National College Student League (Please Bookmark and Vote)

Since the forest ranger was coming, Shu Tong did not stay there any longer.

As for those five people, they were nothing in front of the forest ranger. If the ranger asked about them, they were free to say whatever they wanted.

After returning home, Shu Tong infused Weedle with Viridian Force and found that the energy within it had become even more turbulent and vigorous.

Life Energy was like an angelic spirit, constantly nourishing every limb, bone, and cell in Weedle's body.

The sixty thousand yuan arrived today, replenishing all of his recent expenses.

Coupled with Weedle's explosive increase in strength and its now-Superior talent, Shu Tong was quite satisfied for the time being.

As for top-tier talent, it would probably require top-tier resources, and certainly not just one or two of them.

The experience before him was very realistic. Raising Weedle's talent from Inferior to Medium had been easy; a few rounds of extreme training plus Viridian Force had done the job.

But raising it from Medium to Superior had been another matter. The extreme training was beyond description, practically a cycle of death and rebirth. Shu Tong had nearly drugged himself to death, while Weedle had practically taken a stroll through the gates of hell every day before being pulled back by his Viridian Force.

So, Shu Tong did not dare think about raising it from Superior to top-tier for the time being. Even if top-tier resources were for sale, he did not have enough money. He could only wait and see if he got lucky enough to snatch some up.

With Arbok's "help" today, the proficiency of String Shot and Poison Sting had stabilized at the Proficiency Tier and Mastery Tier, respectively.

He had originally planned to get some proper rest that afternoon.

Unexpectedly, both Grandpa and Weedle got into the mood and spent the entire afternoon drinking.

Grandma was busy reheating dishes for them, while Shu Tong was busy pouring their drinks.

Grandpa chatted about everything under the sun, while Weedle responded with little "ji ji" sounds.

It was as if they could understand each other.

Shu Tong even suspected that the Telepathy effect of his Viridian Force was hereditary.

Fortunately, they behaved themselves that evening and were already fast asleep.

Only Shu Tong and Grandma ate dinner.

After showering and returning to his room, Shu Tong opened his phone.

A local trending news alert was immediately pushed to him.

An Ekans on Mang Mountain ambushed a forest ranger's Pokémon and fled into the woods of Creek Town, where it was jointly eliminated by the passing Trainers Zhou Dafa and others. Their actions ensured the safety of Creek Town's residents, and the Apricot City Trainers Association had decided to reward the five of them with fifty thousand yuan.

The comments below were filled with praise, practically glorifying those people to the heavens.

I still underestimated just how shameless they were.

Shu Tong had originally thought they would play dumb before the forest ranger. After all, once something like this became associated with him, it was like a form of moral coercion. Whenever he encountered something similar in the future, he would have to step up, or the image he had built would completely collapse.

That gang of delinquent youths had originally made their living by bullying the weak and extorting money. Now that they had suddenly become tied to the image of righteous heroes, were they not afraid they would starve to death later?

Shu Tong quietly replied with three words in the comments: "Weedle."

Before even a minute had passed, Zhou Dafa actually took the initiative to message him.

"Keep it secret. Ten thousand yuan will be transferred to your account immediately."

Just as Shu Tong had expected, they had already begun maintaining their image.

"Behave yourselves from now on, or I'll expose you. With the strength of just the few of you, you could eliminate an Arbok? You really had the nerve to say that."

Shu Tong sent the message mainly to leave behind evidence, so he could keep those people firmly under control.

Meanwhile, Zhou Dafa was completely intoxicated by the praise being heaped upon him.

In truth, Shu Tong had no evidence to expose him with, so Zhou Dafa could have simply ignored him.

But Zhou Dafa's state of mind was like someone standing in a crumbling high-rise, ready to collapse at any moment.

To preserve his public image, he lost his ability to think for a moment.

Sure enough!

A message from Zhou Dafa arrived.

"Don't worry. If you ever need anything from me in the future, just say the word. I would never dare refuse."

Shortly afterward, another ten thousand yuan arrived in his account.

All of this gave Shu Tong, who had started without evidence, the evidence he needed.

Checking the time, he saw that the live broadcast of the National College Student League finals was about to begin.

He turned on the television.

It was Shen Haoran versus Qi Tianze.

Qi Tianze had sharp brows, bright eyes, handsome features, a straight posture like a pine tree, and an imposing bearing.

He was handsome enough to rival Shu Tong himself.

No wonder thunderous cheers erupted from the audience.

Cries of "husband" rose wave after wave.

Wait, that was not right!

Why were there men shouting too?

Unfortunately, the match ended far too quickly.

Both Qi Tianze and Shen Haoran were Third-Rank Professional Trainers. Under National Alliance regulations, anyone could apply to own a second Pokémon after becoming a Professional Trainer, and they could apply for one more Pokémon with each rank they advanced.

A Third-Rank Professional Trainer could own five Pokémon.

There was naturally a reason for the country's regulations. Across the world, the training and ownership of Pokémon were also strictly controlled.

After all, Pokémon were equivalent to strategic weapons. If private individuals owned too many, it would inevitably create enormous difficulties for the country in managing society and maintaining public security.

The National College Student Pokémon Battle Tournament was, after all, a nationwide event. So even in the finals, it was only a 3v3 battle. At their age, raising five Pokémon capable of fighting was practically impossible.

Of Shen Haoran's three Pokémon, only Nidoking managed to put up some resistance against Qi Tianze's Charizard before all three were defeated.

Unfortunately, Shu Tong could not inspect Charizard's attributes through the screen, so he could only suppress his curiosity.

Lying alone on his bed, Shu Tong suddenly felt an emptiness in his heart.

The energy from the Superior Poison Barb had been completely absorbed, and he had also killed Arbok himself.

Weedle's strength had crossed several levels.

Now, aside from improving through special training and real combat experience, there seemed to be no other shortcut left.

Poison-type energy was irreplaceable to Weedle. It could not only temper its body and improve its talent, but also enhance its perception of Poison-type energy.

Otherwise, Poison Sting could not possibly have reached the Mastery Tier.

Perception of Poison-type energy?

A sudden idea struck Shu Tong!

From what he had learned about this world, String Shot was quite simple: replenish protein to strengthen the toughness of the silk.

But in Shu Tong's memory, String Shot had been a Bug-type move in the Pokémon games.

Yet when the already Proficiency-Tier String Shot was used, it truly did not display any Bug-type energy.

Sure enough, the games did not necessarily hold true here.

Still, that did not affect his efforts to strengthen Weedle's perception of Bug-type energy.

At present, it only knew the move Bug Bite.

Once it evolved into Beedrill, it would comprehend quite a few Bug-type moves. There was no harm in laying a solid foundation first.

To that end, Shu Tong specifically looked up methods to improve Bug-type energy.

The official sources did provide the fastest method: add Silver Powder to hot water and let Bug-type Pokémon soak in it.

However, professional researchers and breeders had to work together to strictly control the amount of Silver Powder added each time. Otherwise, Pokémon could easily absorb too much energy and have their bodies burst apart.

Dissolving Silver Powder in water would definitely result in a massive loss of energy. It would be good enough if a Pokémon could absorb even one-tenth of it.

What a waste.

It would be better to just eat it directly.