The Obvious Coincidence!

Qingyun City's student sponsorship was quite generous—or rather, the sponsorship offered by every city was basically the same.

Sponsored students could receive one Starter Pokémon and one million in Pokémon breeding funds.

Whether it was the Starter Pokémon or the million, both were things Lu Li had longed for.

There was no need to say much about the Starter Pokémon. If someone in the First Echelon had a Starter Pokémon, they were guaranteed to become an Elite Trainer.

"Thank you, Gym Leader, for recognizing me." Lu Li thanked him with a face full of gratitude.

Lu Li had never considered that he might become a League-sponsored student. The reason was simple: he was confident he could meet the first two requirements, but as for the final requirement—being recognized by a Gym—he had never thought he could achieve it.

To put it bluntly, every city only had one such slot, and only one each year.

Anyone with half a brain knew that the Gym had already reserved this slot internally. Without the Gym's approval, it would be impossible to give it away.

After Jin Huang received his award, Yu Zhonggang patted him on the shoulder and asked, "Young man, are you interested in becoming an apprentice at my Gym?"

Although he had expected it, Jin Huang was still so excited that tears welled up in his eyes.

"Yes!" Jin Huang nodded heavily. If the occasion had not been inappropriate, Lu Li suspected Jin Huang would have dropped to his knees and begged to become Yu Zhonggang's disciple on the spot.

What was changing one's fate against the heavens? This was changing one's fate against the heavens.

Once Jin Huang became a Gym Apprentice, he would be a bona fide member of the League's inner circle. Someone like Lu Li could at most be considered a League resident, while Jin Huang was what truly counted as "inner circle."

Lian Sheyi looked at Jin Huang with some envy, but it was only envy. After all, he knew his own circumstances well enough. Lian Sheyi knew it was almost impossible for him to become Yu Zhonggang's apprentice.

Unless Yu Zhonggang specialized in Poison-type rather than Steel-type Pokémon, there was no way Yu Zhonggang would take a liking to him.

Wasn't Lu Li talented enough? Yet even Yu Zhonggang had not taken an interest in him. Talent was important, but type compatibility was even more important.

Lu Li, however, remained calm about it. Even if Yu Zhonggang had wanted to take him as an apprentice, he had no intention of becoming a Gym Apprentice.

Compared to the inherited knowledge of a Gym, Lu Li yearned more for Kyushu University's Library. From beginning to end, Lu Li had always known what his greatest cheat was.

After the award ceremony ended, Jin Huang left with Yu Zhonggang.

Before leaving, Yu Zhonggang reminded Lu Li to remember to collect his Gym Badge from the Qingyun City Gym.

With the recommendation letter from the Education Bureau and the Gym Badge, he could go to the Breeding Center in Qingyun City to receive his Starter Pokémon.

Lu Li decided to collect his Gym Badge tomorrow and bring his Starter Pokémon home as soon as possible. He was not worried that raising too many Pokémon at once would distract him, nor was he concerned that the bond between him and his Pokémon would be diluted.

If his strength allowed it, Lu Li would have loved to start raising his First Echelon Pokémon sooner.

After school, Lu Li had barely stepped out of the gates when he saw Lian Sheyi, who had apparently been waiting there for a long time.

As soon as Lu Li approached, Lian Sheyi said, "Let's talk over there."

Lu Li nodded and followed Lian Sheyi beneath a tree. Lian Sheyi immediately asked, "Are you interested in Muk?"

Lu Li was speechless.

For some reason, those words sounded strangely familiar to him, as if he had heard them somewhere before.

Wait!

Lu Li remembered. Hadn't Eike said the exact same thing to him before?

Lu Li asked in a strange tone, "Do you know where there are Grimer Pokémon Eggs?"

Lian Sheyi nodded. "I know of a Grimer gathering place..."

"Wait."

Lu Li interrupted Lian Sheyi and directly asked, "Did Eike from the Wildfire Gang tell you about this?"

Now it was Lian Sheyi's turn to be surprised. He asked in confusion, "How did you know?"

"Because that guy invited me the same way a week ago. I even saved his Feixin number." Lu Li explained with a dark expression.

Lian Sheyi's expression darkened as well. "I found out about it three days ago."

Lu Li asked helplessly, "So how many people has that guy told about this?"

Lian Sheyi tilted his head and thought for a moment before explaining, "He told me that, including himself, he had four Rookie Trainers on his side. If we add you, then there should be one more person. That person is probably from his Wildfire Gang.

"As for whether he kept recruiting people afterward, I'm not too sure. But there probably weren't any more, since if there were too many people, there wouldn't be enough benefits to divide."

Lu Li nodded.

Lu Li rather agreed with Eike's approach. There were definitely many Grimer in a Grimer gathering place, and one more person meant one more layer of insurance.

I hope that guy knows when to stop. Five people should be about enough. Lu Li silently prayed that Eike would not keep recruiting people at random.

Lu Li was not surprised that Lian Sheyi had been invited. After all, Lian Sheyi fit Eike's recruitment criteria quite well.

He had no parents and lived a difficult life, desperately needed a second Pokémon, and did not mind Muk. There were not many Trainers in Qingyun City who met all those requirements.

"Since you've already accepted Eike's invitation, I won't explain much more. We should look out for each other when the time comes. We're classmates, after all, and it's best to keep an eye out in situations like this," Lian Sheyi said.

Lu Li nodded. He had originally worried that Eike might be plotting something, but now that Lian Sheyi had also been invited, even if something unexpected happened, he would have another helper.

After bidding Lian Sheyi farewell, Lu Li jogged home. Thanks to a Cultivator's exceptional physique, he had not even broken a sweat by the time he arrived.

Seeing that Lu Li had finally come home, Feebas impatiently leaped out of the Water Tank.

Lu Li asked, "Have you finished digesting the Beauty Spirit Pill I gave you yesterday?"

Feebas nodded excitedly. Even though a day had already passed, it was still in an excited state.

"Very good."

Lu Li poured another Elixir from the Small Jade Bottle and tossed it into the Water Tank. Feebas, which had long been unable to wait, leaped from the water and swallowed the Beauty Spirit Pill in one gulp.

After feeding Feebas, Lu Li arranged Tropius's training plan for the day.

Tropius's current weakness was its speed, but that was innate, and Lu Li had no solution for it at the moment. So, Lu Li decided to take an indirect approach.

"Tropius, what you need to train next is your reaction speed and explosive power," Lu Li said with a serious expression.

Lu Li did not expect Tropius to fly very fast. He only required Tropius to be able to quickly dodge an enemy's moves.

Tropius nodded. It had carefully reflected on today's match and realized that its reaction speed and movement speed had indeed held it back somewhat.

Lu Li continued, "But there's no rush. The yard is too small, and you can't fully move around here. Let's focus on training your Growth move first."

Tropius nodded. The Special Growth move its Trainer had taught it was incredibly powerful, and it had already decided to make it its core move in the future.

"Let's first review the Growth Spell. First..."