Money Flows Like Water and Thoughts About the Future

Tetsuya kept scrolling through the plan, and after confirming again and again that there were no problems, he began eating lunch.

Then I'll go shopping this afternoon. Tetsuya made the decision simply enough.

After quickly finishing lunch, Tetsuya put the Torchic Egg into his backpack.

He recalled the Pidgeot that had been basking in the sun in the backyard, then headed straight for the League Mall.

At dusk.

Viridian City and Viridian Forest were gradually plated in golden light by the setting sun.

After an entire afternoon of shopping at the League Mall and Trade Center, Tetsuya returned home with a full haul and Tired Bodies.

Of course, there was also his wallet, which had suddenly grown much thinner.

Even though Tetsuya had prepared himself to spend money, seeing himself swipe his card so crazily for so many purchases still made his heart ache.

Tetsuya collapsed onto the sofa at home. This felt even more exhausting than an adventure.

After struggling through dinner for both himself and Pidgeot, Tetsuya began taking stock of everything he had bought.

First, he had bought six Luxury Balls produced by Silph Co., giving Pidgeot and Torchic a good environment while also setting aside some for his future Main Pokemon.

Aside from their basic fireproof, shockproof, waterproof, and electrical insulation properties, as well as paint that never peeled—

Compared to ordinary Poke Balls, Silph Co.'s Luxury Balls were practically the difference between a mansion and a Wooden House in terms of internal space. They could also automatically simulate environments suitable for Pokemon to live in.

Furthermore, Luxury Balls produced by Silph Co. could be linked to a trainer's Pokemon Watch, allowing the Pokemon's physical condition inside to be monitored in real time.

As for concerns about data leaks, Tetsuya figured there was no avoiding it anyway. Besides, this kind of monitoring was fairly basic and easily disrupted by fluctuations, so there was no need to worry.

Besides, Silph Co. had never hidden this fact, and trainers all knew about it. It was just that Silph Co.'s products were all top-notch—far too good to pass up.

Compared to that, leaking a little data was nothing. Silph Co. also guaranteed through its reputation that it would not disclose the data, and people generally trusted it.

Tetsuya also bought other products made by Silph Co., giving his equipment a simple round of upgrades.

For example, he replaced his matching Pokemon Watch, Spatial Backpack, tent, and so on. Their performance was much better than what he had used before.

For instance, his Spatial Backpack had gone from ten cubic meters straight up to fifty cubic meters.

The various pieces of equipment also had basic interconnected functions. For example, the watch could control the settings inside the tent.

On these items alone, Tetsuya had spent 1.5 million at Silph Co. Thankfully, his old equipment had also been made by Silph Co., so he could trade it in and save some Alliance Coins.

Next, Tetsuya went to Devon Corporation's store, spending 500,000 on the newest Navigator and Drone. He then spent another million on two Wilderness Exploration Suits with the most complete set of functions, including constant temperature control, environmental detection, positioning, transformation, and a whole range of Black Technology features.

He bought Torchic a complete set of training equipment as well, spending another 1.5 million. He also traded in Pidgeot's old Weight Equipment for a new one, which cost 300,000.

All of that added up to 4.8 million Alliance Coins, and it was only part of the equipment.

The next purchases were the real big-ticket items.

Tetsuya first bought the Nutrient Potions Torchic would need. Produced in Saffron City, they could raise the physique and other attributes of Young Stage Pokemon to a limited degree.

Basically, if you continuously fed Nutrient Potions to a Pokemon until it left the Young Stage, it would be a little stronger in every aspect than a Pokemon that had not taken them.

One set of Nutrient Potions included seven types: physique, energy, Special Attack, Special Defense, Physical Attack, Physical Defense, and speed. Each bottle contained ten milliliters, and three sets were needed each day.

A Pokemon's Young Stage lasted around twenty days, meaning he needed sixty sets.

As for the price... hehe. Tetsuya could only say it was insane.

One set of Nutrient Potions cost 50,000. Sixty sets came to 3 million, with no discounts and no bargaining.

Young Stage Pokemon also needed various vitamins, and the store clerk said they had that covered.

A scientifically researched combination: Compound Vitamin Tablets. Two tablets per day, forty tablets in total, taken until the Pokemon left the Young Stage. Not expensive—just 200,000.

Tetsuya paid with tears in his eyes.

And that was not all. He also had the Training Plan Zero had given him.

Medicinal ingredients cost 600,000 in total, various Berries cost 1.4 million, and placing purchase orders for Pokemon materials at the Trade Center cost another million.

Yep, he had spent another 6.2 million on Torchic. Fortunately, those materials were not just for the Young Stage. Tetsuya estimated that another 1.8 million in resources would be enough for Torchic to quickly break through to Elite Level.

Otherwise, if the Young Stage alone cost this much, Tetsuya would have broken down completely.

Then there was food for the two Pokemon, which was not too bad—only 600,000.

Now that he was relatively well-off, Tetsuya did not want Pidgeot and Torchic eating poorly. So, he replaced their original solid pellet Pokemon food with Energy Cubes and bought enough for over a month.

They were expensive, but they were also more nutritious.

If Tetsuya knew how to make Energy Cubes, using Berries to make them himself would have been pretty good too.

Then came Pidgeot's training. Tetsuya figured that he would not take on any more missions before Torchic reached Elite Level. Since Pidgeot would mainly be training during that time, he spent another 1.7 million on training materials for it.

After calculating everything, Tetsuya had spent more than 13 million on this shopping trip.

Tetsuya looked at the balance on his card and gave a bitter smile.

