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Photographers, lighting engineers, set designers, costume designers, motion directors, and handymen... dozens of people surrounded a Pokémon, some taking pictures, others discussing their opinions, and some gazing at the white Fairy-type with loving, admiring eyes.
Roy stood by, watching like an outsider.
The Pokémon being photographed was none other than Vulpix.
This was an ad shoot. After Pokémon Daily published information about Alolan Vulpix, an internationally renowned Pokémon clothing brand approached Roy, wanting Vulpix for their advertisement.
Roy wanted to tell them not to interfere with Vulpix's training time.
But they offered too much money...
Seventy million Pokédollars for just half a day of photography...
The money was practically being given away for nothing.
The little Pokémon wore a beret and a light yellow shawl, with a prop pipe in its mouth, staring indifferently at the camera—a Pokémon Sherlock Holmes outfit.
After taking a set of photos for Vulpix soon changed into a Victorian-style dress. Under the director's command, Vulpix became active and innocent, blowing a kiss toward the camera.
All the staff on set were instantly charmed by the adorable display.
City people really know how to make money, Roy thought with a sigh.
Selling clothes for Pokémon was a lucrative business.
Women had such nature, of course, but men weren't immune either.
Just think about how many men spend thousands of dollars on game character outfits while struggling to afford ten-dollar shirts from street vendors.
Seeing how cute and versatile Vulpix looked in different clothes, Roy wanted to buy a few sets himself.
And he wouldn't have to worry about expectation versus reality... because Vulpix was the actual model hired by the seller.
The director walked over with a smile. "Your Vulpix is a natural-born professional. Her camera awareness is incredible! She's so expressive, and her acting talent is exceptional. We only coached her a few times before she understood the trick. Have you considered letting her specialize in this line of work?"
"Let me think about it," Roy replied, genuinely intrigued by the idea.
Taking photos, accepting advertisements, making movies... these could indeed increase Vulpix's popularity.
Judging by the little Pokémon's demeanor, she didn't seem opposed to being photogenic—in fact, she appeared to enjoy it quite a bit.
However, specializing exclusively in this field was absolutely impossible, as it would seriously cut into Vulpix's training time.
Popularity wasn't omnipotent; if a Pokémon didn't work hard at training, nothing would help.
Part-time modeling, though... that could be considered.
After training, they could accept a few jobs that weren't too tiring. It would be best to let Vulpix be a pretty face. They didn't need to focus on acting skills or scripts since that wasn't their primary goal.
Not only could they make money and gain popularity, but Vulpix could also relax.
As Roy thought about it, finding no reason to refuse, he suddenly felt amused.
"Am I really becoming a manager?" he wondered to himself.
He never expected that what he'd jokingly said about himself in the past would actually come true.
"By the way," the director continued, "the money will be transferred to your account within three days—seventy million Pokédollars in total. It's not much, but we'll pay the tax for you. Consider it a friendly gesture."
The director was obviously optimistic about Vulpix's star potential and was eager to curry favor. "Our boss wants to invite Vulpix for another advertisement tomorrow. The offer won't be lower than this one. Do you have time?"
"That really won't work," Roy shook his head with a sigh. "I have a midterm exam tomorrow, and I need to return to school this afternoon for assembly."
The director fell silent.
Because their cooperation had been so pleasant, he'd momentarily forgotten that Roy was just an eighteen-year-old college student trainer.
At eighteen, earning tens of millions from Pokémon work... and his actual earnings were far beyond that.
The trainer genius who had broken records in the city...
Damn, what was I doing when I was eighteen? the director thought, growing increasingly depressed."
At one o'clock, Roy rushed to school and boarded the bus with his classmates.
Their destination was the airport.
On the bus, Professor Christian was introducing the examiner to everyone.
The examiner was a beautiful woman standing beside him.
"Many of you are seeing her for the first time, but you've definitely heard her name many times," Professor Christian said with a smile. "This is Ivy, who graduated five years ago. She's a distinguished alumna from our school and also my favorite student."
The students on the bus applauded, and Roy couldn't help but look at her more carefully.
Ivy's reputation was significant—she was considered one of Capital University's most outstanding recent graduates.
In her second year after graduation, she had passed the professional-level assessment to become a professional Trainer.
In her fourth year post-graduation—just last year—she had qualified for the Elite Four qualifying competition.
Although she had placed only in the middle of the standings at the Elite qualifier, it was important to remember that she was only 26 years old. The average age of trainers in the Elite qualifying competition was around 35.
"Hello, everyone," Ivy said with a smile. She wore glasses and had a quiet demeanor. "I'll be responsible for your personal safety during the midterm exam. Of course, I'll also supervise your activities during the exam and be responsible for grading."
"I'm a little excited to be an examiner for the first time, but don't expect me to go easy on you juniors."
The thick-skinned Axel asked, "Senior, which safe zone are we going to? Can you reveal it now?"
The wilderness survival assessment naturally required students to secure their own basic necessities in the wild.
To prevent students from making targeted preparations in advance, the school had not disclosed the specific location of the safe zone.
Ivy smiled. "The examination site for you freshmen is in the White Mountain, Heavenly Lake Safe Zone."
As soon as the location was revealed, the bus erupted with chatter.
"Survival in the snow? Let me go, I'm terrified of cold..."
"What's the big deal? Professional trainers must have the ability to survive in all environments. I heard from seniors that the field survival exams are in different environments every year. They've even had to deal with magma areas..."
"The Heavenly Lake safe zone... isn't that spiritual domain fused eighteen years ago?"
"Yes, I was just born that year."
"Integrated for eighteen years... that's a high-safety zone. There should be basically no danger."
Listening to his classmates' discussion, Roy, who had been on leave for two months, felt a little confused. He turned to Callan sitting next to him and, after careful questioning, learned about the classification of "safe zones."
Beyond the size of spiritual domains, there were also security grades.
In spiritual domains that hadn't fully integrated with the physical world, Pokémon had extremely violent temperaments for unknown reasons. They showed hostility not only toward humans but also toward Pokémon of different species.
The law of the jungle—"natural selection, survival of the fittest"—was fully implemented in these spiritual domains.
Even when their survival needs were met, Pokémon in these domains would strengthen themselves and plunder from others.
This category was designated as an unsafe area.
Only those with special permission could enter.
Other trespassers were considered criminals.
The second category was the low-security area.
These were spiritual domains completely integrated with Earth, but only recently.
The unknown ferocity affecting Pokémon had been lifted, and their original temperaments restored.
Naturally aggressive Pokémon remained aggressive, but most would rarely provoke fights as long as their survival needs were met.
However, since integration had occurred recently, these Pokémon had never encountered humans before and remained wary of them.
If humans displayed suspicious behaviors or irritating actions, Pokémon would still attack.
Security in these areas was questionable.
Non-professional trainers were forbidden from entering.
The third category was the high-security area.
This generally referred to spiritual domains that had been integrated with Earth for more than ten years.
After long-term conditioning by professional-level Trainers stationed in these domains, the Pokémon had adapted to human presence, showing friendliness and even affection.
All major Pokémon schools often used high-security areas as testing grounds for wilderness survival courses.
Some high-security areas even allowed ordinary people to travel, sightsee, and have close contact with Pokémon.
The White Mountain in Heavenly Lake Safe Zone, where their test would take place, fell into this third category.