Ah, I See, It All Makes Sense Now

[Iono: Ciallo~(∠ω<)⌒★. Having Iono-sama add you as a friend on her own initiative-you should feel deeply honored~]

???

After receiving Iono's message, Qingyu's brain short-circuited.

He had always assumed that Iono only put on that kind of persona specifically for her streams. He never expected her to be just as adorable in everyday life.

There were simply too many things to roast, leaving him entirely unsure of what to say.

Still, judging by Iono's breezy tone, at least she hadn't added him out of saltiness over getting beaten in a game just to demand an explanation.

Because of his abundant past-life experience in this area, that was his immediate assumption upon receiving the friend request.

As a troll streamer who specialized in chaotic games, Qingyu's gaming career could be summed up in a single word.

Dirty.

After all, a man had to make a living; how else were you supposed to keep viewers around if you didn't engineer some stream effects?

Setting Pokémon battles aside, it was exactly the same whenever he occasionally streamed other games.

His very first Hearthstone deck was dirty Priest, he played only Runick in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and in FPS games he would camp in a corner forever like a rat.

Naturally, while this kind of playstyle felt amazing, it also came with certain risks.

In the event he ran into a hot-headed, short-tempered gamer, accepting the friend request immediately led to phase two-starting a Driftwood Defense.

Fortunately, the locals in the Pokémon world were honest and kind-hearted, and he hadn't even unleashed his full repertoire yet, so things should be fine for the time being.

[Qingyu: Hello, Lady Iono.]

After sending a polite reply, Qingyu casually glanced at the time.

It was one o'clock in the afternoon. Iono had probably just woken up.

Streamers really all had nocturnal sleep schedules.

[Iono: We're both Gym Leaders, no need to be so polite! I'll call you Qingyu directly, and you can just call me Iono!]

[Iono: Of course, if you'd rather call me Senior Iono, that's fine by me too~]

Senior?

He hadn't eaten any funny mushrooms, so when did he get this close to Iono?

Qingyu scratched his head, briefly finding himself at a loss.

Still, Iono didn't seem to have any ill intentions. But surely she hadn't added him purely to chat...

He might as well just go along with her flow for now.

[Qingyu: Understood, Senior Iono.]

[Iono: Excellent!]

[Iono: Since you've already called me senior, I, as your senior, will properly coach you on how to run a Gym!]

[Iono: I don't mean to sound harsh, but compared to your streaming skills, your Gym management skills are an absolute disaster!]

"..."

Qingyu desperately wanted to argue back, but the moment he thought about it, Iono was actually completely right.

After all, the Sunshine Gym had been directly shut down for half a year, and he had only taken over this absolute mess after transmigrating over the last two days.

So Iono was planning to coach him and impart some wisdom on how she managed her own Gym?

Yet the two of them had never met before; their sole connection was that single game of battle yesterday...

As expected of the Pokémon world-was everyone just overly friendly?

Was it actually true that random passersby handed out Technical Machines, and Champions gifted rare Pokémon?!

Qingyu received a minor shock from the Pokémon world.

However, based on his own Gym's operational model and planning, the Levincia Gym truly was the best reference point available right now.

If there was a way to rapidly boost a Gym's popularity, the Sunshine Gym could get back on track much faster, and even Eevee could achieve travel freedom.

Therefore-

[Qingyu: Please coach me, Senior Iono!]

[Qingyu: I want to improve so badly!]

"Ah, I see, it all makes sense now."

After chatting with Iono on the PokéNav for quite a while, Qingyu felt he had learned a great deal.

Although she was around his age, Iono was a true professional. The Levincia Gym, inherited from her parents, already possessed a fully mature operational model.

Thanks to Iono's prompt, he quickly discovered a blind spot he had previously overlooked.

To put it simply, Qingyu's popularity on PokéTV was indeed extremely high, but because his first two tactical showcases lacked local flavor, the viewers he attracted were actually from entirely different regions.

And those viewers were hardly going to travel mountains and rivers just to challenge his Gym.

That was why a situation arose where his stream popularity remained sky-high, yet the growth points tallied at the end were pitifully low.

It was a very simple principle, but had Iono not pointed it out, he never would have figured out such an obvious reason on his own...

[Qingyu: So, should I incorporate more Paldean Pokémon?]

[Iono: Bingo!]

[Iono: Actually, rather than introducing systematic tactics, it's much better to focus heavily on one or two Paldean Pokémon, you know!]

Iono offered her advice once again.

Qingyu agreed that it made a lot of sense.

After all, as things stood, practically everyone coming to challenge the Gyms were rookie Trainers; expecting them to put together a systematic team composition was a tall order.

Instead, being more straightforward and directly introducing common Paldean Pokémon would work much better.

Not only would it help raise the Sunshine Gym's local popularity and influence, but it would also tie into his vision for the Gym's development, attracting more people to come and challenge it.

As expected of a wildly popular future influencer and Paldea's sole designated cutie-Iono was truly reliable!

[Qingyu: Thank you so much for the advice, Senior Iono. I think I finally understand what I need to do.]

[Iono: Hehe, a senior as reliable as me is naturally amazing~]

[Iono: But there's also the question-just how much do you actually know about Paldean Pokémon, Qingyu?]

While this path forward was bright, it came with a prerequisite-

Qingyu needed to have a clear understanding of the usage of most Paldean Pokémon. For an eighteen-year-old youth, that was honestly asking a bit too much.

[Qingyu: Hmm... I should have enough covered, right?]

Qingyu reminisced slightly. Although he had played mostly Double Battles in his past life, he basically had a solid grasp of the Pokémon introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

When it came to the most common Pokémon in any region, it always came down to Route 1 Birds and Route 1 Mice, didn't it?

And when talking about Paldea's Route 1 Mouse, that thing was incredible...

Plus, it could tie right into his previous Spikes video.

Thinking of this, Qingyu instantly finalized his streaming content for tonight.

After chatting with Iono for a few more moments, Qingyu swiped the screen and returned to the PokéNav home page.

He glanced over; the message he had previously sent to Cynthia still showed no reply.

"I suppose Champions must be pretty busy."

Qingyu didn't mind, putting down his phone to stretch lazily.

League Champions and Elite Four members weren't positions just anyone could hold.

On ordinary days, these Champions all looked like they had nothing to do, but when a genuine crisis struck, they were the ones who had to step up and hold the line.

Especially the disaster-plagued Hoenn Region, where even the workaholic Steven was at risk of working himself to death.

As for the Elite Four... well, just look at Paldea's model worker Larry, and you'd know that even Paldains would call it extreme dedication.

Aside from a certain nine-year-old Elite Four member, the rest of the Elite Four all held down multiple jobs at once.

"Looks like wanting to improve too badly isn't necessarily a good thing either. It's much more carefree just being a humble Gym Leader."

Qingyu shook his head.

"Better start preparing the content for tonight's stream."

Failing Writer's Diary 4.26

The next wave of promotion starts tomorrow, thanks to all readers for keeping up with the serialized updates~

During the new book period, every Tuesday involves winning promotion rounds, so I'm begging all you reader lords to drop a daily read-through click this Tuesday!