Pokémon: Master System.

Suddenly realizing what was happening, Jiang Qinglan felt incredibly ashamed and indignant. As the campus belle of Xishu University, she was less than an elf egg in Xia Yu's eyes. Even though that elf egg was quite expensive, wasn't she beautiful?

Jiang Qinglan had no shortage of suitors in college, but she also had her own pride. She looked down on those rich second-generation suitors because she knew clearly that they were probably just playing around and wouldn't really want to marry her.

In this materialistic society, Jiang Qinglan still harbors a glimmer of hope for love; she still longs for a lifelong, devoted relationship.

When she first met Xia Yu, she thought he was the most suitable candidate. First of all, his height and appearance were impeccable. Secondly, his family background was good but not so good that it was unattainable. Finally, Xia Yu's personality was also good.

So after Xia Yu went to the capital, she tried to take the initiative and sent him a lot of messages. However, Xia Yu mostly replied with "hmm", "oh", "awesome", and "not bad", without putting any heart into it and just being perfunctory.

Jiang Qinglan gradually gave up, and her feelings faded considerably. After that, Xia Yu suddenly became famous overnight and was hailed as the youngest scientific research genius in China. Only then did Jiang Qinglan realize the gap between the two of them and finally gave up completely.

Jiang Qinglan thought that the two would not have any further contact after that, but to her surprise, Xia Yu came to the Flame Secret Realm again, and Manager Qin even asked her to accompany him throughout the whole process.

Looking at Xia Yu surrounded by the crowd, Jiang Qinglan felt that Xia Yu was so unapproachable. In just a few months, Xia Yu had reached a height that was beyond her reach.

"Manager Qin, it's been a long time since I've seen Jiang Qinglan." Xia Yu greeted the only two people he recognized with a smile.

Jiang Qinglan and Manager Qin stood together like twin lotus blossoms. The two had completely different styles. Jiang Qinglan had bright eyes and white teeth, while Manager Qin was graceful and charming. They were like the legendary beauties Yan Huan, each with their own unique charm.

Jiang Qinglan's beauty is the youthful radiance of a twenty-year-old woman, with long and slender legs, snow-white skin, clear eyes, and a youthful shyness—the kind of slender beauty that young people adore.

As for Manager Qin, she was the most beautiful mature woman Xia Yu had ever seen besides Xiao Wanyu. She had long, wavy hair cascading down her back, skin as smooth as jade, lips as red as cinnabar, and a full, rounded figure. Although she was in her thirties, there was no trace of age on her face. She possessed a captivating charm that young women often lacked. She was perfectly proportioned, voluptuous yet not overly so, and alluring yet not gaudy.

What man wouldn't love a figure like that?

Xia Yu couldn't help but think of Xiao Wanyu, then of the little girl Su Muzi, and finally of Teacher Long. She had only stayed in the capital for one day before leaving again, and hadn't had a chance to catch up with Teacher Long. Speaking of which, how come Teacher Long has only grown taller? We're all women, how come there's such a big difference?

"Xia Yu, it's been a long time." The person who greeted Xia Yu was naturally Manager Qin. The Elite Four level trainer who guarded the Flame Realm was unable to make a personal appearance due to other matters.

Manager Qin and Jiang Qinglan were dressed in professional suits, white shirts, suit jackets, short skirts, high heels, and black stockings. Their hair was styled in a bun. They smiled and said to Xia Yu, "I'll take you to the hotel first. Just like last time, Qinglan will be your personal guide. You can tell her anything you need."

"Thank you, thank you, you're all so kind." Xia Yu was also flattered; this fuss was a bit too much.

"Xia Yu, you're also from Xishu. Since your experiment requires our full cooperation, Xishu Province will naturally provide full support. Fellow villagers should definitely help each other." Manager Qin is a woman who is adept at handling people and situations. Besides her own abilities, her interpersonal skills are also very important in her ability to reach this position: "Last time, it was this young lady Qinglan who showed you around the secret realm. If you don't mind, I'll show you around this time. I hope you won't mind."

"Not at all, not at all. It's my honor to have Manager Qin accompany me." Who would mind being accompanied by such a beautiful woman as Manager Qin! It's just that Xia Yu still doesn't know Manager Qin's full name.

…………

Chapter 143 Exclusion

Under Supervisor Qin's guidance, Xia Yu toured the entire Fire Element Secret Realm. He focused on the two incubation rooms in the Fire Element Secret Realm because his older brother had one more selection spot, and he also had one.

