Join my p@treon for more chapters

[email protected]/Tempest_29

The next day.

Warm winter sunshine contrasted beautifully with cold plum blossoms reflecting off the snow.

The weather in the capital city during January was unbearably frigid. Jacob, being from the south, had bundled himself up early in long-sleeved shirts and thick pants, looking like a well-dressed bear wrapped in layers of clothing.

Julia had also changed into an adorable down jacket. During their early morning training session, she quietly approached Jacob, staring at him with her bright, intelligent eyes and a curious expression on her face. “Jacob, I saw the video you posted yesterday. Did you really post that yourself?”

Although Jacob didn’t want to admit that he had done something so embarrassing, he still nodded reluctantly.

He decided he absolutely couldn’t show any shame about it now. As long as he wasn’t embarrassed, then everyone else would be the ones feeling awkward.

“Why did you think of posting that video?” Julia asked with genuine curiosity. She couldn’t understand Jacob’s purpose behind posting such content. She felt a little… ashamed to admit it, but she had also watched Jacob’s battle video from yesterday.

Jacob’s Charizard and Sceptile were both incredibly powerful and top-tier at their respective levels, especially Sceptile, which stood over three meters tall and was nearly the largest Sceptile she had ever seen.

In fact, it wasn’t only Julia who was curious. Many students in their training class were also extremely curious about the situation. They had been looking at Jacob with strange expressions all morning. They couldn’t believe that Jacob, who was usually so aloof and reserved, would be this kind of person privately – so incredibly arrogant.

Of course, what was even more important was that Jacob had become surprisingly strong without anyone really noticing.

Everyone still remembered just a few months ago when Jacob first joined their class. Back then, everyone had been secretly waiting to watch him make a fool of himself, but no one expected that Jacob had already caught up to their level so quickly.

Except for not having any Pokemon above the Lord level, Jacob’s other Pokemon were genuinely powerful, and their potential was quite impressive as well. As long as he was given sufficient time, he would definitely become a formidable trainer.

“I posted that video because of you!” Jacob rolled his eyes at Julia with obvious annoyance. “Didn’t you secretly find Isaac and have a private duel with him?”

“Huh? Really?” Julia blinked innocently and looked at Jacob, clearly not wanting to admit anything. “Why don’t I remember that happening at all?”

While saying this, Julia was thinking to herself, How dare Isaac tell anyone about our battle!

“It’s because of your interference that no skilled trainer wanted to challenge me anymore. Such meaningless battles serve no purpose. I had no choice but to post that TikTok video,” Jacob said, full of resentment toward Julia. If it weren’t for her meddling, he never would have posted those embarrassing words.

“Really? I don’t believe that,” Julia paused for a moment and quickly changed the subject. “By the way, let’s have another battle when we’re both free.”

“No, that would be boring,” Jacob replied flatly. The two of them were already quite familiar with each other’s Pokemon and strategies. They always used the same old tactics in their fights. Such battles wouldn’t provide much training benefit anymore.

Two days later.

After just two days, Jacob’s video had gone completely viral across the internet. Such outrageous words from a promising research genius naturally caused heated discussions throughout online communities.

The comments under Jacob’s video were clearly divided into two opposing camps. One camp supported Jacob enthusiastically, and the comment with the highest number of likes read: “Everyone here is trash.” The accompanying image showed Jacob’s three-meter-tall Sceptile looking down imposingly at Infernape.

The other group angrily criticized Jacob for being arrogant and demanded the chance to challenge him directly. The comment with the most likes in this category stated: “I, Penelope, am watching this video with my real name and challenging Jacob!” Below this was a selfie of a beautiful woman with long, flowing hair.

Beneath this particular comment were dozens of identical responses from other internet users.

“I, [username], am watching Penelope with my real name!”

At this very moment, Penelope, who was far away, felt completely bewildered as she looked through the comment section. She had no idea who had stolen her photograph and posted such a comment in Jacob’s video section, somehow making it go viral unexpectedly.

