The Imperial University's Research Institute was the second-ranked among all the academies within the university. The first, naturally, was the Trainer Academy, while the third was the Breeder Academy.
The top three were all related to Pokémon.
If the Trainer Academy represented martial strength, then the Research Institute represented scholarly pursuit.
Pokémon abilities, moves, evolution thods, potential and level classifications—these were all studied and discovered by Pokémon researchers.
Except for so arrogant trainers and a few others, no one would ever look down on a Pokémon scholar.
This was because many Pokémon scholars were also outstanding trainers themselves, and their research ultimately served the training community.
At this mont, Nicole was in Incubation Room No. 3 of the Pokémon Research Institute, docunting and filming a Zoroark about to give birth.
Julian was right beside her.
However, his attention was entirely focused on the Zoroark—an Elite-level Pokémon.
It was a Pokémon obtained after the capture of a certain Class-A wanted criminal.
In Drakoria, when trainers who broke the law were apprehended, all their Pokémon were confiscated.
These confiscated Pokémon had four possible fates:
1. Low Potential, Non-Rare Pokémon: If their potential was poor and they were not rare, and if they were confird to be healthy and non-hostile toward humans, they were released back into the wild.
2. High Potential, Adaptable Pokémon: If they had excellent potential and were not overly loyal to their original trainer, they were given the chance to choose a new trainer.
3. High Potential but Unyielding Pokémon: If they were unwilling to accept a new trainer but were not extrely aggressive, they were typically kept in breeding facilities to pass on their superior genetics.
4. High Potential but Extrely Violent Pokémon: If they had committed murder and remained untad even after rehabilitation, they were sent to laboratories for research or placed in specialized breeding facilities.
From this, it was clear that as long as a Pokémon had good enough potential, its treatnt would be favorable. If not, it was straight back to the wild to fend for itself.
The disparity in treatnt was quite evident.
"It’s about to begin," Nicole suddenly said.
A few seconds later, the pain on Zoroark’s face intensified, and the Dark-type energy around it began to leak out uncontrollably.
Soon after, a football-sized Pokémon egg, elegantly patterned in red and black, appeared beneath the Zoroark.
"Who’s the father?" Julian asked.
"Another Zoroark with Cyan-grade potential."
Only when two Pokémon with equal potential breed would their offspring most likely inherit the sa level of potential.
If one had high potential and the other low, then the offspring had only a fifty-fifty chance of inheriting the higher potential.
This was what they called "marrying within one's rank."
Most trainers would never allow their Pokémon to mate with a partner of lower potential.
Of course, wild Pokémon didn’t have such elitism.
Julian used his Probing Eyes to examine the egg—it was indeed Cyan-grade potential.
"Interested in this egg?" Nicole asked.
She had a reserved slot at the university for one Cyan-grade Pokémon, but she had never been particularly interested in Pokémon training, so she had left it unused. If Julian wanted the egg, she could use that quota to assign it to him.
"Not interested."
Julian shook his head. Zoroark wasn’t the Pokémon he needed, and it was only Cyan-grade anyway.
If other trainers knew Julian was dismissive of a Cyan-grade Pokémon, they’d probably want to strangle him.
After all, owning a Cyan-grade Pokémon was like holding a ticket to beco an Elite-level trainer. With enough resources and a bit of luck, reaching the Elite tier was just a matter of ti.
Even if soone only ever raised one Elite-level Pokémon in their lifeti, that alone would put them far ahead of the majority of trainers.
"Let’s go in."
Nicole opened the glass door of the incubation room, preparing to asure the egg’s dinsions.
The Zoroark, having just given birth, was very weak. When it saw two humans approaching—especially at such a sensitive ti—it imdiately beca alert.
'Are they here to take my child?'
That thought alone caused a fierce aura to erupt from Zoroark’s body. But in the very next second, that aura vanished—and sothing shocking appeared.
"ROAR!"
An Entei snarled at Julian and Nicole, its overwhelming pressure filling the room.
Julian imdiately shielded Nicole behind him, his gaze filled with amusent as he looked at the "Entei" before them.
"Its illusion ability really is quite sothing," Julian chuckled.
Zoroark’s illusion was different from Ditto’s transformation. While Ditto could mimic appearances, it couldn’t replicate the essence. But Zoroark’s illusions carried both presence and aura.
Not only that—Zoroark could even construct entire illusory scenes.
If Julian hadn’t known this "Entei" was a Zoroark in disguise, he might’ve genuinely believed it was the real deal.
"Looks like you’ve seen Entei before."
Zoroark couldn’t transform at random—it had to have seen the target before. The fact that this illusion was so lifelike ant that Zoroark must have had direct contact with the legendary beast.
Seeing that Julian wasn’t scared in the slightest—and that the tagross beside him gave off a terrifying sense of danger—Zoroark finally snapped.
The "Entei" let out another furious roar and lunged at Julian.
"ta~"
tagross: "Sit down."
Under the crushing force of Psychic, the "Entei" froze mid-air—then flickered out of existence, revealing the exhausted Zoroark beneath.
The exhaustion from giving birth made it impossible for Zoroark to maintain its illusion for long.
As Nicole slowly stepped closer to its child, Zoroark grew increasingly anxious—yet its body was so weak it couldn’t even lift a finger.
"Relax. We’re just checking its health to make sure everything’s okay. We won’t harm it."
Sensing the Zoroark’s anxiety, fear, and rage through its Aura, Julian spoke softly in reassurance.
Of course, his words did absolutely nothing to calm it.
Zoroark: 'Oh sure, easy for you to say—how about telling this overbearing hunk of tal to let go first?!'
With tagross still pinning it down, how could it possibly trust Julian’s words?
However, Zoroark didn’t see Nicole do anything harmful to its child. She simply took out a few instrunts and began asuring.
Nicole carefully recorded the egg’s weight, height, circumference, shell thickness, and exact ti of birth.
Zoroark was a rare Pokémon species, and research data on both Zorua and Zoroark was still relatively scarce.
After completing her notes, Nicole gently set the egg back down and returned to Julian’s side.
With a subtle glance, Julian signaled tagross—and the psychic grip on Zoroark finally released.
In an instant, the dark-type lunged forward, scooping up the egg and pressing it against its face with a shuddering exhale.
For a mont, it had truly believed it was about to lose its child.
*****
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