After Drain Punch extracted the remaining energy of the sub-Ultimate treasure from Steelix's body, the effects appeared immediately.
As Steelix's aura fluctuated violently, after about a minute, it suddenly surged to a whole new level.
"It broke through," Julian said calmly.
"ROAR!"
After advancing to pseudo–Elite tier, Steelix let out a roar of exhilaration.
It could have leveled up to the pseudo-Elite tier half a year ago, but consuming that sub-Ultimate treasure had delayed its advancement for so long.
Naturally, it had been anxious, and since its trainer was about to participate in the League, if it didn't break through, they definitely wouldn't achieve a good result.
Under that kind of pressure, Steelix's temper had only grown worse.
"That's great, Steelix!"
Gemma threw her arms around Steelix, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks.
Julian stood there silently, watching Gemma and Steelix.
The bond between a trainer and their Pokémon might even surpass family ties, romantic love, and friendship.
Because those kinds of bonds could be betrayed or abandoned for personal gain, but your Pokémon never would—they were willing to trade their own life for your chance to survive.
With the Temporary Mission completed, Julian naturally received the System's rewards.
600,000 points and five Mewtwo fragments.
"Let's go."
With nothing left for him to do, Julian turned to leave.
But before he had gone far, hurried footsteps sounded from behind.
"Coach, wait!"
Julian stopped, "Don't tell me you're trying to cling to me now?"
He looked at her warily. He had already fulfilled his promise—why was she still trying to stick to him?
Gemma's face flushed red. She actually had been planning to cling to him—or rather, stick close to Julian.
Who could blame her? Julian was so skilled that in less than an hour, he had helped her Steelix advance to the pseudo-Elite tier and even identified why it had been stuck at its previous stage.
To be honest, even her Elite-level father didn't possess such expertise.
Previously, she had assumed Julian was just a pseudo-Elite level trainer.
Now, she suspected he might actually be a young Elite.
Since there was no information about him on the Trainers' Association's official website, it was very likely he hadn't updated his records—and his bearing clearly suggested he came from a prominent family.
If one was born into a prominent family, it would make perfect sense for them to not have updated their information with the Trainers' Association after becoming an Elite-level trainer.
After all, people from major families didn't lack the resources provided by the Trainers' Association.
Moreover, this coach of hers was very likely the heir of some major family.
He wouldn't even tell her his name, was so mysterious, and on top of that, he had an extremely rare Pokémon, Lucario, by his side—there was no way his family background was ordinary.
'A Steel-type trainer...'
There were many Steel-type families in Drakoria. The strongest was undoubtedly the Walker family, while the second strongest was the Mark family in Rune Province.
"Coach, are you from the Mark family?" Gemma asked.
"No."
Julian shook his head.
The Mark family was the second-ranked Steel-type family. As the saying went, in literature there was no first, and in martial strength there was no second—the Mark family had always been the runner-up.
So the relationship between the two families was rather strained, with some lingering grievances.
Back when Julian had been poisoned, John and Jake's primary suspects were actually the Mark family, though they had no involvement.
Ultimately, it was discovered that the Wynn family was behind it.
Now, the Marks had long given up the idea of competing with the Walkers. The gap was simply too large—continuing to compete would just be foolish.
Just the fact that the Walkers had produced three champions in one generation was enough to make others crane their necks in awe.
"No? Then could you be from the fourth-ranked Steel-type family?"
Gemma continued asking. She was really curious about Julian's background.
The fourth-ranked Steel-type family? Which one was that? Julian actually had no idea. And what about the third-ranked one? He didn't know that either.
Gemma: 'The third-ranked Steel-type family is my own.'
"Alright, what else do you want?"
"Coach, since you've already helped me this much, can you train me until the League starts?"
"Although Steelix breaking through to the pseudo–Elite tier gives me hope of achieving a decent ranking, relying on Steelix alone definitely won't be enough to get an even higher placement—or even win the League."
Gemma said, her eyes full of anticipation.
Humans were creatures that were never satisfied.
Her original wish had only been for Steelix to reach the pseudo–Elite tier. Now, she wanted to win the League.
A big part of that was Julian's abilities—they had given her great confidence.
She felt that with Julian's help, she could definitely go much further in the League—perhaps even win it all.
"Heh, dream on."
Julian let out a cold snort.
With the time it would take to train her, he might as well lie on the sofa and play games.
The new season of Pokémon Glory was launching today, and he was planning to go back and play—he really couldn't be bothered with her.
"I'm leaving."
With a wave of his hand, Julian turned and left.
Gemma wanted to chase after him, but realized her body wouldn't move.
'Psychic!'
As she watched Julian's departing figure, that word instantly came to mind.
It wasn't until Julian's figure had completely disappeared that her body regained the ability to move.
"Who exactly is this guy? If he wasn't lying and he really is a Steel-type trainer, then why don't I know him?"
Gemma was filled with curiosity and confusion.
After all, she came from the Stein family—the third-ranked Steel-type family.
If Julian truly came from a Steel-type family as well, with his talent, there was no way he would be an unknown figure—yet she had never heard of such a person among the Steel-type families.
'Psychic powers, Lucario, the café, and that Poochyena who was unusually affectionate with him… he's about 1.89 meters tall… and that outfit—right, I think I saw it in Celebi's short videos.'
Thinking of that, Gemma quickly opened TikTok, went to Celebi's profile, and started scrolling through the videos one by one.
Celebi treated posting on TikTok like sharing moments on social media—posting just once a day was considered few.
In fact, today alone, before the day was even over, two videos had already been uploaded.
'Not this one… not this one… not this one…'
After scrolling past dozens of videos, Gemma finally stopped at one and tapped the screen.
The video showed Julian making a reckless remark to Love, saying he was all grown up and wanted to move out, followed by Love disciplining him with a rolling pin.
At the time, the whole internet was joking about how low Julian's status was in the family hierarchy.
And in that video, Julian was wearing exactly the same outfit as her coach today—although the pants were different, the shoes and shirt were definitely the same.
"Oh my god! Coach is actually Champion Walker!"
Now Gemma finally confirmed that her coach was indeed Champion Walker. Even though his face looked different, altering one's appearance was an incredibly simple matter for a strong trainer like Julian.
"My idol! I was actually in such close contact with my idol!"
Gemma was completely entranced. Among Steel-type trainers, there were hardly any who didn't admire Julian.
Julian had elevated Steel-types to an entirely new height—one that seemed almost unattainable.
*****
Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/ReduxMagister