"Ding... Congratulations to the host for obtaining..."
Ghost-type Premium Energy Cubes (10-day supply) × 3
Pokémon Snack Gift Pack (10kg) × 2
Coca-Cola (Large bottle 2L) × 2
Wild Salac Berry (1kg) × 1
Spell Tag × 1
Super Potion × 2
After the countless streams of light passed, one purple orb, one blue orb, five green orbs, and four white orbs—eleven light clusters of different colors in total—floated before David's eyes.
Wow~ It seems the drop rate is quite high.
Perhaps it was due to David's good luck, or perhaps his first draw came with a hidden bonus from the system. Either way, David's regular ten-pull this time was quite good, even yielding a purple-grade rare item. You have to know, this system didn't mention any guaranteed drops!
Just thinking about the words "no guaranteed drops" made David recall his nightmare experiences playing FGO back in the day.
"Surely no one needed three hundred draws to get a single five-star, right?"
After a brief moment of nostalgic thoughts, David began to check his haul from this draw.
He directly ignored the less useful items like snacks and Coca-Cola—they were just filler items.
Although the remaining Ghost-type Premium Energy Cubes and Super Potions were not cheap, and since they were provided by the system, their quality would naturally be excellent. To most people, they would be considered treasures, but for the current David, they were just decent consolation prizes.
Not to mention the more than ten million Pokémon Dollars still in his account, his parents wouldn't skimp on these basic resources for him either. These items were abundant in his own Gym. But since he had drawn them, well, might as well keep them!
He casually stored them in the system space. The Super Potions would probably see little use, but the Ghost-type Premium Energy Cubes could serve as snacks for the little fox.
The real focus was on the remaining two items. These two could indeed be called precious. Even from David's perspective in this life, these two items were quite rare.
The Salac Berry had been mentioned before—it's a rare Berry that, after consumption, can slowly stimulate a Pokémon's potential and increase its Speed stat. David's customized diet for Zorua included this item, but what was added were only artificially cultivated ones. In terms of effect, they were, of course, a notch below those grown naturally in the wild.
But this wasn't because David intentionally wanted to shortchange the little fox. Rare Berries like wild Salac Berries generally grow in remote wilderness far from cities or in high-level, incompletely explored Secret Realms. They are also usually occupied by powerful Pokémon individuals and their communities, making them very difficult to obtain and their source quite unstable. One can only rely on luck to acquire them.
That's why the League cultivates artificial Salac Berries. Although their effect is somewhat weaker, it at least ensures a stable and ample supply.
Of course, having wild ones is even better. With this 1kg of wild Salac Berry combined with the energy cubes, David estimated it should be enough for Zorua to eat for about a month.
And the other item, the Spell Tag, was even more extraordinary. Held items in the real world are not entirely the same as in the games, or rather, they are fundamentally two different things. In terms of quantity alone, held items in reality are far rarer than in the games. Once they appear, they are fiercely sought after by many Trainers.
A top-quality Spell Tag like the one provided by the system can increase the Ghost-type move power of the held Pokémon by a full 30%. Even if Ghost-type items don't command as high a premium due to their general usability, if placed in an auction, it would start at least at an eight-figure sum in Pokémon Dollars.
That is to say, this Spell Tag alone already exceeds David's entire current net worth. And for Dragon-type or Psychic-type items, the price would be at least several times higher, showing just how rare held items are.
However, since he only had one Pokémon right now, all these items could benefit the little fox. He casually pinched Zorua's little face again, which earned him a dissatisfied whine from the little fox.
Only then did he take out the Spell Tag from the system. As soon as it appeared, the rich Ghost-type energy emanating from the Spell Tag was almost visible to the naked eye, surprising even David, who had already begun to awaken his Aura abilities.
Zorua, however, was unfazed by this. Instead, it showed a longing expression toward the Spell Tag, staring at David with its big, watery eyes.
"Zorua~"
"Alright, alright, this is for you."
After quickly giving the Spell Tag to Zorua to absorb into its body, this ten-day journey in the Secret Realm finally came to an end.
"Let's go! We're heading home!"
"Zorua!"
...
Near League City No. 1 High School, in David's apartment.
These days, his dad was away on a League mission, and his mom seemed to have found a "new toy" and was holed up in the research institute. He was alone, so he was too lazy to go back to the main house and simply took the little fox to his apartment near school.
Throughout the afternoon, David didn't go anywhere. He just stayed home with his little fox, resting. David lay on the sofa, and the little fox lay in his arms. They just enjoyed the rare leisure time—air conditioning on, playing games, and watching movies.
David leisurely taught the little fox how to use these human technological products, one by one: mobile phones, game consoles, televisions, holographic projectors, computers... Zorua first picked up the game console, tried playing a couple of games, found it a bit boring, and directly tossed the game console aside. With a light jump, it landed on the table, picked up the remote control, recalled the instructions David had just given, turned on the holographic projector in the room, and watched a movie with great interest.
With the aid of high technology, the immersive movie made Zorua deeply engrossed.
Perhaps due to its Illusion ability, Zorua, skilled in illusions, was inherently the best "film critic." It watched several movies in a row without getting tired, and even eloquently pointed out what it considered flaws in the films.
David could only helplessly act as the little fox's audience.
Come to think of it, the biggest difference between the entertainment industry in the Pokémon world and his previous life might be Pokémon themselves. Due to the existence of Pokémon and the widespread love for them, whether it's games, novels, movies, or television, the content is all inseparable from Pokémon.
For example, the game they started playing, called "Pokémon Brawl," was similar in content to a famous MOBA game from his previous life, except that the characters controlled were all replaced by Pokémon.
