Why Is Your Aron Level 1?

[Is the streamer really a Gym Leader in the Paldea Region?]

[Azure Feather... could it be Uncle Larry?!]

[Why isn't the streamer showing his face? Afraid he's so ugly he'll scare off the viewers?]

Only a handful of viewers had arrived in the stream's first wave. They had all come for the title, and their questions were pretty much what Qingyu had expected.

"I'm not Elite Four member Larry. I'm the current Gym Leader of the Sunshine Gym in Cabo Poco."

Qingyu replied with a chuckle, impressed by the viewers' remarkable ability to connect the dots.

Larry was Paldea's model employee, a man who held multiple positions, worked three jobs, and somehow put in forty-eight hours a day.

How could he possibly have time to stream?

"As for why I'm not showing my face, the answer is simple."

"I didn't get a camera, and I'm too lazy to go out and buy one."

Wrong but proud.jpg

[Wow, he's not even pretending.]

[Love how real you are. Unfollowed. Don't let me down!]

Perhaps his honesty had left a decent first impression, because some viewers soon started cracking jokes in chat.

Qingyu nodded to himself.

Barring any surprises, these people would become his first fans.

He needed to find a way to keep them around.

[Sunshine Gym? We have a Gym like that in Paldea?]

[Hiss-my brain's itching. I feel like I've heard that name somewhere.]

[I remember! Isn't that the Gym that hasn't opened in six months?]

[I work in neighboring Flat Dish Town. Every other Gym is named after its town, and yours is the only exception, so it stuck with me!]

A viewer named Hardworking Nurse Joy sent several messages in a row.

"That's right. Some things happened, so the Gym temporarily closed."

Qingyu nodded, surprised that someone actually still remembered the Sunshine Gym.

And this viewer seemed to be Flat Dish Town's Nurse Joy?

He was a little curious, but out of courtesy and respect for her privacy, he didn't dwell on it.

"Now that we've got some viewers, class, today we're playing Pokémon Champions!"

Qingyu spoke up at just the right moment, steering the drifting conversation back on track.

As he spoke, he had already launched the game.

It was a new account, so his rank was still Beginner.

The game had five main ranks: Beginner, Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, and Master Ball.

They matched this world's competitive tiers.

The stream title, "From Zero to Master Ball," referred to the game's highest rank.

His reminder quickly brought chat back to the subject.

[Class lol. Is the streamer a teacher too?]

[Are you really confident you can reach Master Ball?]

[No way. That rank is only for the top hundred. He's some no-name Gym Leader. I bet he's just fishing for attention!]

[Yeah, Master Ball is a bit much. I'd believe Ultra Ball, at least.]

[Looks like another genius kid who crawled out of nowhere. A few ranked matches will put him in his place!]

[A few what?]

Most of chat had clearly started doubting him.

Qingyu understood and offered no explanation.

If a brand-new account suddenly declared that it was going for the world's top hundred, most people probably wouldn't believe it.

So he decided to jump straight in and give the viewers a taste of his skills.

He opened the team editor.

Faced with the seemingly bottomless pool of Pokémon, Qingyu scratched his head.

His decision paralysis had kicked in.

"Man, how am I supposed to choose from all these Pokémon..."

"Whatever. Let's just randomize it!"

Sometimes, knowing too much wasn't necessarily a good thing. For many Pokémon, a single glance was enough for him to work out roughly what strategies he could use.

That only made him more indecisive.

To protect his few remaining brain cells, Qingyu decisively pressed the button to generate a random team.

[Wow, he's actually randomizing his Pokémon. If you win, I'll eat crap!]

[You almost had me fooled. I thought you really were some Gym Leader. Turns out you're just pretending...]

[Watching a newbie play is pretty fun too. I can already imagine his face when his entire worldview shatters lol.]

His outrageous move instantly earned him the "newbie" label from most viewers.

After all, anyone who had played knew how enormous the game's database was. It covered the vast majority of Pokémon from all nine regions.

Even a Pokémon Professor would have trouble claiming they recognized every single one.

And that was only the most basic knowledge. Battling with a randomly generated lineup would be even harder.

