Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

Chapter 968: Chapter 1185: Soy MilkChapter 969: Chapter 1186: Julian’s Training

"Coach, when will you start training me?"

Gemma was already getting impatient, imagining herself and her Pokémon being trained by Julian—the world's number one trainer.

This kind of opportunity was probably something no one else had ever gotten.

"It's getting late today. Go back first—training starts tomorrow," Julian said.

Getting late?

It wasn't even noon yet—how was it late?

He was clearly brushing her off.

Gemma felt that Julian really was just like Ella had said—sometimes he was genuinely infuriating.

Fine, no training today—but why not even invite her to stay for lunch?

"Dee?"

Love: "Would you like to stay for lunch?"

Love took the initiative to ask.

But Gemma didn't understand and looked at Julian.

Julian replied calmly, "Love said to remember to close the door on your way out."

"Dee!"

Love looked at Julian with dissatisfaction—what nonsense was he saying?

But it didn't insist on keeping Gemma either.

And so, Gemma actually left.

She didn't close the Gym gate—because after pushing it for a while, she realized it was automatic. Which meant Julian had just lied to her.

'That jerk of a coach—even someone as pretty as me gets treated like this…'

She stomped her foot in frustration. Whether at home or at university, she was always someone adored by many—yet today she kept hitting walls in front of him.

She touched her face, doubting her looks for the first time.

Then she glanced down and could just barely see the tips of her toes.

She immediately let out a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't that flat.

Her lost confidence somehow crept back.

Humming a tune, she left happily.

Of course, there was still something important to do—post all the selfies she had taken with Julian's Pokémon on her social feed.

What was the point of wealth if you didn't show it off? That would be like wearing fine clothes in the dark.

This overwhelming stroke of fortune had finally come to her.

Back in the backyard, Julian was browsing Gemma's profile on the Trainers Association's official website.

As long as someone was a registered trainer, their information would be listed there.

He mainly wanted to see what level her Pokémon were at.

She had a total of ten Pokémon. Aside from Steelix, which had just broken through to pseudo-Elite level with his help, among the remaining nine—

Five were at the Advanced-level, and the other four were below that—not even worth mentioning.

"Winning the League with this kind of strength… seems a bit difficult."

Julian muttered as he stroked his chin.

For a provincial League Champion, the minimum strength was usually mid-stage pseudo-Elite level, with no fewer than four pseudo-Elite-level Pokémon. Some stronger contenders were even at peak of the pseudo-Elite tier.

Although Elite-level trainers weren't forbidden from participating, for them, provincial Leagues were basically like bullying weaker opponents—aside from satisfying their ego, it didn't help improve their strength at all.

Most participants in provincial Leagues were university students, generally between 20 and 30 years old.

And their strength typically ranged from Advanced- to pseudo-Elite level.

To participate in a provincial League, one first had to obtain eight City-level Gym badges from their province—that granted you the right to compete.

Having more than eight badges didn't matter; only eight were counted. And badges were only valid for one year. If you didn't compete within that time, you'd have to challenge the Gyms again.

Provincial-level Gym badges, on the other hand, were valid for two years and allowed participation in the National League.

As for National-level Gym badges, their validity was four years.

That was because the Elite-level League Tournament was held once every four years—the highest-tier and most prestigious League in Drakoria.

The minimum requirement to participate was being an Elite-level trainer.

And even then, an early-stage Elite trainer likely wouldn't be able to collect all the required National-level Gym badges.

And October this year marked the once-every-four-years Elite Challenge (League).

Now Julian understood why the System's reward for winning the League was so generous—it clearly took Gemma's relatively weak strength into account.

With her current ability, winning the Championship would indeed be quite difficult—but that also made it more challenging.

After carefully reviewing the data of her six main Pokémon, Julian already had some training plans in mind.

The next day, Julian had just started eating breakfast when Gemma was led in by Love.

She had added Julian's contact info before leaving yesterday. So knowing she had arrived, Julian had asked Love to pick her up at the Gym entrance.

"Eaten yet?"

"If not, have something."

This time, Julian was noticeably more polite—after all, it would feel awkward to eat breakfast while she just watched.

"Slow~"

Seeing that there was a guest, Slowking didn't even ask whether Gemma had eaten. It immediately brought over a set of bowl and chopsticks, then took off its crown and pulled out a small pack of walnuts from inside, handing it to Gemma.

