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The next day, Eddie rose early as had become his habit.
As usual, he enjoyed a delicious breakfast while browsing the game forums.
This time, however, he first opened the leaderboards, which he had forgotten to check yesterday.
Pokemon Level Rankings:
1st Place: Level 48, Charizard, Owner: Morning Sun
2nd Place: Level 48, Lucario, Owner: Morning Sun
3rd Place: Level 47, Sceptile, Owner: Morning Sun
4th Place: Level 47, Greninja, Owner: Morning Sun
5th Place: Level 45, Gabite, Owner: Morning Sun
6th Place: Level 45, Snorlax, Owner: Morning Sun
7th Place: Level 45, Pupitar, Owner: Morning Sun
8th Place: Level 40, Gengar, Owner: Morning Sun
...
49th Place: Level 25, Nidorina, Owner: [Name Hidden]
50th Place: Level 24, Gloom, Owner: Dream Girl
"Pfft, hahahaha! I remember this person was ranked 30th last time, but now they've dropped to 50th place. This is hilarious!" Eddie nearly choked on his soy milk while laughing at Dream Girl's ranking.
"Well, well. I captured numerous Pokemon from Team Rocket yesterday with varying levels, so I pushed this poor player back twenty positions. Nine times out of ten, that's exactly what happened," Eddie reasoned after thinking it through.
The Pokemon he had acquired yesterday numbered not quite fifty or sixty, but definitely over forty specimens.
Fortunately, their levels were inconsistent, preventing this unfortunate player from dropping all the way to 70th place.
After Eddie finished laughing, he successively opened the Badge Rankings and Trainer Rankings.
Trainer Rankings:
1st Place: Morning Sun - Peak Trainer
2nd Place: Dream Girl - Intermediate Trainer
3rd Place: LevelBoss - Intermediate Trainer
4th Place: LegendSlayer - Intermediate Trainer
...
Badge Rankings:
1st Place: 4 Badges (Boulder, Cascade, Thunder, Fuchsia), Owner: Morning Sun
2nd Place: 2 Badges (Boulder, Cascade), Owner: Dream Girl
3rd Place: 2 Badges (Boulder, Cascade), Owner: LevelBoss
4th Place: 2 Badges (Boulder, Cascade), Owner: LegendSlayer
"These three players seem to be catching up, but that's their limit," Eddie observed with confidence.
"They've barely reached Intermediate Trainer level, while I estimate I'll become a Gym Leader-level trainer within days. Spanning three major classifications, they simply cannot catch up with me."
Eddie felt no concern about other players whatsoever. His current leaderboard review served two purposes: assessing the general situation and enjoying the sight of others' desperate efforts.
Imagining other players working frantically to level up, only to despair upon seeing the leaderboards, brought Eddie considerable satisfaction. While he wasn't exactly sadistic, anyone would find such circumstances amusing, wouldn't they?
"But they haven't obtained the Thunder Badge yet, meaning the substitute Gym Leader hasn't appeared there. Fortunately, I accepted that mission - otherwise I might not have the Thunder Badge now either."
Three days had passed since he left Vermilion City. The three players behind him on the leaderboard must have reached Vermilion City by now, yet they still lacked the Thunder Badge. The situation was somewhat ironic.
"I checked the Pokedex Rankings yesterday. Now let's examine the final Potential Rankings."
Pokemon Potential Rankings:
1st Place: Charizard, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
2nd Place: Greninja, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
3rd Place: Sceptile, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
4th Place: Lucario, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
5th Place: Gabite, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
6th Place: Pupitar, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
7th Place: Snorlax, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
8th Place: Gengar, Champion Potential, Owner: Morning Sun
9th Place: Plusle, Quasi Elite Potential, Owner: [Name Hidden]
10th Place: Pidgey, Quasi Elite Potential, Owner: [Name Hidden]
11th Place: Rapidash, Quasi Elite Potential, Owner: [Name Hidden]
"The Rapidash I acquired yesterday possesses Gym Leader potential, which isn't bad. However, this ranking follows chronological order - otherwise I would have claimed all top ten positions," Eddie noted, observing the few Pokemon not belonging to him in the top rankings.
He felt no annoyance about this. Given time, he might claim all top twenty positions, let alone the top ten.
"But viewing it this way, other players are truly struggling. Whether considering Pokemon potential or levels, aside from myself, no others can rival the native inhabitants."
With such levels and potential, forget about Ash, Gary, Green and others - forget about Team Rocket's three Executives - even Team Rocket division captains were stronger than the most powerful players at this stage.
"I've almost forgotten how I managed before my rebirth. The early period was so miserable. Except for some wild trainers, I couldn't defeat anyone with a notable reputation."
"As for Gym battles, forget it. Those were essentially tutorial matches. When Gym Leaders used full strength, even in later stages, many players still couldn't defeat Gym trainers."
Eddie shook his head remembering these difficulties.
When the Pokemon world became reality, it wasn't that no one wanted to directly conquer the major regions - it was that no players could defeat the indigenous inhabitants.
As for modern weapons? Please - most Pokemon's individual strength exceeded conventional weaponry.
Could you imagine groups of Gym Leader-level Pokemon using Hyper Beam, Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, and Thunder against you simultaneously?
Regarding 'nuclear weapons' - if anyone dared deploy them, legendary Pokemon would emerge to retaliate immediately.
Just Rayquaza alone in outer space could intercept any missile at any time. Combined with time-related and space-related legendary Pokemon, the real world's collective power genuinely couldn't match the Pokemon world's capabilities.
Therefore, when the Pokemon world arrived, the real world focused not on attacking, but on defense strategies.
Fortunately, the Pokemon world had virtually no national distinctions - only the Pokemon Alliance provided symbolic coordination.
Besides, the real world offered nothing particularly attractive to the Pokemon world, so evil organizations from the Pokemon world couldn't be bothered causing trouble, let alone ordinary inhabitants.
"Consequently, the real world and Pokemon world formed a rather unusual peaceful coexistence."
"We fear that legendary Pokemon might trigger natural disasters, so we've specifically assigned numerous players - essentially trainers - to assist the Alliance. This has dramatically elevated players' status, ushering in an era of the strong."
Eddie smiled slightly contemplating this development.
He was now among the strong - the strongest among players - and within the Pokemon world, his current abilities could barely qualify for recognition.
If he chose, he could retire comfortably at this point.
"But simply living a mundane existence would prove too boring. Besides, without becoming a top-tier powerhouse, I might only serve as cannon fodder in future events. Who willingly accepts such a fate?"