The senior who had collected her materials didn't linger for long. After greeting him, she headed home, leaving Fang Yuan alone in the club classroom.
Fang Yuan didn't stay idle either. He utilized the books here while using his phone to search for information to digest the memories he had just acquired.
However, as he was reading, Fang Yuan suddenly patted his stomach.
Grrr...
His stomach rumbled with dissatisfaction.
"I forgot to eat, and I wonder if the high school cafeteria is still open during college entrance exams."
"I should go check..."
Fang Yuan tidied up a bit and then glanced at the time. It was almost two o'clock, so the likelihood of finding food in the cafeteria was slim. However, his main goal was to visit the snack bar inside it to buy some bread to eat, and hopefully a bottle of nutrient drink too.
Yet in reality, on such a day, the snack bar's lady had long since left; she wasn't even there.
After wandering around in vain, Fang Yuan, feeling pretty helpless, had no choice but to leave school and find a restaurant outside to order a rice dish.
"Waiter, fish-flavored shredded pork with rice."
"Got it," the restaurant waiter replied.
Hold on!
After settling into a cool spot near the air conditioner, Fang Yuan suddenly fell into contemplation.
Fish-flavored pork? What kind of meat is that?
That's right. In his memory, this world was one where Pokemon coexisted with regular animals.
Although numerous ecosystems suffered serious damage when the secret locations first appeared, decades of human intervention had since stabilized the ecological environment.
The price of maintaining the balance of wild ecosystems was such that most regular animals could only live in zoos, farms, or specified protected areas, leaving the wild as a paradise for Pokemon.
How Pokemon and regular animals could peacefully coexist within an ecosystem had always been one of the key challenges humans faced.
It was proven best not to keep Pokemon and regular animals together. A trainer had once made the news for doing just that—he left his pet dog Teddy alone at home with his fire-type Pokemon, Growlithe, and when the trainer returned that evening, he found that Teddy had nearly been burned alive...
"Pfft..." Recalling this, Fang Yuan laughed out loud. What a talent. That was considered a mild example. It was not uncommon for regular animals to become Pokemon's food, since their fighting power levels were simply not in the same league.
Soon, the food arrived. Fang Yuan was truly hungry, and he polished off a plate of rice in no time with a few swipes, finally grabbing a bottle of ice-cold cola, feeling thoroughly satisfied.
"Checkout, scan the code." Looking at the empty plate, Fang Yuan wiped his mouth with a napkin, took out his phone, and turned to say.
...
After leaving the restaurant, Fang Yuan thought for a moment, but he didn't return to school. Instead, he went straight home.
Between six in the morning and ten at night, there was no one else at Fang Yuan's house. Father Fang was an electrician, and Mother Fang sold clothing in the mall, both working late.
At this moment, returning home, Fang Yuan had one thing on his mind: What kind of beginner elf would suit him?
Although there was still some time before he could buy a spirit egg from the breeding house, considering it in advance didn't hurt.
Hmm...
Shui Jun is quite beautiful...
Articuno is alright too.
Or maybe... Di Anxi?
After a moment, Fang Yuan realized his daydreams were unrealistic.
"Given that the family conditions aren't great, grass-type spirits are definitely the first choice."
"The homeroom teacher had subtly hinted at this, and Teacher Li had also given me suggestions."
After searching online, Fang Yuan found that the Pingcheng public breeding house sold quite a variety of grass-type spirit eggs, like Weepinbell, Walking Grass, Bellsprout, Sunflower seeds, Paras...
But...
"No Bulbasaur... no Wood Guardian... no Grass sprout turtle... not a single of the three great families!"
After scanning carefully again, the sharp-eyed Fang Yuan noticed a note about reservations in the top right corner of the webpage.
After clicking on the question mark indicator, he realized that to purchase some of the rarer spirits' spirit eggs, you needed to submit a request to the breeding house in advance.
"Forget it, rare spirits are certainly beyond my budget as well."
Fang Yuan did a quick calculation. His senior year's tuition was a large expense. Every person registering as a trainer for the first time needed to pay a minimum of five years' worth of fees. Right after that, he still had to set aside money for nutrition and food supplies for the spirit throughout the year. Whatever was left after that was meant for buying the spirit egg, but the budget was tight.
Everyone wanted to choose a rare and promising spirit as their beginner spirit; Fang Yuan was no exception. But considering his family's finances, he could only cough awkwardly and let it go.
"Easy to raise, with high potential. I'll focus on these two criteria. It seems I'll have to look within the grass-type spirits, moreover, grass-type spirit eggs seem to have the lowest average price."
When it came to easy raising, grass-type spirits were definitely at the top. Most grass-type spirits could survive just by basking in the sun. However, if someone dared to keep one like this for a year, its fighting power would definitely turn out to be mediocre.
After looking for a while, Fang Yuan became frustrated. He realized his indecisiveness was acting up again. Every option seemed good to him.
"Isn't there another way?"
"Wait... there is one more."
Fang Yuan's eyes lit up. How could he have forgotten about the anime? It seemed the breeder's test had struck a blow on him earlier.
In the long journeys spanning several regions in the anime, Xiaozhi, the protagonist, definitely had some experiences that could enlighten him.
"I remember there was an episode in the anime where Xiaozhi's Forest Turtle accidentally swallowed its Energy Ball move and then suddenly went berserk, showcasing great strength."
Remembering this, Fang Yuan quickly searched for the move Energy Ball, but unfortunately, the information was scarcely available. Online, the data only described Energy Ball as a move containing immense energy and listed the spirits that could learn it.
There not being any information online was not an issue, since he had some other impressions of the move.
"Energy Ball, its principle was to launch life power gathered from nature, which was a description in the game—I shouldn't be wrong. But what does this have to do with Forest Turtle's power-up upon swallowing it? Also, besides Forest Turtle, would this power-up method apply to other grass-type spirits too... Whatever, I'll note it down first, Energy Ball is a move I must learn."
Fang Yuan smiled, feeling like he had found a direction.
"Hmm, maybe I can craft my own nurturing plan around the concept of 'powering up upon swallowing Energy Ball'?"
"But I feel it's somewhat unreliable. Would Energy Ball leave hidden wounds internally...?"
"Assume there will be hidden injuries; can they be healed?"
"Let me think, photosynthesis must be learned, Ultimate Absorption is necessary, Growth is very useful too, there's also Rooting, Grass Field..."
Taking out a pen and notebook, Fang Yuan began jotting down notes seriously, becoming heavily absorbed.
The pen glided over the paper. Observing the contents depicted by the written words, Fang Yuan suddenly grasped something. Regardless of whether this idea was feasible, or whether he would indeed buy a grass-type spirit egg, he felt this couldn't be given up halfway, for this was his first independent thought as a trainer.