Chapter 181
Seeing Xue Yi' s fully awakened Ice-type talent, Lorze genuinely hadn' t anticipated she'
d kept this trump card hidden.
The innate talents of the Xue family were universally overpowered. When fully liberated,
they could effortlessly boost a Pokémon's combat tier by an entire rank.
This meant the seemingly Elite-tier Alolan Ninetales, bolstered by Xue Yi's amplification,
could likely brush against the Veteran tier (A-).
The only reason he included the "minus" was because Xue Yi had only just awakened.
Her amplification coefficient definitely couldn't match her older sister's yet; even
reaching A- might be a slight stretch.
But even so, it was still an incredibly formidable spike in power. If Kirlia wanted to secure
a victory in a head-to-head clash, she'd probably need to stack five or six Calm Minds
first.
However, nobody had ever managed to force Kirlia into a pure battle of attrition. Her true,
terrifying power lay in her fluid, unpredictable Abilities.
"Is this your trump card? It does look like you have a realistic shot at beating me,
" Lorze
said, his expression remaining perfectly calm as he evaluated her stance.
"Are you sure it only 'looks' like it?" Xue Yi narrowed her eyes. Even a display of this
magnitude can't shake his confidence?
Then again, if he didn't possess at least this level of composure, how could he be worthy
of being my man?
"I'm not afraid to tell you: theoretically, my Kirlia is capable of 'Triple-Wielding' Abilities.
Furthermore, she can freely copy and store incoming traits, exactly like your older sister's
partner. Currently, she has Protean, Ice Scales, and Thick Fat loaded simultaneously.
Combine that with your snowfall to deploy Aurora Veil and Light Screen... your brilliant
mind should be able to calculate exactly what that implies.
"
Lorze didn't hesitate to reveal the hack codes currently running on Kirlia.
"You even pre-loaded Thick Fat... it seems you predicted I'd deploy Little Ice today.
"
Xue Yi ran the math based on his statement, instantly comprehending the implications.
Her eyelid twitched violently.
Of course, she wasn't the only one twitching—the vast audience watching was equally
stunned.
Triple-Wielding Abilities? Have your cheat codes seriously escalated to this level of
absurdity?
If, as Lorze claimed, all these defensive modifiers could stack seamlessly: Protean
converting her to a Fire-type would halve incoming Ice damage. Thick Fat would further
halve Ice damage. Ice Scales and Light Screen would halve incoming Special Attack
damage. And finally, Aurora Veil would apply a universal flat damage reduction across
the board.
With so many exponential damage-halving multipliers stacked on top of each other, the
math nerds in the audience quickly ran the numbers. Any Special Attack move striking
Kirlia would theoretically be reduced to a pathetic 3% of its original output.
If she popped a Calm Mind to passively boost her Special Defense on top of that, it wasfunctionally the equivalent of zero damage.
When that 3% calculation flashed across the livestream chat, the entire screen was
buried under a tidal wave of question marks.
???
Three percent is way too fucking broken! Even factoring in standard operational variance
— like move proficiency and energy control fluctuations— that number is completely
illegal!
If defensive multipliers can truly stack like that, Lorze is absolutely justified in claiming his
Kirlia can't lose. Tell me, how the fuck is she supposed to die?
If she uses Mimic to copy Aqua Ring for continuous health regeneration, the opponent's
chip damage won't even outpace her healing! How could she possibly lose?
Furthermore... Kirlia could dynamically swap her Ability loadouts depending on the
opponent.
If she swapped to Protean, Adaptability, and Sheer Force, she became the ultimate,
specialized glass cannon.
If she loaded Flash Fire, Lightning Rod, Water Absorb, Earth Eater, or Sap Sipper, she
became entirely immune to Fire, Electric, Water, Ground, and Grass-type damage.
If she swapped to Serene Grace, Super Luck, and Flame Body... wouldn't anyone who
touched her instantly catch fire?
Holy shit... the more you analyze it, the more broken it sounds! Does the Ralts
evolutionary line truly possess this horrifying level of biological potential?
Her sheer existence is a walking, breathing cheat code!
Compared to that, a 97% theoretical damage reduction actually sounds relatively
modest and balanced...
"Even knowing this, do you still intend to challenge my Kirlia?" Lorze tilted his head
slightly upwards, his expression carrying the arrogant sneer of someone mocking their
opponent's ignorance!
Truth be told, Kirlia herself wasn't biologically capable of Triple-Wielding Abilities yet. But
Lorze wasn't lying: since his mind and Kirlia ' s were perfectly fused, his brain could
passively cache a third Ability for her, functionally creating a Triple-Wield state.
Once his own physical body evolved to handle Dual-Wielding, Kirlia would effectively be
Quad-Wielding!
"Hmph! We won't know until we try. Blizzard!"
Xue Yi fully recognized how invincible Kirlia's defensive matrix was, but she absolutely
refused to surrender. She commanded Alolan Ninetales to unleash the Blizzard Cyclone
once more.
Speaking of which, the fully awakened Xue Yi could passively generate snowfall herself,
much like how her older sister, the Psychic Xue Tong, could effortlessly deploy
Telekinesis and Telepathy.
This meant her Umbreon didn't need to waste a turn using Copycat on Hail to trigger
Aurora Veil; Xue Yi could manually summon the Snow weather condition herself. This
allowed them to swap Hail entirely for Blizzard, meaning even Umbreon could deploy the
devastating Blizzard Cyclone combo.
Xue Yi had buried this trump card incredibly deep, ensuring Lorze wouldn't catch wind ofher awakening until this exact moment.
Under the compounded snowfall generated by both Xue Yi and Alolan Ninetales, no
opponent on Earth could steal the weather advantage from her.
If Lorze had planned to win by out-pacing her weather control, he would have been
utterly blindsided by this hidden trap.
