Chapter 37

Roy opened Weibo and saw the fans' enthusiastic responses.

"Grandpa, the blogger you follow updated!"

"Shocked. This account is actually alive! I was about to unfollow."

"Yibao, post more daily photos. Better yet, show a little skin. Mommy loves you!"

"Girl upstairs, the fan topic has tons of Yibao screenshots. Take whatever you like!"

"Do you plan on entering any competitions? Big sis will take leave just to go support you!"

"A Squirtle from the Starter Pokémon line... So jealous!"

"Pfft, this Squirtle is so goofy!"

"+1. Don't know why, but the more I look at it, the more I want to laugh."

"..."

Roy froze. He had never expected to somehow gain the nickname "Yibao."

Mom fans were terrifying indeed.

He was not particularly moved by being popular. He had been used to it since childhood.

Besides, his Popularity Points could not be exchanged for anything. The system did not recognize them.

If the system did recognize Roy's Popularity Points, he honestly would not mind selling his looks.

On the System panel, Squirtle's Popularity Points had finally begun to rise.

In the little over an hour since he posted on Weibo, Squirtle's Popularity Points had already risen past forty thousand...

Still not enough.

Roy ignored the requests for him to post photos of himself and selected a few suitable comments to reply to.

"Right now, I'm focusing on raising my Pokémon, so I don't have any competitions planned for the time being. If I do, I'll let everyone know immediately! Goofy salute.jpg"

"Let me see who's calling my Squirtle goofy. One Headbutt from my Squirtle, and you'll get a taste of Ghost Head.jpg"

"Squirtle sunglasses speechless.jpg"

The few fans Roy replied to were incredibly excited and practically responded instantly.

The fans who did not receive replies were envious and jealous. But they quickly noticed that Roy had replied only to comments about Squirtle, instantly discovering the secret to winning their idol's favor.

Twenty minutes later, everyone in Roy's comment section and the fan topic was using Squirtle memes.

They did not just use them—they also edited the captions.

Some people even changed their profile pictures to Squirtle...

At first, they were merely following the trend or hoping Roy would reply to them. But the fans soon discovered that the more they used the memes, the better they became. They were especially funny and strangely addictive.

Very soon, without Roy having to personally get involved, Squirtle memes began spreading across the internet.

As Roy scrolled through his phone, he gradually fell asleep.

The next morning, at dawn.

The alarm rang. Roy stretched, and just as he was about to get up, he suddenly felt something cool against his leg, something smooth and slippery pressed to his skin.

Roy's expression turned strange as he lifted the blanket.

Squirtle was sleeping against his waist, its whole body tucked inside its shell. Only one little paw stuck out, reaching into his pocket just as it had yesterday.

The coolness he felt was Squirtle's little paw.

The fabric inside his pocket had been torn by that paw.

"This little goof..." Roy did not know whether to laugh or cry. He immediately understood why.

Squirtle was probably still puzzled over how Roy had pulled so many magical items from such a tiny pocket.

Roy smiled and tapped the shell, waking Squirtle up.

Meanwhile, alert Riolu had already opened its eyes the moment Roy woke up.

Roy brought the bleary-eyed Squirtle into the bathroom, and the three of them began brushing their teeth and washing their faces.

During this, Squirtle tried to have Roy wash his face with the water it sprayed out. Roy responded by giving it a punch on the head.

After breakfast, Roy recalled both Pokémon into their Poké Balls. He then placed Vulpix's Pokémon Egg into the incubator and stuffed the whole thing into his backpack.

He decided that for the next while, he would carry the Pokémon Egg with him twenty-four hours a day so he would not miss the exact moment Vulpix was born.

Roy was extremely curious about what Pokémon looked like at birth, and he also wanted Vulpix's first sight to be of him.

When he arrived at school, there were no academic classes today. It was all physical education.

At Pokémon University, physical education essentially meant providing Training Rooms and Battle Rooms for students to train independently or challenge one another.

Academic classes taught them knowledge about Pokémon and the key points of battling.

Physical education allowed them to put that knowledge and training methods into practice.

As the Chief Recommended Student, Roy had his own exclusive high-end Training Room and did not need to squeeze into shared rooms with other students.

The facilities in this Training Room were far more spacious than the one at the Pokémon Center. It had been built to the standard required for six Pokémon.

Furthermore, the entire room was made from special alloys and could withstand all move damage below Professional-level.

"What exactly are these alloys made of?"

Roy tapped the wall of the Training Room, his face full of curiosity.

During training just now, Riolu had struck it with Rock Smash. Under normal circumstances, even a massive boulder as tall as a two-story building would have been shattered into pieces.

Yet this special alloy wall had not even a crack. It was completely unscathed.

It would have been one thing if only the walls were unharmed, but even the foundation was so solid that it had not budged in the slightest. That was truly curious.

If this construction technology had existed in his previous life, humanity would never have needed to fear earthquakes again.

"It was probably some black technology discovered in Spirit Realm ruins, then analyzed and improved..."

Roy guessed.

He was becoming increasingly curious about the Spirit Realm. He wanted to confirm whether it was truly the Pokémon World he had seen in anime and games. Perhaps he could discover something there...

Unfortunately, no one was allowed to enter the Spirit Realm before becoming a Professional-level Trainer.

Putting away his curiosity, Roy looked down at Squirtle by his waist.

"Then let's begin training, Squirtle."

"I'll personally supervise you."

Squirtle raised a hand with high fighting spirit and clenched its fist.

"Squirtle!"

Let's go!

As for Riolu, it had already begun training some distance away.

Riolu had always been mature by nature, reliable and disciplined like a little adult.

After experiencing the joy of growing stronger, battling, and competing, Roy no longer needed to lead by example to motivate its drive and fighting spirit for training.

When it needed rest, it stopped on its own and ate Energy Cubes.

When its body wanted to slack off, it shook the Willpower Bell itself and gave itself a motivational pep talk.

Naturally, it wore the Soothing Bell and Weighted Bracelet throughout the entire process.

As long as its training regimen did not change, Riolu could train by itself.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun on that iron plate!"

Following Roy's instructions, Squirtle puffed out its cheeks and sprayed out a stream of Water Gun, striking the iron plate.

When the Water Gun ended, a display screen not far from the iron plate immediately lit up.

Move Judgment: Water Gun.

Power Judgment: D+ rank.

Move Judgment: Icy Wind.

Power Judgment: D-rank.

Move Judgment: Ice Punch.

Power Judgment: E+ rank.

Squirtle's Overall Evaluation was D-rank.

Its D+ rank Water Gun proved that its strength truly lay in Special Attack.

Its Icy Wind, despite not being one of its native moves, could match Ice-type Pokémon of the same rank. That also proved it was exceptionally gifted in Ice-type moves.

It was just that its close-range Ice Punch barely reached E+ rank. Its physical attack was truly awful.

After collecting this data, Roy became even more certain of his training approach for Squirtle.

"Squirtle, keep using Water Gun!"

"Keep going!"

"Why did you stop? Keep going!"

"Keep pushing! Use Icy Wind this time!"

Roy used Aura Power to sense Squirtle's physical condition. Once he estimated it had reached its limit, he called out at precisely the right moment, "Alright, rest for five minutes. Finish your Energy Cubes, then continue training."

"Squirtle, Squirtle..."

Squirtle collapsed onto the ground and wiped away its cold sweat.

No more pushing. No more pushing.

I really don't have a single drop left!