Xia Chi himself was practically stuffed on the grand promises he had cooked up.
For the rest of the afternoon, he was bursting with energy, drafting a magnificent, sweeping, epic script about Arceus’s creation of the universe.
Meanwhile, the notifications occasionally chiming in his mind reminded him of Sprigatito’s progress.
[Sprigatito has defeated Mankey.] Clearly, Sprigatito was also working hard elsewhere.
Though behind all that hard work, quite a few Mankeys were likely paying the price for their past bullying.
Once the GPS tracker showed Sprigatito was on its way back, Xia Chi tallied up its final results for the day.
Seven Mankeys, four Aipoms, and 2.4 Dark-type bond fear points.
On the surface, it seemed like it would only take forty-odd days to reach one hundred fear points, which would increase Sprigatito’s damage by 10% and unlock the first milestone reward.
But the reality was bound to be far less ideal.
There weren’t many misbehaving Pokémon at school to begin with, and the ones Sprigatito could actually defeat at its current stage were even fewer.
The ones it couldn’t beat were out of the question, and defeating weaklings didn’t help either, as they barely provided any fear points.
From the looks of it, the Hushi Cup coming up next month would be an excellent hunting ground to farm fear points.
Great.
That was yet another reason he absolutely had to enter the Hushi Cup.
Sprigatito returned bathed in the glow of the setting sun, its eyes and body showing far more exhaustion than they had in the morning.
Evidently, its midday rest hadn’t been enough to sustain half an afternoon of consecutive battles.
Feeling bad for his partner, Xia Chi forced Sprigatito to stay in the dorm and rest that evening, forbidding it from going anywhere.
He called it a “tactical literacy class” by his side, watching livestreams to improve its tactical awareness.
Sprigatito naturally couldn’t object.
It could only passively enjoy the peaceful, cozy downtime.
Meanwhile, after a full day and night of brewing, Xia Chi’s battle with Raihan from the previous night had completely taken the internet by storm.
The hype was significantly higher than when Xia Chi had matched against Iono twice in a row.
After all, while both were Gym Leaders, there was a vast hierarchy of strength among Gym Leaders.
At the absolute peak, you had Giovanni of the Earth, the leader of Team Rocket—the world’s largest villainous organization—and the undisputed underworld emperor of the Kanto and Johto regions.
At the absolute bottom, there were the Cerulean Sisters, whose strength was inversely proportional to their looks, constantly rumored to have their Gym licenses revoked and surviving solely on water performances.
As for why those rumors of revocation never materialized?
Well, maybe the League inspectors enjoyed the shows too much.
But that was beside the point.
The gap between Iono and Raihan wasn’t quite that extreme, but Raihan carried the title of the “Strongest Gym Leader.” Even if that title was about as reliable as a completely fabricated Forbes wealth ranking, he was still the nominal No.
1.
The attention and prestige he commanded were on an entirely different level.
Consequently, when Xia Chi started his stream today, the chat was more chaotic than ever.
Random viewers who disliked Raihan’s lofty status hyped Xia Chi up, while Raihan’s loyal fans rushed in to drag him down.
The regular viewers who were already in the stream just enjoyed the chaos, and the Iono fans who had been redirected over the past couple of days were having a blast.
As for Xia Chi, who had turned on paid-subscriber-only chat and was making a killing on the traffic?
He was the ultimate winner!
All in all, without pulling any special stunts, without matching with any other famous trainers, and without any donations from Iono, Xia Chi simply borrowed his number-two supporter’s account to run a Trick Room team.
He utterly dominated the Ultra Ball tier ranked battles, making today another highly profitable day.
*** Over the next few days, Xia Chi’s life fell into a fulfilling cycle of attending classes, editing videos, streaming, and training Sprigatito.
Occasionally, he would nurture his relationship with his top supporter.
He discussed the feasibility of using Pawmot instead of Rillaboom to pull off a double Fake Out strategy.
He joined her in complaining about the annoying Gym challengers or obsessive fans she dealt with daily.
Using his clever, backhanded compliments, he provided her with immense emotional value.
Over those few days, Iono began messaging him more and more frequently.
Sprigatito’s progress was equally remarkable.
Not only had its fear points broken past 20, but its level displayed in the system had also reached Lv.
14.
If the system’s levels were synchronized with the Pokémon games from his past life, then Sprigatito was only two levels away from evolving into Floragato.
Perhaps the little kitten would be able to stand on two legs before the Hushi Cup?
The system didn’t show a precise progress bar for the Pokémon’s level, so Xia Chi couldn’t say for sure.
And the Sprigatito breeding guides he had been longing for finally arrived on the last day of November.
It came from the same account with the cute, flashing Bellibolt profile picture that he had been messaging most frequently.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!
The breeding files were scattered, so it took some time to organize them.
[Bellibolt lying flat.jpg]” [Attachment: Geeta’s Sprigatito Breeding Guide.rar] [Attachment: Brassius’s Sprigatito Breeding Guide.rar] Xia Chi, who had just finished editing a video and was lounging in his chair like a couch potato, instantly sat bolt upright.
He double-clicked the files at lightning speed.
Shui Ye: “Files received successfully!
×2” Shui Ye: “Thank you so much!
Please, come on in and have a seat while I pour you some tea!
[Polteageist leaning on its hands and smiling.gif]” Shui Ye: “By the way, did those two big shots compile this themselves, or…” Iono: “They’re so busy.
It was already nice of them to dig these up for me.
How would they have time to organize them?
[Pawmot sigh.gif]” Xia Chi: “!!!” Xia Chi: “I, Chi, have drifted half my life, only lamenting that I never met a worthy master.
If you do not spurn me, I wish to bow to you as my godfather!
[Squirtle crying.jpg]” Iono: “[Bellibolt blank stare.jpg]” Xia Chi: “Wait, I mean godmother!” Iono: “That’s not the point!” Xia Chi: “Anyway, Miss Iono, you’ve been a massive help!” Iono: “Whatever.
It’s just something I promised you I’d do anyway.
No need to be so polite.” Iono: “I have a Gym challenge match in a bit, so I have to run!
[Pawmot waving goodbye.gif]” Xia Chi: “Good luck!
I’m off to study these guides!” Closing the chat with Iono, Xia Chi rubbed his hands together in sheer excitement and unzipped the two compressed files.
In this world, there was a common saying: a top-tier trainer must be an excellent breeder.
Iono certainly fit the bill; her organized files on Sprigatito’s breeding were incredibly clear and structured.
The entire guide was divided into three stages: Sprigatito, Floragato, and Meowscarada.
Each major stage was further divided into six categories, including diet, training, moves, and so forth.
Every section was comprehensive.
For instance, the diet section covered daily nutritional requirements, the optimal ratio of Berries, energy distribution across three meals, and every other detail.
It was a step-by-step, comprehensive breeding guide.
Just as Iono had said, Geeta and Brassius certainly wouldn’t have had the patience to organize things to this level of detail for Xia Chi.
It was obvious who the real hero behind the scenes was.
Even though these two guides were part of their uncompleted trade, Iono could have easily phoned it in.
Yet, she had put so much care into it.
Xia Chi sighed softly to himself.
He really owed Iono a massive favor now.