Xue Yi' s Blizzard Cyclone was a catastrophic threat. Standard Hail weather inflicted
continuous chip damage to non-Ice types, but the output was negligible— better than
nothing, but barely.
The Blizzard Cyclone was an entirely different beast. Xue Yi fused the 110 Base Power of
the Blizzard move directly into the swirling vortex of the snowfall, engineering a
customized weather condition entirely unique to her.
This localized cyclone inflicted continuous, passive AoE damage equivalent to a direct hit
from Blizzard. Let me ask you: if an average Trainer faced her, would they need to fight
for weather control?
If they failed to steal the weather, Alolan Ninetales could simply activate Snow Cloak to
vanish into the storm, waiting passively as the cyclone ripped the opponent to shreds. It
wouldn't even take long.
One had to admit, she truly lived up to the pedigree of being Xue Tong's sister. The
display of power from the Alolan Ninetales left the audience gasping in endless awe.
No one had predicted Xue Yi was hiding a nuke of this caliber. If Kirlia didn't possess that
absurd 97% damage mitigation, they genuinely would have assumed Researcher Lorze
was doomed.
Kirlia immediately deployed Mystical Fire. The flames coiled tightly around her frame,
forging a blazing ring of fire that effortlessly deflected the Blizzard Cyclone, preventing it
from inflicting any meaningful damage.
"If this cyclone is your only win condition, you could burn through every drop of your
stamina and it still wouldn't be enough to scratch us.
"
Lorze and Kirlia stood perfectly still, making no move to counter-attack, visibly
dismissing the threat.
"No. It's more than enough,
" Xue Yi's voice drifted out from within the sky-blotting
blizzard.
The moment she saw Kirlia trigger Protean to shift into a Fire-type, she knew the victory
was hers.
Her only fear had been Lorze choosing to shift into an Ice-type. If he had, her win
condition would have evaporated, because her ultimate trump card was explicitly
ineffective against Ice-types.
Within the howling blizzard, a stark, brilliant ice-blue radiance pulsed from Xue Yi' s body.
She was clearly synchronizing her energy with Alolan Ninetales, channeling a
catastrophic strike.
Lorze made absolutely no move to interrupt her. After casually taking a tiny,
precautionary defensive measure, he permitted his beloved wife to fully execute her
secret technique.
It wasn't that Lorze was arrogantly banking on his 97% damage reduction; he was simply
giving his wife the respect to perform her ultimate move. He genuinely wanted to seewhat kind of firepower she believed could pierce Kirlia's absolute defense.
Amidst this tense standoff, a mere five seconds passed before a disturbance erupted
from within the blizzard.
In a split second, the howling winds and surging cyclones abruptly ceased. The ambient
Ice-type energy fell into an eerie, unnatural silence, as if the very flow of time had been
flash-frozen. It was an incredibly bizarre phenomenon.
In the next heartbeat, that suffocating, frozen silence slammed directly into Kirlia. A
catastrophic force—a power that felt as though it could genuinely freeze the fabric of
spacetime itself—manifested out of thin air, violently invading Kirlia's physical body.
A crisp CRACK, resembling the sound of shattering ice, echoed through the void. By the
time anyone processed the sound, Kirlia had been entirely entombed in ice by that
torrential, absolute force. The vaunted 97% damage reduction hadn't mitigated a single
fraction of the impact!
"Sheer Cold!"
Xue Yi's freezing voice echoed from within the storm.
Sheer Cold. A One-Hit-KO move. If it lands, the target dies. There are absolutely zero
exceptions!
Lorze could never have predicted this. She had secretly mastered this domain of
absolute destruction in the shadows.
I learned this move specifically to destroy you. Do you love it?
Chapter 182
It's actually... Sheer Cold?
The audience stared in sheer disbelief at Kirlia, who was completely entombed within a
miniature glacier. The ice was immaculately pure, radiating wisps of terrifying,
bone-chilling frost.
This was the first time humanity had witnessed a true, manually-executed Sheer Cold
outside of a Metronome tournament. If it weren't for the random rolls of Metronome, the
world wouldn't even know this move existed in the biological code.
And even though its existence was documented, up until this very moment, no
researcher on Earth had managed to decode its execution mechanics.
This led the global consensus to conclude that this absolute power belonged exclusively
to Legendary Pokémon; ordinary lifeforms were biologically incapable of mastering it.
Yet here it was, successfully executed. Not through the RNG of Metronome, but
channeled manually through sheer, innate power.
"Researcher Lorze actually crashed and burned! Sheer Cold ignores all shields and
defensive multipliers, doesn't it?"
"Since he lost, does that mean we finally get to learn Milotic's evolution conditions?"
"Probably... but honestly, I'm a hardcore Umbreon simp anyway.
"
The audience sighed in collective awe. Who could have predicted an outcome like this?
That was a 97% damage reduction, and she was still deleted in a single hit?
Are the Trainers these days just competing to see who can run the most broken cheat
codes?
Is it impossible to survive in the competitive arena without packing a literal hack?"You lost.
"
The Blizzard Cyclone dissipated, revealing a visibly exhausted Xue Yi and Alolan
Ninetales. Forcing the manifestation of that absolute power had clearly drained a
massive toll on their stamina.
However, seeing Kirlia entirely encased in ice confirmed her victory.
One had to admit, this move was brutally difficult to deploy. Not only did a single
execution nearly drain Alolan Ninetales's entire energy reserve, but it also placed an
immense, crushing burden on Xue Yi's mental fortitude.
While Sheer Cold possessed the absolute power of a One-Hit-KO, the energy required
was astronomically difficult to control. Under standard deployment, the accuracy was
abysmally low.
