"Coach, when will you start training me?"
Gemma was already getting impatient, imagining herself and her Pokémon being trained by Julian—the world's number one trainer.
This kind of opportunity was probably something no one else had ever gotten.
"It's getting late today. Go back first—training starts tomorrow," Julian said.
Getting late?
It wasn't even noon yet—how was it late?
He was clearly brushing her off.
Gemma felt that Julian really was just like Ella had said—sometimes he was genuinely infuriating.
Fine, no training today—but why not even invite her to stay for lunch?
"Dee?"
Love: "Would you like to stay for lunch?"
Love took the initiative to ask.
But Gemma didn't understand and looked at Julian.
Julian replied calmly, "Love said to remember to close the door on your way out."
"Dee!"
Love looked at Julian with dissatisfaction—what nonsense was he saying?
But it didn't insist on keeping Gemma either.
And so, Gemma actually left.
She didn't close the Gym gate—because after pushing it for a while, she realized it was automatic. Which meant Julian had just lied to her.
'That jerk of a coach—even someone as pretty as me gets treated like this…'
She stomped her foot in frustration. Whether at home or at university, she was always someone adored by many—yet today she kept hitting walls in front of him.
She touched her face, doubting her looks for the first time.
Then she glanced down and could just barely see the tips of her toes.
She immediately let out a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't that flat.
Her lost confidence somehow crept back.
Humming a tune, she left happily.
Of course, there was still something important to do—post all the selfies she had taken with Julian's Pokémon on her social feed.
What was the point of wealth if you didn't show it off? That would be like wearing fine clothes in the dark.
This overwhelming stroke of fortune had finally come to her.
Back in the backyard, Julian was browsing Gemma's profile on the Trainers Association's official website.
As long as someone was a registered trainer, their information would be listed there.
He mainly wanted to see what level her Pokémon were at.
She had a total of ten Pokémon. Aside from Steelix, which had just broken through to pseudo-Elite level with his help, among the remaining nine—
Five were at the Advanced-level, and the other four were below that—not even worth mentioning.
"Winning the League with this kind of strength… seems a bit difficult."
Julian muttered as he stroked his chin.
For a provincial League Champion, the minimum strength was usually mid-stage pseudo-Elite level, with no fewer than four pseudo-Elite-level Pokémon. Some stronger contenders were even at peak of the pseudo-Elite tier.
Although Elite-level trainers weren't forbidden from participating, for them, provincial Leagues were basically like bullying weaker opponents—aside from satisfying their ego, it didn't help improve their strength at all.
Most participants in provincial Leagues were university students, generally between 20 and 30 years old.
And their strength typically ranged from Advanced- to pseudo-Elite level.
To participate in a provincial League, one first had to obtain eight City-level Gym badges from their province—that granted you the right to compete.
Having more than eight badges didn't matter; only eight were counted. And badges were only valid for one year. If you didn't compete within that time, you'd have to challenge the Gyms again.
Provincial-level Gym badges, on the other hand, were valid for two years and allowed participation in the National League.
As for National-level Gym badges, their validity was four years.
That was because the Elite-level League Tournament was held once every four years—the highest-tier and most prestigious League in Drakoria.
The minimum requirement to participate was being an Elite-level trainer.
And even then, an early-stage Elite trainer likely wouldn't be able to collect all the required National-level Gym badges.
And October this year marked the once-every-four-years Elite Challenge (League).
Now Julian understood why the System's reward for winning the League was so generous—it clearly took Gemma's relatively weak strength into account.
With her current ability, winning the Championship would indeed be quite difficult—but that also made it more challenging.
After carefully reviewing the data of her six main Pokémon, Julian already had some training plans in mind.
The next day, Julian had just started eating breakfast when Gemma was led in by Love.
She had added Julian's contact info before leaving yesterday. So knowing she had arrived, Julian had asked Love to pick her up at the Gym entrance.
"Eaten yet?"
"If not, have something."
This time, Julian was noticeably more polite—after all, it would feel awkward to eat breakfast while she just watched.
"Slow~"
Seeing that there was a guest, Slowking didn't even ask whether Gemma had eaten. It immediately brought over a set of bowl and chopsticks, then took off its crown and pulled out a small pack of walnuts from inside, handing it to Gemma.
"Yes! Today's TikTok content is secured!"
Celebi recorded the whole thing—it had already expected that if Slowking saw Gemma visiting, it would definitely give her walnuts, so it had prepared in advance.
The "Slowking giving walnuts" scene had long been a favorite among netizens—especially after people learned that it didn't do it out of politeness, but because it thought you were too dumb.
After all, walnuts were good for the brain.
In the past, Gemma had found it pretty hilarious when Slowking gave walnuts to others.
But now that it was her turn—and knowing that Celebi would upload this to TikTok later—she couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed.
Her face turned slightly red, but she still lowered her head and thanked Slowking.
She had already eaten breakfast before coming, but since Slowking had already placed the bowl and chopsticks in front of her, not eating would clearly be impolite.
So she picked up a soup dumpling.
And the moment she bit into it, her eyes lit up.
"So delicious! Where did you buy these soup dumplings? I've never had such amazing dumplings before!"
These dumplings completely redefined her understanding of food—how could something taste this amazing?
Julian said proudly, "These aren't store-bought, Slowking made them."
"Try the soy milk too—that's made by Love."
Gemma nodded and looked at Slowking with admiration.
Slowking: 'This woman is alright. I like her.'
But when Gemma saw that the soy milk wasn't white, but instead looked like it had soy sauce added, she immediately lost some interest.
And then she made the fatal mistake of asking, "Is there any sweet kind?"
The moment she said that, she noticed that Julian, who had been eating with great relish, had put down his chopsticks and was now looking at her with a serious expression.
"C-coach, what's wrong?"
Gemma suddenly felt nervous, unsure what she had said wrong.
Could it be—
She glanced at Julian's savory soy milk.
"In this household, soy milk, tofu pudding, and even glutinous rice balls have to be savory."
Seeing Julian's serious expression, Gemma revealed a look of realization.
So it really was the classic savory-versus-sweet debate.
Gemma, deep down: 'Sweet soy milk is the only true way.'
But out loud, she said, "Coach, actually… I also like savory soy milk."
*****
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