Julian's overwhelming strength soon became a hot topic across Imperial University, with word quickly spreading about how he single-handedly dominated the entire Fighting class.
It wasn't long before sophomores and juniors, intrigued by his abilities, came forward to challenge him. One after another, they all fell to Julian's incredible skill.
Even the president of the Fighting Club took up the challenge. Unlike the others, this opponent managed to last five rounds before Julian eventually overpowered him.
The outcome further solidified Julian's reputation as not only a talented Pokémon Trainer but also a formidable fighter in his own right.
Julian's sheer physical prowess—his strength, speed, reaction time, and endurance—made it clear that he could easily overwhelm most martial artists, even without mastering a specific martial art like Bajiquan.
This led to him being recognized as the new leader of Imperial University's military force, with everyone amazed by his strength in both Pokémon battles and personal combat.
Finally, the intense military training for the freshmen came to an end, and they transitioned into regular period.
The teaching of the special class was different from the ordinary class.
Ordinary classes were assigned based on the respective Type of the students. For example, Fire Type Trainers enter the Fire Type class, and Water Type Trainers enter the Water Type class.
This meant that students in each class of the ordinary stream share the same Type, which makes teaching easier and allows for smoother communication between students of the same Type.
Although, the special recruit class only had 30 students, but they had all 18 different Types, making the teaching much more difficult.
There's no way a Water Type specialist could teach effectively when most of the students weren't Water Types, leaving many of them without relevant information.
To address this problem, students in the special class had the freedom to attend any class in the entire school—any class, at any grade level.
If they thought they could understand what a freshman teacher was teaching, they could even choose to attend sophomore classes.
From Monday to Friday, the students in the special class selected the courses they wanted to attend.
On Saturdays, the head teacher Frank holds one-on-one matches, with himself as the Rival. Having an Elite Trainer as their Rival—something only available to the special class.
High school students get two days off each week, even in their final year. However, in university, they only got one day off. At the time, Julian silently grumbled about it.
The special class didn't require students to attend daily, so even if they didn't go to class at all, there's no penalty—as long as they pass the final exam.
Aside from the Saturday special recruit class, which was mandatory, the rest of the courses were entirely up to the students, giving them a lot of freedom.
For example, Julian had only attended one class this week.
And it wasn't even a Steel-Type course—it was a Fire-Type class, he attended specifically for Growlithe .
Julian sat in the last row of the freshman Fire-Type class, while many students kept glancing back at him curiously. After all, he was the freshman representative—and the guy who beat up the Fighting class.
Julian couldn't shake the feeling that the temperature inside the classroom was much higher than outside.
Among all the Trainers, Fire, Water, and Grass Types were the most common. Out of ten Trainers, at least five tended to focus on these three Types.
There were 50 students in a normal class, only 20 more than in the special class.
But while this was an ordinary class, it's still an ordinary class of Imperial University, where every student placed in the top 50 in their respective provinces on the college entrance exam.
With such a high entry score, everyone who passed was at a scholar-level.
The lecturer was a professor in his 60s, His Trainer rank was only Advanced, but he had a lot of knowledge about fire-types. He was a well-known fire-type researcher.
Julian was born into a Steel family, so he's very familiar with Steel-Types. Dragons came next, but he lacked deeper knowledge about the rest of the Types.
Growlithe, having eaten the Fire crystal—a Fire Type treasure—had the potential for incredible achievements, so Julian was very focused on its training.
"Besides using items to enhance the power of Fire Type moves, what other methods are there?" asked the old professor from the front of the room.
"Use Sunny Day," one student responded.
"Hmm, that's one."
"Having a battlefield advantageous for Fire-Types," another student added.
"That works."
"Are these the only two methods you all know?" the old professor asked.
The students of the class were deep in thought, trying to come up with a third method, but it seemed that only these two ways were well-known for boosting the power of Fire-Type moves.
"Whether it's Sunny Day or Having a battlefield advantage for Fire-Types, the increase in move power is only temporary."
"And while items can enhance Fire-Type moves, your Rival can also have items, which means neither side gains an advantage."
The professor's tone was slow and calm, and he didn't even open his book as he continued, "Do you know which of the Fire-Type Pokémon known so far spits out flames of the highest temperature?"
"Charizard!"
A student shouted excitedly.
"Wrong"
The old professor said, looking at the student blankly.
Another hot-headed fool.
"The correct answer is Magmortar, Magcargo, Camerupt, and Torkoal after eating coal. These four Pokémon can Spit Up the hottest flames."
"Do you know why?" he asked.
"I know! Torkoal eats coal to raise its flame temperature," the same Trainer who guessed Charizard earlier chimed in again.
"Well, you're quite smart," the professor said dryly. The smartest person in this class might just be him.
After being "praised," the student sat down, grinning.
"Now, why are the flames of the other three Pokémon so hot? Do any of you know?"
No one answered, and several students started flipping through their books in search of the answer.
"Julian, do you know?" the professor asked.
"Magmortar and Magcargo live in the mouths of volcanoes, where Magmortar can even survive in deeper magma. As for Camerupt, the volcano on its back erupts once every ten years, reaching temperatures of over 10,000 degrees. Its high flame temperature should be due to the volcano on its back"
Julian said after thinking for a moment.
The professor nodded in satisfaction. "It's very accurate. Magmortar and Magcargo live in volcanoes, which raises their flame temperatures. Camerupt has a volcano on its back."
"The first two are due to living in an environment rich in Fire elements, while the latter relies on the body structure, one is an external factor, the other is an internal factor"
"Professor, would making my Charizard live near a volcano increase its flame temperature too?" the earlier student asked.
"It would take time—at least ten years or more. Staying for just a short while wouldn't be enough to enhance the Fire element at its core," the professor explained.
"Ten years? That's way too long! I can't even manage ten days"
The professor's face twitched. "What's your name, young man?"
"Uh, my name's A.J, Professor."
"A.J., get out of the class!"
*****
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