It was entirely due to Xue Yi's absolute affinity for Ice-type energy that she managed to
forcefully wrangle that apocalyptic power into submission. Yet even so, her current
success rate was hovering around a mere 50%.
After all, she had only just achieved her full awakening. Achieving flawless mastery over
that power would require significant time and training.
But she could afford to take it slow. All that mattered right now was that Lorze had been
crushed beneath her heel!
That's what you get for being so arrogant you didn't even bother popping a Protect! You'
ll have to obediently honor our bet now, won't you?
"You certainly delivered a surprise. I was just stressing over where I was going to find a
target for Milotic to Mimic Sheer Cold from, and in the blink of an eye, you
hand-delivered it to my doorstep. Thank you so much, Little Xue~
"
.
Lorze had to admit he was genuinely startled. He had calculated countless theoretical
paths Xue Yi might take to defeat him, but he never imagined that at her young age, she
could master the absolute zero that even Champion-tier Trainers couldn't grasp.
It seems this world has no shortage of hackers. I should probably pop a Protect before
flexing next time.
"Hmph. You ' re maintaining your composure remarkably well. Are you planning to
publicly default on our bet?" Xue Yi narrowed her eyes slightly. Lorze's reaction was far
too casual; he didn't look like a defeated man in the slightest.
Yet Kirlia was clearly entombed in solid ice. Her baseline vitality was inferior to
Ninetales's to begin with; after taking a direct hit from Sheer Cold, it was biologically
impossible for her to stand back up.
Absolutely impossible!
"How could I? Despite how I might look, I am a man who honors my promises. If I truly
lost, I wouldn't even mind acting as your obedient puppy~
. But that's if I lost.
" Lorze's
lips curled into a smirk.
"You have lost! A target struck by Sheer Cold has absolutely zero chance of recovering!"
Xue Yi's heart sank, a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread clawing at her chest.
"I am fully aware of Sheer Cold's mechanics. In fact, Kirlia's physical stamina, mental
fortitude, and life energy were completely instantly drained to zero.
"
"Then what the hell are you implying?"
"Didn't I make myself perfectly clear from the very beginning? My Kirlia... does not lose!"The moment Lorze's words fell, his pupils ignited with the radiant glow of a triggered
ability.
Well, it was just his Telepathic Resonance mode. One must remember that his mind and
Kirlia's were seamlessly, deeply fused. He could channel his own mental energy directly
into her through their psychic link.
Kirlia was a creature distinct from ordinary Pokémon. She was a biological entity fueled
entirely by psychic energy; physical stamina was essentially irrelevant to her functionality.
Thus, as Lorze ' s mental energy violently flooded into her system, the Kirlia trapped
within the freezing, pitch-black void felt that familiar, comforting warmth once more.
It was the warmth that had never abandoned her since the day they met, the warmth that
had pulled her out of her endless, agonizing loneliness and anxiety.
Without him, the current Kirlia would not exist. Without him... her existence held zero
meaning.
His Kirlia would not be defeated, because Kirlia refused to let him fail!
As familiar memories cascaded through her consciousness, they shattered the freezing
grip of absolute zero and banished the darkness entirely, reforging into her strength to
face reality once more... and the power to awaken!
In that exact fraction of a second, Kirlia's eyes snapped open. A catastrophic surge of
psychic energy erupted from her frame, instantly detonating the entire glacier into dust.
Accompanying this massive psychic shockwave was a blinding, iridescent radiance
bursting from deep within her body. It was a phenomenon that only triggered during the
absolute ascension of a lifeform... the Light of Evolution!
Kirlia was evolving.
The audience was long accustomed to the spectacle of evolution, but triggering an
evolution after being pushed to the absolute brink of death mid-battle injected a massive
dose of shōnen-anime hype into the atmosphere.
Wait, why did she evolve exactly at this moment? When Researcher Lorze kept insisting
his Kirlia wouldn't lose, did he actually calculate that she would trigger an evolution to
turn the tides in a life-or-death crisis?
No fucking way... is a calculation like that actually mathematically possible?
"An... evolution?!"
Xue Yi stared in disbelief at the tiny silhouette bathed in iridescent light. She watched the
one-meter-tall frame rapidly elongate, the childish proportions maturing into a fully
developed, womanly figure in the blink of an eye, her eyes wide with shock.
She absolutely refused to believe Lorze was simply gambling on Kirlia evolving at a
critical moment; that bastard had definitely engineered something behind the scenes.
The only thing she knew for certain was that her greatest romantic rival had likely just
entered the battlefield...
"Gardevoir. She finally crossed the threshold.
"
Lorze honestly hadn't anticipated Kirlia evolving at this exact moment. In truth, she had
displayed the physiological signs of imminent evolution for quite some time, but Lorze
had continuously ordered her to suppress the urge, aiming to delay the threshold for as
long as possible.
His reasoning wasn't simply to aggressively mine Kirlia's latent biological potential. Hewanted her to absorb a massive surplus of Fairy-type energy during this delay, hoping
she could hijack the raw power of evolution to forcibly awaken her Fairy typing in one
seamless transition.
Now that Kirlia had been pushed into a literal near-death crisis, the suppressed
evolutionary energy finally detonated under the extreme stress of mortality, triggering her
ultimate biological ascension.
The evolved Kirlia had finally transformed into the Gardevoir that drove every male on the
internet to scream "Waifu!"
Furthermore, she was a stunning, pure-white Gardevoir standing a full 1.7 meters tall,
radiating an overwhelming, mature "Ara-Ara" aura.
The girls in the audience gasped in awe, while the boys stared with absolute, burning
envy.
What a gorgeous woman!
Ah, wait—what a gorgeous Pokémon!
It's over. Why do I suddenly feel like Milotic is about to become an outdated viral trend?
Can someone please drop the coordinates for where I can catch a Ralts?
