Chapter 334: Earth's Core
Striaton City.
Although it was also a small-scale city, it was much larger than the likes of Accumula Town.
Considered the largest and most developed city in the eastern continent (of Unova).
At the same time.
This was also the hometown of Cilan, Ash's partner in the Unova region.
Coming out of the Striaton Gym.
Just as Cynthia put away the Trio Badge, a man ran out from the Gym behind her.
"Please wait a moment~"
"May I ask what's the matter?"
Cynthia turned to look behind her.
She remembered this person.
This seemed to be the person watching the match from the audience just now.
Striaton Gym was quite special.
It wasn't just a Gym, but also a battle training ground for Striaton City.
The field was cleared during Gym battles; when there were no Gym battles, everyone could conduct battle training freely, and there were many places around to rest.
So when Cynthia came to challenge the Gym.
Trainers who were originally battling retreated to the side one after another, becoming the audience for this Gym challenge.
The man striking up a conversation now was one of them.
"I am a teacher at the Striaton City Trainers' School. I wonder if you have free time today?"
"Mm, quite a lot."
"Then, would you like to come to our school as an assistant teacher? Your Pokémon are rare in the Unova region; I want to broaden the children's horizons. Please! I will pay you!"
"Hmm..."
Hearing this, Cynthia showed an interested look in her eyes and turned to look at Will by her leg.
"Go if you want; nothing else to do anyway."
Will spread his hands casually.
This teacher was quite nice, running out specifically to ask a stranger trainer for his students.
"Let's go then!"
Cynthia nodded.
She hadn't tried teaching students yet; thinking about it was quite interesting.
Cynthia hadn't been to a Trainers' School before.
Mainly because...
She didn't need to.
Although Celestic Town was just a relatively rural town, it had a strong historical atmosphere, and its book collection was definitely richer than most Trainers' Schools.
Moreover, her parents were top figures in the League.
If she wanted, the Sinnoh League would arrange for her to study at the headquarters directly.
As for lacking social interaction? Feeling lonely?
Of course not.
School was just one of the social places for children in this world, and not necessary.
There were quite a few children in Celestic Town.
Moreover, Cynthia had many Pokémon companions around her.
Children playing with little Pokémon, that childhood was much happier than staying in school reading and doing homework all day.
Striaton City Trainers' School.
The children attending school here were basically aged 5-9.
Simply put.
This school was a "Novice Trainer Cultivation School."
For children who wanted to become trainers in the future, this was a very good learning place.
Knowledge in fields like battling, coordinating, breeding, etc., was taught here initially, so children wouldn't be clueless when traveling.
As soon as Cynthia arrived at the school.
Will was surrounded by children.
He was used to it.
Adults seeing him would at most take a few more glances from the side.
Children couldn't control their curiosity.
"Cynthia, quick, release Garchomp and the others."
Will hurriedly patted Cynthia's calf.
"Oh."
Cynthia nodded.
Coming to this school was to let children see Sinnoh region Pokémon, so she had to release other Pokémon anyway.
With the addition of partners.
Instantly, the firepower around Will was dispersed by more than half.
For children.
They had no concept of rare or not rare in their hearts, only good-looking or not.
So Roserade and Milotic, these two kinds of Pokémon, were very popular, especially with girls running over.
While boys ran to Garchomp and Spiritomb with shining eyes.
Few people remained around Will and Gastrodon.
But Gastrodon was okay.
Looking soft and slippery, some children had unique tastes and loved such Pokémon.
Instead, Will.
Simply like a concubine banished to the cold palace.
"The gap is a bit big, ha."
Will felt a bit clownish.
But thinking these were children, he felt relieved.
Children's liking was pure.
Didn't care if Pokémon were powerful, rare, or precious.
Only knowledgeable adults would focus more on Pokémon like Riolu.
Besides.
Spiritomb, Roserade, Milotic, Garchomp...
These weren't ordinary in the Pokémon world.
The rarity of Spiritomb and Garchomp was no less than Riolu, especially Spiritomb, even rarer than Riolu.
Although the pre-evolutions of Roserade and Milotic were relatively common.
Because of difficult evolution conditions, they were also quite rare, not to mention their extremely high looks.
Standing with these four Pokémon.
A Pokémon like Riolu really had no advantage.
