Chapter 632: Luo Mu Is About to Teach His Exclusive Secret Technique

Issuing a challenge was not Lisia's sudden whim, but the answer she arrived at after careful deliberation.

Lisia had already learned through her own channels that her uncle had lost to Luo Mu in a Contest.

Although she had not yet obtained the specific details or the recording.

—But she truly wanted to experience firsthand how Luo Mu, as a Contest novice, managed to defeat her uncle in competition!

Lisia looked at Luo Mu with high morale, believing no one could utter a single "no" under the gaze of an idol like her.

But who was Luo Mu?

Hearing Hearing Nimo still hesitated to refuse since she was his student, but with Lisia, he had no such worries!

Seeing Lisia's incredulous expression, Luo Mu remained unmoved and said, "I understand everything you said, but I'm sorry, I must decline your challenge."

"Eh? Eh? Eh—?"

Never expecting to be rejected, Lisia let out a shriek of disbelief; she tried to say more, but her shoulders sank as Adam and Wallace jointly pinned her in place.

"Being pushy is not behavior befitting a lady, Lisia."

Adam said meaningfully.

Lisia cast a pitiful glance at her uncle again, only to receive Wallace's nod of agreement with Adam's words.

"Gh... I understand. I was too Tang Tu. I apologize."

After apologizing.

Lisia could only temporarily abandon this idea; she greeted Steven, who had rarely been ignored, then hung her head dejectedly, stating she was heading to the Gym's battle field to train.

After Lisia left with the key Adam gave her, the four men returned to the reception room where Wallace had previously hosted guests.

As the eldest present, Adam spoke first.

"My apologies; that child has been somewhat anxious lately, so she wishes to seize every opportunity to improve herself."

Adam's appearance matched his demeanor: he was a gentleman.

His meticulous light-blue robe paired with a pristine cravat, along with slightly graying sideburns, lent him an air of mature charm.

Luo Mu recalled that the game's setting gave Adam the somewhat quirky title of "The Dewy and Alluring Gym Leader," leaving one unsure where to even begin critiquing it.

Adam explained to Luo Mu why Lisia had suddenly challenged him.

The reason was not complex; it was simply that while Lisia served as a Contest idol, she was also undertaking various entertainment jobs arranged by her agency.

The agency attempted to cultivate this child star into someone like Diantha, aiming for great achievements in both Contests and the entertainment industry.

But humans often have limited energy; at least for Lisia, balancing entertainment work with training as a Contest Coordinator proved quite difficult.

While honing her acting skills and memorizing lines, she inevitably neglected her Contest training.

Even though Lisia herself was exceptionally talented, the world was not lacking in talented individuals; they all trained with all their might on that same foundation. In such circumstances, how could Lisia hope to achieve victory?

Since her debut, Lisia had not yet won a single Grand Festival, remaining far from becoming the top Coordinator she admired, let alone surpassing Wallace.

Thus, following Adam and Wallace's advice, Lisia abandoned most of her entertainment work to focus entirely on preparing for the upcoming "Wallace Cup," hoping to become a one-of-a-kind "Contest Idol."

"She likely heard that you once defeated Wallace; that child probably thought that since her uncle was unwilling to battle her, she should challenge the person who defeated him to gain experience... or something along those lines."

Adam's expression was somewhat helpless; although he doted on his disciple's niece, he could not forcibly demand that Luo Mu, their guest, accept Lisia's challenge.

He could only try telling the story, attempting indirectly to help Lisia.

Wallace remained silent throughout; as the founder of the Wallace Cup, he strictly required himself to show no favoritism.

He would not participate in his niece's—who was also half his disciple's—training or the choreography prepared for the Contest, ensuring absolute fairness.

This was his principle as a person.

As for Steven, his hobby was hard rocks, and he used Rock-type and Steel-type Pokémon accordingly; thus, he possessed absolutely no talent for Contests and could not interject.

The topic swung back to Luo Mu.

However, neither Adam nor Wallace had any intention of pressuring him.

After all, Wallace had invited Luo Mu to visit the Hoenn region for leisure, not to freeload off him by making him serve as Lisia's sparring partner.

Thus, Adam and Wallace spoke in unison: "It is nearly time for dinner; I shall have Sebastian prepare it immediately."

