Just as August was about to stand up while holding Little Lugia, a system notification suddenly popped into his mind.
[Through your efforts, you have saved a life that was on the brink of extinction. The newly hatched Lugia has chosen to join your team. You have captured your first Legendary Pokémon and earned the title “Beginning of Legends.”]
[Please select your reward:]
[1. Sky Plate]
[2. Indigo Orb]
[3. Crimson Orb]
“…..”
Gaining a title for capturing Little Lugia wasn’t surprising, but the reward choices left August speechless.
The first option, the [Sky Plate], made sense. Lugia had a Flying type, so giving him an item that enhanced Flying-type moves seemed logical.
But the second and third options—what was the system trying to pull?
Are you seriously trying to push me into a god-tier battle…?
Was it hinting at taking down Kyogre and stealing its title as the Guardian of the Sea? Turning Lugia into the real Sea God?
I’m not some overpowered protagonist fresh out of a world-hopping novel!
August imagined himself facing Kyogre, only to be instantly erased from existence by a stray [Origin Pulse].
Forget [Beginning of Legends]—he’d turn into [The End of Legends] in no time.
Shaking his head at the absurdity, August decided to ignore the system’s reward selection for now.
Instead, he gently patted Little Lugia’s head before stepping to the edge of the boat. He waved toward the group of Unown floating nearby, signaling to them that Lugia wouldn’t be returning with them—it had decided to stay.
August had assumed the Unown might be saddened by the news.
However, to his surprise, the exact opposite happened.
They looked… thrilled.
August wasn’t sure if they were happy for Lugia’s successful hatching or just relieved that their centuries-long overtime shift was finally over.
Regardless, the swarm of Unown radiated sheer joy as they dove back into the water, disappearing into the ruins below.
With the Unown gone, August turned toward Professors Oak and Cerise.
“Professor Oak, Professor Cerise, here’s the footage I recorded underwater. Hopefully, it’ll be of some use to you.”
Compared to capturing a Legendary Pokémon, those murals and ancient texts weren’t that big of a deal anymore, but they still held value.
Professor Oak probably didn’t need the data given his already well-established academic reputation. But for Professor Cerise, these findings could easily fuel a couple of research papers, helping him climb the academic ranks.
—
By now, August had returned Little Lugia to its Poké Ball to avoid drawing attention.
Even so, a Dragonair and a Dragonite by his side still attracted plenty of envious stares.
This was precisely why August had booked a hotel with a private beach. On a public beach, being constantly watched would make it impossible to relax and enjoy his vacation.
After arriving back at his hotel, he rented a small conference room.
There, he sent all the recorded audio and video data, as well as the information he had gathered from the Unown, to Professors Oak and Cerise.
As for the actual research and paper-writing? August had no intention of getting involved.
With his contributions to this archaeological discovery, he was sure he’d at least get credited as the second author.
Appearing in research papers from two different Pokémon Professors? That would instantly boost the prestige of his Researcher persona.
During the file transfer, Professor Oak turned to August.
“What are your plans next?”
“I know of a few more ruins. If you’re interested, I could—”
Ever since learning that August could communicate with Unown, Professor Oak had been eager to send him to investigate other ancient sites.
He even promised that August could keep any discoveries for himself—he just wanted to satisfy his curiosity.
But August declined.
He knew his own limits. This time, he had gotten lucky, encountering a group of Unown that were willing to communicate. If things had gone differently, and he had ended up in a fight against hundreds of Unown at the bottom of the ocean, his only option would’ve been to have Gardevoir teleport them the hell out of there.
And he wasn’t about to count on luck every time.
“Sorry, Professor Oak. I already promised Lance that I’d evaluate the Kanto Gym Leaders for him.” August politely declined, using Lance as an excuse.
That, too, was going to be a headache.
Because he still hadn’t figured out how to deal with Sabrina from Saffron Gym or Koga from Fuchsia Gym.
Unlike Lt. Surge, those two were on a completely different level in terms of strength.
Not to mention the biggest problem—Giovanni.
Just thinking about it gave August a headache.
“The Kanto Gyms, huh? Yeah… they’ve been a mess for a while now,” Professor Oak sighed.
Though he had long retired from battling, he was still well aware of the state of the Kanto Gym system.
There was even an online ranking for the worst-maintained Gym systems across all Pokémon Leagues, and Kanto’s Gyms were frequently near the top.
“If even Lt. Surge turned out to be a problem, there might be other Gym Leaders with issues, too. Be careful,” Professor Oak warned.
Knowing that Lt. Surge was a Rocket Executive had made Professor Oak suspicious of the League’s internal affairs. But given his position, he couldn’t say too much outright—he could only hint at it.
August hadn’t expected Professor Oak to pick up on that so quickly.
If only that was the only issue, Professor Oak…
Hearing that August would be assessing Gym Leaders, Professor Cerise asked curiously, “Will you be evaluating Vermilion Gym as well? The selection process for a new Gym Leader is happening soon. Maybe you should check it out?”
He had heard before leaving on this trip that the Kanto Pokémon Association had fast-tracked the selection process for Vermilion Gym’s new Leader. They wanted to mitigate the negative impact of Lt. Surge’s arrest as soon as possible, as well as ensure that new trainers could still earn badges without issue.
August had originally planned to start with Cerulean Gym—one of the easier ones.
But hearing Cerise mention the upcoming selection process, he hesitated.
He had never seen how a Gym Leader was selected before. His curiosity got the better of him.
Plus, Vermilion City was on the way to Cerulean anyway.
He could also take the opportunity to visit Bill and discuss getting custom equipment for Kanto’s International Police branch.
Maybe he’d even run into Ash.
With that in mind, August nodded. “Alright, I’ll head there after my vacation.”
Nothing was going to cut into his vacation time!
He had booked the hotel for several days, and canceling now wouldn’t get him a full refund. No way was he letting that go to waste.
—
This is a fan translation of 人在实教，一之濑你会后悔的 by 作者：白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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