Chapter 5: Awakening Mental Power, First Lottery Draw

[Bulbasaur leveled up! Gained 10 points!]

At the same time, inside the Pokémon House, in Ryo's room, he was pondering how to get more storyline characters to adopt Pokémon when the system's voice suddenly rang in his mind.

"Naruto's impressive—he hasn't even been gone an hour, and Bulbasaur already leveled up. But system, don't you think the points are a little too low?"

This wasn't just being stingy—it was downright ruthless. A level-up only awarded him 10 points? And that was for a storyline character. If it weren't for that, it would've only been one point?

"The stronger the Pokémon's power, the more points you will receive for each level-up."

After learning more, Ryo began to understand that Pokémon strength in this world corresponded to ninja ranks.

Trainee Ninja: Levels 1 to 10

-Genin: Levels 11 to 30

-Chunin: Levels 31 to 50-

-Jonin: Levels 51 to 70

-Elite Jonin: Levels 71 to 80

-Kage-level: Levels 81 to 90

-Super Kage: Levels 91 to 100

When a Pokémon was at the Trainee Ninja level, a storyline character's level-up would grant 10 points per level. For Genin-level Pokémon, it was 100 points per level, while for Chunin-level, it was 1,000 points—and so on, increasing tenfold with each rank.

After understanding this, Ryo stopped complaining and rubbed his hands together. "System, open the Beginner's Gift Pack."

After all, he hadn't used any of the rewards he had received earlier.

"Opening Beginner's Gift Pack..."

"Congratulations! You have received:

Golden Exclusive Chest ×110,000 points God-level Mental Power Talent!"

Hearing the system's voice, Ryo's body trembled slightly.

"Mental Power Talent? System, is it what I think it is?"

"Yes, the mental power you obtained is the same psychic power seen in anime."

Ryo's face lit up with joy. He knew just how powerful psychic powers were in anime. Instant teleportation was only the tip of the iceberg. If used well, it was far stronger than chakra in this world.

"With this, I finally have a way to protect myself."

Even though he had the system, Ryo had always worried about his safety. But with god-level mental power talent, those fears vanished. Not only did it give him incredible combat strength, but it also provided a foolproof escape mechanism—instant teleportation was practically unbeatable here.

"System, bind this talent to me immediately!"

"Understood, but binding this talent will be painful. Please endure it, host."

Before Ryo could respond, a wave of searing pain surged through his body.

"Ahhh!"

The sudden pain made Ryo cry out, his face turning pale.

This is supposed to be a bit painful? This feels worse than giving birth!

Fortunately, the pain disappeared as quickly as it came.

"System, can you be more specific next time?"

After recovering for a while, Ryo gave the system a resentful look.

"Not bad at all. I've just awakened, and I can already use mental power to float!"

Hovering mid-air, Ryo was filled with surprise and excitement. In anime, psychics had to train for a long time before they could float, yet he could do it right after awakening.

Not only that—he could feel his body becoming several times stronger.

"Even a Chunin wouldn't stand a chance against me now."

After floating for a while, Ryo landed and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

He didn't test anything further and turned his attention to the two treasure chests.

"System, what's an Exclusive Chest?"

"Exclusive Chests are for the host only. They contain exclusive Pokémon or special items.

There are four levels of Exclusive Chests—Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. For every Pokémon entrusted to a storyline character, you receive a Bronze Chest.

Three chests of the same rank can be combined to create a chest of the next rank—for example, three Bronze Chests can be combined into one Silver Chest."

Ryo nodded after hearing the explanation. His excitement grew.

He had struggled earlier when seeing the starter trio, wanting to keep and train them himself.

But for his safety and the Pokémon's growth, he had no choice but to entrust them to others.

Now, with Exclusive Chests, he could finally get his own Pokémon. He almost couldn't wait to open one immediately.

Still, he held back and asked the system, "Show me the shop."

As soon as Ryo thought about it, the scene in front of him changed. His empty wooden house turned into a system shop.

The shop had several categories—Food, Tools, Medical Supplies, and Berries.

Ryo opened the Food section and glanced at the prices.

"This is... kind of expensive, isn't it?"

His eyelid twitched at the sight.

The Food section offered various types of Pokéblocks. A single bag of low-grade Pokéblocks cost 50 points.

Although 50 points didn't seem like much, a bag only lasted a week for one Pokémon.

The prices increased significantly with quality—medium-grade Pokéblocks cost 100 points per bag, high-grade cost 500, and premium-grade cost 1,000 points.

Ryo had earned 1,000 points from entrusting Bulbasaur to Naruto, while Bulbasaur's level-up had only given him 10 points.

It didn't seem too bad since Bulbasaur would eventually earn more points as it leveled up.

But there was a problem—he wouldn't just be feeding one Pokémon forever. His shop would eventually have more Pokémon, and the cost of feeding them would be enormous.

"Huh? There's a Pokéblock recipe here?"

Ryo noticed something unusual in the Food section—a recipe for all-attribute low-grade Pokéblocks.

He tapped on it and saw the price.

"What the—50,000 points for a basic recipe?!"

Even worse, the recipe required berries and a Pokéblock-making machine. Without those, the recipe was useless.

Ryo shook his head and moved on to the other sections.

The Tools section had items like Pokéballs, Pokédexes, and evolution stones. But the prices were outrageous—ordinary evolution stones cost hundreds of thousands of points, while mega evolution stones reached into the millions.

The Medical section offered potions and healing devices for Pokémon.

The Berry section sold various berries and berry trees.

After browsing for a while, Ryo sighed. He had thought his 10,000 points were impressive, but after seeing the prices, he realized how broke he truly was.

Ten thousand points couldn't even buy a decent Pokéball.

Ryo shook his head and turned his attention to the lottery.

The lottery wasn't too bad—each draw cost 1,000 points and always produced a Pokémon. However, the odds of getting a high-base-stat Pokémon were quite low.

"Wait a minute... If every draw guarantees a Pokémon, what if I keep getting ones nobody wants? Wouldn't I end up raising all of them myself?"

The thought made Ryo uneasy. It felt like the system had set a trap for him.

"Forget it. I'll worry about that later. Once I have more Pokémon, I might be able to make my own Pokéblocks."

"System, give me five draws."

Ryo gritted his teeth and gave the order, watching his 11,010 points drop by 5,000. A gacha machine appeared in his mind, spinning rapidly before five glowing orbs rolled out, transforming into Pokémon icons.

"Congratulations! You have received Pikachu, Rattata, Caterpie, Pidgey, and Happiny."

The five Pokémon appeared in front of Ryo, each one curiously observing him.

Ryo smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Pikachu, Rattata, Caterpie, Pidgey, Happiny—welcome! I'm Ryo."

The Pokémon responded with cheerful cries, seemingly greeting him in return.

Ryo was quite happy with his haul. According to what the system had said earlier, this was pretty good luck for a lottery draw.