C3

Isaac awkwardly scratched his head and gave a sheepish smile. "Uh... can I pay you later? It seems I don't have any money right now…"

No, it's not that it seems like I don't have money, I really don't have any money…

"That's not possible," the girl calmly replied with a slight smile. "If you don't have money, you'll have to work here to pay it off."

"Alright…"

"Let's get acquainted then. My name is Hana Smith. I'll inform my mother about your situation shortly. Please give me your ID card for a moment, and we'll sign a promissory note." Hana said to Isaac.

Isaac pulled out a card from his pocket that looked like an ID card from Earth. It was issued to him by the system as proof of identity. He wasn't sure if it would work.

Taking the ID, Hana recorded Isaac's details and wrote a promissory note.

"The debtor, Isaac, owes 2,690 Pokemon Dollars to Bell's BBQ on this date, promising to repay by working at the store until the debt is cleared."

"Here, sign this."

Isaac obediently signed the note, inwardly lamenting his bad luck. On his first day in the Pokémon world, he was already signing a promissory note…

The store manager, who had just finished cleaning up, took off her apron and came over to Isaac.

Hana told the store manager about Isaac's situation, and the manager gently knocked on her head. "You're too kind-hearted. People like him are probably just here to scam food and drinks!"

Hana covered her head, pretending to be in pain. "Mom, Isaac's ID card number indicates he's from an orphanage. He probably doesn't have money to buy food and is starving."

The store manager was surprised. "Really? Let me see. Hmm... This is the symbol of the Viridian City orphanage. Your father and I have been there."

Isaac didn't know how they could tell all this, but he nodded along. "I didn't want to burden the director. I'm the oldest in the orphanage, so I decided to leave and find work."

Isaac remembered that he had a mission to become a Pokémon breeder.

"I read a lot of books on Pokémon breeding at the orphanage. I want to become a Pokémon breeder. But it seems I lost my money while traveling from Viridian City to Pewter City…"

At this point, Isaac put on a dramatic performance, portraying himself as someone who bravely left the orphanage to reduce its burden but unfortunately lost his money and was now starving.

Hana and the store manager, being kind-hearted, didn't question his story and nodded repeatedly, looking at Isaac with sympathy and admiration.

"In that case, you can work at my place for now! You'll work at lunchtime and in the evening, 500 Pokemon Dollars a day. You don't have a place to stay, right? We have a storage room that can be cleaned up for you to stay in. You can stay there temporarily!"

With a wave of her hand, the store manager arranged everything for Isaac.

Isaac, feeling like he was in a dream, moved into the Smith family's place and became a live-in worker.

No one noticed that Kirlia, who was using her psychic powers to stay hidden, was subtly influencing the store manager and Hana.

…

After a night's sleep in the Smith family's storage room, Isaac stretched widely as he greeted the morning sun.

Last night, Kirlia's sudden appearance had startled Hana and her mother. They soon became enamored with Kirlia.

Explaining Kirlia's presence, Isaac said she had been with him since childhood. The store manager didn't question this and even gave Isaac a Pokéball to officially capture Kirlia.

Thanks to Celebi's prior instructions, Kirlia didn't resist the Pokéball and was successfully captured by Isaac.

[Ding!]

[Captured your first Pokémon, activating the Scan function!]

"Scan function? What does that mean?" Isaac wondered.

[The Scan function allows the system to detect information about Pokémon and items. Just think 'Scan' to use it!]

Raising an eyebrow, Isaac released Kirlia from her Pokéball and thought "Scan." An information list appeared before his eyes.

…

Kirlia

Level:

Type: Psychic/Fairy

Nature: Gentle

Gender: Female

Potential: Blue

Ability: Synchronize

Egg Moves: Destiny Bond, Heal Pulse

Taught Moves: Hypnosis, Confusion, Magical Leaf, Teleport

TM Moves: None

Held Items: None

…

"Whoa, Destiny Bond and Heal Pulse as Egg Moves!? Her potential is incredible! Her parents must be something else. But why is she with me?" Isaac was astonished by Kirlia's high potential.

Egg Moves are rare and valuable, passed down from parent Pokémon to their offspring, often not learnable through leveling up. The chance of inheriting such moves is usually very low.

