Chương 15: What kind of trainer can you be if you don't have money?

"To become a Ground-type Pokémon Trainer, you must first become one with the earth."

Cattleya read it aloud softly.

This is the opening of Kikuno Tenoh's reflections, a passage that sounds quite mysterious.

"Huh? (What the hell is this about merging with the earth? Isn't becoming a trainer just about knowing type advantages and disadvantages?)" Lu Sha retorted.

"No, apart from those trainers who are born with various special abilities, ordinary trainers must train themselves to keep up with the battle rhythm of Pokémon and fight alongside them," Cattleya said softly.

"Crack? (Is merging with the earth a form of cultivation?)" Lu Sha asked curiously.

This was indeed a blind spot in his knowledge.

But thinking about it, it makes sense.

As Pokémon grow stronger, the pace of battle accelerates.

If you wait for a regular trainer to give the command, the Pokémon will have already finished a round of battles.

To keep up with this speed of combat, ordinary humans are naturally not up to the task.

Upon closer reflection, every trainer who becomes famous is themselves incredibly strong, almost like a monster.

"Yes, by merging with the earth and sensing its pulse, one can strengthen their physique. This is the training method for Ground-type trainers. Generally speaking, Elite Four level trainers possess physiques no weaker than Gym Leader level Pokémon, but they cannot use moves," Cattleya explained.

"Click! (I see. And you? Do you use meditation to become stronger?)" Lu Sha asked.

"I haven't studied meditation." Cattleya shook her head slightly.

"My family has secret manuals on this subject, but they forbid me from practicing them, so I have to figure it out on my own."

Upon hearing this, Lu Sha promptly closed the electronic version of the ground control tips.

With his short hands, he frantically tapped the screen, quickly accessed the points redemption page, and after a quick search, found what he wanted.

[Superpowered Individual's Meditation Insights: 100 points] Without much hesitation, Lu Sha bought the guide.

Since I had already been verified once before, I didn't need to have Jiadeliya perform facial recognition this time.

After making the purchase, he finally clicked back to Kikuno Tenno's review with satisfaction, and at the same time shouted to Cattleya:

"Click! Click! (You have a way to become stronger too!)" What's the point of him getting stronger? Making Cattleya stronger is the right thing to do.

Once Cattleya's superpowers reach the level of a Celestial King, he can reach that level effortlessly by relying on countless resources.

Prioritize leveling up the Pokémon with the most potential to the highest level; this is common sense for trainers!

"I will take it a step further as soon as possible."

Cattleya nodded vigorously, her touch on Lu Sha's dorsal fin becoming gentler.

Since this is Lu Sha's expectation, she will definitely respond.

"Click! (Keep watching, keep watching! We still have 100 points left. Let's see what we can buy. The rest will be used to improve your strength.)" Lu Sha simply stretched out his short little hand, skipping over the part of the notes about trainer growth.

Neither he nor Cattleya needed this part.

Caitlia has superpowers, and he follows the Pokémon growth path, so he doesn't have to work as hard as ordinary trainers.

[Gible Training Guide] It's here! The full movie is here!

Lu Sha's spirits lifted.

Although Elite Four member Kikuno doesn't have Garchomp in his main team, it is still a product of Elite Four, so it is still a valuable reference for a small Garchomp like him.

Among the many Pokémon, some are very weak in the early stages, but can grow to be comparable to legendary Pokémon. The League names these pseudo-legendary Pokémon.

Gible is one of them.

"Pseudo-legendary Pokémon are trained differently from regular Pokémon. They possess innate champion-level potential, and if you don't want to waste this potential, you can't train them in the usual way."

"However, the perfect training method to directly reach the champion level from near-god level requires extremely high ability, abundant resources, and enormous financial resources. If you do not possess these three, please consider this carefully!!!"

How expensive must this be?

The veteran superstars all had three exclamation marks on their names.

Lu Sha, filled with curiosity, continued reading.

The core of a perfect training method lies in the in-depth development of attribute mastery.

To break through to the Champion level (level 80), a single attribute mastery needs to be above 70%, or both attributes need to be above 50%.

According to Professor Oak's research, Pokémon, without special circumstances, have a type cap at each level.

"The limit for the Normal level (before level 20) is 20%. After that, the limit increases by 10% for each subsequent level advancement."

Furthermore, if one does not develop their attributes to their full potential at the current stage, the potential missed at that stage will be permanently lost after a breakthrough or evolution.

Gible evolves into Garchomp at around level 25. Without special circumstances, its maximum stat mastery is 25%. If Ground or Dragon types reach this level, it indicates successful training.

25%?

That's way too much of a demand.

So, before level 25, you should max out every level?

The system panel shows that Cattleya's mastery of Psychic-type abilities is 12%.

It only increased to 14% after the psychic proficiency reached mastery.

Based on this rate of improvement, even with his assistance, it will probably take Gadlia a long time to reach 25%.

This is even with cheating enabled.

It goes without saying that reaching 25% before level 25 is incredibly difficult.

"For Gible's development, to achieve a single attribute mastery of over 25%, sufficient resources are fundamental, but proficiency in the corresponding attribute's moves is equally important."

Key takeaway: Essential resources are fundamental!

So, this is a guide to spending money on in-game purchases?

While inwardly grumbling, Lu Sha continued reading.

"Taking Ground-type moves as an example, you need to be proficient in at least 5 Ground-type moves, or skilled in 10 Ground-type moves, or learn 20 Ground-type moves."

Unfortunately, based on my own attempts, Gible can only learn 7 Ground-type moves.

Therefore, mastering 3 moves and being proficient in 4 moves is the best combination.

That's way too extreme. You know Gible can't learn that many Ground-type moves, right?