Because of this video’s popularity, there was an endless stream of trainers wanting to challenge Jacob. Kindler, the Dragon Gym Leader, immediately recognized the huge business opportunity. After discussing the situation with Jacob, he decided to announce that he would arrange two official matches – one on Sunday morning and another on Sunday afternoon.

At the same time, Kindler specially arranged for Jacob’s battles to take place in the largest battle arena within the Dragon Gym. He planned to livestream the entire event and began selling tickets online.

Kindler also invested significant money in purchasing online advertisements and produced professional promotional posters for release. With Kindler’s aggressive marketing campaign, the popularity of the weekend matches reached ridiculous heights.

With Jacob’s sudden rise to fame, a challenge craze had swept across the internet. Many people posted their own challenge videos and tagged Jacob, hoping to gain some attention and followers.

After all, winning or losing wasn’t really important to most of them. As long as they could fight against Jacob, they could become famous, and being famous meant earning money. There was nothing shameful about making money through legitimate means.

Faced with so many potential challengers, Kindler spent the entire night reading through applications and information, carefully selecting candidates. He specially picked two opponents for Jacob. The challenger for the morning match was the popular online personality known as Bug Catcher.

Bug Catcher was a major internet celebrity on TikTok. His online ID was “Bug Catcher ,” nicknamed the “Commoner Bug King,” and he had accumulated millions of devoted fans.

Bug Catcher’s family background was quite poor, and it could honestly be said that he was born into humble circumstances. In the beginning, he could only travel around with a single Weedle as his starter Pokemon.

Although his family wasn’t financially well-off, Bug Catcher was intelligent and willing to try innovative approaches, such as creating and filming short videos.

While traveling to different regions, Bug Catcher filmed his experiences and adventures, editing and adding commentary before sharing them online.

Because the videos he created were very relatable to ordinary trainers, combined with his humorous and entertaining commentary style, they resonated deeply with many grassroots trainers and were beloved by his audience. Once his videos were released, they quickly became viral sensations across the internet.

As his fanbase grew larger, he successfully monetized his follower traffic and earned his first substantial amount of money.

After obtaining financial resources, Bug Catcher never forgot his original passion and still insisted on remaining a dedicated Bug-type trainer. He spent most of the money he earned on training and improving his Pokemon. His personal strength also improved dramatically, and his fan following continued to expand.

Bug Catcher had achieved success in both entertainment and competitive battling. Not only did he have more than one million followers, but he had also become a powerful Lord-level Bug-type trainer.

Among all the potential challengers, Bug Catcher was the one who wanted to fight against Jacob the most intensely. He had directly posted three separate videos challenging Jacob, and the number of likes on one of these videos reached hundreds of thousands, with some even reaching millions.

“Researcher Jacob, first of all, I am a genuine fan of your scientific research work, but after watching your recent videos, I feel that you do not respect us ordinary civilian trainers. I am challenging you today to prove that there are powerful civilian Bug trainers who deserve recognition.”

“Researcher Jacob, on behalf of millions of Bug trainers everywhere, I challenge you. Do you dare to accept this battle?”

Jacob also watched Bug Catcher’s challenge videos carefully. He had to admit they were incredibly inflammatory, successfully inciting civilian trainers to oppose him. Just by watching these videos, Jacob felt like he had somehow become an evil villain in some story.

After turning off the video, Jacob carefully examined the detailed information that Kindler had sent him. Bug Catcherhad three main Pokemon: Butterfree, Heracross, and Beedrill.

“This will be fine as long as they’re all weak to Fire-type moves,” Jacob muttered while checking the weather forecast for the upcoming Sunday. It would be sunny – perfect conditions. Even the weather seemed to be helping him.

If the morning match against Bug Catcher was designed to attract attention and boost popularity, then the second afternoon match would be the real main event of the day.

“Drakehold VS the Capital.”

“The battle for the strongest Dragon Secret Realm!”

The anticipation was building for what promised to be an epic confrontation between regional champions.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep