Lorze, having resolved his sexual desire in the restroom, walked out swaggering with a proud face. Beaming with spring breeze (looking happy and satisfied), he showed not the slightest trace of his ravenous thirst from just now. Entering Sage Mode (post-nut clarity) just makes one tough and confident.
It's just that, as coincidence would have it, he hadn't taken two steps before he happened to bump into Professor Magnolia, with whom he had previously collaborated on Dynamax research. Upon seeing Lorze, a trace of pleasant surprise rippled beneath Professor Magnolia's serious expression, but she immediately returned to the unruffled, serious look she was stereotypically known for.
"Isn't this Mr. Lorze? You were also invited to the venue. Come to think of it... with Your Excellency Lorze's abilities and achievements, getting an invitation isn't surprising. Moreover, such summits always benefit us scholars greatly. Thinking about it, Mr. Lorze definitely wouldn't be absent."
Listening to Professor Magnolia's praise, Lorze, who had just finished a round of fucking with Suicune, felt as guilty as could be. He had no choice but to hide this awkwardness in his heart and stammeringly responded: "Ah, Professor Magnolia... hello to you, haha."
Professor Magnolia naturally asked very caringly about Lorze's recent research. Lorze stroked his chin and thought about it. Recently, he seemed to either be taking care of his precious daughters or trying to have babies with his wives. Besides the routine work of organizing the life data of the Tree of Beginning... he seemed to have absolutely no time to do research in other areas!
But a man devoting his heart and soul to his family hasn't done anything wrong. So he replied very sincerely: "To tell you the truth, Professor Magnolia, I indeed haven't put much focus on research lately. Because my wife and I had daughters, my focus is a bit more on the family, haha~"
These words surprised Magnolia somewhat. She didn't expect Lorze to be a father at such a young age. He also looked like quite a responsible and considerate good man. Strict and kind as she was, the corners of her mouth also curled into an arc: His wife must be very blissful, and his family very perfectly happy.
Perhaps Professor Magnolia's understanding deviated somewhat from the facts, but Lorze's "wives" were indeed blissful, and his family was indeed perfectly happy and harmonious. It was a life capable of making others die of envy—if others could also accept combining with Pokémon.
Professor Magnolia also asked Lorze how Hatterene and Indeedee were doing. Although these two were no longer at her laboratory, years of affection still made her care about them.
Hatterene was actually currently with him, and Indeedee was left at home. Anyway, the two of them were doing great.
Lorze directly showed Professor Magnolia Hatterene's condition. The little witch exiting the ball was also very happy to hug Professor Magnolia, who had taken great care of her in the past. Then, she particularly infatuatedly hooked her hat's tentacle around her beloved man's arm. Her delicate, tender face was dotted with a young girl's shy crimson—The bond and affection between Lorze and Hatterene were as deep as ever, which also gained Professor Magnolia's approval: It seems Lorze truly is a reliable person. She was now completely reassured about Hatterene and Indeedee.
The intelligent Hatterene also cooperated perfectly with his performance. Lorze felt very satisfied: This could be considered giving Professor Magnolia an account.
"Professor Magnolia, actually I still have some matters to handle on my end, so I'll take my leave first?"
"Alright, until we meet again. Then I wish Your Excellency Lorze smoothness in both work and life."
Just like that, having exchanged a few pleasantries with Professor Magnolia, Lorze slipped away at the speed of light under her waving send-off: He was just terrified of exposing his flaws if they chatted too long.
That being said, Lorze wasn't actually lying. There was indeed a very important matter for him, and that was Oleana, whom he had mentioned before: Since he had some free time now, why not try to find Oleana?
Lorze hoped Oleana could join the Devon Corporation. This would definitely be more promising than staying at the Macro Cosmos conglomerate, giving her more room to display her talents. More importantly, he hoped Oleana wouldn't be bewitched by Rose and go astray.
Of course, regarding Rose's matters, if necessary, perhaps Lorze would go to Galar one more time, who knows.
But before going to find Oleana, he still contacted the old man (Mr. Stone) in advance to give a heads-up.
Although old man Stone trusted him very much, one thing is one thing (keep things separate). For company matters like this, he didn't dare overstep his authority, so he made a phone call in advance to ask the old Chairman Stone for instructions.
At first, the old President was puzzled why Lorze, who was attending the summit, would call him, originally thinking he had encountered some difficulties. As a result, under Lorze's report, he understood. So this kid was recommending a talent to him!
