After feeding Dragonite a few energy cubes as a tip, the chubby Pokémon flapped its tiny wings happily and flew off.
Aarav opened the tightly sealed package and took out the mysterious seed inside.
The moment the box was opened, the rich, natural aroma of the Miracle Seed filled the air—
and instantly drew Sprigatito over.
It sniffed the scent drifting through the room, its eyes pure and clear, filled with nothing but desire for the emerald-green seed.
Grass-type Pokémon simply couldn't resist the allure of a Miracle Seed.
From another perspective, this also showed how difficult it was for wild Miracle Seeds to be discovered before Grass-type Pokémon found them.
Aarav rubbed the fluffy little cat's head and smiled.
"This is for you, Sprigatito. Special treat today."
High-end ingredients often required the simplest preparation methods.
For top-tier cultivation items like Miracle Seeds, the best method was simply eating them raw.
Any additional processing would only cause nutrient loss.
With Aarav's permission, Sprigatito stopped holding back and swallowed the Miracle Seed in one gulp.
There was no dazzling burst of golden light, no dramatic transformation.
For a Pokémon at Sprigatito's stage, fully absorbing the energy of a single Miracle Seed would take at least half a month.
During that time, normal feeding and training would be enough.
Watching Sprigatito chew happily, Aarav felt a strange emotion rise in his chest.
Tens of thousands of rupees… gone in a few bites.
After breakfast, Aarav prepared to head to class.
Before leaving, he asked gently,
"Sprigatito, are you coming to class with me today?"
Yesterday, he had brought it along because he needed to register it at the Pokémon Center and happened to pass by the classroom.
Today, he asked out of respect for its own wishes.
That was a promise he had made before capturing Sprigatito—
to give it sufficient space and freedom.
Sprigatito thought for a moment, then shook its head.
"Meow~"
It wasn't that it didn't want to stay with Aarav.
But yesterday, it had learned that Aarav planned to participate in the Shanghai Pokémon Cup.
It was a tournament Sprigatito had wanted to join long ago—
only back then, its Trainer hadn't been Aarav.
Whether it was to help Aarav win or to prove itself,
Sprigatito wanted to achieve a good result in the competition.
That made the time before the tournament incredibly precious.
And Aarav already had to stream for money and deal with his studies.
Asking him to spare extra time for training would be too exhausting.
So what could it do?
Suddenly, Sprigatito remembered those infuriating Mankey that had once bullied it in a group.
They seemed like… decent training partners.
Aarav, of course, had no idea what was really going on in Sprigatito's mind.
He simply thought, "If the kid doesn't want to go to class, so be it."
He grabbed his textbooks, reminded Sprigatito about electrical safety in the dorm, and headed out.
Sprigatito stood by the window, watching Aarav's figure gradually fade into the distance.
Then it pushed the window open and stepped onto the ledge.
With a light paw, it gently closed the window again,
then skillfully hopped along the air conditioner units and jumped down to the ground.
It wasn't following Aarav to class.
Instead, it ran in the opposite direction—
toward the place where it had wandered after being abandoned.
Aarav was in unusually high spirits.
Even the dull and tedious course on Pokémon Mythology felt interesting today.
He had planned to perform well in class and earn some impression points from the professor.
But Professor Zhou didn't seem impressed at all.
He barely gave Aarav a good look, leaving him completely baffled.
Meanwhile, Chen Zhenze beside him was as energetic as ever.
He talked about what Iono had said in her livestream after Aarav went offline last night,
and how he had actually seen a Dragonite delivering packages on campus that morning.
"No idea which rich guy ordered that kind of premium service," Chen Zhenze marveled.
Listening quietly beside him, Aarav felt secretly smug.
He finally understood the thrill of protagonists in web novels who "hide their true strength."
Just as Chen Zhenze was enthusiastically explaining how Dragonite Express only had dozens of employees yet generated massive annual revenue—
a strange voice suddenly echoed in Aarav's mind.
[Detected that your Pokémon Sprigatito (Lv.13) has defeated Mankey (Lv.15). Fear Value +0.2!]
"Huh?"
Aarav froze.
Wasn't Sprigatito supposed to be resting in the dorm?
Did a Mankey somehow break into the dormitory?
Since Aarav hadn't installed any cameras, he had no idea what was actually happening there.
Should he skip class and rush back?
He glanced at Professor Zhou, who was occasionally shooting him disapproving looks.
If he really ran off now, his usual grade would probably disappear forever.
Just as he hesitated, the system voice sounded again.
[Your Pokémon Sprigatito (Lv.13) has defeated Mankey (Lv.16). Fear Value +0.3!]
Another Mankey?
After thinking carefully, Aarav felt that was unlikely.
First of all, the dorm area was regularly patrolled by a Pidgeot maintained by campus security.
More importantly, why would Mankey risk climbing into his dorm room in the first place?
They weren't thieves.
Were they really breaking in just to fight Sprigatito?
That didn't make sense.
Which meant—
Sprigatito hadn't stayed in the dorm.
It had gone out.
So Sprigatito didn't come to class because it went grinding for experience?
No wonder its expression had seemed so strange earlier.
After piecing everything together, Aarav's face turned complicated.
So I accidentally captured a starter Pokémon with built-in auto-farming mode?
Meanwhile, somewhere on the Shanghai University campus—
Sprigatito stood proudly atop two Mankey that had already lost consciousness, surveying its surroundings.
Not far away, the remaining Mankey of the group screeched angrily.
But the fear in their eyes betrayed their true emotions.
Even farther away, small clusters of Caterpie and Oddish watched the scene in shock.
Facing the Mankey tribe that ruled this resource-poor area—
and doing it one versus two—
the Sprigatito that had been kicked around like a stray cat just days ago…
had actually won?
At the center of it all, Sprigatito felt no thrill of revenge.
Instead, it was deeply confused.
It had fought these bullying Mankey before.
But under their shameless group attacks,
it had always been forced to retreat after barely lasting more than a minute.
Yet now—
after only a few days—
it had completely turned the tables.
Not only had it taken down the two closest Mankey with ease,
its stamina and condition hardly seemed affected.
Sprigatito even felt like it could take on the remaining three Mankey in one go.
Was I always this strong?
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/lucarioTL