Chapter 468: The Superpowered Magical Makeup Artist: The Evolution Method for the Ugly Fish

Baking Rock Town.

This town is built atop a massive rock, brimming with fashionable trends, where many ceramics are born; its pillar industry is pottery making.

Baking Rock Town lies at the far southwest of the Paldea region; beyond it stretches the vast ocean, leading to some corner of this world.

Nearby exists the extremely famous Great Crater, the "Baking Rock Crater," which harbors no shortage of rare wild Pokémon and is highly popular among Trainers.

Without an air taxi or a flying Pokémon, reaching Baking Rock Town requires crossing the Baking Rock Crater, making transportation extremely inconvenient.

Therefore.

Baking Rock Town raises a large number of Cyclizar; both residents' travel and cargo transport rely entirely on Cyclizar.

After Luo Mu and his group of five arrived beneath the massive rock, they paired up two by two and rode Dragonite directly up onto the rock.

"A town built on a massive rock, how amazing!"

Ash said with a face full of excitement.

Having ridden Dragonite up alongside Peony, he had witnessed the height and grandeur of this massive rock with his own eyes, so his mood was naturally extremely exhilarated.

Hearing Hearing Nimo and the others beside him also nodded in agreement; upon first seeing this massive rock, their reactions were hardly any better than Ash's.

At this moment, having confirmed that all people and Pokémon had ascended, Luo Mu took out a Poké Ball, recalled Dragonite, and casually said, "Let's go; while it's not yet the 5 PM closing time, you go challenge the Gym, and I'll stroll through the town to buy some things."

Grusha, the Leader of the Baking Rock Gym, primarily serves as the president of a cosmetics company and doubles as a model; her popularity basically rivals that of Elesa from the Unova region, who is a model of similar stature.

As for the Baking Rock Gym, it can be considered a side job of a side job; were it not for Geeta's mandatory regulations, she might, like Fantina from the Sinnoh region, frequently go out, staying away for ten days or half a month at a time.

Gazing at the cluster of town buildings not far away, Luo Mu quickly made his arrangements.

Among the three, only Hearing Hearing Nimo needs to challenge the Baking Rock Gym; Peony and Rika will definitely accompany her to cheer her on.

As for Ash, Luo Mu felt that his interest in the Gym was far stronger than his desire to accompany him shopping.

Indeed.

Just as they were about to form a team of four to head to the Baking Rock Gym, Ash clamored that he also wanted to challenge the Baking Rock Gym.

This was not a problem at all.

Although the Paldea Gym Tests have an "officially recommended" challenge order, in reality, which Gym to challenge first is entirely up to the Trainer's freedom.

Paldea's Gym Leaders will, based on the challenger's strength, independently determine the strength of the battling Pokémon to meet Geeta's requirements of having "a sense of pressure" yet "providing nutrients for the challenger's growth," among other criteria.

Even a Trainer like Ash, who has not obtained a single badge in the Paldea region, can challenge the Baking Rock Gym, which ranks second to last in the officially recommended challenge order.

Since the four had made up their minds, after entering the city, Luo Mu waved to them, and they temporarily parted ways.

He planned to visit the ceramic products market in Baking Rock Town to find some satisfactory ceramic items, purchase a batch, and take them home to decorate his new house, using them as new tableware and tea sets.

Although Hearing Hearing Nimo and the others had invited Luo Mu to watch the battle, Luo Mu still declined.

Besides the reason of searching for ceramic products, a deeper reason he did not want to get involved in the Baking Rock Gym Test was that he absolutely did not want to perform the calisthenics created by Grusha, which were even more awkward than the "Dancing Youth" radio exercises.

The time spent selecting goods passed very quickly.

When Luo Mu came to his senses and checked the time, he found it was already approaching 5 PM.

After a brief thought, assuming the challenge over there had already concluded, Luo Mu, filled with his haul, followed the guidance of his memory and walked toward the outdoor battle grounds of the Baking Rock Gym.

As expected.

When he arrived at the battle grounds, the townspeople of Baking Rock Town, who seemed to have watched a wonderful battle, were riding Cyclizar, carrying ingredients and items just purchased from a discount supermarket, heading home with smiles on their faces.

Almost no bicycles or electric scooters existed in the entire town of Baking Rock.

These Cyclizar had integrated into every aspect of the townspeople's lives, serving as an excellent example of humans and Pokémon coexisting.