Lu Sha had some doubts about whether Kikuno, who wrote this reflection, had actually trained such a perfect Gible.

"Huh? (Is it difficult for ordinary Pokémon to master and become proficient in moves?)" Lu Sha turned to look at Cattleya. He didn't have much of a concept of these things, but he needed to understand the difficulty.

After all, he couldn't improve his proficiency through the system; he could only make slow progress through the scraps of rewards the system provided.

He felt that if he could see his own stats, his only three moves would be at most beginner level.

"It's very difficult. It took me 16 years to reach the level of proficiency in telekinesis with your help. If I hadn't had your help and had to practice on my own, it would probably have taken several more years."

"Generally speaking, it takes weeks for a Pokémon to learn a move, let alone become proficient or master it," Cattleya explained.

"Click! (Got it!)" Lu Sha understood a little better why Garchomp wasn't in Kikuno Elite Four's main squad.

Given the difficulty of raising them, she herself probably couldn't raise them successfully.

Even if it could be raised, it would probably take a very long time, and given that Kikuno Tenma is already 60 years old, it seems unnecessary.

Lu Sha glanced at the methods for mastering the seven Ground-type moves and found that there were basically no unorthodox ways to improve them.

The lengthy text, spanning several thousand words, can be summarized in just four words: Practice makes perfect.

So if there's no cheat code, then all you can do is wait out the time.

With a slight pursing of his lips, Lu Sha looked at the training list compiled by Kikuno Tenoh.

With just one glance, his mouth was already wide open.

List of Basic Training Resources

『0-10% Attribute Control Stage: 1 Grains of Premium Soft Sand』

『11-20% Attribute Control Stage: 5 Grains of Premium Soft Sand』

『21-25% Attribute Control Stage: 7 Grains of Premium Soft Sand』 Note: Only the finest soft sand or an equivalent substitute must be used.

"If high-quality soft sand is used as a substitute, Gible will not be able to achieve 25% energy control with the same quantity. Consuming more than 15 portions of soft sand will cause energy overflow, leading to Gible evolving into Garchomp, ultimately resulting in failure."

"Huh? (How... how many? Thirteen portions in total?)" Thinking of the price of Soft Sand, which costs as much as 20 points, and the fact that the entire academy only has 4 of them in stock, Lu Sha couldn't help but shudder.

Are all the Heavenly Kings this rich?

That's way too damn expensive!

And you can't use lower-quality substitutes, so this is basically a game for the super-rich.

"13 servings..."

At this moment, Gadriya also pursed her lips slightly, staring at the number 13, seemingly lost in thought.

Given their current situation, they can't afford even one serving, let alone 13.

However, if we don't use this method now, once the land sand's level is raised, even if we collect 13 portions of top-quality soft sand, the land sand may evolve prematurely, causing the extreme cultivation method to fail.

To break through to the champion level, without special opportunities, you can only lose a maximum of 10% of your potential until level 80.

No wonder there hasn't been a champion in the Sinnoh region yet.

"Hmm, what should we do?"

"Click! (Okay, stop overthinking it! We're not using that method!)" Lu Sha stretched out her short hand and patted Jia Deli's fair thigh.

No need!

He's a man with cheat codes, so there's no need to be fixated on pay-to-win strategies.

Besides, Kikuno is just a superstar, and her plan may not be perfect.

Instead of spending time and effort figuring out how to perfectly train him, we should think about how to speed up Cattleya's progress.

His abilities and those of humans should not be limited by the potential of Pokémon.

After all, according to the system's rating, Cattleya is only level 16, but her strength is already at the gym level.

As long as Cattleya is capable enough and her strength increases quickly enough, she might have the resources to push her energy control to over 25% before he evolves into Garchomp.

"Well, it is indeed a bit of a pity."

Cattleya sighed regretfully, closed Kikuno's notes, and began reading Lu Sha's meditation manual.

She still didn't want to give up.

Even if we can't gather all 13 portions of top-quality soft sand, we should at least gather half, so that land sand can definitely go further in the future.

Now I can only work hard to become stronger and earn money to buy Lu Sha the finest soft sand.

Go, Cattleya!

Dormitory 02, in front of the desk.

Cynthia closed her notebook with a slight headache, rubbed her temples with her delicate hand, and sighed softly.

"Grandpa and Grandma can only provide 5 top-grade dragon teeth; the rest will have to be replaced with high-grade dragon teeth..."

"Replacing it with top-quality soft sand would be almost enough, but Gible has no talent for Ground-type moves at all, and is far less gifted than Cattleya's Ground Sand. Switching to Ground-type will only make it more difficult."

Cynthia remained silent, but could only accept this fact.

She wanted to give Gible the best resources, but unfortunately even her family couldn't afford the most extreme training methods.

Compared to the Miyu family in the Kanto region and the Devon family in the Hoenn region, her family was just an ordinary family, and their wealth was even less than that of Kikuno Tenno.

After all, Kikuno only needs to spend money on herself, while her grandfather needs more resources to improve his main force. The amount of resources they can spare for her is already their limit.

"I still have to rely on my own efforts. Just like the special opportunities that champion Oki encountered, there will always be a way to make up for this shortcoming in the future."

Cynthia silently recited to herself, and to stop thinking about these troubling matters, she took out the information on superhumans that her family had helped her collect and began to read:

"Psychic individuals possess superpowers comparable to Pokémon, but the side effects are significant. The stronger the superpower, the easier it is to lose control... They are extremely prone to developing obsessive personalities... Impatience... and inability to communicate..."

"Huh? Does Cattleya really have these weaknesses?"

"Or is it that I'm too weak, rather than Cattleya's superpowers being too strong?"

Looking at the information about superhumans in her hand, Cynthia fell into deep thought.