Unless Will evolved into Lucario, then he would have the strength to compete.
"Riolu."
"What?"
"There are some children learning to read over there."
Cynthia pointed to a classroom.
Inside sat basically newly enlightened children, each with crystal clear eyes and baby fat on their faces, looking very cute.
"Mm."
Will nodded, not understanding.
"You go learn to read too."
"Who learn? Me?"
Will was confused.
Letting a Pokémon learn to read, are you serious?
Most Pokémon wouldn't learn to read.
Not because of insufficient IQ.
But because most Pokémon couldn't suppress their nature and have the patience to learn.
Sitting in a place looking at completely unintelligible things for hours or even more than ten hours, not knowing if they learned it after reading.
Humans were unwilling to endure such boring days, let alone Pokémon?
And Pokémon learning to read was very unnecessary itself.
Pokémon living in the wild wouldn't see a few words in their lifetime.
Most Pokémon living in cities would find their trainers.
Why learn to read?
Only some Psychic-type Pokémon engaged in scientific research or assisting research would learn human writing because of "necessity."
They had long lifespans, patience, high IQ, almost photographic memory; learning wasn't difficult for them.
Will lived for over a hundred years, still illiterate.
Because of this reason.
Not necessary.
Over a hundred years, there were few places needing him to read words; if there were, he could directly ask humans around him for help.
So he was reluctant to spend time learning to read.
Spending seven or eight years learning to read.
Working hard on training, he could go from Lv. 1 to Lv. 70+.
Maybe getting lucky midway and harvesting some rare items or Legendary Pokémon friendship.
"The power of words is deafening. I want Riolu to understand the feeling of reading a piece of history personally."
Cynthia smiled with pursed lips.
Looking at her smile, Will understood.
This was "recommending/promoting."
Just like Lorelei's mother would recommend her favorite TV series to Will, Cynthia was the same.
'Forget it, living for who knows how many thousands or tens of thousands of years in the future, learning to read is also a beneficial thing for generations to come; take some leisure time to learn slowly.'
Will pondered in his heart, then nodded.
"Hehe, then I'll teach Riolu to read in the future."
Cynthia looked happy, bent down and kissed his head.
"But put learning to read aside for now. Remember what I said before? Maybe the library of this Trainers' School has records; let's go see?"
Will pushed Cynthia's small face away with his hand.
His gaze fell on his panel.
On the panel, in the [Held Item] column, a new item appeared.
[Earth's Core] (or Core of the Earth/Land).
Seeing this name initially, Will was startled.
Didn't know when he got something sounding so awesome on him.
Checked.
Found it was the earth-yellow stone Lilligant gave him that day.
At that time, he felt this thing looked unusual and should have some use.
Unexpectedly.
It appeared directly on the panel.
The panel could be considered his identification tool.
Anything appearing on the panel was definitely not trash; at worst, it would be a rare item like Mystic Water enhancing one type's power.
This "Earth's Core" must have some special effect.
It was just that Will hadn't discovered it yet.
He also tried.
Whether this thing boosted Ground or Rock-type moves.
However, not at all.
This thing seemed to have no visible effect on his body.
Later.
He wondered if this thing was related to the Kingdom of the Vale or the People of the Vale.
Lilligant's trainers.
Were originally elites of the Unova League, with many merits, their status must be extraordinary.
It wasn't strange for them to get this thing while working.
Finding he couldn't figure out this thing for a while.
Will asked Cynthia to pay attention to this name, seeing if she could find clues in history.
"Mm, let's go."
Cynthia nodded.
The two little ones headed straight for the library.
Flipped through all books possibly related to "Earth."
An afternoon passed, yielding nothing.
Before leaving the Trainers' School, they specifically asked the teachers in the school.
However, without exception.
None had heard of this term.
But everyone associated it with the Kingdom of the Vale and suggested they go to Eindoak Town to take a look.
Eindoak Town.
That was a city located in the northernmost part of the western continent of the Unova region.
It was a characteristic town full of exotic styles in the Unova region, becoming a tourism hotspot every year during events.
The Sword of the Vale stood here.
The People of the Vale hid within.
The legendary Dragonspiral Tower was in the forest north of Eindoak Town.
At the same time.
A thousand years ago, Eindoak Town was the power center of the Kingdom of the Vale.
Also known as the Royal Capital of the Vale.
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