Chapter 183
Gardevoir gracefully descended onto the battlefield. Reborn through evolution, she
radiated a powerful, iridescent vitality that illuminated her entire form.
Not only had her physical stamina instantly refilled to maximum capacity, but her life
energy—previously flash-frozen by Sheer Cold—now overflowed, surging even stronger
than before.
It was unheard of for any Elite-tier combatant to possess this level of robust vitality.
This was likely the biological payoff from the relentless months she had spent grinding
and studying Life Energy back when she was a Kirlia. The sheer regenerative capacity of
the current Gardevoir was practically equivalent to permanently running a passive Aqua
Ring.
"Xue Yi, are you physically capable of deploying another Sheer Cold?" Lorze smiled as
he looked across the field at his opponent.
"Hmph. You'll find out if you try,
" Xue Yi sneered coldly.
But internally, she knew better than anyone else that the momentum had permanently
shifted.
Setting aside the fact that her current energy reserves were far too depleted to sustain
the monstrous cost of another Sheer Cold... even if she managed to fire one off, Lorze
would never give her the opportunity to land it again.
She absolutely refused to believe a Gardevoir didn't know Protect. Whether she popped
a shield or simply used Teleport to instantly vacate the blast zone, the glacier spawned
by Sheer Cold would strike empty air.
While Sheer Cold possessed catastrophic, absolute power, its operational restrictions
were equally severe.
It wouldn't be considered a true, un-dodgeable lethal nuke until she could reliably push
its accuracy metric above 70%.
"Alright then. Let's run a test. Gardevoir, can you deploy that?" Lorze glanced at hisbreathtakingly gorgeous partner.
Just staring at that elegant, pure-white figure from behind is enough to ignite endless
fantasies.
"Gar~
"
.
Gardevoir nodded gracefully. Since their minds were permanently fused, she naturally
understood exactly what Lorze was referring to.
The moment she crossed the evolution threshold, she clearly felt an unfamiliar yet deeply
instinctual power awaken within her biology. She suspected this was the exact latent
ability Lorze had been desperately hoping she would master all along.
"Perfect. Let's use Xue Yi as our test subject. Moonblast!" Lorze instantly commanded.
"Keep dreaming! Ice Beam!"
Even knowing the tides had turned, Xue Yi absolutely refused to surrender without a fight,
instantly channeling the last dregs of her awakened energy to amplify Alolan Ninetales.
Gardevoir deliberately disabled her massive 97% theoretical damage mitigation just to
trade blows with her? Does she think my Ice-type amplification is just for show?
Even though she was running on fumes, manually boosting Ninetales' Special Attack by
two stages was still within her operational limits.
We are both Elite-tier combatants, and Gardevoir isn't even deploying her primary
Psychic-type moves! In a straight shootout, there is zero mathematical reason for me to
lose!
And then she lost...
Are you joking? Lorze never claimed he was going to trade blows fairly.
The moment Alolan Ninetales burned the last of her stamina to fire the Ice Beam,
Gardevoir casually executed a Teleport to sidestep the blast entirely.
Immediately after, she countered with a devastating Moonblast, violently hurling a
massive, condensed sphere of glowing pink Fairy-type energy across the field.
The sphere connected flawlessly with Alolan Ninetales, detonating with a catastrophic
BOOM.
The already exhausted Ninetales was violently blasted into the air by the detonation.
Unless she could also magically trigger a mid-battle evolution to fully regenerate her
health like Gardevoir, it was biologically impossible for her to stand back up.
Xue Yi: "
"
...
Staring at the unconscious Ninetales, Xue Yi fell into a profound silence.
She truly never imagined that even after dropping a literal apocalyptic nuke like Sheer
Cold, she still couldn't defeat him.
Was her man actually this overwhelmingly powerful...?
If that was the reality... then perhaps surrendering dominance to him in their relationship
wasn't completely unacceptable.
...
In the hours that followed, all the Top 8 competitors were called onto the grand stage for
the closing awards ceremony.
The prizes were the standard fare: cash rewards, exclusive move-tutor data drives, and
premium Berry resources.
However, considering that practically everyone who reached this bracket came fromultra-wealthy elite families, these prizes were viewed as nothing more than pocket
change.
The only things they genuinely salivated over right now were Lorze ' s Dual-Wielding
Abilities hack, alongside the evolution pathways for both Umbreon and Milotic.
Now that Xue Yi had been officially eliminated, shouldn't she honor her previous
statement and reveal Umbreon's evolution conditions to the world?
Whether they were sitting in the stadium seats or glaring through their monitors at home,
practically everyone on Earth was waiting for Lorze to step up to the microphone.
"Researcher Lorze, the global audience is practically clawing at their screens, desperate
to know how to obtain an Umbreon as cool and mysterious as yours. Would you kindly
do the honors and unveil the secrets of Umbreon for everyone during this final moment?"
The host finally segued into the topic everyone was burning to hear the second the
trophies were distributed.
Although the audience didn't get to witness Lorze's defeat, and it was entirely up in the
air whether he would still reveal Milotic's pathway, Xue Yi had previously promised to
drop the Umbreon reveal if she lost. They had to honor that much, right?
Everyone literally clicked the Pokédex livestream link because they were 'baited' by the
promise of this reveal! We've already generated an astronomical volume of traffic for
your tournament committee. If you plan on blue-balling us at the finish line, I swear to
God it'll trigger a global riot and mass uninstalls of the Pokédex app!
"I've said it before: even a man like me honors his promises. Therefore, I won't just
reveal Umbreon's pathway—I'll provide Espeon's evolution conditions entirely free of
charge as well.
"
"However, consider this: the fact that these two evolutions remained undiscovered for
decades proves exactly how harsh their biological requirements are. You all better
mentally prepare yourselves,
" Lorze deliberately hyped up the difficulty to scare them.
