So charming, you want me to raise Pokémon?

Chapter 162: The Quarterfinals Begin

Chapter 162 The Quarterfinals Begin (3000 words)

On Saturday, the top eight freshmen tournament of Shanghai University was held. Due to the official promotion by the Shanghai Municipal Government and the heated discussion online about the "Boost Ball" item that appeared on the field, some people believe that this item allows unqualified trainers to stand on the big stage, while others believe that such items, which are harmful to Pokémon's bodies and disrupt the Pokémon competition environment, should be completely banned. Some people said, "Dude, stop investigating."

Raising a Pokémon requires so many resources, effort, and time. A Power-Up Ball can reduce the cost of raising a Pokémon to the minimum, and it only costs 100 dollars.

Do you think I don't know if boosting balls will harm Pokémon? But I just want to be a trainer, a gym leader, a world champion, a champion. I dream about it all!

For many reasons, the competition's popularity has continued to rise, making it the most talked-about freshman competition in its history.

The contestants were all sitting in the hall, their eyes fixed on the screen. The first match was between Xu Mu's aluminum steel dragon and another contestant's swimming ring. Both of them were using enhancement balls.

"Swimming Ring Weasel, use Water Jet!"

"Whoosh!" The swim ring weasel launched itself forward, its body enveloped in the blue rushing water, using the impact with the ground to circle the track once.

Using agile footwork, I nimbly dodged the pursuit of the Duraludon, successfully found its blind spot, and launched an attack.

"Aluminum Steel Dragon, suppress him, then use Dragon Claw repeatedly."

Duraludon was hit by a Swim-boosted Weasel with a Power Puff. The immense force nearly flipped Duraludon over. Fortunately, Duraludon's ability is Metal. It grabbed the Weasel's body and used its weight to suppress it. Then, it raised its fist and delivered a heavy blow to the Weasel, which was unable to break free.

One blow, two blows, one after another, until the swimming ring weasel went from a ferocious expression to wearing a mask of pain, to grinding its teeth, until finally its will completely collapsed and it lay on the ground unable to move.

"The Swim Ring Weasel is unable to fight, Aluminum Steel Dragon wins, and Xu Mu advances to the semifinals!"

The strength displayed by Aluminum Steel Dragon put a lot of pressure on the other contestants. As soon as the results were announced, the contestants in the room began to discuss it.

"As expected of Duraludon! 'A great Pokémon is born early' is no joke."

"Luckily, his level isn't high, and he hasn't learned any useful special attack moves yet, otherwise he would be even more difficult to deal with. My Rhino should be able to put up a fight."

Just kill him with a single thrust.

"You should be thinking about how to beat Piplup with the One-Horned Rhino first."

"Bogaman, what do you think? What are your chances of winning against Aluminum Steel Dragon?" Ma Liang asked. The boost from the Enhancement Ball was astonishing. Six out of the eight players in the quarterfinals carried Enhancement Balls. Apart from him and Wei Xin, even he had wavered under such circumstances.

It wasn't until he saw the principle behind how the Lac element enhances Pokémon's strength at the research center that Wei Xin even used the simplest biological model to help him understand.

If we think of a Pokémon's body as a balloon filled with air, and the air inside the balloon as the energy of the Pokémon's body, then the Rak element is fire, which is high temperature. This causes the energy inside the Pokémon to expand rapidly, and under the action of strong pressure, the Pokémon releases even more energy and unleashes even more powerful moves.

However, the Pokémon's body cannot withstand this energy, and it may even experience a tearing pain from the inside out. In order to release the power within its body, the Pokémon will become frenzied, aggressive, and ignore the trainer's commands. In extreme cases, it may attack everything around it, including the trainer.

That's not the most terrifying thing. The biggest danger of the Racine element is that it changes the Pokémon's body structure, like a balloon that has been forcibly inflated. Even if it returns to its original size, its strength will be affected. Even if it wants the move to have its original power, it needs even more power. In the end, it can only rely on the Racine element forever.

Double, triple, triple

As Pokémon's need for Lacium increases, only two outcomes will occur: either the Pokémon's body cannot withstand the Lacium's power and collapses completely, or crystals that release Lacium will form within the Pokémon's body and continue to spread.

Wei Xin even gave this phenomenon a name: "Orestone disease," and then, with a somber expression, shared with them its environmental implications.

Sociological analysis of the harms to productivity, as if he had witnessed them firsthand.

Wei Xin had indeed met him; he used to be a doctoral student researching mineral defects, and no one knew more about mineral defects than him.

Ma Liang felt that Wei Xin was exaggerating, but the harm caused by the Lac element was real. Therefore, even if it meant losing the game, he would not let Bogaman use the enhanced ball.

"Poga, Poga!" Pogaman patted Ma Liang's thigh and proudly puffed out his chest. Even without using the Enhance Ball, he could defeat his opponent.

Everyone in the room was tense and uneasy because of the increasingly intense competition, except for one person.

"Hey, Professor, Dr. Blatano still won't give up on his ideas. His design can't possibly succeed. How could the Z-antibody be linked to Mega Evolution? — Never mind, I'll talk to him about it myself when I get back."

"Well, Lillie, you asked about the price of the Energy Cube. It can't go any lower. We're doing business, not charity. The remaining money can be used for promotion. For domestic brands, call Ms. Cynthia and ask her to help film some GG videos. Also, ask her if she can contact Ms. Karuni. If that doesn't work, I'll ask Dr. Syracuse for help, provided that he really is an old classmate of Karuni."

"You're talking about the League opening ceremony bidding, the ultra-long-distance torch relay marathon, the PPR competition? Pokemon Player Run, asking if we want to be sponsors. We haven't even started making a profit yet and they're already trying to get us to inject capital? Dream on! Are you suggesting they prevent us from selling Power Cubes in China if we don't become sponsors?"

