Chapter 16

"Tsk."

Hu Tao didn't realize at all that she might be overindulgent. Perhaps it's because Gible is female and naturally less wary? But it seems that even if it were a male Pokémon, Hu Tao wouldn't be guarded. No wonder so many people fantasize about transforming into Pokémon to get close to pretty girls and even get pampered.

Takumi mused to himself.

For instance, imagine turning into a Meowth or a Persian and lounging in Ningguang's lap all day. Such a life of leisure—enjoying the favor of the heavens without lifting a finger—seems like a dream for many.

Leaving the training room…

"Here, these Poké Balls are for you."

Takumi intended to use the store's newly upgraded "Joy's Treatment Equipment" to fully restore the energy of the exhausted baby Pokémon. This black-tech device could heal Pokémon directly inside the Poké Ball. But he suddenly realized he hadn't even introduced or distributed Poké Balls to the new trainers yet.

"Poké Balls?"

The three trainers, each with their initial Pokémon, exchanged confused glances.

"This is an essential tool for trainers," Takumi explained patiently. "Poké Balls are used to capture and care for Pokémon. The higher the grade of the ball, the more spacious and comfortable the inner space is."

"Your Pokémon are still babies, but when they evolve, some of them will become quite large. You'll need Poké Balls to manage them daily..."

Whether it was energy cubes yesterday or the new gadgets today, Takumi's shop had already broadened the horizons of the people of Teyvat. These concepts were revolutionary.

Takumi then took out four different types of Poké Balls from the system's supply shelf, each with unique colors and designs. They were small enough to fit in a pocket, which is why Pokémon are often called "Pocket Monsters."

Takumi demonstrated with an ordinary Poké Ball, pressing it lightly.

Beep!

The Poké Ball expanded to fill his palm.

"See?"

"That's how it works; you simply press here..."

Takumi handed each of them an ordinary Poké Ball, a Great Ball, an Ultra Ball, and a special pure-white Poké Ball.

Xiangling examined the Poké Balls with great interest. She tilted her head, holding up the white Poké Ball, and waved it toward her Larvesta.

"Larvesta, would you like to come inside?"

Larvesta glanced at her with a bit of disdain in its blue eyes, as if skeptical of its owner's rough handling. Nonetheless, it crawled over, tapped the button on the Poké Ball with one of its tentacles, and was quickly enveloped in a red light.

Xiangling blinked in surprise, watching the Poké Ball gently shake in her hand before a soft "Ding—" confirmed Larvesta's entry.

"My Pokémon... it went inside the Poké Ball on its own!" she exclaimed.

Hu Tao and Hongyi were equally amazed at Larvesta's intelligence.

"Why does it feel like the Pokémon know more about Poké Balls than we do?" Hu Tao muttered after a long pause.

Hongyi chuckled wryly. "In the world of trainers, we're really just beginners."

Soon, Hu Tao and Hongyi also got the hang of using the Poké Balls.

"These initial Pokémon have already accepted you, so capturing them is very easy," Takumi assured them.

Xiangling experimented with the different types of Poké Balls, letting her Larvesta hop between the ordinary, Great, Ultra, and white Poké Balls.

"I think my Larvesta loves the white Poké Ball the most!" she concluded with a grin.

Hu Tao and Hongyi also noticed that the white Poké Ball was special, with unique craftsmanship and a more luxurious interior.

Takumi smiled and explained, "Of course."

"This is a special commemorative Poké Ball from our store. It's only given to trainers who adopt their initial Pokémon from us."

"And it's limited in quantity. If you have friends interested in adopting a Pokémon, bring them here soon, or we might run out of these commemorative balls!"

Captain Hongyi, usually serious, was visibly excited and kept experimenting with his Poké Ball, repeatedly releasing and recalling Growlithe, who happily played along.

"Manager Takumi, giving such valuable items as gifts… is this really okay? Aren't you taking a loss?"

Xiangling asked, her face serious as she looked at Takumi.

Hu Tao joined in, taking a deep breath. "Xiangling means that these feel more like 'immortal treasures'—they seem too precious to be given away as gifts!"

The two girls nodded in agreement.

The more they understood, the more they realized how advanced and rare the Poké Balls were.

For the people of Liyue, this technology was almost at the level of mythical treasures. Xiangling's master, Madame Ping, was an adeptus who specialized in creating spatial treasures, so Xiangling knew the rarity of such objects.

As the seventy-seventh-generation head of the Hall of Rebirth, Hu Tao also understood that despite her organization's long and storied history, they had no spatial artifacts of this quality.

Takumi: ???

Feeling a bit thrown off by their seriousness, Takumi, who had just been about to relax on the sofa, scratched his head and explained:

"Actually... Poké Balls aren't expensive. Trainers consider ordinary Poké Balls as standard items, costing about a thousand Mora each."

"High-end balls are a bit pricier," he continued, "but there are 27 different types of Poké Balls. Even the commemorative ball is quite common in the world of Pokémon."

Is that so?

Hu Tao and Xiangling, with newfound curiosity, felt even more intrigued by the concept of "trainer" culture.

Space capsules with incredible storage capacity?

27 types of Poké Balls?

And the ability to capture highly intelligent creatures?

905 types of Pokémon?

What else could there be…?

Hu Tao and Xiangling opened their tablets and examined the "attributes" column of their Pokémon:

"My Larvesta is a Bug/Fire type."

"My Gible is Dragon/Ground!"

A new question emerged.

"Manager Takumi, how many types of attributes do Pokémon have?" Xiangling and Hu Tao asked in unison.

"And dual attributes as well…"

"This is incredible—nothing like it exists in all of Teyvat!"