“I’ll just take a quick look.”

  That was Natsume’s initial thought.

  But the moment he opehe dot, Natsume was instantly captivated by the vast sea of teical terms and breeding knowledge, diving deep into its tents.

  It was like a Minotaur warrior who had just stepped out of the beginner vilge, clueless about the future, suddenly receiving a foolproof guide from a big shot irategy team.

  From Gastly’s diet and habits to move training, everything was meticulously detailed, even more so than an academic paper.

  At the bottom of the paper, the sources were thoughtfully cited:

  Samuel Oak, On the Feasibility of Incorporating Ghost Types into panio Studies;

  Agatha, The Source of Fear—From Gastly to Gengar;

  In the aowledgments, Blue Oak mentiohat there seemed to be some history between Agatha, the Ghost-type Elite Four member of Kanto, and Blue Oak’s grandfather, Samuel Oak.

  Blue Oak had used Professor Samuel Oak’s stific research methods, bined with Agatha’s empirical theories, to pile this breeding guide.

  Blue Oak seemed to want to publish this paper under Samuel Oak’s name, aiming to ease the tensioweewo.

  But in the end, it was left unfinished, and Natsume ended up being from it.

  “What a filial grandson.”

  Natsume was somewhat moved.

  “Even if this were aued, this breedihod would fetch a hefty price!”

  A breeding guide produced by the “Breeding Prodigy” Blue Oak would at least be of purple epic quality.

  Though it might not pare to Giovanni’s Giovanni’s Teiques, fhost-type trainers, it was still a rare treasure.

  “What a shame,” Natsume sighed. “This thing isn’t of much value to me.”

  “Some of the methodologies are simir to what I’ve specuted… Oh well, I’ll just let Gastly py with it.”

  Natsume had little i in breeding Pokémon.

  But si was just sitting there, he might as well let Gastly figure it out.

  A red light flickered, and Gastly, a mass of bck mist, blis rge eyes, curiously surveying its new home.

  “Stay here and don’t wander off.”

  Natsume dodged Gastly’s lig tongue. “I’m about to start my live stream!”

  “Gastly?”

  “Bored, huh? Well… here’s a little book for you to read!”

  Gastly looked at Natsume as if he were an idiot.

  Who the hell makes a picture book without a single illustration, filled with ti and academic jargon?

  “Huh? You read?”

  Natsume pced the freshly printed Gastly Breedihod in front of Gastly.

  “The me test you. How many ways of using fuse Ray are mentioned in this paper?”

  fuse Ray was one of the moves Gastly could learn early on.

  Blue Oak believed that Gastly, born from optical pollution, had a natural affinity for fuse Ray.

  Thus, Gastly’s fuse Ray had signifit training potential—

  Not that Natsume cared about training.

  He couldn’t let Gastly disturb the live stream, but he also couldn’t keep it locked in a Poké Ball forever. Letting it learn something wouldn’t hurt!

  “Gastly!?”

  Gastly was stumped by Natsume’s question, its face turning pale as it floated listlessly in the air.

  After a moment, Gastly perked up, pressing its bulging white eyes against the paper.

  “Gastly!”

  I’m going to master this paper today!

  Natsume nodded in satisfa.

  “Oh, and there are berries in the et. If you’re hungry, just go in and grab some!”

  After giving Gastly its instrus, Natsume sat down at his puter and opehe live stream ptform.

  “Huh? I already have 60,000 subscribers.”

  Natsume rubbed his . “In a few more weeks, I should be able to plete the mission.”

  [Mission: “I’m Really Not an Attractive Streamer!”]

  [Mission Description: Reach the small goal of 100,000 subscribers.]

  *[Mission Reward: 1000 BP points, random skill LV1, TM ‘Substitute’1]

  Natsume had asked before, is this so-called Substitute reliable?

  The system replied, it’s not about whether it’s reliable or not, it’s just… it’s the kind of move that’s dirty, the kind that bo with other moves.

  Natsume was a bit disappointed.

  “I thought I might awaken something like Killer Queen or Star Ptinum, but it’s really just Substitute.”

  As he started the live stream, the hungry viewers flooded in.

  “Food’s here, food’s here!”

  “First time here, is this The Battler’s live stream?”

  “Natsume-sensei, do autorial on SubProtect Toxic!”

  Natsume g the chat messages. “Today, I’m going to show you something different.”

  He opehe team editor and dragged a dopey-looking Breloom into the team, instantly sparking a wave of question marks in the chat.

  “What’s the point of Breloom???”

  “Its species strength isn’t high, and its resistances are weak. It’s not practical!”

  “Venusaur would be better! Streamer, switch to another Pokémon!”

  Natsume remained unfazed and clicked ochmaking interface.

  “Oh no, Natsume-sensei is about to throw!”

  In the virtual imaging, Natsume matched with a pyer from the Sinnion, their ID marked with official verification.

  [Sinerna City Gym Leader, Gardenia.]

  “Holy crap, it’s the Grass-type Gym Leader from Sinnoh!”

  “She’s a real Grass-type expert! Natsume-sensei using Breloom is like bringing a ko a gunfight!”

  “Wait, she’s also leading with Breloom!?”

  Clearly, Gardenia had used her personal image for her profile.

  On the lush grassy field, a girl with e, ear-length hair, wearing a green cape and brown shorts, revealing her ook out a Poké Ball.

  A red light flickered, and two Breloom, e and one small, appeared on the field.

  It was obvious that Gardenia’s Breloom was far better bred than Natsume’s!

  “It’s over, we’re doomed!”

  “LOL, who actually thought Natsume-sensei could beat a Gym Leader?”

  “It doesn’t even have an Ability, and he dares to use it in battle!?”

  In the virtual field, Gardenia’s Breloom struck first.

  With incredible speed, it dashed forward, its cwed fist hitting Natsume’s Breloom in the abdomen at sonic speed, sending it flying three meters back!

  “This is like pnting ri my mouth!”

  “I told you not to use Breloom! Venusaur would’ve been so much better!”

  With the situation looking dire, Natsume calmly ented:

  “The oppo’s Breloom probably has the Ability ‘Tei.’”

  “But my Breloom’s Ability… is ‘Poison Heal’!”

  The Mach Punded a critical hit, but Natsume’s Breloom didn’t go down.

  Trembling, Breloom let out a screech, its wounds visibly healing at an arming rate!

  “Holy crap, is this Breloom holdiovers? How is it healing so fast!?”

  “It’s a Toxic Orb! Natsume-sensei’s Breloom is holding a Toxic Orb!”

  The Poison Heal Ability allookémon to tinuously recover HP when it’s badly poisoned.

  The Toxic Orb ehe Pokémon is badly poisoned.

  bihey create this near-bug-like recovery speed!

  The two Breloom tio exge blows, but while one’s HP kept dropping, the other’s HP was rec faster than it was losing.

  The chat was flooded with question marks.

  “???”

  “Scary!”

  “Are you even pying fair!?”

  After nearly a hundred rounds, seeing no hope of victory, the tormented Gardenia chose to surrender.

  Amidst the sea of question marks, the live stream’s heat soared to 600,000.

  “Natsume-sensei is inhuman!”

  “What a freaking genius!”

  “Is this the legendary ‘All Poisourn to the Source’!?”

  In the virtual imaging, Natsume recalled his Breloom, a faint smile on his face.

  “The poison of SubProtect Toxi’t the poison of Toxic, it’s the poison of Poison Heal!”

  The s was flooded with gifts, the subscriber t skyrocketed, and the system’s BP points tio rise.

  “Listen to him, is that even human nguage?”

  “Holy crap, even a Gym Leader surrendered?”

  “Natsume-sensei is a legend!!”