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"Wait, is that really Morning Sun? The actual Morning Sun?" one player whispered in amazement.
"What do you mean 'really'? Can't you see his player ID right there above his head?" another responded with exasperation.
"Holy crap, it's actually Morning Sun—the Morning Sun who's ranked number one on every leaderboard!" a third player exclaimed, barely containing his excitement.
"But why would a god-tier player like him return to the newbie village of Pallet Town?" someone else wondered aloud.
"Look at his Pokedex data! That Pokemon is called Garchomp, and it's definitely one of his legendary team members from the rankings!" another player confirmed, checking his device frantically.
"I can't believe I'm seeing Morning Sun, the most famous player in the entire game, on my very first day logging in!" a newcomer gasped in disbelief.
The crowd of gathered players buzzed with animated conversation, everyone expressing their shock and excitement at this unexpected encounter. Their surprise was completely understandable—since the game servers had launched, the legendary player Morning Sun had remained mysteriously elusive to most of the community.
While everyone could track his progress through the gym badge rankings, watching as he collected badges at an unprecedented pace with incredible strength that kept him far ahead of all other players, actually seeing him in person had seemed impossible until now.
"Oh my god! He's reached gym leader level already! That means he's as strong as actual gym leaders, right?!" one player exclaimed after checking the power rankings.
This particular player seemed to have neglected checking the leaderboards for several days and was completely stunned by what he discovered. While top-ranked players like LevelBoss and Dream Girl had only recently achieved intermediate peak levels and were still days away from reaching advanced status, Morning Sun had already ascended to gym leader level—possessing strength equivalent to the official gym leaders themselves.
For most players, gym leaders represented mid-game boss encounters. While they weren't the absolute strongest opponents in the Pokemon world, they were designed to challenge and suppress player progress for extended periods during the game's middle stages.
Yet here was proof that one player had reached that intimidating mid-game boss level in less than a month of gameplay. Who wouldn't be absolutely astounded by such an achievement?
"Gym leader level? How strong is that exactly?" a obviously new player asked innocently. "I mean, we're supposed to be collecting badges to challenge gyms anyway, right? When I watched those battle videos online, those gym leaders didn't seem that impressive."
Before the newcomer could even finish processing what he'd said, veteran players immediately jumped on his comment with corrections.
"Seriously? It's 2019 and people still make comments without reading the game manual first?" one player said with disbelief.
"You think gym leaders are weak? Try asking one to use their full power when you challenge them instead of holding back for new trainers!" another added sarcastically.
"Each region only has eight official gyms total. Do you really think the Pokemon League just randomly picks people off the street for those positions?" a third player explained with barely contained frustration.
"Even if you don't understand what gym leader level means, you should at least recognize what it signifies when Morning Sun's Pokemon are all above level 50!" yet another veteran pointed out.
Faced with this barrage of criticism, the newcomer quickly realized how ridiculous his comment had been. Unable to handle the social pressure, he immediately logged out of the game to avoid further embarrassment.
"Ahem! All of you need to move out of the way right now! You're blocking the entire path!" a feminine voice suddenly called out with clear authority.
Eddie had been about to ask the players to disperse himself, but someone beat him to it. Both he and the gathered crowd turned toward the source of the commanding voice.
Daisy Oak stood at the entrance to Professor Oak's laboratory, accompanied by three newly hired Pokemon breeders, glaring disapprovingly at the crowd of players blocking the walkway.
"Oh no, it's Daisy Oak! We should probably move..." one player whispered nervously.
"Wait, why are we running? She's just Professor Oak's granddaughter," another player questioned.
"Are you completely clueless? Forget about the starter Pokemon they gave us when we began our journeys—we're all going to need Professor Oak's help with research and Pokemon care eventually. Do you really want to get on his granddaughter's bad side?" a more experienced player explained urgently.
"Good point. Let's scatter before we cause any real problems..." the group quickly agreed.
With that pragmatic reasoning, the players who had no desire to earn Daisy's displeasure rapidly dispersed throughout the area. Of course, they didn't go very far—as long as they weren't clustering together and creating an obstruction, there shouldn't be any issues with their presence.
