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Life at Mist City University wasn't particularly exciting.
Although it held many secrets, for a trainer like Li Xiang, the most important daily task wasn't uncovering them; it was the monotonous training and attending classes.
Facing the same Pokémon every day, using the same strategies, honing the same moves, and battling the same opponents.
There was very little sense of novelty.
It was exactly the same as in the Youth Training Camp.
It was nothing like the joyful travels in the anime, running around regions with a female companion and a chef—the difference was like night and day.
In the anime, Ash only crammed at the last minute when he faced setbacks or opponents he couldn't beat. The rest of the time, he was either locked in a love-hate relationship with Team Rocket or exploring unknown areas and experiencing interesting stories.
But even so, his Pokémon's strength steadily increased. Rarely was there explicit training, or perhaps the anime production team simply didn't show it.
At first glance, the life of a trainer seemed easy and pleasant, but this wasn't the case here.
In this land called Zhu Xia, becoming an excellent trainer and defeating others required years of day and night effort, thousands upon thousands of battles. It was absolutely impossible otherwise.
You could choose not to work hard, but you couldn't stop others from doing so.
Everyone was pushing themselves to the limit. Those who didn't were mercilessly eliminated.
Cases of people fooling around, laughing and playing their way to championships simply hadn't happened so far.
That's why, among the three essential elements of a trainer, one was perseverance. For lazy dogs, becoming a powerful trainer was simply too painful.
Why practice moves so many times every day? Isn't learning them enough?
Why insist on physical training every day? Can't we just slowly increase energy levels?
Why fight opponents you've battled so many times? Isn't winning once enough?
—For what reason?
To win at a certain day, a certain hour, a certain moment, in the most correct, most needed, and most appropriate place.
So painstakingly "tormenting" themselves and their Pokémon, doing the same thing day and night, constantly losing or winning, pushing their bodies and minds to the limit for a higher breakthrough.
Everything, the ultimate goal was to win, to gain glory, to obtain money and status, to uphold their dignity as trainers.
If you couldn't win, being a trainer lost its meaning.
Therefore, at Mist City University, or any higher institute, you wouldn't find a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.
Empty battlefields didn't exist either. What filled the campus air was only competition, competition, and more competition!
To put it bluntly, everyone in the school was your opponent; there were no absolute teammates.
The current fifteen members of the school team had stepped over the bodies of more than 4,000 students to get where they were now.
And those 4,000 students at Mist City University had, in turn, stepped over the bodies of tens of thousands of failed candidates to reach this point.
No one was willingly left behind.
The campus selection matches were also a thousand, ten thousand times more intense than Li Xiang had ever imagined.
Because the number of participants was—almost the entire school!
Every non-team student except first-years participated in the team selections, whether they were in their second, third, fourth year, or even sixth years about to graduate.
This completely voluntary selection, where not signing up had no consequences, symbolized the fate of countless people. It represented whether they could step onto that dream stage.
The Junior World Tournament.
...
March.
With the spring breeze gradually warming by a degree or two, the most important time of the academic year arrived for many students.
The Campus Selection Matches.
Countless people, after the holiday break, harbored newly learned strategies or other secrets, hoping to carve a path through thorns and achieve their desired outcome.
There were two types of selection matches.
The first was the competition for regular students to advance to reserve status.
In the end, about fifteen people would be selected.
Over 3,000 people competing for fifteen spots.
"No wonder the reserves are mostly third or fourth-years. Even seniors and super-seniors come down to compete."
Li Xiang looked at the registration form on his phone, clicking his tongue.
In fantasy novels, grade level might be used to measure a student's strength, but here, age couldn't represent that.
Every grade had students with good talent and those with even better talent. People were different from each other.
Besides, students at Mist City University and those at ordinary higher institutes weren't on the same level, even if they were in the same grade.
Judging strength by grade would absolutely lead to a miserable defeat.
By the way, among the first-years, aside from exceptions like Li Xiang and the others, the dozen or so students admitted through early enrollment also had the qualification to participate.
The school seemed to want to test the results of the Youth Training Camp, to see how big the difference was between students from the camp and those who passed the regular exams.
It wasn't likely that they would sweep all fifteen reserve spots.
At this point, Li Xiang couldn't help but miss Yang Tianwang. If that guy were here, he'd probably have gathered the basic information on all the students by now, without needing to be asked.
Now that he was gone, Li Xiang had to find another way.
Every school had students who were well-informed and held a lot of data; Mist City University was no exception.
But what Li Xiang didn't expect was that this person turned out to be the seemingly boisterous, tomboyish girl with highlighted hair, Lu Shu.
In a certain classroom.
"Yo! Little Brother!"
The girl with highlighted hair smiled, her large eyes adorned with purple eyeshadow full of vitality, yet revealing a shrewdness that didn't match her appearance.