Xia Yu has already caught five Dragon-type Pokémon, and only needs one more to complete the Dragon-type Master quest. The Pokémon Association has been trying to recruit Duraludon for him. During this trip to the Fire-type Secret Realm, Xia Yu also wanted to pick out one or two strong enough Fire-type Pokémon for his older brother.

After exploring the area, Xia Yu didn't find a single Pokémon with Champion-level potential in the regular areas, and there was only one Pokémon with near-Champion-level potential, which dashed Xia Yu's hopes of spending money to buy a Champion-level Pokémon.

Finally, Xia Yu found a baby duck with a King-level aptitude and a Dairubi with a near-Champion-level aptitude in the treasure room.

After thinking about it, Xia Yu decided to let his older brother use his selection quota to choose Dairubi, because his older brother's selection quota was only valid in Xishu Province, while his selection quota was valid nationwide.

As for Magpie, he had to give up on it for the time being. The selection slots were hard-won, and Xia Yu still wanted to try to select Pokémon with near-champion potential so as not to waste the selection slots.

【Elf Egg】

Deruby

Gender: male

Attribute: Fire

Qualification: Near Champion Level

Ability: Fire

Skill:? ? ?

Looking at this near-champion potential Houndoom, Xia Yu thought it was quite good. Houndoom's final evolution is Houndoom, and it only needs to be at the Elite level to evolve, which can quickly become Charlotte's main force.

At the same time, the Flash Fire ability can also play a significant role in battles against Fire-type trainers.

Most importantly, Houndoom can also undergo Mega Evolution. Mega Houndoom is extremely powerful, and its ability changes from Flash Fire to Solar Power.

The value of the Solar Power ability goes without saying; it's one of the top abilities for Special Attackers. Its only drawback is that it can only be triggered in sunny weather and causes a continuous loss of HP.

But Charlotte, the older brother, is a Fire-type trainer, and his Ninetales and Torkoal with the Solar Power ability are incredibly easy to train.

Mega Houndoom, with its Solar Power ability, can learn a wide range of special attack moves, such as its STAB moves like Flame Explosion and Dark Pulse, as well as Grass-type moves like Solar Beam, Poison-type moves like Sludge Bomb, and Ghost-type moves like Shadow Ball for coverage. It has a very wide range of coverage. Most importantly, it can also learn Nasty Plot, a top-tier status move.

The value of trickery can rival that of sword dance!

Strangeness greatly increases Special Attack, while Swords Dance greatly increases Attack.

The only downside is that this Pokémon egg requires a selection slot and cannot be purchased with money. If it could be bought with money, it would be perfect.

If Xia Yu didn't have Charmander with the power of the sun and the system's Dragon Master quest, he would definitely have chosen this Houndoom.

"Manager Qin, I'd like to ask you for a favor. Could you please wrap up this Fire-type Pokémon egg, the Dewpi?" Xia Yu said.

"Oh?" Qin Hanqing was slightly surprised. She knew that Xia Yu had one chance to choose a Pokémon egg from any secret realm across the country. Did Xia Yu intend to use it here? "Are you sure you want to use up your selection slot here?"

Most trainers who have this opportunity choose powerful Dragon-type Pokémon in the two Dragon-type secret realms of Chang'an and the Imperial Capital. It is rare for someone like Xia Yu to use them in the Fire-type secret realm.

“Doesn’t my brother have one more spot?” Xia Yu said.

Qin Hanqing knew that Xia Luo had one more spot, but he didn't expect that his younger brother Xia Yu could make the decision for his older brother Xia Luo: "Xia Luo does have one more spot, but he needs to be present in person. Why don't you give Xia Luo a call?"

“Okay.” Xia Yu didn’t make things difficult for Manager Qin, but instead joked, “But this time we’re reserving this elf egg first, and we can wait for my brother to come. We don’t want someone else to take it.”

As Xia Yu spoke, he glanced at Qin Hanqing, his gaze carrying a hidden meaning.

Qin Hanqing felt slightly embarrassed. Xia Yu was clearly referring to what happened in the previous fire-type secret realm. If she had known back then that Xia Yu would achieve such success, and that the Xia family had such a powerful backer as Wei Yeqin, she would never have let the Zhao family steal the Growlithe egg, even at the cost of offending them.

However, the Xia family also benefited from the misfortune; instead of getting the Growlithe, they obtained a shiny Charmander.

"Don't worry, I'll have someone keep this elf egg safe right away," Qin Hanqing replied.

