“Good little one.”
Suguru Natsume gently patted Beldum’s head, his eyes overflowing with affection he could not possibly conceal.
He had been surrounded by Pokémon ever since he was young.
Whether they belonged to his grandfather or his father, Suguru had always gotten along extremely well with the family’s Pokémon.
Thanks to his Perfect Steel Heart, many of them were even unusually fond of him.
However—
None of those Pokémon were truly his.
This Beldum was different.
It was Suguru’s first Pokémon.
His starter.
Every Trainer shared a special bond with their first Pokémon.
In a way, it was similar to one’s first love.
A Trainer’s starter might not necessarily become their strongest Pokémon, but it would almost always be the one with whom they shared the deepest bond.
Naturally, that did not include the occasional piece of human trash who treated Pokémon as disposable tools.
Beldum currently possessed Quasi-Champion aptitude.
With the Natsume family’s resources, there was a good chance that its aptitude could eventually be raised to the Champion grade.
And now that Suguru’s system had finally awakened, that possibility had become even greater.
A Pokémon’s aptitude was not necessarily fixed for life.
Certain extremely rare resources could improve it.
However, materials capable of raising aptitude were both scarce and absurdly expensive.
The higher a Pokémon’s existing aptitude, the rarer the resources required to improve it further.
His grandfather Gendō’s Metagross was the perfect example.
Despite the Natsume family’s wealth and influence, Metagross’s aptitude remained trapped at the peak of the Quasi-Champion grade, unable to take the final step into the Champion grade.
The problem was not a lack of effort.
The resources it required were simply too rare.
Some treasures could not be obtained merely by throwing money at them.
If Beldum’s aptitude failed to reach the Champion grade in the future, it might eventually become the very thing that held Suguru back.
After all, Suguru possessed a Perfect Steel Heart.
That talent alone was enough to give him the potential to become a Champion-class Trainer.
However, if his most important partner remained limited to Quasi-Champion aptitude, then Suguru himself might also become trapped at that level.
The opposite was equally true.
When a Trainer’s aptitude was inferior to that of their Pokémon, the Trainer could become the chain restricting the Pokémon’s growth.
Trainer and Pokémon supported each other.
They grew together, influenced each other, and ultimately determined how far the other could go.
Interestingly, this phenomenon did not seem to apply to wild Pokémon.
A wild Pokémon’s maximum strength was directly determined by its own aptitude.
It would not be restricted by the talent of any human.
As for why a captured Pokémon’s growth became connected to its Trainer’s aptitude—
Even after centuries of research, Pokémon scholars had yet to discover the true reason.
There was another mystery connected to this phenomenon.
After a Trainer died, their Pokémon would usually find it extremely difficult to continue increasing their strength.
The longer the Pokémon had lived and battled beside its Trainer, the more severe this effect became after the Trainer’s death.
The Champion-class Pokémon residing within the Natsume family estate were the Pokémon left behind by deceased ancestors.
After their Trainers passed away, their strength had essentially become frozen at the level they possessed at that time.
Even after hundreds of years, none of them had advanced any further.
Fortunately, Pokémon generally lived much longer than humans.
Aside from most Bug types and a small number of other short-lived species, the majority of Pokémon possessed lifespans far exceeding that of an ordinary person.
Even a Bug-type Pokémon could live for several decades after reaching the Quasi-Elite tier.
If it reached the Elite tier, surviving for over a century would not be unusual.
As for Dragon-type Pokémon—
Living for a thousand years was hardly anything extraordinary.
Ghost-type Pokémon were similarly long-lived, with some species possessing lifespans that were almost impossible to measure.
And once a Pokémon reached the Champion tier, its lifespan would become even more astonishing.
After giving Beldum to Suguru, Gendō had already instructed the family staff to register it under Suguru’s official Trainer profile.
Only after that process was complete could Beldum legally be recognized as Suguru’s Pokémon.
In official tournaments, Trainers were only allowed to use Pokémon registered under their personal Trainer profiles.
There was another important restriction.
Before a Trainer’s starter reached the Gym tier, any other Pokémon they used in an official competition could not be more than ten levels higher than their registered starter.
Once the starter reached the Gym tier, that restriction would automatically be removed.
The purpose of the rule was simple.
It was meant to provide Trainers from ordinary families with at least some semblance of fairness.
Someone like Suguru had been born into one of Japan’s Eight Great Houses and possessed access to resources that ordinary people could never imagine.
Without this regulation, the Natsume family could have selected several Pokémon for Suguru when he was still an infant and spent the next seventeen years raising them on his behalf.
Then, the moment Suguru became old enough to register as a Trainer, the family could simply hand them over to him.
After being cultivated by the Natsume family for more than a decade, even the weakest of those Pokémon would likely have reached the Elite tier.
Imagine what would happen during an official competition.
An ordinary Trainer would send out a Pokémon barely above Level Ten.
Suguru would respond by releasing an Elite-tier Pokémon.
At that point, what was there left to compete over?
The match would end before it even began.
