The last glow of sunset dyed the wooden floor of the Fighting Dojo a warm orange-red. After a long, noisy day, the dojo had grown especially quiet.
And yet, right in the middle of the training hall, a small green figure was still tirelessly swinging its arm blades.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Daal the spirit kept its gaze focused, slashing forward again and again. Every movement was sharp, precise, and fast, each strike cutting through the air with a crisp hiss.
The little mantis was completely immersed in its training, so disciplined it was almost unbelievable.
Shi Dou walked over carrying a cup of warm MooMoo Milk, a pleased smile on his face.
"Alright, Daal, take a break. Drink something and recover your strength."
At his voice, the little mantis stopped moving. Its large black eyes turned toward Shi Dou, then to the milk in his hand, and it edged closer curiously.
Shi Dou held the cup out in front of it. Daal carefully tapped the rim with the edge of one arm blade first, then lowered its head and began to sip in small mouthfuls.
"Mmm…"
The sweet milk hit its tongue, and Daal's eyes instantly seemed to brighten. It clearly loved the taste. It began drinking faster, letting out soft, satisfied clicking noises.
"So you like it. Good. From now on, you'll get some every day."
Shi Dou gently stroked its smooth, hard little head. Daal didn't dodge away. Instead, it lightly rubbed against his palm and went right on enjoying its milk.
Under the setting sun, the man and the spirit made for an especially warm and peaceful picture, their bond quietly deepening without a word.
But the shock in Shi Dou's heart went far beyond that.
In just a single afternoon—less than a day after arriving—this little mantis had already steamrolled every Pokémon left in the dojo.
Machop, Tyrogue, even a fairly strong Hitmonlee…
It had beaten every last one of them.
Especially that first Machop he'd used for practice. Over the course of one day, Daal had basically turned it into a punching bag and beaten it up five separate times.
The little mantis's fighting style was efficient, fierce, and lightning-fast. Especially that move, X-Scissor—with the Sharpness trait boosting it, its power rose crazily with each successive hit. Very few opponents could survive a third slash.
Even more terrifying was its discipline. No one needed to supervise it. It would seize every spare moment on its own to keep honing its skills.
A self-training spirit…
It was simply too perfect.
Shi Dou had watched all of it, and the joy in his heart kept growing.
So this was the potential of a future god-tier beast?
What a monster.
At this rate, if he entered the little mantis in some kind of beginner cup, it might win the championship automatically.
Night had fully fallen. Daal was still out in the moonlight, practicing the same repetitive blade swings, while Shi Dou returned to his room. The excitement remained, but reality soon resurfaced in his mind.
The system was tied to the dojo's popularity.
But in present-day Saffron City, every trainer's attention was fixed on that beautiful and overwhelmingly powerful Psychic Gym. Who would spare a glance for his remote, rundown Fighting Dojo, one that was already on the verge of losing its official certification?
Popularity…
Where was he supposed to get popularity from?
Shi Dou fell into thought. Then suddenly, an instinct from his past life lit up in his mind, and his eyes flashed.
"Right. I can stream online!"
Back in his previous life, Shi Dou had at least been a decently successful content creator on a certain pink video platform, with over a hundred thousand followers. He mostly livestreamed Pokémon battles and made strategy breakdowns, so he was no stranger to this kind of thing.
He immediately opened the most popular streaming platform in this world—
Piplup TV.
The homepage was lively, just as expected, packed with every kind of Pokémon-related stream.
Without thinking, Shi Dou typed a name into the search bar:
Iono.
The page jumped, and a highly energetic stream instantly popped up. The title read:
[Iono's Chatter Stream! Even Yamper will get shocked silly!]
The channel's subscriber count was an eye-watering 1,000,000+.
On-screen, the Electric-type Gym Leader from the Paldea region, Iono, was delivering her opening lines with her trademark twin tails and hyper-energetic pose.
"Everybody Iono's talking! Super-charged and ready to go! Ta-da! Ehehe☆!"
"Casting an electric net to catch your eyeballs! Who's talking? It's me, Iono! Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hello, ciao~!"
The chat flew by like a tidal wave:
"Ciallo~"
"Waaah, Iono is way too cute."
"Paldea's officially designated adorable idol!"
"So cute! I've been shocked senseless!"
"My wife."
"The guy above me needs a splash of cold water."
"All hail Lady Iono!"
Iono had cleverly fused her identity as a Gym Leader with the business model of a VTuber, and her popularity was downright terrifying.
"If I copy Iono's approach… maybe I can carve out a place for myself in streaming too and build up popularity fast!"
For a moment, Shi Dou felt as if he had found a shortcut.
But the very next second, he calmed down.
The problem was obvious.
Who would skip a top-tier cute-girl streamer like Iono and come watch some rough-looking guy in a dilapidated dojo instead?
Shi Dou sighed. At least he had enough self-awareness to know that.
Simple chatting and acting cute was definitely not going to work.
That meant the only path left was—
hardcore technical skill.
Shi Dou's gaze swept across the platform's trending list and noticed that many of the hot topics revolved around a single title:
Pokémon Master.
Pokémon Master was a revolutionary online battling game jointly developed in this world by Silph Co., Devon Corp., and other major tech companies. It almost perfectly simulated real Pokémon battle data, move effects, and the tactical metagame, earning it the title of "the online sandbox for trainers."
Because of its extreme realism and competitive depth, it wasn't just popular among ordinary trainers. Even the Kanto Champion Red, regional Elite Four members, and League executives from all over the world paid attention to it—or even played it themselves from time to time.
It was, quite simply, a global phenomenon.
The ranked ladder was divided into five major tiers:
Beginner Tier, Poké Ball Tier, Great Ball Tier, Ultra Ball Tier, and then the highest honor of all—reserved only for the top hundred players in the world:
Master Ball Tier.
And the player currently sitting at the very top of the Master Ball rankings had a simple, domineering ID:
Red.
"This is it."
Fire rose in Shi Dou's eyes as he murmured to himself,
"If nobody's coming to the real dojo yet, then I'll make my name in Pokémon Master first. I'll use hardcore battle skill to draw viewers in. Once I've built up enough followers and enough popularity, people won't be able to ignore my Fighting Dojo anymore. And the system's popularity points will rise with it."
The moment he made up his mind, Shi Dou acted immediately and found the game's download page.
"Starting today, I'm playing Pokémon Master. My goal: Master Ball rank. Let this world see the dirty tricks and tactical understanding of someone from another world."
Shi Dou said it with total confidence.
Then he opened Piplup TV's streaming software.
Step one in creating a stream room was choosing a memorable username and title.
"The name… it needs some flavor. Something people will remember."
Shi Dou thought for a moment. Then a certain Champion from his previous life—one infamous for missing Water Spout over and over for sheer entertainment value—suddenly came to mind. A mischievous grin tugged at his lips as he typed in the ID field:
Kricketune Hero AG
"Yeah. Maybe a little unlucky, since the legend of missing Water Spout four times in a row still rings in my ears, but… this is the one. A little tribute."
Shi Dou nodded in satisfaction.
Then came the stream title. It had to be eye-catching—maybe even a little provocative.
After a brief moment of thought, his fingers flew across the keyboard:
[Random Team Ranked Climb — Solo Queue from Zero to Master Ball in One Month. Don't Believe Me? Come Watch.]
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 135)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter67)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter85)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 60
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 65
From Junkman to Wasteland 50
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 35
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 40
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 37
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 27
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 26
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 26
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