Elf: Start your slow-paced life after becoming a farmer.

Looking at Cattleya, who was putting on airs in front of him, Karl barely suppressed the words "None of your business" that were about to slip out, and casually replied, "I'm here to challenge the Bakegu Gym."

“What a coincidence, I just came from Lip’s place. If it’s alright, Mr. Carl, could you let me watch your gym challenge?” Cattleya said.

Chapter 232 Lip: What are you doing...?

Carl's expression turned somewhat strange after hearing that Gadriya wanted to watch his gym challenge.

Although Karl is no longer so concerned about what happened a few days ago, his relationship with Cattleya has plummeted because of it.

Carl didn't think his relationship with Cattleya was good enough for her to watch his gym challenge.

However, since Cattleya had taken the initiative to make this request, he had no reason to refuse. After all, his purpose in challenging the Bakedo Gym was simply to train for his final exams.

“Okay, but I won’t be using my main team to challenge the Bakegu Gym this time. I need to make that clear beforehand.” Carl looked at the blonde girl in front of him and nodded in agreement.

“It’s alright, I’m just interested in your command skills, Mr. Karl,” Cattleya said.

When Karl agreed, Cattleya's expression didn't change, but she was secretly laughing to herself.

Yes, the reason why Gadri wanted to watch Carl's gym challenge was not only because she was interested in Carl's command skills, but also because Gadri learned from Cynthia that the main reason she went to the Padilla region last time was to challenge Carl, the trainer who once sat on the Sinnoh Champion's throne but "ran away".

As Cynthia's best friend, Cattleya naturally knew how terrifying Cynthia's strength was. Unless she could control her own psychic powers and successfully learn how to use psychic powers to amplify Pokémon, there was absolutely no way she could defeat Cynthia.

Therefore, Gadriya became interested in Karl's current strength and wanted to know if Karl was really as powerful as Zhulan had said.

Of course, no matter how strong Karl is, his image in Gadria's heart will not change much. After all, Karl made Gadria suffer a great loss in front of Orchid, and for this reason alone, Gadria will not easily "forgive" Karl.

However, despite her dislike for Gadriya, although she wasn't good at interpersonal relationships, she knew a very simple truth: never easily provoke an opponent you can't defeat.

If Karl's strength is really as great as Zhulan said, then even if Gadriya hates Karl, she won't easily provoke him.

However, what Gadriya didn't know was that if she dared to provoke Karl during the Heavenly King's term, she wouldn't even have time to wait for Karl to make a move before Ye Ci would oust her from the Heavenly King's throne.

In Ye Ci's view, Gadria, despite her strength and background, was nothing more than a "tool" that Ye Ci could discard at will, compared to Karl, the "divine beast man".

Following in Cattleya's footsteps, Karl soon arrived at the Alliance Building located in the center of Bakegu Town.

After explaining his purpose to the staff, Carl quickly registered his information and was led by the staff to the battle arena specially prepared for gym challenges.

It's worth mentioning that if you're coming to challenge a gym as a student of Orange Academy, you'll first need to pass the gym test set up by Yupp's childhood friend, who is also Orange Academy's combat style teacher.

In short, the dojo's assessment requires you to learn how to do aerobics like Huang Bo.

When Carl challenged the Bakegu Gym, he had this question: why do you have to do aerobics when challenging a Psychic-type gym? Shouldn't that be something that Fighting-type gyms do?

To some extent, this is probably a kind of wicked humor on the part of the designers. After all, the reason why Orochi came to the Brick Gym to take the gym test for Ripple was because she lost to Ripple in a Pokémon battle where "whoever loses listens to whom".

As a Fighting-type trainer, Houbo is countered by Lipton, who specializes in Psychic-type trainers.

However, from another perspective, this might just be a kind of "little fun" between the two childhood sweethearts.

Carl waited by the battlefield for about three minutes, and then a beautiful woman with purple hair and wearing a light purple dress slowly walked into the battlefield. She was none other than Lip, the current Gym Leader of the Bakegu Gym.

Even though Karl didn't know much about fashion, he could sense a certain "aura" unique to fashionistas just from the other person's exquisite makeup and accessories.

