Brock

"Sorry, I'm so sorry!!" The figure stopped, and when he realized he had bumped into someone, he hurriedly bent over and bowed in apology.

"It's all right," Terrance said casually. "Watch where you're going next time."

"I'm really sorry... Sorry for disturbing you." Hearing that Terrance didn't mean to blame him, the boy gave an awkward smile and apologized.

Terrance raised his head and looked at the boy, who was about his age.

His skin was dark yellowish-brown, and his small eyes were narrowed. For some reason, Terrance felt a sense of "familiarity"; there was something inexplicably familiar about him.

"Have we... met somewhere before?" Terrance asked. As soon as the words left his mouth, he shook his head and dismissed the possibility.

"Met?!" The boy blinked. "I don't think so. I'm from Pewter City in Kanto, and this is my first time in Hoenn."

"I see, you're from Kanto." Terrance nodded, then sensed something was off. "Wait! Where did you say you were from?"

"Pewter City in Kanto... Is there a problem?"

"..." Terrance rubbed his eyes and studied him closely. The boy really did look a little like the person he remembered, but his memories were hazy, and their ages didn't match, so he didn't dare say for sure. "No. Oh, I haven't asked your name yet."

"Brock. My name's Brock," the boy said stiffly.

Terrance froze. It really was him.

He hadn't expected to meet the famous Brock here, one of the few characters from the original story he still remembered.

The Brock who had accompanied Ash through four League Conferences?

Terrance narrowed his eyes. The Brock in front of him was still very young, only about ten, and not yet as mature and dependable as he had been in the original story.

If I remember right, wasn't Brock a breeder too? Terrance wasn't sure. The anime had been very vague about the breeder profession. Only after learning a great deal about this world did he truly understand that breeders were no less esteemed than trainers, and in some respects were even rarer and more prestigious!

"Maybe I mistook you for someone else. I'm Terrance, from Fallarbor Town in Hoenn, but my hometown is Cerulean City in Kanto," Terrance said.

Brock was very friendly, and meeting Terrance, a boy who looked about his age, immediately piqued his curiosity.

"Terrance, did you say you're from Cerulean City? I've been there a few times with my dad. Maybe that's when we met?"

"Maybe," Terrance said with a smile. "That's definitely possible."

"Uh... I remember Fallarbor Town being pretty far away. What did you come to Qishui City for, Terrance?" Brock went on without pause. "I want to read some books about breeders."

"Breeders?" Terrance was a little surprised. "I'm planning to go to the Breeding House library."

"Really?!" Brock's eyes lit up. "That's great! I hear it's the biggest library in the city... Are you interested in breeders too, Terrance?"

"Yes. I might look up some books on training Pokémon," Terrance said. "Are you planning to become a breeder, Brock?"

"A breeder..." Brock paused. "Of course!"

"My grandma was a breeder. She taught me a lot when she was alive, so I'm really interested in breeders and taking care of Pokémon."

"Since my dad's a gym trainer, I'm around Pokémon a lot... And I'm the one who takes care of most of the Pokémon at the gym. I hope the Pokémon in my care can grow up healthy and happy. That's what I look forward to most," Brock said with a smile.

"That's really impressive," Terrance said with a smile. Compared with Brock's, his own original reason was much more commonplace.

Brock was at least the child of a gym trainer, and amid the tide of this era, he was luckier than most people.

Brock sighed. "Unfortunately, you have to pass an assessment to become a certified breeder. I don't know how much longer I'll have to study before I can pass." After a pause, he continued, "And the exam covers basic knowledge from all four regions: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. I barely know anything about Pokémon from outside Kanto."

"There's no helping it. The breeder assessment is a comprehensive test, after all," Terrance said. He understood that all too well. Moreover, as the location of breeder headquarters, Hoenn accounted for the largest proportion of the exam's content.

"Luckily, Pokémon from the more distant Unova Region aren't included, nor are those from the Kalos Region. The League has recently been promoting immigration there and plans to establish a new League within a year. Those places are even farther away from us. Knowledge from four regions is complicated, but it isn't all that hard to understand," Terrance said, trying to reassure Brock.

"Unova? Kalos?" Brock looked bewildered.

Terrance smiled. Even relatively ordinary geography wasn't something a ten-year-old boy would pay much attention to. If he hadn't had memories of his previous life and deliberately paid attention, he wouldn't have looked deeply into those things either.

Terrance didn't explain. He simply continued toward the Breeding House library with Brock, and after their brief exchange, Terrance's stature in Brock's eyes grew immensely.

"Look, we're here."

The Breeding House library, known as the sea of books, was the most authoritative library in Qishui City-and even in the entire Hoenn Region-as well as the largest and most richly stocked. Its scale was almost unimaginable. It had six floors alone, and its grounds were nearly ten times the size of Qinggu House. By Terrance's estimate, it could accommodate tens of thousands of readers at once.

But although the library was enormous, not just anyone could read its books at will.

Visitors could pay to read books on the first three floors, but access to the fourth floor and above required certain achievements or recognition, including competition results, gym trainer status, breeder certification, and various medals.

Moreover, to prevent precious books from being stolen and the library, hailed as the crystallization of wisdom, from being attacked, security was extremely tight. Aside from the Officer Jennys patrolling outside, hired trainers and police officers kept watch for any activity around them at all times. Inside the library, Psychic-type and Ghost-type Pokémon also kept a covert watch over everything.

For Brock, getting into the first floor alone was enough to keep him excited for a long time.

The books on the first floor were not to be underestimated simply because they were on a lower floor. Although most contained only basic explanations, including things like type advantages and the effects of common moves, that knowledge alone was more than most trainers and ordinary people possessed. If someone could memorize the tens of thousands of basic books on the first floor of the Breeding House, passing the junior breeder assessment would be a breeze.

Breeder headquarters had put considerable thought into placing basic knowledge about Pokémon and trainers on the first floor, where people registered as residents of Qishui City could read it for free. Most people, however, preferred the almost novel-like biographies on the second floor. Compared with dry facts, these written accounts of travels and experiences were more enjoyable to them. Whether they learned anything from them was another matter.

"Let's go in." As Terrance surveyed the magnificent, massive building, an absurd thought suddenly arose in his mind.

If a trainer possessed all the knowledge in this library, how powerful would he be?

But the thought lasted only a moment before Terrance laughed. How could it be possible? Leaving aside the sheer number of books, the human brain probably couldn't comprehend knowledge covering thousands upon thousands of subjects in an entire lifetime.