Boss Sakaki's Beedrill (Black History)

(The two chapters marked as black history, looking back, were written very awkwardly. You can skip them if you deem it necessary, it won't affect your future reading.)

"A Space Magic inscription inside a Poké Ball? This is truly..."

Verde looked at the Poké Ball in his hand, his expression conflicted for a moment.

Magic was divided into different attributes: wind, fire, water, lightning, earth, holy light, darkness, and so on. But if you were to ask what the most precious attributes were, it would have to be Space and Time.

A mage's affinity with different attributes determined which ones they could use. According to surveys, over 80% of mages could freely use Holy Light magic, followed by Fire and Water magic, both at 69%.

As for the usage rate of Space Magic...

On the surface, there were no more than ten intelligent beings on the entire continent who could use it.

Time Magic was even more legendary, rumored to have only been seen by the Lich Sage of the Demon Race.

Verde wanted to say it was a waste, but then he thought that this thing was currently in his possession, so how could it be considered a waste?

He should say that everything was fate's best arrangement! This young master was Lady Luck's favorite child!

At first, he was startled when he put Pikachu into the Poké Ball. After he figured out how to use it, he cherished it like a treasure. Even he could see the value of the Poké Ball.

"Pikachu, can you find more of these balls?" Verde asked the Pikachu perched on his shoulder.

Why did he call it Pikachu? Of course, it was inspired by its cry.

After spending a long time with Pikachu, he realized that although this Monster always acted like it disliked him and wanted to hit him, it actually had a good temper.

Slowly, he became more relaxed.

Pikachu nodded, pointing a small hand in a certain direction – the town located in the center of the forest.

"It's in there..."

Verde shrunk his neck, instantly losing confidence.

He had climbed a tree before to get a distant look at Undead Town and was deeply impressed because it was filled with wandering ghouls.

There were even different types of ghouls. Some wore tattered clothes and carried broken weapons, some wore decent armor, and some wore full sets of exquisite armor with seemingly sharp weapons.

Not only ghouls, but he also vaguely caught sight of "dogs" – creatures that were incredibly fast and had astonishing aggression, even more dangerous than ghouls.

Besides these, his intuition told him that something even more terrifying was hidden in the town.

That's why Verde had been wandering in the forest for so long, always skirting around Undead Town. Even so, he had encountered several Ghoul Soldiers wandering out from Undead Town.

At the time, he saw the Ghoul Soldiers walking unsteadily, looking frail, and even considered taking them on himself.

But when the ghoul saw him, it was like it had taken stimulants, leaping several meters high and swinging a Greatsword at him. If Pikachu hadn't bumped into him in time, Verde would probably be split in two right now.

It could only be said that Verde's survival so far was entirely thanks to Pikachu carrying him.

"No, no, forget it. I don't dare to go," he tried to change the subject. "Pikachu, do you have any other companions, ones who are as human-like, uh, intelligent as you?"

While communicating with Pikachu, Verde often felt like he was talking to a normal person. Pikachu could perfectly understand all his intentions. Other than only being able to say "Pika Pika," it was no different from a human.

He was amazed. Only the strongest Monsters could understand humans, but Pikachu was this smart too.

If there were many like it, this would likely become the most significant discovery in Monster research history.

"Pika,"

Pikachu nodded, pointed to a large tree, and made a gesture.

"You mean I should kick it?"

"Pika~"

Verde, half-believing, kicked it. "Rustle, rustle." The dense canopy shook, and the next second, a shadow suddenly fell down.

"What demon dares!" Verde jumped back in fright.

The newcomer squirmed on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it had a green body, a white belly, Y-shaped antennae, and large eyes.

It was a giant bug – a Caterpie!

[Caterpie] [Mental Energy Required per Ten Units: 1] [Life: F-, Strength: F-, Intelligence: E+, Stamina: F-, Speed: F-, Overall Combat Power: F-]

Just one look and he knew this was the weakest of the weak.

This was something Gong Qiying had brought to enrich the ecosystem. It was too cheap not to mess with a few.

This Caterpie was still dazed after falling, but as soon as it saw Verde, it immediately struck an aggressive pose, appearing either bold or impatient.

Then, it was instantly defeated by a Tackle from Pikachu.

"Uh, that." Verde raised his hand and asked, "Why did you knock it out?"

"Pika?"

Pikachu blinked its eyes. It seemed to have interpreted Verde's words as wanting to battle Pokémon.

"I wanted to communicate with it."

After thinking for a moment, Verde took off his jacket and wrapped the Caterpie in it. He was most afraid of bugs and didn't dare to touch them directly.

"But these monsters are really weak this time. Are they even useful?" he muttered to himself.

"Weak? Your view of Pokémon is truly narrow," a voice suddenly came from the bushes.

"Who!"

"You can call me Boss Sakaki!"

A strong wind suddenly swept through the forest, making Verde unable to open his eyes. It wasn't until the wind stopped that he could clearly see who had arrived.

How to put it, he was a middle-aged man with an evil and tough appearance.

Whether it was his looks, his clothes, or his voice, he gave off the feeling of a "mysterious evil organization boss," making people feel intimidated.

"Uh, who are you?"

"I already told you, call me Boss Sakaki."

Gong Qiying held a Poké Ball in his hand, using his Mimicry ability to transform into Sakaki's appearance.

"What a strange name. Huh, you have one of those balls too?" Verde looked at Gong Qiying in surprise.

"This is called a Poké Ball, country bumpkin."

"Wha-what, country bumpkin!?"

Verde's face turned red. He was usually the one calling others country bumpkins, and now he was being looked down upon!

"I am a noble, and you—"

"I don't care who you are,"

Gong Qiying put on a disgusted expression and said, "When you called Caterpie weak, you already showed yourself to be shortsighted."

So its name was Caterpie? But it really felt incredibly weak.

Verde took a deep breath, telling himself to calm down. The person in front of him seemed to know a lot about these strange monsters called "Pokémon," so he needed to build a good relationship and get some information.

But where did this guy come from? This underground city should only have people from the Bede family and hired Adventurers.

"Since Mr. Sakaki is also here, why don't we cooperate? It's too dangerous to be alone in the underground city, isn't it?"

"Alone? I'm not alone," Gong Qiying pointed at Pikachu. "Don't you have him for company?"

"Ah," Verde blinked. He felt that the other party's words were a bit strange, but he couldn't quite pinpoint why.

Right, he considered Pokémon as companions of equal standing, whereas Verde, due to his ingrained beliefs, still saw Pikachu as a peculiar monster.

For some reason, Verde felt a sense of shame at that moment.

"It seems you're just a novice trainer. Fine, since our eyes have met, let's have a battle!"

"A battle?" Verde asked in confusion. "I didn't provoke you, are you a bandit!?"

"No, I mean a Pokémon battle."

Gong Qiying tossed the Poké Ball in his hand into the air and said, "I choose you, Beedrill! Let this kid see the power of the Bug Type!"