Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game.

A sharp shout broke the silence of the dense forest.

A snow-white fairy dressed in a snow-white kimono floated in the air, exuding a chill. Then, a cold wind swept through, and the temperature of the entire dense forest dropped significantly. The refreshing coolness made Xia Chen and his group's breathing slow down.

His professional instincts kicked in, and Xia Chen subconsciously checked the strength of his assistant, the Snow Fairy.

For a young, non-professional trainer, the "veteran" level is quite high.

"The strength is pretty good."

Xia Chen glanced at his assistant, who wasn't much older than him, with some surprise. The assistant smiled modestly.

"No, I'm nowhere near as good as you."

The second rule for secretaries is to always be mindful of praising the boss.

Moreover, this statement doesn't even qualify as flattery; it's simply normal praise.

This made Yan Shu's work mood much more pleasant than before.

The boss I work for is a handsome, wealthy, powerful, and charismatic young tycoon. He is so outstanding that he is an unparalleled genius in every aspect, and I have no qualms about flattering him.

The only downside is that he seems to be a bit of a jerk in his love life.

Well, that doesn't really seem like a drawback.

As the assistant was lost in thought, the dense forest was nearing its end.

"Master Xia, the site ahead is the tentative location for our dojo construction."

The island's chief architect, who was leading the way, immediately displayed his high emotional intelligence, and his words were more soothing than the freezing winds blown by the Snow Fairy.

Xia Chen had a memory of this place; it was located in the southeast of the entire Yuanling Island, with an open terrain and the island's largest river flowing right next to it.

"It's close to the dock, making it easy for gym challengers to find, and it's also far from the mansion, ensuring privacy."

This is how the designer explained it.

Xia Chen nodded knowingly. That made sense.

…………

Just a few days after returning from the Padiya region, his assistant Yan Shu reported on the progress of the island's construction.

Since he didn't have anything urgent to do recently, he took the designer directly to the island to stroll around and chat.

Currently, the island's gyms, Pokémon centers, power plants, roads, and wild Pokémon habitats have all been planned, and the next step is to design the architectural plans.

This will take much longer, especially the final construction phase.

With a construction team comprised mainly of people with superhuman strength and experienced builders, their construction speed is more than twice as fast as that of humans.

If all goes well, the entire island is expected to be operational by the year after next.

But that's a story for later; the focus right now is on planning and construction.

The island was very large, and even riding on the elves, the group only managed to explore the various buildings scattered throughout the island before sunset.

It wasn't just a simple stroll; Xia Chen also greeted the elves who originally lived in those places, essentially telling them that houses would need to be built there in the future and that they should move elsewhere.

It's similar to carrying out demolition and relocation.

Fortunately, after the turmoil of last month, there are no longer any stubborn holdouts on the island.

Even if they did have some, they couldn't withstand Xia Chen's "demolition compensation" offensive.

In short, adhering to the concept of "harmony between humans and elves," the construction of the island is proceeding in an orderly manner.

Since Yan Shu and the designers and engineers were also going to the island, it was inconvenient for Xia Chen to travel alone in Guleton.

After a two- or three-hour boat ride, they finally returned to Zhijiang city, and it was already dark when they disembarked.

"Yuanling Island is still too far from the city center. Will that dampen the trainers' enthusiasm for challenging the gyms?"

The assistant expressed slight concern about the dojo's future.

Xia Chen shrugged indifferently, "A trainer who can't even endure this short distance probably won't get my gym badge."

As a lazy gym leader, this situation actually suited Xia Chen's wishes. He didn't want his future retirement life to be a non-stop stream of receiving challengers.

…………

After a long day, Xia Chen treated Yan Shu and the designer to a meal as a reward before heading home.

When I got home, Tan Xiaoshi was still holed up in his room, probably taking another bath with tree fruit and herbs.

After spending more than ten days together, Xia Chen gained a preliminary understanding of Tan Xiaoshi's personality and lifestyle.

Compared to its other Pokémon, it is very independent. This independence has nothing to do with strength, but rather with a sense of dependence.

Whether it was Senbu and Gardevoir, who had been with him for over two years, or Doronchi and Saifu, who joined the team later, they all relied heavily on Xia Chen in terms of daily life.

It's not that it's bad; most normal Pokémon are like that.

But Tan Xiaoshi is completely different. Except for some things that he can't do because of his body shape, he prefers to do everything himself.

This was even more true after he learned superpowers from Xia Chen; he could spend an entire day in his room studying the tree fruits and medicinal herbs.

