After leaving the Nidoking family's cave, Zhou Yuan continued deeper into the forest, and not long after, he spotted a gurgling stream.
The stream's water was crystal clear, and occasionally, one could see Pokémon like Goldeen and Magikarp swimming beneath.
Since the river flowed, it indicated a water source, and places with water sources usually had many Pokémon. Instead of aimlessly searching for Pokémon to battle, it would be better to follow the river upstream towards the source, where he should find plenty of Pokémon.
With this thought in mind, Zhou Yuan and Growlithe headed upstream.
Along the way, Zhou Yuan saw many small Pokémon. These small Pokémon weren't very afraid of strangers, but they trembled when they saw Growlithe, likely due to its Intimidate ability.
After another half an hour of walking, Zhou Yuan noticed that the trees ahead became sparse. Stepping out of the forest, he found a small lake nestled within it. Many small Pokémon were drinking water by the lake, including some that were natural enemies, but surprisingly, they weren't attacking each other. It seemed there was a rule around the lake that prevented battles. Zhou Yuan felt a bit disappointed, as he couldn't just wait there to ambush Pokémon. He would have to follow the Pokémon after they drank and battle them in a more suitable location.
But there was no rush for that, because Zhou Yuan was hungry. He pulled out his phone; although there was no signal, the time was still running, and it was already past noon, time for lunch.
He called Growlithe over to sit beside him, then took out an energy cube and two peach fruit, placing them in front of it. The dog immediately buried its head in the food, eating so enthusiastically that its tail wagged.
Next, Zhou Yuan released Nidoking. After stuffing the remaining four peach fruit into her mouth, he recalled her. Although it was only for an instant, the Gym Leader-level aura in that moment caused no small panic among the Pokémon by the lake, making them look up and around after each sip of water.
Seeing this, Zhou Yuan felt a bit guilty, so he simply pretended not to notice and pulled out the bento he had prepared from his bag, eating lunch with his dog.
After eating and drinking his fill, Zhou Yuan sat by the lake, rubbing Growlithe’s head, enjoying this rare moment of leisure. At the same time, he looked around, searching for a target he wanted to follow later.
Just as Zhou Yuan's gaze drifted around, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a golden light appearing in the lake. Looking closely, it was gone. Zhou Yuan dismissed it as merely the sun's reflection on the water and didn't give it much thought.
Watching a late-stage common Gloom finish drinking and leave, Zhou Yuan also prepared to follow behind it for a friendly exchange.
Just as Zhou Yuan stood up, ready to follow the Gloom, his peripheral vision again caught a glimpse of golden light on the lake's surface.
This time, he saw it clearly. It wasn't the sun's reflection, nor was it light emanating from something else falling into the water. It was a living, golden Magikarp, still using Splash in the water!
"Hmm?! Shinny Magikarp?!" Zhou Yuan was a little stunned. Was he really a child of destiny? He could even encounter a Shinny Magikarp while out in the wild. In that instant, all thoughts of the Gloom were cast aside. What Zhou Yuan was thinking now was how to get his hands on this Magikarp.
He looked around. The distance was too far; throwing a Poké Ball directly to catch it was unrealistic. Zhou Yuan pulled out the peach fruit remaining from his last ten-pull from his bag. peach fruit are sweet, and most Pokémon like to eat this kind of berry. Zhou Yuan planned to use the peach fruit as bait to attract the Magikarp.
Crushing the peach fruit into small pieces, Zhou Yuan threw them towards where the Magikarp was using Splash. The peach fruit pieces floated on the water's surface. The Magikarp seemed to smell the food, swam towards the pieces, and swallowed them in one gulp.
After swallowing that piece of berry, the Magikarp found another piece not far away, wagged its tail, swam over, and swallowed that one too.
"Yes, yes, just like that."
Zhou Yuan, standing on the bank, kept throwing berry pieces into the lake while watching the Magikarp's movements. He dared not make too much noise, fearing he would scare the Magikarp away.
