The replies beneath the post kept multiplying.
More and more players were asking how to join, offering to pay for leads, and some had already begun organizing groups to hunt down Team Rocket bases in person.
Naoki watched it all without comment and quietly closed the post.
Nothing in this world was fixed.
With the fourth calamity pouring in, even he, a transmigrator with foreknowledge, could not guarantee the story would follow the path he remembered.
His thoughts moved quickly, sorting through the advantages and risks.
First, he needed to obtain a Pokémon of his own as soon as possible.
Even a weak one.
He needed at least some capacity to defend himself.
Second, he needed to capitalize on his information advantage and make money fast, accumulating enough startup capital to build real strength quickly.
Third, he needed to work toward entering the Paldea League’s inner circle.
As he turned this over in his mind, an unremarkable post on the forum caught his eye.
Asking for help.
Has anyone cleared the Goldenrod Gym?
Origin Guild is willing to pay top price for a clear strategy.
Goldenrod Gym?
Naoki tapped the post.
The author was a player called Kenji.
The post described his attempt at the Goldenrod Gym in detail.
Three Pokémon, all wiped out without landing a single meaningful hit against Gym Leader Whitney’s Miltank.
A complete sweep.
Naoki’s brow shifted slightly.
The post dredged up some memories he would have preferred to leave buried.
Goldenrod Gym.
Leader Whitney.
Ace Pokémon: Miltank.
That thing had produced one of the most infamous moments in Pokémon history.
As the third Gym Leader of the Johto region, Whitney had stopped an extraordinary number of players cold with nothing but a single Miltank.
Countless players had come within a hair of quitting entirely because of it.
Naoki understood exactly why.
Miltank had solid base bulk and a Normal typing that left it without meaningful weaknesses.
On top of that it carried two particularly punishing moves.
Milk Drink: Restores up to half of the user’s maximum HP.
Rollout: Strikes the target repeatedly.
Each consecutive hit increases the move’s power.
The combination of Milk Drink sustain and Rollout’s escalating power meant that any challenger who failed to knock Miltank out quickly was almost certainly looking at a full team wipe.
Rock-type Rollout also hit Fire-types for super effective damage.
The number of Cyndaquil and Quilava that had been rolled into the ground could have circled the planet twice over.
Add to that the limited Pokémon variety available in the Johto region, with fewer than ten species that could reliably threaten Miltank, and the thing had practically no natural counters in that environment.
So the players here had run into the same wall.
He happened to have a solution for that.
Naoki left a comment beneath the post.
Roughly thirty seconds later, a friend request arrived.
Kenji: Hello, do you actually have a strategy for clearing Goldenrod Gym?
Origin Guild is willing to purchase it with in-game currency.
At that same moment, in a small inn somewhere in Goldenrod City, Johto region, a young man sat on the edge of his bed staring at his screen, waiting.
Half a month.
Nearly every member of Origin Guild had been stuck at Goldenrod Gym for half a month, unable to advance.
And it was not just them.
Dozens of other players were stuck at the same wall.
Whichever guild cleared Goldenrod first would leap ahead of everyone else and reach the next Badge city before the pack.
The advantage that created was enormous.
But Whitney was simply too strong.
That Miltank had left a deep psychological scar on all of them.
“Well?
Kenji, did he reply?” A companion across the room could not hold back any longer.
“He did, he did!” Kenji nodded quickly.
Larry: Yes.
I have two approaches.
Which would you prefer?
“Two?!” Kenji could not help exclaiming.
His gut told him whoever was on the other end of this conversation was seriously experienced.
He relayed the news to his companion immediately.
“What do we do?”
“Tell him we’re willing to pay 100,000 League Credits.
We’ll transfer the moment we verify it works.” His companion, Hiro, said.
Kenji passed the offer along.
The reply came back quickly.
Larry: 100,000?
That’s too low.
Let me think about it.
“He says it’s not enough.” Kenji was not surprised.
For someone who had already cleared Goldenrod Gym, 100,000 Credits was pocket change.
“Hiro, what do we do?”
Hiro gritted his teeth.
Getting ahead of the other players now, even by a single step, would translate into returns that far outpaced everyone else.
Origin Guild was small, but if they all pooled together they could scrape up 250,000 Credits.
Kenji: Please, we can go up to 250,000 League Credits maximum.
If that still isn’t enough, we can also throw in a piece of information as part of the deal.
Strictly confidential.
Our people paid for it with their lives.
250,000 Credits.
A full month’s salary.
And besides, the longer he sat on this information the less it would be worth.
He made up his mind quickly.
Larry: Agreed.
Kenji exhaled with relief the moment he saw the reply.
The two of them completed the transaction through the built-in trading platform on the player panel.
A few minutes later Kenji had both strategies in hand, while 250,000 League Credits sat locked inside the trading platform on Naoki’s end, held in escrow until the buyer verified the strategies worked.
The system ensured neither party could be cheated.
Naoki had no objection to that.
Kenji skimmed through the first strategy.
“Fighting-type beats Normal-type.
Use a Fighting-type Pokémon…
Heracross, Primeape, Machamp, Hitmonchan…”
He passed the strategies to his guildmates to go and test, then sent a message back.
Kenji: Not sure if you’ve noticed, but this game might be something more than just a game.
It’s too real.
We need to eat here.
We need to sleep.
Nothing has ever come close to this level before Pokémon launched.
Kenji: What’s worse, it can even simulate…
you know, things between men and women.
Apparently some people have even tried to do things with Pokémon.
Naoki stared at that last line with a large mental question mark forming overhead.
Larry: Did it work?
Kenji: Apparently the Pokémon used a move and sent that player straight into a black hole.
Account permanently wiped.
And from what I heard, in real life the person ended up in a vegetative state.
Naoki let out a quiet breath of relief.
Kenji: So whatever you do, don’t die in this world.
Death wipes your account permanently and you can never log back in again.
Kenji: Also, the NPCs here have frighteningly advanced intelligence.
Don’t do anything weird in front of them or their opinion of you will tank hard.
Larry: You’re sharing rather a lot.
Kenji: Haha, if you come across any new strategies in the future, please think of Origin Guild first!
Naoki closed the chat window and sat with his thoughts for a moment.
Death affecting the real world too.
Was this place really just a game?
It didn’t matter either way.
Whether it was a game or not made no difference to him.
His logout button had already been pried off.
Three hours later, the workday ended.
Naoki, having spent the entire morning slacking off with remarkable dedication, headed out to find lunch somewhere in Mesagoza.
He and Alvin had barely stepped out of the Paldea League building when the notification arrived.
250,000 League Credits received.
The corner of Naoki’s mouth curved upward.
His starting capital was secured.
After work that afternoon he would head to the Pokémon Nursery on the outskirts of Mesagoza and pick up a starter Pokémon.