"System, how is potential categorized?"

[Potential is ranked from low to high as: White, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Gold, Rainbow]

[Purple is typically for pseudo-legendary Pokémon, Gold is for legendary Pokémon.]

"What about Rainbow?"

[Rainbow is a mythical potential, and the system is unsure of its specifics.]

"???? You don't even know?? What use are you then!" Isaac felt exasperated.

However, having a Pokémon with the highest potential below pseudo-legendaries, especially a rare Kirlia, made him quite pleased.

Today, Isaac planned to go to the Pokémon Center in the morning to register as a Trainer and complete his first main mission.

Arriving early at the Pokémon Center, it was still quiet. Nurse Joy was idly looking at a small mirror.

"Nurse Joy, I'd like to register as a Trainer. Can you help me with that?" Isaac gently knocked on the counter and said to Nurse Joy.

Hearing someone's voice, Nurse Joy quickly put away her mirror and smiled professionally. "Of course, please give me your ID card and Pokéball."

Isaac handed over the items, watching as Nurse Joy placed the Pokéball in a device he didn't understand. After a scan, Kirlia's information appeared on the screen.

Then, Nurse Joy scanned Isaac's ID card, linking Kirlia's information with his. After a short wait, the process was complete.

"Here you go. This is your Pokéball and ID card. Your Trainer information is now recorded on your ID card. Congratulations on becoming a League Trainer." Nurse Joy said with a smile.

"Challenging Gyms and completing League tasks can earn you League points. Accumulating enough points can upgrade your Trainer level!"

Nurse Joy explained the Trainer levels to Isaac, who was hearing about it for the first time.

"What exactly are Trainer levels?"

"Trainer levels are: Ordinary Trainer, Elite Trainer, Master Trainer, Elite Four Trainer, Champion Trainer! To become an Elite Four or Champion Trainer, you need both points and a certification from a major tournament."

Nurse Joy remained kind and patient, without a hint of annoyance.

"Thank you for explaining!"

"You're welcome!"

Taking back his ID card and Pokéball, Isaac returned to his small storage room.

Sitting on the bed, Isaac felt something was off. Thinking carefully, he realized there had been no notification about completing his mission.

"System, what's going on? Didn't I complete the task? Why isn't there any notification?"

[Ding! Main tasks require manual submission.]

Isaac rolled his eyes and brought up the system interface, a virtual screen appearing before him.

Looking at the task section, he focused on the first task—[Register as a League Trainer]—and thought "Submit task."

[Ding! Main Task 1 completed. Do you want to claim your reward now?]

"Claim!"

[Reward being distributed. Please be patient.]

"Be patient? What do you mean…"

"Whoa!..."

Suddenly, intense pain struck Isaac, causing him to clutch his head, sweating profusely, clenching his teeth, his face turning red from exertion.

After an unknown amount of time, the pain finally subsided, and Isaac panted heavily, drenched in sweat.

"What... what's happening... system..." Isaac weakly asked, feeling like he had been through hell.

[Ding! This is a normal reaction to receiving a mental-type reward for the first time.]

[It won't be this painful in the future.]

"…" Isaac could only smile wryly at his system.

Calming down, Isaac took a deep breath, ready to sort through the newly received beginner breeding knowledge.

Feeling a wealth of knowledge about Pokémon breeding as if it was second nature, Isaac exclaimed, "This is amazing!"

Information about Berries, food combinations for Pokémon, and making Pokéblocks, things he had never heard of before, were all included. For many common Pokémon, this breeding knowledge provided valuable insights.

With this knowledge, Isaac could already run a small, specialized breeding house!

"System, is this really just beginner breeding knowledge?"

[Yes, all rewards are sourced from the world's essence.]

[In this world, the system's beginner breeding knowledge can already pass the intermediate breeder's exam.]

"Wow, so I hit the jackpot?!" Isaac's eyes sparkled.

This was just the reward for completing the first main task. The thought of future rewards made him dream of a prosperous future with powerful Pokémon and a comfortable life.

[Reminder: It's daytime. Stop dreaming.]

"…I'll dream if I want to!" Isaac muttered before leaving his room, heading back to the Smith family restaurant.

His training journey had just begun.