"Evan, I honestly did not have the nerve to call you, so I sent voice messages instead."
Ruby's voice sounded exhausted, and the noisy clatter of keyboards in the background made it obvious she was still working overtime.
"The guild executives just had their morning meeting, and those shareholders were furious. They said the market is bad right now, so all resources have to be focused on the top streamers."
"Streamers like you... the ones at the bottom, with no popularity and no revenue for three straight months... all of you are on the cut list."
"I even slammed the table for you and told them that your numbers might be awful, but you're still the hardest-working one, streaming a full ten hours every day... but it was useless. Capital only cares about money."
The message paused there, and then the second one played.
"The best I could do was help you fight for this half month's pay. I've already made sure accounting sent it."
"But... the guild is demanding that your streaming account be taken back."
"That account is company property. There's nothing I can do."
"Evan, take my advice. This industry is way too deep. You don't have any backing, and you don't have a powerful Pokémon to hold up your image. Take this little bit of money and find a factory job. It'll still be better than this."
After listening to the voice messages, the room fell into dead silence.
A light drizzle had started outside, and the raindrops tapped against the broken window with soft pattering sounds.
He had been laid off.
He was unemployed.
Even his only tool for making a living, his account, had been taken away.
As for getting a factory job...
Evan was speechless.
According to the memories in his head, because Pokémon were so widely used, factories had long since replaced ordinary workers with them just to cut labor costs.
Some shady factories would even hand out Pokémon food instead of actual wages.
Ordinary people really did live at the bottom.
And his streaming account only had a few dead followers anyway. It had not even made a single cent in ten days, and they still wanted to reclaim it.
Ding!
Just as Evan sat there in silence, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly exploded deep inside his mind like heavenly music.
[Ding! Host soul fusion complete. Mental threshold reached!]
[Activating God-Tier Pokémon Insight Streaming System...]
[Activation successful!]
[This system is dedicated to uncovering the ultimate potential of Pokémon and seeing through the illusions of fate.]
[Starter gift granted: Eye of Pokémon Insight (Beginner)!]
[Description: See through appearances and grasp the essence. You will not only be able to view a Pokémon's basic data, but also perceive its hidden state, the root of its ailments, and the Fate Entries that determine its entire life!]
"Hiss!"
Evan's eyes widened instantly.
A system!
A cheat!
As a veteran web novel reader, how could Evan not know what this meant?
In this world, if you wanted to appraise a Pokémon's aptitude, you had to go to a professional appraisal center, book an appointment with experts in white coats, use precision instruments worth millions, wait in line, and pay an outrageous appraisal fee.
And even then, those machines could only measure rough data. They could never reveal things like nature, hidden abilities, or something as mysterious as fate itself!
And now, he had a pair of eyes that could see through everything?
At that point, the guild account was no longer his rice bowl. It was a set of shackles binding him down!
Without the guild taking a cut, and without all their endless restrictions, every single cent he earned from now on would belong to Evan alone!
"So what if I have to start over? I've got a cheat. What do I have to be afraid of?"
Evan dug out a spare SIM card from a pile of junk, swapped it in with practiced movements, downloaded a streaming app, and tapped register.
When he reached the nickname field, his finger paused for a moment.
His old username, "Evan Shows You Pokémon," was way too lame. It practically radiated weakness.
This time, if he was starting over, then he had to go big.
In this appraisal business, a field full of uncertainty and gambling, if you were not bold enough, how could you control the room? How could you keep viewers around?
The corners of his lips lifted as his fingers rapidly typed out a new name.
Nickname: [All-Purpose Pokémon Appraiser]
Stream Title: [First Stream on the Entire Internet! See Through Past and Present Lives! Free Appraisals! If I'm Wrong, I'll Swallow a Poké Ball on the Spot!]
It was a new account.
There was no platform promotion.
Everything had to start from zero.
And yet the fire in Evan's eyes burned brighter than ever.
To make sure nothing unexpected happened during the stream, and to verify whether the system's abilities were real, he needed to find out what these so-called Fate Entries actually were.
Evan turned around, took a deep breath, and locked his gaze on the Munchlax sitting on the floor and absentmindedly picking at its toes.
"Little guy, whether you're trash or treasure, we're about to find out right now!"
In his heart, Evan silently said:
"Eye of Pokémon Insight, activate!"
Buzz...
There was no flashy visual effect like he had imagined, but the air on his retina seemed to twist slightly, and the world became subtly different.
The moment his gaze focused on Munchlax, lines of data and radiant entries that only he could see began rapidly forming...
Where his gaze landed, a scroll-like panel unfolded above Munchlax's head like a holographic projection.
The first thing that caught his eye was the semi-transparent Basic Data Panel.
The pale blue text carried a cold, clinical feeling, as if it had stripped the little guy down completely:
[Target: Munchlax (Juvenile)]
[Type: Normal] [Gender: Male]
[Level: Lv.5 (Beginner)]
[Ability: Pickup (Besides picking up trash, it can occasionally pick up treasure too, but the odds are painfully low)]
[Nature: Lonely (Attack up, Defense down, clingy, severely lacking a sense of security)]
[Base Stat Rating: B (A mediocre species)]
[Individual Value Evaluation: D- (Innately flawed, severely underdeveloped, absolute trash among trash)]
Seeing that, Evan's heart felt like it had been crushed by a giant hand.
He had already prepared himself mentally, but when that glaring red D- truly appeared before his eyes, he still felt like he was suffocating.
In this world, individual values determined a Pokémon's natural talent.
S-rank meant a child favored by heaven. A-rank meant a future elite.
And D-rank...
That was the kind of defective product even a construction foreman would reject for being too weak to carry bricks.
"D-minus... this is even worse than I imagined."
Looking at Munchlax's obviously thinner frame, noticeably smaller than others of its kind, with skin that even looked slightly loose, Evan's heart filled with guilt. The previous owner, that broke idiot, had really held it back.
"Munch?" (What's wrong?)
Sensing the emotional shift in its trainer, Munchlax stopped picking at its toes and tilted its head, its tiny bean-like eyes filled with clear and innocent stupidity.
It cautiously pulled out the half bun it had hidden behind its bottom again, as if asking: Are you upset because I hid my private stash?
Seeing its silly, lovable face, one that was both adorable and heartbreaking, Evan let out a sigh.
And yet...
Just as he was about to close the panel and accept this bleak reality, the God-Tier Insight module at the bottom of his vision, which had been flashing with a mysterious light the whole time, suddenly expanded!
The cold blue data stream vanished in an instant, replaced by flowing rainbow-like radiance.
And the words displayed there struck his retina like hammer blows, one after another!
[God-Tier Insight: Deep Analysis]
[Potential Rank: Champion Level (Sealed): Ordinary fools only see the surface, but only divine eyes can recognize true gold. Deep within its soul lies power capable of shaking a Champion's throne. At present, it remains under an Extreme Hunger Seal.]
[Current State: Gluttonous Mutation: Due to prolonged extreme hunger and severe malnutrition, its digestive system underwent a brutal pathological evolution in order to survive. Its stomach lining has thickened tenfold, and the corrosive strength of its stomach acid has increased by 300%. It has already developed the ability to digest non-food substances such as metal, ore, and plastic.]
Right after that came the two Fate Entries that made Evan's pupils quake the most.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]