"Being a sponsor is fine too. We'll provide free promotion and reimbursement for costs. In the end, we'll take 70% of the profits, he'll take 20%, and the remaining 10% will be donated in our name to support new trainers."

"What do you mean you want me to do you a favor by having the other party dye their hair red? Even if they dye it green, it won't work. We don't lack business partners. If all else fails, I can sell the patent to your mother."

"Oh, and also, didn't Shanghai have a batch of motorcycle lizards that they didn't know what to do with? Yes, the shared motorcycle lizards. Hmm, buy them at a low price, raise them well, and then resell them when the competition starts."

Ralts sat on Wei Xin's lap. Seeing the trainer busy, she opened the sandwich she was carrying, got up, and stuffed it into Wei Xin's mouth.

"Oh, thank you!" Wei Xin typed quickly on his laptop with one hand, then took out another and patted Ralts' head. During the past few busy days, Ralts had been taking care of his daily life. It would be even better if Ralts could force him to rest without using hypnosis.

Wei Xin took a bite of the sandwich Ralts handed him and continued talking on the phone with Rotom beside him.

"What? The experiment was a success? Oh, the aluminum-steel-coated dry cell battery salt bridge rusting experiment?" (Chews emotionlessly)

Question: Several bigwigs appeared in Wei Xin's phone call just now.

If it weren't for the fact that someone else's voice was definitely coming from Wei Xin's phone, the other contestants in the room would have suspected that Wei Xin was playing a prank, and they would all be dumbfounded.

Dude, where did you come from? Is this still a newbie village? Why is there a demon king standing next to everyone else, discussing with the Four Heavenly Kings whether to monopolize human food and ironware so they can rule over humanity, when everyone is scrambling for the best swords?

Ma Liang remembered the first time he met Wei Xin. Wei Xin was just an ordinary researcher. It hasn't been long, and everyone is using Firefly Cat. Why are you driving a Blazing Roaring Tiger and coming over to intimidate everyone? Where did you come from, a disciple of some sect? You've been away training for two and a half years and have gone from Qi Refining to Nascent Soul.

Brother, you feel like a stranger to me.

Wei Xin was also helpless. He didn't mean to show off in front of other contestants; he was just really busy right now because the development of the z-antibody bracelet had hit a bottleneck.

In order to get the Power Cubes to market as soon as possible, Lillie used her allowance and connections, and so far things are going smoothly.

His novel is also nearing its end, although Wei Xin could easily pay a penalty to suspend the serialization.

After all, it was a work that Karuni and Cynthia helped promote, and its fan base was incredibly large. He didn't want to abandon it, and as someone who had been persecuted by the old thief, he really wanted others to experience the pain he had back then.

He's like a student who finds himself having to review more than ten subjects during final exam week—overwhelmed and wishing he could be two people at once.

After a while, the other two matches also ended.

In Group B, Bogarman faced Unicorn Rhino. He defended against the opponent's attack, created distance, and used his belly to glide and maneuver nimbly. He pulled the opponent from a distance, using Q, E, and W to successfully advance to the semi-finals.

"It was a close call," Ma Liang patted his chest. His next opponent was Xu Mu and his Duraludon. If he could defeat Duraludon and Ralts, he would win first place in the freshman tournament, which would be worthy of his status as a gym leader. Although gym leaders are judged by their strength, not their background, as long as he and Piplup are of one mind, he would be no match for the gym leader.

To surpass, to control!

Piplup was eager to fight. If he could defeat Duraludon, he could meet Ralts in the finals. For this goal, he stopped looking at beautiful women, stopped eating snacks, and stopped all entertainment. Trainers thought he was depressed because he was too heartbroken.

All of Piplup's sacrifices were for the finals. He had already planned it out: first, he would crush Ralts with absolute power to show his strength, and then he would hold back and let Ralts become the champion to show his sincerity and gentleness.

Girl, isn't this guy absolutely smitten?

In Group C, the skilled Scyther battled Soundproof Snowpipe. The two berserk Pokémon exchanged blows, exchanging blows and trading HP.

In the end, Snow Hat Monster narrowly lost because, at a low level, skilled players could deal more damage with the low-powered Flying Mantis skill, and due to its own attribute disadvantages.

A voice came from the speakers in the contestants' room: "Contestant number one in Group D, Wei Xin, and contestant number two in Group D, Qiao Sida, please prepare for the match."

Wei Xin clicked "save" three times in a row, then reopened the document. After confirming that the manuscript of the final chapter of "Protoss I" was correct, he closed his laptop, picked up Ralts, and got up.

"Let's go! It's time for our performance."

"Ralu!" Ralu broke free from Wei Xin's arms, landed on the ground, and tugged at Wei Xin's trouser leg, unwilling to go on stage.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Wei Xin asked, puzzled. It shouldn't be like this. Although he had a lot of things to deal with, he never forgot to take care of his little ones.

"Ralts!" Ralts crossed her arms, indicating that her trainer had been working too much overtime lately, which was bad for his health. She suggested that he simply forfeit the match to get some rest, or that he could ask for leave after the match and go home to rest. Otherwise, she would absolutely refuse to participate.

Wei Xin hesitated for a few seconds, then remembered that all the items Ralts needed to practice Moon Power had arrived: "I understand. After the match, I'll go to the research center and ask for a short leave."

Wei Xin made up his mind that he would go back and discuss with the professor later about sharing their research report with the experts in Padia, or find a way to directly call the expert group in Padia to Donghuang to assist them in developing the z-antibody bracelet. This time, even if Dr. Blatano clung to his leg and begged him while crying, he would not soften his heart.