The rumors about the Gastly from Arena 7 and "that man" tio spread like wildfire withirainer unity.

  Some cimed it was a big shot who had just caught a Gastly and was using this rookie touro level it up.

  Others believed the Gastly was overhyped, and its first-round oppo was simply too weak.

  There were even those who thought it was all just a publicity stunt by the anizers.

  Regardless, thanks to the buzz surrounding this Gastly, the Piplup Cup's popurity kept rising.

  This made the tour manager ecstatic.

  To prepare for the group stage, Gastly trained harder than ever.

  Acc to the Pokédex in the system, Gastly hadn’t learned any new moves yet.

  But so far, it had devoured every bit of knowledge from Blue Oak's Breeding Guide.

  Further knowledge would have to wait until Gastly evolved into a Haunter.

  Meanwhile, as the influence of the "SubProtect Toxid "Minimize Team" videos tio grow, Natsume's livestream subscriptions officially surpassed 100,000.

  【Ding—Mission "I’m Really Not an Attractive Streamer" pleted!】

  【Mission Description: Reach the small goal of 100,000 subscriptions.】

  【Mission Reward: 1000 BP, Random Skill Lv1, Teical Mae ‘Substitute’1】

  【Cooking Lv1: Improves your ary skills, including knife work and fire trol. (Your dishes will remind people of the fvors of home.)】

  Natsume, who usually ordered takeout, found this skill useful for occasionally improving his meals.

  The other reward was a small gray USB drive—the Teical Mae for "Substitute."

  The USB tained detailed instrus on how to use "Substitute," training teiques, and practical battle applications for different Pokémon.

  Generally, with the help of a Teical Mae, a simple move could be learned within three days.

  Teical Maes were reusable, and their tents could be copied.

  However, pared to the officially authorized versions, pirated copies on the market often had missing or incorreformation.

  "Never skimp on education, never your Pokémon."

  Thus, trainers were willing to pay a premium feeical Maes.

  Most people used Teical Maes by studying alongside their Pokémon, figuring out the most stific trainihods.

  But Natsume's approach was to simply toss the USB drive to Gastly, saying, "Ask me if you don’t uand!"

  "Gastly?"

  Gastly was stunned but obediently took the USB in its mouth, plugged it into the ptop, and used its too move the cursor.

  Opening the file named "#092 Gastly," Gastly focused ily, ready to learn.

  In the video, a Gastly, us trainer's and, used bck mist to perform Substitute.

  The bck mist split into two clouds of gas, e and one small, slowly f two grinning Gastlys.

  After blog a move, the slightly faded Gastly quietly dissipated.

  "Gastly!" Gastly houghtfully.

  No wonder my traiold me to learn from the video.

  This is so simple, there’s o ask him!

  Gastly even started brainst, holding a pencil in its mouth and scribbling on a piece of paper.

  I use Substitute to Will-O-Wisp...

  I also use it to distract the enemy and then unch a sneak attack...

  And maybe...

  Before it k, Gastly had filled aire page with notes.

  After rag its brain, Gastly looked pale, holding a pencil in its mouth, looking utterly exhausted.

  Turns out this "Substitute" move is so plicated!

  Should I ask my trainer after all?

  Or is there a better method I haven’t thought of yet?

  Taking a deep breath, Gastly used its long too roll two Oran Berry Blocks into its mouth and then chugged a oomoo Milk.

  Gastly: (￣～￣) Chew!

  Instantly, Gastly's eyes lit up, and its fighting spirit was reignited.

  Feeling energized, it dove bato studying!

  That night, Natsume's livestream caused quite a stir.

  For o was Natsume-sensei's first stream sihe release of the "Minimize Team" video.

  Sedly, it was Natsume-sensei's first face reveal stream, and the viewership skyrocketed past a million!

  On camera, the sharp-featured, deep-eyed young maed his on his hand, quietly watg the game interface.

  His androgynous beauty was undoubtedly a heart-stopping sight.

  But the moment Natsume-sensei opened his mouth, the seremosphere shattered.

  "You dare use Roar?!" Natsume shouted. "Ineroar, use Roar back!"

  "Seriously, how did that miss?! I’m about to lose it!"

  Today, Natsume-sensei showed viewers what it meant to have the worst luck.

  Despite fwless strategy and predi, his moves kept missing.

  His oppo nded critical hits left and right, pulling off triple Protects, leaving viewers in awe.

  "I ’t take this anymore!"

  "Starting off with a full-course meal, huh?"

  "This is a full-on assault on my stomach!"

  By the end of the night, Natsume's ranking had dropped instead of rising.

  The stream was filled with ughter and a lively atmosphere.

  Despite the disastrous gamepy, the stream broke records in both donations and viewership.

  This made Natsume sigh deeply, "Stop donating, seriously, stop!"

  "Thank you 'Natsume-sensei's Fan Club' for the rocket... Moderator, ban this rocket donor."

  "How many times do I have to say it? I’m really a skill-based streamer!"

  Despite ending the stream in shame, the eai value was through the roof. Natsume earned nearly 5,000 Pokémon s in donations that night, and his BP increased by over 300 points.

  【Remaining BP Points: 1780】

  In theory, the 10x gacha pool included not only Pokémon items but also things like Lego Star Destroyers and life-sized Snorx plushies.

  But every time Natsume did a 10x gacha, the items ended up being Gastly, and this time was no exception.

  【10x Gacha List: Petaya Berry1, Soda Pop2, Leppa Berry4, Moomoo Milk3】

  Out of the ten pulls, only one urple-quality Petaya Berry.

  But in the system shop, a siaya Berry cost 500 BP, so it was still a small win.

  Among the remaining items, "Soda Pop" was a carbonated drink that tasted simir to soda.

  Leppa Berries were highly sought-after berries.

  They alleviated the fatigue Pokémo after using moves, allowing them to train longer, and were widely used irainer unity.

  "Turning these into Pokéblocks should help ease Gastly's fatigue, right?" Natsume muttered.

  Stepping out of the room, he found Gastly still holding a pencil in its mouth, fully absorbed in its notes.

  Seeing Natsume, the pale-faced Gastly slowly looked up and gave a weak smile.

  "Whoa! Yrinding way too hard!"

  "Gastly~~!!" Gastly's eyes widened, bloodshot and intense.

  As Gastly cried out, a sinister gas separated from its bck mist, slowly f anrinning Gastly.

  This "Substitute" blended into the shadows but didn’t dissipate, standing guard like a sentinel.

  Notig Natsume's surprised expression, Gastly gave a sinister smile.

  At the same time, the hidden "Substitute" in the shadows unleashed a dazzling fuse Ray!

  "This is..." Natsume gulped.

  "A Substitute attack?"