Then...
He had a meal of pan-fried buns with porridge—yep, that familiar taste.
After filling his own stomach, Nathan returned to the hotel to feed Volcarona and the others.
But he didn't rush off to challenge other Trainers to level up Pangoro just yet.
Instead, he went to the training room and brought out all his Pokémon—except for Pangoro and Steelix—for some training.
It wasn't because Nathan had OCD or anything. It was just that Pangoro needed to be in peak condition before going into battle.
Because what awaited him here... was a gauntlet match!
"Is the Fire Dance training complete? Nice job, Volcarona!"
"Next, you need to focus on building up that pure white flame—and work on fine control!"
After nearly a full morning of training, Volcarona brought Nathan a surprise.
Not only had it leveled up once, but the combo move fusing Flying and Fire elements had also reached near perfection!
Although it hadn't been used in actual battle yet, once Pangoro reached the Elite tier...
Nathan's training focus would inevitably shift to Volcarona!
Only by making Volcarona stronger could the rest of the team grow faster as well.
It was basically the complete opposite of the "wooden barrel theory."
With a fixed diameter, only by increasing the length of the test tube could it hold more liquid.
…
In the afternoon...
Nathan gathered his most important belongings and headed to the center of Spring City.
Although the time of day changed, this place always seemed to be packed with Grass-type Pokémon, eyes fixed on the ongoing battles.
He waited until a battlefield cleared, then walked up with a cheerful smile.
"Is that him? The genius Trainer, Nathan Vesper?"
"Tch, just a punk who hasn't even gone to college yet. Genius, my ass!"
"Heh, jealous much? The guy raised an Elite-tier Pokémon all on his own while still in high school!"
"According to official records verified by the League, our little prodigy here had zero external resources!"
"Put simply—he raised an Elite-tier Pokémon purely through talent and hard work!"
"So... what right do you have to be salty?"
…
Some were shocked to see Nathan, others were jealous, and a few punched the overly sour folks square in the face.
Uh... wasn't that fiery older lady the same one who almost dragged him to a hotel yesterday?
Not only was she hot-tempered, but to be honest, her body was also... explosively built.
It was just that her predator-like gaze gave Nathan the creeps. He already had Lily!
As usual, there was a prize involved in the battles.
After a five-match win streak, Pangoro's momentum was unstoppable!
"ROAR!"
With a loud roar from Pangoro, several Grass-types instinctively took two steps back.
"Peak Gym level! Just one more step and he'll break through to Elite tier!"
"Figures... breaking into Elite is like ascending to heaven."
"Yeah, it's kinda shameful, honestly—we don't even have one Elite-tier Pokémon."
Even though the leap from Elite to Champion is unimaginably difficult...
For most people, reaching the Elite tier is already a lifelong dream!
According to incomplete statistics, even counting all the regional Elites—
There are fewer than two thousand Elite-tier Pokémon raised by Trainers nationwide!
That might sound like a decent number...
But in this world, the population sits around 1.5 billion!
Even more than Nathan's previous life!
Even assuming not all are citizens of this country, it still shows how rare Elite-tier Pokémon really are.
To put it simply—
On average, only one Elite-tier Trainer appears per 500,000 people.
And honestly, even that number is inflated!
Because once you raise your first Elite-tier Pokémon, the second or third usually comes much easier.
So, when you think about it, the odds of even one Elite-tier Pokémon emerging from an entire large city are terrifyingly low!
…
And that's not even accounting for the hundreds of cities across the country.
Most geniuses and resources are funneled toward the big cities...
All in all, while being a Trainer is the mainstream profession in this world, the reality is still harsh and unforgiving.
Someone like Nathan? A true one-in-a-million anomaly!
Of course, if the world entered a new "era," things might be different.
Like if a protagonist was born and brought with them a grand age of miracles, divine bodies, sacred lineages, etc.
In that kind of world, Elites would be as common as dogs, and Champions would be tripping over each other...