When Luo Mu entered the area of the battle grounds and looked left and right, he did not see Hearing Hearing Nimo or the others; instead, he saw someone unexpected.

The Leader of the Baking Rock Gym.

Grusha.

At this moment, Grusha was holding a mobile phone, her back to Luo Mu, gazing out at the distant sea, muttering to herself.

"Yes... I understand, leave it to me to handle."

"For the slogan, just use the simple and easy-to-understand 'Be beautiful, and be naturally beautiful'; please also place the order for the new eyeshadow colors."

"Mm-hmm, trouble you, contact me again if anything comes up."

Luo Mu, approaching, only heard these three sentences; clearly, Grusha was discussing work matters.

Standing aside and waiting quietly, Luo Mu only spoke when Grusha hung up the phone and put it down, asking, "How did it go?"

Grusha paused mid-action as she placed her phone into her bag, calmly turned around, and upon seeing Luo Mu, raised an eyebrow, "It's you."

"Did you come to check on your students? As for them, both challengers succeeded and obtained the Baking Rock Badge from me."

Seemingly recalling something, Grusha lightly tapped her lips with her fingertips, adorned with exquisite nail art, her smile enchanting and confident.

"That young Miss named Hearing Hearing Nimo was exceptionally good; although I held back to some extent, she still successfully defeated my ace."

"It seems it won't be long before another genius Champion-level Trainer like you appears in the Paldea region; President Geeta will surely be very happy."

"Don't you agree, Luo Mu?"

"Naturally."

Luo Mu nodded gently, a look of pride floating across his face.

"You are indeed the same kind of person as me."

Grusha displayed a perfectly measured smile and walked over gracefully, wearing high heels approximately ten centimeters tall.

"No matter the field—Gym Leader, cosmetologist, company president, model, or Trainer, teacher, farm owner—we all aim for first-class; in this regard, you and I are very similar."

Grusha and Luo Mu's friendship was not particularly deep.

But she could see that the other party was also someone who pursued "being ahead."

"I have a meeting next, so I will take my leave first. Your three students, along with that other boy who traveled all the way from the Kanto region, should now be renting Cyclizar to go explore and experience the area near the Baking Rock Crater."

Having said this, Grusha passed Luo Mu, waved to him, and was about to walk toward the sedan her assistant had parked by the roadside.

"Wait a moment."

Luo Mu suddenly spoke, and Lip stopped in her tracks.

She looked at Luo Mu with some surprise, "This is truly rare; do you have something else to ask of me?"

Luo Mu nodded gently and took out a Poké Ball.

Lip had thought he wanted to battle her.

But Luo Mu's next sentence directly left her stunned for several seconds.

"There is a commission I wish to entrust to you."

What kind of wind is blowing today?

This thought suddenly floated up in Lip's mind.

But she was, after all, a professional model; remaining calm in the face of change was a basic skill, for a professional model would not let any external factor affect her own beauty.

She blinked, then spoke: "Very well, since it is your commission, regardless of the content, I am willing to postpone the meeting for a while to hear you out."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lip took out her phone, quickly edited a message, and sent it; then Lip looked up at Luo Mu again, signaling that he could speak.

"Thank you."

Since it was he who had delayed her time, Luo Mu offered his thanks, then slowly explained his purpose and the commission. A moment later.

Lip raised an eyebrow and said, "In other words, you want to ask me for the secret to becoming beautiful, correct?"

"... Not me, but my Pokémon."

Luo Mu refuted.

The way Lip said that made it sound as if he were going to ask her for lessons on cross-dressing.

"It's all about the same."

Lip waved her hand, looked at Luo Mu, and changed the subject.

"Then, which Pokémon requires you to specifically seek me out, a Psychic Magic Illusionist?"

"Uh, it's this one."

Aiming at the portable fish tank he had prepared long ago, Luo Mu pressed the button on the Poké Ball in his hand.

Red light flashed.

In the water tank, a fish-type Pokémon appeared accordingly.

Upon seeing the true appearance of the Pokémon blowing bubbles in the water, even someone as emotionally stable as Lip fell silent for quite a while.

A moment later, she looked at Luo Mu and said in a gloomy tone, "Did you come here just to pick a fight?"

Because she often had to rush to appointments as a model, operate a cosmetics company, and expand sales channels.

Lip frequently traveled back and forth between major cities across the globe.

Although the Pokémon in the fish tank before her eyes was hardly distributed or inhabited in the Paldea region, she still knew something about it.

Feebas.

