Taking Stock and Summing Up (Please Bookmark, Vote, and Send Monthly Tickets!)

After returning home, Jiang Jing took out the Trophy and showed it to Jiang's Mother, who was watching a drama in the living room.

Holding the Suicune Trophy in her hands, Jiang's Mother was still a little dazed when she first saw it.

Though she did not understand the profession of a Trainer and had no interest in it, she knew that winning a Trophy was no easy feat.

Especially doing all that in less than a month—she could appreciate just how difficult that was.

She had watched her son's efforts over this period. Every day, he trained hard and raised his Pokémon. That driven, upward-looking spirit was easy to sense. Compared with before, Jiang Jing had gained a confidence and steadiness he never used to have.

Even he himself had not noticed it. It seemed Jiang Jing truly had the talent to become a Trainer, Jiang's Mother thought to herself.

Jiang's Father finally came home during dinner. This time, he could stay for two days before returning to the construction site.

After dinner, Jiang's Father took a quick shower. Once he had washed the dust from his body, he called Jiang Jing into the living room for a chat.

Jiang's Mother returned to her room to take care of her skin. Sitting on the sofa, Jiang's Father took out his tea-brewing set: a simple electric kettle and a few teacups.

He tossed a pinch of ordinary green tea into the kettle. Once the water boiled, steam continuously rose from its spout.

Jiang's Father smoked with his left hand while using his right to pour the boiling tea into the cups.

He exhaled a cloud of smoke, as though trying to breathe out all the exhaustion and worries of the day.

"Your mother told me earlier that you entered some Suicune Cup Pokémon Challenge and came in second."

"That's very good. I asked around just now, and they said making the top three was already impressive."

"Looks like you do have some talent as a Trainer."

"Oh, right. Your Final Exam results are out. Teacher Lin said you did quite well and improved a lot."

Jiang Jing picked up his cup and nodded. "I know. They posted them in the class group chat too. I feel like I performed pretty well this time."

For the first time, he had entered the top ten in his class, placing ninth. He was ranked seventy-eighth in the year as well, entering the top hundred for the first time and surpassing every previous result he had achieved.

If he had continued studying science, perhaps his National College Entrance Examination score could have gotten him into a first-tier university. But such a university no longer held much appeal for him.

He was going to become a Trainer. Nothing could stop him from becoming one.

Jiang's Father continued, "I heard that raising a Pokémon like Aron properly costs quite a bit."

"Do you still have enough money on you?"

If he were like Liu Bin, twenty thousand yuan a month plus some part-time work would have been enough. But for Jiang Jing now, it was nowhere near enough.

Fortunately, he had other sources of income, so he could barely manage.

Thus, he said, "Twenty thousand is enough. I have some savings of my own, and second place in this Suicune Cup came with a ten-thousand-yuan shopping card. It's enough for now."

Jiang's Father nodded. "I'll transfer another twenty thousand to you later. From now on, I'll transfer twenty thousand to you every month."

"If it isn't enough, just tell me and I'll send more. Don't feel embarrassed about it. Raising Pokémon well will be a great benefit to your future."

"Your Uncle Li is always bragging about how impressive his son is, but I don't think you're any worse than him."

"Raise your Aron well. Just don't lose at the starting line. Work hard and try to get into a better university."

Jiang Jing nodded seriously. "I will."

After returning to his room, Aron had already started training on its own, ramming fiercely into the target in the room.

The target shook violently, as if it might snap at any moment. But upon closer inspection, fine cracks had already appeared on its post. It would not hold up much longer.

I need to buy Aron a better target. It won't do if I'm always worried about it breaking during training.

Sitting at his desk, Jiang Jing took out his phone and opened the memo app. Ever since he got Aron, he had stopped writing a diary.

Whenever something happened, he could talk to Aron about it. Unlike before, when he had no one at all to share his thoughts with.

He began to summarize. The Suicune Cup Pokémon Challenge could be said to have been the best stage to showcase a month of training.

Battling other Trainers had tempered his mindset, trained his reactions, and increased his practical combat experience.

Although the overall level of the Suicune Cup had not been particularly high, it was his first competition. There was still plenty of room for improvement, and it had helped him tremendously.

He was already a huge step ahead of his schoolmates. After all, many students who had chosen Spirit Studies probably had not even entered a competition yet.

There were only two battles truly worth analyzing: his matches against Liang Shen and Zhou Wan.

When Liang Shen used Chespin, he had not taken Jiang Jing seriously enough, so he had been caught off guard. What if he had gone all out from the beginning?

If he were Liang Shen, how would he command Chespin to defeat Aron? Jiang Jing began simulating it in his mind.

After running through it for a while, he realized that beating him with Aron seemed quite difficult.

He suddenly realized that his Aron was a little too strong. It was not something an ordinary person could defeat. Even Zhou Wan had no good solution and could only grind it down using her level advantage. At the same level, it truly seemed nearly impossible to deal with.

After finishing his summary, he began taking stock of his money. Starting from 66,948.5 yuan, then the five-thousand-yuan scratch ticket, the more than five thousand from selling Aron's droppings, and the ten-thousand-yuan Suicune Cup shopping card, he had accumulated more than eighty thousand yuan. Then Jiang's Father had transferred another twenty thousand.

In just one month, he had ended up with one hundred thousand yuan. Damn, he was actually this rich now.

But he was spending money just as quickly. He had gone shopping four times this month alone.

He had spent roughly more than twenty thousand yuan, leaving him with only eighty thousand now.

By his rough estimate, he would need to spend at least another twenty thousand yuan in August. If Aron's appetite increased greatly, he would have to spend even more.

And that was with only one Pokémon. If he caught another Pokémon, the expenses would only grow.

He did not know whether he would be able to afford it by then.

Oh, right—he also had to buy Aron a Tablet. So he went online and picked out a Xiaomi tablet for Aron, spending more than 1,500 yuan.

Time passed quickly. July vanished in the blink of an eye, and August quietly arrived.

The National Championship had also reached its latter stages: the Round of 16.

Li Xingzhou, Lin Xi, and Wu Xingyu were all among them.

The three of them were truly strong. Even when he did not watch the livestreams, he would watch the replays after returning home.

Those three were probably guaranteed the top three spots. There was still a visible gap between them and the other contestants.

The final Champion would probably be decided within the next couple of days.

The dorm group chat began arguing again over which of the two was stronger.

Liu Bin said, "Lin Xi for Champion! Lin Xi for Champion! Lin Xi for Champion! Important things must be said three times!"

Guo Yong said, "No chance. Li Xingzhou is the Champion, okay? Didn't you see how he steamrolled everyone in the earlier rounds?"

"And did you even watch Lin Xi's previous round? She struggled badly. What does she have to fight Li Xingzhou with?"