In the earliest days of the death beast invasion, the human condition was far worse than it is now—by orders of magnitude.
Back then, humanity didn't even have a single fully constructed city.
Defensive lines built one day would often be completely overrun by crazed hordes of death beasts by the next.
The cost?
Devastating human casualties.
For the people of that era, the phrase "living on borrowed time" was simply a part of daily life.
Only after paying a heavy price in blood and gathering critical intel on the deathbeasts did humanity—led by the Eastern Divine Federation—finally begin to formulate solutions.
That marked the beginning of the Federation's foundation.
Only then could cities like Haicheng be built in relative safety.
Each city's location was selected through meticulous planning.
Take Haicheng, for example:
Only after clearing out an overwhelming number of death beasts at great cost was the land deemed viable for settlement.
Around Haicheng, the Federation had arranged the death beasts' territories in tiers, from weakest to strongest.
This formed a natural buffer zone between death beasts and humans.
Typically, death beasts are highly territorial and won't leave their domains unless greatly provoked.
Low-level beasts posed little threat, and so this strategy—like a firebreak—gave humanity the breathing room it so desperately needed.
But no one—not even the genius who created this layered defense plan—could have predicted that it would one day become the perfect training ground for a new generation of Pokémon Trainers!
At this moment, Su Bai's team had been out on mission for three full days.
Every day followed the same relentless rhythm:
Wake up.
Travel.
Slay death beasts.
Rest.
Repeat.
And yet, no one complained.
Because the results were undeniable—their strength was growing at an astonishing pace!
Surrounding Haicheng, layers of death beasts wrapped the city like an onion, each zone stronger than the last.
And Su Bai's group had already advanced into territory where A- and B-rank death beasts roamed!
Now, even the A-rank Awakeners had to stop spectating.
Su Bai had released both Meloetta and Diancie to personally monitor the battlefield and protect the students—just in case someone slipped up.
Even Wang Tao and the others had paused their focus on raising new Pokémon.
They were treating the massive Grotle as the front-line fortress.
The battlefield felt like a full-scale siege—but this time, the Pokémon were far stronger than before!
Sandstorms, tornadoes, and an array of elemental blasts filled the field, painting a spectacular yet deadly panorama.
Even the rare A-rank death beasts couldn't last long under this multitype bombardment.
Of course, the death beasts didn't go down without a fight.
But under Wang Tao's leadership, buffed Pokémon were already fully stacked with boosted stats and effects.
While their discipline wasn't as tight as the Pokémon Corps', their diversity of moves far exceeded it.
For instance, a newly evolved Sandslash had just learned Protect—the signature move of the Falinks—and successfully shielded Torterra from a fiery A-rank death beast's Flamethrower.
Under immense pressure, the Trainers' command of their Pokémon's skills was becoming smoother by the second.
And even if their Pokémon were hit, a simple dose of Potion restored them back to full vigor.
That's the absurd power of rule-based items in this world.
No matter the injury, no matter the toxin—
One Potion, instant recovery.
In fact, these Potions were far more broken than their counterparts from the original Pokémon world.
Those? At best, they were like wound salves—temporary relief.
But the Potions created by the system?
They healed everything. Period.
And now, with battles intensifying, Meloetta and Diancie had become the perfect emergency response team.
To A-rank death beasts, these two adorable mythicals were like grim reapers in disguise.
One hit KO. Every time.
They moved like lightning through the battlefield, and everywhere they passed, Trainers called out their thanks with heartfelt joy!
All of this led to one unprecedented outcome:
Humanity's first-ever full-scale counteroffensive against the death beasts.
And so far—
Zero casualties.
A statistic that would leave any historian speechless with disbelief.
Su Bai stood with his arms crossed, scanning the battlefield casually.
His peripheral vision caught movement, and he suddenly slammed his foot into the ground.
A glowing green vine erupted from the soil, binding an A-rank death beast that had tried to ambush him.
The beast snarled defiantly, opened its jaws wide, and began gathering a fireball.
"Tsk… What a waste. That would've been a lot of EXP."
Su Bai shook his head with a sigh.
The vine continued to grow wildly, coiling upward and clamping the creature's jaw shut.
BOOM!
The A-rank beast's own attack exploded inside its throat—a fatal misfire.
Su Bai didn't even glance back.
He'd been experimenting lately with the Grass-type powers granted by the system.
Though he hadn't fully grasped them yet, he'd learned to manipulate plant growth at will.
Just now, he'd forcefully stimulated dormant root systems underground to achieve that result.
"Still feels like something's missing… I don't know any actual Grass-type moves…"
He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
His template was supposedly that of a humanoid Arceus, and yet he hadn't learned a single move?
"Wait… am I supposed to train myself?"
The image of that—himself doing drills like a Magikarp slamming its head into a board—sent a chill down his spine.
"Forget it… Maybe once TM Discs are available, I'll finally get the hang of these powers."
He shook his head, discarding the troubling thought.
After all, he was the big boss of the Pokémon Center, the pioneer of a new world!
He couldn't exactly imitate Zhou Xiaofei's Magikarp and start headbutting logs!
As Su Bai let his thoughts wander, a bright light suddenly flashed on the battlefield.
"Another evolution… A Raticate? Doesn't matter—any evolution is good news!"
Su Bai watched as a massive brown rodent roared in triumph.
From the previous battle to now, more and more Pokémon were evolving.
There was the sleek Raticate, the long-necked Fearow, the mushroom-hatted Parasect, and the three-headed Dugtrio that came from a single Diglett.
These Pokémon, naturally inclined to evolve, were now blossoming thanks to the constant intensity of battle.
More and more entries were filling up the Pokédex.
And now?
That number had surged to 142 species.
Only a few more to go before completing the set!