And there were the movies Zorua was watching. After a quick glance at the titles, David saw "The Phantom Thief" featuring a Murkrow, "Dragon War" with Dragonite and Hydreigon, and "Incineroar and Delphox" against a shipwreck backdrop... In this world of Pokémon, the truly popular stars are those celebrity Pokémon and Trainers. Trying to hype up a bunch of celebrities who only know how to read lines like in his previous life wouldn't win over the audience.
After watching several more movies, Zorua finally felt a bit tired. It collapsed onto David's lap, and after finding a comfortable position, it drifted off to sleep.
David let it lie on him and just lay on the sofa, scrolling through his phone.
While scrolling through his phone, David logged into his messaging app. It was then that he realized the chat group for his second-year Class 1 was particularly lively at the moment—or rather, this liveliness hadn't stopped for a while.
Ever since a classmate first posted a picture of their starter Pokémon in the group a few days ago, it had become unstoppable. All sorts of photos were posted, and these days, whenever someone shared a picture of themselves and their Pokémon, everyone would spend at least half an hour chatting excitedly in the group.
However, what David hadn't expected was that just as he was enjoying lurking, the conversation suddenly turned to him.
"Speaking of which, everyone has been active in the group these past few days, but it feels like someone is missing! Where's our top student?" @David.
"Exactly, exactly! We still don't know what David's starter Pokémon is! The Rookie Cup competition is about to start, but there's no sign of him! Emma, do you know?" @David @Emma.
Emma: "Hehe, about the Pokémon, you should ask David yourself! I won't say anything yet. As for what he's doing, David mentioned it once before: he's been training in a Pokémon Secret Realm these past few days."
"But the competition starts tomorrow, and according to his habits, he should be relaxing at home now!"
After speaking, she also @ David.
Then Miles and Luke, those two who loved watching the drama unfold, also joined the crowd @-ing him.
Seeing more and more people starting to @ him, David couldn't sit still anymore.
Ding~
Ding~
Ding~
Several beautiful photos of the little fox were continuously uploaded by David to the class group. Of course, these were in its disguised state—David had no intention of revealing Zorua's true appearance before the competition.
In the pictures, some showed the little fox, having just finished its bath, lazily leaning in David's arms, yawning with sleepy eyes.
Or the little fox currently sleeping soundly on David's lap.
It looked so cute, making one want to give it a good pet.
And after David started to appear, the group immediately exploded.
"Wow! What a cute little fox! David, is this your starter Pokémon? I really want to hug it!"
"Holy crap, this Zorua is too adorable! Ah, my heart! I'm going to have a nosebleed."
"Exactly, exactly! If only my Spearow was this cute."
"You up there, what are you thinking?! What kind of personality does a Spearow have? Don't you know?! It'd be good if you don't get pecked full of holes →_→."
"So what? You're very arrogant, aren't you? If you're so brave, let's battle when school starts. o(￣▽￣)d"
"Bring it on, my Pidgey isn't afraid of you..."
...
And so, David also joined the ranks of the chatters. The group members chatted about Zorua for over half an hour before moving on to other topics.
"By the way, everyone should have registered for the Trainer Network by now, right?"
At this moment, Willow, as the class president, suddenly asked.
The Trainer Network APP is a Trainer software officially launched by the Cloudspire Alliance. The registration requirement is simply to be a Pokémon Trainer, regardless of level. Therefore, the users range from Gym Leaders, Elite Four members, and Champions, down to newcomers who have just obtained a Pokémon. The number of registered users is in the hundreds of millions, with various Trainers sharing their content within it, making it the largest Trainer communication software within Donghuang.
"Not yet, I've been training in the Secret Realm these past few days," David honestly replied while everyone else confirmed they had registered.
These past few days, he had been busy grinding tasks and training Zorua. It was either battling or training. He had only just had a free afternoon today and truly hadn't thought about this matter.
"Then David, hurry up and register! All classmates who haven't registered yet, remember to do so before tonight. The Rookie Cup competition starts tomorrow, and the official announcement states that the preliminary rounds will be randomly grouped. Specific details will be notified to participants within the APP."
Huh~
Damn~ He actually didn't know about such an important matter. If it weren't for the class president's reminder, he would have almost forgotten about it.
"No problem, I'll go register later... Ah, gotta go. Zorua woke up, I'm taking Zorua to eat. See you at the competition, bye everyone~."
"Zorua~"
A sudden cry drew David's attention away from replying to messages. It turned out the little fox had woken up and was gently nuzzling against him. David checked the time and realized it was already half past six in the evening!
Time always flies when resting. Unconsciously, the entire afternoon had passed. Seeing this, David quickly ended his chat session, picking up the little fox, who had just woken up and was still blinking its eyes sleepily.
"Zorua~"
"How was your nap? Comfortable?" David stroked the little fox's head in his arms.
"Zorua~ Zorua!" Zorua nodded energetically.
But soon, a "grumble~ grumble" sound came from Zorua's stomach. Hearing this, the little fox's face immediately flushed red.
David couldn't help but laugh.
"Hahaha! Let's go, Zorua, we're going out to eat something delicious. You've worked hard these past few days, so it's a good time to treat ourselves. Tomorrow, the competition starts again, and then we can show off the results of our hard work. You have to do your best!"
"Zorua~ (David, we're the best!)"
"Yes, yes, yes~ We're the best! Now the best David is going out for a big meal with the best Zorua."
Mimicking Ash and Pikachu from the anime, David directly placed the little fox on his shoulder and left the house with Zorua.