As they walked through the gym, the apprentices and staff inside saw Sabrina—the cold and aloof Psychic Queen—actually holding a boy's hand.
And she even looked… shy.
Everyone froze.
Eyes widened.
Mouths hung open.
They stared at the scene in disbelief.
Some even rubbed their eyes and muttered to themselves, "Am I hallucinating from training too much?"
How could they witness something this outrageous?
Sabrina-sama… falling for a man?
And from the looks of it, she was the one who initiated it?!
Even if the guy was ridiculously handsome, it still didn't make sense!
Yunqing felt Sabrina tighten her grip on his hand. Her palms were slightly sweaty, and her heartbeat was racing.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
It seemed Sabrina was still very shy and nervous.
As for Yunqing, he had long since developed a thick skin. Even under countless stares, he remained calm, nodding and smiling politely at everyone who looked their way.
Then, Sabrina quickly pulled him out of the gym.
"This is huge news! We must report it to the family head immediately!"
Inside the gym, a member of the Yushan family—Sabrina's clan—finally snapped out of his daze. His face lit up with excitement, and he immediately dashed out through a side door, heading straight toward the Yushan family's ancestral residence.
He knew that ever since Sabrina gained control over her rampaging psychic powers and returned to normal, her parents had constantly worried about her future happiness.
Because Sabrina was only half normal.
Her personality still had serious issues. Ordinary people struggled to even hold a normal conversation with her, let alone build a romantic relationship.
In Sabrina's eyes, non-psychic individuals weren't her kind.
And those whose psychic power was weaker than hers were nothing but ants—beneath her notice.
Now, at twenty-three years old, she still didn't even have a boyfriend.
No wonder her parents were anxious.
But today…
Sabrina was actually holding hands with a strange man, blushing like a shy girl!
This had to be reported immediately!
Sabrina had no idea what her clansman was thinking or doing.
She pulled Yunqing out of the Saffron Gym, and Yunqing could clearly feel her relax. Her tension eased significantly once they were outside.
Then, he saw Sabrina steal a glance at him.
Her eyes were filled with nervousness and shyness, but she still didn't let go of his hand.
For some reason, she simply felt comfortable and happy being with Yunqing.
It was a feeling she had never experienced before.
On the way to the Pokémon Egg Shop, Sabrina continued explaining through telepathy.
"Yunqing, you need to pay attention to the types of Pokémon you contract in the future."
"Contracting more types doesn't necessarily make you stronger. You must choose based on your talent and capabilities."
"Otherwise, you'll run into problems when you try to break through to the Elite Four, Champion, or Master levels."
"Hm?"
Yunqing asked with surprise and curiosity.
"There are restrictions when breaking through to Elite Four, Champion, and Master?"
Otherwise, it didn't make sense.
"That's right."
Sabrina nodded and continued.
It turned out that to break through into the Elite Four, Champion, and Master levels, trainers needed to master deeper levels of type-specific mysteries and techniques.
The more elemental types a trainer contracted, the more elemental mysteries they had to comprehend in order to break through bottlenecks.
If they failed to do so, not only would the trainer be unable to advance, but the contracted Pokémon of that element would also stagnate.
It would no longer receive growth bonuses or attribute enhancement through the contract, and its level would be stuck at the bottleneck.
For example, if a trainer contracted a Psychic-type Pokémon but had not comprehended Psychic-type mysteries, then both the trainer and that Pokémon would be stuck at the peak of the Gym Leader stage—Level 60—unable to break through.
Therefore, contracting many types wasn't always a good thing.
Of course, one could first break through the bottleneck using a single type, then contract Pokémon of other types afterward, gradually mastering new elemental mysteries and breaking through again.
But trainers who specialized in a single type had a huge advantage when breaking through.
At the same level, they only needed to break through once, and could focus on mastering one elemental mystery.
However, everything had its pros and cons.
A trainer who mastered multiple elemental mysteries would inevitably be stronger than someone who only mastered one, even at the same level.
Therefore, unless a person had extraordinary talent, it was best to focus on contracting Pokémon of one primary element, then supplement their battle system with non-contracted Pokémon of other types.
Of course, non-contracted Pokémon couldn't enjoy the growth boosts, strength enhancements, or aptitude improvements provided by contracts.
But they also wouldn't be restricted by the trainer's Spirit Level bottleneck or elemental comprehension bottleneck.
That said, if the gap between the trainer's level and the Pokémon's level became too large, issues could arise—such as disobedience, loss of loyalty, or even desertion.
"I see."
Yunqing nodded in understanding.
"In that case, elemental selection really does need to be done carefully."
Otherwise, getting stuck at a certain stage would be extremely frustrating.
Of course, with his top-tier psychic talent, Yunqing could already feel his comprehension improving rapidly as his psychic level increased.
And since he could travel to other worlds to obtain even greater opportunities, he didn't need to limit himself to a single-element path.
He could choose several powerful elemental Pokémon to supplement his abilities.
"By the way…"
Yunqing suddenly thought of something and asked with interest.
"After the rules changed, given how Dark Organizations treat Pokémon, it must be extremely difficult for them to increase their Spirit Level through resonance, right?"
"And forming contracts should also be difficult."
"So if the Dark Organizations in each region can't find a solution, won't they fall behind and eventually collapse?"
His expression became a little amused.
After all, those people treated Pokémon like disposable tools.
They abused them, exploited them, and even killed them.
Under the new rules, they would inevitably be rejected and hated by Pokémon.
"Exactly."
Sabrina nodded, her telepathic voice calm.
"It's not only Dark Organization members, but also Pokémon hunters and many nobles."
"That's why they've been extremely active these past six months, desperately searching for a way out."
"Now that the portal has appeared, these forces will definitely send people to your world to seek new opportunities—no matter how dangerous it is."
Otherwise, their families and power structures wouldn't last long.
They would be swept away by the tide of the new era, becoming casualties of the coming reshuffle.
Sabrina had no sympathy for them.
They brought it upon themselves.
In truth, the Yushan family was also an ancient clan.
Fortunately, as a psychic family, they had strict internal rules, and very few members dared to abuse Pokémon.
A few minutes later…
The two entered a large shopping mall.
Sabrina didn't immediately bring Yunqing to the Pokémon egg shop. Instead, she strolled around leisurely, occasionally entering stores to buy small trinkets, plush toys, and other little items.
She was genuinely treating this like a date.