Watching the Magikarp get closer and closer to him, lured by the berries, Zhou Yuan also became excited, holding a Poké Ball in his hand, ready to throw it at any moment.
Just as Zhou Yuan was thinking that if the Magikarp swam just a little closer he would throw the ball, the Magikarp seemed to be full. It flicked its tail and swam to the bottom of the lake, leaving Zhou Yuan, covered in water, dumbfounded.
He felt like he had been played by a fish.
He rubbed his face, shaking off his disappointment. If he couldn't catch it today, he would come back tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the day after. He would get his hands on this Shinny Magikarp eventually.
With that thought, Zhou Yuan turned and, with Growlithe, chased in the direction the Gloom had left. After all, the fish had gotten away, so he couldn't let this Gloom escape too.
As Zhou Yuan turned to leave, the golden Magikarp resurfaced, its dead-fish eyes fixed on the direction Zhou Yuan had departed, thinking who knows what.
The Gloom wasn't moving fast, and Zhou Yuan caught up to it quickly. Seeing this human approaching with ill intent, the Gloom also prepared for battle. Unfortunately, the type advantage was too overwhelming, and the Gloom was knocked out by Growlithe in a short time.
【Battle victory, Energy Points +100】
【Host's current Energy Points: 3560】
"Hmm? Why did it decrease?" Zhou Yuan noticed that the Energy Points gained from defeating the late-stage common Gloom were less than what he received from defeating Nidoking in the morning.
A scan of Growlithe revealed that after three high-intensity battles and a full meal, Growlithe had absorbed the energy from the energy cube and broken through to late-stage common.
Zhou Yuan was delighted to discover Growlithe's breakthrough. Growlithe was only twelve days old since birth and had already reached this level. The strong physical constitution of Pokémon young was one reason, and Zhou Yuan's hard work in earning Energy Points to ensure Growlithe could eat energy cube and berries every day was another.
That afternoon, Zhou Yuan and Growlithe roamed the forest, seeking out Pokémon to challenge. Most common-level Pokémon suffered at their hands. Of course, Zhou Yuan also paid the price of a Potion after each battle. After all, to achieve sustainable development, healing these Pokémon meant they could be challenged again tomorrow.
Although the battle rewards were reduced after Growlithe's promotion to late-stage common, winning against mid-stage common Pokémon still yielded fifty Energy Points, which just offset the cost of the Potion. Additionally, he also exploited a few late-stage common Pokémon and some fruit trees during that time.
By the time Zhou Yuan decided to end his outdoor battles for the day, his Energy Points had still reached 2810. Since battles also consumed Growlithe's stamina, all the berries picked from wild Pokémon territories went into Growlithe's stomach.
The battles that day were not without effect. At the very least, Growlithe and Zhou Yuan became more harmonious. Growlithe could react to Zhou Yuan's commands more quickly, and Zhou Yuan gained a clearer understanding of Growlithe's combat power and intelligence.
The boy and the dog fought their way through the forest, and by the time Zhou Yuan emerged, he could barely recognize where he was. So, he released Nidoking and had her carry him back to the ranch.
Nidoking was also a bit disoriented after being released; she hadn't been recalled from this location.
However, fortunately, Nidoking had been in this area for many years and had a good sense of general direction. She quickly found her way and carried Zhou Yuan back to the ranch.
Upon returning to the ranch, Zhou Yuan saw Liu Yongming standing at the entrance from afar. He felt both ashamed and touched; he had been too busy having fun and had forgotten that Uncle Liu was waiting for him at the ranch. Uncle Liu, worried about his safety, had even come to the ranch entrance to wait for him.
Zhou Yuan dismounted Growlithe at the ranch entrance and said to Liu Yongming:
"Uncle Liu, I'm back. Thank you for your hard work..."
Before he could finish saying "you," Liu Yongming's words came:
"Xiao Yuan, you're back. Are you tired today? If you're tired, go in and rest first. Uncle Liu is waiting for a friend here."
Listening to this, it turned out he wasn't waiting for him after all. Well, he had overthought it again.
