"Jackpot! Jackpot!"
On the shore, Caster started catching fish one after another.
As Magikarp after Magikarp was reeled in, notifications from his cheat ability kept appearing, filling Caster with joy.
The key was that both parties were perfectly harmonious. No fighting, no disdain, no arguments whatsoever.
The wild Magikarp got food, Caster got rewards from his cheat ability. Both sides had a beautiful future ahead.
Before long, Caster had caught every single one of the dozen or so Magikarp underwater.
The rewards had accumulated quite a bit: a total of 14 energy orbs and 3 TMs, of which 2 were Splash and 1 was Tackle.
During this catching spree, Caster also confirmed the rules of his cheat ability: catching the same Pokémon a second time wouldn't yield any more rewards.
That made sense.
Because if there wasn't such a restriction, Caster could just grind his own Magikarp to death.
"Karp~ Karp~"
After eating their fill, the wild Magikarp underwater waved their fins at Caster on the shore.
Thank you, kind human!
Then they gently patted Caster's Magikarp with their fins, greeting it and preparing to say goodbye.
And you too, messenger of food!
"Karp~"
Caster's Magikarp smiled.
We're all buddies here!
After all the wild Magikarp had left, Caster's Magikarp surfaced.
"Karp~"
The Magikarp's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, constantly blowing bubbles.
Trainer, belly hungry, feed me!
"Magikarp, you did great."
Seeing this, Caster quickly stepped forward to praise it and fed it some Pokéblocks as encouragement.
"Karp~"
But Magikarp was clearly not satisfied.
I want that!
That thing!
That!!!
"See, there you go getting impatient again."
Caster teased deliberately, but still activated an energy orb and guided it into Magikarp's body.
"Karp~"
As the energy orb merged in, Magikarp immediately showed an expression of pure bliss.
Mmm~~ feels so good!
Not only did it feel good, Magikarp could also sense its muscles becoming firmer and its scales seemingly harder.
Before long, the energy orb was depleted again, but Magikarp still wanted more.
"Little Magikarp, you're wrapped around my finger!"
Caster smiled smugly at first, then put on a stern face. "Magikarp, didn't I just tell you to find powerful Pokémon like Gyarados, Blastoise, or Poliwrath? Why did you bring back nothing but Magikarp?"
"Karp~"
Magikarp's expression stiffened.
Trainer, I can't do it!
A weak and despised Pokémon like itself, how could it dare wander around in front of those big shots and be an eyesore?
If it offended a big shot, there'd be hell to pay.
Besides, with your bait, aside from weak and non-picky Magikarp, what proper Pokémon would eat it?
Even Poliwag wouldn't eat it, let alone Poliwrath!
"Karp~"
But for the sake of energy orbs, Magikarp didn't dare anger Caster.
It could only tearfully promise: next time for sure!
Seeing Magikarp's proper attitude, Caster was quite satisfied. Then he remembered the TMs in his fishing space.
Magikarp currently only knew one move with zero attack power, Splash. If it could learn Tackle, it would have basic combat ability.
With this thought, Caster didn't hesitate and decided to use the Tackle TM.
He beckoned to Magikarp with a beaming smile. "Magikarp, I've got another good thing for you."
With that said, Caster activated the Tackle TM with a thought and infused the light orb it transformed into into Magikarp's body.
"Karp?"
"Karp!!!"
At first, Magikarp thought it was an energy orb. It had already prepared itself to enjoy the sensation.
But to its surprise, this time there was no pleasant feeling. Instead, there was a strange itchy sensation in its brain.
A mysterious way of utilizing energy appeared in its mind, deeply imprinting itself. Every step was crystal clear. Even if Magikarp wanted to forget, it couldn't.
"Karp~"
Immediately after, Magikarp unconsciously began circulating this energy according to the steps. Its tail thrashed wildly, and white light even emerged from its head as it leaped out of the water and slammed hard into a branch of a small tree on the shore.
Bang!
The sound of impact rang out. The small tree's branch merely swayed slightly, not even dropping a few leaves.
As for Magikarp, its head was spinning, dazed and dizzy, nearly flipping belly-up.
"That power..."
Seeing this, Caster's mouth twitched. "Is way too weak!"
This kind of tackle hitting an opponent might not even scratch the surface.
The key issue was looking at Magikarp's dizzy, confused state. This was a textbook case of hurting the enemy eight hundred but losing a thousand yourself.
Hm? Learned it?
Yep! Learned it all wrong!
However, remembering that Magikarp was the weakest Pokémon with very poor attack stats on both fronts, Caster came to terms with it.
"First solve the problem of having the move at all, then figure out how to solve the power problem..."
Caster had a moment of clarity.
At the very least, Magikarp now had offensive capability.
This was a qualitative breakthrough!
At the same time, Magikarp's stat panel data also changed.
[Pokémon: Magikarp]
[Type: Water]
[Ability: Rattled (When hit by Bug, Ghost, or Dark-type moves, becomes scared and raises Speed)]
[Moves: Splash (Learned), Tackle (Learned)]
Looking at the "Learned" suffix after the moves, then glancing at the 2 Splash TMs in his fishing space, Caster suddenly had an idea.
"According to the data panel display, Pokémon moves should have levels, which might relate to move proficiency. For example, this 'Learned' probably means the Pokémon has just grasped the move and can barely execute it..."
Caster speculated internally. "So can TMs be used for repeated teaching? This might increase a Pokémon's move level."
"Let's try it!"
Caster decided to give it a shot. With a thought, he activated another Splash TM from his fishing space and infused the light orb it transformed into into Magikarp's body.
