Chapter 2: That’s It?
When the car merged onto the main road and gradually drove through the city, Li Wei’s panicked mood eased a bit.
This wasn’t because he chose to trust the Mime Jr. driving in front; he was simply captivated by the never-before-seen scenery around him.
He had seen plenty of skyscrapers before; back on Earth, any building pulled from cities like Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou was top-notch in appearance, but the cities in this world seemed somewhat different.
Green plants coexisted with high-rises, and the city was filled with people and Pokémon—this was a sight Li Wei had never witnessed.
An office worker dressed in a suit, briefcase in his right hand, head down looking at the watch on his left wrist, brow furrowed as if calculating the time. Following behind him was a small Electivire with a tie around its neck, a briefcase in its right hand, and a small watch on its left wrist.
When he saw this person and Pokémon enter the company gate together, Li Wei chose to tactical lean back.
It was the first time he had seen such a scene.
Li Wei thought that humans and Pokémon getting along peacefully was probably limited to things like Squirtle using Water Gun, Magnemite generating electricity, or Charizard producing fire, but he never imagined there could be a day when humans worked alongside Pokémon?
Some people, when lost in thought, unconsciously open their browser, and Li Wei was no exception.
After opening the browser and searching for “human Pokémon communication” and “human Pokémon work,” he understood.
Some Pokémon, like those of the Psychic Power type, can communicate with humans through telepathy in a pure exchange of consciousness, and even for Pokémon that can’t communicate, through nurturing and long-term care from Trainers, achieving ordinary mutual understanding or simple imitation is very easy.
The more gentle-tempered the Pokémon, the easier it is for them to become assistants in human work; something like Gyarados… unless this Gyarados has some mental disorder, it wouldn’t be used in industry.
If it gets upset, a water spout is minor; a Hyper Beam, and everyone is done for.
While looking at the novel buildings around him and taking photos to identify and query interesting things nearby, Li Wei had a great time on this ride.
It had to be said that this world’s tech tree was skewed beyond belief due to the existence of Pokémon.
Listening to the morning news on the car radio, Li Wei suddenly felt a sense of temporal dislocation.
“After thirty years of research, our country has finally developed the ‘Luxury Ball’! A tool for capturing and storing Pokémon that surpasses the Poké Ball, truly giving Pokémon a comfortable experience even inside the Poké Ball! Reservations are now open, with 30,000 units for nationwide launch—hurry to the official website www.pokeball.com for details!”
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After hearing this advertisement, Li Wei’s mood became quite subtle.
While feeling subtle, he couldn’t suppress his curiosity and once again opened the browser to search for websites about Poké Balls.
It was indeed limited to 30,000 units, but it now showed as sold out.
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A Poké Ball for 50,000 bucks, sold out from midnight launch—who are these rich idiots buying it…
Upholding the principle of sour grapes, Li Wei silently grumbled in his heart before locking his mobile phone screen and setting it aside.
After spacing out for about five minutes, the hospital for the physical examination arrived.
As a Trainer qualification physical exam conducted in April of the second semester of high school sophomore year, it wasn’t something students could handle at just any small hospital.
It had to be at the designated key hospital in each province, with appointments and scheduled testing; besides standard physical metrics and major disease checks, the physical exam had one even more important thing—special ability testing.
As a world where Pokémon have been integrated since history, it featured special abilities just like in the anime, such as Psychic Power, Aura, and Purity.
Based on the knowledge Li Wei had just learned from the browser, these abilities shared one common point: they allowed communication with Pokémon, either direct telepathy or that mutual “I get you” vibe.
Psychic Power is the commonly called telekinesis, a jack-of-all-trades ability with no special bias; it can be used for battle or assisting nurturing, and developed to the extreme like Nashi in the manga, humans vs. Pokémon or precognition aren’t issues.
Ordinary people without Pokémon or competition venue rules for protection might end the “match” directly incapacitated by a Psychic Power user’s attack on the Trainer.
Aura is one of the unique abilities in the Pokémon World.
It’s said that everyone has different waves, and some Pokémon and humans can manipulate this power called Aura.
Aura’s auxiliary abilities boil down to mind reading and telepathy.
Those with Aura Ability can easily read others’ emotions and thoughts in their brain; Pokémon proficient in Aura can even fully understand human language and communicate with humans barrier-free.
Besides that, Aura’s power is quite versatile: it can assist in battle like radar via Aura, survey the environment, or use this power to fight.
Purity is also known as bug power.
Similar to Aura in that both can perceive Pokémon’s emotions; unlike Aura, it has no combat ability but top-tier auxiliary effects, with healing for Pokémon said to be even more reliable than Pokémon Centers.
Trainers proficient in Purity are called the Hua Tuo reborn of the Pokémon world without exaggeration.
The power system wasn’t unfamiliar to Li Wei, who had seen the original anime and manga; he carefully reviewed the data just to confirm if this world’s knowledge differed from his understanding.
