Alex woke up next to Maria and gazed calmly at her sleeping face.
For a brief mont, he did nothing but observe her slow breathing and relaxed expression. When their bodies touched, he felt a faint ripple of psychic energy emanating from her.
He had only recently beco capable of perceiving sothing so subtle.
Only now, as a strong Rank 4 Psychic, could he naturally sense residual psychic energy without actively focusing or using any techniques. Before that, such faint traces would have passed unnoticed.
Maria possessed enough psychic energy to be classified as a strong Rank 2 Psychic, which was precisely why the two of them had agreed not to train it any further.
Many people failed to understand the difference between a normal Rank 2 Psychic and a Rank 3 Psychic. They assud the gap was small because the raw quantity of psychic energy didn't seem that different. That assumption was completely wrong.(Chapter 180 for more details.)
For example, if Human A had a psychic energy value of 200 and Human B had a value of 100, that didn't an Human A was rely twice as strong. Not only was the quantity doubled, but the quality of that energy was on an entirely different level.
Human A would be several tis stronger in practice—whether it ca to training efficiency, acceleration speed, power output, or control. The difference compounded in every aspect.
Maria's psychic energy was around 85.
That placed her far below even the weakest Rank 3 Psychic, who would have at least 100 psychic energy. Even if Maria trained for several years, she would never reach the sa results Alex had achieved in under a single year.
After all, Alex's original psychic energy had been 203.
From a purely rational standpoint, investing ti into Maria's psychic training simply wasn't worth it. The gains would be marginal at best.
Still…
The fact that Maria possessed above-average psychic potential ant that Alex unconsciously viewed her a little more favorably. It wasn't sothing he actively acknowledged, and it certainly wasn't strong—but it was there.
Occasionally, he even felt a faint instinctive impulse to dominate or subdue her.
Alex frowned slightly at the thought and dismissed it just as quickly. It was nothing more than a biological and psychic reaction, not sothing worth indulging.
Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly realized that Maria was no longer asleep.
She was staring directly at him.
…
A brief silence followed.
Finally, Maria spoke, her voice calm but faintly curious.
"What do you think about so much every day?"
Alex paused.
Since he could think about almost anything and everything at any given mont, finding a single, satisfying answer wasn't easy.
"Not sure," he said honestly. "Most of the ti it's just… random things. I develop so kind of theory about them. Like that one battle with a full-powered legendary Pokémon where—"
Maria, already looking mildly bored, let out a flat response.
"Oh…"
Alex noticed imdiately and smiled faintly.
To Maria, he probably sounded like an overly enthusiastic history teacher explaining sothing no one had asked about.
He wisely changed the topic. He could talk about that sort of thing with Steven later.
"By the way," Alex said, "when are you planning to start hiring staff? You can't handle everything by yourself."
Maria stretched slightly before answering.
"For security, two of my Pokémon are more than enough," she replied casually. "I've already hired several cooks to prepare als in the morning and evening, plus a housekeeper who plays with the children and spends ti with them."
She paused for a mont before continuing.
"Five more staff mbers with experience working with children are arriving today. That should be enough for up to a hundred children in the future."
Alex nodded. "What about teachers?"
Maria smiled, clearly confident.
"That won't be a problem. I can easily find teachers for language, math, and other standard subjects."
She tilted her head slightly.
"Finding a Pokémon training instructor will be more expensive, though—especially if you want soone at the elite level."
Alex considered it briefly. "Let's hire a good Pokémon training teacher, but only for two hours a week. That should be enough to teach the basics—and to identify which children actually have talent."
Maria nodded without hesitation.
"Two hours a week won't be too expensive," she said. "I'll arrange it."
Alex seed satisfied. "Good. I'll have to be a bit more careful with spending for now. I've burned through a lot of money recently."
Maria rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. One of the richest trainers of this era talking about money problems? That's bold."
Alex chuckled. "Hey, I'm serious. I've got less than ten million Poké Dollars left."
She snorted. "Only ten million. Tragic. How are you even surviving?"
Alex laughed openly this ti.
Compared to when he had first started, the amount was absurd. Ever since he and Steven launched the S-rank training plan, money had stopped feeling real. He was ridiculously wealthy by normal standards.
Unfortunately, his Pokémon were no longer normal either.
At this stage, increasing their potential required rare materials, specialized items, and thods that burned money faster than he could comfortably replace it. Ten million wasn't small—it was simply insufficient.
The real issue was that the S-rank training plan couldn't be used frequently. Pushing it too hard would attract attention and diminish its effectiveness.
Alex already had a solution in mind.
Soon, he would return to the wilds—deeper, more dangerous regions this ti. Not just to earn money, but to search for S-rank Pokémon. One for Maria, perhaps. Maybe one more for his other subordinates if the opportunity appeared.
With his current strength, such areas posed little risk.
And if sothing truly dangerous appeared—
Alex's gaze sharpened slightly.
With ga Scizor as his trump card, both his own safety and that of his Pokémon were almost guaranteed.
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if the story gets 150 powerstones in 24 hours, I will upload 1 bonus chapter tomorrow.
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If you want to see the next chapters (30 chapters) earlier or just want to support
s--/alex02373
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