zhang Kuang—and the Zhang Family.
"So, to encourage and reward the ambition of the younger generation, the headquarters has decided to award Su Yi not only his high school Spirit Academy Graduation Certificate, but also a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg!"
A Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg!
Even Su Yi hadn't expected to receive one as an additional reward!
Only the International Pokémon League headquarters had Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Eggs!
The provincial Pokémon League headquarters didn't have the authority to award them!
Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon were important strategic assets!
That was because no Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon had a Qualification below Blue!
Most had Blue Qualification!
A few had Purple!
Don't confuse a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon's Blue Qualification with an ordinary Pokémon's Blue Qualification.
Pseudo-Legendaries possessed powerful bodies that ordinary Pokémon lacked!
Even with the same Blue Qualification, Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon clearly had far greater potential than ordinary Pokémon!
And most importantly, Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon were incredibly rare!
In the Spirit Primal Forest, they only appeared in the middle-level region!
The middle-level region was full of Pokémon between Lv. 30 and Lv. 60!
The League generally prohibited anyone below Ace Trainer level from entering the middle-level region of the Spirit Primal Forest!
It was too dangerous!
"Damn! A Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg! It's enough to drive a man crazy, seeing what others get!"
"He earned that reward with his own strength. If you can do it, you can get one too... All right, I admit I'm jealous too!"
"Ugh, those invitation letters I just got from three Spirit Universities suddenly don't seem so exciting..."
"As expected of the top scorer in both exams. What a show!"
"..."
It wasn't just the audience.
The candidates who had already received their high school Spirit Academy Graduation Certificates also burst into discussion.
"I object!"
At those four words, everyone turned to look.
It was Zhang Mu.
"Of course the Alliance Reward should go to someone who's made a major contribution. But for the sake of fairness, shouldn't Heavenly King Moss announce exactly what Su Yi did?"
Zhang Mu stood in the audience, smiling as he looked at Su Yi and Heavenly King Moss.
He wasn't afraid of Heavenly King Moss. The Zhang Family was one of the most powerful families in Shangjing City, and naturally had Heavenly King-level strength of its own.
So plenty of people knew Zhang Mu.
The heads of the other prominent families who were on good terms with him also began speaking up in his defense.
"Heh. Heavenly King Moss must have his reasons for doing this, and I believe Su Yi really has made a contribution. Brother Zhang Mu, your son Zhang Kuang lost first place, so aren't you being a little too impatient?"
As soon as Zhang Mu spoke, Shangguan Hong stood up and spoke in turn.
The families aligned with Shangguan Hong stood up as well.
The two sides formed opposing factions.
Heavenly King Moss glanced at Shangguan Hong in surprise. He hadn't expected him to speak up in support.
"Patriarch Shangguan is right. This year's knowledge exam included a bonus question: to theorize the other evolutionary forms of Eevee and provide sound reasoning. Su Yi solved the entire question, and Pokémon professors at headquarters have already used his approach and methods to prove that Eevee has two other evolutionary forms!"
Moss looked at Su Yi with undisguised admiration.
He was still a high school graduate. What a talent!
As soon as Heavenly King Moss said this, everyone erupted in an uproar.
No one doubted him.
He had no reason to lie.
Su Yi had actually figured out two more evolutionary forms for Eevee—and they had been proven!
"Patriarch Zhang Mu, do you still have any objections?"
Heavenly King Moss's words left Zhang Mu stunned. It was actually true?
This brat had really...
Zhang Kuang and Shangguan Ling'er also stared at Su Yi in shock.
Before Zhang Mu could speak, Su Yi spoke first.
"Patriarch Zhang Mu, did you bring enough Gold Coins?"
"Patriarch Zhang Mu, did you bring enough Gold Coins?"
The top scorer in both exams, Su Yi, had spoken.
Zhang Mu was stunned again, unsure what Su Yi meant.
Everyone looked at Su Yi.
"I'm still a student, so I don't know how to deal with all that fake politeness. I'll say it straight: I know some people might not be convinced. Here's your chance—and a chance for me to prove myself. If you want to challenge me, bring a million Gold Coins. If you beat me, my reward is yours!"
The Zhang Family had been one of the most powerful families in Shangjing City for years. A million Gold Coins, plus the temptation of a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon for Zhang Mu, who was so confident in his son—he'd surely agree!
If there was a chance to fleece someone out of a fortune, why not take it? Judging by Zhang Mu's character, he'd come after Su Yi sooner or later anyway.
Su Yi was already considering how to bring down the Zhang Family in the future.
"Damn, that's a huge gamble! A million Gold Coins and a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg on the line!"
"Now that's guts!"
Whether a million Gold Coins or a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg, either was an immense fortune!
An ordinary person couldn't even spend five Gold Coins on a month's living expenses!
A million!
Zhang Mu's thoughts raced. He was absolutely confident in Zhang Kuang's strength.
He looked at his son. Zhang Kuang nodded, his eyes nearly bloodshot!
A million couldn't buy a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg!
They were priceless and impossible to find!
He'd accept!
One dared to wager, and the other dared to accept!
Su Yi looked at Heavenly King Moss.
"Heavenly King Moss, since the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg has been awarded to me, I get to decide what to do with it, right?"
Heavenly King Moss looked at Su Yi and weighed it for a moment.
Then he remembered what his junior had said and nodded.
He would act as the witness. Still, Heavenly King Moss couldn't help feeling a little exasperated. This Su Yi really had guts—and plenty of nerve.
Countless people erupted in astonishment!
Then excitement swept through them!
The many graduates present were thrilled as well!
This year's high school graduation ceremony really had been full of twists and turns!
No one else planned to challenge Su Yi. The Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg was certainly precious, but why would Su Yi dare to wager it if he didn't have the strength to back it up?
He was the top scorer in both exams. Did anyone think he was stupid?
So Zhang Kuang was the only challenger!
Of course, if Zhang Kuang really beat Su Yi, Shangguan Hong would have Shangguan Ling'er challenge Zhang Kuang too. The Shangguan Family would never let the Zhang Family get a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg.
The ceremony venue cleared a large space, and Su Yi and Zhang Kuang stood on opposite sides.
"Su Yi, I didn't expect you'd really dare to fight me. Win or lose, I respect your courage."
Zhang Kuang held his strongest Starter Pokémon and looked at Su Yi.
"A million Gold Coins will cover training and raising Pokémon for the first part of my time at Spirit University. Raising a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon costs even more."
Su Yi held Trapinch's Advanced Pokeball and smiled.
"Come out, Machamp!"
"Machamp!!!"
Lv. 32 Machamp!
[ "Come out, Trapinch!"
"Trapinch!"
Trapinch appeared too.
There was an enormous difference in size between Trapinch and Machamp.
But Trapinch wasn't afraid in the slightest!
On the contrary, it was full of fighting spirit!
"Machamp, use Focus Energy!"
Focus Energy: Concentrate intently to make your attacks more likely to hit the opponent's weak points.
Machamp focused intently. Trapinch and Su Yi were perfectly in sync; the instant Machamp began using Focus Energy, Trapinch moved!
"Dig!"
Before you continue