Chapter 20: New Leaf Meow (Automated Idle Nurturing Edition)

After tossing a few cubes of Pokémon food to the Dragonite as a tip, the stout dragon flapped its tiny wings and flew off happily. Xia Chi opened the carefully wrapped package and took out the mysterious, emerald-green seed.

As soon as the box was opened, the Miracle Seed’s rich, natural, and peculiar aroma immediately drew Sprigatito over. It sniffed the unique scent permeating the air, its eyes clear and devoid of any distraction, filled entirely with a craving for the mysterious seed. Grass-type Pokémon simply cannot resist the temptation of a Miracle Seed. Looking at it from another perspective, this also showed just how difficult it was to find a wild Miracle Seed before any other Grass-type Pokémon could get to it.

Xia Chi stroked the little cat’s furry head and smiled slightly. "It’s for you, Sprigatito. A special treat for today."

High-end ingredients often require the simplest of cooking methods. A top-tier cultivation item like a Miracle Seed is best consumed raw; any processing would be redundant and only result in a loss of nutrients. With Xia Chi’s permission, Sprigatito no longer held back and swallowed the seed in one gulp.

There was no sudden flash of golden light or dramatic physical transformation. For a Pokémon at Sprigatito’s stage, fully absorbing the energy from a single small Miracle Seed would take at least half a month. During this time, normal diet and training would suffice. Watching Sprigatito munch away, Xia Chi felt a strange sense of melancholy.

Tens of thousands of credits just chewed up and gone like that...

***

After finishing breakfast, Xia Chi prepared to head to class. Before leaving, he asked Sprigatito, "Sprigatito, are you coming to class with me again today?"

Yesterday, he had taken it along because he needed to go to the Pokémon Center for registration, and the classroom was on the way. Today, he wanted to ask first out of respect for the Pokémon's own wishes. This was something he had promised Sprigatito before catching it: to give it plenty of space and freedom.

Sprigatito thought for a moment and then shook its head. "Meow-feh~"

It wasn't that it didn't want to be with Xia Chi. It was just that, yesterday, Sprigatito had learned that Xia Chi intended to participate in the Shanghai Cup. This was a competition it had wanted to enter for a long time, though its trainer back then hadn't been Xia Chi. Whether to help Xia Chi win the championship or to prove itself, Sprigatito wanted to achieve a good result in the tournament.

Therefore, the time between now and the start of the competition was precious, and Sprigatito wanted to make good use of it. Xia Chi was already busy with his live streams and his studies; it would be too hard on him to ask him to set aside more time to supervise its training. So, what could it do?

Sprigatito suddenly thought of those hateful Mankey that used to bully it in a group. They... seemed like perfect training partners.

Xia Chi, unaware of Sprigatito’s true thoughts, simply figured, "Well, if the kid doesn't want to go to class, so be it." He grabbed his textbooks, reminded the dorm to be safe with electricity, and headed out to class.

Sprigatito lay by the window, watching Xia Chi’s back fade into the distance. It then pushed the window open, stepped onto the ledge, carefully pulled the window shut behind it, and skillfully hopped back down to the ground via the outdoor air conditioning units. It wasn't following Xia Chi to class; instead, it ran in the opposite direction—toward the area where it had wandered after being abandoned.

***

Things go smoothly when one is in high spirits. Even the dry and boring history of Pokémon mythology felt interesting to Xia Chi today. He had hoped to perform well in class to earn some extra participation points since he was in such a good mood, but Teacher Zhou was not impressed and didn't give him a single favorable look, leaving him quite puzzled.

Chen Zhenze, sitting beside him, was as excited as ever. He talked about what Iono had said on her stream after Xia Chi logged off last night, and how he had seen a Dragonite delivering packages on campus this morning, wondering which rich kid had ordered such a high-end delivery service.

Xia Chi, hiding his merit and fame, listened with secret amusement. He finally understood the satisfaction of a protagonist in a web novel playing the fool to catch his prey. Just as he was listening to Chen Zhenze lecture about how Dragonite Express only had a few dozen employees yet generated massive annual revenue, a bizarre notification sounded in his mind.

[Detected that your Pokémon, Sprigatito (Lv. 13), has defeated Mankey (Lv. 15). Gained 0.2 Fear Points!]

Huh? What was happening? A question mark slowly formed in Xia Chi’s mind. Shouldn't Sprigatito be resting in the dorm? Did a Mankey get into the dorm? Xia Chi hadn't installed a security camera, so he had no idea what was going on there. Should he skip class to check? He glanced at Teacher Zhou on the podium, who was eyeing him from time to time. He knew that if he did that, those participation points would surely vanish.

As he hesitated, the system’s voice rang out again.

[Your Pokémon, Sprigatito (Lv. 13), has defeated Mankey (Lv. 16). Gained 0.3 Fear Points!]

Another Mankey broke into the dorm? After careful consideration, Xia Chi felt that was highly unlikely. Not to mention that the school's Pidgeot patrolled the dorm area from the air, but why would a Mankey go through the trouble of climbing up to his dorm? These Pokémon were hot-tempered and mindless, but they didn't have a habit of thievery. Just to fight Sprigatito?

It seemed it wasn't the Mankey that had come in, but Sprigatito that had gone out. So... Sprigatito didn't come to class because it went out to grind levels? No wonder the little guy had such a strange look on its face when he asked if it wanted to come along.

Piecing together the most likely scenario, Xia Chi wore a strange expression. Good grief, I’ve caught an initial Pokémon that can auto-farm and level up on its own, haven't I?

Meanwhile, somewhere on the Shanghai University campus, Sprigatito stood with its paws on two unconscious Mankey, looking around with a disdainful gaze. Not far away, the remaining few Mankey of the group were squeaking in anger, but the look of fear on their faces betrayed their cowardly nature. Further away, groups of Caterpie and Oddish who had gathered to watch the scene were absolutely stunned.

To take on the tyrannical Mankey group that dominated this resource-poor area, and to win two-on-one? Sprigatito, who had been kicked around like a stray cat just days ago, had actually won?

At the center of it all, Sprigatito felt no thrill of revenge, only deep confusion. It hadn't been the first time it had fought these Mankey, who took pleasure in bullying other Pokémon. But under their relentless, unsportsmanlike mobbing, it had almost always been forced to retreat after struggling for barely a minute. Yet, only a few days later, the tide had turned completely. Not only did it quickly dispatch the two nearest Mankey, but it also seemed to have barely depleted its own stamina or state.

Sprigatito even felt it could take on the remaining three Mankey all at once.

"Is... is it really this strong?"