One must understand that an immense number of Trainers had already preemptively
purchased and hoarded Eevees. If the evolution requirements turned out to be brutally
harsh, wouldn't all their preparation and investment go down the drain?
Among them were plenty of lower-income Trainers who couldn't afford premium
Psychic-type partners and were desperately banking on securing an Espeon to flip their
fortunes in the competitive circuit.
You can imagine how much panic his statement instantly triggered across the globe.
"Please don't keep us in suspense, Researcher Lorze! Our fragile hearts can't handle the
anxiety! Could you elaborate on exactly what makes the conditions so harsh?" the host
pressed, playing his role perfectly.
"Before I answer that, I must first ask the audience a question: How exactly do you view
the emotional bond between humans and Pokémon?" Lorze countered with a
philosophical question.
"Does... does that actually correlate with Eevee' s evolution conditions?" the host asked,
following Lorze's lead.
"The correlation is absolute. In fact, it directly ties into the evolution pathway for Milotic
that everyone is so desperate to learn as well.
"
"Could you elaborate?""First, we must establish a baseline truth: Pokémon are highly intelligent, highly
emotional biological entities. Logically, there is very little separating their consciousness
from ours.
"
"Yet, I' ve observed that to this day, a massive demographic still treats Pokémon as
nothing more than glorified pets. What they fail to realize is that the manner in which we
treat a Pokémon dictates exactly how that Pokémon will reward us.
"
"Only when a Trainer invests the deep, genuine emotional attachment reserved for family
into a Pokémon will that partner detonate a life-altering surge of energy. I refer to this
force as the 'Power of Bonds,
' or alternatively,
'Emotional Energy'
"
.
"Emotions... possess tangible energy?" The host performed an exaggerated look of
shock, though to be fair, he was genuinely startled by the concept himself.
"Everyone knows the mechanics of the move Return, correct? The closer a Pokémon's
emotional bond with its Trainer, the higher the destructive output of the move scales.
"
"That biological mechanic alone has been screaming the truth at us for years: Emotions
generate tangible kinetic energy.
"
"Therefore, if you want to unlock the Sun and Moon forms of Eevee, the absolute primary
requirement is to max out Eevee's Friendship stat.
"
"Once that threshold is crossed, simply choose to have them absorb a sufficient volume
of Solar or Lunar energy during the day or night. Evolution Stones are entirely
unnecessary.
" Lorze finally dropped the bombshell reveal.
"It actually relies on the Friendship stat?! An evolution pathway like this exists?!" The
host stared in genuine disbelief.
"Of course it does. The highly detailed data parameters will be published on the Pokédex
app shortly.
"
"Moving forward, the Xue family will officially roll out free Friendship-Detection services,
as well as specialized Candies engineered to boost Friendship-based Emotional Energy.
"
"Furthermore, the highly coveted evolution pathway for Milotic will also be publicly
uploaded to the Pokédex database! So hurry up and scan the QR code at the bottom of
your screens to download the app!" Lorze detonated one final, massive hype-bomb right
before signing off.
This instantly drove the global community's enthusiasm to an absolute climax.
Originally, they assumed Lorze was going to keep Milotic' s conditions locked away,
considering how much capital he could extort by selling that data privately.
Nobody expected Researcher Lorze to just dump the data for free at the finish line. Is this
guy running a literal charity?!
In a flash, countless netizens began developing genuine goodwill toward Lorze and the
Xue family's sheer generosity, instantly converting from neutral observers to die-hard
fans as they frantically downloaded the Pokédex app.
While they still harbored massive doubts regarding Lorze' s "Friendship Evolution" theory,
and couldn't fully wrap their heads around the concept of "Emotional Energy"
...
...they understood one crucial detail perfectly: The Sun and Moon forms of Eevee did not
require expensive Evolution Stones!
Since it didn't require buying a Stone, there was zero financial risk in trying it out!
If they actually succeeded, securing an elite Psychic-type or Dark-type partner wasbasically free!
It was easy to predict that following this PR masterclass, the Xue family Pokédex' s
monopoly would be completely indestructible. The topic of "Emotional Energy" was
destined to dominate global scientific discourse for the foreseeable future, and the name
"Lorze" would officially begin stepping onto the world stage...
Chapter 184
Following Lorze's public reveal of the evolution conditions for both Milotic and the
Sun/Moon Eevees, an immeasurable tsunami of users frantically swarmed the Pokédex
app.
Even though the Xue family backend engineers had preemptively scaled their servers for
massive traffic, the infrastructure nearly melted down under the strain.
The second the users logged into the app, practically every single one of them sprinted
straight to Milotic's directory page, desperate to discover her pre-evolution form so they
could hoard a few before the market price skyrocketed.
Keeping one for myself and flipping the rest for a massive profit—wouldn't that be the
perfect hustle?
It was glaringly obvious that despite Lorze's impassioned speech regarding Emotional
Energy, he couldn't instantly overwrite humanity's ingrained perception of Pokémon as
mere pets, or rather, as tools for financial exploitation.
However, when the users loaded the page and saw that Milotic ' s evolutionary tree
displayed a clear image of a Feebas, every single one of them froze in absolute,
mind-numbing disbelief.
What the fuck?
Why is the 'Gambling Fish' plastered right here?
Did the Pokédex bug out?
Is the Xue family just meme-ing the 'Gambling Fish' joke, or did the interns upload the
wrong jpeg, or... are our eyes collectively hallucinating???
Please don't tell us that the creature universally hailed as the supreme pinnacle of beauty
— Milotic— is genuinely the evolved form of the universally despised, hideously ugly
Gambling Fish! The irony is far too lethal.