"Hahaha, little Lorze, just handle it yourself. I still trust your judgment. As for the contract matters, we can properly discuss it when she goes to the branch over in Galar. If she truly is a one-in-a-hundred talent, we absolutely won't treat her unfairly in terms of compensation!"
Although it was just the old man's verbal guarantee, Lorze felt much more reassured. The importance of a promise being worth a thousand pieces of gold in business needs no further mention. Mainly, the old man was also a person of true temperament and could be trusted. Since that's the case, he could act boldly and poach people without any misgivings.
However, searching here like a headless fly would be tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. But Lorze was a Psychic, and most of his Pokémon were also Psychic-type. And telekinesis in reality... is undoubtedly the most unreasonable bug attribute. Not only is it useful in battle, it also has many uses outside of battle.
"Jirachi, Celebi!"
Hearing their beloved husband's call, the two little lolis immediately flew out of their balls and floated beside Lorze. Lorze also explained the matter of needing to find someone to them. The two little lolis put their hands on their hips and very confidently stated it was no problem~
With the help of Jirachi and Celebi, Lorze very quickly obtained Oleana's location. The process of finding her met no obstacles whatsoever.
He walked over unhurriedly and found that, exactly as he guessed, Oleana was sitting alone in the rest area working on her laptop. Occasionally, she would bite her finger fiercely, revealing a ferocious facial expression. Perhaps she encountered some obstruction in her research progress? Anyway, Oleana was completely out of tune with the other scholars who were discussing fervently.
As for her appearance, a large forehead, long straight black hair, phoenix eyes, and a standard workplace OL (office lady) outfit. Although her looks weren't bad, this listless expression truly deducted too many points. It could only be said that she wasn't conspicuous when thrown into a crowd.
Lorze shrugged: Clearly this guy's abilities are very good, but she's slightly lacking in the social aspect. She truly looks aloof...
How should he start a conversation? He thought about it while walking towards Oleana's side. But thinking about her kind of personality, it seemed no method would work very well. Better to just show sincerity directly.
"Hello? May I sit here?" "Oh, go ahead..."
Oleana continued to busy herself with the matter at hand, wearing an expression of indifference towards the person beside her, not even sparing Lorze a single glance. However, he still sat beside Oleana without any sense of distance.
Lorze's presence seemed to have no effect on Oleana whatsoever. Lorze knew very well that she probably completely ignored everything outside the work at hand, treating him as non-existent.
Since he had already made up his mind to give Oleana a hand, Lorze wasn't discouraged by his warm face meeting a cold butt (being ignored). He merely sat beside her very patiently, watching Oleana's work. At the same time, he also secretly lamented in his heart: This guy has a big heart (is careless). Working in such a crowded place with mixed eyes, isn't she afraid her labor results will be stolen by others?
Could it be because the Galar region is too backward, so the number of researchers is also small, giving her nothing to fear? But Lorze leaned more towards her purely being a freak who turns a deaf ear to things outside the window.
Although Oleana appeared very cold and detached, her work eventually had phased breaks. Seeing her seemingly breathe a sigh of relief and stop the work at hand, Lorze seized the opportunity to strike up a conversation.
"I saw your research content... You are researching items that can freely control Dynamax... for example, the Dynamax Band, right?"
Lorze made a reasonable guess based on the content on Oleana's computer screen. In fact, even without seeing the specific things, he would have guessed this, because Oleana inherently became famous relying on this. It's just that the close-up observation made Lorze more certain.
If it were an ordinary person striking up a conversation, Oleana would only wear a lifeless, unbothered appearance. But Lorze struck right at the vital point as soon as he spoke, startling her into being speechless for a long time. She merely widened her eyes and looked at Lorze. To be honest, this was Lorze's first time seeing Oleana's eyes widened this round. It seemed even when she was provoked into a frenzy during battles in the game, it wasn't as much as now.
"You can understand... my research?"
"I wouldn't dare say I completely understand, but I've also researched Dynamax to some extent, so I still have some understanding. By the way, the Gigantamax phenomenon of Hatterene was discovered through the collaboration between Professor Magnolia and me."
Oleana was shocked once again, but unlike just now, this time she revealed an expression of sudden realization. Her eyes shone brightly and she blurted out: "Are you the Senior Lorze who collaborated with Professor Magnolia!?"
