The Disparity of the World Is Appraised by Me

Chapter 1 "Lu Ze, get up!" "There's a mock exam today. If your teacher calls me again, see if I don't skin you alive." Lu Ze jerked awake and sat straight up. Looking at the person holding a spoon in the doorway, he replied instinctively. "Got it, Mom, getting up right now." Lu Ma nodded with satisfaction and returned to the kitchen to continue making breakfast. Lu Ze, however, scratched his head, feeling somewhat bewildered. "Does a corporate slave earning 3,500 a month have mock exams?" "Wait, didn't I rent an apartment next to the company? How did my Mom get here?" Lu Ze got up, intending to go outside and ask Lu Ma why she had time to come and cook him breakfast today. Passing the wardrobe, his peripheral vision caught the full-length mirror inside it. "???" "Wait, is this me?" Looking at the youthful appearance in the mirror, he could not help reaching out to touch his lips. "Peach fuzz, haha, not stiff stubble!" Lu Ze could not suppress the joy in his heart and let out a loud yell! "Woohoo! I'm back." "What are you yelling for? Hurry up and come out to eat!" "Hey, coming!" Inside the bathroom, Lu Ze washed up and looked at the eighteen-year-old face in the mirror, thinking silently in his heart. "I didn't catch the time-traveling bandwagon, but accidentally blended in with the rebirths." "Mhm, still this handsome. It was a total idiot move not to listen to the talent scout back then." "Hmm? Should I go become a star this time." The more Lu Ze thought about it, the more excited he became, and he could not help humming to himself. "Haha, becoming a star, blockbuster movies and TV shows of the future... isn't sneaking in going to send me soaring?" After happily washing up, Lu Ze walked toward the living room with a swaggering stride. "Aud-Audino?!" Lu Ze fell into confusion as he watched the Audino working hard to carry plates in the living room. "This is a dream, this must be a dream!" "Hiss—" Suddenly, a needle-like pain appeared inside Lu Ze's head. "So that's how it is..." Lu Ze smiled bitterly. "Not a rebirth, but World Modulation." That's right, nothing about Lu Ze had changed; what had changed was this world. "You two, come over and eat. Later, go to school if you're a student, go to work if you're an employee, and don't be late." Lu Ma looked at the two people before her—one still reading the newspaper on the sofa, the other standing in a daze at the bathroom door—and her anger flared up. "Oh, coming, coming" ×2 The two looked at each other, their eyes flashing with mutual appreciation. As expected of father and son, they truly had telepathy. They sat down to eat. "After you two finish eating later... Lu Ze, you understand. If your teacher calls me again because of this mock exam, you know the consequences." Holding a flatbread in her hand, Lu Ma cast a dangerous gaze toward Lu Ze. "Sigh, I understand, I understand." Lu Ze's heart ached. The world had changed; who knew what this exam was even about? "Lu Wu, go to the shop first later. Don't rush to hole up in your room; feed the Pokémon together with Audino first." "Then watch the shop for a bit. Xiao Ze and the others will soon be able to own Pokémon, and business should be pretty good lately. Keep an eye on the front while I'm away, understood?" Lu Ba swallowed what was in his mouth unhurriedly and spoke. "Alright, Wife." After Lu Ba finished speaking, Lu Ma secretly glanced at Lu Ze (Lu Ze: Why are you looking at me? What can I even do? With a place this small, I can only pretend I don't know). Lu Ma cast a reproachful look at Lu Ba, her cheeks turning slightly red, and her tone unconsciously growing softer.

"Wait, let me clean up the house a bit, then buy some groceries and come right over. Just wait for me at the shop, it won't take long."

"Mm, okay, I'll wait for you."

"Dad, Mom, I'm done eating. I'm heading to the school first."

Unable to endure any longer, Lu Ze quickly stood up, grabbed his schoolbag, and ran downstairs.

"Hey, slow down, do a good job on the exam, you hear?"

"Got it!"

"This kid."

Walking on the road, Lu Ze silently recalled the extra information that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

The Dragon Nation was still the same Dragon Nation, and the world maintained the same geopolitical layout.

However, the Five Permanent Members here did not possess nuclear weapons, but instead held covenants established with first-tier Legendary Pokémon.

Furthermore, there were only five countries in the world that had established covenants with first-tier Legendary Pokémon.

They were respectively:

The Dragon Nation's Rayquaza.

The United States's Yveltal.

Russia's Regigigas.

Great Britain's Lugia.

There were also some smaller nations that had established covenants with divine Pokémon.

For instance, South Korea's Zapdos and its neighbor North Korea's Moltres loathed the sight of each other. Fortunately, Articuno resided in the northeast and rarely came out, otherwise it would turn into a brawl of the Silly Bird Trio.

Italy's Latios and Latias, though the two of them stayed strictly within Water City and seldom ventured out.

Take India, for example, which frequently tried to join the Five Permanent Members; its covenant Legendary Pokémon was a Cresselia.

Luckily, Cresselia was oblivious to this; if she ever found out the country of her covenant expected her to stand on equal footing with first-tier Legendary Pokémon, she would probably have flown away long ago.

As for the rest of the world, some countries possessed them while others did not—for instance, even the country with the smallest population had an Azelf.

Germany's Registeel.

Iceland's Regice.

Mauritania's Regirock, and so on.