The physical exam process was all too familiar; the special ability test was last, with prior blood draws, height, various measurements being dull and tedious.
In the end, surprisingly, before his special test, his standard physical results came out.
Honestly, during the exam he was slightly shocked by his own physique, and when he formally got the report, he showed a smile of “heh, as expected of a successful person like me.”
Li Wei, age 16, birthday New Calendar 222 December 25, body healthy no special diseases, height 176cm weight 63kg blood type O, body fat rate 11%.
Oh ho?
This 11% body fat made him chuckle.
Not to brag, but Li Wei on Earth had studied diligently, positively, and progressively for 10 years straight, never having such a good body fat rate.
What does 11% body fat mean?
7%~9% body fat mainly features visible back muscles, more defined abs and obliques for bodybuilders in competition shape. At 10%~12%, fat isn’t loose anywhere, abs clearly defined.
As a shut-in guy, when had he ever had the luxury of abs?
Too awesome.
But besides that, what he anticipated more was the subsequent special ability test.
Which boy doesn’t have chuunibyou dreams? Who wouldn’t want to wake up, look in the mirror, and find they’ve awakened Sharingan? Anyway, Li Wei had longed for Spiritual Energy Revival his whole previous life; now with the chance, he was going to test thoroughly if this transmigrator had anything special.
But even if not, no big deal; this was ultimately the Pokémon world—fancy stuff like Psychic Power was mostly auxiliary; he was destined to become League Champion and reach the top in this world!
After this bold ambition laced with a lemony tang, Li Wei excitedly trotted into the so-called “testing room.”
But… dreams are always plump and colorful, while reality is mostly skinny and gray.
No mysterious rituals, no creepy finger-pricking tests; very scientifically, like testing brainwaves, round patches were stuck on his top of head, and sensors placed on his chest, wrists, etc.
“Ah this…”
Li Wei was dumbfounded.
What’s going on?
But seeing his parents chatting and laughing separated by glass not far away, unconcerned for him, Li Wei knew this was absolutely the correct way to test so-called “special abilities” in this world.
This stuff can test my abilities?
Just this?
My kingly power is awakened?
Just as Li Wei raised an eyebrow to see what this instrument could do, a black blindfold blocked his sight.
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As the nurse pressed the machine button, a current surged through his body, and Li Wei instinctively jolted.
It felt like enlightenment from the top of head, an uncannily cool sensation flowing downward from top to chest and dantian.
In the pitch-black vision, winding deep blue lines appeared: some like waves, some like ECGs, others chaotic like a ball of yarn mauled by a cat.
Thinking it was chuunibyou hallucination at first, Li Wei didn’t pay much attention, but as fluctuations increased, and “looking” at them conveyed clear “emotions” and occasional “whispers” by his ear, he realized it was real.
He heard it.
Clearly heard the “voices” of people nearby speaking, clearly felt their emotional shifts—from originally dull like yarn balls to now surging like raging waves; he read their thoughts.
Rarely immersed in this novel experience, Li Wei didn’t immediately marvel at having a special ability.
Like a kid with a new toy: first novelty, then play with it, and only after playing enough comes the joy of receiving it.
Aura—just like that, obtained.
Plain, unadorned, and dull.
After the blindfold was removed, the nearby nurse solemnly informed him of this.
“You have awakened Aura.”
To be fair, Li Wei accepted this result; no triple awakening was a bit regrettable.
After a slight pang of regret, Li Wei’s brain went wild like an off-leash husky.
“Aura! As expected, I transmigrated to be a life winner! Hahaha, god Li Wei who crushes peers with special ability and challenges levels comes!!”
As a 16-year-old high schooler, Li Wei’s mindset perfectly fit the segment.
After Aura, a rarer special ability, was detected, Li Wei naturally wasn’t released like ordinary examinees; accompanied by the head nurse, he went to a department director for more detailed testing.
Though this test’s instrument was more exaggerated than the last, Li Wei saw no more “fluctuations” when closing his eyes.
Besides sensing the attending doctor had unusual fondness for the assisting Gardevoir nearby, Li Wei detected no other useful info.
Finally, after the director, a senior hospital figure, gave a comprehensive ability evaluation, Li Wei’s physical exam concluded.
After receiving the dean’s personally signed physical exam pass certificate and Aura certificate, before Li Wei could gloat over his little cert, his stern-faced father and mother dragged him away.
This… did something go wrong with his ability?
Isn’t testing a special ability good news??
He had to admit, seeing his parents’ serious expressions and recalling past mixed doubles, Li Wei panicked hard, not daring to breathe, meekly following behind.
In the car, the atmosphere remained weird, but seeing the in-car navigation heading to the Pokémon Center eased Li Wei’s panic a lot.
Pokémon Centers handle “Temporary Trainer License” applications and official Pokémon Day Care.
“Then no problem, doesn’t affect me buying a Pokémon Egg.”
Li Wei thought this not even a minute ago, then saw his gloomy-faced parents in front turn back, locking eyes on him.
“No way!!!”
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