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Pingcheng No.1 Middle School.
Psychological Society Classroom in the Comprehensive Building.
With the arrival of a new week, Fang Yuan had sneakily brought Eevee in here bright and early!
In addition to that, Fang Yuan had brought three things.
A weight-bearing tool for Eevee's tail,
a sandbag needed for training Iron Tail,
and a Soothing Bell tied to a collar.
"You put this on first."
Fang Yuan placed the Soothing Bell around Eevee's neck and said, "After this... aside from bathing and sleeping, don't take it off. It's crucial to your mastery of the Gratitude Moves."
"Bwoo..."
Eevee nodded reluctantly.
Although the sound of the Soothing Bell was pleasing, the collar wasn't very comfortable.
To be precise, Eevee just wasn't used to it.
Compared to a soft silk scarf, this collar was far inferior; hence Eevee preferred keeping it nearby to use as a manual music player rather than wearing it around its neck.
"This is a brand name, you know..."
Seeing Eevee with an unwilling look, Fang Yuan said helplessly,
"Can't do anything about it, just make do with it for now, I'll switch it for you when I'm free."
"Bwoo!" Eevee shook its neck, indicating that was fine.
"Hmm..." Fang Yuan looked closely at the bell.
If I could tie the Soothing Bell to a silk scarf, would it be better?
Fang Yuan had a bold idea, reminiscent of the "Mom Sees Battle" series.
...
After settling Eevee in the society classroom, Fang Yuan hurried back to his class.
The training tasks he had left for Eevee, whether they could be trained successfully or not, now depended on Eevee's discipline... No, depended on Eevee's love for binge-watching shows.
"Hey, Fang Yuan, I have some news for you."
After the morning self-study session, Lin Jing suddenly came over.
"What news?" Fang Yuan asked.
So secretive...
"Last night I heard that the Trainer Association Headquarters in Province City is planning something big."
"Something big?"
"I'm not clear on the details..."
Then why even mention it!
"Fang Yuan, Lin Jing, come out for a moment." Before Fang Yuan could comment, the class teacher came in and called out to the two of them.
After exchanging glances, Fang Yuan and Lin Jing walked out together.
Outside, besides their class teacher, Teacher Bai Ning of the teaching and training course was also present.
"Skip the first period math class and go with Teacher Bai Ning shortly," Teacher Zhang said.
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"Okay," Fang Yuan replied, feeling confused.
By contrast, Lin Jing seemed to have guessed something and was particularly anticipatory.
Teacher Bai Ning smiled and began to lead Fang Yuan and Lin Jing downstairs, while saying, "Next, we'll go to the large conference room for a meeting. You two just sit beside me."
Attending a meeting in the large conference room...
A shock went through Fang Yuan's heart. What could it be that even required two students to attend?
After walking a distance, they encountered another teacher who taught the senior year trainer classes, who was also accompanied by a student—Liu Le, someone familiar to them.
Furthermore, all the senior year trainer class teachers had arrived!
Fang Yuan realized something... Could this be related to the New Star Program?
After they entered the large conference room, Fang Yuan and Lin Jing sat next to Bai Ning as instructed. In less than ten minutes, several key school leaders had also arrived, with an even greater presence than at the opening ceremony.
Before long, the conference room fell silent with a cough from the vice-principal.
"Good morning, everyone. I apologize for calling you all here so suddenly."
"This is an urgent meeting because this morning, the Province City Trainer Association Headquarters issued a notification! This notification is crucial to our school's future development, hence we must give it one hundred and twenty percent attention."
"In the 21st century, in order to ensure the quality of schools as educational institutions and the sound development of trainer aspirants, certain high schools were reformed, redefining the concept of key high schools. These schools have now become the cradle for trainers and the starting point for new trainers!"
"Our Pingcheng First Middle School has since the policy's enactment, been committed to nurturing well-rounded excellent trainers, contributing fresh blood to our country's trainer domain. This was true in the past and will continue in the future."
"Now, in addition to the college entrance exams, we face another significant test of our teaching abilities!"
"The specific details of the notification will be given by Director Wang."
...
"Hello everyone, I am Wang Fuyi. At seven o'clock this morning, the Province City Trainer Association, in conjunction with multiple departments, issued an important notification to twenty key high schools in the province. I will now reveal the details of this notification."
"To answer the nation's call for 'cultivating excellent trainers and valuing the basic quality education of newbies,' our province has decided to hold a provincial high school Pokemon battle tournament encompassing individual and team battles..."
Director Wang continued for three minutes, and Fang Yuan finally understood.
Pokemon battles between schools were usually held at the university level, with high schools hardly involved.
This was mainly because high school trainers, being new trainers, hadn't trained their Pokemon for long. Moreover, with the pressure of college entrance exams, they didn't have the same ample time for training as college students due to the burden of academic courses.
However, for some reason, the Province City Trainer Association had joined with multiple departments to issue such a notice this time—a truly unprecedented move.
And surprisingly, the competition rules even included team battles...
The prize money for team battles was as high as ten million.
Fang Yuan's eyes turned red with desire. Ten million, a sum far exceeding the prize money of the Little Phoenix King Cup. Moreover, no wonder Pingcheng started the New Star Program; no wonder Zhuang Xin hinted at the importance of team spirit. Had the branch already received the news?
"Therefore, our school has decided to establish a seven-member Trainer School Team to actively prepare for this provincial high school Pokemon battle tournament."
"As for the team members, they will be recommended by each class and then undergo unified training and selection, implementing a bottom-out elimination system."
The meeting lasted for an hour, and afterwards, Teacher Bai Ning took Fang Yuan and Lin Jing away.
"Now you both should understand the situation. The candidates from our class are the two of you, including Liu Le from Class 2. The three of you are the only officially confirmed members of the school team so far."
"Teacher Bai, why has our province suddenly decided to hold such a competition?" Lin Jing asked, noting that not even Magic City or Imperial Capital had made such grand gestures at the high school stage—a competition with tens of millions in prize money would mean a substantial investment of billions.
Bai Ning shook her head, offering no explanation.
In fact, it wasn't just the high schools within the province that had received the notification, but the universities had also been given similar information.
This was something she had never experienced during her own school years. Now, the Province City Trainer Association gave her a feeling that they were treading on thin ice as if there was an urgent need to train a large number of trainers.