"I knew you'd come to me."
"Uh..." Li Xiang looked at the people around her whom he didn't know at all; Zhao Jie wasn't among them.
He said, "In that case, let's get straight to the point, Senior. How much—"
"No need."
When Zhao Jie wasn't around, Lu Shu's girlish charm was particularly strong.
She rested her chin on her smooth white hands and smiled, "How could I take money from my little brother? If Tea Girl found out, wouldn't she come after me?"
The male and female students around them chuckled softly, their gazes towards Li Xiang full of curiosity.
Most of these people had two or three phones in front of them, indicating they were part of Lu Shu's information circle.
Among them were student council members and some people who appeared to be senior students.
Honestly, free information was within his expectations.
Li Xiang said, "Then..."
"Once the match details are out, I'll send you your opponent's information on WeChat. Including Song Jie's."
Lu Shu tilted her head, her sparkling eyes reflecting light. "Is that enough?"
"That's fine. Thank you, Senior." Li Xiang hesitated for two seconds, gave a slight bow, and left.
He wasn't very comfortable in communication environments where many people were watching. It was better to talk to her on WeChat.
Lu Shu didn't mind either. Watching Li Xiang's retreating back, the corner of her mouth lifted. She was extremely curious about this junior who could chat with Abigale for so many years.
On the other side.
Li Xiang was on the phone with Song Jie.
"Can't you come yourself? Making me take the lead, I'm getting goosebumps all over."
"If you're embarrassed, I'm even more embarrassed. Rather than both of us being embarrassed, it's better for you to be embarrassed alone."
"You bastard!"
"Alright, alright, I'll handle the favor, okay?"
"Fine then. I have nothing more to say."
Li Xiang directly hung up the phone, not giving the guy a chance to change his mind. The free things in the world were the most expensive; you never knew what the cost would be.
A simple monetary price was still okay. What was scary was when money wasn't even useful.
The campus selection matches prepared from March 1st, officially started on March 2nd, and didn't fully conclude until the end of the month.
The format was generally single battles, 3v3. Those interested in double battles could also participate.
Gong Xu clearly intended to participate in doubles, so he had already signed up with Li Xiang early on.
This meant Li Xiang had to participate in two types of matches.
'Might as well consider it earning candies.'
Li Xiang could only comfort himself like this. And winning a double battle indeed earned two candies at once.
...
March 2nd.
The match details for the selection were sent to everyone's phones via text message.
Li Xiang's first-round opponent gradually became clear.
"Starting with a third-year? Not even beginning with second-years?"
Li Xiang flipped through the information on his first opponent.
How to put it…. Their level was similar to that person he encountered before who deliberately dropped points to crush newcomers.
Maybe even slightly weaker.
In their grade, their strength was average, overall rating as "good."
Skilled in using Normal-type Pokémon.
Among them, a Lickitung needed some attention. The rest were just so-so.
"When facing a specialized opponent, choosing who to send out is always particularly easy."
Li Xiang easily picked the Pokémon he would send out.
If his opponent wasn't too dumb, they'd probably also buy information on him and wouldn't find it hard to guess what Pokémon he might send out.
Using reverse psychology, the selection was also relatively simple.
But there was nothing to worry about.
Absolute strength allowed Li Xiang to be completely fearless. Only when both sides were on the same level could information influence the outcome by about thirty percent.
"What about your opponents?"
Li Xiang looked at Song Jie and Gong Xu's phones.
They were currently resting outside the school café, waiting for the match texts to be sent.
"Fourth-year, specializes in Electric types."
"Second-year, Water types."
The two stated their opponents respectively.
Gong Xu wasn't under Lu Shu's protection, but he had his own information channels and could get it with some time.
If not for Li Xiang, Song Jie would probably do the same.
"Good luck. Hope we don't end up fighting each other halfway."
Li Xiang patted both their shoulders, stood up, and went to his match.
The two didn't comment, each heading to their respective battle venues. Those whose matches hadn't started yet went to the training facility.
Five minutes later.
In front of a standard medium-sized battlefield.
Li Xiang saw scattered onlookers standing outside the field, waiting for his arrival.
It seemed his match had been exposed.
He wasn't surprised there would be an audience; the matches weren't all held simultaneously. On the forums, many people wanted to see him fail or gauge his true strength.
As Li Xiang approached, many started whispering, their eyes varied, none of them friendly.
Ignoring these people, Li Xiang looked onto the field and saw his opponent was a young man who looked scholarly; with glasses, he could cosplay as the show-off big shot, Sakamoto.
He swiped his card to enter.
The referee had been waiting for a long time and began reading the match rules.
During this time, the two competitors could communicate, but neither was particularly interested.
'Let's see what you're really made of!' x2
Two young beasts slowly bared their fangs!