Mythical Pokémon Era: Global Ascension — Part 26

"I really didn't expect Xiao Bin to be a psychic."

"Yeah, and judging by the strength of his abilities, he doesn't seem weak at all. For someone his age, his Psychic talent is impressive."

"Elite Four Xiao himself and Mrs. Xiao aren't psychics, are they? So he's not a second-generation inherited psychic, but a first-generation psychic."

"Not a single first-generation psychic is weak."

"I thought Roy had the championship in the bag. Now it's hard to say about the finals. Psychic-types counter Fighting-types, after all. Riolu is at an innate disadvantage..."

Everyone in the contestants' lounge turned to look at Roy in the distance.

Putting themselves in his shoes, a championship that had seemed securely his had suddenly become uncertain. They would definitely feel awful too.

Just then, Xiao Bin returned to the lounge. He swept his gaze around the room, then headed straight toward Roy.

The onlookers' eyes lit up.

Fight! Fight!

Xiao Bin folded his arms, his expression carrying a hint of arrogance.

"You're quite good."

"Sheng Hai University can rank among the top twenty nationwide, but on a global scale, it's merely average. In Dragon Country, only Jinghua University and Jing University are top-tier institutions with international reputations. Those were originally my targets too..."

"If it weren't for my father's orders, I wouldn't have enrolled here at all. The students are a mixed bag. They... simply aren't worthy of me using my psychic powers on them."

"I deliberately revealed my psychic powers for you to see."

"Only you barely qualify to become my opponent!"

The cheerful onlookers' faces immediately darkened.

They got mocked just for watching?

If you didn't know how to talk, then don't talk!

"What are you acting so high and mighty for? You're not necessarily going to be champion!"

"Exactly!"

People around them immediately began muttering under their breaths.

Xiao Bin couldn't be bothered with such small fry. He merely stared at Roy and continued, "Let me ask you something. Who exactly is backing you? Who's funding you?"

There were geniuses in this world.

But even geniuses had to follow basic logic. The strength Roy had displayed so far was far beyond what "talent" alone could explain.

For him to grow so quickly, he had to rely on precious resources to make up for it.

Aside from special cases like Snorlax, ordinary Pokémon that merely grew naturally without training did not cost much to feed daily.

But once they began physical training, their cells would desperately crave energy. Even if they ate the most basic Pokémon feed, meeting their energy requirements would cost at least tens of thousands of RMB per Pokémon each month.

With Riolu's rapid rate of improvement, the energy its body required was enormous, and the quality demanded was exceptionally high.

Riolu definitely wasn't eating ordinary feed. It had to be receiving the best resources available.

—Where did Roy get the money? Where did he get the connections?

Therefore, many people, including Xiao Bin, believed that someone had to be funding Roy behind the scenes.

Roy smiled. "If I told you I haven't received funding from anyone at all, would you believe me?"

Xiao Bin snorted, looking as though he were saying, I'm not an idiot.

Seeing that, Roy shrugged. "Since you already have your answer, why bother asking me?"

Roy did not particularly dislike Xiao Bin. After all, the guy wasn't mocking him.

...He was just a pampered young master.

It was obvious from Xiao Bin's behavior and way of dealing with people that he was too arrogant—so arrogant that he seemed somewhat childish.

He could clearly have won the semifinals without revealing anything, yet he had acted on impulse and exposed his trump card as a psychic just to prove himself to the audience and commentators.

The finals were about to begin, yet he could not even endure for one more hour.

...If Xiao Bin had waited until the finals to reveal it, he would definitely have caught him off guard, right?

Roy felt rather fortunate. Looking at Xiao Bin, who was still standing there with a proud expression as he waited for a response, Roy suddenly became serious.

"Let me state this again!"

"I, Roy, have come this far entirely through my own efforts!"

The system was merely an aid!

He added that silently in his heart.

"You!" Xiao Bin frowned. "If you don't want to tell the truth, then forget it. Why are you brushing me off?"

After leaving those words behind, the Child of the Heavenly Kings stormed away.

Roy smiled, then found an opportunity to leave the contestants' lounge as well. He went somewhere deserted and opened the system interface.

Riolu's Popularity Points had already climbed to a full 560,000 and were still rising nonstop.

Originally, Roy had planned to save them until after he won the championship and selected his second Pokémon before spending them...

