As everyone knows, different gaming communities have different standards for choosing a partner.
Azur Lane players want them small, Blue Archive players want them big, and Arknights players want those with top-tier DPS.
As a Pokémon player, Caesar's criterion was simple: she had to recite Garchomp's base stats from memory.
HP 108, Attack 130, Defense 95, Sp. Attack 80, Sp. Defense 85, Speed 102—total 600.
The numbers were etched into his very DNA.
No joke: Garchomp is the textbook pseudo-legendary template; any girl who can't rattle those stats off isn't his type.
If she's not my type, I reject her on the spot!
As for some isekai loli Silver Dragon… Caesar couldn't care less.
Once he framed it that way, his conscience cleared and his forced captivity of Cecilia instantly felt morally justified.
I'm just raising a strong Pokémon—what sinister motive could I possibly have?
Glug… glug…
In the corner of the cave, a pot fashioned from an Iron-armored Centipede shell bubbled with eerie purple "poison milk" broth.
After this period of "careful coaching," Cecilia was completely under Caesar's paw.
Her daily life now cycled between outrageously tasty poison milk and humiliating licks, steadily feeding Caesar experience points.
Days passed in this decadent routine of depravity.
But after hitting level 15, Caesar clearly sensed a bottleneck.
For one thing, he hadn't learned any new Dragon-type Moves; his arsenal was still the same old tricks—hardly impressive.
For another, the level gap between him and Cecilia kept widening, and the EXP she provided had plummeted.
At first a lick granted 50 EXP, then 20, 10…
Now—Caesar extended his tongue and expertly licked the newly grown tail scale of the Little Silver Dragon.
[Ding! High-purity Dragon-type factor detected, absorbing…]
[EXP +5!]
Caesar stared deadpan at the number that popped up on the System panel, speechless.
Five points?
Am I a charity case?
With nothing better to do, he glanced at her profile—seriously?
Fed and pampered daily, she was still only level 11.
She was officially squeezed dry.
Caesar carried over a freshly brewed pot of "poison milk mushroom soup," ready to start the daily grind, but sighed.
This efficiency is trash.
Cecilia had grown sensitive lately; she swore this wretched Earth Dragon now looked at her with thinly veiled disdain.
Was it her imagination?
When Caesar slid the purple-bubbling pot toward her, she didn't dig in at once.
Instead, she lifted her draconic head and fixed her beautiful silver eyes on him.
"You're disgusted with me, aren't you?"
She hadn't planned to ask; her voice carried a hint of grievance she herself didn't notice, though her glare remained fierce.
A mere Earth Dragon daring to scorn the great Lady Cecilia?
Caesar blinked.
"No."
"You are!"
Cecilia grew louder, now certain.
"No."
"You are!"
She shot up halfway, baring her teeth like a cat whose tail got stepped on.
"You used to lick me differently—you're so perfunctory now! Even your drool has decreased!"
Oh, for the love of—my spinal-Dragon form!
Caesar's claws trembled, nearly spilling the whole pot.
What madness is this dame spouting now?
There's an official procedure and KPI for licking, is there?
Caesar could barely hold it together; no wonder Cecilia had tried to ambush him after her poisoned status ended.
With this brain circuit, even the noble True Dragon bloodline couldn't save her.
His new plan: while grinding himself, he had to level up the little wretch as well—"dual-track operation, mutual development"—to maximize EXP gains.
After all this time, the Little Silver Dragon had grown plump: her once-skinny frame was now round, and her scales were glossy.
But to claim zero disgust would be a lie.
Because once, while inspecting her profile, Caesar had seen the full page:
[Target: Cecilia (juvenile Silver Dragon)]
[Level: 11]
[Type: Dragon/Steel]
…Steel?
Seriously, dude—Steel typing?
Back then, Caesar had nearly sworn the System was trolling him.
Steel typing!
A metal dragon distantly related to Dialga and Duraludon, knocked out by a bowl of toxic mushroom soup?
Isn't Steel's immunity to Poison a universal law in the Pokémon universe?
He could only conclude this world's type chart didn't perfectly match Pokémon canon.
Maybe her Steel was a secondary attribute; in Pokémon logic, Dragon/Steel behaves differently from Steel/Dragon.
Caesar guessed her Steel mainly showed in those ever-shinier silver scales—great Defense, yet zero help against ingested toxins.
Still, the situation was hard to swallow.
Ridiculous—utterly ridiculous!
Even Probopass would shake its head.
Seeing Caesar stay mute only stoked Cecilia's rage.
She snatched the Iron-armored Centipede shell pot, hugged it with both claws, and chugged.
Glug-glug…
She guzzled every last drop, then licked the inner shell clean.
Done, she shoved the pot aside and flopped down in surrender, eyes closed in a "kill or spare as you wish" pose.
The familiar weakness and floaty sensation wreaked havoc in her stomach.
Honestly, after a while, this feeling became… kind of nice.
Eat till full, sleep till rested, zero danger.
The mighty Lady Cecilia had simply gained a cook, that's all!
[Ding! Target Cecilia's affection toward host has increased slightly.]