Now they simply had to content themselves with observing the legendary god-tier player Morning Sun from a respectful distance. Many of them deeply regretted not attempting to speak with him during those precious moments when they'd had the chance.
Several players had actually tried to engage Eddie in conversation earlier, hoping to discover the secrets behind his incredible strength and rapid progression. Unfortunately, with so many people talking excitedly at once, the scene had become far too noisy and chaotic for Eddie to respond to any individual questions effectively.
Of course, Eddie would never have been foolish enough to reveal the true reasons for his power—his knowledge of the game's future updates and his rebirth advantage. At most, he might have offered generic advice about working harder and focusing on skill development.
That was standard wisdom that any experienced player could share.
"You're Morning Sun, aren't you?" Daisy approached Eddie directly, her tone curious but friendly. "You left town several weeks ago for your adventure. Why have you returned today? Could it be that you've already collected all eight gym badges?"
Her speculation was perfectly reasonable, considering everything her grandfather had told her about Morning Sun's phenomenal growth rate and strength that had exceeded even Professor Oak's expectations. Having just overheard the players discussing Eddie's gym leader-level status, such a question seemed entirely logical.
"No, no, I've only managed to collect five badges so far. I'm still missing three," Eddie replied modestly.
As soon as those words left Eddie's mouth, envious murmurs rippled through the crowd of observing players.
"Did you hear how casually he said 'only' five badges? I'm so jealous I could cry," one player muttered.
"According to the badge rankings, he's in first place with five badges, while second-place LevelBoss just earned his third badge yesterday," another player noted with admiration.
"Five badges in just one month, plus gym leader-level strength... At this rate, he'll definitely have all eight Kanto region badges by the end of his second month. Absolutely incredible," a veteran player calculated with awe.
The excited chatter from the players began to interfere with Eddie and Daisy's conversation once again.
"You people! Either go somewhere else to have your discussion, or keep your voices down!" Daisy scolded, though her naturally gentle personality prevented her from raising her voice too harshly.
The players were mindful of maintaining good relations with Professor Oak, so they immediately lowered their voices when they heard her complaint. However, their volume reduction wasn't solely due to Daisy's request—Eddie had also instructed Garchomp to release his natural aura to help manage the situation.
Elite-level Pokemon possessed the ability to project intimidating auras, and gym leader-level Pokemon wielded even more powerful presence. Additionally, as a Dragon-type Pokemon and a pseudo-legendary species from the Sinnoh region, Garchomp's aura was significantly more intense than that of ordinary Pokemon.
Under the oppressive weight of Garchomp's commanding presence, the players felt their bodies growing heavy and sluggish. The weaker individuals among them had begun trembling involuntarily from the psychological pressure.
"Is this what a gym leader-level Pokemon feels like?" one player whispered in amazement.
"What a terrifying aura! I never imagined Pokemon could possess such overwhelming power!" another breathed in awe.
"Keep your voice down, or I have the feeling that Pokemon might decide to give us a more direct demonstration of its strength..." a third warned nervously.
Among all the players present in Pallet Town, except for Eddie himself, even the strongest player LevelBoss had only recently reached intermediate peak level. None of them had ever encountered elite-level Pokemon, let alone experienced the intimidating aura that powerful Pokemon could project.
This group of players was remarkably fortunate to experience the presence of such a formidable Pokemon—and not just any powerful Pokemon, but one at gym leader level.
At this moment, both the players and people watching from the real world realized that Pokemon strength far exceeded their initial expectations and assumptions.
Many observers recorded this significant encounter and immediately shared it on gaming forums and social media platforms. While ordinary players simply marveled at Eddie's incredible strength and accomplishments, more perceptive individuals recognized something much more important.
They realized that truly powerful Pokemon—those at elite level and above, particularly gym leader-level specimens—possessed capabilities far beyond anything they had previously imagined possible.
Most significantly, gym leader-level Pokemon were only around level 50, which meant this demonstration represented merely mid-tier strength in the Pokemon world's power hierarchy.
What kind of earth-shaking abilities might Pokemon above level 50 possess? They had no way of knowing for certain, but this revelation became permanently etched in their memories.
One day in the future, when the boundaries between the game world and reality would begin to blur, those who remembered this moment would be able to act swiftly and decisively because they understood the true scope of Pokemon power...