January 28th, the official individual competition began.
In the round of 16, Fang Yuan faced an opponent at the near-professional level, with Milotic leading the charge.
Now, relying on the previous battle tactics to win was no longer realistic.
However, Milotic, fighting with all its might in a fair battle and utilizing its super healing physique, still managed to pull off the feat of taking down three opponents single-handedly!
In the afternoon, Dragonite unleashed its full combat power. Once the Wind Boundary was deployed, combined with airflow perception skills, it continued to take on three opponents alone!
Just through two matches, Fang Yuan demonstrated his invincible strength in front of a national audience.
The pressure Fang Yuan put on various schools was much greater than that of the captain from Demon Capital University.
After making an appearance in front of the East China Region audience, nearly all the information that could be dug up about Fang Yuan was uncovered.
As he entered the official competition, Fang Yuan was fully exposed to the public eye, and over the course of two days, he went from the top 16 to the top 8, then to the top 4, and finally the champion through four matches.
In all of them, only Milotic and Dragonite took the field; Eevee didn't show up again.
During the struggle for the regional championship, Fang Yuan encountered Ji Yan, the team captain from Magic City University.
Ji Yan had three professional-level Pokemon. Milotic won one match, then after depleting most of the second opponent's physical strength, it fell, followed by Dragonite swiftly turning the tide and defeating the subsequent challenger...
And so, without much effort, Fang Yuan won the East China Division individual championship of the national competition.
When the final results were confirmed, the internet erupted, and Fang Yuan made the trending list after a long absence.
Scallion Pancakes Are Delicious: Champion of the Little Phoenix King Cup of Magic City, Rookie King of Su Province, Official Researcher, sophomore year regional champion, damn, damn, damn!!! The scallion pancake in my hand suddenly doesn't taste good anymore!!
I Want Onix and Cloyster to Lay Eggs: Both sophomores, my heart is tired, I don't want to strive anymore, which young lady can take me away?
Xiao Shuangjiang: Tsk, tsk, tsk... What on earth did I miss!!! Ahhhhhh!!!
The East China Division individual champion is announced.
At the same time, the individual champions from North China, Northeast, Central China, South China, Southwest, and Northwest regions were also determined one after another.
...
January 30th.
After the individual competition ended, Fang Yuan, with a smile on his face the whole time, patted team captain Ji Yan on the shoulder and consoled, "Don't be disheartened, there will be other opportunities."
After a moment of silence, Ji Yan said, "I'm graduating this year..."
"I wanted to win a national championship, but then I ran into you..."
"A national championship, how low, the Four Heavenly Kings championship is waiting for you," Fang Yuan said with a smile. "Moreover, it's only the individual championship that you missed. There's still the team championship, and that will have to rely on your leadership."
Ji Yan was speechless. A national championship was already a very high honor for college students, and even a general professional trainer participating wouldn't dare to claim they could surely win the championship.
Fang Yuan really was talking without the pain of actually competing...
Fang Yuan didn't linger too long with team captain Ji. After the competition, he immediately went to find Teacher Tang Sheng.
The folks at Demon Capital University weren't too surprised that Fang Yuan could win the individual championship, as Fang Yuan loved to challenge seniors and professional mentors back when he was a student at Demon Capital.
Everyone knew Fang Yuan's caliber, which definitely surpassed that of a normal professional trainer.
"Teacher Tang!"
After arranging to meet Teacher Tang Sheng in the player's village, Fang Yuan got straight to the point, "I did well, didn't I?"
"Very well," Teacher Tang Sheng nodded, seeing Fang Yuan claim his goal was the World Championship wasn't just talk.
Tang Sheng knew that Fang Yuan's first few Pokemon hadn't even made an appearance in these matches.
Fang Yuan's strength might be much greater than it appears.
"But you didn't come to me just for that, did you?"
"Teacher Tang, based on the results of our previous discussions, I just need to casually grab a national championship to exchange for a World Championship recommendation slot, right?" Fang Yuan said.