Xia Yu nodded, then called his older brother Xia Luo and told him to come and take the elf egg away as soon as possible.

…………

Upon arriving at the Fire-type Secret Realm, Charmeleon was like a fish in water. The abundant Fire-type energy made Charmeleon instantly fall in love with the place. Every Pokémon here was talented and spoke sweetly. It loved the place.

The key point is that it saw many other small Charmanders, Charmeleons, and even Charizards here, which made it eager to integrate into the Charizard family during its rest. However, reality taught it a lesson.

Xia Yu's Charizard's golden skin made it stand out among the Charizards, making it look like a monster. It was not accepted by the Charizards and was driven away by them, who even almost attacked it.

Xia Yu naturally noticed this situation as well, but he didn't have a good solution. It's normal for Pokémon to show hostility towards Shiny Pokémon in nature.

Most shiny Pokémon are not accepted by their breed and are expelled from the breed. Only a very small number are allowed to stay in the breed.

"Charizard, they just don't accept you yet," Xia Yu said, patting Charizard's golden head to comfort him. "No matter what, you're the most beautiful in my eyes."

"Aww," Charmeleon responded listlessly.

The alienation from its own kind still had some impact on Charmeleon, making the already ruthless Charmeleon even more taciturn, devoting all its energy to training and happily absorbing fire-type energy.

While Charmeleon's rapid increase in strength is a good thing, it also shows a tendency to gradually become corrupted. Xia Yu couldn't help but worry that if Charmeleon continued like this, its personality would really become problematic.

As the owner, I must provide timely psychological counseling to the Charmeleon.

…………

A week later, with the combined effects of feeding Charmeleon Fire-type Energy Cubes and the Secret Realm, Charmeleon's Fire-type energy had accumulated to a near-full level. Xia Yu planned to take Charmeleon to the Flying-type Secret Realm for a final evolution.

But before going, he needs to go back to the capital first to bring the Nombat along. Xia Yu also plans to give his Pokémon a day off and take them out to relax.

When Xia Yu returned to the capital, it was already Saturday afternoon. He did not tell Teacher Long that he had returned, but instead quietly went to the forbidden area.

Inside the forbidden area, Teacher Long was training his Pokémon, as well as Xia Yu's Pokémon: Sceptile, Nombat, Axew, and Dragapult.

The Lizard King's enormous size was particularly eye-catching, and Xia Yu spotted it first, even from a distance. However, the first to spot Xia Yu were the Buzzbat and the Sonic Dragon of Dragon Smoke.

After mastering the use of ultrasound, the buzzing bat has been able to locate objects by sound, like a mobile radar, monitoring the surroundings.

Upon noticing Xia Yu's appearance, the buzzing bat flapped its wings and flew into Xia Yu's arms. Ya Ya and Doron Mesia also saw Xia Yu at this moment and rushed over to greet him.

…………

Chapter 144 Snow Scenery of a Thousand Mountains

The next day, Sunday.

It was a cloudy day, with light snow falling from the gray sky. After a night of snowfall, the ground and rooftops of the capital were covered with a white carpet.

After winter sets in, the capital city is covered in a blanket of white, a pristine and clean landscape that brings peace to the soul.

Xia Yu changed into a long down jacket, put on a mask, a black hat, a scarf, and a backpack, and went out fully armed.

Long Yanning also changed into a beige short down jacket, wearing fluffy snow boots and fleece-lined trousers. She wore light makeup and, after more than a month of recuperation, she had recovered quite well and had a rosy complexion.

The two of them standing together were a stunning sight in the crowd, constantly attracting the attention of passersby. This was even before Xia Yu released his Lizard King; if he had, the over three-meter-tall Lizard King walking on the street would probably have caused quite a stir.

"We're here." The two walked to the entrance of Qianshan Forest Park, and Xia Yu said to Long Yanning beside him, "Wait for me, I'll go buy the tickets."

"Ah."

…………

After buying tickets, Xia Yu and his companion entered Qianshan Forest Park. Because it was the weekend, there were quite a few tourists. However, as they walked higher up the mountain, the number of people gradually decreased, and eventually everything became quiet. Apart from the sound of snowflakes falling from the sky, there was only the sound of their breathing.

Gazing at the misty mountain path, Xia Yu finally released his Pokémon.

The giant Sceptile King, the golden Charmeleon, the adorable Buzzbat, the excited and innocent Tooth, and finally the silly and goofy Dorothy.