Chapter 66: All Pokémon
Reach Level 70!
Xia Mu continued to purchase Rare Candies from the system shop.
Lucario used 13, Gyarados used 16, and Beedrill used 14, totaling 43.
Observing the changes in Lucario, Beedrill, and Gyarados, Xia Mu confirmed that it wasn't a sudden, massive transformation at level 70.
Rather, it was after level 60 that the changes in Pokémon became significant with each level increase .
If the level increase was gradual, it wouldn't be noticeable, but a sudden increase of 10 or 20 levels would be very obvious.
Of course, the most crucial factor was that Xia Mu witnessed the entire process.
It was like a ten-year-old child suddenly growing two years older in front of you; you could clearly see the change.
However, this change was only noticeable to Xia Mu, as the outward appearance didn't change much, and those who didn't observe the process wouldn't notice it.
Only those who frequently spent time together could notice this change, and even then, they couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed.
The Pokémon were ecstatic, eager to unleash their power, while Xia Mu sighed, looking at his remaining 43 million League Coins.
Actually, all of them reaching level 80 would be more than enough; it would only cost another 40 million League Coins.
But Xia Mu wouldn't do that.
The remaining money had other uses, a contingency plan.
Having money on hand allowed for flexibility.
If things really got out of control, he could always force one to reach level 100.
Even if Mewtwo was a legendary Pokémon, Xia Mu didn't believe it could reach level 100.
Unless the level cap in this world exceeded 100.
With leveling up complete, the next step was to improve the Pokémon's Individual Values (IVs).
This was an area Xia Mu had never actively pursued before, but now that the time had come, he naturally wanted to maximize the Pokémon's strength.
Xia Mu bought five Golden Crowns, each costing 1 million,in one go. He didn't level up Gardevoir immediately.
However, Xia Mu felt that making some adjustments was good, allowing her to gradually accept the changes.
After its Individual Values (IVs) improved and her friendship level increased, Xia Mu would then modify its Effort Values (EVs).
Within Gardevoir's tolerance, he would consider how to level it up later.
Gardevoir was actually quite obsessed with strength, believing it was too weak to protect its younger siblings.
With the opportunity before it, and having already accepted Xia Mu as its trainer, Gardevoir began to accept the growth of its siblings, including Arcanine.
Golden Crowns—without seeing the actual product and photos, who would guess it was just a golden bottle cap?
Xia Mu, seeing the real thing for the first time, couldn't help but complain that the game's item designers were incredibly careless.
If the System Shop hadn't lacked a Pokémon Assistant, Xia Mu would have wanted to ask what kind of beverage bottle cap it was...
Speaking of bottle caps, Xia Mu couldn't help but think of James from the original anime, who collected bottle caps specifically for his collection.
He wondered if there might be a Golden Crown or a Silver Crown inside?
If so, should he rob them? These were
just thoughts, purely for amusement.
In the game, the Golden Crown and Silver Crown were simply given to Extreme Trainers for Pokémon training.
Now, with the System Shop's modifications, he could directly use them on Pokémon.
Xia Mu used the Golden Crown on each of his Pokémon, and the bottle cap-like object quickly transformed into points of light upon contact, merging into the Pokémon's body.
Then, Xia Mu further sensed a significant change in the Pokémon's aura.
Becoming stronger and stronger, especially at this level, with the added bonuses from various talents, to another level of strength..
Arcanine, Red Gyarados, and Gardevoir show the most significant improvements.
Aside from Lucario and Beedrill, there aren't many changes, as their key stats are already top-tier, so the improvements in HP and Defense aren't immediately apparent.
Time flew by. It was already the next morning.
Xia Mu got up early and had breakfast with Blaine.
Since he had taken on the role of acting Gym Leader of Cinnabar City, he had to see it through to the end and take it seriously.
At least until the Mewtwo incident happened, he couldn't just quit.
Even though he had already beaten a large number of challengers to tears yesterday, Xia Mu believed that many more would come to challenge him today.
Those who hadn't experienced a real beating and were overly confident in their abilities would definitely come running.
Moreover, more and more trainers were arriving at Cinnabar Island in search of the strongest Pokémon, and these people wouldn't miss the opportunity after hearing about the Cinnabar City Gym.
Xia Mu's plan was to use these challengers to test the strength of Arcanine and the others.
During breakfast, Xia Mu received another lesson from Blaine.
Blaine told Xia Mu a principle: as a Gym Leader, it wasn't just about being the challenger's opponent, but also about guiding them correctly.
In other words, if there were promising challengers, then he should go easy on them appropriately.
Defeating all challengers builds a gym's prestige, but if not a single badge is given away, the gym will eventually become deserted.
Blaine's reminder reminded Xia Mu of the Viridian Gym in the original series.
Indeed, it's a mandatory challenge in the games, but in the anime, it seems to be so difficult that very few people possess the Viridian Gym badge.
Then, with Mewtwo overseeing the Viridian Gym in the anime, even fewer dared to challenge it.
Ash and his friends in the original series only obtained the Viridian Gym badge because of their protagonist status.
Xia Mu clearly remembers this part of the anime: Gary and Ash's friends arrived in Viridian City at the same time and challenged the gyms one after another.
Although Gary challenged the Viridian Gym first, his Arcanine and Nidoking were thoroughly defeated by Mewtwo.
At this point, the plot progressed, and Mewtwo and Giovanni left the Viridian Gym, temporarily handing over the gym leader duties to Jessie and James.
This led to the absurd events that followed.
In short, if Giovanni had been at the Viridian City Gym, Ash definitely wouldn't have been able to beat him.
Even though Gary could beat Giovanni's Golem and Kingler at the start, those weren't Giovanni's main forces.
To sum it up, Viridian City was originally a very prosperous city, but later, because the gyms were too difficult, many trainers were unwilling to challenge them, so the number of outsiders visiting Viridian City decreased, and eventually it became a deserted city.
Blaine told Xia Mu that he should select a few strong trainers for today's challenge and send out some badges.
Otherwise, no one might challenge the Cinnabar City Gym in the future .
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(End of this chapter)