"Karp?"
Magikarp's whole body trembled, feeling its brain getting itchy again.
Suddenly, its understanding and insight into the Splash move deepened considerably. It now knew how to paddle its fins and flick its tail to better utilize the water currents and provide more ample propulsion.
"Karp~"
Magikarp couldn't wait to start swimming, and its speed had noticeably increased.
This thrilled it to no end!
Splash!
When it sprinted at full force and leaped out of the water, Magikarp's height above the water increased significantly.
"It works!"
Seeing this, Caster was even more excited than Magikarp.
In the games, the Splash move was completely useless, even more worthless than Magikarp itself.
But in the real world, although Splash still had no attack power, it could increase Magikarp's swimming speed and jumping height.
That was no small benefit!
Especially the speed aspect!
In the real world, a Pokémon being fast didn't just mean having the first move, it meant having battlefield initiative.
Glancing at Magikarp's stat panel and seeing that Splash's level was still "Learned," Caster decided to up the dosage and activated the remaining Splash TM.
"Karp~"
Magikarp's brain itched again, and at the same time, its understanding and insight into Splash deepened once more.
Simultaneously, Magikarp's move list data finally changed.
[Moves: Splash (Proficient), Tackle (Learned)]
"Splash became 'Proficient'!"
Seeing this, Caster was overjoyed.
He had Magikarp use Splash again. This time, not only did its swimming speed climb higher, but its jumping height also reached an impressive five to six meters, about as tall as a two-story building.
What delighted Caster even more was that due to the increased swimming speed, its charges were more fierce, which seemed to also boost the power of Magikarp's Tackle move somewhat.
"I only caught a dozen or so Magikarp, and fishy has already gotten this much stronger. If I keep fishing for another five, six, seven, eight days, won't fishy be ready to take off?"
Caster couldn't help but grin, eventually breaking into full laughter.
The main thing was that weak Pokémon like Magikarp lived practically anywhere there was water, and their numbers were countless, just like the invasive pleco fish overrunning Earth that everyone hated. Other anglers avoided them like the plague.
As long as Caster wanted to fish, he'd never run out. There were as many as he could want.
"Hey, I've got an idea for a new video."
Caster's eyes suddenly lit up. He then took out his phone to start filming, having Magikarp cooperate.
"Let's head home!"
After finishing the video shoot, the sky was already growing dark. Caster recalled Magikarp, shouldered his fishing gear, and walked back.
He first went to buy some food before returning to his cramped rental apartment.
Caster's dinner was rice and beef with a bit of vegetables. Very simple.
As for Magikarp's food, it was basic Pokéblocks.
This was what Caster had tearfully purchased with 500₽ of hard-earned money as provisions for Magikarp. It was almost gone now.
"Time to make money!"
After eating his fill, Caster opened his phone and started editing the video, adding voiceover and subtitles.
After reviewing the edited video once to make sure there were no errors or omissions, Caster uploaded it.
Looking at his username "Magikarp Dreamer," Caster thought for a moment and changed it to "Fishing Dreamer," because his future videos would likely feature plenty of fishing content.
As for followers, he currently only had a pitiful five hundred or so.
After doing all this, Caster washed up, then lay in bed and drifted off to sleep in a daze.
...
The next morning.
Caster was woken by notification sounds from his phone.
He groggily picked up his phone and opened it. Instantly, he perked up.
"The video already broke ten thousand views in just one night?"
Caster was delighted, thinking to himself, "Being a content creator in the Pokémon world really has potential!"
He glanced at his follower count. It had more than doubled, now reaching one thousand three hundred people.
As for the comment section below the video, it was absolutely buzzing with numerous netizen comments.
Caster clicked play and watched the video while checking the comments and bullet chat.
The video was only seven minutes long. The opening showed Caster greeting Magikarp, fairly standard stuff, but there were plenty of bullet comments and replies.
"Bros, dinner's served!"
"Missing person has returned."
"Grandpa, the streamer you follow finally updated!"
"Tell Old Mo I'm eating fish now."
...
Next was Caster sitting by the lake, explaining why he hadn't updated videos during this time.
"Not gonna lie, everyone, I've been here doing special training with Magikarp this whole time, so I haven't filmed much."
Caster announced with a delighted expression, "Fortunately, the training has been quite effective. My Magikarp has learned the Tackle move! Come on, Magikarp, show them!"
What followed was footage of Magikarp executing the Tackle move.
"What?! Magikarp learned Tackle? Oh my god! Today it dares to learn Tackle, tomorrow it'll dare to evolve into Gyarados. Fishy's promotion to Pokémon Master is just around the corner (smirk.jpg)!"
"With Magikarp's Tackle power like that, is the streamer here to be a comedian?"
"Streamer, go treat the little tree quickly. Hurry!! If you don't treat it soon, its wound is going to heal."
"Hahaha~ Streamer, you're celebrating too early. So what if Magikarp learned Tackle? What use is a Pokémon like Magikarp? Magikarp can't do anything!"
"Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate! Congrats to fishy for learning Tackle! Starting today, you've been upgraded from trash to weakling."
...
As expected, the comments and bullet chat were full of jokers having fun.
Caster just smiled without saying anything.
Because he knew the real show was still to come.
And at the end of the video, Caster finally dropped the bomb.
By the lake, with an earnest expression, Caster stroked Magikarp's head and declared with conviction, "Given that Magikarp has now learned the Tackle move, I've decided to challenge the Cerulean Gym in the near future..."
"????"
As soon as he finished speaking, the screen was immediately flooded with question marks.