A Pokémon famous for its shabby appearance, first discovered in the Hoenn region.

Of course.

Regarding Feebas's evolved form, Lip also knew a thing or two.

Milotic, hailed as the most beautiful Pokémon in the world; Lip had even collaborated with one to shoot photos published in magazines.

But Milotic and Feebas were simply the gap between an ugly duckling and a swan; in fairy tales, the ugly duckling could gradually grow into a white swan, yet most Feebas could only live their entire lives in muddy, turbid water, with individuals capable of evolving into Milotic being exceedingly rare.

However, this was only the situation in the wild.

Feebas possessed two methods to evolve into Milotic.

The first was the most difficult, requiring Feebas to increase a conceptual value called "Beauty."

To put it simply, so-called Beauty was Feebas's confidence, as well as the "beauty" it radiated from the inside out; only this could allow it to be reborn and evolve into Milotic.

But this method was extremely difficult; most Feebas were clearly aware of their own appearance, so something like confidence simply did not exist.

However, for Feebas captured by humans, there was another shortcut to evolution.

The item "Prism Scale."

As long as it held this item, Feebas could evolve into Milotic; the difficulty was not even on the same level.

It was just that Milotic evolved through these two methods possessed an absolute gap between them.

Of course, whether in terms of potential or appearance, Milotic evolved by either method would not show obvious differences.

It was only in terms of "temperament" that the gap between the two types of Milotic was very obvious.

To use an analogy, it was like the difference between a natural beauty and an artificial beauty.

Perhaps part of this analogy was not entirely apt, but the principle was the principle; even if trainers did not care about this point, the gap factually existed.

As mentioned before, Lip knew that Luo Mu was essentially the same kind of person as herself, someone who would pursue "first-class" and "optimal" as much as possible.

With Luo Mu's current financial strength, buying a Prism Scale was more than enough, yet even so, he had sought her out; this already explained his thoughts.

Thinking of this, Lip sighed; if she had known earlier, she would have pretended not to hear and slipped away directly.

But since she had already stopped, there was nothing to do but grit her teeth and see it through.

Lip carefully examined the Feebas inside the fish tank; not only its appearance, but also its eyes, its current state, and even its faint temperament all had to be inspected.

"Is it... shiny?"

Lip asked curiously.

After all, the purple and silver color scheme was far more hellish than the earthy yellow and light blue she remembered.

"Yes." Luo Mu nodded, then asked expectantly, "Do you have any ideas?"

During this period, he had considered Feebas's evolution methods; after much thought, he felt that a Milotic evolved via Beauty would be more confident.

Since he happened to be coming to Cortondo, he immediately thought of Lip, intending to ask a professional.

Facing Luo Mu's question, Lip lowered her eyes to ponder for a few seconds, then spoke: "Its eyes and temperament are not bad; unlike those Feebas living in turbid water that have long lost their spirit."

In short, it means there is still room for training.

Lip blinked, stating methodically, "Since we are doing this, we might as well do it to the best of our ability; temperament, image, and even the look in its eyes all require transformation."

"Give me one day; I need to organize and design a complete, reliable plan."

"Then I'll trouble you!"

Luo Mu's eyes lit up; it was wonderful that Lip was willing to help!

"Mm."

Lip nodded lightly, took out her device, aimed the lens at the Feebas, and asked again:

"You don't mind if I take a few photos, do you?"

"Be my guest."

Luo Mu nodded slightly and stepped aside to make room.

Lip instinctively found a good angle and casually snapped a few shots.

After all, this was just a reference; as long as the details were captured, there was no need to deliberately choose angles.

With a few clicks, Lip stopped and checked the photos on her phone, suddenly becoming somewhat surprised.

Looking at the Feebas silently gazing back at her, she raised her delicate eyebrows. "Not bad camera presence; keep it up."

Then.

As if recalling something, Lip looked at Luo Mu, who had resumed interacting with the Feebas, her voice carrying a hint of teasing.

"Don't tell me—"

"You're planning to enter that Contest hosted by Grape Academy and the Contest Association?"

"That's right."

Luo Mu did not hide it from her; after all, they would definitely be cooperating for some time ahead.

Entering the Feebas in the Contest was primarily to build its confidence as much as possible, which was the only way to increase its Beauty condition.

At the same time, there were quite a few Pokémon on the farm that were either cute, beautiful, or handsome.

Participating in Contests and the like would surely be very interesting! (End of Chapter)