After feeding Dragonite a few energy cubes as a tip, the chubby fellow happily flapped its tiny wings and flew off.
Ethan Vale then opened the tightly sealed package and took out the mysterious seed, emerald green from end to end.
The moment the box was opened, the rich, natural scent unique to a Miracle Seed spread through the air, instantly drawing Sprigatito over.
It sniffed the air lightly.
Its eyes were utterly pure—filled with nothing but desire for that mysterious seed.
Grass-type Pokémon simply couldn't resist the temptation of a Miracle Seed.
From another angle, this also showed just how difficult it was for wild Miracle Seeds to avoid being discovered by Grass-types in the first place.
Ethan Vale rubbed the fluffy little cat's head and smiled faintly.
"It's for you, Sprigatito. Extra food today."
High-end ingredients often require the simplest cooking methods.
A top-tier cultivation item like a Miracle Seed could just be eaten raw—any processing would be unnecessary and would only lead to nutrient loss.
With Ethan Vale's permission, Sprigatito stopped holding back and gulped the Miracle Seed down in one bite.
There was no dazzling golden light, no instant rebirth or bone-marrow cleansing.
For a Pokémon at Sprigatito's current stage, fully absorbing the energy of a single Miracle Seed would take at least half a month.
During that period, all it needed was normal meals and regular training.
Watching Sprigatito chew away, Ethan Vale felt an inexplicable sense of emotion.
Tens of thousands of yuan… just chomp chomp, gone.
——————
After breakfast, Ethan Vale prepared to head to class.
Before leaving, he asked, "Sprigatito, are you coming to class with me today?"
Yesterday, he'd taken it along mainly because they needed to register at the Pokémon Center in the morning and just brought it to the classroom afterward.
Today, he asked in advance—respecting the Pokémon's own wishes.
This was something Ethan Vale had promised even before capturing Sprigatito: giving it sufficient space and freedom.
Sprigatito thought for a moment, then shook its head.
"Meow-fee~"
It wasn't that it didn't want to stay with Ethan Vale.
Rather, after yesterday, Sprigatito had learned that Ethan Vale was planning to participate in the Shanghai Pokémon Cup.
This was a competition it had wanted to enter for a long time—only back then, its Trainer hadn't been Ethan Vale.
Whether to help Ethan Vale win the championship, or to prove itself, Sprigatito wanted to achieve a good result in the tournament.
That meant the time between now and the start of the competition was extremely precious, and it wanted to make full use of it.
Ethan Vale still had to stream to earn money and juggle his studies. Asking him to carve out extra time to train together would be too exhausting.
So what should it do?
Sprigatito suddenly thought of those detestable Mankey that had bullied it in groups not long ago.
They seemed like pretty good training targets.
Ethan Vale, of course, had no idea what Sprigatito was really thinking. He just felt, "If the kid doesn't want to go to class, then so be it."
He grabbed his textbooks, reminded it about dorm electricity safety, and headed out to class.
Sprigatito lay by the window, watching Ethan Vale's figure gradually recede downstairs. Then it pushed the window open and stepped out onto the ledge.
It lifted a paw and gently closed the window again, then skillfully hopped down along the air-conditioning units until it reached the ground.
It wasn't following Ethan Vale to class.
On the contrary, it ran toward the opposite direction.
That way lay the place where Sprigatito had been wandering ever since it was abandoned.
——————
Good things happened, and Ethan Vale felt refreshed.
Even the dull Pokémon Mythology History class felt interesting today.
Originally, he'd planned to take advantage of his good mood and perform well in class to earn some extra impression points.
Unexpectedly, Professor Grant didn't appreciate it at all—he didn't give Ethan Vale a single good look, which left Ethan Vale rather puzzled.
Aaron Cole, sitting beside him, was as energetic as ever.
He talked about what Luna Volt had said in her stream after Ethan Vale went offline last night.
Then he talked about how he'd actually seen a Dragonite delivering packages on campus this morning, wondering which rich guy had ordered that kind of premium service.
Ethan Vale, quietly basking in glory, listened with secret delight.
Now he finally understood the smug satisfaction protagonists felt in wish-fulfillment novels when they pretended to be weak while actually flexing.
Just as Ethan Vale was listening to Aaron Cole enthusiastically explain how Dragonite Express had only a few dozen employees yet massive annual revenue, a sudden voice rang out in his mind—one that left him utterly baffled.
[Detected: Your Pokémon Sprigatito (Lv.13) has defeated Mankey (Lv.15). Gained Fear Value 0.2!]
Huh?
What just happened?
A large question mark slowly formed in Ethan Vale's mind.
Wasn't Sprigatito supposed to be resting in the dorm right now?
Did a Mankey somehow get into the dorm?
Ethan Vale didn't have cameras installed in his room, so he had no idea what was going on over there.
Should I skip class and go check it out?
He grinned up at Professor Grant on the podium, who was occasionally casting looks in his direction.
Ethan Vale knew that if he really did that, his usual performance score would be gone for good.
As he hesitated, the system's voice rang out again.
[Detected: Your Pokémon Sprigatito (Lv.13) has defeated Mankey (Lv.16). Gained Fear Value 0.3!]
Another Mankey broke into the dorm?
After thinking it through, Ethan Vale felt the probability was extremely low.
Not to mention that the dorm area was under constant aerial patrol by the administrator's Pidgeot.
More importantly—why would Mankey go through all that trouble to climb into his dorm?
What was there to gain?
Those Pokémon might be hot-tempered and brainless, but they weren't kleptomaniacs.
Just to fight Sprigatito?
That didn't make sense.
So it wasn't Mankey coming in—it was Sprigatito going out.
Meaning Sprigatito didn't come to class with him because it went out grinding monsters and leveling up?
No wonder its expression had been so strange when he asked whether it wanted to go out together.
Having pieced together the most likely scenario, Ethan Vale's expression turned odd.
Good grief… I've captured an auto-idle, AFK-training starter Pokémon, haven't I?
——————
Meanwhile, somewhere on the Shanghai University campus.
Sprigatito stood with its paws planted on two Mankey that had already lost consciousness, looking around with a disdainful gaze.
Not far away, the remaining Mankey of this little gang screeched angrily.
Yet the wariness on their faces betrayed their bravado.
Farther still, small groups of Caterpie and Oddish that had gathered to watch the commotion stared at Sprigatito in utter shock, as if witnessing a "Dragon King's return."
Against the Mankey tribe—the tyrants of this resource-poor area—
And it had taken on two at once.
The Sprigatito that had been casually kicked aside like a stray cat just days ago… had won?
At the very center of it all, Sprigatito felt no particular thrill of revenge.
What it felt instead was deep confusion.
It hadn't never fought this group of bullying Mankey before.
But under their shameless group beatdowns, it had almost always been forced to retreat after barely holding out for a minute.
Yet only a few days later, the situation had completely reversed?
Not only had it swiftly taken down the two Mankey closest to it, its stamina and condition didn't seem to have suffered much at all.
Sprigatito even felt like it could finish off the remaining three Mankey in one go.
…Was I always this strong?
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