"After sitting on an airplane for so long, you must be physically and mentally exhausted; after enjoying dinner, please rest first. Tomorrow, I will take you to visit many wonderful sights in Sootopolis City."

Before Luo Mu could speak, Steven promptly proposed his intention to leave.

"Indeed, it is getting late; I shall take my leave as well."

"After all, Mossdeep City is some distance from Sootopolis City; if I depart now, my Metagross should be able to arrive before nightfall."

Steven made no attempt to hide his "reluctant" gaze, but he also knew he could not shamelessly push forward; he could only wear a slightly regretful expression as he exchanged contact information with Luo Mu.

He then returned to the courtyard, directly summoned his Shiny Metagross, and ascended straight into the high sky.

After seeing Steven depart, Terapagos inside Luo Mu's bag finally relaxed, sticking its head out and emitting a soft cry.

"Gos-Gos—"

Finally gone—

That scorching gaze was truly unbearable for this little turtle who had only recently ended its reclusive life.

Sebastian was a human butler hired by Adam to manage this Sootopolis Gym.

Luo Mu felt somewhat relieved; fortunately, he had chosen Oranguru as his Pokémon butler, otherwise he would surely despair at a world where every butler was named Sebastian.

After sharing dinner, under Butler Sebastian's guidance, Luo Mu first went to the room Wallace had prepared for him to drop off his luggage.

"This is the room for your rest; should you have any problems or needs, please summon me via this call bell before the door, and I will arrive immediately."

Leaving these words, Sebastian bowed slightly and exited the room.

Flopping onto the soft large bed, Luo Mu and Terapagos stared at each other.

Victini and the others were already tired from the afternoon's costume change activity, while Terapagos, having refused to show itself, still retained its energy.

After a moment of thought, feeling unable to calm down and rest, Luo Mu asked it, "Gos-Gos, shall we go out for a walk?"

"Gos-Gos!"

Talbathos revealed a happy smile and actively nodded.

In truth, it also quite wanted to admire the scenery of the courtyard, which had been tended to such a pleasing degree!

With the strongest navigation system at his disposal, Luo Mu considered himself absolutely incapable of getting lost.

Since he carried no luggage anyway, possessing only a large-capacity space backpack, Luo Mu set it down and, feeling light as a feather, carried Talbathos straight into the courtyard.

The sky had already turned completely dark; the time was likely not far from deep night.

Yet the fountain, with its quite avant-garde artistic style, gushed forth without ceasing for even a moment.

Somewhat curious, Talbathos acted coquettishly, prompting Luo Mu to lift it up, before carefully touching the water's surface with its forelimbs.

Do not be misled by its appearance as a small turtle; strictly speaking, Talbathos belongs to the tortoise category.

It might know a little swimming, but it is absolutely not capable of moving freely in the water like most amphibious turtles or sea turtles.

Furthermore, the place where it once lived was inland, with no water resources nearby, so its contact with water was truly minimal.

"Bago-go."

Gazing at its own reflection mirrored in the pool, Talbathos became momentarily entranced.

But at that moment, a slightly discordant sound disturbed the silence within the courtyard.

It sounded like the noise of a Pokémon releasing a move.

"That direction is...?"

Holding Talbathos, Luo Mu looked toward the source of the sound.

He recalled that when Wallace had introduced the Sootopolis Gym to him, he had mentioned that over there was the training hall normally used by the gym's Pokémon for practice?

Who would be inside at this hour... No, considering Adam's explanation from today, Luo Mu could roughly guess the answer to who exactly was staying inside.

After pondering for a few seconds, he decided to go take a look.

After all, he did indeed feel a bit curious about what level Lisia was at right now.

When she first appeared in the Journeys anime, she had still managed a draw with Serena in a Contest.

It gave the impression that she still had a very long road ahead before reaching the level of a top-tier Coordinator.

Luo Mu did not rashly fling open the main door and burst into the training hall; instead, he moved lightly and quietly to an area with a good vantage point, observing the bright interior through the transparent windows.

Talbathos, nestled in his arms, also looked around curiously.

Inside the training hall, Lisia, dressed in simple training attire, was shedding sweat, seemingly practicing the dance routines of her role as a Contest idol.

