Julian's Pokémon in the backyard were noresent, and it had been more than ten days since he returned home from the high school league. For these ten days, Julian had bee a true homebody, rarely stepping outside.

  Yet, unlike most people his age who might waste time glued to their phones or pying video games, Julia most of his hours with his Pokémon.

  Each afternoon, at a fixed time, he would engage in a battle with his father, Jake. In terms of anding ability and bat experience, Julian was far from Jake's Rival.

  While Julian's Pokémon were undeniably powerful thanks to the system that boosted their strength, the system couldn't train him as a trainer.

  His father, a Elite-level Trainer, had years of battle experiend unmatched and skills that Julian was still far from mastering. Every day, during their battles, Jake's superior tactid in-the-moment adaptability made it clear how much more Julian had to learn.

  Although Julian could go toe-to-toe with most trainers of the same level due to his Pokémon's strength, true Elite-level trainers like his father exposed the gaps in his knowledge. Against them, Julian's weaknesses in strategy became apparent.

  Julian had also noticed a slight ge in the way his father battled him tely. Gohe days when Jake would hold back during their matches. Now, his father went all out, often usiagross, Lucario, and other powerful Pokémon until Julian's team was on the brink of defeat before stopping.

  The reason, Jake said, was to push Julian to his limits—to help him improve. But Julian couldn't help but think his father was also a bit jealous that he'd awakened Psychic powers, making him the first dual-ability person in Drakoria.

  In the backyard, the Pokémon were busy training themselves. Even Shellder, the addition, was engaged in its own exercises.

  At Julian's feet stood a small figure, watg the others in awe.

  "Don't worry, Aron, you'll be training with them soon enough," Julian said with a gentle smile, kneeling down to rub the cold, smooth head of the young Steel-type. "But first, you've got to eat lots and grow strong!"

  Aron, who was only a couple of days old, had just hatched from an egg given to Julian by his father upon his return home. The egg had e from an Aggron in the Oreburgh secret realm, with the father being Jake's very own Aggron.

  When the egg finally hatched, it revealed a bright-eyed little Aron.

  Pokémon: Aron (Steel/Rock)Level: 2

  Qualification: Blue

  Ability: Heavy Metal

  Gender: Male

  Moves: Tackle, Harden

  Disc Moves: None

  Geic Moves: Stomp, Heavy Sm, Endeavor, Dragon Rush

  Aron's lineage was impressive. Both its parents were -qualified Pokémon, and to everyone's delight, Aron had been born with a rare breakthrough to blue qualification—a signifit step above most Pokémon.

  This faly deepened Jake's pyful jealousy. His own son was already getting blessed with stronger Pokémon at such a young age!

  Julian also hat Aron's ability was the hidden ability Heavy Metal, which doubles the weight of a Pokémon, which is the opposite of Metagross' Light Metal Ability.

  This would prove invaluable when it eventually learned moves like Heavy Sm and Body Sm, which relied on its sheer mass.

  Think about it with the potential to evolve into Aggron, a Pokémon that already weighed a staggering 360 kilograms, Aron's final form would double that to a whopping 720 kilograms.

  For text, the famous heavyweight Pokémon Snorx only weighed 460 kilograms.

  Julian imagined Aggron smming into oppos with the force of a mountain—a terrifying thought.

  Julian took out a special item, the Soul of Totem, from the system and used it on Aron.

  He watched as the essence merged into Aron's tiny body. The Steel-type paused mid-bite on an iron ore, prompting Julian to lean in with . "You alright, Aron? Do you feel okay?"

  In the system introdu, there was no side effect mentioned of using Totem Soul.

  "Aron~"

  After a brief pause, Aron nodded and resumed mung on the ore, determio eat as much as possible. It knew, instinctively, that the more iron it ed, the stros shell would bee.

  Aron didypical Pokémon food or power cubes. Its diet sisted of iron-rich ores and various metals. This wasn't just for susteing these materials helped reinforce its already tough body, making it even more resilient in battle.

  The fifty kilograms of irohat Julian had prepared were disappearing quickly, and Aron had already moved on to gnawing through a stack of steel bars as if they were dy.

  In addition to Aron, Julian now had six Pokémon under his care. However, Shellder wasn't a long-term member of his team. Julian's goal was to evolve Shellder into a Slowking, which meant he o find a Slowpoke to pair with it.

  The minimum requirement was that the Slowpoke had to have qualifications, ensuring that when it evolved with Shellder using a King's Rock, the Slowking's qualifications wouldn't drop below .

  While Julian could use the system to buy qualification potions, they were prohibitively expensive, and he preferred to find a suitable Slowpoke through other means. His family was already helping him trae down, and given that Slowpokes were retively on iain regions, it was only a matter of time before they found one.

  In the coastal Haitian City, located in the tral South Provihere was even a dedicated Slowpoke Park with nearly 10,000 of them.

  Slowpoke had bee a symbol of the city, especially after they pyed a critical role in proteg the city during a high-level secret realm riot two decades ago. Sihen, they were regarded as the city's guardians. Many trainers in Haitian City specialized in Water or Psychic-type Pokémon, with Slowpoke being a popur choice.

  Suddenly, Julian noticed Aron slowing down. The steel bars were no match for Aron's appetite, but exhaustion had started to set in. Yawning, the little Pokémon began to droop.

  "Looks like it's time for a rest, buddy," Julian said, effortlessly pig up the 120-kilogram Aron as if it were a feather. Now that Julian had developed his strength further, carrying even the heavy Steel-type was easy. "Let's get you to the Rest Garden in the Mimi."

  The Mimi ecialized chamber desigo replicate the unique energy of Pokémo realms, helping young Pokémon grow stronger in a short time. Acc to research, the Pokémon in the secret realms were generally strohaside world. The reason was that the secret realm has special energies suitable for the growth of Pokémon.

  The higher the level of the secret realm, the higher the energy present.

  Therefore, the Mimi appeared. An advanced Mimi had equivalent energy to an Advanced Secret Realm, but the cost was sky-high.

  A new Pokémon like Aron, it's best for it to stay in the Mimi aronger after a good night's sleep.

  As Julian made his way to the Mimi, his mother Tina g her husband, jake.

  "What's with that look on your face?"

  "I just saw Julian walking into the Mimi with Aron... that little guy has the Heavy Metal ability," Jake muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

  Tina chuckled, resting a hand on her husband's arm. "Our son is really something, isn't he?"

  Jake sighed, but a proud smile tugged at the er of his lips. "Yeah... he really is."