You have no idea how utterly toxic Feebas's reputation had become across the internet
over the years. Whenever the topic of "ugliness" was brought up, she was inevitably
dragged out as the baseline comparison. She had essentially become the biological
mascot for physical repulsion in the public consciousness.
If anyone dared to post a single positive comment defending the Gambling Fish online,
they would immediately be swarmed, stalked, and ruthlessly mocked by hordes of
"civilized" netizens.
It was as if verbally abusing Feebas had become a form of political correctness; the
internet refused to tolerate a single word of praise for the species.
Yet now, the Xue family Pokédex explicitly stated that Milotic evolved directly from
Feebas.
The "Ugly Duckling" humanity had spent years arrogantly mocking and insulting was, in
reality, the pristine White Swan. Humans had blindly projected their own stupidity andspite onto a completely innocent Pokémon. The sheer, catastrophic irony was deafening!
Many netizens fell completely silent upon realizing this, desperately wishing they could
time-travel back and slap their past selves across the face for joining the hate mobs
against Feebas!
But inevitably, a faction of deniers stubbornly refused to accept that Milotic evolved from
Feebas, convinced the Xue family Pokédex was fabricating data for clicks, violently
demanding they produce hard evidence.
And what' s with these joke annotations about "Beauty Evolution" and "Friendship
Evolution"? Are you sure you didn't just plagiarize this lore from some RPG video game?
Absolutely laughable. Did people actually fall for this bullshit?
As if predicting and perfectly countering this exact wave of denial, the Xue family swiftly
pushed an update to Milotic's directory, uploading two short video clips.
The first video was ripped directly from the security feeds of the Shanghai Aquarium.
In the footage, it was painfully easy to see crowds of pixelated humans pointing fingers
and relentlessly mocking a Pokémon trapped inside a display tank.
The viewers saw it with crystal clarity: the Pokémon inside the tank was a Feebas. Day
after day, she endured the public' s malicious ridicule, spiraling into deep depression and
agony, eventually locking herself away in a block of solid ice.
This tragic cycle continued until, one fateful day, a destined teenager arrived and took
her away.
Then the second video began playing.
It was the same teenager. He was cradling the dripping wet Feebas in his arms, gently
soothing her, his voice projecting infinite patience as he spoke to her.
He told Feebas to believe in herself, explaining how he had drawn inspiration from
Gyarados's rage-fueled mutation to deduce that Feebas could absolutely evolve through
the conceptual trigger of "Beauty.
"
Ultimately, after a masterclass in emotional manipulation, the boy actually leaned down
and kissed Feebas squarely on the forehead, explicitly validating his deep affection for
her.
This drove Feebas into a state of frantic, euphoric excitement, flopping wildly in his
embrace until her emotional energy detonated, engulfing her in the Light of Evolution.
Watching the undeniable, unedited sequence of the giant yellow fish undergoing a
"complete metamorphosis" to emerge as Milotic... even the final, most stubborn deniers
—and the coordinated corporate troll farms—were violently silenced.
With the unarguable truth shoved directly into their faces, what was left to deny?
Of course, if someone was dead-set on claiming the video was CGI, there was no
stopping them. But if they kept running their mouths, and some random Trainer
successfully replicated Lorze ' s method next week... wouldn't they just be brutally
slapping their own faces a second time?
At the end of the video, Lorze reiterated his core philosophy regarding the emotional
bond between humans and Pokémon.
A Trainer who neglects the emotional reality of their partner will never, ever unlock that
Pokémon's true biological potential.
The singular reason countless elite researchers had failed to trigger Feebas's evolution inthe past was simply because not a single one of them had ever genuinely loved or cared
for a Feebas.
Lorze's only hope was that his words would force humanity to self-reflect.
If you refuse to reflect, that's fine too. If you don't want a Milotic of your own, just pretend
I never said anything.
...
With that, Lorze's journey through the Metropolitan Battle officially concluded. He had
finally cleared his immediate backlog of critical operations.
Acting on a sudden whim, Lorze secretly indulged in a guilty pleasure that every person
who acquires a shred of fame inevitably engages in...
...he hopped online and googled his own name~
.
Given his dominant performance at the tournament and the world-shattering data drops
he had orchestrated, factoring in the media's parasitic nature to farm engagement, there
was zero chance he wasn't dominating the algorithms.
As expected, the Metropolitan Battle had barely concluded, yet a casual search instantly
pulled up countless combat highlight reels and dedicated editorial columns analyzing his
strategies. He even found a fully-fleshed out wiki page dedicated entirely to him.
The only detail that left Lorze completely speechless was that he couldn't find his name
anywhere near the top of the global Trending Search Rankings???
He scrolled down the list with increasing annoyance, finally spotting his name buried all
the way down at #11.
What the fuck? So all you bastards claiming to be my 'ten-year veteran fans' were
completely full of shit, weren't you?
Can't you guys even bother to search up your own idol's name?!
But to be fair, he couldn't place the blame entirely on his "veteran fans" for slacking off.
After all, the entity occupying the absolute #1 trending slot was the Xue family Pokédex
app. That slot was undoubtedly purchased with corporate capital, and absolutely no
organic trend was going to dethrone it.
Following that were: Pure White Gardevoir, Ice-Type Ninetales, Milotic, Espeon,
Umbreon, Xue Yi, Hu Wenjun's Ariados, Li Ning's Feraligatr, Emotional Energy, and
Dual-Wielding Abilities.
Every single milestone dominating those top ten slots was a direct byproduct of his own
labor, yet he—the architect behind all of them—was somehow ranked below his own
creations. It was fucking absurd.
The fact that his ranking was actually lower than Li Ning' s Feraligatr was especially
infuriating.