“Hello, Miss Lip.” Carl stepped forward and greeted her first. “I am Carl, the gym challenger for this time.”

"Hello, Carl." Lip smiled and nodded at Carl, but before she could say anything more, a warm female voice suddenly came from not far away.

"Hey! It's Professor Carl, what are you doing here?"

The moment the words left her lips, a woman dressed in a yellow and black tracksuit jogged up to the two of them. This woman was none other than Karl's colleague, Huang Bo, the combat studies teacher at Orange Academy.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Huangbo. I'm here to challenge the dojo." Carl replied with a smile.

Karl wasn't surprised by Huang Bo's appearance, after all, she was Lip's friend.

"Huh? With your strength, Mr. Karl, you haven't even challenged the Eight Great Gyms yet?" Huang Bo asked in surprise.

After all, after sparring with Karl before, Huang Bo knew that Karl's strength was at least at the level of a Heavenly King.

As a training fanatic, Huang Bo didn't pay much attention to the information on the school forum, so she didn't know that Karl was a Sinnoh member.

Of course, one of the presidents would not agree with this statement, after all, she has not given up on getting Karl to join the Padia Alliance.

"What Sinnoh? Karl has half-Parthian blood in his veins." A certain guild leader said this to a certain Ox-Horse one day.

“Teacher Huangbo, I’m not a native of Padia.” Carl explained with a smile, “As for why I joined Orange Academy, it’s too complicated to explain in a few words. If you want to know, I’ll tell you after I pass the gym challenge.”

Lip listened silently to their conversation. As Huang Bo's childhood friend, she quickly extracted the key information from the dialogue.

First, Carl is a battle strategy teacher at Orange Academy. Second, Houbo once had a Pokémon battle with Carl and most likely lost that battle. Finally, Carl comes from another region.

Based on the above information, Lip quickly recalled a message that had been circulating in the Padia Alliance's internal group some time ago.

President Yeci recently became interested in a trainer from out of town, but her recruitment plan failed.

'So, this challenger is the man that President Yeci can't have?' Lip thought to herself.

“Then, Miss Lip, let’s begin the battle now.” Carl turned around and said to Lip, “But let me make it clear beforehand that I’m not using my main force this time.”

Lip raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "Mr. Carl, what are you doing...?"

Chapter 233 Karl: How shall I enjoy this pleasurable torment?

The moment Lip opened her mouth, Carl sensed from her tone that she might have misunderstood something, so he immediately explained, "Uh, Miss Lip, I'm not trying to belittle you, but my purpose in coming here is for the Orange Academy's final exams."

"Final exam?" Huang Bo asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

As a teacher at Orange Academy, Huang Bo has recently been troubled by the final exams for her courses, but she can't understand why Karl's challenge to the dojo is related to the final exams.

Seeing this, Carl could only briefly explain the content of his final exam, and Lip quickly understood Carl's purpose.

"So, Carl, you're planning to 'train' here before the final exams?" Lip asked thoughtfully.

Upon hearing about the format of Karl's final exam, Huang Bo exclaimed with a look of sudden realization, "As expected of Professor Karl, he actually came up with such an interesting way to conduct the exam."

As a combat studies teacher who joined around the same time as Karl, Huang Bo had no experience with final exams. After asking other combat studies teachers, they all gave the same answer: "Final exam for combat studies? Of course, you just have the students fight each other, and then score them based on their usual performance and the outcome of the final battle."

Although there's nothing inherently wrong with this method, Huang Bo still feels that this assessment approach is a bit too perfunctory.

As a Fighting-type trainer, Houbo also possesses the typical characteristics of Fighting-type trainers, namely "passion".

In Huangbo's view, since the students have chosen to take the course on battle studies, they must all have a certain passion for Pokémon battles.

As a combat studies teacher, she naturally couldn't just let it slide like that, so she wanted to give her students a "hot-blooded" final exam.

Karl's final exam was exactly what Huangbo wanted, since what could be more "exciting" for students than challenging their teacher?

Seeing Huang Bo's excited expression, Karl naturally knew that his final assessment plan seemed to be very much to her liking, so he took the initiative to say, "Teacher Huang Bo, if you think this assessment method is useful, you can use it as you wish."

