January 21st.
The national competition's preliminary round was in full swing.
On Fang Yuan's side, they once again emerged victorious with ease.
The intense battles allowed every contestant to grow during the competition.
Fang Yuan was enjoying himself when, in the blink of an eye, a week had passed.
From January 20th to the morning of January 27th, Fang Yuan went through a total of 15 matches.
Each match had three opponents, making it a total of 45 battles. Dragonite, Milotic, and Eevee each took turns competing, each employing their specific battle styles to great effect.
However, the one who gained the most was Monferno.
The opponents Eevee and the others faced barely reached the professional level, but Monferno, over the course of the week, had challenged a total of 11 master-level opponents.
There were wins, losses, and draws.
Within Fang Yuan's Team, Eevee and the sleepwalking Dragonite had incredible reflexes, giving them a natural talent for battle.
As a hardworking competitor, Monferno was close to mastering Electric Armor Skills, and when compared in various aspects, its battle abilities were not inferior. Now it was time to see the results of Monferno's training.
Throughout the national competition, Eevee, Monferno, Milotic, and Dragonite were all improving themselves through constant battles. The Exploding Magnet Monster and Glutton were not idle either.
There needed to be replenishment where there was consumption. The Exploding Magnet Monster took responsibility for creating Energy Blocks daily for them using fresh Tree Fruit… Glutton was in charge of eating with them.
Besides this, the two also helped Monferno with special Moonwalk training.
With Monferno in Lightning Armor state, mimicking Gengar's levitation trait, the Exploding Magnet Monster used movements like Electromagnetic Levitation and magnetic field manipulation to assist Monferno in its training.
While training... the Exploding Magnet Monster suddenly had a bold idea.
If Monferno in its Lightning Armor state could be influenced by its own electromagnetic force, was it possible to launch Monferno like a projectile from a Railgun?
...
"Let's do it again."
Fang Yuan sat on the steps, watching Monferno attempting the Moonwalk Skill over and over again, feeling pleased.
Because of the Lightning Armor, Monferno picked up this technique similar to Electromagnetic Levitation very quickly, mastering the basics in just a week.
On the training field.
Monferno stood on the ground, under the watchful eyes of the Exploding Magnet Monster, Glutton, smartphone Rotom, Fang Yuan, and Eevee. Its gaze flashed, and thunder energy instantly permeated its entire body, especially under its feet, where the thunder energy was the most concentrated.
Bang!!
The next moment, an explosion sounded, and a ring of ripples formed from electricity appeared beneath Monferno's feet, starting small and expanding outward. Then, the electromagnetic force provided the impetus for Monferno to leap upwards.
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
Step by step, Monferno ascended higher... unlike using its entire body's strength to jump up in one burst, this time Monferno could ascend continuously.
With each step into the air, a golden shimmering ripple appeared just centimeters below its feet, like ripples on water, transforming into a driving force that helped Monferno push off again.
Just like that, after rising more than twenty meters, Monferno stopped and then neatly landed.
"Rest for a while," said Fang Yuan with a nod.
At this level, the Moonwalk Skill was essentially mastered, but it couldn't yet be applied in real combat because it was too slow and not agile enough.
Compared to spirits with exceptional flying skills, Monferno's technique could currently only serve as a surprise element.
To become a means of restraining Flying-type spirits, further training was needed to enhance the explosive power and speed of the Moonwalk, and effort had to be put into mastering the skill to change flight direction...
...
January 28th.
The national competition entered the main contest stage, and the individual battle preliminaries determined 16 contestants. These 16 were the trainers who would move on to compete in the total competition area.
But before that, the strongest of the regional competitions would be decided.
Among them, Demon Capital University alone occupied 5 of the spots.
This meant that in order to decide the strongest in the East China Division, an inevitable internal battle among Demon Capital University's team was required.
Apart from Fang Yuan, the other four advancing contestants from Magic University wore sour expressions, none too happy...
Early in the morning, under the guidance of Teacher Dongfang, the coach for the school team, Fang Yuan and the Magic University Team assembled and entered the venue together, and in a surprise turn of events, Fang Yuan hadn't missed the occasion.
Fang Yuan sized up the Magic Team captain Ji Yan, vice-captain Shu Yu, and the other two players who had made it into the main competition, feeling very satisfied.
With these guys, bringing out three professional-level Pokemon shouldn't be a problem...
The trainers who made it to the main competition were definitely not on par with those Fang Yuan had encountered in the preliminaries.
If he were to use the same battle strategy as before, he would certainly crash and burn.
