Waking up to 999+ notifications on the homepage.
Qingyu couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath. With an excited heart and trembling hands, he tapped in.
Sure enough—it was the video he had scheduled to publish at midnight last night.
"One… ten… a hundred… a thousand… ten thousand…"
"Five hundred thousand views?!"
In just a single night, the video's view count had skyrocketed to 500,000!
Qingyu was completely stunned, subconsciously scratching his head.
…Did I go viral?
But why?
With zero existing fanbase, the odds of hitting trending overnight were lower than winning the lottery, weren't they?
Driven by curiosity, Qingyu opened his video:"Can a Level 1 Pokémon Sweep Battles?"
"Hello everyone, I'm a new streamer, Azure Feather."
"Today I'm bringing you a Level 1 strategy. It's not really suitable for climbing ranks, but it's a lot of fun for entertainment."
As his own voice played from the video, the screen quickly filled with an overwhelming flood of scrolling comments.
[Congratulations, you've discovered the treasure of this site!][I hereby declare this the most creative strategy of the year. The streamer is a genius!][Anyone else here through Steven's Navigator link?][Yep, same here.][If even Hoenn Champion Steven praised it, I can only say one thing—this is insane!]
"Steven?"
Qingyu frowned. Something felt off.
He immediately jumped into the comment section.
And sure enough, right at the very top, he found the "culprit" behind the video's explosive popularity.
User ID: "FossilFanSteven".Profile picture: a blue-haired gentleman in a black suit, exuding an air of aloof nobility.
At the bottom-right corner of the avatar was a striking lightning-shaped verification badge.
Staring at the handsome face in the profile picture, Qingyu subconsciously swallowed and tapped into the user's page.
Over ten million followers. Multiple official verifications. Undisputed global top-tier.
Hoenn Champion. Heir of Devon Corporation. Currently ranked second in the world among Master Trainers.
Steven Stone.
"How did my tiny little temple end up attracting a god like this?"
Cold sweat trickled down Qingyu's temple.
Even though Steven's content was almost entirely about fossils and mining—and he barely even shared daily life posts—those credentials alone spoke volumes about his influence.
Returning to the comments, Qingyu suddenly grew curious about how Steven had evaluated his video.
User "FossilFanSteven", posted at 04:04.Likes: 50,000+
[Thanks for the invite. I'm at a mining site and just got online when someone recommended this video to me.
I initially thought it would be a typical beginner strategy, but it nearly overturned my understanding of Pokémon battles…
Sturdy and Endeavor give a mere Level 1 Aron the confidence to turn the tables on powerful opponents. Combined with the finishing touches of Sandstorm and the inspired inclusion of Shell Bell, it becomes a tightly constructed, art-level visual feast.
I have to say—the creator is truly a genius.
The strengths are obvious, easy to understand, and quick to learn. While it has fatal weaknesses against multi-hit moves and Ghost-type Pokémon, the chances of encountering those aren't actually that high.
It may be difficult to pull off consistently in real combat, but the level of thought behind it is obvious. This is unquestionably a highly complete and excellent strategy.]
"Is the praise really that high?"
Qingyu raised an eyebrow.
Steven's compliments actually made sense to him.
Just as he'd said in the video, he'd positioned this as a fun, entertainment-focused strategy.
Something that could occasionally disgust your opponent and produce surprising results.
But in the current, still rather primitive battle environment—where matches were basically "axe kings trading blows"—it really was a refreshingly novel tactic.
The fact that even Hoenn Champion Steven praised it spoke volumes.
Ignoring the wave of NPC-style comments like "Master Ball!" and "Ten-year Steven fan reporting in," another follow-up comment from Steven caught Qingyu's eye.
Posted at 5:30—over an hour after the first one.
[It's me again.
The question the creator left at the end of the video was simply too intriguing. After digging through data online for an hour, I finally arrived at a definite conclusion before the answer was revealed.
The Pokémon the creator mentioned as being "even more compatible with the Endeavor strategy" is Donphan, right?
While the process of solving the puzzle was enjoyable, what truly amazed me was the creator's solid knowledge base and creativity.
Even factoring in inherited moves like Ice Shard—there's no doubt the creator is also an outstanding Trainer.]
…?
Qingyu slowly typed a question mark in his mind.
"Was that question really that hard? Even Steven had to research for an hour?"
But then again, in this real world—where information relied on Pokédex entries and online searches, and understanding Pokémon wasn't nearly as exhaustive as it was for players in his past-life games—it suddenly felt… oddly reasonable.
Because it was a game, everything could be analyzed down to the last detail.
In reality, figuring out every move a Pokémon could possibly learn wasn't so simple.
Even Champions couldn't memorize the entire Pokédex.
Steven's answer was unquestionably correct.
Donphan is a Ground-type Pokémon. Like Aron, it's immune to sandstorm damage, possesses the Sturdy Ability, and can learn Endeavor.
Anything Aron could do, Donphan could do as well.
But there was one easily overlooked detail that made it the perfect fit for the strategy.
Donphan can inherit Ice Shard.
Among Pokémon moves, Ice Shard is a priority move—on the same tier as Quick Attack and Bullet Punch—boasting extremely fast execution.
Even against opponents that sandstorm couldn't finish off, Ice Shard could clean them up instantly.
Qingyu suddenly found himself admiring the Hoenn Champion.
Before this, Steven likely had zero exposure to Endeavor-based strategies. Yet by filtering through Pokédex entries and using pure elimination, he'd managed to brute-force his way to the optimal answer…
Incredible. Truly worthy of the name Steven the Grinder.
This remote assist from the Hoenn Champion had clearly brought Qingyu far more than he'd ever expected.
Overnight, his follower count skyrocketed from just over a thousand after ending the stream to more than ten thousand.
The growth rate was already absurd—and the upward trend showed no signs of slowing.
Noticing this, Qingyu's mood lifted as well.
After liking Steven's comments and several other top replies, he pinned the correct answer in the comment section and casually dropped a teaser for tonight's stream.
"No impostors tonight—let's give our opponents a spike-filled shock~"
After handling the online commotion, Qingyu washed up quickly and headed into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for himself and Eevee.
According to Green's breeding notes, while portable meals and energy blocks were convenient, food infused with the Trainer's own feelings was far more touching to a partner Pokémon.
To become an excellent Breeder, one couldn't neglect culinary skills either.
"Although I've never cooked in either lifetime… if I just follow the notes step by step, it should be fine, right?"
Yesterday, for convenience, he and Eevee had eaten stockpiled Paldea-style dishes. It really was time for a change.
Qingyu felt he probably didn't have the talent to create dark cuisine.
Reality begged to differ.
Barely an hour later—
When Eevee woke up naturally and waddled into the kitchen half-asleep, walking with that utterly lawless swagger—
"…Forget it. I really might not be cut out for this."
Qingyu sighed as he poured yet another pot of correctly colored—but completely mushy and horrifying—food down the drain.
The proportions were precise. The heat should've been perfect. So why did the texture always turn out wrong, and the taste feel inexplicably… off?
It's not like I added Ganges water or anything.
Forget it. I'll let someone else earn this money.
"To celebrate hitting ten thousand followers, I'll take Eevee to Brightdawn Town for a feast today."
Forcing things never leads to sweetness. Sometimes, knowing when to give up is the better choice.
In the end, he chose to accept his shortcomings.
Blind faith in books was no good either—Green's theories weren't necessarily 100% correct.
I'll prove that even without culinary talent, I can still become an excellent Trainer!
"Eevee?"
Watching its Trainer suddenly ignite with inexplicable passion, a question mark slowly rose above Eevee's round little head.
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