But after seeing Xiao Bin's psychic powers, he immediately felt less confident.

Opening the item list filled with dazzling goods, Roy considered the other party's psychic powers and finally decided to strengthen himself.

Spend 150,000 points to exchange for Proficient Aura Power. Remaining points: 410,000.

In an instant, the Aura Power that had originally been no more than a tiny sapling began growing wildly, becoming a towering tree dozens of meters tall. Roy felt his Mind Energy surge dozens of times over.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, he tried using his Aura Power.

Aura was a form of Mind Energy.

Every conscious creature possessed aura; they simply could not control it.

Each person's spiritual "aura" was different, like different radio waves.

At that moment, Roy could clearly sense the position of every living being throughout the entire arena. Each person's aura was like a cluster of blue flames.

Its manifestation was somewhat like the Power of Existence in Shakugan no Shana, which he had watched in his previous life.

As long as Roy remembered a creature's aura, no matter whether they changed their clothes or underwent plastic surgery, they would not escape his perception.

Not only that, Roy could also sense the joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness on the surface of everyone's consciousness.

That meant that in the future, if anyone facing him in battle harbored thoughts of scheming against him, he would immediately detect it.

Most importantly...

"Come out, Riolu."

White light flashed, and Riolu looked at Roy with bright, spirited eyes. It could sense movements outside the Poké Ball as well, and it had just felt Roy's powerful Aura Power.

So Riolu immediately understood what Roy wanted to do.

Psychic powers like Xiao Bin's could only enhance Pokémon that were also Psychic-type.

Fire-types, Water-types, and other Pokémon simply could not be compatible with them.

This actually limited Xiao Bin's future path. Only by specializing in Psychic-types could he fully display his greatest talent.

Exchanging for psychic powers like Xiao Bin's would be useless for Riolu. It could not benefit from them.

But Aura Power was different.

Lucario was an Aura Wielder among Pokémon. Even though Riolu had not evolved, it naturally possessed compatibility with Aura Power.

"Are you ready?" Roy asked.

"Cha!" Riolu cried expectantly.

"My aura is very strong. Bear with it."

After saying that, Roy focused his mind and attempted to inject Aura Power into Riolu's spiritual space.

Chapter 30: Finals, 3,000 Words

On the day of the school opening competitions, every school was holding its own entrance assessments.

People in the education sector were especially lively today. Open any group chat, and they were all discussing how some school had produced a genius or another school had produced a dark horse.

It was not just the education sector. Many conglomerates and government officials were also paying attention to outstanding young talents across the country.

Their attention was mostly focused on those key universities, especially Jinghua University and Jing University, the two top-tier institutions that drew the attention of the vast majority of interested parties.

"Both Jinghua University and Jing University have quite impressive freshmen this year. They've reached the average standard of previous years."

"As long as nothing unexpected happens, this year's National University League champion will once again come from either Jinghua University or Jing University. If Jinghua University wins again this year, wouldn't that make it three consecutive championships?"

"It'll be difficult. Xiao Muyi graduated last year. Without that strongest trump card, Jinghua University's team strength has dropped by more than one level. I think Jing University has better prospects this year."

"It's always these two schools competing. There's no suspense at all."

"Can't be helped. It's the Matthew effect."

The Matthew effect referred to a phenomenon of polarization.

The strong grew stronger, while the weak grew weaker.

The ancients said that failure was the mother of success.

Yet reality proved otherwise. Only success was the mother of "greater success."

The whole world was like an enormous arena. Once a competitor gained even the slightest advantage early on, that advantage would snowball during later competition, eventually creating an unimaginable gap between the successful and the unsuccessful. It could even affect the next generation.

The same was true for schools. The more prestigious a university was, the more easily it attracted talent, and the stronger it became.

In the past, there were still schools capable of competing with Jing University and Jinghua University. But as time passed, the National University League championships of the past twenty years had long been monopolized by those two prestigious schools.

But soon, as Sheng Hai University's semifinals ended, news that "the Sheng Hai New Star Cup had produced two rookie Trainers far beyond the standard" quickly spread throughout the industry.

The recordings of Xiao Bin's and Roy's semifinal matches soon appeared in major group chats.

"Huh? Isn't that Elite Four Xiao's son? Why did he go to Sheng Hai University?"