This morning, he had possessed nearly 49 million, close to 50 million in total assets. By that evening, barely more than twelve hours later, he only had around 6 million left.

His assets had shrunk by nine-tenths.

But all of it was necessary investment.

It was not as though Torchic could not grow stronger without these things, but its rate of improvement would definitely be much slower. Pidgeot was the clearest example.

If Tetsuya had been able to provide this kind of training for Pidgeot when it had still been a Pidgey, Pidgey would probably have reached its current strength in half a year at most.

But Tetsuya also clearly understood that his current rate of progress was already incredibly dreamlike compared to other Commoner Trainers.

After all, he was a Transmigrator with a Cheat/System. He had been lucky enough to encounter two high-potential Pokemon Eggs and a high-quality Fire Stone, and he had Photographic Memory as well as an exceptionally fast learning speed.

If that did not count as outstanding, then he could only compare himself to the Prodigies of this world.

Tetsuya had originally only planned to become a Champion at around thirty. Then, through accumulation and Zero's help, he would gradually grow stronger, become a Champion at over forty, and count himself successful once he became part of the Alliance High Command.

The class hierarchy in this world was far too entrenched.

Even though Tetsuya believed he had the treatment of a Protagonist, he still felt it would be difficult to rise to a high position so quickly. After all, he was still only an orphan, with no Family Faction to support him.

But judging by how things were now, Tetsuya felt that he might achieve his goal several years early.

That had both advantages and disadvantages.

According to Tetsuya's original estimate, his rate of progress would be outstanding, but not Prodigy-level.

After all, there were too many geniuses in this world. Professor Oak, Lance, Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, and the current League Chairman, Mr. Alder, for example.

Even Bruno had possessed Quasi-Champion strength before he turned thirty.

Tetsuya's performance would only draw attention to him. As long as he found a Backer, he could steadily climb through the League system without much issue.

But once he displayed excessively monstrous talent, even if others believed luck played some part in it, Tetsuya would no longer be able to casually choose a Backer. He would need to choose carefully.

After all, most families hoped that a Prodigy with such extraordinary talent would join their side. If not, then they could only snuff them out in the cradle.

That meant Tetsuya had to find a sufficiently powerful Backer, one who was also Protective, so that he could be somewhat safe.

This was what Tetsuya had always feared. That was why he had not made extensive use of Zero's Potential Detection function to earn money.

Tetsuya could rather easily Bargain Hunt for high-potential Pokemon Eggs. Once they hatched, testing the talent of Young Stage Pokemon was far easier than testing Pokemon Eggs.

Moreover, the price difference between the two was at least double. For example, a Pokemon Egg whose potential could only be determined to fall somewhere between Elite and Quasi-Elite Four might sell for only 12 million.

Once it hatched, if testing showed it had Elite potential, its price might fall to 10 million. But if it turned out to have Quasi-Elite Four potential, it would immediately become worth 20 million.

That was why Tetsuya chose to buy Pokemon Eggs. Aside from Affection, price was also a reason. With Zero, he had no need to pay a huge price for high-potential Young Stage Pokemon.

And it was not very likely that he would find another massive bargain like a Torchic with Champion Potential.

With this kind of Arbitrage, Tetsuya could originally have accumulated Initial Capital very quickly.

If he had done that, Tetsuya estimated that he would already have six Main Pokemon, all at least Elite Level.

But Tetsuya had never used that method even once in sixteen years.

It was not because he feared the League would discover him. Doing it once or twice would have been fine.

The problem was that Tetsuya had grown up in Viridian City.

That was fatal.

Although Tetsuya had not known much in his Previous Life, he at least knew that the leader of Viridian Gym, Giovanni of the Earth, was the boss of Team Rocket, Kanto's largest organization.

And there was only one Black Market in each region, while Kanto Region's Black Market happened to be located near Viridian City.

If anyone said there was nothing suspicious about that, Tetsuya would not believe them even if they chopped off his head.

If Team Rocket thought there was something wrong with Tetsuya and kidnapped him halfway through to dissect and study him or something, that would be more terrifying than death itself.

Tetsuya did not dare gamble with his life, so he had steadily restrained his progress all these years.

But with a Torchic of Champion Potential right in front of him, if he did not take a gamble, would he not be even more useless than a salted fish?

Besides, as long as he did not reveal Torchic's rate of improvement all at once, others would not notice its potential too easily.

Tetsuya was, after all, a genius in the open. Raising an outstanding Torchic whose progress was a little faster would be easy enough to explain.

And if he encountered various Adventures during his travels, that would not be excessive either.

Once Tetsuya secretly developed and possessed enough strength to protect himself—or at least escape—he could improve himself without restraint.

Before then, Tetsuya felt it would be better to play things safe.

Those reckless Protagonists probably had grave grass that could already wield swords.

Let me fill in some of the setting. If you still think there are plot holes, you can raise them under the pinned post I made in the discussion section, and I'll take a look at the specifics.

Then I suddenly realized that chapters of three thousand characters on weekends are awkward. It makes it inconvenient if I want to post extra chapters, like this time.

So, barring anything unexpected, chapters will be a little over two thousand characters from now on. There will be two updates a day on weekdays and three updates a day on weekends.

The three thousand characters planned for this Saturday and Sunday will be moved to Friday and Saturday instead. So starting tomorrow, we'll go straight back to the usual two daily updates. Tomorrow counts as a weekday (doge).

Please invest, bookmark, and recommend!!!

Thanks to Wang Yuanshi for the 100 Qidian Coin tip. Thanks to Yuelong for the 100 Qidian Coin tip.