This time it was Lorze's turn to feel surprised: What the heck, this guy isn't turning a deaf ear to things outside the window. She's just focused on her own field of research. Isn't she very familiar with him?
Moreover, looking at Oleana's appearance of particularly idolizing him, Lorze knew this was in the bag: There's a chance!
"Ah, being called Senior is quite embarrassing, but I am indeed Lorze. Because I saw you seemed to be researching a topic related to Dynamax, I wanted to discuss it together..."
This time Lorze successfully opened Oleana's chatterbox. Changing from a lifeless state to being incomparably hyped and excited, she pulled Lorze and endlessly talked about her many ideas and clever concepts, only she still needed time to verify their correctness, blah blah blah...
Facing Oleana's machine-gun-like lips, Lorze listened in a fog. Not having understood it beforehand, he naturally couldn't quite keep up with her rhythm. But he could still catch a few highly operable ideas—Oleana truly lived up to being a genius.
He did manage to hear that, although under his push Professor Magnolia's team had developed the initial version of the Dynamax Band, that was ultimately just a slightly rough framework. There were still many problems urgently needing resolution and optimization, and Oleana was tackling this aspect in a personal capacity.
Clearly she didn't belong to Professor Magnolia's team, yet her level of effort wasn't weaker than theirs in the slightest. As for her motives... perhaps out of personal interest? Lorze didn't know this. Researchers putting all their eggs in one basket are always unpredictable.
Anyway, Lorze still listened very patiently until Oleana finished speaking, occasionally encouraging her with his gaze and smile. This also made Oleana increasingly confident, seemingly speaking with more and more gusto.
After she finished saying the last sentence, Oleana breathed a sigh of relief, as if completing a matter of great significance to herself: A giant boulder suspended in her chest seemed to have landed steadily.
Perhaps the long-suppressed Oleana treated her potential confidant Lorze as a life-saving straw, which was why she wanted to grab onto it regardless of everything and vent it all out at once. This state of mind of having unappreciated talents, if Lorze put himself in her shoes, he could also empathize with Oleana to a certain extent.
What's commendable is that this guy actually knew she had lost her composure.
"Ah, I accidentally seemed to have said a bit too much, sorry! But I'm truly very grateful that Senior Lorze could listen to the end. What do you think... of my research?"
Oleana still looked at Lorze with a very earnest gaze. Since she's a researcher, her greatest wish is none other than having her results recognized by others, and Lorze happened to be able to provide such emotional value.
"A very remarkable achievement. But I'll say that just like this now, I'm afraid it's still not enough."
Although he gave affirmation to a certain extent, Lorze ultimately didn't speak with absolute finality. Instead, he smilingly kept Oleana in suspense, guiding her to ask why. This played right into Lorze's hands. He's about to start enticing and abducting Oleana!
"Oleana, have you heard of the Devon Corporation?"
"Yes, that's the largest company in the Hoenn region... right?"
"That's right. Although I indeed collaborated with Professor Magnolia, I'm actually one of the employees of the Devon Corporation. Speaking of which, the Devon Corporation now also has many collaborations with the Galar region, mainly providing technical talent and financial support for Dynamax research... Do you understand what I mean?"
Lorze's intentions seemed ready to burst forth. Oleana also looked at him very expectantly.
"You can consider me a headhunter for the Devon Corporation. The Devon Corporation has always held a strong interest in the Galar region and the Dynamax phenomenon, so I want to invite you to the Devon Corporation to serve as a researcher!"
Lorze's invitation was undoubtedly extremely tempting for Oleana. She almost couldn't withstand Lorze's charm and agreed directly, but ultimately still bore an appearance of having misgivings.
Having already reached this point, he naturally would exert his utmost effort to make Oleana stay. Whether through making empty promises or some other method, Lorze also introduced the benefits of the Devon Corporation—he could talk endlessly about this kind of thing without even drafting a script, because the company itself indeed lived up to expectations.
"Actually... Oleana, you being all alone right now, it's also very hard to truly transform these excellent ideas into results, isn't it? But if you have the support of the Devon Corporation, whether it's funding or other helpers..."
Everything else was fine, but this last point Lorze mentioned truly dealt a fatal blow to Oleana. The conditions he offered were truly too generous; there was no reason not to go.
The ideal conditions plus Lorze's filter as a Bole in Oleana's eyes finally made her not think too much and agree to Lorze very crisply.