1. Pokemon World

"Jacob, I want to battle you!" The young boy shouted, clutching a Poké Ball firmly in his hand.

"Are you certain about that?" Jacob looked at the boy with a cold expression, lifting his chin and gazing skyward at a perfect 45-degree angle. "My father is the Bug-type Gym Leader in Starlight City, and my brother is the Fire-type Gym Leader in Olivine City. I began training Pokémon at the age of three and mastered the Pokémon Battle Strategy Guide by five. I defeated all trainers my age by seven and retired from competitive battling at eleven. Are you absolutely sure you want to challenge me? If you insist, you'll need to wager all your Pokédollars!"

"Wow... I don't want to battle anymore." When the young boy heard about risking all his money, tears welled up in his eyes and he ran from the plaza sobbing loudly.

"Jacob is lying again."

"You don't even have a single Pokémon, yet you come here daily just to show off."

"What a disgrace to the family. Lying to a child like that."

Jacob listened to the whispers around him but remained unfazed. No shame crossed his face, as if nothing had happened. With the mental age of nearly 40, his skin had long since grown thick and impenetrable. As long as he completed the system's tasks, he couldn't care less about what people said.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the novice mission 'Win Without Fighting'!"

Win Without Fighting: A truly powerful trainer can defeat opponents with presence alone. Get 10 wins without using Pokémon. Progress 10/10, completed. Congratulations to the host for receiving the Novice Gift Pack.

Jacob nearly burst into tears when he heard the long-awaited system notification. After tricking ten children across several nearby plazas and paying the price of becoming infamous, he'd finally completed the novice mission.

"At last, I've finished the mission. Now for my reward. Just a Mewtwo or Arceus will do. I'm not being greedy."

"Open the Novice Gift Pack."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the one-time use item Pokémon Detector and the one-time use item Rare Treasure Detector."

"What? That's it?"

Jacob stared in disbelief at the items in his system space. He had paid such a steep price, becoming notorious throughout several plazas, cheating and deceiving people for an entire month, only to receive these two measly items?

If not Mewtwo, couldn't they at least give him a Tyranitar or Dragonite?

At the very minimum, a Max Repel would have been nice, right?

They just gave him these two things?

Jacob seethed with resentment. This master system had really done him dirty. Initially, his journey through time and space to this life seemed promising. He'd been reborn in a parallel world similar to Earth with the help of the system. Even without a perfect start, he expected at least a decent beginning.

His father was the Bug-type Gym Leader in Starlight City. Though ranked last among all Gym Leaders in the Frosthollow region, at least he held the position. Later, his father even managed to train a Volcarona, which dramatically increased his strength.

His brother had benefited from their father's solid foundation, giving him a much better start. By his twenties, he was already the Fire-type Gym Leader in Olivine City, with his signature Pokémon also being a Volcarona.

Compared to the less popular Bug-type Gym, the Fire-type Gym was far more prestigious. Fire was a popular type, with Fire-type trainers outnumbering Bug-type trainers more than tenfold. His brother had truly achieved something becoming a Fire-type Gym Leader.

With his father and brother's accumulated experience, Jacob should have been able to obtain a Larvesta as his starter Pokémon, with a bright future ahead.

But this cursed system wouldn't let him follow that path. After bonding with the system, he gained a passive ability:

Master Style: A true Pokémon Master must have their own unique style. The minimum qualification for any Pokémon captured by the host must be King level.

Qualification levels: Ordinary, Rare, Elite, Lord, Overlord, Gym Leader(Quasi-King), King, Champion, Master, and Legendary– ten levels in total.

King level.

A Pokémon with King-level potential would definitely reach King level with normal training! His father hadn't captured a single King-level Pokémon so far, and his brother only had a quasi-King-level Volcarona!

Jacob had never managed to catch a Pokémon of King-level caliber, though he had encountered a few with Gym Leader-level potential.

The passive "Master Style" ability had prevented Jacob from capturing any Pokémon until now. At 18 years old, many aspiring trainers already had two or three Pokémon, but he had none, putting him far behind his peers.

Feeling slightly regretful, Jacob lowered his cap, adjusted his face mask, and quietly left the plaza, examining his two new rewards.

"King-level Pokémon Detector (One-time use): Can detect the nearest uncaptured King-level Pokémon."

"Rare Treasure Detector (One-time use): Can detect the rarest undiscovered treasures within a 100-kilometer radius."

Seeing these items, Jacob's expression brightened, dispelling his earlier gloom. Maybe the system wasn't so bad after all. Though the King-level Pokémon Detector was a single-use item, its effect was powerful.

"My brother happens to be home this week. I'll ask him to come with me to catch it."

Jacob knew he couldn't venture into the wild alone without a single Pokémon.

He activated the Pokémon Detector, and the system immediately generated a map, searching for the nearest uncaptured King-level Pokémon.

"That far?" Jacob examined the map. The location was at least two hundred miles away. "I'll have to ask my brother if his Charizard can fly me there."

"Brother, are you free? I need you to come somewhere with me." Jacob returned home and called out to Asher, who was sprawled on the sofa.

Asher was 28, unmarried, handsome, and quite popular with young women. However, he had a childhood sweetheart, with whom his relationship had progressed to discussions of marriage.

"I'm busy," Asher replied, lying on the sofa, scrolling through his alternate social media account and liking videos of attractive women.

Jacob glanced at the screen and noticed it was rather... bright.

"Brother, doesn't your alternate account seem to have liked thousands of beautiful women?" Jacob mused aloud. "Maybe I should tell your fiancée about this account. I had no idea you preferred blondes! No wonder you always complain that your fiancée is... well, you know."

"Where do you need to go?" Asher had somehow already stood up, put on his jacket, and was reaching for his mask. "Didn't you want me to come with you? Hurry up."

"Sure thing, brother." Jacob smiled.

"About what just happened..." Asher hinted.

"What happened just now, brother?" Jacob asked, feigning confusion.

"Never mind. Jacob, do you have enough spending money lately? Here's 10,000 Pokédollars. Don't be stingy when you're out. A young man should be generous."