Pokémon: Just won the championship, the newbie growth system is here!

Quartz Academy, first-year dormitory, room 303.

Rico suddenly sat up in bed, staring intently at the text notification on her phone.

"Friend request accepted. You can start chatting now."

The line below shows an additional character ID in a friend list that currently only has a handful of contacts.

"Fallen leaves".

My heart was trembling with nervousness, and I muttered to myself in a low voice.

"They actually added it."

She had only wanted to give it a try; a week had passed since she met that unfamiliar trainer in Cerulean City.

Riko took a bus all the way to Mirkal City and Viridian City, and then transferred to the school's special bus to arrive at Indigo Academy. Four days had passed.

After the opening ceremony, she received a Rotom Phone from the school as a gift for new trainers, as well as her starter Pokémon, Neoleaf.

Ye Luo had given her a phone number before, so she could contact him if she needed anything.

After hesitating for two days, Rico finally made up her mind to send a friend request.

A day passed without any news, and Rico was starting to give up.

That's true, the other person was just saying it casually. Powerful trainers must be very busy. Would adding someone as a friend without permission bother them? Rico couldn't help but feel annoyed. But it was impossible to withdraw the friend request now. She felt uneasy and regretful.

I spent the day in fear and anxiety, but tonight I suddenly received a text message that I had successfully added the contact.

Rico felt a surge of excitement and couldn't wait to share the good news with others.

The target was Xin Ye Miao, who was curled up in a ball on her bed. The phone screen was shown to her.

"New Leaf Cat, look! I've added a new trainer as a friend."

"Meow."

Xin Ye Miao glanced at the phone screen, then lost interest, turned her head away from the screen's light, and continued to lie down and sleep.

Rico could only smile helplessly; her new Leaf Cat really was doing things her own way.

I don't know what it's thinking on weekdays. It always runs away from me without my noticing, and I have to ask Riko to go find it. Once it finds Shin-no-Nyan, it will go to sleep somewhere else.

Riko was at a loss, lamenting why her Pokémon was so capricious. She still wondered if she had been given the wrong starter Pokémon when school started, as she and Neoleafy were completely incompatible.

He then stared at the Rotom phone in his hand, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

"Isn't it impolite not to speak? Shouldn't you say hello?"

Rico was typing text on the screen with her finger with a serious expression.

"Hello, I'm Riko. Do you remember me? The girl who helped me get my luggage back in Cerulean City a few days ago."

But after writing it, Rico reread it and felt extremely embarrassed.

"Isn't this too formal? It's just a simple greeting."

Press the backspace button to delete all the text, and then Rico retypes it.

"Hello, I'm Riko."

Rico quickly shook her head.

"That's too perfunctory. It's like a cold, impersonal self-introduction. Won't the other person find it too boring?"

Rico's weakness is that she is too considerate of other people's thoughts.

She deleted the text again and considered a new writing style.

"Do you remember me? I'm Riko (★≧▽^))."

"Ugh... this isn't quite right either."

Delete it, delete it.

Rico sat at her desk, deep in thought, when just then the bathroom door opened and a girl steaming with heat came out.

An had a towel around her neck, and a steaming water otter followed at her feet, having just taken a hot bath.

"Ah, that felt so good, Rico, I'm done showering, now it's your turn... oh?"

Rico was sitting at her desk, holding her head in her hands, looking troubled, as if she hadn't heard what she said.

Lily was her roommate, but how should I put it, this girl was quite mysterious, and Anne always felt that she was a bit unusual.

However, An didn't care about any of that. She walked over with a smile and reminded her roommate again that she had already taken a shower.

"Rico!"

"Wow--!"

"Wow!"

Ann, who was standing behind her, called out her name, and Rico immediately jumped up with a shout, causing Ann to shout back as well, and she smiled with some confusion.

"What's wrong, Riko? Why are you so easily startled today? Is something interesting happening? Tell me about it."

"install?"

Lico then noticed her roommate behind her, hurriedly turned around, hid her phone behind her back, and shook her head with a smile.

"Nothing interesting happened."

She didn't know why she was hiding it; it was just a conditioned reflex. She felt a little ashamed and didn't want to tell anyone about her situation.

An, seemingly oblivious to her thoughts, steered the conversation back to the original topic.

"Oh, I've already finished showering. Rico, go ahead and shower."

"good......"

Lico's eyes dimmed slightly; she felt a pang of guilt for lying to her friend.

It wasn't really lying, but the words she was about to say just wouldn't come out to An, even though it was such a simple thing.

