Chapter Ninety: Wear Yourselves Out, You Shameless Pair

At last, Ralts managed to get back on her feet. The scrape from the fall was only a minor skin injury to begin with, and after a spray of wound medicine, it was even less of a concern.

The obstacle run resumed at once.

This time, knowing that Tang Yi had deliberately adjusted the spacing between each hurdle, Ralts became especially cautious.

She finally completed the fifty-meter stretch with a smooth series of teleports, but the time had climbed to thirty-nine seconds, even longer than the very first attempt.

Tang Yi was not pleased. "Ralts, this won't do. I didn’t raise the difficulty so you’d take longer. You should be like you were on the second lap and shorten the gap between each use as much as possible."

"Okay," the girl muttered, pouting slightly. Now that she was more motivated, she no longer complained.

They turned back and started again.

This time, Ralts’s teleportation finally began to grow a little faster. The fifty meters were completed in twenty-nine seconds.

Though the improvement was slight, it was still progress, and Tang Yi did not stint on praise. He showered her with every word of encouragement he could think of.

The last trace of gloom on the girl’s face vanished completely. After all, she was only just a grown girl; how could she withstand such a barrage of sweet words?

Along the way, Zhang Chen, who was training Starly on the other side, came over during a break and chatted with Tang Yi. "Hey, I heard you’re still single. Is that true?"

Tang Yi, struck where it hurt, exploded at once. "What’s it to you? Has being single eaten your family’s rice or something?"

Although the mainstream view in this world still did not encourage students to date in high school, the reality was that many capable boys had already found a partner by then.

Zhang Chen waved a hand and, recalling the way Tang Yi had just soothed Ralts, said with a hint of feeling, "Nothing, nothing. I’m just surprised you can still be single. Is it because all your energy is going into Ralts?"

Tang Yi froze for a moment, but he knew Zhang Chen did not mean it that way.

Not far away, Ralts also startled slightly and quickly pricked up her ears.

Tang Yi did not know how to answer.

Zhang Chen, however, had already understood and answered his own question. "I get it. The college entrance exam is too important. Suffer now and train hard; once you get to university, you’ll meet more outstanding girls. All right, I’m going back to training. Keep it up."

Tang Yi shook his head and cast aside the strange, fleeting, and rather improper thought that had just flashed through his mind. This really was not the time to think about anything else. He had to give everything he had to preparing for the college entrance exam first.

Obstacle teleportation continued.

Tang Yi also did not forget to have Ralts drink a mental-energy supplement at the proper time to replenish what she had expended. Li Yaowen had been right: repeated use of teleportation was a severe test of energy consumption.

Fortunately, Ralts had a fairly strong foundation in psychic power. Only after the third round did she stop for a supplement, and even Li Yaowen could not help but praise her.

Ralts wore a small, smug expression. While gulping down the supplement, she looked at Tang Yi, waiting for the praise she had been expecting.

But this time Tang Yi did not indulge her. He shook his head and said, "Don’t push yourself like that next time. I know your psychic power is strong, but don’t wait until you can barely hold on before you rest and take a supplement. Starting next time, you come over for one after every lap. Got it?"

Ralts pouted. This guy really was something else. Every time she was just starting to feel happy, he had to say something disappointing. But then she thought about it again.

He was worried about her.

The girl pressed her lips together and nodded softly. "Mm-hm. I know you’re worried about me. I understand."

"Ah, no, that’s not—" Tang Yi felt Ralts might have misunderstood.

He felt he needed to clarify, and quickly pointed to the whole box of bottles and jars on the ground nearby. Inside were mental-energy supplements and physical-energy supplements alike.

"See those supplements? The school allocated funds specifically to buy them for us. If you don’t drink them, it’s not like we can return them, right? Once they’re used up, more will be bought, and these are all good brands too."

These various supplements did differ by brand; the cheapest cost only a few yuan, while the better ones could be dozens per bottle. Naturally, the effects varied greatly as well.

Ralts immediately lost the cheer she had just had. With a quiet "oh," she drained the bottle in one go, expressionless as she went back to continue training her teleportation.

Zhang Chen, standing by, twitched at the corner of his mouth. Well, he thought he had to take back what he’d just said. There was indeed a reason this guy was single.

Was there any need to explain such a lovely little misunderstanding?

Was there?

"There is a need!" Tang Yi waved his right hand, speaking to Ralts with fervor. "Increasing the difficulty is absolutely necessary! Have you ever heard the saying: only by suffering the bitterest hardships can one become the finest of spirits? It means that only by suffering now can you surpass the other girl Pokémon in the future and win prize money!"

Ralts blinked her big red eyes and shook her head. "I’ve never heard that before. Did Lu Xun say it too?"

"Uh, sort of," Tang Yi replied casually, unwilling to dwell on it.

"That man is amazing. Is he a writer?"

"Yes, yes, Ralts, we’re talking about something serious here."

"Oh, but... all right, I’ll give it a try."

Ralts agreed with some reluctance, and Tang Yi decided to strike while the iron was hot.

He temporarily raised the difficulty of the teleportation training again. This time, it was no longer just a contest of speed. Tang Yi borrowed a pile of plastic balls from the school, and while Ralts was teleporting, he would throw the balls at opportune moments.

Ralts’s task was to dodge them as much as possible while still continuing to teleport forward.

The difficulty rose sharply.

At first, Ralts looked quite bedraggled. The plastic balls were actually very light, and being hit by them did not hurt at all. If they had any real weight, Tang Yi would never have borne to throw them.

But he was devious. Tang Yi did not throw them at fixed intervals. Instead, he would pace around nearby and suddenly hurl one from different angles.

With a large reserve of good-brand mental supplements behind her, there was no need to worry about psychic-energy depletion at all.

When Starly and Pikachu took their occasional breaks and saw how miserably Ralts was grinding through the training, they could not help but feel a little sympathy. Ralts was too pitiful; this trainer was far too cold-blooded. How could he do this?

A while later, after she finally staggered through one full lap of teleportation, the continuous psychic drain nearly left her collapsed with exhaustion.

At this point, Tang Yi no longer wore a stern face. He hurried over to help the girl sit down, unscrewed a mental-energy supplement and handed it to her, then took out a towel with his left hand and carefully wiped the sweat from Ralts’s forehead. With his right hand, he produced a folding fan and vigorously fanned her, just shy of personally feeding her water one sip at a time.

If one was going to train, then as a trainer, the logistics had to be properly handled.

Starly and Pikachu glanced at the supplements in their own hands. No one helped them open theirs, and no one stood nearby fanning them. Instantly, they lost all enthusiasm. With a pout, they each walked off, sharing the same feeling in their hearts: may the two of you, you shameless lovebirds, work yourselves to death.