His life consisted of nothing but eating, sleeping, and training, leaving Xia Chen with virtually no opportunity to cultivate a relationship with him.

However, Xia Chen respects the habits of every elf. Besides, what initially attracted him to Tan Xiaoshi was her unconventional personality. He couldn't expect her to follow his lead, could he?

Besides, so many elves already like to stick to me, so it's nice to be aloof once in a while.

After placing the takeout food he brought back from the restaurant at Tan Xiaoshi's door and knocking to remind him, Xia Chen went back to his room to wash up and go to bed.

After he left, the door quietly opened.

Exhausted but with a glimmer in his eyes, Tan Xiaoshi looked at the steaming food placed at the door and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

As he enjoyed the delicious meal, Tan Xiaoshi reflected on his achievements over the past two weeks.

With Xia Chen's strong support, he has already figured out the pharmacology of all the mainstream tree fruits and medicinal materials in this world.

This is the foundation for future alchemy. Once you understand these, Tan Xiaoshi is confident that he can replicate more than half of the medicine formulas from that world.

The effect may be somewhat reduced, but it's perfectly adequate for my current needs.

These things are the most precious treasures he left to his future self.

Half a month has passed since I returned to this world, and my memories are fading faster and faster.

He can no longer remember anything about Yao Chen's first thirty years.

He had to get these things ready as quickly as possible.

Besides alchemy, the foundation for cultivation has also been laid long ago.

Just yesterday, he began cultivating the Burning Technique and is currently in the stage of fusing his Bone Spirit Cold Fire with it.

If all goes well, the fusion should be completed in about half a month, and then everything will be on the right track.

Thinking of this, Tan Xiaoshi suddenly remembered something else.

Now that the foundation has been laid, shouldn't we start thinking about evolution?

After all, only after evolving could he fully "transfer" the Burning Technique and Battle Skills to his current body.

…………

Coincidentally, at that very moment, Xia Chen, lying in bed, was also pondering this question.

Although Tanjiro's strength is only at the amateur level, this is largely due to the limitations of his race.

Before evolving, Tanjiro's potential was really low.

Although Xia Chen didn't know its base stats in the game because it was a Pokémon from the Padia region, after observing it over the past few days, Xia Chen estimated that Tanjiro was even inferior to Pokémon, meaning it was far below the level of all the starter Pokémon and pseudo-legendary Pokémon in their first-tier forms.

Everyone says that Gible and Tyranitar are late bloomers, but Xia Chen thinks that the contrast between the Gible and the Samurai before and after evolution is even greater.

Now that Tanjiro is almost two years old, it's about time to start thinking about whether to evolve and what he should evolve into.

The evolution of Samurai is very special, and like Eevee and Rockruff, it follows a different evolutionary path.

There are three types of Rockruff, eight types of Eevee, and two types of Samurai – Crimson Knight and Azure Blade.

Rockruff's three evolutionary forms are all called Lycanroc, and they have the same attributes, but their appearance and base stats are different.

Crimson Armored Knight and Azure Blade Demon are completely different in every aspect. The former is a Fire/Psychic type special attack Pokémon, while the latter is a Fire/Ghost type physical attack Pokémon.

There's nothing particularly special about the attributes; neither of these two attribute combinations is particularly outstanding, and the number of weaknesses and resistances is roughly the same.

There's no point in comparing two equally bad things, and attributes aren't even a consideration for Xia Chen.

Whether it's a special attack or a physical attack is debatable.

Excluding Guleton, Xia Chen's current lineup has far more special attackers than physical attackers.

Even the only two physical attack Pokémon, Zoroark and Drakkisaki, are Pokémon that can be used as dual attackers.

To be honest, Xia Chen really wanted a cool and powerful physical attack Pokémon.

The Azure Flame Blade Demon's handsome appearance perfectly matches Xia Chen's aesthetic.

From these two perspectives, it seems more reasonable for it to evolve into the Azure Flame Blade Demon.

However, Tanjiro's mental strength is extremely strong, and he is also very talented in superpowers.

In just one afternoon, he mastered various techniques such as meditation and telekinesis.

If he evolves into Crimson Knight, he can perfectly utilize this special ability.

Tsk, it's a tough choice.

Never mind, I'll ask Tan Xiaoshi for his opinion tomorrow.

After thinking and hesitating for a long time, Xia Chen finally decided to leave the decision to Tan Xiaoshi.

It was late at night. Xia Chen yawned and crawled into bed.

"Gardevoir, turn off the lights and go to sleep."

"Sana~"

Silent all night.

…………

"So that's roughly the situation. What are your thoughts?"