The Path of a Genius to Becoming a Pokémon Champion

Chapter 217: Onmyoji

After a long, drawn-out negotiation, Articuno Media finally transferred Arthur's subsequent contract for a price of 520,000.

To think that when they first signed Arthur, the signing bonus they gave was merely 100,000, plus renting him an apartment at a low price.

Eleanor Vance helping Arthur with the down payment for Froakie was a purely personal act, unrelated to the company.

And then, in just one year, the transfer contract had flipped for five times the price. Including the time Arthur streamed his trip at sea, plus commissions from various endorsements and advertisements, Articuno Media had profited nearly 1,000,000 from Arthur in a single year!

In one year, a tenfold return on investment!

In any industry, this would be considered a god-tier investment decision!

Articuno Media's reputation in the industry soared as a result.

Of course, Arthur didn't have much of a relationship with the Articuno Media company itself; he was only grateful to Sis Eleanor personally.

If she hadn't taken the initiative to lend him money to help with the down payment for his Pokémon back then, he might not have even made it to the Golden Autumn Cup by the time his signing bonus came through.

"After this, I won't be here to manage your Starbo for you anymore. Remember not to speak carelessly online. You can let the team manage your fan group. Remember to attend commercial events on time, and don't get lost and not answer your phone again!"

Before he left, Eleanor Vance nagged him with reminders, just like an older sister who was worried about her younger brother venturing out into the world alone.

"Okay, Sis Eleanor."

Arthur smiled and agreed, without a hint of impatience.

This was probably the first ray of light he had encountered after transmigrating. Without this understanding older sister, his integration into this unfamiliar era certainly wouldn't have been so fast.

After bidding farewell to Sis Eleanor, Arthur officially signed with the Sea Carp Team.

At his strong insistence, the initial contract was only signed for two years.

The team had wanted to sign for five years at once, but Arthur resolutely disagreed!

He was very confident in his own growth. In five years, he believed his value would absolutely not be what it was now!

If he didn't even have this much confidence, he would be letting down his former title of Heavenly King!

He had even wanted to sign for one year at a time, but the team wasn't stupid either.

In the end, they could only compromise on two years.

After signing the contract, Arthur received his team uniform.

Then, he was dragged off to shoot endorsement ads for a full three days…

The degree of commercialization in the Alliance's professional circle was already quite high. Even for a mid-tier league team like Sea Carp, the sponsor logos on their uniforms could fill a nine-square grid.

Various commercial activities and endorsements were a fate that professional players were destined not to escape. It couldn't be helped.

At the same time, the Sea Carp Team's Starbo account also officially announced this personnel change, and the club's management staff formally took over the administration of Arthur's fan group.

Arthur didn't really care about these things. After finishing the commercial shoots, he continued his daily training without stopping.

Since coming to this era, he rarely surfed the web. Most of the time, Eleanor Vance had to tell him that he had gone viral again.

To this day, his typing speed was still as slow as an old lady with bound feet. Fortunately, this era had something called voice input…

However, Bella was always very enthusiastic about this. She had joined Arthur's fan group early on and was a frequent chatter. Now, she had chattered her way into becoming an administrator.

This day, while they were having lunch together, it was Bella who took the initiative to tell Arthur, "After the club officially announced you joining the team, the Otter Team's fans started flaming you again."

"Why are Otter's fans flaming me?"

To be honest, he had already forgotten what kind of grudge he had with the Otter Team.

"Sigh, it's still about that incident from before, when you rejected their team's invitation a month ago. Their fans are now cursing you for being arrogant and for a mere rookie looking down on everyone."

Arthur was completely baffled.

This felt like watching an anime and suddenly discovering you've missed several dozen episodes.

"This… where is this coming from?"

Luna, at the side, very calmly explained to him, "No need to be so surprised. In this circle, there will often be a lot of controversies that start in ways that feel baffling to you. You'll never know how much fans can interpret from a single unintentional word or action of yours. Don't look too deep into it; just take care of yourself."

Bella, at the side, also chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, there are a lot of people online who especially love to examine you with a magnifying glass. As long as you're popular, the number of people who like you will be high, and the number of people who flame you will be even higher. Most of the time, it's best to just ignore it."

Arthur understood, but he still squinted his eyes and looked at Bella.

Her posture at the dinner table—hugging a phone, fingers flying, instantly firing off retorts—made her words very unconvincing…

Perhaps noticing Arthur's gaze, Bella rarely looked up and gave a laugh.

"Ahaha, don't learn from me. I have a good mentality, and my Onmyoji arts are max level. I'm never afraid of this kind of online battle. Besides, I have many alternate accounts. I can open ten accounts at once to flame them back. They can't out-argue me~"

This sentence contained too many internet terms at once, and Arthur didn't quite understand.

"Onmyoji arts... what's that?"

Why does this suddenly feel so mystical?

"It's the art of being sarcastic and passive-aggressive."

"..."

Arthur squinted his eyes again, not knowing how to respond.

I don't understand, but I feel greatly shaken.jpg

After eating, Arthur continued to take Luna for training.

After experiencing the "Substitute" speed-learning session, although Arthur had consciously lowered the volume of some of the training later on, Luna seemed to have been completely won over by him.

Now, with the training matches approaching and the club's coaches having returned one after another, she did not choose to go back to class. Instead, she continued to follow Arthur every day for the relatively dull basic exercises and physical training, appearing as if she had risked everything to follow him.

For a player of her age, this was undoubtedly a huge gamble.

But this time, she chose to trust Arthur without reservation, to trust this handsome shota who could create miracles in her eyes.

Bella, on the other hand, hadn't made up her mind yet. After the coaches returned recently, she still went to class with her Pokémon every day as scheduled.

An afternoon passed by in a flash.

At dinnertime, Arthur and Luna, who had been training outdoors, met up with Bella, who had been in class indoors, at the club cafeteria again.

All three of them looked a bit tired—even in class, with Bella's personality, it was impossible for her to be a hands-off manager; she always accompanied her Pokémon throughout the lessons.

But on this evening, Arthur keenly noticed that Bella's expression seemed to be more than just tired.

"Did something happen?" he asked with concern.

He never expected the drama to fall on his own head.

Bella looked at him with a complicated expression.

"Something happened in your fan group. A young fan got too worked up and accidentally exposed her real information while arguing with some irrational Otter Team fans. Now she's being doxxed. She just said in the group that she's received several hundred harassing texts and calls this afternoon. The little girl seems terrified."

Bella was very calm when she said this.

She was a veteran of flame wars. Before she went pro, she was a prodigy among the online "Onmyoji." To her, this was a small scene.

But that young fan had clearly never experienced this before. When she was sending messages in the group just now, it felt like she was about to cry.

Arthur was also baffled by this.

"This… what should I do?" he asked blankly.

(End of Chapter)

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