"Alright, you've already taken what you wanted. You can go now. Once everyone's assembled, someone will inform you," James said, waving his hand dismissively, clearly not wanting to see Julian any longer.
Although he always referred to Julian as the Walker family's prodigy, but sometimes this kid could really get under his skin.
Seeing James's 'use-and-discard' attitude, Julian pouted, and before leaving, casually grabbed the tea canister from his desk.
He didn't even drink tea—but if it annoyed James, that made him feel a little better.
Half an hour later, James felt that his tea had gotten a little weak, so he reached out to add more leaves without looking. His hand grasped at empty air. He tried a few more times—still nothing.
"What the—where's my tea canister? It has always been right here!"
He scanned the rest of the desk but still didn't see it, so he turned to his secretary and asked, "Little Ren, where's my tea canister?"
"Champion Walker took it when he left earlier," Secretary Ren replied with a completely straight face.
"That was my six-month supply! That rascal doesn't even drink tea! Why didn't you stop him?"
James was so furious his beard trembled. Even as one of Drakoria's six Elders, his allocation of such specially supplied tea was limited.
He had only received it a few days ago, and now, the entire canister had been swiped.
"He's a Champion, and his rank is higher than yours. Besides… I didn't dare to stop him," Secretary Ren said, his expression perfectly composed.
After all, everyone in the upper echelons and major families of Drakoria knew about Champion Walker—unfathomably talented, but also very petty. Anyone who offended him had better sleep with one eye open.
---
Julian returned to his villa in the Imperial Capital, the place wasn't in the city center, but it was surrounded by mountains and water—a beautiful area where twenty villas had been built.
Villa No. 1 was the largest and best situated—and Julian lived there.
The reason he hadn't gone back to his villa at Imperial University was because it was the start of the semester. Every year, the first thing new freshmen did upon arriving was to check in and take photos at the entrance of his villa.
It had basically become a freshman tradition.
So, Julian had no intention of staying on campus for the time being.
"Slowking, I brought you a can of tea. How about making some tea eggs tomorrow morning?"
Julian handed the "borrowed" tea canister to Slowking.
Slowking opened the canister and took a sniff, its eyes lighting up slightly. The tea had an exceptionally fresh and delicate aroma—undoubtedly a premium variety.
But using it to make tea eggs? Well… it would certainly make for some exceptional tea eggs.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "Disciple, let's go buy some eggs."
Since the tea was top-tier, the eggs naturally had to be top-tier as well. Only when both ingredients were of the highest quality could the most exceptional tea eggs be made.
Magearna nodded and immediately picked up a small basket to follow its sensei, Slowking.
Nowadays, Magearna had grown much braver. At the very least, it dared to go grocery shopping with Slowking without needing Julian to accompany them.
Just as Slowking and Magearna were about to head out, Julian's voice reached their ears: "Slowking, where are Celebi and Jirachi?"
After coming inside, Julian hadn't seen the two little ones. He hadn't taken them with him when he went to see James earlier—they had stayed at home.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "They went to play in the back mountain."
With that, Slowking left with Magearna.
Behind the villa was a small mountain, home to many Pokémon—not wild ones, but ones that had been raised there. They were all friendly toward humans and not very large.
Hearing that they were just playing in the back mountain, Julian decided not to worry about it. He had thought they might have gone out to buy snacks again.
After all, he had just given them 100 bucks in pocket money this morning.
He took a bottle of ice-cold cola from the fridge, sprawled on the sofa, and let the cool air from the air conditioner wash over him. The carbonation burst pleasantly on his tongue, and the softness of the sofa made him melt into comfort.
At this moment, Julian suddenly regretted agreeing to James's request to be a team leader. Was it really worth two months of hard work just for one Ultimate treasure?
Wouldn't it be much more comfortable to just stay home during those two months?
He wondered if it was too late to back out now.
He sighed inwardly, thinking that if he told his granduncle he was quitting now, the old man would definitely come over and give him a beating.
His own grandfather might not have the heart to hit him, but his granduncle certainly wouldn't hesitate.
Embracing the "enjoy it while you can" mindset, Julian pulled out his phone and opened TikTok. The first thing that popped up was a video of Hannah singing.
The number of likes had already exceeded ten million—a level of popularity only top-tier influencers could achieve.
He opened the comments:
> "This song was actually written by Elite Catherine! Hannah is amazing to have received one from her."
> "Hannah has been the hottest name lately!"
> "She wasn't even professionally trained. How did she suddenly explode in the entertainment scene?"
> "She's a talented student from Imperial University, and she used to be a campus belle too."
> "Hannah is the new artist that Blaze Entertainment is heavily promoting. With her looks, figure, and elegance, plus a great voice and top-tier resources from Blaze, it'd be strange if she didn't become famous!"
---
The song was actually pretty good, so Julian gave it a like before swiping to the next video—only to find it was still Hannah.
He swiped again.
Out of the next ten videos, three were related to Hannah.
"How much did they spend on promotions?" Julian muttered to himself.
When the eleventh video was also about Hannah, Julian directly tapped the "Not Interested" option and selected "Don't Recommend This Anymore."
He wanted to see other pretty girls—the ones with great figures and a bit of edge. He'd already seen everything there was to see about Hannah, and in private, no less.
Sure enough, after blocking her, her videos no longer showed up. Finally, other girls started appearing.
"Ghehehe~"
Gengar was lying next to Julian, watching TikTok with him. When it saw a prank video featuring another Gengar, it let out a laugh.
That laugh carried pure disdain. 'Those weak pranks? They dare call themselves Gengar? Let me show you what a real prank looks like.'
With that, Gengar suddenly opened its mouth wide and swallowed half of Julian's body in one gulp.
Inside the pitch-black space, Julian calmly continued scrolling through his phone, though he soon realized there was no signal.
So, with a flat tone, he called out, "Ah, I'm so scared! It's so dark in here! What should I do? Help! Someone save me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his vision returned to normal. Gengar was clutching its stomach, laughing hysterically, clearly proud of its little prank, and seemed to be asking if he was scared.
Julian felt absolutely nothing inside—he even wanted to laugh.
But considering Gengar's fragile prankster heart, it was better not to laugh—otherwise, he'd just have to spend the next hour comforting it.
He sighed inwardly. 'Honestly, among all my Pokémon, there are barely any with a normal mindset.'
*****
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