There were also some Legendary Pokémon that rarely appeared before humans, like Kyurem in the Himalayas, and some people claimed to have seen Ho-Oh near Phoenix Ancient Town.

Additionally, there were others that roamed all over the world, such as Suicune, Entei, Raikou, and the Swords of Justice.

"Hey, Lu Ze, how come you're so early today? Normally I never bump into you at this hour."

Just as Lu Ze was deep in thought, a teenage boy rushing up from behind hooked his arm around Lu Ze's neck and spoke.

"It's a mock exam today, of course I have to be earlier."

Lu Ze shook him off and gave the boy a sideways glance. This boy was Lu Ze's childhood friend, Sui Yan. Because of the relationship between their two families, they had lived together when they were little, so they had played together all the way from childhood to now.

Since childhood, he was the "other people's child" constantly mentioned by Lu Ba and Lu Ma, possessing great grades. However, because they had grown up playing together, Lu Ze knew his true personality and therefore didn't care about the label of "other people's child."

"Hah, passing the Pokémon knowledge assessment today shouldn't be a problem at all, right? Aside from those few tricky comprehensive questions at the end, that is."

The school had added a few pieces of obscure trivia to the end of the Pokémon assessment that were supposedly meant to showcase the difference between straight-A top students and ordinary people. You could say that unless someone was widely read in books, other people had no way of knowing such obscure Pokémon trivia.

Well, the National College Entrance Examination had them too, and these served as the admission tickets granted by examinees to prestigious universities.

"Sigh, my scores for this are probably not going to be very good."

Speaking of the exam, Lu Ze felt somewhat distressed. Although in his past life he had been a Pokémon fanatic who had played virtually all official and ROM-hacked games, and had watched the TV series, theatrical movies, and manga countless times without knowing how many times,

he was even a moderately well-known UP producer on Bilibili outside of his boring corporate slave life, editing videos dedicated to Pokémon.

Yet who could have guessed what kind of test questions this world would dish out.

"It's fine, minor issue. If I'm seated close to you, I'll help you out."

Sui Yan said as he draped his arm back over Lu Ze's shoulder.

Accustomed to it, Lu Ze pushed away Sui Yan's arm and said,

"Alright fine, I guess that's the only option."

"Oh right, after the exam finishes this morning, let's head over to your family's shop to take a look in the afternoon. During this mock exam, you can pick your very first Pokémon. Have you figured out what you want?"

Sui Yan asked with bubbling enthusiasm.

The final mock exam of the senior year took place three months before the National College Entrance Examination. On the day of the mock exam, students could choose their very first Pokémon, and then raise and train them for three months.

Among the choices, one could select a newly hatched Pokémon, or choose a Pokémon Egg. A newly hatched Pokémon lacked the intimacy level of a Pokémon hatched from an egg you chose yourself, but the advantage was that newborn Pokémon allowed you to check their natural aptitude—though the better the aptitude, the higher the price.

Then, three months later, they would participate in the Martial Trial of the National College Entrance Examination. The Written Trial and Martial Trial each accounted for fifty percent of the grade. If someone was exceptionally prominent in either the Written Trial or the Martial Trial, there was a chance they could be accepted through Mold Breaker admission, though such circumstances were generally very rare.

"I haven't figured it out yet. What about you?"

"I've already decided. I want to build a Sunny Team, but for the first one I don't know whether to pick Vulpix, or Torkoal, or skip the Sunny Day setter for now and pick a sweeping attacker like Charmander, Houndour, or Growlithe?"

Sui Yan tangled his fingers together and said, wrestling with the thought,

"I reckon we should pick a heavy hitter first, just to get through the national college entrance examination."

"Still, Charmander and Growlithe—one is pricey, the other rare, and most of the latter are with the police. Are you sure?"

Lu Ze looked at Sui Yan strangely. Good grief, Growlithe—I want one too.

"Did you forget my aunt? Her Arcanine had a litter, and she asked me if I wanted one. If not, she was taking them back to the team, but I'm still torn..."

"What the heck, is there even anything to be torn about? Growlithe! Its base stats hit 555 after evolution, and it's both handsome and tough. A sunny team's heavy hitter belongs to it, hands down. What are you even hesitating for?"

Lu Ze was so excited he was practically jumping, and he gave Sui Yan's head two quick thuds!

"Do you even need to think about that? What, is there a legendary Pokémon waiting for you outside?"

"Alright then, I'll call my aunt this afternoon and tell her."

Sui Yan stopped wrestling with it and decided to go with the Growlithe egg; an Arcanine could set up sunny day anyway, and a weather setter could come a bit later.

"What about you? Have you figured out what you're picking first?"

Sui Yan asked.

"Since you're picking a sunny team, I'll build a rain team, haha."

"Screw you!"

With that, the two of them started roughhousing on the road.

Back home,

"Wife, I'm heading off to the shop first."

After finishing his meal, Lu Ba put the newspaper on the coffee table, called out to Lu Ma in the kitchen, and put on his coat to head downstairs.

"Alright~ Keep an eye on the shop for a bit, I'll be over shortly."

"Got it."

Lu Ba walked out the door, leaving the newspaper on the coffee table facing up with bold, black, thickened front-page headlines.

!!Experts Say a New Pokémon Secret Realm May Descend on the Outskirts of Chang'an City Soon, Please Prepare Yourselves!!

New group chat: 367865358 (High-Value Breeders Group) Welcome to come play~