Chapter 141
Time flowed quietly amidst Lorze's daily "busywork."
Before anyone realized it, half of the final semester of their senior year had already slipped away.
Yes, while Lorze and Pheromosa were pulling all-nighters every single day, the school had long since been back in session.
However, Lorze hadn't stepped foot on campus for a single day during the entire semester.
The main reason was that the highest-quality girls in the school had already been recruited into his harem.
While the remaining girls were decent, Lorze wasn't exactly starved for female company; he barely had enough time to take care of his current roster, and anything less than a "Top-Tier" beauty simply didn't catch his eye anymore.
Compared to the women he had left behind, Lorze was currently more concerned with two men.
Namely, his school team members: Shi Fan and Tang Ming.
Lorze had expected to be able to "kick the door" of Shanghai University High School right after the semester started, but his teammates had dragged their feet.
It took them the entire winter break, and they still hadn't mastered the "minor hacks" of Blaze and Torrent. How could people be this useless!
Even Hu Wenjun, who was originally a tier or two weaker than them, had already mastered Swarm.
Furthermore, while Lorze was helping her train her True Qi Mode, she had accidentally mastered the technique of high-speed Focus Energy.
Focus Energy can be simply understood as a move that spikes the Critical Hit rate.
Combined with Ariados's innate Sniper Ability—which boosts Critical Hit damage—and several months of eating high-grade Pokéblocks like candy, the previously weakest member, Hu Wenjun, had directly surpassed the two "useless" boys.
Lorze estimated that even if those two managed to master their own hacks, they would only be on par with Hu Wenjun at best.
Truly an embarrassment to the male gender!
Left with no other choice, Lorze had them try to learn Return and Frustration to indirectly familiarize themselves with Emotional Energy.
Finally, under his constant and varied guidance, the two guys managed to master the "Dual-Wielding Ability" technique two months into the semester.
In Lorze's eyes, this was a snail's pace.
Yet, for those two, it was enough to make them jump for joy with excitement.
The only reason Hu Wenjun had surpassed them was because she lived with Lorze 24/7 and received constant, "hands-on" personal instruction from the King of Cheats.
In contrast, they spent most of their time researching on their own, only getting a hint from Lorze occasionally.
To master it at all was already an achievement—what more could they ask for?
Now, they were "Hackers" themselves. If they could showcase this on the field, the spotlight would be entirely on them. How could they not be hyped?
Cough. Of course, that was assuming they weren't on the same field as Lorze.
Otherwise, who the fuck could outshine that monster?
Mawile could literally fly through the air whenever she wanted now—can you believe that?
And don't even get started on Kirlia, who had been growing for several more months.
No one had any idea what level a Kirlia raised on an infinite supply of pure Pokéblocks had reached by now.
On that day, Lorze made a rare appearance at the school.
Since his teammates had finally mastered their cheats, it was time to find the elites of Shanghai University High for a sparring session.
Only by fighting the top tier of his generation could Lorze truly gauge his own current level.
So, Lorze immediately had Teacher Liu contact the Shanghai school to see when they could book a match.
Teacher Liu didn't object this time; after all, she had witnessed these students go from ordinary teenagers to "Broken Tier" combatants with her own eyes.
Actually, while Lorze was absent, the school team had already been challenged by others who viewed them as "soft persimmons."
But the results this year were different.
The weaker opponents were often swept by Shi Fan and Tang Ming alone.
Tougher out-of-province challengers only managed to force Hu Wenjun out.
Xue Yi hadn't even participated in a single battle from start to finish.
To be honest, even Teacher Liu didn't know Xue Yi's current level.
She had only heard Lorze mention that Xue Yi possessed a "God-tier hack" whose strength was far beyond the minor abilities mastered by Shi Fan and the others.
At the end of the day, Blaze and Torrent were just triggers for latent potential.
Anyone has a chance to trigger potential.
But the Xue family ability—which directly boosted a Pokémon's power by an entire Rank—was not something just anyone could possess.
"Captain, are we really just going to sit here and wait for the teacher to get an answer?"
Shi Fan asked suddenly, his mind clearly wandering.
"What else? You want to do a group dance on the spot?" Lorze rolled his eyes at him.
"No... I mean, we haven't seen each other in a while. Aren't you curious about our current strength?" Shi Fan put it quite delicately.
"Are you serious?"
Tang Ming immediately understood the subtext. His lip twitched.
This guy... is he seriously trying to challenge Lorze's authority in the team again?
Your cheat codes were literally gifted to you by him. Do you not know how deep the gap is?
"Aren't you curious about how strong he is now?" Shi Fan retorted.
"Well... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. But you're on your own, man. Don't drag me down with you."
Tang Ming was much more rational. No one in their right mind thinks they've caught up after a minor power-up. I've never seen such overconfidence.