"Yes! Today's TikTok content is secured!"

Celebi recorded the whole thing—it had already expected that if Slowking saw Gemma visiting, it would definitely give her walnuts, so it had prepared in advance.

The "Slowking giving walnuts" scene had long been a favorite among netizens—especially after people learned that it didn't do it out of politeness, but because it thought you were too dumb.

After all, walnuts were good for the brain.

In the past, Gemma had found it pretty hilarious when Slowking gave walnuts to others.

But now that it was her turn—and knowing that Celebi would upload this to TikTok later—she couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed.

Her face turned slightly red, but she still lowered her head and thanked Slowking.

She had already eaten breakfast before coming, but since Slowking had already placed the bowl and chopsticks in front of her, not eating would clearly be impolite.

So she picked up a soup dumpling.

And the moment she bit into it, her eyes lit up.

"So delicious! Where did you buy these soup dumplings? I've never had such amazing dumplings before!"

These dumplings completely redefined her understanding of food—how could something taste this amazing?

Julian said proudly, "These aren't store-bought, Slowking made them."

"Try the soy milk too—that's made by Love."

Gemma nodded and looked at Slowking with admiration.

Slowking: 'This woman is alright. I like her.'

But when Gemma saw that the soy milk wasn't white, but instead looked like it had soy sauce added, she immediately lost some interest.

And then she made the fatal mistake of asking, "Is there any sweet kind?"

The moment she said that, she noticed that Julian, who had been eating with great relish, had put down his chopsticks and was now looking at her with a serious expression.

"C-coach, what's wrong?"

Gemma suddenly felt nervous, unsure what she had said wrong.

Could it be—

She glanced at Julian's savory soy milk.

"In this household, soy milk, tofu pudding, and even glutinous rice balls have to be savory."

Seeing Julian's serious expression, Gemma revealed a look of realization.

So it really was the classic savory-versus-sweet debate.

Gemma, deep down: 'Sweet soy milk is the only true way.'

But out loud, she said, "Coach, actually… I also like savory soy milk."

*****

Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

patreon.com/ReduxMagister

There were only about ten days left until the Silver League. Time-wise, that really wasn't much. Wanting to improve strength in such a short period was possible, but the margin of improvement was relatively small.

However, given Gemma's current situation, a small improvement wouldn't be enough. Forget about winning the League—even getting third place would be difficult.

So they could only rely on some "special methods."

Steelix—Level 61

Scizor—Level 58

Skarmory—Level 58

Aggron—Level 57

Mawile—Level 57

Empoleon—Level 57

Aside from Steelix being at the pseudo-Elite level, the other five main team Pokémon were all at the late-stage Advanced-level.

In terms of potential, Steelix and Aggron both had Cyan-grade potential, while the rest had Green.

In the backyard, Julian looked at Gemma's six Pokémon. The Probing Eyes had already fed him all their data.

Each of Gemma's Pokémon stood upright like soldiers awaiting inspection, their faces filled with tension.

It couldn't be helped—there were simply too many Steel-type "giants" around Julian.

Especially Gemma's Aggron—when it saw Julian's Totem Aggron, the feeling was like a commoner in ancient times seeing the emperor. It almost knelt on the spot.

Gemma herself was also very nervous, afraid that Julian would find her Pokémon unsatisfactory.

Julian took out seven Potential-enhancing potions and hands them to her.

"Two for Scizor, one for Skarmory, two for Mawile, and two for Empoleon. Have them take these first—raise all their potentials to Cyan."

[T/N: Before someone shouts about something... remember that her winning gets him pretty good rewards from the System.]

When they were at the same level and had similar battle experience, Pokémon with higher potential tended to be stronger.

Gemma hadn't expected such a huge surprise right from the start—directly raising her Pokémon's potential to Cyan-grade.

Even as a direct member of the Stein family, only her starter Pokémon, Onix, had Cyan-grade potential. All her other Pokémon had Green-grade.

Her Aggron had already been raised from Green, and she had already planned to gradually improve the rest—but that would have taken at least ten years.

Now, just by consuming these potions, their potential could be raised immediately.

There was no need to doubt Julian—because the Potential-enhancing potions developed by the Walker family were already well-known among major families.