The only reason that Feraligatr and Hu Wenjun's Ariados were trending was because
they had publicly deployed Dual-Wielding Abilities during their matches, which naturally
sparked massive public curiosity and engagement.
So why the hell aren't you guys curious about the Genius Researcher who actually
engineered the Dual-Wielding mechanic in the first place?!
Actually, there was someone highly curious about him, someone who desperately
wanted to meet him face-to-face: President Murong, the woman standing at the absolute
pinnacle of domestic authority.The tournament had barely wrapped up when a woman identifying herself as the
President's secretary invited both Lorze and Xue Yi to a highly secure VIP lounge.
Inside, Mother Xue and a mature, breathtakingly elegant MILF who radiated an aura of
supreme, regal nobility had already been waiting for some time.
The moment Lorze laid eyes on this stunning MILF, his internal kink-radar instantly went
into overdrive.
By now, Lorze's carnal palate had been heavily spoiled by the god-tier beauties residing
in his harem. Anyone with an aesthetic rating below a solid 7/10 found it nearly
impossible to capture his attention anymore.
To trigger his kink-radar these days, a target didn't just need a 9/10 baseline appearance;
they also needed to possess the distinct, mature charm of a MILF combined with the
intoxicating, domineering aura of a supreme authority figure!
And the unidentified noblewoman sitting before him passed his rigorous criteria with
flying colors. Both her regal aura and her voluptuous, perfectly mature figure were
absolutely intoxicating.
Even though she was dressed in a highly conservative, formal outfit, it did absolutely
nothing to suppress the incredibly sexy, erotic pheromones radiating from her body.
It couldn't be helped; when a man' s mind enters a state of deep lust, everything he looks
at naturally becomes coated in an erotic filter~
.
Under normal circumstances, Lorze wouldn't have hesitated for a second. He would
have instantly maxed out his Cute Charm to force her affection levels to spike, then
slowly closed the distance until he was pinning her down for a kiss.
But the issue was... earlier, in order to demonstrate Gardevoir's Triple-Wielding
capabilities to Xue Yi in the arena, he had manually swapped his Cute Charm out for Ice
Scales.
So right now, even if he wanted to magically seduce her, he literally didn't have the
hardware to do it.
Chapter 185
With Xue Xu's deep understanding of Lorze, she could tell at a single glance that his
sexual interest had been piqued by President Murong.
After all, her old acquaintance possessed a body that was both intensely erotic and full.
Even when she dressed conservatively, she frequently drew the covetous stares of men.
This was in complete contrast to her intimidating aura that made people afraid to look her
in the eye; she was like a natural-born siren destined to attract bees and butterflies.
If such a siren couldn't be maneuvered into one's own bed, it would indeed be a bit of a
pity for any man.
It would even be a pity for her.
If Lorze could use his unique charm to conquer the President, wouldn't that mean the
Xue family would have an absolute heavyweight backing them from behind the scenes?
Xue Xu immediately nodded at him, her eyes filled with hints urging him to make his
move.
Lorze gave an imperceptible nod in return; he would have made a move even without
Auntie Xue's instruction.However, since he wasn't currently running Cute Charm, Lorze didn't believe for a
second that a high-society noblewoman would fall for an underage brat during standard
social interaction.
So, Lorze quickly released Gardevoir. Using the excuse of assigning her a task, he had
her teleport out to hunt down a target from which she could copy Cute Charm.
If his memory served him right, there should be a Breeding Center nearby; surely there
would be a Pokémon with Cute Charm there.
It was just a pity that his Milotic dual-wielded the Adaptability she had mastered as a
Feebas, rather than Cute Charm. Otherwise, it wouldn't be this troublesome.
He couldn't just overwrite Adaptability with Cute Charm purely for convenience, could
he?
That would be way too much of a loss...
"Lorze, Little Xue, allow me to introduce you. This is Madam Murong, the Chief President
of the China Pokémon Trainer Association. Practically everything related to the Trainer
domain in this country falls under her jurisdiction,
" Xue Xu quickly introduced to Lorze.
In reality, she merely wanted to communicate just how massive the President's authority
was, urging him to secure her as quickly as possible.
"President Murong? Could it be that you are...
" Lorze was somewhat surprised by her
surname.
You must know that China's current Champion is named Murong Wanqiu, sharing the
exact same surname as the woman standing before him.
Although the surname Murong wasn't exceedingly rare in China, it certainly wasn't
common either.
Furthermore, to be a Murong capable of raising a Champion, perhaps only a position like
the President's could fit the bill?
"As you have guessed, I am Wanqiu's mother,
" Madam Murong didn't hide it, revealing
the truth directly to him.
"So it really is you! To tell you the truth, the Champion is exactly one of the people I
deeply admire!" Lorze immediately started trying to close the distance.
"There are plenty of people who admire my daughter, and plenty more who wish to marry
her. But for most, it will only ever be wishful thinking. However, I can give you a small tip:
my daughter's criteria for a partner doesn't place much importance on the age gap,
"
President Murong smiled slightly, seemingly misinterpreting Lorze's words as a
declaration of affection for her daughter.
Her daughter was the reigning Champion, after all. Although her popularity was slightly
overshadowed by Xue Tong the Psychic, the gap wasn't massive. She was equally
regarded as a National Goddess, so it was perfectly normal for hordes of boys to adore
her.
Furthermore, Murong Wanqiu had long reached the age for marriage, so Madam Murong
had received no shortage of hints regarding arranged marriages.
Unfortunately for them, while she demanded many things of her daughter, marriage was
the one area where she refused to force her hand, so she ignored all those overtures.
However, judging from the fact that she voluntarily revealed her daughter's dating criteria
to Lorze, she probably didn't oppose the idea of him pursuing her daughter, did she?After all, anyone with eyes could see Lorze's potential, as well as his current standing
within the Xue family.