Did he really think anyone could just stroll into Pokémon battling without knowing a thing?

Some viewers were already looking forward to watching Qingyu get humbled.

Unless your luck is absolutely insane and you get nothing but Pokémon native to Paldea, let's see how you win this!

Qingyu certainly hadn't expected that an offhand remark would actually convince quite a few viewers to stick around.

After he pressed the randomize button, the six empty slots in the team editor quickly filled up.

Hippopotas, Snom, Talonflame, Aron, Flaaffy, and Gardevoir.

[Holy crap, isn't that my wife, Gardevoir? Come home with me!]

[Hello, Officer Jenny? Yes, it's that lunatic dreaming in broad daylight again. I recommend immediate execution!]

Gardevoir was popular in this world too. One look at chat made that clear.

Once the lineup appeared, Qingyu felt that his luck was pretty decent.

Most of them could be found in the Paldea Region, and he had two fully evolved Pokémon in Talonflame and Gardevoir.

With the pride of the Route 1 Birds and everyone's favorite waifu Pokémon holding down the fort, this team was more than enough to climb the ranks.

[Do you know that white Pokémon, streamer? It's strong as hell. No lie, guaranteed!]

But when he noticed that message scroll past, a bold idea instantly popped into his head.

Aron actually had a very well-known strategy.

And this lineup happened to include a teammate who could support it. Wouldn't it be a waste of this random team not to try it?

"This student knows their stuff. Aron really is powerful, so let's make it our star player today!"

Qingyu eagerly put Aron front and center, quickly adjusted his Pokémon's held items, and immediately queued for a match.

He was so practiced that the viewers couldn't even follow everything he did.

[Bro, he dared to say it, and you actually believed him?]

[The streamer is an honest guy, but there are bad apples in the crowd!]

[Wait... why does it feel fishy that he's being so decisive? Is he messing with us?]

[No way. Unless he's a specialist like Hoenn Champion Steven, there's absolutely no way he can win with just Aron!]

Most of chat predicted disaster, but Qingyu ignored them and hummed a little tune.

No rush. Let the bullets fly a little longer~

Since the account hadn't played a single ranked match, matchmaking was surprisingly fast.

Before long, an opponent had been found.

The default ranked format in Pokémon Champions was 6v6.

Although official tournaments in his previous life primarily used Double Battles, full-team 6v6 battles were indeed the standard in both the games and the anime.

Battles were fought in real time through voice commands, with no four-move limit.

Apart from that, the overall gameplay was pretty much the same as battling in his previous life.

"Gyarados, Charizard, Aerodactyl, Ampharos, Crawdaunt, Tropius..."

Qingyu raised an eyebrow when he saw his opponent's lineup.

"Wow. So many Pokémon with 'dragon' in their Chinese names, and not a single actual dragon!"

[Are you cosplaying Doduo over there?]

[That's blatant slander. Our Kanto Dragon-type Elite Four member clearly only uses Flying-type Pokémon!]

[Flying-type Elite Four member. Fixed that for you!]

[Mocking Doduo again? Consider this a warning. Next time, you'll be getting a Dragonite Punch!]

Apparently, jokes about Kanto Elite Four member Lance were widespread on the internet in this world too.

There had been a classic meme in his previous life: Guess which of these Pokémon is Dragon-type?

Doduo: "I can't tell! I can't tell!"

Qingyu couldn't help recalling it and burst out laughing.

But as the streamer who respected Mr. Lance more than anyone else on the internet, he certainly wouldn't casually make fun of him.

Unless he really couldn't hold it in.

Of course, he definitely wasn't laughing at the esteemed Mr. Lance. He had simply remembered something happy.

Just as the stream filled with laughter over the opponent's ridiculous lineup, one chat message caught Qingyu's attention.

[Did you change the levels, streamer? Why is your Aron level 1?!]

The new book is here!

I've already completed a Pokémon novel, so you can trust me to see this through~

I'll probably sign the contract tomorrow. During the new-book period, there'll be two updates a day. Dear readers, please keep up with the latest chapters on Monday and Tuesday!