Still, Nathan clicked to take a look.
Hmm, the whole post was full of vague logical arguments without any real evidence.
It basically accused Nathan of being a "fresh young face" pushed out by capitalists, only interested in making money.
Now that his achievements had been revealed, they claimed he was hoarding resources, even accusing the studio in Emerald City of being a scam operation.
Then a bunch of people—whether they were hired trolls or just envious haters—started stirring things up.
Most discussions online were now speculating whether Nathan would start taking endorsements or signing ad deals.
If Nathan guessed right, as long as he stayed silent, in the next few days there would be endless so-called "hard evidence" surfacing, and people would start criticizing him from a moral high ground—saying a student like him was neglecting his proper duties and so on.
These were just the same little tricks Nathan had seen plenty of in his previous life.
He picked up his phone and dialed Evelyn's number.
It barely rang for three seconds before connecting.
"Hello, Nathan, what's up?"
On the other end, Evelyn's cool, clear voice came through.
Nathan grinned and said, "Have you seen what's happening online?"
"What's going on?"
Evelyn sounded confused. "I've been busy training my Pokémon these past few days, preparing to gain some experience at the National Tournament."
Unlike Nathan, even though Evelyn and Lily had already collected eight gym badges, they weren't expecting to achieve anything too impressive at the National Tournament.
It's like people always said—before you even get into college, dreaming of making a name for yourself at Nationals was unrealistic.
Especially for most folks, whether from middle-class families or ordinary ones, university is where a Pokémon Trainer's real journey begins!
Of course, for someone like Evelyn, who came from a wealthy family, she still needed to earn a decent result to maintain the Mist family's reputation.
That's why she'd been training for days without even checking the internet.
Honestly, if it hadn't been for Nathan's call, she might not have answered at all.
Clear about the situation, Nathan continued, "In that case, you'd better take a look online—and help me investigate something."
Investigate what?
Nathan didn't say outright, but it was obvious—he wanted to know whether that uploader had backing, or if he was just a desperate guy trying to get famous.
The latter wouldn't be surprising either.
In this world, there weren't really any "internet celebrities," but gossiping about famous Pokémon Trainers could still bring a comfortable life.
Worried about offending the Trainers and suffering consequences?
Come on, there were clear laws in place—gossiping a bit wouldn't get you killed!
That's exactly what emboldened guys like this uploader.
Nathan didn't bother making any judgments about it.
In fact, he thought it was a great opportunity!
If he handled this properly, it could seriously boost the studio's fame.
They might even spin off a line of genuine luxury-brand Pokéblocks.
And when the time came, just a little mention at Nationals could help launch a full-fledged company targeting beginner Trainers!
As for potential obstacles?
Nathan was certain: given the Dark Spirit organization and Evelyn's influence as a prominent figure, even the biggest corporations could only resort to these minor dirty tricks for now.
Evelyn, though, had no idea of the complicated thoughts running through Nathan's head.
Hearing his words, she immediately said urgently, "Wait a second, I'll check right now!"
Three minutes later, Evelyn's voice returned to the phone, this time icy cold:
"I've found out—he doesn't have any backing."
"It's just a guy who's lazy, burned through his family's money, and decided to target you to make a splash."
"Don't worry—he'll definitely get what's coming to him today."
Hearing that, Nathan nodded. As he expected.
But instead of letting Evelyn take action, he calmly said, "There's no need to do anything just yet."
"Miss Evelyn, don't you think this is a perfect opportunity for free publicity?"
"In fact, if we just..."
Nathan then explained a simple "reverse strategy" that had been overused in his previous life.
Because in this world, the internet and Pokémon culture had developed together, a lot of common dirty tricks weren't well known yet.
So, Nathan's plan was simple.
He would smear himself!
Use whatever methods necessary—hire trolls if needed—to flood the internet with hate against himself!
Then carefully leak some so-called "hard evidence," full of plausible but false information.
If everything went well, Nathan could ride the wave all the way to success.
Maybe even get rich overnight!
After hanging up on the dumbfounded Evelyn, Nathan looked again at the hate comments and videos online and muttered:
"Don't blame me. A guy's gotta eat, right?"
The system shop refreshed daily, but good stuff wasn't exactly free.
No, actually, it had plenty of great stuff!
But Nathan just couldn't afford it—no matter how cost-effective the system claimed to be.
Well, it wasn't like he was totally broke, but maintaining Volcarona and his other Pokémon was insanely expensive.
Steelix alone was a money pit!
Not to mention the daily training and supplies for his team!
Nathan wasn't the type to go out of his way to hurt others, but if someone came knocking on his door...
Then he wasn't going to hold back.
He had never claimed to be some kind of saint.
Never had been.
…
When Evelyn sent back a "Mission Complete" emoji, Nathan simply threw himself into bed and passed out.
Volcarona tried to curl up next to him, but sadly realized...
Her size was getting a bit too big for that now.
Her body alone was almost four meters long, not to mention her magnificent wings.
"Vol～"
Even so, Volcarona stubbornly refused to return to her Pokéball.
Instead, she stayed quietly at Nathan's side, maintaining a comfortable temperature around him.
The next morning, when Nathan woke up, Volcarona had already returned to her Pokéball.
He didn't notice that the pendant around his neck briefly flashed a few times.
[Is the world black... or white...?]
For the first time, the pendant felt something called "doubt"—and a desire to understand the world better.
Before, it had believed everything was either black or white.
Simple.
But in this world, humanity wasn't so clear-cut.
There were too many shades of gray.
After washing up, Nathan started preparing breakfast for Volcarona and the others while browsing the internet on his phone.
He only cooked at night when out in the wild.
But in the city, he made Pokéblock for his Pokémon both for morning and night.
"So many people joined the draw already?"
Scratching his head, Nathan muttered as he looked at the screen.
The number of participants had already passed 20,000.
It didn't seem like a lot—but don't forget, these were all Pokémon Trainers!
Each had earned at least eight gym badges!
And more importantly, that number wasn't the final count—it was just the beginning.
Otherwise, they wouldn't need eight different divisions for the preliminary rounds!
"Alright, let's draw!"
Shrugging, Nathan clicked the big "Draw" button in the center.
An animation played, and finally a character appeared on the screen.
Along with a line of text:
[Dear Trainer Nathan Vesper, you will compete in Division D – Magic City!]
[Please be ready; the first round of eliminations will begin in three days!]
"Three days, huh..."
Looking at the location and schedule, Nathan nodded.
The timeline was pretty generous.
In fact, while the National Tournament was broadcast on TV and online every year, the focus was mostly on the official matches in the capital.
The regional preliminaries did get some coverage, but they didn't carry nearly the same weight.
So even though Nathan had watched a lot of Nationals, he wasn't super clear about the rules for the preliminaries.
"Until then, I just have to get stronger!"
Resolving himself, Nathan decided to dive into special training over the next three days.
Just then, Lily burst into his room, twirling her keys and bouncing with excitement:
"Son! Your mother has drawn her lot too—I'm in Division A, South City!"
Seeing her trying to act all smug, Nathan rolled his eyes and said:
"Too bad. I'm headed to Magic City.
Good luck in your division, my foolish daughter."
"Hmph! I don't need your luck!"
Lily pouted and snapped back, but there was a playful, childlike tone to her voice.
Honestly, Nathan was kind of relieved that they ended up in different divisions too.