For the next month, Julian stayed at home—not because he didn't want to go to university. After all, he was still a sophomore, and not showing up for too long would eventually raise questions.
The main reason he stayed home was to deal with the steady stream of challengers coming to face him.
Throughout the month, almost every single day, someone showed up to challenge the gym.
By the end of the month, he had faced twenty-eight challengers in total.
Among them, twenty were ranked within the top 100 of the Elite leaderboard, and one of them even from the top 30—a tier where every trainer was, without exception, at the Pseudo-Champion level.
Yet, without fail, every single one of them lost. Not a single challenger even managed to take down one of Julian's Pokémon.
Whether it was 1v1, 3v3, or full 6v6 battles, they all crumbled against his steel-clad defense.
Julian even livestreamed every single match, forcing those who accused him of nepotism to watch and see—was he really just riding on his grandfather's coattails?
Twenty-eight consecutive streamed battles—Julian won them all, without exception.
During this period, two of his Pokémon made their official debut in front of the public:
- His Pseudo-Champion-level Moltres, and
- His mid-stage Elite-level Kartana.
Surprisingly, people were less focused on Moltres, and far more drawn to Kartana, a mysterious Pokémon never seen before.
With a body as thin as paper, standing only 30 centimeters tall, and limbs like swords, its sharpness was enough to slice through solid steel.
During one of the livestreams, viewers watched in stunned silence as Kartana cleanly cleaved through the armored belly of an Elite-level Aggron in a single Slash. The sheer lethality of the move left the audience speechless.
Of course, if it had been Julian's own Aggron, Kartana wouldn't have had such an easy time breaking through its defenses.
By the end of the month, Julian had silenced every last doubter with raw, undeniable strength.
And the nonstop high-level battles also gave his Pokémon significant growth—or at the very least, they thoroughly enjoyed the fights.
Previously, most of Julian's opponents had been from his own generation. While many were outstanding, they couldn't withstand more than a few hits. Now, however, his opponents were veterans, with at least Elite-level strength, most of them being mid-to-late-stage Elites.
For Pokémon like Metagross and Dragonite, this kind of challenge was a dream come true. Their enemies were no longer pushovers—even if they still outclassed their opponents, at least they could finally cut loose.
And just like that, after a month of nonstop battling, the backlash died down, and the number of challengers applying to face the Steel Gym dropped sharply.
Twenty-eight challengers in a month? That was more than the Steel Gym usually saw in several years.
Although Julian had never participated in the Elite Challenge and thus wasn't ranked on the Elite leaderboard, based on his performance over the past month…
People speculated that his strength was enough to rank in the top 30—maybe even the top 20—of the Elite ranking.
The next official Elite Challenge wouldn't be held for another two years, so even if Julian wanted to compete, he'd have to wait.
And before that, he would need to collect eight national-level gym badges in order to qualify for the tournament.
At the same time, he still had to complete his main system quests.
Since he had become the Steel-type Gym Leader, the system automatically considered him to have obtained the Steel-type badge, and together with the Rock-type badge he'd previously earned…
If he challenged just one more National Gym, he could complete one of the phased missions in his main questline.
---
[Main Quest: National Gym Badge Collection]
- Obtain 3 National Badges:
Reward: 30,000 points, Mewtwo Fragment ×3
- Obtain 6 National Badges:
Reward: 60,000 points, Mewtwo Fragment ×6, Pseudo-Champion (Early Stage) Trial Card (10 min)
- Obtain 12 National Badges:
Reward: 120,000 points, Mewtwo Fragment ×15, Pseudo-Champion (Mid-Stage) Trial Card (10 min), Golden Legend Fragment ×4
- Obtain 18 National Badges:
Reward: 180,000 points, Mewtwo Fragment ×30, Champion (Early Stage) Trial Card (10 min), Golden Legend Fragment ×5, Special Ability Upgrade Card ×1
Note: This is a phased mission—rewards are granted upon completing each stage.
---
Julian hadn't prioritized this before because, back then, his only Elite-level Pokémon was Dragonite and even it was just an early-stage Elite.
But now, he had:
- Pseudo-Champion (Mid-Stage) Moltres
- Elite (Late-Stage) Metagross, and
- Eight other mid-to-late-stage Elite-level Pokémon
With this lineup, completing the main questline mission was no longer an issue.
Still, there was no rush. He decided to return to university first, and then gradually challenge the gyms one by one.
---
The Next Morning;
As Julian packed his bags, Love fussed over him like a worried parent.
"Dee~"
Indeedee: "Don't stay up too late at night. It's getting cold, so dress warmly. Cut back on gaming, avoid unhealthy foods like barbecue, drink Moomoo Milk daily, and—"
Julian nodded robotically while glancing at Slowking beside him, who held up a single finger—signaling that Love would probably go on for another minute.
Sure enough, after exactly one minute, Love finally stopped.
Then, it turned to Slowking.
Indeedee: "And YOU—stop indulging him! Barbecue should only be allowed once every two weeks, and don't keep covering for his bad habits!"
Celebi, sprawled lazily on Julian's head, yawned—until Indeedee's gaze snapped toward it.
The tiny time-traveler jolted upright, standing at attention like a soldier. Before Indeedee could even speak, it shouted:
"I promise to eat on time, not eat junk food, not play games, go to bed early, rest when I'm tired, drink water when I'm thirsty, sleep when I'm sleepy—and if Julian misbehaves, I'll contact you immediately!"
Julian stared at Celebi.
'Is being a spy now something you could be so 'open' about?'
'Also, all those things you just said—don't you feel even a little guilty?'
'Should I just take out the bag of chips you secretly stuffed in my bag and throw it away now, so you can be a Celebi who practices what it preaches?'
"Be positive and do a good deed every day!"
Celebi stood tall and proud, its chubby face the picture of righteousness.
Julian: (▼△▼)
"Report complete!"
"Dee~"
Love nodded with great satisfaction. It had been a long time since it had seen such a well-behaved child like Celebi.
Then it turned to Julian—only to find him staring at Celebi with utter disdain.
"Dee~"
Indeedee: "You should learn from Celebi."
Celebi: "Hear that? From now on, you need to follow MY lead!"
Julian was already plotting in his head how to deal with this backstabbing little snitch later, who was now pulling rank on him.
"Got it, Love. I'll definitely follow Celebi's example closely—whatever it does, I'll do too. I'll even film it for you."
'If you eat junk food, I'll eat junk food. If you play games, I'll play games. I'll film it all and send it to Love—let's see who gets in trouble then.'
Celebi, still oblivious to the impending doom, crossed its arms proudly, nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Love and said:
"I'll keep a close eye on him. Don't worry."
Julian: (艹皿艹)
*****
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