They had a high probability of upgrading Green-grade potential to Cyan-grade.

Unfortunately, the Potential-enhancing potions were extremely difficult to produce, so the Walker family never sold them to the outside world—they were only used for exchanges or given to closely allied families.

The outside world had no idea that these potions weren't produced by the Walker family at all, but were actually purchased by Julian from the System.

Because of this, countless corporate spies—both domestic and international—still hadn't been able to find where the Walkers supposedly manufactured these potions.

After all, even a fool knew how important a potion that had a high probability of raising a Green-grade potential Pokémon to Cyan-grade was.

It meant the ability to mass-produce Cyan-grade Pokémon.

With more Cyan-grade Pokémon, the number of Elite-level trainers in the country would rise. And as the number of Elites increased, the nation's overall strength would also grow stronger.

And with more Elites, the probability of producing Champions would also increase.

Watching the Pokémon consume the Potential potions, Julian then took out a pile of treasures—things he had no use for, but were perfectly suited for Gemma's Pokémon at their current stage.

"Today's task is… to eat."

Julian said to Gemma's Pokémon.

All six of them nodded in unison, practically drooling as they looked at the treasures in front of them. This treatment was far better than what most trainers could ever provide.

"Coach, isn't this too much?"

Gemma had originally thought that Julian would just teach her some battle tactics or spar with her a few times, and that would be the end of the training.

But she never expected him to be this serious. Just those seven potions alone were already beyond something that could be measured with money.

And now there was an entire pile of treasures.

Gemma was completely dumbfounded—and also a bit embarrassed, feeling like she was freeloading.

Repaying him with herself? He probably wouldn't even be interested.

"These are just useless ones. What's too much about this?" Julian asked, puzzled.

Aside from spending some points on the Potential potions, Julian didn't feel the slightest regret over these treasures. Leaving them in the system space would just be a waste of space anyway.

An unintentional flaunting of wealth was the most lethal kind.

Gemma, who had never lacked money since childhood, suddenly felt how poor she was next to Julian.

"Let them be for now. Now it's your turn."

Julian looked at Gemma.

"Me?"

Gemma pointed at herself, then asked, "Coach, are you going to teach me battle tactics?"

"What's the point of that?"

Julian shook his head and continued, "Four of your Pokémon can Mega Evolve. You have their Mega Stones, right?"

Mega Evolution provided a huge boost to a Pokémon's strength.

"I don't have Aggron's Mega Stone," Gemma said, glancing at Julian.

After all, most of the Mega Stones for Metagross and Aggron line had long been monopolized by the Walkers. There were some circulating outside, but they were extremely rare.

"Here."

Julian took out an Aggronite and handed it to her.

"If you win the League, it's yours. If you don't, return it to me," Julian said calmly.

"Mm!"

Gemma nodded firmly. With the Potential potions and resources Julian had already given her, she had to aim for the Championship.

And this was only the first day of training—there was still more to come.

"Now, let's work on your mental strength."

The duration of Mega Evolution depended greatly on the trainer's mental strength and physical endurance.

"Gengar."

"Gen~"

A chubby Gengar appeared.

"In a moment, Gengar will hypnotize you, then use Nightmare on you. Do your best to survive inside the nightmare."

Hearing that, Gemma immediately took several steps back, her face turning pale.

"Coach, do we really have to go that far?!"

Using Hypnosis followed by Nightmare could indeed improve a trainer's mental strength—but it required precise control. Otherwise, the trainer's mind could be severely damaged, and in the worst case, they could become a complete vegetable.

"Begin."

Julian didn't give her a chance to refuse.

"Ghehehe~"

Gengar glanced at Gemma, and she instantly collapsed.

"Move her to the bathtub. There's a Physique-enhancing potion mixed in the water," Julian said to Gengar.

"Gen~"

Gengar nodded, then floated away with Gemma toward the villa.

"Bisharp, I'm leaving these six to you. As long as they don't end up dead or crippled, do whatever you want with them."

"Magearna, stay here and take care of them."

Magiana's ability, Soul-Heart, could rapidly increase the levels of nearby Pokémon and help them absorb the energy within their bodies faster.

Of course, this only worked on lower-level Pokémon.

Once they reached the Pseudo-Champion level, the effect of Soul-Heart was almost negligible.

*****

Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-

patreon.com/ReduxMagister