Avoiding the heavy crowd heading toward the cafeteria, Ethan Vale returned to the dormitory.
Because Pokémon existed in this world, productivity was far more advanced than in his previous life.
Naturally, even the basic necessities—food, clothing, housing, and transportation—had been improved by more than just a little.
The dormitories at Shanghai University, where Ethan Vale studied, were all apartment-style units with two bedrooms and a living room.
The excellent living conditions even made him feel that his university dorm in his past life had been nothing more than a doghouse.
Lying in the quiet, comfortable bedroom, Ethan Vale once again summoned the system.
On the blue, semi-transparent screen, several lines of text stood out conspicuously.
[Pokémon] [Synergies] [Items]
Are these the system's main functions?
Ethan Vale tried clicking the first two buttons, but there was no response.
He wasn't surprised—he indeed hadn't caught any Pokémon yet, so it was only natural that nothing showed up.
Still, as a veteran player, he could more or less guess the purpose of these buttons.
Synergies were the very essence of Teamfight Tactics.
When multiple units sharing the same trait appeared together, they could provide powerful combat or economic bonuses.
Applied to the Pokémon world, this likely meant that Pokémon of the same type or with the same abilities could form some kind of synergy.
As for what those synergy effects actually were, he'd have to wait until he obtained his first Pokémon to research them.
The [Items] interface displayed the three items he had obtained earlier from the Prismatic Orb.
[Artifact Anvil: After use, allows you to choose one of three powerful artifacts (can only be equipped to a captured Pokémon).]
[Chosen Emblem: After use, designates a Pokémon as a "Chosen Pokémon." Chosen Pokémon gain additional synergy tiers and special effects (can only be used on a captured Pokémon).]
[Basic Item Anvil: After use, allows you to choose one of three basic items. Two basic items can be combined into a completed item.]
"As expected—it's basically a heavily modded Golden Spatula system, but for Pokémon."
Ethan Vale thought to himself, "As for the exact effects, I'll look into them after I catch my first Pokémon."
After dinner, Ethan Vale turned on his computer and began today's work.
"Hello, hello? Moshi moshi? Aloha? Can you hear me?"
The moment the stream went live, viewers began flooding in.
"So good, it's Lao Shui! My anorexia is cured!"
"Streamer, streamer—your Substitute–Protect Poison strategy really is strong, but it's too mechanically demanding. Do you have a simpler yet still powerful team to recommend?"
"Teacher Shui isn't turning on the camera again today? Then what am I supposed to do with my flight tonight?"
"Hurry up and update the Pokémon Mythology series! Without this electronic side dish, my meals don't taste right anymore!"
"Here from the Luna Volt super-topic—who's Leaf Hex?"
"."
Ethan Vale's streamer name was Leaf Hex, derived from a character split from "Chi."
As a newly rising but already popular content creator and game streamer, he had a sizable active fanbase.
Especially some time ago, when he happened to match against Luna Volt, the ultra-popular Gym Leader from the Paldea region, and tormented her into a rage-quit using Substitute–Protect Poison tactics—he'd gained a massive surge in popularity.
Of course, an idol streamer's fanbase inevitably included a few people who weren't quite right in the head.
Amid the generally harmonious, meme-filled atmosphere, there were also some glaringly unpleasant comments.
"You like playing such disgusting tactics—if an Onix used Earthquake in your house, it'd only hit one person, huh?"
"Too scared to even turn on the camera—are you uglier than your tactics?"
"You're not even worthy of being a streamer. I'm unfollowing!"
"Go apologize to Luna Volt right now, or our Cheering Squad has plenty of strength and methods!"
…Where did these trolls even come from?
You're going to ruin Marnie's reputation at this rate!
Glancing at the chat out of habit after starting the stream, Ethan Vale felt a bit speechless, then casually banned a few accounts spamming trash talk.
Not because he was offended—Ethan Vale had never cared about negative comments.
After all, his household registry really did only have one page.
Attacks like these were like trying to fight a Ghost-type Pokémon in close combat—completely ineffective.
The main reason was that his stream focused on a harmonious and joyful atmosphere; he couldn't let this garbage ruin other viewers' experience.
I might not be a professional Pokémon Trainer, but when it comes to streaming—no one understands it better than me!
After dealing with it briefly, Ethan Vale launched Pokémon: Champion's Path.
Strictly speaking, this game wasn't just about team building and battling—its Pokémon collection and training systems were also quite rich.
Raising a fully optimized account required a massive investment of money or time.
Today, Ethan Vale had logged into his roommate Aaron Cole's account.
Chen's family background was better than Ethan Vale's—but only to a limited extent.
As a result, the Pokémon on this account, in both quantity and quality, were far from top-tier—usable, but barely.
Many mainstream team compositions simply couldn't be assembled.
However, Ethan Vale had built his reputation on all kinds of bizarre strategies. An account like this was still perfectly playable.
"Streamer, streamer—your Substitute–Protect Poison strategy really is strong, but it's too mechanically demanding. Do you have a simpler yet still powerful team to recommend?"
Repeating the earlier comment, Ethan Vale said, "Yes, brother, yes. Teams this strong—there are nine more."
Of course, "nine" was just a figure of speech. Similar degenerate strategies weren't just plentiful—Ethan Vale could easily pull out ten or even twenty sets.
"Today, what I'm teaching everyone is extreme damage output—Trapinch!"
The moment the word Trapinch left his mouth, the livestream instantly filled with laughter.
"Here it comes, here it comes—my favorite baby Pokémon team segment!"
"If I remember right, Trapinch is the base form of Flygon, isn't it?"
"I'm dying—what can Trapinch even do? Let it evolve first!"
"Is this a try-not-to-laugh challenge? I admit, this one's hard."
"."
Facing the wall of mockery in the chat, Ethan Vale said nothing and simply focused on building the team.
The tactical system in this world was also similar to the anime's worldview.
Put politely, it was passionate brawling—moves clashing head-on.
Put bluntly—
"Wake up one day, and the entire world's understanding of Pokémon battles has dropped by ten thousand levels!"
In truth, it was easy to understand. Games and reality were fundamentally different.
Turn-based battles in games were constrained by base stats, move combinations, defensive pivots, prediction, and other game-theory elements.
Real-world battles, on the other hand, depended squarely on Pokémon training quality and the Trainer's on-the-spot command ability.
It wasn't that the locals didn't understand tactics or team building at all.
The reality was that real battles weren't turn-based games; in the face of overwhelming strength differences, those factors simply mattered far less.
But then again—
Pokémon: Champion's Path was, after all, a data-driven game.
Those overlooked tactics finally had a stage where they could truly shine.
"Alright, folks—our lineup is complete."
Not keeping the viewers waiting long, Ethan Vale quickly finished building a Trapinch-centered team.
Hatterene, Mimikyu, Trapinch, Torkoal, Dusknoir, and Vikavolt.
In a ranked environment dominated by high-popularity Pokémon like Charizard, Venusaur, and Lucario, this was truly a breath of fresh air.
"Next, I'm going to go undefeated in one streak and climb straight into the Great Ball tier!"
Ethan Vale declared boldly, then pressed the matchmaking button.