Many common-born Trainers were already deeply dissatisfied with the great families for monopolizing rare Pokémon, training resources, secret techniques, and high-level knowledge.
The social conflict between ordinary Trainers and powerful families had always been severe.
This problem existed in every major nation.
Naturally, Japan was no exception.
The starter-level restriction had been established to ease some of that tension and prevent official competitions from becoming nothing more than playgrounds for wealthy heirs.
Of course—
The rule only applied to official matches.
If Trainers fought in the lawless wilderness, no one would care what Pokémon they used.
There was another issue with Pokémon raised entirely by a family.
Most of them would not possess a close bond with the young Trainer who eventually received them.
Some might even refuse to obey commands altogether.
Unless the recipient possessed a special ability capable of rapidly increasing affinity—such as Suguru’s Steel Heart—what they received would most likely be nothing more than a powerful, disobedient Pokémon.
And a high-level Pokémon that refused to listen could sometimes be more dangerous to its Trainer than to its opponent.
The instant Beldum’s registration was completed, a familiar electronic chime echoed inside Suguru’s mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining your first Pokémon.]
[Mission System successfully activated.]
Another notification immediately appeared.
[Daily Mission Issued]
[Mission: Play with Beldum for one hour.]
[Reward: Physique +1, 100 System Points.]
[Failure Penalty: None.]
[System Points could be used to purchase items from the System Shop.]
Suguru immediately opened the shop interface.
The moment he saw the items listed inside, his breathing grew heavier.
[Iron Plate — 50,000,000 Points]
[Champion-Grade Aptitude Elixir — 300,000 Points]
[Instant Recovery Potion — 50,000 Points]
[Steel Essence — 10,000 Points]
…
The items available within the System Shop covered practically everything imaginable.
Unfortunately, Suguru did not see any Pokémon for sale.
Still, even without Pokémon, the shop’s inventory was enough to leave him speechless.
Most of the things that caught his attention required enormous quantities of points.
Moreover, many were priceless treasures that almost never appeared in the outside world.
The Champion-Grade Aptitude Elixir alone was enough to drive countless Elite and Quasi-Champion Trainers mad.
Even the Natsume family might not possess such an item.
“Fine, fine…”
Suguru reluctantly closed the shop interface.
“For now, I’ll just complete the missions and slowly save up points.”
Since this was called a Daily Mission, there should be a new one every day.
One hundred points might not seem like much, but they would gradually accumulate.
Ten missions would give him one thousand points.
A hundred missions would give him ten thousand.
There would surely be higher-difficulty missions with far greater rewards in the future as well.
Suguru nodded solemnly to himself.
The future is looking bright.
“Grandfather, I’m going outside to play with Beldum.”
After informing Gendō, Suguru brought Beldum into the mansion’s spacious rear garden.
Several Pokémon were currently resting there.
They were members of the reserve teams belonging to Suguru’s grandfather and father—Pokémon they no longer used frequently during ordinary battles.
Not all of them were Steel types.
There were also several Fire- and Fighting-type Pokémon among them.
Both Gendō and Suguru’s father regarded Steel as their primary specialization.
However, Gendō had chosen Fire as his secondary specialization, while Suguru’s father had chosen Fighting.
Many high-level Trainers eventually cultivated a second type to broaden their tactical options and cover the weaknesses of their primary teams.
However, Suguru’s journey as a Trainer had only just begun.
It was still far too early for him to consider a secondary specialization.
He could wait until he reached the Elite tier before making that decision.
For now, focusing on Beldum was more than enough.
Suguru spent the next hour playing with his new partner.
Although Beldum had only recently been born, it was surprisingly energetic.
It floated around him, repeatedly nudged his hand with its metallic head, and occasionally released gentle waves of magnetism to tug at the metal accessories on Suguru’s clothing.
Whenever Suguru reached out to pet it, Beldum’s single red eye would narrow happily.
Exactly one hour later—
[Ding!]
[Daily Mission Completed.]
[Reward Distributed: 100 System Points.]
[Physique +1.]
The instant the notification appeared, a warm current surged through Suguru’s entire body.
His muscles tightened.
His bones seemed to vibrate faintly, while an unfamiliar strength spread from the depths of his body to the tips of his fingers.
Suguru slowly clenched his fist.
“I can feel it…”
His eyes widened slightly.
“Strength is surging through my body.
I’m already considerably stronger than before.”
He felt as though his entire body was overflowing with energy.
It was only a single point of Physique, yet the difference was obvious.
Compared to the one hundred System Points, the Physique increase might actually have been the more valuable reward.
For a Trainer, possessing a powerful body greatly increased the chances of surviving in the wilderness.
After all, Pokémon Trainers could not become strong by remaining safely inside cities forever.
Battles could certainly be fought within urban arenas.
However, obtaining rare resources and completing high-level missions often required Trainers to venture into the wilderness.
And in the wild, there were no battlefield barriers to protect them.
When powerful Pokémon clashed, the aftermath alone could tear apart the surrounding terrain.
Naturally, a Trainer needed a strong body to survive something like that.
At the very least—
If he ended up dying, his body parts would not scatter quite so quickly.