Chapter 31
After the livestream ended, Mike began packing up the equipment while Professor Rowan stood nearby, stroking his mustache.
"That was quite interesting. It’s been a long time since I spoke for that many hours."
Professor Rowan nodded with satisfaction.
"Mike, teach me how to set everything up properly sometime. Then I can livestream whenever I’m free and help Trainers solve their problems."
"Sure. I’ll come by another day!"
Mike answered while putting the drone back into his backpack.
Once everything was packed away, he said goodbye to Professor Rowan and left with Gengar and the fat Weedle tucked in his arms to get dinner.
He had been too busy to visit Glameow at noon, so after dinner, Mike stopped by the Pokémon Center.
Since it was already quite late, he did not bring meals for Nurse Joy and Chansey.
Instead, he brought them two cups of coffee.
Standing outside the treatment room, Mike looked through the glass.
Chansey was holding something similar to a cat teaser and carefully helping Glameow with her rehabilitation.
Mike watched for a while, then turned away.
"Let’s go back and sleep. I’m exhausted."
He yawned.
Gengar, who had been pressed against the glass watching Glameow, answered before placing Weedle on top of his head and following Mike outside.
Weedle still loved lying on other people’s heads.
...
After returning to his room and taking a shower, Mike did not go to sleep.
Instead, he took out his tablet and began editing the footage he had recorded during the past few days.
Originally, he had planned to wait until he had gathered more material before editing and uploading anything.
However, the boy in the wheelchair had changed his mind.
What if there were more people like him who longed to see how wild Pokémon lived?
With that thought, Mike began working seriously on the video.
The first episode focused on Bug-type Pokémon.
He did not have much footage, only common species such as Caterpie, Wurmple, Weedle, Venonat, Kricketot, Combee, and Burmy.
Mike edited it in the style of a wildlife documentary from his previous life.
It included their basic forms, evolved forms, habitats, and courtship behavior.
Gengar floated out of the bathroom carrying Weedle.
When he saw Mike working, his red eyes shifted thoughtfully.
Then he carried Weedle into a corner, took out their two halves of the Toxic Orb, and began chewing on his own.
The Ghost-type and Bug-type hid in the corner, quietly chewing the Toxic Orb while telling each other stories.
When Mike finished editing the video, he watched it once and felt that something was missing.
’That’s right!’
A wildlife documentary needed narration.
The narration was one of the most important parts!
"Ahem."
Mike cleared his throat, then tried forcing his voice deeper as he began recording.
"Spring has arrived, and once again, all living things begin to—no, wait. The scorching summer has arrived, and Pokémon everywhere have begun to..."
After recording a short section, Mike put on his headphones and listened.
It sounded as though he had something stuck in his throat that he had not coughed up for years!
It was almost as awful as listening to Gengar sing.
"How am I supposed to narrate this? I’m not a voice actor..."
Mike tried several more times before finally giving up and collapsing onto the bed.
In the corner, Weedle continued chewing the Toxic Orb as he curiously asked Gengar a question.
"Wee?"
[Boss, what’s wrong with Mike? Why does his voice sound so strange?]
"Gar."
[No idea. Maybe he’s eating something.]
"Wee?"
[But isn’t he talking?]
"Gar."
[Can’t someone talk while eating? We’re doing it right now!]
"Wee—"
[That’s true...]
As Mike lay on the bed, a familiar message appeared before his eyes.
{First Livestream: Your first livestream was a great success. How could a great photographer limit himself to photographs and videos? Livestreaming also requires camera work and filming, which are naturally skills a photographer should master. Congratulations! You have unlocked the ability to convert livestream viewers into Viewership Points.}
{Livestream: Your highest concurrent viewer count will be converted into Viewership Points at a ratio of 50:1.}
{The highest concurrent viewer count for this livestream was 8,000. You have received 160 Viewership Points. Please continue working hard.}
Another message appeared.
{How could a great photographer be unable to perform narration? Great Photographer, would you like to purchase the Narration skill?}
{Narration: You will be able to use any voice you desire when narrating your work. You will become the next voice-acting monster!}
{Price: 8,888 Viewership Points.}
"How much?!"
Mike shot upright, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.
"You’re charging me 8,888 points for one lousy skill? Why don’t you just rob me?!"
"One livestream only earned me 160 points, and you want 8,888?"
{Would you like to purchase it?}
"...Can I get a discount?"
{The shop system treats all customers fairly and does not offer discounts. Would you like to purchase it?}
"Fairly? How can you say that with a straight face?!"
{Would you like to purchase it?}
"No. I don’t have the money. I can upload the video without narration."
Mike lay back down.
A long while passed.
Then another message appeared.
{This purchase will also randomly increase one of your existing skills by one level. Would you like to purchase it?}
"..."
Mike blinked.
That sounded a little more reasonable.
"Fine. Since you’re being so sincere, I’ll buy it."
The moment he confirmed, a large amount of knowledge poured into his mind.
Mike blinked again.
"That’s it?"
He checked his status panel and saw that Narration Lv. 1 had indeed appeared among his skills.
{Performance Lv. 2 → Lv. 3}
So Performance was the skill that had leveled up.
That was not bad.
It was just a shame that his Viewership Points had fallen straight back to a little over three thousand.
Mike shook his head, stood up, and began recording the narration for his video.
Fortunately, the equipment Gholdengo Is Number One had sent included a microphone.
"The scorching summer has arrived, and many Pokémon have begun searching for suitable shelter within the forest. Look over there. What are those? Caterpie. Caterpie may look rather cute..."
Mike narrated every Bug-type Pokémon that appeared in the video.
He covered their habits, living environments, and even some basic training methods and their value as potential partners.
The finished video was not especially long, only a little over two hours.
However, recording the narration took Mike five or six hours.
It was already early morning by the time he finished.
Mike felt completely drained. His eyes were empty, and his throat burned painfully.
In a single night, he had forced his Narration skill from Level 1 to Level 2!
"Gar—"
[Drink this.]
Gengar floated over and handed him a cup of warm water.
Mike smiled and gently tugged on his cheeks.
"Thank you, Gengar."
He drank all the water in one go, then glanced at the video that was still uploading.
After letting out a yawn, he climbed into bed and pulled up the blanket.
"Gengar, Weedle, it’s time to sleep."
"Gar—"
[Okay—]
"Wee—"
[Okay—]
"Good night."
Mike fell asleep one second later.
Gengar sat beside the bed with Weedle resting on his head, watching the tablet.
Only after the upload was completed did he carry Weedle back to their corner.
---
Already edited some of the nicknames in the future livestream Chapters! for now give me all your powa stones!