The most commendable part was that he came from a poor background, meaning he
had climbed to this position entirely on his own merit. This earned him massive bonus
points in Madam Murong's heart.
Especially when contrasted with the performance of the wealthy heirs populating China's
upper echelons today, she felt so disappointed that she wanted to invest all her personal
capital into Lorze.
To be perfectly blunt, the youth of today were acting like greenhouse flowers. They even
needed a team of security guards to accompany them into Secret Realms for "training.
"
Could that even be called training?
Was there even a sense of danger?
It was utterly absurd!
The people of this era were simply too well-protected, lacking a certain ruthlessness.
When faced with genuine crises, they easily crumbled under the pressure. This was one
of the primary reasons why China had lost to the United States two years in a row.
Therefore, she was incredibly desperate to discover a genius who could endure hardship
and was ruthless enough. Raw effort was useless; who didn't work hard these days?
What she needed was the kind of person whose hunger for victory pushed them to use
any means necessary. Often, it was those who had struggled at the absolute bottom of
society who possessed this exact quality.
She had always held her daughter to these strict standards. Ever since her daughter
came of age, she had frequently tossed her into Secret Realms to survive alone. That
was how a dominant Champion was forged.
Therefore, in the President's eyes, Lorze's ability to climb to his current position wasn't
solely due to his extraordinary talent; he had undoubtedly utilized plenty of dirty tactics in
the shadows.
But being dirty was a good thing. Squeaky-clean people never make it to the end.
"Thank you for the intel, President. I will certainly work hard~
,
" Lorze could easily tell
Madam Murong was showing him goodwill, and he was naturally more than happy to
close the distance.
"Of course, my intel isn't free. I am extremely interested in your Dual-Wielding Ability
technology. I wonder if you might be willing to disclose some details?" President Murong
cut straight to the point.
"It is my honor to catch your eye. But... just that piece of intel is a little insufficient for a
trade, don't you think?" Lorze said casually.
"It is indeed insufficient. Then what else would you like to exchange?"
"If the President could authorize the Champion to marry me~
"
.
"Heh, you truly are as greedy as Xue Xu described. But unfortunately, that is the one
matter I cannot decide for her.
"
"I figured as much... In that case, could I trouble you to open a green channel for me?"
"What do you mean?"
"To be honest, I've been wanting a Life Orb for a while. But neither my previous high
school nor the Principal of SMU High had the authority to requisition one for me.Someone in your position should possess that power, right?" Lorze shifted the
conversation back to his desire for a Life Orb.
Or rather, he never actually expected the Madam to hand the Champion over to him
directly; his true objective had always been the Life Orb from the very start.
"That item... you should know it's incredibly dangerous. Many researchers have lost their
lives from prolonged exposure to it. Why do you want such a hazardous artifact?"
President Murong frowned slightly. In her eyes, that orb was an object of pure malice;
only those with nefarious intentions would seek to use it.
"It's perfectly normal. Even Pokémon face risks from prolonged exposure, let alone
humans. But danger often harbors opportunity. I need the power of that orb to complete
a critical research project,
" Lorze casually fabricated an excuse.
"What kind of research requires the use of something so dangerous?" President Murong
shook her head. She wasn't going to hand over such a hazardous item based on a flimsy
excuse.
"Answering that would involve my personal secrets,
" Lorze acted as if he was hesitating.
"If you cannot answer, then I cannot agree to your request. To be frank, I personally
admire your style of seeking opportunity within crises, but the Life Orb remains far too
dangerous. It is not something you can control. Out of a sense of responsibility for your
safety, I cannot simply hand it over to you,
" President Murong refused sternly.
"Does that mean you do have a way to obtain it?"
"Only if you can prove you possess the capacity to control it.
"
"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease. Auntie Xue, could I trouble you all to give us
the room for a moment? I might need to spend some time sleeping—I mean, talking her
into it.
"
Lorze shot Auntie Xue a meaningful glance. He was about to get down to business,
signaling Auntie Xue to stand guard outside.
It just so happened that his Cute Charm had reconnected at that exact moment. It
seemed Gardevoir had successfully located a target to copy the Ability from and was
currently on her way back.
Regarding the Life Orb, he had to acquire it no matter what, for two main reasons.
The most critical point was to utilize it for researching Life Energy. Based on their recent
studies of True Qi energy, combined with the catastrophic surge of vitality Gardevoir
exhibited at the moment of her evolution, they had essentially verified one thing.
There was a profound correlation between the phenomenon of evolution and Life Energy.
Does that sound like stating the obvious?
What Lorze meant to convey was that as long as a lifeform could continue its ascension,
even a fully evolved Gardevoir could theoretically evolve again.
And this evolution wouldn't be a Mega Evolution that simply squeezed out all latent
potential; it would be a true, fundamental elevation of her biological tier.
The absolute best evidence of this was Diancie.
Diancie was a lifeform that ascended due to a specific, accidental mutation in a Carbink.
That single ascension instantly elevated her into a Mythical creature.
And Lorze's pure white Gardevoir was a highly unique existence among all Gardevoir.
Even though she had recovered her lost emotions, the horn on her chest— used forsensing emotional energy— remained pure white, strongly suggesting an ongoing
mutation.
If Gardevoir could achieve a deeper mastery over Life Energy, could she possess the
chance to become a Mythical-tier creature just like Diancie?
Lorze couldn't know for sure.
But it was absolutely necessary to try, wasn't it?
Up until now, across all the games and anime, it seemed no one had ever cultivated an
ordinary Pokémon into a Legendary or Mythical lifeform, right?
That realm was no longer something that could be reached simply by boosting raw
power. The more impossible a task seemed to others, the more he wanted to challenge
it.
And the Life Orb would serve as their crucial catalyst for comprehending Life Energy