Aptitude Issues and Unexpected Gains

If there really was a protagonist, then when Ash took part later, either he started out competing under the Two-Year Format and later switched to the Unlimited Format.

Or the League changed the rules later, and it was no longer like it was now.

Tetsuya pondered.

Ash was probably still very young. After all, Professor Oak often appeared on television at this time to give lectures, and he did not look that old.

From what Brock had said, it sounded like today had also been his first Gym Battle, and he was still far from mature.

He was thinking a little too much. Tetsuya shook his head.

For Tetsuya, his own goal was to work hard and give a good performance on the Unlimited Format stage of the Johto League two years from now.

For now, he should think about Pewter Gym's attitude first.

There should not have been any problems with how he had presented himself today. Overall, he should have come across very much like a Commoner Trainer, only with exceptionally outstanding talent as a Breeder, plus a bit of good luck, that was all.

Tetsuya closed his eyes and thought over the conversation from that evening.

As long as he did not expose Zero's ability to detect potential, then no matter how strong he was in breeding, it would only be taken as a result of his own talent. There would not be too much danger, and the benefits would far outweigh the threats.

"The Biggest Gain today was learning that aptitude can be changed after birth."

Tetsuya thought to himself.

Yes. During the evening conversation, whether Brock had done it intentionally or for some other reason, he had inadvertently revealed this point.

Although Tetsuya had thought about it before, no one had ever confirmed it, so he had always treated it as speculation.

After all, in the legends, Ho-Oh could turn the three evolved forms of Eevee into Three Legendary Pokemon and revive them. In that case, it was not unimaginable that some extremely rare Heaven and Earth Treasures or certain methods could improve aptitude.

But Brock had only helped Tetsuya confirm this guess. He had not revealed even the slightest detail about the specific method.

Tetsuya could fully imagine how difficult such a method would be. After all, if it were simple, these families would not still be suffering from a lack of high-aptitude Pokemon to train.

"But as long as it exists, that's enough. Zero can completely analyze that method and those materials, then replace them with something else. Even if the effect definitely won't be as good as the original, it'll still be much better overall."

Tetsuya calculated, "It's impossible for every Pokemon of mine to have aptitude far surpassing its peers from the moment it hatches from an egg. I'll have to capture some ordinary Pokemon to cover things up."

"Before, I was still worried they'd hold me back later and waste resources because I wouldn't be able to keep training them.

Now it seems I can choose a useful Pokemon with average aptitude, and in the future, slowly use this method to raise its aptitude.

Although the cost will be much higher than before, it's unavoidable in the early stages."

As for casually capturing a Pokemon as a temporary measure, then putting it aside without training it or releasing it.

In truth, he had thought about this method at first, but later, he still could not convince himself to do it.

Admittedly, even in this world, many people chose to do exactly that.

Because low-aptitude Pokemon had absolutely no way to keep up with them in the end. They either placed them in bases run by Breeders and, after paying the fees, stopped caring about them.

Or they directly released the Pokemon back into the wild and started training high-aptitude Pokemon instead.

But as Tetsuya trained and spent time with one Pokemon after another, he gradually gave up on this idea.

Perhaps because they had all been hatched from eggs by him, and because he had been an orphan in this life too, Tetsuya had always treated Pokemon as his family and partners.

It was very hard for Tetsuya to imagine releasing a Pokemon he had trained for two or three years, or even longer, or simply ignoring it.

That was why Tetsuya was always extremely careful when choosing Pokemon.

With Brock confirming this information today, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

This meant he no longer needed to worry about those problems. As long as there was a method, Tetsuya was very confident that Zero could optimize it.

What he feared most was there being no method at all. Zero had no way to deduce something from nothing, either. After all, improving aptitude was, in essence, also a kind of evolution, and Zero's abilities were not that powerful yet.

"So does that mean I can start preparing for my third Pokemon from now on?" Tetsuya thought somewhat boredly as he browsed the forum.

"I'm still short on funds for now. Looks like I'll have to hurry up and do some Bounty Quests."

Thinking back to the balance in his bank card, he immediately felt a little sad.

He suddenly felt that he was so far away from his third Pokemon.

Tetsuya sighed. Making a bit of money these days really was not easy.

After finishing today's planning study, he then fell onto the bed and went straight to sleep.

After all, he had still consumed quite a lot of energy today. During his evening chat with Brock, he had constantly been trying every possible way to show part of his abilities while also pretending to hide another part that could be known.

He could not reveal that he could distinguish and identify the potential of Pokemon Eggs, and he still had to find a way to get information out of Brock.

This was simply too difficult. It was hell on earth.

Tetsuya sighed. A perfectly fine young man had been forced by life into the kind of person he had disliked most when he was little.

Nothing happened overnight.

Early in the morning, after completing his morning training, Tetsuya walked out of Viridian Forest with his two Pokemon.

As he walked, he tossed a Poke Ball up and down in his hand.

"My luck really is pretty good. I ran into an unevolved Pichu with such an interesting pattern on its chest."

Tetsuya was quite happy. He felt that after setting out on his journey, his luck had suddenly gotten much better.

Don't get the wrong idea—Tetsuya had no intention of raising a Pikachu like Pika-God. After all, that was unrealistic.

Besides, even Raichu was not considered a particularly powerful Pokémon, and it still needed a Thunder Stone to evolve. It was completely not worth it.

The key was that Pichu were exceptionally cute Pokémon, and they were deeply loved by noble ladies.

And the one he had just caught had black fur on its chest that was different from the usual kind.

A normal Pichu's black chest fur was jagged, arranged in a neat, staggered pattern.

But the black fur on this one's chest was actually shaped like an upside-down heart.

One had to know that Pikachu groups in Viridian Forest appeared in packs, basically as one big family.

And for Pichu to evolve, their Affection only needed to reach a certain level, with just a tiny increase in level on top of that.

What kind of Affection could rise faster than familial love? And it was easy for young Pokémon to level up, too.

As a result, Pichu that had only been born not long ago would quickly evolve into Pikachu under the care of their parents and all their aunts, uncles, and so on.

You basically couldn't see Pichu appearing in Pikachu groups.

This sort of individual difference was also extremely rare. Once it evolved into Pikachu, it would basically look exactly the same as the others.

Even hatching one from an egg could not guarantee that the Pichu's fur would grow in such a special way. Even if it were trimmed into that shape, it would return to normal before long.

And noble ladies loved keeping slightly special Pokémon like this as pets.

When they brought them along to tea parties, they were not only cute but also gave them a great deal of face.

So in the Black Market, a normal Pichu might only be slightly more expensive, but the price of a special Pichu like this would be much, much higher.

"Good grief. I just happened to be short on money, and now a windfall has delivered itself to my door. Don't tell me I'm actually the protagonist?"

Tetsuya thought cheerfully as he walked along the road.

Begging for investment, favorites, recommendations, and Monthly Passes!!!

Begging for everything!!

Thank you to Yuelong for the reward of 100 Qidian Coins.

P.S. Today and tomorrow will both have three updates, one chapter each at 10, 17, and 21 o'clock.

There seems to be a Test Promotion tomorrow.

Once the favorites break a thousand, I'll add another update to celebrate.

According to the outline's progress, this part of the plot should end next Monday, so I'm just making that clear.

Writing this part has given me a huge headache too, but I still felt these things had to be explained clearly.