Ice Plain City.
As a very special city, it never experiences a warm season throughout the year.
However, compared to the bone-chilling cold of winter, summer offers a cool and refreshing feeling.
Fang Yuan originally thought that the weather in Ice Plain City wouldn't be too cold during the summer vacation, but he was wrong.
According to the news.
Due to the arrival of this Medium-secrets Land, the climate around Ice Plain City, as well as several neighboring cities, has changed.
Even in the heat of summer, it remains bitterly cold!
"Thank you for your patronage~"
With bags in hand, Fang Yuan walked out of the clothing store.
Although Fang Yuan didn't bring winter clothes, it was good that he had money.
So, he just entered any store and bought two outfits.
It was just as well—the clothes at home had grown stale, and wearing new clothes to the competition would also boost his confidence!
"The east and north have been blocked off, huh…" Fang Yuan stepped out of the clothing store, overhearing conversations and started thinking.
The secret location of Ice Tundra Mountain had descended to the northeast of Ice Plain City and rapidly altered the surrounding climate, worsening the environment and completely cutting off Ice Plain City's traffic to and from those two directions.
As it happens, the traffic on his side was indirectly affected too...
...
"The Fighting Tournament is in 11 days, so I might as well train Fierce Fire Monkey a bit more during this time."
After thinking it over, Fang Yuan did not choose to take a train or a taxi directly to Ice Plain City.
He planned to get off at Qin Yuan City, which was closer, and then cross the wilderness areas between the two cities with Fierce Fire Monkey.
The environment between these two cities was also affected by the secret location, becoming very harsh.
Fang Yuan intended to use this frigid environment to further temper Fierce Fire Monkey's will.
It was said that the venue for this Fighting Tournament would be the extremely cold Ice Tundra Mountain, which was really a pitfall.
But Fang Yuan had no choice, so he must now consider the impact of the environment on combat effectiveness. His Fierce Fire Monkey, although not particularly afraid of the cold, had never undergone special endurance training for it.
If it were to battle in cold conditions, it might not be affected at the start, but as its physical strength declined and it became exhausted, the temperature would surely affect its state and fighting spirit to some extent.
Although only a little more than a week remains, if he could overcome this not-so-weak weakness, it would be a considerable gain.
Fang Yuan firmly believed that the details determined the victory.
For that, Fang Yuan decided to sacrifice a bit of his own comfort, accompanying Fierce Fire Monkey in rigorous training all along the way.
...
"Brother Fang Yuan, I hope you achieve good results~"
Fang Yuan took a taxi to Qin Yuan City, the ride taking nearly several hours, and he casually chatted with the driver along the way.
Although the driver wasn't a Trainer, he was a faithful spectator of the World Number One Fighting Tournament. Upon hearing that Fang Yuan was also going to participate in the competition, the driver immediately wished him well as he got out of the taxi.
"Alright, will do." Fang Yuan closed the car door, said goodbye to the driver with a cheerful laugh.
Qin Yuan City, arrived.
At this moment, Fang Yuan had already donned a thick grey down jacket, and although he wanted to put on his hat, Eevee kept getting in the way.
"Bwoo~~"
Eevee burrowed into the fluffy hat, comfortably snuggling against Fang Yuan; every time it squirmed in, Fang Yuan wanted to toss it aside.
So heavy! It was almost strangling him!!
Why couldn't it just lie obediently on his shoulder, radiating warmth like a cozy hot water bottle??
"Bwoo~~~"
"..."
After arriving in Qin Yuan City, before venturing into the wilderness, Fang Yuan still had one thing to do, which was to upgrade the equipment in his travel case and purchase some supplies to at least last him a week.
By now, Fang Yuan's experience in wilderness survival was quite rich; he should not die...
When Fang Yuan had everything prepared, it was already past one in the afternoon.
Dragging his suitcase and accompanied by Eevee, Fang Yuan was ready to leave the city.
However, entering the wilderness was not as smooth as he thought, as the Trainer Association kept strict watch around the outskirts of Qin Yuan City...
This was to prevent ordinary people from entering the wilderness and also to stop some overconfident new trainers from venturing out.
Due to the appearance of secret locations, the wilderness had become much more chaotic than usual, and the Pokémon were not very friendly...
"Stop right there!" As Fang Yuan and his party walked down the street, before even leaving the city, a trainer stopped them.
But the ones stopping Fang Yuan didn't seem to be the police or rangers; rather, they looked like volunteers.
Um... Fang Yuan had already spotted the volunteer badge on the person's clothing.
This situation felt familiar to Fang Yuan; it was like at the beginning of a game when a player doesn't have any Pokémon and gets stopped by an NPC from entering the wilderness...
As Fang Yuan looked at the almost-thirty-year-old guy, the volunteer also saw Eevee on Fang Yuan's shoulder and frowned.
"You're a trainer? What are you doing going into the wilderness at a time like this? It's dangerous out there," the young volunteer said, puzzled.
Though the wilderness didn't have the strict level restrictions for trainers like the secret locations, some areas were still quite dangerous. The wilderness road from Qin Yuan City to Ice Plain City had become riskier due to the influence of a Medium-Secrets Land.
Seeing Fang Yuan fully equipped, the volunteer confirmed that the young Fang Yuan intended to enter the wilderness and, out of concern, gave a reminder.
"I'm training Pokémon; don't worry, I'm very strong. Here's my ID," said Fang Yuan with a smile, aware of the procedure, as he handed over his identity card.
The other person paused, then silently swiped Fang Yuan's identity card on their device, registering Fang Yuan's whereabouts and also confirming that he was not a new trainer.
"Brother, have been many trainers going into the wilderness recently?" Fang Yuan asked as he took back his ID card.
"A lot! And there are also some of our volunteers patrolling out there. Still, even with that, be careful once you're in. If you encounter danger, use your phone to call for emergency help immediately," advised the young volunteer.
Fang Yuan nodded. Wilderness areas not designated as dangerous were open to seasoned trainers, and the only ones who couldn't freely enter were ordinary people. Although the volunteer was skeptical of Fang Yuan's abilities, if Fang Yuan insisted on going, there was really nothing he could do.
...
The wilderness area now appeared to be an ice tundra environment, with heavy ice and snow covering vast stretches of land, and frost blanketing some of the trees and plants.
Having left the city, Fang Yuan called out Fierce Fire Monkey.
After summoning Fierce Fire Monkey, Fang Yuan looked towards the eager Pokémon and said, "The first training task, weight training; from now on, when we're not in battle, you will be carrying everything."
Fierce Fire Monkey: ʘдʘ╬
The monkey felt that Fang Yuan was bullshitting; had it not done enough weight training under the gravity of the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster? Since when did carrying luggage count as weight training... Fang Yuan just wanted to slack off!!