"Hey, really? This is the method you came up with, Professor Karl." Although Huang Bo was somewhat tempted, as a "hot-blooded idiot," she was clearly resistant to this kind of "borrowing" approach.

"It's okay. Anyway, this is my first time taking a final exam. If you feel there's anything that can be improved during the process, Ms. Huangbo, please let me know. Only through communication can we make progress," Karl said nonchalantly.

"In that case, I will thank you on behalf of Huang Bo."

Before Huang Bo could hesitate any longer, Lip, Huang Bo's friend, agreed on her behalf.

"Hey, Lip!" Huang Bo nudged her friend slightly with her shoulder, glaring at her angrily.

Lip patted Huang Bo's shoulder affectionately: "This is my home turf, so just listen to me. Besides, Karl is here for the gym assessment, so don't waste his time."

"Sigh, alright." Huang Bo sighed and then walked towards the battlefield.

Lip watched her friend walk toward the battlefield, and then she noticed Cattleya standing in the shadows to the side.

“Cattleya? What are you doing here?” Lip asked, somewhat surprised. “Didn’t you just leave?”

Cattleya stepped forward and explained with a polite smile, "I happened to run into Carl on my way back. He told me he was going to challenge the gym, so I came along to take a look."

"You two actually know each other?" Lip was genuinely surprised this time.

"I guess you could say we know each other." Carl's expression turned a little strange. "Anyway, let's get started on the gym challenge."

“Okay.” Lip noticed Karl’s expression at this moment. Her expression remained unchanged, but she had already begun to think about the relationship between the two.

After all, in Lip's mind, given Cattleya's family background, there was no need for her to come to Padia to serve as one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Considering that Karl also came from another region, a somewhat absurd guess emerged in Lip's mind.

'Could it be that Cattleya came to the Padia region because of Karl?'

Before Lip could continue thinking, the referee next to the battle arena began to explain the rules of the gym challenge as usual.

Lip could only temporarily put aside her thoughts and calm down to focus on the upcoming Pokémon battle.

After reading the rules of the gym challenge, the referee picked up the whistle hanging around his neck and blew it hard, and the gym challenge began.

Due to the rules of the competition, Lip, as the Gym Leader, must send out her Pokémon first.

Considering what Carl just said, Lip didn't send out her main force, but instead sent out the Pokémon she had specially trained for gym challenges.

As Lippe threw the Poké Ball, a Pokémon resembling an ostrich appeared on the battlefield, with its head hair neatly trimmed and a tuft of fur on its tail like a pleated skirt.

Psychic Rumblebee, the ostrich Pokémon, has a ferocious personality completely different from its appearance. Its large eyes can release psychic energy to immobilize its opponents. It can release psychic powers from its pleated feathers and use them to run at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

While the Super-Powered Ostrich isn't exactly ugly, Carl simply can't appreciate its style. However, the fact that it's been recruited by a fashionista like Lip suggests it possesses some unique beauty.

As a single Psychic-type Pokémon, Psychic Rumbler boasts triple-digit Special Attack and Speed ​​stats, and its unique "Tailgive" ability makes it a formidable opponent.

However, after seeing the Super-Powered Ostrich make its appearance, a "sunny" smile appeared on Carl's face: "In that case, let's go! Salt Rock Fortress!"

As Carl threw the Poké Ball, Salt Rock's square body appeared on the battlefield.

"Saltstone Fortress?"

As a native of Padia, Lip naturally recognized the Pokémon Salt Rock. In her memory, the former Gym Leader of the Icebox Gym, Tam, seemed to have a Salt Rock Golem, an evolved form of Salt Rock.

However, since Tem hadn't fought for many years, Lip wasn't familiar with Pokémon like Salt Rock, but out of caution, Lip still kept a little wary.

After all the Pokémon from both sides had been brought out, the battle began.

'How am I supposed to enjoy this pleasurable torment?' Karl thought maliciously to himself.

Chapter 234 Lip: These wood seeds have lost their effectiveness?!

