This level of awareness, incredible!
Shu Yu, "..."
Meanwhile, in the contestant seating area, Tao Shengjie from Emperor Capital University and Zhuo Yue from Hua University wore looks of regret, since they couldn't witness Fang Yuan's battle firsthand.
...
Soon, the next seven matches were underway, and the quarter-finalists were determined.
Of the contestants who made it through the preliminaries and survived the first round of the main event, only one remained—Ji Yan, the Captain of Demon Capital University's team.
The remaining seven were champions from the seven divisions, which plainly showed that the strength of the division champions indeed had considerable value.
"Who do you think will win the championship of the national competition this time?"
"It should be decided among Fang Yuan, Tao Shengjie, and Zhuo Yue, with the greatest hope lying with Zhuo Yue."
In the guest seating area, Master Level Trainers from all over the world were discussing heatedly, while Master Fang Minghai from Demon Capital University sat to the side, smiling silently and shaking his head as he observed the spirited Master from Central China University.
Intelligence falling behind... pitiful...
However, Zhuo Yue's strength was indeed formidable.
In the round of sixteen to eight, Zhuo Yue sent out the Huge Gold Monster first—a Semi-Master Level Gigantic Gold Creature that swept away three opposing Pokemon, displaying an invincible momentum.
In this year's national competition, rumors online suggested that Central China University was bound to claim the individual championship. As for the team championship, they didn't have high hopes because only Zhuo Yue from the Hua University Team could carry the responsibility; the other team members' skill levels were uneven, and their average strength fell far short of the two famous universities.
In a five-on-five team battle, even with an ace like Zhuo Yue, securing victory was still very difficult—carrying four weaker teammates was an extremely arduous task in any field.
...
The next day.
The national competition continued, with audiences from all sectors arriving at the venue. Among them, the students and faculty from Chuan University were the most nervous.
"Senior Zhao Zi'ang's opponent this time seems quite formidable."
In the Chuan University audience section, someone expressed their concern.
"They're all regional champions. How will you know without fighting? There's no 'absolute' in Pokemon battles; anything can happen. I believe in Senior Zhao. It's not like there haven't been upsets in the individual battles of Demon Capital and Emperor Capital Universities in the past decade."
As a few students chattered, the team's coach next to them stayed silent.
Zhao Zi'ang, as the champion of the Southwest Region, inevitably faced the champion of another division in the quarterfinals.
Fang Yuan, from the East China Division!
It couldn't be denied that the trainers from the Southwest Region still lagged behind those from East China, Hua North, and even Central China.
The coach from Chuan University knew... this match would be tough.
"Even though it's tough, we must still demonstrate Chuan University's might!" The coach from Chuan University also believed that Zhao Zi'ang wouldn't let everyone down.
In the guest seating area, the dozen or so invited Masters had already taken their seats, including Master Fang Minghai from Demon Capital University, Master Kang Youzhe from Chuan University...
Master Kang Youzhe wore a grave expression as he watched the two players who had arrived at the battlefield, Fang Yuan and Zhao Zi'ang.
In his memory, this Fang Yuan was extremely mysterious, with very little information available. The only public and reference-able battle videos were those few from the national competition's regional tournaments.
This was not because Fang Yuan and Demon Capital deliberately hid information, but because Fang Yuan was simply in his second year of university and had not participated in many public competitions.
In contrast, other team members had competed all around during their four years of university life, battling in various tournaments.
If we count Fang Yuan's public battle records... the more authoritative ones included the Little Phoenix King Cup, the Su Province Rookie League, and the World's Number One Fighting Tournament. Then there's the national competition's East China Regional Tournament.
Actual displays of Fang Yuan's strength, like challenging Masters and Professional Trainer assessments, were only known to a few.
For example, some tutors and students from Emperor Capital University knew of Fang Yuan's skills, but given that they were rivals, Emperor Capital University would surely not provide Fang Yuan's information to Chuan University.
Having been outplayed by Fang Yuan for so long, Emperor Capital University would rather see other universities get outplayed by Fang Yuan as well.
The Little Phoenix King Cup and the Su Province Rookie League, being quite dated, definitely could not serve as references anymore.
Therefore, Fang Yuan's performance in the national competition became the most important and openly available information.
A Profession-level Milotic, a Dragonite!
In Chuan University's intelligence reports, these two Pokemon were even stronger than the typical Profession-level Elves.
Just with these two Pokemon, Fang Yuan managed to 2 against 3, defeating the Captain of the Magic Team, creating a lot of pressure for the observers.
As for Eevee, it was ignored yet again.
After all, Eevee had only appeared in the early stages a few times and mostly against weaker opponents, not earning much in terms of remarkable achievements.
But even so, Eevee was judged by Chuan University to be at a near-Pro level—although it seemed preposterous for just one Eevee to possess such capability, considering Fang Yuan's record, Chuan University deemed the assessment justified.
As for the Sun Eevee, the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster, the Monferno, and the Glutton, if one is diligent, information indicating Fang Yuan owned these Pokemon is accessible, but since these Pokemon haven't battled in public for so long, it's really hard for the universities to judge their strength...
However, the universities generally believed that these few Pokemon possessed at least Professional level battling prowess, possibly with Monferno being the strongest, affording Monferno great respect!
"That Milotic's strength should be just ordinary Professional level, skilled in using Charm Moves and Healing type moves, and quite proficient at controlling Water-based Spells. Because of the Healing type moves, it might be somewhat more difficult to handle, so we must not give the opponent any time to catch their breath..."