Yeah, not gonna happen.
According to the data Nathan had dug up—
Even with access to their predecessors' resources, if you didn't have what it took, you just didn't have it.
Take Evelyn, the noble heiress of the Mist family—amazing talent, absurd resources.
But up to now, her first pokemon has not shown any signs of breaking through to the Elite level.
…Honestly, even if she managed to do it in five years, that'd be considered phenomenal talent.
So, no "great age" in sight.
If you had to say there was, maybe it would be a golden age for Pokémon.
Nathan shook his head, brushing away those stray thoughts.
Seeing that no one was stepping forward, he instinctively glanced at Pangoro's stats.
Yep, it had reached Level 50.
Just a bit more effort, and Pangoro would break through—into Elite tier!
At that thought, Nathan couldn't help but raise his voice:
"Is no one else going to challenge me?"
"Even if it's an Elite-tier battle, I don't mind!"
Though his words sounded arrogant, none of the Trainers wanted to get up and slap him in the face.
Come on.
We just explained how rare Elite-tier Pokémon are—there's no way someone like that would just show up casually.
Just as Nathan furrowed his brow, thinking he might need to go find some wild Gym-level battles...
A Trainer suddenly spoke up:
"I saw online yesterday that Emerald city's selling something called Pokeblocks."
"Apparently, you invented it, and the Mist family heiress is vouching for its quality as premium Pokémon food!"
"If I win... could you give me some?"
Hearing that, Nathan's frown eased into a smile.
If there's one thing he had plenty of, it was Pokeblocks!
As for why he wanted to level Pangoro up to Elite tier specifically through Trainer battles—
Well, that's because battling trained Pokémon yields way more EXP!
…
Compared to wild Pokémon, those raised by human Trainers are obviously stronger!
So, they give more EXP, too.
The only problem? Strong Trainers are super rare. It's not like Nathan could line them up and challenge them one by one.
Which is why he absolutely wasn't going to waste this opportunity in Spring City!
"Pokeblocks? What are those? Even got Mist family's heiress backing it?"
"No idea, but if it's got her endorsement, it must be something good."
"Let's be honest—even if he's a genius, training an Elite-tier Pokémon in high school is absurdly impressive!"
"Maybe those Pokeblocks played a big role in that!"
As Pangoro fought fiercely against the opponent's Machamp...
The crowd was no longer even paying attention to how exciting the battle was.
After all, as long as the opponent wasn't an Elite-tier, Pangoro was basically invincible at the same level!
What they were really curious about now was...
Could Nathan's freakish success be because of the Pokeblocks?
With all kinds of speculation flying around, more and more Trainers began to look at Nathan with burning eyes!
And after Pangoro crushed Machamp, they surged forward to challenge him.
Eventually, a petite girl managed to push her way through and excitedly asked:
"Nathan-kun, is it true that the Pokeblocks were the key to raising your Pokémon to the Elite tier?"
Judging by her appearance, she was probably a couple of years older than him.
Nathan nodded and said, "They played a pretty big role."
"Pokeblocks help Pokémon develop faster. Their powerful nutrition helps them grow stronger and unlock more potential."
In reality, Nathan's ability to raise Volcarona came down to pure grind and determination!
Pokeblocks might be amazing, but they weren't some miracle elixir.
They just happened to be leagues ahead of the standard Pokémon food in this world.
Like comparing junk food to medicinal cuisine.
But clearly, the Trainers around him didn't see it that way.
Except for a few rational folks, most of them were practically drooling as they stared at Nathan.
Which made the surrounding Grass-type Pokémon rather confused.
[What do these humans want?]
[Dunno. Doesn't concern us.]
[Exactly. We're not becoming some human's tool.]
After a short discussion, the Grass-types went back to their usual chill demeanor.
They watched Pangoro defeat opponent after opponent with Zen-like detachment.
Not because they were into battling—
But because they were just bored out of their minds.