"If you won't do it, I will. No problems, right, Captain?"
Shi Fan ignored the warning and issued his challenge.
"Fine. My Kirlia hasn't stretched her legs in a while. Since you want to be a sandbag, I'll use you as a warm-up."
Lorze shrugged, treating it like a casual exercise.
"WAIT! When did I say I wanted to fight Kirlia? I'm challenging the Mawile!"
Shi Fan's face went black with terror the second Kirlia was mentioned.
He wanted to test his new power, sure, but he wasn't delusional enough to touch Kirlia.
He had developed permanent PTSD from that Pokémon months ago!
"Pathetic."
Tang Ming scoffed. I thought you were being brave. You're just trying to bully his second partner? Fine, I could do that too.
My Fire-type even has a type advantage over Mawile!
"You want to go then?" Shi Fan glared at him. If you have the balls to touch Kirlia, go ahead. If not, shut the fuck up!
"Fine, fine. Lead the way, hero."
Tang Ming stepped aside. Only a fool would go first.
Lorze's expression turned playful.
This guy actually wanted to challenge Mawile? Did he think she was the "soft" entry on the team?
Did he think Mawile had spent all her time practicing "flight" and hadn't gained any raw combat power?
Please. Did you really not consider that the 'Strength-Exertion Thunder Punch' that used to one-shot people could be perfectly migrated to Mawile?
"So you want to challenge Mawile, huh? No problem~."
Lorze's lips curled into a wicked smirk. It was the perfect time to test Mawile's training results.
"He's dead."
Tang Ming sighed internally. Seeing that smirk, he knew Mawile was going to be a monster. Shi Fan was about to get brutalized.
Why do you have to provoke the Demon King?
Shi Fan ignored Tang Ming's nagging and walked straight to the outdoor battlefield. He intended to prove himself through combat.
"Let's begin. Show me how much you've grown."
Lorze smiled and released his Mawile.
"Then taste this! Hydro Pump!"
Shi Fan didn't hold back, taking the initiative immediately.
Violent water energy gathered in Frogadier's hands, forming a massive blue sphere.
It compressed the power into a high-pressure jet and blasted it forward.
It was a high-power, low-accuracy move, but considering Mawile's legendary lack of speed, Shi Fan felt certain he would land a clean hit.
However, Lorze just chuckled and gave a calm, measured command: "Double Team."
In the next heartbeat, Mawile's silhouette blurred.
Ten identical afterimages began darting across the field with impossible fluidity.
The Hydro Pump blasted through the center of the group, only managing to dissipate a single clone.
"When the hell did she learn that?!"
Shi Fan was stunned. Mawile hadn't used that move once during the collective training camp.
"I taught her at home in my spare time, obviously. If you don't break the move soon, Mawile is going to hit three stacks of Stockpile." Lorze reminded him kindly.
Shi Fan then noticed that on all the clones, a faint gathering of light—resembling the charge-up for Solar Beam—had appeared.
The light particles were converging rapidly. Shi Fan realized with horror that Mawile could use Stockpile while maintaining the Double Team clones.
GODDAMMIT! He really is a walking cheat code!
Realizing the danger, Shi Fan ordered Frogadier to fire a rapid barrage of Water Shuriken, treating the field like a shooting range to clear out the decoys.
But he was too late.
As the real Mawile revealed herself, the gathering light vanished into her body. She had reached a full triple-stack of energy.
"SHIT! Use Aerial Ace!"
"Too late. Two-stack Spit Up."
"MAW~!"
Receiving the order, Mawile activated her "Dual-Wielding" Hyper Cutter Ability.
She fully unlocked the potential of the massive jaw on her head, using her bone-crushing bite strength to compress the "engine chamber."
She blasted out the energy of two Stockpile charges in a single, violent burst.
As Mawile's feet kicked off the ground, her body was launched forward by the massive counter-thrust.
Her speed was so high the human eye couldn't even track her trajectory.
Frogadier didn't even have time to manifest the Aerial Ace energy.
Mawile was already in his face, moving faster than an Extreme Speed could react.
Her fist, glowing with a "Strength-boosted" Focus Punch, slammed into his gut without a shred of hesitation.
That's for thinking I was a soft target!
BOOM.
A dull, heavy explosion echoed through the arena.
Frogadier, hit dead-center in the abdomen, was launched like a kicked soccer ball.
He tumbled and skipped across the dirt, flying backward for what felt like forever.
He finally came to a messy halt over a hundred meters away, motionless.
Another one-shot victory.
The exact same result as the School Sports Meet months ago—only this time, it was his second Pokémon that did the job.
Shi Fan: "..."
Tang Ming: "..."
See? What did I just say?
Why the fuck did you have to provoke the Great Demon King? Was it fun?