-075- Refreshing the Rankings (1/3)

Dinner was shared with Song Xin. In gratitude for Song Xin’s care of the Pokémon in the backyard of the breeding house these past days, Tong Si had specially invited her out for a meal.

As for Hu Hu, it had spent the entire afternoon training intensively with Elekid.

The result: absolutely useless.

The next morning at dawn, Tong Si rose early and headed straight for the Pokémon Association.

Upon arriving at the Task Pavilion, he once again ran into the young lady who had previously asked to take a photo with him. She greeted him with a beaming smile.

But today, Tong Si was not here for her. Instead, he approached the even more beautiful young lady at the next counter to submit his task.

Handing over the Sakura Sprite to the staff member, she examined and confirmed its identity before helping Tong Si register and complete his mission.

Tong Si’s first C-rank task was thus smoothly accomplished.

He received a reward of one hundred thousand points.

Through the upgrade guide at the Task Pavilion, Tong Si learned that as long as he completed ten C-rank tasks, he could raise his adventurer level.

Of course, this only meant advancing from White-tier to Red-tier adventurer.

However, ascending from Red-tier to Green-tier adventurer was exceedingly difficult.

Fifty percent of adventurers remained at Red-tier.

Another forty percent lingered at White-tier.

As for Green-tier and Violet-tier adventurers, together they accounted for only ten percent of the total.

One could see just how arduous it was to be promoted to Green-tier.

After submitting his task, Tong Si strolled around the main hall once more.

Confirming there were no missions involving capturing Pokémon on others’ behalf, he left the Task Pavilion.

Now, Tong Si only wanted to take on such capture tasks. It was the quickest way to rack up points—each one worth five hundred thousand!

This was far faster than typical Pokémon battles.

Next door was the Exchange House. Without hesitation, Tong Si stepped inside.

With one hundred thousand points on his adventurer card, he wanted to see what he could trade for.

Upon entering, he saw a long row of Pokémon eggs on display.

All the eggs, without exception, were of Gym Leader-level quality.

There wasn’t even a single high-quality egg below that standard.

Tong Si noticed that beneath each egg was a detailed description, listing the Pokémon’s name, its quality, and the points required for exchange.

The astonishing part was that each egg required a whopping ten million points!

This meant that, for Tong Si, he would need to complete at least one hundred C-rank capture tasks just to trade for the most ordinary Gym Leader-quality egg.

“How outrageously expensive!”

Tong Si couldn’t help but mutter.

No wonder the average family’s children all dreamed of joining the Supernova Program.

At least that way, they wouldn’t have to worry about acquiring high-quality Pokémon.

Deeper inside were various evolution stones.

The Ice Stone, for example, required six million points to exchange.

Tong Si felt a bit relieved—thank goodness he’d run into Weinans and Qi Bingyuan, that comical pair, in the Verdant Leaf Forest.

Not only had he pocketed a free million points, he’d also gotten two rare evolution stones.

Even in the Association’s Exchange House, Tong Si didn’t spot a Light Stone.

“As expected, Light Stones are truly rare.”

After browsing the entire Exchange House, Tong Si left feeling a bit dejected.

Even the cheapest rare berries started at a million points—far beyond what he could currently afford.

Upon leaving the Pokémon Association, Tong Si hurried to the Golden Sun Club.

Ever since returning from the Verdant Leaf Forest, he felt he ought to work at the club for at least a day—otherwise, he’d feel guilty collecting his salary for nothing.

Of course, the main reason was still to earn points and exchange for some Poké Balls.

“Tong Si! What a rare guest!”

Every time Zhang Shanji saw Tong Si, he would personally welcome him.

The commercial posters of Tong Si hanging at the entrance had grown to three.

Zhang Shanji spared no effort to let everyone know that the Golden Sun Club was endorsed by Tong Si!

“Shanji, it’s only been a few days, but you’ve finished renovating?”

Tong Si was astonished. In just a few days’ time, the entire five-story building had been fully refurbished.

The Golden Sun Club now was at least five times bigger than before!

“Of course! With enough money, even the renovation crew becomes super-efficient!”

“I see…”

Tong Si had always been impressed by the work efficiency of the construction teams in this world.

Back when the JOJO Breeding House was remodeled, he’d witnessed their speed firsthand.

“By the way, since you’re here today, you must stay for a while! We have a new batch of members who joined just for you. If they don’t see you, I’m really afraid they’ll cancel their memberships!”

“Oh? Business is that good?”

Tong Si hadn’t expected that after the joint tournament between the four clubs, the Golden Sun Club would keep growing.

Not only had the premises been rebuilt, but membership was expanding as well?

“Absolutely! Come on, Tong Si, let me show you our new club.”

With that, Zhang Shanji led Tong Si on a tour of the Golden Sun Club.

The feature that had impressed Tong Si most about the Sun Club had always been the large central battle arena.

Now, to his surprise, the Golden Sun Club had a similarly grand arena.

Not only that, all the battle rooms were now private instead of open-air.

There were also specialized training rooms for every attribute, with both individual and large group rooms.

The club had also diversified its business—beyond the usual items, it now sold Pokémon eggs as well.

The top floor was dedicated to the Trainers’ Gym.

Tong Si couldn’t help but applaud Zhang Shanji’s business acumen—it was truly outstanding.

After the tour, Tong Si began his battles.

There were simply too many of his fans at the club.

A whole crowd of rookie trainers wanted to battle him.

Of course, this only applied to the newcomers. After all, a club like this had not just rookies, but also many trainers from previous years.

Those veterans naturally had no interest in Tong Si.

Every year had its own rookie king.

All the buzz was always about the current year’s champion—who would care about the next?

Tong Si took turns sending out Elekid and Eevee to face off against the rookie trainers.

He battled all the way until afternoon.

Eevee racked up a thirty-two win streak, while Elekid achieved an astounding fifty consecutive victories!

On the club’s win-streak leaderboard, Elekid had reached a terrifying one hundred fifty wins, while Eevee stood at forty-two.

After the matches, Eevee’s level rose to nineteen, and Elekid’s to twenty-three.

The main issue was that the rookie trainers’ Pokémon were too low-leveled—even victories yielded little experience.

Some of the opponents, in fact, had already been defeated by Tong Si earlier that month.

As a result, the points he ultimately earned totaled only four hundred fifty thousand.

“A whole day of battles, and I only made four hundred fifty thousand points!”

Seeing his points balance at one million nine hundred fifty thousand, Tong Si couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.

After all, a trainer can only grant you points once per month.

There really ought to be more ways to earn points!

Tong Si resolved silently: if there were any capture tasks or competitions, he absolutely couldn’t miss them.

… (To be continued)