The sudden System chime left Caesar utterly bewildered.
Wait, this can raise affection too?
Stockholm syndrome, huh?
Right then, a muffled tremor rose from the depths of the earth, cutting Kapu-Lias Caesar's thoughts short.
Dust trickled from the cavern ceiling.
"Roaar—!!!"
The roar was low and stifled, like some titan gargling molten rock, making the very air of the cave hum.
Without warning, the whole cavern began to shake violently!
"Ugh…!"
Cecilia yelped; her body, still limp from the poison milk, tensed instinctively and shrank toward Caesar.
Caesar steadied himself at once, eyes narrowing at the source of the quake—the deeper reaches of the cave.
Those deep, dull roars and the tremors in the earth had been growing more frequent of late.
It was the sound of the true Overlord of these parts—the Lava Giant Lizard King—patrolling his territory.
Caesar had once glimpsed the creature hunting from afar: colossal, like a Blastoise blown up to nightmare size, sheathed in magma-like armor; even stone glowed red where it passed.
As his own strength grew, a clash with that regional Overlord had become inevitable.
He just hadn't expected the day to come so soon.
"Boom—!"
Another thunderous blast, accompanied by the screech of splitting rock, as an entire cliff wall outside Caesar's lair collapsed under the tremor.
A pitch-black gap yawned in the stone.
The next instant, a scorching, sulfur-reeking gale surged through the breach, raising the temperature of the cavern by several degrees.
Caesar squinted; beyond the gap lay a crimson world where rivers of lava meandered and dangerous fire-element ripples filled the air.
That day, the Lava Giant Lizard King's domain and Caesar's hunting ground were joined.
The blistering power drew in low-tier fire creatures—fire salamanders, lava grubs, and the like—who began prowling the fringes of what had been Caesar's turf.
Daily hunts turned into a slog.
More than that, Caesar felt both an instinctive revulsion and a soul-deep craving for the scorching force.
He sensed an unprecedented concentration of fire-attuned energy.
[Ding! Medium-density Fire-element factor detected! Absorption may grant Fire-type Moves!]
The System chimed in at the perfect moment, fanning the flames inside him.
Fire-type Moves!
His eyes lit up instantly.
Water, Fire, and Electric coverage would hugely expand his offensive arsenal.
Fire above all: with it, he could stand against the Ice-types that preyed on him!
The scales in Caesar's mind tipped wildly as he began weighing the odds of slaying the Lava Giant Lizard King.
Fire/Rock? Or Fire/Dragon?
Either way, Ground beats Fire, and Dragon resists it!
Advantage: me! (hands on hips)
The brute's sheer size meant sluggish speed; he could exploit agility and terrain to dance around it.
And the experience haul, plus those tempting fire factors!
His current rank-ups crawled like a snail; he needed a feast to reignite the XP frenzy.
The Lava Giant Lizard King was the perfect main course.
"Uuh…"
Cecilia too felt the draconic might laced with savagery; her body shook uncontrollably.
The pressure differed from any True Dragon she knew—chaotic and ruinous.
She edged closer to Caesar, seeking a scrap of safety.
"Th-that thing… it's the Lava Giant Lizard King! The Overlord of these parts!"
The little one's voice trembled, yet she forced herself to warn him.
"Don't go near it! It's probably a 'brainless dragon-beast'!"
"Brainless dragon-beast?" Caesar raised a brow.
So Fire/Dragon then.
"They're mis-hatches from dragon eggs—freaks, a disgrace to the True Dragon bloodline!"
Cecilia spat the words, some inherited memory clearly souring her mood.
"All the power, none of the wit—just raw, bestial rage. They sense Dragon Clan aura and attack anything that moves!"
She added in a rush:
"D-don't get the wrong idea, Little Earth Dragon! I-I'm not worried about my servant! I just don't want to lose my soup-chef!"
Looking at the shivering, stubborn Silver Dragon, Caesar's golden slit-eyes glinted with a fleeting, mischievous light.
A shamelessly dirty scheme hatched inside the little Gible's round head.
Brainless dragon-beast?
Sensitive to dragon aura?
No reason, only instinct?
Caesar's gaze flicked between Cecilia and the red-glowing tunnel.
Cecilia—pure True Dragon bloodline.
"Don't be afraid."
The Little Earth Dragon patted her head gently, crooning in that odd, translated Dragon-tongue.
"I'm here. Nothing will happen."
The voice sounded so reliable that the flustered Cecilia quieted in spite of herself.
She lifted her eyes to the blue figure barely larger than her.
He was infuriating, always bullying her, yet… beside him, she did feel safe.
"Your bro's got a plan," Caesar went on. "We take the fight to it and solve this problem."
"Attack it? Little Earth Dragon, are you insane?" Cecilia's eyes went wide. "That's the Lava Giant Lizard King—the regional Overlord!"
"Overlords can be challenged, y'know…"
Caesar stared into the blazing breach, eyes sparkling with eager excitement.
Just a stronger Pokémon, right? Like I haven't beaten those before… Hmph, Overlord?
This Garchomp will make sure it never returns!