"Slowking, save me! Save me!"

  On the couch, Julian ying Glory with his Slowking. They were part of a five-pyer team, with Julian pying as the jungler. Unfortunately, the enemy jungler had invaded his territht from the start, leaving him under-leveled and struggling to develop.

  Now, he was being chased by two oppos and was on the verge of death when Slowking, pying iop ne, finally arrived.

  "Double Kill!~"

  Slowking secured a double kill, but Julian didn't even mao get assists for either of them.

  "Beautifully done!"

  "Amazing!"

  The teammates appuded, but when Julian checked the scoreboard, their records were all zero kills and multiple deaths.

  If not for Slowking's godlike performance carrying the team, they would have lost long ago.

  "Ding dong~"

  At that moment, the doorbell rang.

  Slowking, still pying the game, went to open the door.

  "Slow!"

  'Who are you looking for?'

  Seeing the unfamiliar woman, Slowking gave her a quice before returning its focus to the game. Being the only strong pyer surrounded by weaker ones was a on occurre was used to this.

  Hannah hesitated as she looked at Slowking, who was still immersed in the game. She felt like her visit might have been poorly timed.

  "Is Julian home?" Hannah asked.

  She had already checked; Julian wasn't at the library or the school team's facilities, so his house was the most likely pce to find him.

  "Slow~"

  Slowking nodded and led Hannah inside.

  "Push the tower! Hurry, push the tower! We've never gotten this far, never won this one!"

  On the couch, Julian was shoutiedly. The game had gone on for nearly 40 minutes, and they were finally about to win. As a fragile jungler, he couldn't even fight the super minions anymore.

  As the enemy's crystal exploded and the word "victory" appeared on s, the game was finally over.

  "Phew!"

  Julia out a deep sigh of relief.

  "Pfft~"

  Hannah couldn't stop herself from ughing. She never expected to see Julian, the high-and-mighty young master known for his extraordinary talent, ag like an ordinary gamer so caught up in a match.

  "What brings you here?"

  Julian asked as he turo Hannah. His eyes were immediately drawn to her bck stogs and long legs. Paired together, they were stunning. His face, still flushed with excitement from the game, didn't calm down even after it ended.

  Notig Julian's gaze, Hannah's cheeks flushed slightly, though she couldn't help feeling a little smug.

  Despite the rumors surroundi Imperial Uy—that she often had men around her and didn't have the best reputation—Hannah had her reasons. She was leveraging her beauty strategically.

  A woman's beauty was a double-edged sword. When used well, it could bring tless advantages, especially in a pce like Imperial Uy, where porivilege were abundant.

  For someone like her, without any background but blessed with strikiy, she was undoubtedly seen as the perfect prey by many of those people.

  So, she had no choice but to navigate between various powerful families, using her wit to protect herself.

  "If you're here to tha's unnecessary. You should know I didn't do it for you."

  Juliaed his three useless teammates one by one, except for Slowking. It recisely because of such terrible teammates that the game dragged on for so long.

  (T/N: Brother have some shame)

  As for Hannah's sudden visit, Julian uood her iions. Gratitude wasn't something he needed.

  Hearing Julian's words, Hannah bit her lip lightly. Once again, she found herself rejected.

  Lip-biting plus bck stogs?

  Julian: Is she here to seduce me or something?

  "Slow~"

  Slowking had already picked up a shopping basket. It was about time froceries, and it was ready to head out.

  "Regardless of your reasons, you saved me—and even my entire family. How about I cook a meal for you?"

  "You?"

  Julian looked skeptical. This woman could cook?

  Was this an act of frustration over beied, pnning to poison him instead?

  "Just you wait!"

  Hannah was furious at Julian's rea. Her beauty never received the respect it deserved from him.

  She was starting to suspect Julian might actually be gay.

  Determio prove her cooking skills, she headed out with Slowking.

  In the backyard, several Pokémon were either resting, pying, or training.

  Julian quickly recalled Melmetal into its Poké Ball to avoid Hannah seeing it ter.

  Growlithe brought a Frisbee to Julian, wagging its tail and panting, eyes full of anticipation.

  Julian threw the Frisbee, and Growlithe turned into a red streak of lightning, effortlessly catg it mid-air.

  Growlithe's inally brown-and-yellow fur had pletely turned red. If the ge persisted after abs the Fire Crystal, it would officially bee a shiny Pokémon.

  Metagross, oher hand, was zily sprawled out on a roapping.

  Ever sining the 'Heart of Arceus', Metagross's activity levels had noticeably dropped. It was now asleep for almost 20 hours a day.

  If not for the Probing Eyes showing that Metagross was in excellent dition, Julian would have taken it to a hospital for a thh checkup.

  Metagross had Purple potential, and raising it to Gold-tier was incredibly difficult. Even with the system's help, it was ridiculously hard.

  Yet now, within its Purple potential, there was a faint trace of Gold. It was so faint that, without careful observation, it could easily be overlooked.

  But that trace of Gold was undeniably real.

  The 'Heart of Arceus' was actively enhang Metagross's potential. Whether it could fully asd to Gold-tier, however, remained uain.

  However, Juliahat the ces weren't very high.

  Gold-tier potential was the realm of first-level Legendary Pokémon, like Ho-Oh, Rayquaza, and Dialga.

  Expeg to achieve that with just a thumb-sized piece of Arceus' Blood was nearly impossible. If he had four or five pieces, maybe it would be within reach.

  So in the end, he would have to rely on the system. If he could collect ten Golden Legend Fragments, Metagross's promotion to Gold potential would be guaranteed.

  Julian was already looking forward to whether the system would reward him with a Golden Legend Fragment after the uping Hundred Schools League.

  ---

  Half an hour ter, Slowking and Hannah returned, carrying a rge haul of groceries.

  "Slowking, you rest. I'll hahe cooking."

  Hannah tied on an apron. bined with her bck stogs, long legs, and elegant curves, the sight was enough to leave any man helpless.

  "Slow~"

  Slowking nodded and handed her a bag of walnuts.

  "...Thanks."

  Hannah awkwardly accepted the walnuts, her expression stiff.

  It was at Imperial Uy that Julian's Slowking liked to gift people walnuts. Every time it went grocery shopping, it would pick up a few extra and hand them out to "fortunate individuals."

  The significe of these walnuts had even been expined by some well-meaning bystanders.

  "Gas-ga!~"

  Out of nastly appeared in front of Hannah, pulling a spooky face at her.

  "Gastly, stop messing around."

  Julian scolded the mischievous Pokémon, notig that Hannah's face had turned pale. Apologetically, he said, "It loves sg people; I'm sorry about that."

  Hannah iffly, her eyes fixed on the shiny white Gastly that had suddenly appeared.

  A new Pokémon? And it's shiny toastly floated back over to Julian, and before he could react, it greeted him with a lick.

  "Gas!~"

  Julian immediately felt a numbiion spread through him.

  "Ah! Julian, are you okay?" Hannah hurriedly asked.

  "I'm... fine, just fine"

  Hannah: (⊙x⊙;)