Black Market Shopping

It was said that a small family once possessed a Dragon Dance TM, yet the strongest member of that family had only reached quasi-Elite Four level.

Later, word got out. The small family was wiped out overnight by a mysterious Elite Four-level trainer, leaving no survivors, while the Dragon Dance TM vanished without a trace. To this day, that mysterious trainer was still wanted by every League.

Reality was not an anime, after all. Reality was often far bloodier. No one here believed in everlasting justice; only the law of the jungle mattered.

"You two are very talented. Even if you no longer need to attend classes, don't slack off. Train hard—there might be a place for you in this year's provincial tournament."

Principal Liu Qingshan first encouraged them, then told them to collect their rewards from the school storeroom themselves and informed them that they were free to leave.

After Ye Lan and Lin Yan left the principal's office, Lin Yan barely spoke along the way, but the joy in his eyes was impossible to hide.

The principal had clearly acted on a whim. It had only been an assessment, yet he had given them a Protect TM—far too valuable a reward.

Ye Lan was delighted as well. He truly hadn't expected the principal to be so generous. They had gotten a Protect TM for free just by passing an assessment. What a decent man. Incredibly decent!

Still, he quickly understood that if their starter Pokémon hadn't been Snivy and Charmander, the principal probably wouldn't have been willing to spend so much.

"From now on, we can train together. In our spare time, we can battle to test our progress. What do you think?"

Ye Lan shared his idea with Lin Yan. Honestly, he had been quite happy to see Lin Yan pass the assessment too.

With Charmander as an opponent, Snivy would improve much faster. The little guy would just have to suffer a bit more.

"Alright, it's settled!"

Normally quiet and reserved, Lin Yan's eyes seemed to burn with fire the moment battling was mentioned.

Charmander sensed its trainer's fighting spirit as well, and the tiny flame on its tail flared brighter.

"Char!"

Ye Lan's mouth twitched at the sight. Just mentioning a battle got them fired up, but they hadn't even fought a single one yet. How had they already become addicted?

By then, the principal had announced over the broadcast system that Ye Lan and Lin Yan had passed the assessment and no longer needed to attend the relevant Pokémon classes. All third-year students had been informed.

This would effectively motivate the students to study harder.

After all, passing the assessment meant having more than twice as much time as everyone else to train Pokémon, which would lead to better results in the weekly battle exams.

After collecting the Protect TM, Ye Lan arranged to meet Lin Yan at the training grounds tomorrow. Then he swaggered out of the school, intending to prepare Snivy's meal plan before training began the next day.

As Ye Lan understood it, direct descendants of major families would form long-term partnerships with breeders capable of formulating Pokémon diets.

In this world, breeders held an equally pivotal position and were divided into many specialties. Some excelled at caring for injured Pokémon, while others specialized in monitoring a Pokémon's condition before evolution.

After all, everyone's energy was limited. Becoming a specialist in any one field was already proof of one's talent and dedication in that area.

Nutritionists capable of designing personalized diets for Pokémon held an even more important position.

A diet would affect a Pokémon for its entire life. It even needed to be adjusted dynamically depending on the direction of its training.

Ye Lan hadn't learned of anything in this world resembling Pokéblocks. Perhaps no one had yet developed the technology to extract and fuse pure energy; otherwise, Pokémon nutritionists would have nothing left to do.

Though it was an unexplored field, Ye Lan had no intention of charging into it blindly.

Ye Lan had always possessed a trait that wasn't exactly a virtue: he knew his own limits.

He knew very well that he wasn't a genius like Red, who could travel for only one year starting at age ten and stand atop the League Champion's peak at eleven.

Aside from his informational advantage, every other advantage Ye Lan possessed came from the system.

Could he really defeat the true geniuses of every generation with just that?

The answer was obvious.

Since this world had ten major regions, and Ye Lan had never heard the names of famous figures like Red or Green...

Then there was a strong chance that Ye Lan would stand on the stage of the League Conference and compete against the people he had once admired, all from the same starting line!

Thinking of that, Ye Lan, who had been a battle fanatic in his previous life, trembled with excitement.

"Sure enough, the best approach is to catch—cough, cough—make friends with a Pokémon nutritionist, tell them about the concept of Pokéblocks, and simply enjoy the results."

Lost in thought, Ye Lan had already arrived at the entrance of the Mianzhou Black Market. Before coming here, he had returned Snivy to its Poké Ball.

On the way to school that morning, he had noticed that Snivy, as one of the Unova Region's starter Pokémon, was still rather rare in the Huaxia League and always drew plenty of attention.

If someone decided to snatch it, he had virtually no means of resisting with his current strength.

This time, Ye Lan would not be entering the depths of the black market. He only intended to buy some Berries suitable for Snivy from the Pokémon supply shops near the entrance, where prices were much lower than at official Friendly Shops.

Officer Jenny patrols from the Huaxia League made the black market entrance much safer for beginner trainers like Ye Lan.

The deeper one went into the black market, the more gray-market businesses there were. As for why the authorities did not shut down a place like this? The lower-class trainers needed a path upward; otherwise, it would only become harder to manage them.

Ye Lan liked a certain saying: the world was not simply black and white, but a shade of exquisite gray.

He entered a shop and looked over the shelves packed with Berries of every color. Some had been left out so long that their colors had faded to gray, and fruit flies even buzzed around them.

After roughly looking them over, Ye Lan realized the Berries had been divided into three sections: high quality—brightly colored and fresh; medium quality—stored for a while but still largely intact; and low quality—stored for a long time, with serious scratches and abrasions on their surfaces.

Naturally, their prices differed enormously. High-quality Berries cost a full four times as much as low-quality ones!

Even so, high-quality Berries cost only a third of what they did in official stores.

Looking at the Berries before him, Ye Lan fell into thought.

From what he remembered, Snivy's Speed, Special Attack, and stamina were all extremely important. Of course, there was no such concept as HP in reality, so that narrowed the choices down to only two categories.

However, the shop only had ordinary Berries. Super Berries like the Salac Berry, which could greatly increase a Pokémon's Speed, were impossible for a little shop like this to stock.

In the end, Ye Lan bought Coco Berries, which could reduce fire damage.

With all of those added together, and with Ye Lan choosing only high-quality Berries, half a month's supply cost him over 1,800 more.

After all, he couldn't even bring himself to eat medium- or low-quality Berries. How could he possibly let his spoiled little princess eat them?

Anyone could suffer, but not his own child!