Jianghai City, Brothers BBQ Restaurant.
When Lin Rui arrived, Sun Zhi had already started eating.
"Can you even finish ordering this much?" Lin Rui asked.
"If I can't, I still have you," Sun Zhi replied casually.
Lin Rui didn't bother being polite. He sat down across from Sun Zhi, grabbed a skewer, and stuffed it into his mouth.
"By the way," he said after finishing it in just a few bites, "didn't you say you caught a new Pokémon? Show it to me."
Hearing that, Sun Zhi immediately wiped the grease off his hands and took out a Poké Ball from his waist.
"Come out, Houndour."
A flash of red light appeared.
A fierce-looking, dog-shaped Pokémon landed at Sun Zhi's feet.
It was Houndour, a Pokémon with both Dark- and Fire-type attributes.
Sun Zhi's starter Pokémon had been the Water-type Poliwag, so Lin Rui wasn't surprised that he had managed to catch Houndour.
Looking at the sharp, spirited gaze in Houndour's eyes, Lin Rui couldn't help nodding.
"Not bad. Your Houndour looks pretty solid, a good seedling."
"Of course," Sun Zhi said proudly. "My Houndour has elite-tier potential."
A Pokémon's qualification represented its upper limit.
Every Pokémon's qualification was different.
From low to high, the ranks were:
Ordinary, Elite, Lord, Overlord, Gym Leader, Quasi-King, King, Champion, Legendary, and the highest, God-tier.
The higher the qualification, the greater the Pokémon's potential, and the higher its market value.
A Pokémon like Sun Zhi's Houndour, with elite-tier qualifications, was guaranteed to grow into elite-level combat strength.
Anything beyond that would depend on luck.
A Pokémon's combat power was influenced by its qualifications, but qualifications weren't absolute.
With proper training from a trainer, it was possible to break through those limits and reach a higher level.
Combat power levels followed the same ranking system as qualifications.
Levels 0–10 were ordinary.
11–20 were elite.
21–30 were lord-level.
And so on.
"I still don't even know what qualifications my Magikarp has," Lin Rui thought to himself.
He suddenly realized that he hadn't taken Magikarp for an assessment yet.
"Well?" Sun Zhi said smugly as he stroked Houndour's head. "Jealous?"
At the same time, Houndour lifted its head and shot Lin Rui a proud, sideways glance.
"Look how smug you are," Lin Rui snorted. "It's only elite-tier. Don't forget, Houndour has to reach level 24 to evolve. If it's only elite-tier, it won't be able to evolve into Houndoom."
[Ding! Negative emotions from Sun Zhi: +99…]
[Ding! Negative emotions from Houndour: +199…]
Just one casual remark had earned him nearly 300 points of negative emotion.
Seeing Lin Rui talk back so confidently, Sun Zhi snorted coldly and pulled out another Poké Ball.
Another flash of red light.
A second Pokémon appeared at his feet.
"My Poliwag has already evolved into Poliwhirl. What do you think about that?" Sun Zhi asked proudly.
Even if Houndour couldn't evolve into Houndoom, as long as his Poliwag could evolve, he still had something to brag about.
Seeing Poliwhirl appear, Lin Rui took a closer look.
Poliwag needed to reach level 25 to evolve into Poliwhirl, which meant Sun Zhi's Poliwhirl was at least lord-level in combat power.
He had to admit, this guy's luck was really incredible.
His starter Pokémon had actually been a lord-tier Poliwag.
If that Poliwag had been sold at a breeding house, it would have cost at least half a million.
Unfortunately for Sun Zhi, that was as far as it went.
"It's just a Poliwhirl," Lin Rui said with a mischievous smile. "If you've got the ability, evolve it into Poliwrath, or Politoed."
"You!"
[Ding! Negative emotions from Sun Zhi: +399…]
[Ding! Negative emotions from Poliwhirl: +199…]
"What's wrong?" Lin Rui laughed. "Cat got your tongue now?"
Some Pokémon could evolve simply by leveling up.
Others required special conditions.
Among those conditions, some needed evolution stones, some needed specific items, some required trading, and some even needed to evolve at a specific time or place.
If Poliwhirl wanted to evolve further, it needed special conditions.
To evolve into Poliwrath, it required a Water Stone.
To evolve into Politoed, it needed to hold a King's Rock and be traded.
Neither a Water Stone nor a King's Rock was something Sun Zhi could afford.
The cheapest Water Stone officially started at seven figures, and the King's Rock was even harder to find.
So unless a miracle happened, Sun Zhi's Poliwhirl was destined to never evolve again.
"Hmph. Enough talk," Sun Zhi said irritably. "Didn't you go get your starter Pokémon today? Take it out and let me see what you chose."
Sun Zhi had originally planned to show off today, but Lin Rui's few words had completely shut him down.
And worse, Lin Rui was right, there was no way to refute it.
Still, Sun Zhi wasn't stupid.
Knowing Lin Rui had only gotten his starter Pokémon today, he figured this was his chance to get even.
Lin Rui glanced at him. They had known each other for years, Lin Rui knew exactly what Sun Zhi was thinking the moment he opened his mouth.
He just wanted to laugh at Lin Rui's starter.
But Lin Rui didn't care.
Sooner or later, Sun Zhi would find out that he had chosen Magikarp.
Since that was inevitable, he might as well show it openly.
"Alright," Lin Rui said calmly. "I'll let you see it for yourself."
With that, he took the Poké Ball from his waist and released it.
A red flash of light appeared.
Magikarp began flopping and jumping on the ground.
When Sun Zhi saw it, he froze, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him.
He rubbed his eyes hard, then looked again.
Finally, he pointed at Lin Rui with one hand, clutched his stomach with the other, and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! I'm dying! Lin Rui, you still had the nerve to criticize me? You actually chose Magikarp as your starter Pokémon! This is hilarious!"
"Everyone knows that for Magikarp to evolve into Gyarados, it has to reach at least lord-tier potential. Look at your stupid Magikarp, do you really think it has lord-tier qualifications?"
Sun Zhi's laughter was so loud that it immediately attracted attention from nearby tables.
Lin Rui was about to retort when a flood of notifications suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Ding! Negative emotions from Magikarp: +299…]
[Ding! Negative emotions from Sun Zhi: +99…]
[Ding! Negative emotions from Wang Xudong: +20…]
[Ding! Negative emotions from Li Hao: +10…]
[…]
Lin Rui was stunned.
What was going on?
Why were so many negative emotions pouring in all at once?