Lane hadn't expected Bayleef to deliver the final blow to Ursaring, using the move he thought was useless, Rapid Spin.
He now felt like his face had been slapped repeatedly by Bayleef.
However, as long as the result was good, Lane was more than happy to be proven wrong.
"Munchy~"
Bayleef didn't know what Lane was thinking at this moment. It only knew that it had helped, so it was particularly excited.
It hopped over to Lane, raised its small face, wanting Lane to praise it.
But Lane was staring blankly ahead, not paying attention to Bayleef.
"Munchy munch!"
Bayleef was a little angry. It was fine if he didn't praise me, but now he's not even looking at me!
It spun the calyx on its head and bumped into Lane, finally bringing him back to his senses.
He looked down at the sulking Bayleef and picked it up.
"Sorry, sorry, I spaced out just now. You did a great job this time! You were a big help at the end! You can have any reward you want!"
Lane held up Bayleef and praised it.
His praise was sincere this time, even though most of the damage had been dealt by Scyther and Lairon.
But without Bayleef's final attack, the outcome might have been very different.
"Munchy~" (//ω//) Bayleef's face flushed with shyness from the praise. It didn't want any reward; being able to help Lane was enough.
"Can you still use Grassy Terrain?"
"Munchy!"
Bayleef nodded, indicating it was fine. It had wanted to use Grassy Terrain earlier.
But the battle had progressed too quickly, and Lane had been constantly leading Ursaring around, so it didn't know where to place it.
Now its energy was still abundant. After just a moment of preparation, it successfully used Grassy Terrain.
Lane released the two Pokémon he had previously recalled into their Poké Balls, letting them lie on the Grassy Terrain to heal their injuries.
He also took out two bottles of Super Potion from the system panel and asked the two female players to help apply the medicine to the two Pokémon.
The battle had been very intense, and Scyther and Lairon had both been seriously injured.
Lane was worried that their injuries would worsen on the way back to the territory, so he chose to heal them on the spot.
After using the potions, the two Pokémon's condition visibly improved, and Lane finally felt relieved.
"You guys did great today. Go back into your Poké Balls and rest for a while. You can have a good rest when we get back to the territory."
"Scy!" "Koko!"
Lane praised the two Pokémon a few times and then recalled them into their Poké Balls.
"Let's go take a look at that Ursaring."
He was very curious why Ursaring could enter a berserk state.
Before he could even get close, he heard two male players muttering something around Ursaring.
"Say, if I had a Poké Ball right now, wouldn't I just catch this Ursaring? This is a Pokémon that even Lord Lane took a long time to defeat. Wouldn't I be invincible then?"
"Whether you're invincible or not, I don't know. I only know you won't be seen in the game anymore. Have you forgotten that the game protagonist has the power to bestow titles?"
"Yeah, what a pity, what a pity."
Lane's forehead was covered in black lines after listening. Good heavens, this player was quite bold, even thinking about stealing his victory. If he didn't teach them a lesson, who knows what they'd do in the future.
Thinking of this, he coughed a few times and said:
"Ahem, as you can see, we successfully won this battle. I believe you have also gained a general understanding of how to command Pokémon in battle through watching."
"I hope you can all catch Pokémon that resonate with you in the future and fight alongside them."
"Of course, I still say the same thing: it's best to catch Pokémon yourself. This will also help you in future battles. Don't always think about getting something for nothing!"
As he said this, Lane specifically locked his gaze on Xu Ruofeng.
"We're doomed! Lord must have heard what we just said. Our favorability is going to plummet!"
Xu Ruofeng was very flustered, but Chen Yan was very calm. "You're wrong. It's not 'we,' it's just you. I didn't say anything bad~"
"You—"
"You what? Isn't this what you deserve? Change your habit of talking nonsense. The NPCs in this game are all artificial intelligence; they can react based on what you say."
"Especially since Lane is the game protagonist and has the power to bestow titles. We're trying our best to curry favor with him, and you dare to offend him? Don't you want to play this game anymore?"
"Crap, what do we do?"
Xu Ruofeng was even more flustered. If it were other games, he could just quit if he wasn't enjoying it. He wouldn't put up with this!
But this game was the only virtual reality game; there wasn't another one like it in the world.
He didn't want to be constantly targeted by the game protagonist.
"There's nothing we can do now. We can only find a way to increase favorability later."
Chen Yan spread his hands, indicating he was helpless.
Xu Ruofeng had no choice but to accept his fate, thinking about how to increase his favorability in the future.
Looking at the expressions of the two players, Lane knew his words had worked.
With the players' fearless nature, if he didn't scare them a little, who knew what they might do in the future.
After speaking, Lane took out a Poké Ball, preparing to catch Ursaring, when he suddenly noticed an unknown object on its head.
"Hmm? What's this?"
He crouched down and pried the unknown object off with his hand.
The object was about half the size of his little finger, diamond-shaped overall, and its pitch-black color seemed to absorb all light.
"This thing... could this be the reason Ursaring went berserk?"
Although Lane didn't recognize the object, he felt that there was something wrong with it.
In fact, after learning about Ursaring attacking players yesterday, he had doubts in his mind.
Ursaring had a bad temper and was irritable, but it rarely actively attacked humans. Most of the time, it would just drive humans away and almost never try to kill them.
But this Ursaring was particularly brutal, not only slapping a player to death but also being able to enter a berserk state.
At first, Lane thought it was an individual difference, but finding this black crystal on Ursaring made him suspicious.
Especially when he thought of the beast tide a few days ago. According to those who had fled back to the territory, the Pokémon that made up the beast tide also seemed unusually violent.
It was important to know that Pokémon wouldn't form a beast tide to attack the territory unless they were forced into a corner.
But recently, there hadn't been any conflict between humans and Pokémon, and their food was relatively sufficient. There was no reason for them to form a beast tide to attack human territories.
"Could it really be because of this black crystal?"
Lane picked up the crystal and examined it carefully. If this stone was the reason, then the beast tide was man-made. There wouldn't be such cleanly cut stones in nature.
"I should take it back to the territory and study it slowly."
Lane observed it for a long time but didn't find anything special. He had no choice but to put the crystal away, preparing to study it further when he returned to the territory.
He successfully caught Ursaring with a Poké Ball, and then returned to the territory with the players.
Once he reached the territory, he hurried to his study.
He skillfully began to request Arceus's blessing.
That's right, he was going to draw a prize again. The reason he had spaced out earlier was because he had received a notification from the system panel.
[Congratulations on obtaining the achievement: First Victory Against a Powerful Enemy. Reward: One Intermediate Lottery Ticket.]
According to the panel, the reward should have been a Beginner Lottery Ticket, but because Ursaring's strength had greatly increased due to special reasons, the reward was also upgraded.
Thus, Lane received one Intermediate Lottery Ticket.
This was Lane's first time using an Intermediate Lottery Ticket, and he was full of anticipation for the result.
"Great Arceus, bless me! Draw!"
[Congratulations on drawing—]