Then, all he needed was ten consecutive wins defending his spot to advance from the lowest Poké Ball rank to the Great Ball rank.
Beyond that were the Ultra Ball and Master Ball ranks. The requirements increased with each promotion, but so did the prize money.
Of course, higher-ranked matches also featured stronger Pokémon Trainers. Supposedly, those in the Master Ball rank were powerful enough to rival Gym Leaders.
Ash had little interest in the vanity represented by this ranking system. He only cared about the prize money. After all, no one ever complained about having too much money.
Soon, with Luo Kai patiently guiding him, Ash downloaded the club's dedicated app and scanned the QR code on his membership card to register an online account.
Some Pokémon Trainers at the club had privacy concerns, so they often chose all sorts of strange screen names when registering their accounts.
Ash was no exception. He chose a screen name with a distinctly mischievous streak.
He took "Lu" from his childhood friend Lu Ming's surname, added "Ren," meaning benevolence, and finished with "Jia," the character for armor in Skarmory's Chinese name.
Lu Renjia-a bizarre name that sounded like "random passerby" and was obviously an alias. Even Luo Kai's mouth twitched when he saw it.
Fine, whatever made him happy.
After registering his account, he followed Luo Kai's instructions and used the app to schedule a match, challenging a newly established defender.
"Arena E2, three in the afternoon. The opposing Pokémon Trainer is 'Ni Laozi'?" Ash felt something was off as he read his opponent's screen name aloud.
Once it clicked, he couldn't help swearing. "Fuck, 'I'm your daddy'?! What kind of shitty screen name is that?"
"Pfft..." Luo Kai couldn't help snickering. There was always someone who could outdo you.
Ash silently