Teacher Tang Sheng said, "That's correct, but to be precise, it's about increasing the chances of getting a recommendation slot, not a one hundred percent guarantee of acquisition..."
Fang Yuan shook his head and said, "There's a big problem with that. Just like you said before, as long as my strength is outstanding a year from now, even without any so-called national championship, the school will beg me to participate, right?"
Tang Sheng was taken aback; it seemed there was no issue with that statement.
Fang Yuan contemplated: Eevee, the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster, both Master Level.
Monferno, with Lightning Armor now complete; even without resolving the compatibility issue with Lightning Flame, it still ranks solidly at Master Level.
Moreover, while Lightning Flame's incompatibility brings some negative effects, the side effects aren't that severe—a rest of just ten days to half a month is enough. If necessary, self-inflicting harm to trigger an overwhelming advantage is not an issue; at worst, lie down for a few days. Considering this, Monferno's strength is also very formidable.
Milotic and Dragonite both have great growth potential...
So up next, considering Milotic is the team's medic, as long as Dragonite's sleepwalking and Glutton's evolution issues are solved, I would be almost indistinguishable from a Master Level Trainer. Couldn't I make the school leaders beg on their knees then?
At that point, just by showcasing my strength, the school will beg me to represent them in the World Championship... I'm now perfectly positioned to exchange my performance in the national competition for more benefits.
The few million in prize money for the individual national champion doesn't interest Fang Yuan.
"Old Tang, every year the national education grants amount to several trillion. If Mo Da performs well this year, and we get several billion more in funding than last year, that should be possible, right?"
Tang Sheng's expression darkened, "Don't talk to me about this, I'm just a junior teacher. If you want any benefits, go find Dean Fang, or if not, knock on the university president's door."
Fang Yuan said with a smile, "Isn't that inconvenient and they're people I don't really know... so... could you help pass the message along, Teacher Tang?"
Old Tang frowned with a slight stomachache, but since he was responsible for bringing Fang Yuan into the competition, he had to take full responsibility. He realized that while the school would undoubtedly profit from Fang Yuan becoming a champion, this clever kid wouldn't be satisfied with just that. After all, Fang Yuan was aiming for the World Championship and urgently needed resources!
"What do you want?" Tang Sheng asked.
Fang Yuan replied, "Money is secondary. What I mainly want is the chance to train in the Special Spirit Realm for an extended period, and some resources... It's not clear right now; I'll send you a message about it later."
At this level, Fang Yuan realized that while money is a must-have, it sometimes isn't everything.
For example, entering the Spirit Realm for extended training isn't something you can simply buy, even if you could theoretically use a senior researcher status but that comes with too many restrictions and the process is too cumbersome.
In comparison, it saves trouble to directly leverage Demon Capital University's relationships.
Glutton's strength had long reached the standard for evolution. Naturally evolving a Pokemon like Gengar is challenging, and Fang Yuan could not and did not want to wait, especially with only one year left. He planned to take Glutton to the Spirit World for training before the World Championship; a place filled with the Spirit Realm's Radio Waves and magnetic fields, which could expedite Glutton's evolution.
Additionally, Fang Yuan hoped that the Spirit Realm had a Dark Stone Vein for Glutton to practice the Black Flame...
Tang Sheng replied helplessly, "I'll communicate your requests as much as possible; just focus on the competition."
Fang Yuan's requests didn't seem unreasonable, and Tang Sheng felt that the school authorities would do their utmost to fulfill them.
"No problem, it's just a national championship," Fang Yuan said with a smile.
...
January 31st.
The team battles for the National Competitions in various regions had ended, and the rankings were out.
With that, the regional competitions of the National Championships were completely over.
On February 9th, eligible competitors from the seven divisions will head to the main competition area...
However, just like with the regional competitions, Fang Yuan had almost no interest in the participants from various divisions. Still, he was very interested in the accompanying Masters. Although Monferno's Lightning Armor is now complete, learning is endless. Different Pokemon have entirely different development directions and degrees for their abilities.
Besides, now that the regional competition is over, Fang Yuan needs to hurry to the First Police School for the fourth part of the Professional Trainer examination...