As the sun dipped low and early summer settled in, the evening sky was stained crimson. Rice seedlings grew in neat rows across the fields, while thin wisps of cooking smoke curled upward from village homes.
Children laughed and shouted on the basketball court at the village entrance. Elderly men sat beneath the trees, enjoying the cool evening breeze. Everything felt peaceful and serene.
Orion took it all in.
He entered the village, followed a narrow path, and arrived home. His mother's electric scooter was parked in the open space by the door, and the door itself stood wide open—meaning either his father or his younger brother, who was still in elementary school, was inside.
He stood at the doorway for a long time, staring into the living room.
The furnishings, the layout, every familiar object stirred memories—yet at the same time filled him with an indescribable sense of discomfort.
"Mom! … Brother Zhi."
Lin Dong heard the noise and ran out. His cheerful expression froze, quickly replaced by unease when he saw Orion.
"Little Dongzi…" Orion murmured softly.
His father, who had been resting in the tea room, also stepped out. The moment he saw his eldest son, his face darkened.
"You're not sick, so why are you taking leave to come home?" he demanded coldly. "Do you still look like a student?"
Then he turned on his wife.
"You're spoiling him! Why bring him home when school isn't out? So he can sit around playing on his phone all day?"
Orion remembered this clearly.
Back then, he had called home from school—and his father's furious scolding had led directly to this scene.
At the time, he'd been honest and naïve. But slowly, he'd come to understand one thing:
Control over his own body belonged to him. If he wanted to leave, no one could stop him.
This was what his parents—and so-called adults—called "rebellion."
It was also the beginning of Orion's so-called "descent into darkness."
At school, did students really love studying?
Not necessarily.
In these public high schools with questionable environments, most students were just drifting along—slacking off, killing time, waiting for the days to pass.
After all, the harsh reality was that nearly 90% of students from this school failed to get into a proper university every year.
Most were mediocre, unwilling to put in the effort to study. Their minds had long since been dulled by endless parental lectures, like walking corpses.
They hated everything that was forced upon them, yet didn't dare to resist. They had no idea what to do after graduation.
They were afraid—afraid of rebellion, afraid of losing financial support, afraid of facing society alone.
So they pretended not to see, continuing to play the role of obedient "students."
Living under their parents' shadows. Obsessing over others' opinions. Confused. Suppressed.
What kind of life was that, really?
With things at this point, Lin Juemin snorted coldly and returned to the tea room. But once his back was turned, he let out a deep sigh.
Orion noticed the subtle change—but said nothing.
A thousand words meant nothing compared to proving himself with real strength.
He grabbed his electric scooter.
"I'm heading out."
His father's words had always been harsh. Praise was almost nonexistent.
"Where are you going?" his mother asked.
"Into the mountains."
Recalling the route, Orion left without looking back.
Qin Huayu didn't think much of it. She assumed her son was just riding around the forest watched over by Old Lin—her husband's workplace.
It was a temporary residence built at the very edge of the village, complete with a small pond where chickens, ducks, and fish were kept.
Lin Juemin lived a leisurely life there. He'd once possessed strength close to a seasoned Ordinary Rank fighter, though he'd long since declined.
In the Pokémon world, ordinary animals still existed—but they sat at the very bottom of the food chain. Though highly reproductive, they couldn't provide the elemental energy Pokémon needed and were useful only as basic food.
What she couldn't have imagined was that Orion wasn't just heading to the outskirts—
He was planning to go deep into the wilderness beyond the mountains.
Where wild Pokémon truly thrived.
Rural areas lay on the fringes of human civilization. To prevent large-scale Pokémon attacks and casualties, the City Defense Team dispatched Trainers every month to clear dangerous populations.
As a result, the area dozens of kilometers around the village was considered a buffer zone, inhabited only by weak Ordinary Rank Pokémon.
The wilderness was different.
Dangerous—but rich in resources.
It was the primary destination for true Trainers.
"Woof! Woof!"
As Orion arrived at the forest ranger's residence, two Pokémon immediately ran over, tails wagging.
Pokémon: Poochyena
Rank: Ordinary Mid Rank
Talent: Orange
Pokémon: Poochyena
Rank: Ordinary Mid Rank
Talent: Orange
The data provided by his detection ability was unremarkable.
These two Poochyena belonged to his father. They usually accompanied him on patrols through planned logging areas and guarded the residence against wild Pokémon.
If faced with enemies, they'd bare their fangs and prepare to fight—but seeing their young master, they showed only affection.