After handing Nidoking and her Poké Ball to Liu Yongming, Zhou Yuan walked towards his room.
Sitting at his desk, Zhou Yuan began to tally his gains from today's outing:
First and foremost, the most valuable gain was definitely the Moon Stone Nidoking gave him. This item could only be obtained through ten-pulls in the system, and this one alone would cost hundreds of thousands of Pokémon coins. Speaking of the system, Zhou Yuan remembered that the second round of the limited-time shop was full of items he couldn't use for now. The refresh time for the third round seemed to be today. He took a look, and sure enough, he could save all his Energy Points for a ten-pull now.
The second important gain was Growlithe's breakthrough to late-stage common, which brought a small but welcome increase in combat power.
Then, he discovered the Shinny Magikarp. He only regretted not having a Water-type Pokémon; otherwise, he would have forcibly battled and captured it long ago, instead of resorting to such a low-level method of luring it. But it didn't matter; the lake was there, and as long as the Magikarp didn't swim away with the stream, he could go there every day and eventually get his hands on it.
Finally came the gains like Energy Points and berries. The majority of the Energy Point gain came from the battle arena, directly adding over a thousand points. As for the outdoor battles, because he had to purchase Super Potion, the actual gain wasn't much, and the berries picked along the way filled Growlithe's stomach.
Speaking of which, the live stream mission was also about to expire. Tomorrow was the deadline, and Zhou Yuan planned to take advantage of the video's popularity to post an update as a preview.
Logging onto A-site, Zhou Yuan found his private message inbox full again. Opening it, he saw most messages were asking about his specific live stream time. It seemed his early announcement in the video had some effect.
Zhou Yuan opened the posting page, drafted an update, and uploaded it.
"Hello, everyone! This is A Yuan, and I'm very grateful for all your support. I've seen many private messages asking when A Yuan will start streaming, so I'm here to let you all know now!
Tomorrow, August 3rd, at 7 PM sharp, I will be starting my first live stream. I'll be bringing new tactics to everyone then. Thank you all for your support!"
As soon as this update was posted, new comments appeared, and Zhou Yuan was once again impressed by the fans' activity.
Opening his homepage, Zhou Yuan found that after another day of fermentation, his latest video's views were heading towards four million, and the views of the three previously released videos had also increased. After a rough calculation, Zhou Yuan found that the total views of his videos had already exceeded ten million.
Looking at his followers again, 850,000. Zhou Yuan felt a little disappointed; he couldn't get two rewards at once. What was with this faint sadness?
【Congratulations, Host, for completing Video Mission 8. Cumulative video views have exceeded ten million. Energy Points +2000】
【The next level's mission requirement is: Cumulative video views exceed fifty million, which is the final mission in this series. Upon completion, a random golden item will be awarded.】
【Host's current Energy Points: 5560】
Rich, so rich. This is a windfall.
At the end of July, his Energy Points had dropped to 960 due to raising Growlithe. It had only been two days since then, and he had already completed missions like gaining over 500,000 followers, battling, and reaching over ten million cumulative video views, directly earning a wave of Energy Points.
However, Zhou Yuan also speculated that there likely wouldn't be any more low-difficulty, high-reward missions like these in the future, especially after reaching one million followers, the next stage would very likely be five million, and follower counts don't increase as easily as views.
Aside from the long-term missions of follower count and cumulative video views, it seemed that battles and time-limited missions issued by the system would become the main sources of Energy Points.
But that was for later. Looking at his remaining Energy Points, Zhou Yuan felt a little itching in his hands. He just felt like doing a ten-pull.
Zhou Yuan was considering whether to do a ten-pull, while the audience on A-site was getting restless because A Yuan said he was going to start live streaming and would bring new tactics.
Although the previous tactical videos were high-quality, some people believed that the opponents were hired actors because they found similar tactics very difficult and weak when they tried them themselves, often leading to losses if not careful. This led to daily arguments in A-site's discussion forums.
After Zhou Yuan's update was posted, most people quieted down, because whether the streamer truly had something to show or was faking it, the truth would be revealed tomorrow.