Ann didn't pay much attention. Her roommate was a bit strange, but she was a kind and good girl, so it was fine. She and Otter jumped onto the bed together and played games with their Pokémon.

Riko felt a pang of envy as she watched the water otter sitting cross-legged between Anne's legs, curiously observing Anne playing video games on her Rotom phone.

If only Shin-Ye-Nyan could be this close to her, she thought, glancing at Shin-Ye-Nyan out of the corner of her eye.

"Meow (ignores)."

Xin Ye Miao turned her head away, ignoring her, and lay down on the bed to sleep.

"Haha....Eh...."

Rico sighed with a wry smile. Giving Newleaf Cat a bath was out of the question, but it was clean enough on its own and groomed its fur, so it probably wasn't too dirty.

Delete the greeting message, put Rotom's phone in her backpack, and Rico took a towel and a change of clothes to take a shower.

Meanwhile, in the White Mist Forest, a campfire was lit.

Today is another day for Ye Luo to showcase her culinary skills, because there are two more mouths to feed.

Raya and Brimwyn sat by the campfire, with Leaffall's Pokémon nearby, all waiting for dinner to be ready.

It looks like there are many people, but he's the only one actually cooking.

Ye Luo could only bring out the large iron pot; the amount of ingredients used today was astonishing.

After delivering the Pokémon hunter to the police station in Goldenrod City, Latias rushed back before dinner. She didn't want to miss out on a delicious meal, and Ye Luo's cooking skills were still reliable for the Pokémon.

"Ye Luo, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

"Mixed hot pot".

Ye Luo took out the ingredients from her backpack.

Place all the ingredients—cabbage, bok choy, enoki mushrooms, glass noodles, gluten puffs, dried tofu strips, wood ear mushrooms, eggplant, horned fruit, frozen tofu, dried bean curd sticks, and shrimp—into a pot and fill it completely.

"West Lion Seaman, fill the bottom of the pot with water."

"La~".

The West Lion Sea Spouts hot water to fill the iron pot, then adds a little flavor enhancer made from Parasitic mushroom extract, and then covers the pot and simmers it over high heat.

"As long as you have enough ingredients, the advantage of hot pot is that it's simple to make and delicious."

Just simmer it for a few minutes and then season it. This way of eating consumes a lot of ingredients.

However, Ye Luo is not worried about not having enough ingredients now, because he has just acquired a new trainer.

With the mini-system in "Path of the Legendary Trainer", you can now directly exchange trainer points for ingredients, and low-level ingredients can be obtained with just 1 point.

There's a wide variety of options, and you can even redeem ingredients that aren't available locally. After clicking to buy, they'll automatically appear in your inventory, which is very convenient.

As the food was cooked, steam rose from the pot, and Ye Luo lifted the lid, releasing the aroma of the food.

Raya and Meloetta drooled at the smell, while Arcanine wagged its tail, waiting for the aroma.

Ye Luo assessed the food's doneness and then spoke.

"It needs to simmer for another three minutes."

The final step is to sprinkle on some rock salt from Saltstone and add pepper powder dissolved in water; the umami flavor is instantly enhanced.

The aroma became unique, attracting some wild Pokémon from the forest to come and see.

If there are any leftovers, Ye Luo plans to share them with the wild Pokémon, provided they haven't left yet, so as not to go to waste.

The mixed hot pot is almost done. Just sprinkle some green leafy vegetables on top as a garnish, and your delicious and visually appealing dinner is ready.

Brimwyn's mouth watered at the sight.

"Hoo hoo (looks delicious)."

Ye Luo sat on a rock, surrounded by a circle of Pokémon, eating a mixed hot pot together, sharing the satisfaction and joy brought by the food. The atmosphere was nice, and Meloetta spontaneously hummed a lullaby.

"Those are my prawns!"

"Yay~ (It's mine now)."

"Ouch~ (Eat quietly)"

[La~la~♪ (singing).]

"Growlithe, the thorny berries might be a bit spicy."

"Woof (It's okay)."

"Hoo~ (silently finishes the gluten puff)."

"Chirp chirp~".

"Huff huff"

As Brimwyn watched the humans and Pokémon enjoying their meal around the large pot, he could feel the warmth rising in their hearts simply by looking at them. Even though the weather was still cold and shrouded in icy mist, this warmth could satisfy the hearts of the Psychic-type Pokémon.

Brimwyn took a bite of the horned fruit, which was cooked just right.

"Whew~ (That's great)."