Beside her, another figure had appeared.

It was a large bird with a sky-blue body and cloud-like wings as fluffy as cotton, its size nearly matching Lisia's own.

The Singing Pokémon, Altaria, possessing Dragon and Flying types, was yet another creature with a quadruple weakness to Ice.

It also bore the title "Dragon Traitor," a moniker derived from the fact that upon Mega Evolving, Altaria's Flying type is replaced by the Fairy type, which completely counters the Dragon type.

This also made Altaria a true Dragon-slayer, effective against Dragon types whether using Dragon-type moves or Fairy-type moves, while simultaneously being immune to Dragon-type attacks.

This behavior, akin to "defecting to the enemy," earned it the title "Dragon Traitor."

At this moment, Altaria was also shedding sweat, striving to release moves in an attempt to make the collisions between techniques spark beautiful fireworks.

Objectively speaking, Altaria's performance level was actually quite good.

The spreading white mist felt like a gentle breeze brushing the face, while the Draco Meteor, sacrificing power to emphasize visual effects, created a dazzling sensation the moment it bloomed.

It was far superior to those students who barely understood how to perform when Wallace came to Grape Academy to host the school Contest.

—But this was true only from the visual perspective emphasized by Coordinators.

After observing Lisia's training for a while, Luo Mu immediately spotted several problems.

Like most Coordinators, Lisia placed greater emphasis on the flamboyance of the moves, making that her goal for training.

Luo Mu also understood that this was not an erroneous choice, after all, Contests were inherently places to showcase the splendor of Pokémon.

However, judging by Lisia's own goals, her current training was utterly mistaken!

To speak even more harshly, Lisia was senselessly wasting her life and time!

Lisia blindly pursued the flamboyance of moves while neglecting the very essence of Pokémon training; Wallace and Adam could not possibly have failed to notice this.

Both of them were true masters who had reached the peak of the Coordinator field; not only were their moves flamboyant, but their Pokémon themselves possessed formidable strength.

Therefore, they should have been clear that a Coordinator cannot pursue only flamboyance while completely discarding other aspects, as that would be akin to putting the cart before the horse.

—Yet they had not spoken of this matter, seeming to have no intention of enlightening Lisia whatsoever.

Were they expecting Lisia to discover this point on her own?

That was a possibility.

But in Luo Mu's view, the most likely reason was ultimately—

"They counted on me to absolutely not stand idly by once I discovered such a problem?"

Wallace and Adam indeed exerted no pressure nor interfered; whether to help Lisia depended entirely on Luo Mu's own decision.

Regardless of his original purpose for becoming a teacher, over the course of this year, Luo Mu had indeed fully integrated himself into the role of a teacher.

Precisely because of this, Luo Mu, possessing the "instinct of a teacher," would absolutely not allow Lisia to waste her time so erroneously.

After all, the girl herself possessed that innate talent.

Luo Mu could not turn a blind eye; his instinct was stirring, compelling him to guide that potential.

Of course, all of this presupposed that Lisia's goal was to surpass Wallace, rather than merely becoming an ordinary Coordinator or idol.

Otherwise, this style of training would actually be sufficient.

"Oh well, let's consider this a return gift for such thorough hospitality."

Heaving a sigh, Luo Mu, still holding Talbathos, voluntarily pushed open the main door and stood before a somewhat surprised Lisia.

Facing the cute and sweet blue-haired girl before him, Luo Mu stated expressionlessly: "Your training method is completely wrong!"

"I wouldn't say it's a total mess, but it falls far short of your goals and dreams!"

"Huh—?"

Lucia's eyes went wide; she couldn't fathom what Luo Mu was doing, having refused her challenge before dinner and now coming over to spout incomprehensible nonsense.

The Tanabata Bluebird beside her tilted its head in puzzlement, its cloud-like fluffy plumage rippling.

Rather than explain himself to the girl's confusion, Luo Mu went on with his own little speech.

"Aren't you curious why I was able to beat your uncle at the Grand Showcase?"

"I'll tell you the answer now."

"—Because my Pokémon and my commanding ability are both stronger than his. That's all there is to it!"

"No matter how many points get docked, as long as I make Milotic fall one step ahead of him, then the victory is mine!"

(End of chapter)