Judging solely from the strength of the Pokémon on both sides, Salt Rock is undoubtedly at a disadvantage.

Before evolving into its full form, the Saltstone Giant only has a base stat total of 355, which is not superior to the 481 base stat total of the Psychic Raptor.

However, the outcome of Pokémon battles is never solely determined by stats; the trainer's strategy is also a crucial factor in determining the outcome.

As a trainer whose skills far surpass Lip's, Carl is confident in leading his team of Pokémon to victory.

Even if Carl's first two Pokémon lose to Lippe, he can still turn the tide with his last Pokémon from his second team.

"Saltstone Fortress, use Invisibility Rock!" Karl gave the first command in accordance with the rules of the game.

The instant Karl's command fell, Saltstone immediately mobilized the rock-based energy within his body, placing rocks one by one on the battlefield.

Each rock becomes invisible the moment it lands, making it difficult to discern its exact location.

In the game, Stealth Rock can only damage Pokémon that rotate into the field, but in reality, Stealth Rock, which floats on the field, also has the effect of restricting the opponent's movement.

As the Gym Leader, Lip naturally knows the specific effects of the Stealth Rock move, which is a counter move that most clumsy Rock-type Pokémon use when facing fast Pokémon.

However, breaking through Stealth Rock is not difficult for Psychic-type Pokémon.

"Super Raptor, use your telekinesis to clear away the surrounding invisible rocks," Lip commanded swiftly, waving her hand.

Upon hearing this, the super-powered ostrich in the arena immediately began to run across the battlefield on its two long legs. Wherever it passed, the scattered psychic energy could accurately capture the floating invisible rocks and destroy them.

As the Super-Powered Ostrich continued to move around the arena, the invisible rocks released by Salt Rock were destroyed by telekinesis at an extremely fast speed. Karl's expression did not change, and he continued to command, "Salt Rock, use Mud Shot."

Because the Saltstone Clan has a rather forgetful nature, Karl cannot give overly complex commands. If the command is too long, the Saltstone Clan may not be able to remember what it is supposed to do.

After hearing Karl's brief command, several clumps of mud formed from ground-based energy appeared around Saltstone, and then, under Saltstone's control, these clumps shot towards the super-powered ostrich that was running across the field.

Seeing the flying mud, the Super Raptor paused in its running pace, then slightly turned its body to dodge the mud spurred by the Salt Rock.

The moment the Super Eccentric paused, Karl's eyes lit up, and he immediately seized the brief opportunity to give the order to Saltstone: "Saltstone, use salt on the Super Eccentric!"

Upon hearing the keyword "salting," Yan Shilei shuddered and then subconsciously spat out a large amount of rock salt carrying rock-type energy in the direction of the Super Ostrich.

In recent training sessions, Karl has focused on training the Salt Rocks to use their signature move, "Salting." Now, they can use this move almost instinctively whenever they hear the word "Salting."

After all, most of the damage from the Saltstone Clan comes from the very "sunny" skill of Salt Pickling. Once it hits, the Saltstone Clan only needs to train their skills of "Self-Regeneration", "Substitute", and "Protect" and silently wait for their opponent to be drained of stamina by Salt Pickling.

Carl's timing for this round of commands was perfect. Lip thought that the Super Raptor could avoid most attacks by relying on its movement speed, but Carl's combo of stealth rock, mud shot, and salted darts gave the Super Raptor very little time to react.

If the Super Raptor accelerates again to avoid the Salt after dodging the Mud Shot, it will inevitably crash into the invisible rocks scattered throughout the battlefield, thus slowing it down once more.

Carl only needs to seize this opportunity to allow Saltstone to use salting again to achieve the same tactical objective.

As the Super Ostrich was hit by the salt, it immediately entered the salt-curing state. The rock salt, carrying rock-type energy, began to erode the Super Ostrich's body, causing it to let out painful cries.

Seeing this, Lip raised an eyebrow. As the gym leader, she could naturally see the tactical intent behind Carl's combo, but Carl's timing was perfect, giving her almost no time to react.

However, Lip didn't take the salting trick seriously at this moment, because the item she gave Super Raptor was the Wood Fruit, which could remove all abnormal statuses.