"Boss, sorry to trouble you today."
"No trouble at all. You're welcome back anytime."
After helping the two girls load the energy cubes into the car, Ren smiled as he spoke.
"Definitely. Bye-bye~"
Lily, sitting in the passenger seat with Charmander in her arms, stretched out her hand to make a playful heart gesture toward Ren, then waved happily.
"Goodbye, boss."
Emma waved as well.
"Goodbye. Drive safely," Ren replied, smiling and waving back.
As the car disappeared down the road, Ren lit a cigarette and quietly calculated his earnings.
"What two lovely girls…"
Four Pokémon, three Pokédexes, plus energy cubes—today's income was close to one million.
But compared to the hundred-million-point requirement for upgrading the system, it was still just a drop in the bucket.
"This is tough. Looks like I'll have to raise prices—or hope someone with ridiculous luck pulls something like a Dratini or another pseudo-legend."
Ren took a deep drag from his cigarette and frowned slightly.
If he raised the prices of ordinary Pokémon again, the entry barrier would climb even higher.
Because the system level was still low, he had deliberately lowered prices to get Pokémon out into the world as quickly as possible.
After all, the system guaranteed Pokémon quality and talent, so he hadn't been deceiving Emma or Jason by giving them favorable prices.
Still… it wasn't enough.
Unless someone managed to pull a pseudo-legend like Dratini, Larvitar, or Gible again.
As for Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, Ren had already asked the system. They did exist in the prize pool—but the odds were absurdly low, even lower than pulling a pseudo-legend.
And there was only one Mythical Pokémon available at that probability: Phione.
Phione, hatched from an Egg laid by Manaphy and Ditto, had a base stat total of only 480—lower than even Charizard.
Moreover, despite being born from Manaphy's Egg, Phione could not evolve into Manaphy.
Whether Phione even qualified as a Mythical Pokémon had always been controversial. Compared to other Legendary or Mythical Pokémon, Phione was… well—
Mostly just cute.
"Forget it. I'll go upload the video first."
Ren crushed the cigarette underfoot and turned back toward the shop, planning to upload the "wonderful" battle footage between Lily and Jason to the video platform.
There was no point overthinking things. Hard work was the only way forward.
He believed that day would come.
When the system reached a higher level, Pokémon would appear all over the world, bringing about a real-life Pokémon era.
Even if that dream was still a hundred million points away…
Let's take it step by step.
First goal: wild Pokémon appearing in Magic City as soon as possible.
Then the Magic City Pokémon Tournament could officially begin.
---
By the time they realized it, dusk had already fallen.
Inside the mansion, Emma and Lily were having dinner at the table.
Nearby, Charmander, Squirtle, and Trapinch were happily gnawing on their respective energy cubes.
"Yeah, I'm staying over tonight, Qianqian—ah, Mom, what are you talking about? My little Char won't dislike me. I'm hanging up."
Lily rolled her eyes, finished the call, then took a few more bites of rice. When she looked at Charmander and Trapinch, a smile immediately spread across her face.
So cute…
"I still can't find anything," Emma said, closing her browser. "There's absolutely no record of Squirtle anywhere."
Her search results were a mess—there was even news about a tiger escaping from a zoo in the western suburbs of Magic City.
"That's normal," Lily replied casually. "If Pokémon had existed before, they'd have exploded all over the internet already."
"But where did the boss get these Pokémon from?" Emma asked, blinking. "And Lily… have you noticed something?"
"Noticed what?" Lily was momentarily confused.
"The Pokédex numbers."
Emma picked up the Pokédex beside her and shook it slightly.
"My Squirtle is number 007. Your Charmander is 004."
"I also recorded Jason's Vulpix—its number is 037."
"And the boss's Diancie is 719."
Emma flipped through the Pokédex as she spoke, her clear eyes gleaming.
"Huh? And?" Lily still didn't get it.
"…Are you stupid?"
After two seconds of silence, Emma finally snapped, glaring at Lily.
"Check the Pokédex directory! Even though we can't see most of the entries yet, the numbering is fixed. I scrolled all the way down—the last number is 905!"
"That means… there are 905 Pokémon in total?"
Lily finally understood. She hurriedly opened her Pokédex, entered the directory, and scrolled to the bottom.
When she saw the entry marked #905 ???????, she froze completely.
"Oh my god…"
There were actually 905 Pokémon?!
"Now you understand why I tried searching for Squirtle online," Emma said softly.
"There are so many Pokémon, all with different attributes. If they had existed before, there would be some trace of them."
"They're…"
Emma looked at Squirtle, who was happily munching on an energy cube with narrowed eyes.
It definitely didn't look like a creature from Earth.
Lily's earlier joke about the shop owner being an alien… might not have been a joke after all.
Though it was only speculation, Emma felt her reasoning was sound.
Otherwise, how could 905 completely unknown species—with their own populations—have gone unnoticed?
"Even if you're right," Lily said after thinking for a moment, resting her chin on her hand, "it's not really that important, is it?"
"The universe is huge. Other life forms existing is totally normal. As long as they don't hurt us, who cares?"
"And according to what the boss said, Poké Balls can tame Pokémon. That alone shows Pokémon are closer to… special pets, right?"
She took out the shrunken commemorative Poké Ball, a rare thoughtful expression on her pretty face.
So much Pokémon-related knowledge and equipment already existed. The exposed information was massive—and impossible to completely hide.
But if they weren't dangerous… wasn't that enough?
"I was just analyzing their origins," Emma rolled her eyes. "I never said Pokémon or the boss were evil or invaders."
Based on what they'd seen so far, Squirtle was obedient and adorable, and Ren was clearly a kind and reliable person.
If Ren were here, he'd probably sigh at the sheer power of the system again.
By all logic, he was almost certainly an alien—and Pokémon definitely weren't native to Earth.
Yet these two girls had already accepted him as harmless.
This was the true terror of the system's influence.
Maximum acceptance.
"Hehe~ Anyway," Lily said brightly, her eyes sparkling, "I have a feeling Pokémon—and Pokémon battles—are going to take over the world someday!"
"Maybe I'll lead Charmander to become the world champion!"
She imagined herself standing beside a fully grown Charmander in a massive stadium, thousands of people cheering as she defeated her opponent and claimed victory.
Emma's eyelid twitched.
"It's not even dark yet."
She looked at Lily with open disdain.
This woman really knew how to dream.
Did she seriously think only she deserved to be champion? She couldn't even beat a Vulpix.
Even if Pokémon battles really became popular worldwide—
The one standing at the top would be me.
And my Squirtle.
-----------Author---------------
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