"Wangcai, Xiaohua. Good to see you," Orion said with a smile, patting their heads.
The path ahead was overgrown and rugged. The electric scooter was useless now—he'd have to proceed on foot.
He walked to a crevice in the rock wall near the residence, retrieved a hidden key, unlocked the door, and went inside.
He changed into off-road gear, strapped on a felling axe, packed essential supplies, and took two spare red-and-white Poké Balls from a drawer.
Without hesitation, Orion stepped into the wilderness.
No Pokémon.
No advanced equipment.
No backup.
Just himself—heading into the wild to capture Pokémon.
Anyone who knew would laugh at him, calling him ignorant… or suicidal.
And for an ordinary, defenseless person, they'd be right.
But in his previous life, Orion had stood at the peak of the Quasi–Heavenly King level.
Though rebirth had stripped him of his former Pokémon team, one truth remained:
A starved camel was still larger than a horse.
His own martial prowess was far from weak, and coupled with countless life-and-death experiences, he lacked neither courage nor resolve.
More importantly, aura existed.
Aside from half-trained Trainers, anyone who raised Pokémon to Ordinary Rank and survived real wilderness battles possessed something known as Willful Presence.
When Orion first learned of it, he'd thought it resembled a weaker version of Conqueror's Haki from One Piece.
As a Trainer's Pokémon grew stronger, their aura intensified—eventually capable of causing real physical damage.
This also reflected a deeper truth: Trainer and Pokémon were inseparable.
Truly outstanding Trainers would never treat the Pokémon they raised with blood and sweat as mere tools.
Rebirth was mysterious.
Though Orion's aura needed to be rebuilt, his Willful Presence remained intact—a strange phenomenon.
Along the way, he experimented with it several times.
It worked.
But under the pressure of his former Quasi–Heavenly King Peak Will, the aura lacked real destructive power.
No damage—
But enough to terrify.
Orion guessed that only by rebuilding his Pokémon team to peak condition would his aura regain its true might.
At full strength, it would feel like at least a thousand pounds of crushing pressure.
Even so, a "fake" version was still a blessing.
It gave him confidence—even against Elite Rank wild Pokémon.
Elite Rank marked a true threshold.
They couldn't shatter mountains, but they could easily crush ordinary people like insects.
With enough preparation—traps, poison, terrain—even an ordinary human might stand a slim chance.
Orion's plan was simple.
Capture several Elite Rank Pokémon first. Use them as tools. Rapidly accumulate resources.
Elite-level strength alone would be enough to silence all current doubts.
Then—and only then—would he carefully select a true starter Pokémon and slowly build a team that belonged solely to him.
"Unfortunately, this body isn't as strong as it was in my prime…"
"For safety's sake, I'll limit my targets to Elite Mid Rank and below."
After walking some distance, Orion was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
He stopped at a relatively safe spot, sat down, and rested.
Night gradually fell.
The forest grew dark—oppressively silent.
It felt as though a ferocious beast might burst forth at any moment.
Rustle—rustle—
A gust of wind.
A flash of red light in the distance.
A low growl.
Something had locked onto Orion—and was attacking at terrifying speed.
Pokémon: Rattata
Rank: Ordinary Low Rank
Talent: Orange
Orion's expression didn't change.
He pulled the felling axe from his back and held it steady.
Moonlight flashed.
Bang!
The Rattata slammed into the axe.
The shock nearly tore the weapon from Orion's hands.
Using the recoil, he leapt backward. The Rattata, unable to stop its momentum, surged forward.
Orion sneered.
He shifted his stance, lowered his center of gravity, twisted his waist, and swung the axe in a vicious arc.
The blade cut through with a sickening softness—
Like puncturing a balloon.
"Squeak—! Squeak—!"
In a single exchange, the red-glowing Rattata collapsed to the ground.
Its head hung at an unnatural angle, nearly severed from its body. Blood poured from a deep wound in its neck.
It had thought the human harmless.
Instead, it died instantly.
Fear and regret filled its dimming eyes as its body slowly stiffened.
Orion calmly withdrew his axe, flicked the warm blood onto the ground, stepped past the corpse, and continued on.
He could have scared the Rattata away instantly by releasing his Quasi–Heavenly King aura.
But having just adapted to his reborn body, he wanted to test himself.
A Rattata's corpse counted as common Pokémon material and could sell for several hundred yuan.
But Orion hadn't come prepared for harvesting. His backpack was small—and the smell of blood too strong.
He decided to leave it behind.