Pokemon: Reborn Rich Alternate Earth

After returning to Imperial University, Julian settled back into his reclusive lifestyle—occasionally attending classes. Given his current strength, he had already surpassed the vast majority of the university's instructors.

However, when it came to theoretical knowledge, he was still lacking in some areas.

Never underestimate Imperial University's heritage.

Many professors might not be as powerful as Julian in terms of actual combat strength, but their theoretical foundations were incredibly solid.

Some professors, even if their strength was only at the pseudo-Elite or Advanced-level, were the authors of the very textbooks students grew up studying.

When it came to true academic knowledge, Julian still had a long way to go.

On a side note, Hugo from the Special Recruitment Class had already reached the Elite-tier.

During this year's Hundred Schools League, Julian was absent due to his time in the secret realm. Other universities, hearing this news, believed they finally had a chance to dethrone Imperial University from its long-held first-place position.

But then Hugo had a fortuitous encounter, and by his sophomore year, had already broken through to the Elite rank and joined the university team.

With Hugo's addition, and no Elite-level trainers from rival top institutions like Shu University or First Military Academy, Imperial University effortlessly secured first place once again.

Hugo's reputation within the university soared, nearly rivaling Julian's—some even argued he had surpassed him.

That is, until Julian emerged from the secret realm as a pseudo-Champion.

Now, Hugo was sitting in Julian's villa, thoroughly dejected after having his entire team of six wiped out by Julian's Lucario.

"Alright, stop sulking. Next time, I'll go easy on you," Julian said, tossing a cola from the fridge to Hugo, who looked like his soul had left his body.

'Seriously, he's an Elite Trainer now—how is his mental resilience this weak?'

"There won't be a next time," Hugo muttered, shaking his head vigorously.

'You're still plotting a rematch? Dream on.'

Still, he took the Coke and took a fierce swig, the icy fizz jolting his senses back to life—barely.

"Pathetic," Julian said, looking at him with contempt.

Hugo currently had only one Pokémon at the early Elite-level. Beating him was laughably easy for Julian.

Lucario felt like Ultraman beating up little monsters—simple and effortless.

"I shouldn't have come here today," Hugo muttered, full of regret.

He had known all along that he wasn't a match for Julian, but he still came, hoping to see just how big the gap between them was.

After this battle, though, he was questioning his whole career path. He was seriously considering quitting as a professional trainer—this loss was just that crushing.

Back when they had just entered Imperial University, even though Julian had been stronger than everyone else in the special recruitment class, it hadn't felt impossible to catch up.

Now, more than a year had passed. If back then Hugo could barely catch a glimpse of Julian's back, now—even if he were riding a bullet train—he still couldn't see it.

The gap had grown so vast that Hugo had completely given up on trying to catch up.

If he kept pushing himself, he'd probably die of a mental breakdown before anything else.

"How are the others doing?" Julian asked.

He had been back at university for several days now, but aside from Hugo, none of the other people from the special recruitment class he was close with had come to see him.

People like Luis, Walter, Shen, and others.

That was because they were either in secret realms or out exploring in the wild, or carrying out missions assigned to them by the Trainers Association.

Since they weren't even on campus, they naturally couldn't drop by.

"Most are at mid-to-late-stage pseudo-Elite tier by now. I haven't seen them in a while either," Hugo replied.

People like Julian and Hugo, who broke through to the Elite rank in their freshman or sophomore year, were exceedingly rare—even in a top-tier institution like Imperial University.

That was due to two major limitations: Pokémon potential and resource access.

Most students in the Trainer Academy of Imperial University would already be considered outstanding if they could reach late-stage pseudo-Elite by their senior year.

Only a few of the truly exceptional ones had a shot at becoming Elites before graduation.

And that was at a top university—in average universities, graduating as a pseudo-Elite was already an impressive feat.

The Trainers Association had once conducted a statistical survey on the average age of achieving the Elite rank: 60 years old.

So if you became an Elite before 60, you were already above average.

After chatting a bit longer with Hugo, Julian's phone buzzed with a message.

> Nicole: "Come to the entrance of Building Three"

> Julian: "What's the matter?"

> Nicole: "Just hurry."

Putting his phone down, Julian muttered, "Acting all mysterious…"

Seeing this, Hugo asked, "Something going on?"

"Yeah, not sure what though," Julian replied.

"I'll get going then. If you're busy, don't mind me and if there's anything I can help with, just say the word," Hugo offered, mostly out of politeness.

After all, he couldn't imagine Julian actually needing his help with anything.

But then—

"Really?"

Julian's eyes lit up with expectation.

Hugo instinctively took a step back before hesitantly nodding.

'Wait… is he about to ask me to assassinate an Elite or a pseudo-Champion?! Isn't that giving me a little too much credit?'

Hugo specialized in wilderness combat, which naturally included stealth tactics—but still!

"Slowking's live-streaming a pastry-making tutorial. Earlier, it told me to help it wash the dishes in the kitchen, but, well this came up, so—"

Since Hugo had offered, Julian saw no reason to hold back.

'…Slowking is WHAT?!'

'Wait… Slowking's business scope is this broad now?'

Hugo was momentarily stunned—until Julian dragged him into the kitchen, where a stack of over a dozen dirty plates sat in the sink.

"All you need to do is load the plates into the dishwasher. It won't take long," Julian said.

"How many people had lunch here?!"

There were way too many plates—it couldn't possibly be just a meal for one or two.

"Two."

Julian had a big appetite, and with Cele-pig also at the table, the amount of food consumed was naturally substantial.

Plus, since Slowking was the one cooking, it deliberately made small portions to avoid wasting food. That, in turn, led to more dishes being used.

Originally, Julian had planned to make Celebi handle the dishes, but since Hugo showed up, Celebi had been recalled to its Poké Ball.

"Thanks, Hugo. I'll be off, then."

With a pat on Hugo's shoulder, Julian summoned Metagross, gathered a few other Pokémon, and left in a hurry.

Hugo stared blankly at the mountain of plates, still processing what just happened.

'…Fine. Washing it is. At least there's a dishwasher—just shove them in and call it a day.'

He haphazardly crammed the plates into the machine, not bothering with proper arrangement, and slammed the door shut.

"How the hell do you even turn this thing on?"

He squinted at the dishwasher's control panel—having never used one before, he was completely lost.

After fiddling around for a bit, he finally managed to get it running.

Noticing the cycle would take two hours, Hugo muttered, "That long? Guess I'll just leave."

'By the time it's done, Julian will probably be back, and Slowking's stream should be over too.'

With that, he walked out.

~Five minutes later~

The dishwasher suddenly jolted to a stop.

Then, without warning—FOAM.

Lots of foam.

It began gushing from the poorly sealed door, bubbling out like an out-of-control science experiment.

*****

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