"Given that, let's give it our all," Fang Yuan said with a smile.
This was a chance to test the training results of his Dragonite, Milotic, and Eevee!
At that moment, the bodies of the team members walking ahead of Fang Yuan shuddered...
Main venue.
Apart from the Magic University Team, various other college teams also entered the arena in turn, taking their seats in the designated player areas.
This morning's event was the individual battle round of 16 progressing to the top 8, with a total of eight 3VS3 matches that attracted much attention; and unlike the preliminaries, the main competition rounds would be broadcast live in their entirety by TV stations and online platforms.
"That's Master Fang Minghai... and Master Meng Yu... Master Shen Mingyi... Master Su Jin Feng... Master Zhan Xing... Master Luo Peng..."
"So many masters, it's only during the annual national competition that you can see so many of them."
"And there's Chairman Zhou of the Trainer Association East China Division..."
Elsewhere, as each of the guests took their seats in the guest area, the atmosphere at the venue grew even more lively.
This was probably the closest that most spectators would ever get to Master Level Trainers.
In the player seats, Fang Yuan observed the row of masters and could not help but personally feel that among them were a number of acquaintances...
Furthermore, the national competition's presence was truly without compare, with so many masters as guests, completely outshining the previous fighting tournament. However, in comparison, professional assessments were the most desolate, with only one master serving as an examiner.
Fang Yuan guessed that it might be because professional assessments were not public events, so there was no need for formalities.
After the hostess, who was also the commentator and referee, finished introducing the various guests and leaders, she immediately moved on to introduce the sixteen young and promising trainers who had made it to the main competition.
These sixteen came from prestigious institutions such as NanDa, Jida, Hangzhou University, Bright Pearl, Magic University, Jiangda, South Blue, Xiamen University, Huida, and others, truly exemplifying the pride of the heavens.
Each contestant basked in the host's introduction, and as they listened, the masters in the guest seats nodded and clapped along, expressing the older generation's affirmation of the youth.
However... when the host read out Fang Yuan's name, the applause from the guest area suddenly became sparse and out of rhythm.
Master Meng Yu from Hangzhou University looked over at Master Fang Minghai from Magic University and said, "Dean Fang, Magic University has really brought out a genius this time."
Master Meng had already made contact with his junior from Hangzhou University, Li Shu...
And he understood that it was Li Shu who had recruited Fang Yuan...
Fang Yuan was full of tricks, and luckily she hadn't lost to him, otherwise she would have been utterly humiliated.
"Ah?"
Master Fang Minghai, the dean of the Magic University Combat Academy, was clueless and became somewhat befuddled by Master Meng's insinuations.
"This student Fang is indeed exceptional."
"Back then, this student was the Rookie King of Su province. After enrolling at Magic University, he has become even more remarkable. At such a young age, he dares to challenge masters, his future prospects are immeasurable... When he challenged me, although his performance was still naive, he had already displayed the demeanor of a young master," said Master Su from Nanhai University, nodding as he spoke.
Fang Yuan's Monferno had indeed caused some trouble for him and his Ampharos; Su Jin Feng felt that he had misspoken earlier – Fang Yuan was not just master material, but rather had the potential to become a monster like the current Four Heavenly Kings.
"What? He challenged you too!" Master Meng Yu turned, her surprise evident as she looked at Master Su.
"Uh..." In the midst of their conversation, a few more masters turned around...
Testing the waters, they asked, "Were you challenged by him as well?"
The atmosphere suddenly grew tense.
Master Fang Minghai was taken aback, rapidly piecing together what was going on – no wonder Fang Yuan had been so elusive; the lad had been stirring up trouble.
"Cough... It seems this student Fang is indeed quite unique, treating us masters like prey," Master Meng Yu hinted wildly, "His Monferno is well cultivated; given time, it might even surpass me."
What she meant was that Fang Yuan had lost to her, and though the victory was narrow, in front of so many masters, Master Meng felt it necessary to maintain her masterly demeanor...
The other few masters who had been challenged by Fang Yuan also nodded in rapid agreement, praising him. However, among them, several looked awkward and uncomfortable – pitiable, weak, helpless, they could only echo the sentiments expressed.
These were the masters who had inadvertently lost to Fang Yuan, and now they were reluctant to voice their struggles. While other masters had won, they had lost – how could they discuss this openly without tarnishing their reputation in the master realm? Others had the strength of 1.1 Monkey's Power, but they, regretfully, had only 0.9 Monkey's Power...