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No wonder he wasn't seen at Capital University's Rising Star Cup!
Such keywords quickly dominated the rankings of major social platforms and sparked widespread heated discussions.
"Shocking! Only four of his Pokemon reached professional level during the national competition, which means..."
"It's only been a month since the national competition?"
"That means in this one month, both Electabuzz and Ninetales broke through their species' limits."
"Can these two also Mega Evolve?"
This was what most Trainers were thinking about, along with various analytical theories.
Of course, there were also pure fans.
"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo~"
"+1, good sister, I missed it too."
"Our idol, can't you announce your schedule in advance? I'm so exhausted."
"Schedule? Laughable—the last time he updated social media was... the last time."
Capital University's Rising Star Cup proceeded as scheduled, but soon, someone noticed that a considerable portion of the audience in the auditorium was looking down at their phones, indifferent to the competition.
Zenia Reginald was no exception.
She frowned while scrolling through her phone, feeling aggrieved at having missed everything, and arguing with her sisters in the fan group.
"The sun's UV rays are so strong. I rushed out today without applying sunscreen, and no one showed up?"
"Should I pay Roy big brother for social media management?"
"Damn, how can I contact him?"
Next to Zenia sat a handsome young man with blonde hair. He was well-dressed, and his exotic facial features also attracted attention from those around him.
"Zenia, you've been playing in China for a month. Isn't that enough?"
The young man's name was Noah Reginald.
From his surname, it was clear he was Zenia's biological older brother and the eldest son of the French Champion.
"It's time to go back," Noah said seriously. "Mother is getting angry."
Hearing the word 'mother,' Zenia's shoulders trembled and she stopped scrolling through her phone.
After a while, she said reluctantly, "I understand."
Seeing that his sister finally compromised, Noah breathed a sigh of relief.
However...
"Has he gone to take the professional assessment?"
Noah's eyes flickered slightly, and he showed a meaningful smile, murmuring in a voice only he could hear: "That means he'll also participate in the island trial challenge..."
After thinking for a while, Noah picked up a communicator different from a phone and sent a message.
"Cancel the original plan."
Capital Trainer Association.
The first round of the professional-level assessment—the 6v6 strength evaluation—was about to begin.
There were 4,500 Trainers from the East China Region participating in the assessment.
"Forty-five hundred..." Roy estimated that if all four regions had similar numbers, that would be eighteen thousand people.
In all of China, only 18,000 people participated in the professional-level assessment annually.
Well, the average pass rate over the years was 50%, meaning about 9,000 professional Trainers were born each year.
This was equivalent to adding the combat power of 9,000 modern soldiers annually...
No, the quality couldn't be that uniform.
Every year, Trainers who reached retirement age had to step down.
If the number of professional-level Trainers born each year was lower than the number of retirees, overall military strength would be declining.
The power of education...
When Roy pondered these issues, aside from having his country at heart, it was mainly... boredom.
Why wasn't the examiner here yet?
Perhaps sensing Roy's mood, at that moment, the examination room door was pushed open, and nine examiners in military uniforms walked in.
"Candidates No. 001 to No. 005, follow me."
"No. 006 to 010..."
Each examiner led five candidates to participate in the first stage of assessment.
Roy was number 24, and soon, he met his examiner.
Seeing this familiar examiner, Roy suddenly felt like he'd been set up by an insider.
"Sister Ivy."
"Ah, this..." Ivy was also very surprised. She never expected Roy would take this exam—wasn't this too fast?
"Ahem, please call me Examiner Ivy now."
Sensing the strange gossiping gazes of other candidates, Ivy quickly established her position.
Under Ivy's leadership, the group came to the battle arena behind the Trainer Association. After explaining the rules, the assessment began immediately.
According to test numbers, starting from the 21st.
Unlike normal competitive mode, both players didn't release Poke Balls simultaneously.
Candidates first revealed their battle Pokemon, and the examiner made targeted selections.
This also ensured fairness for subsequent tests... Otherwise, candidates who went first would directly understand the examiner's lineup, giving later candidates an advantage.
Not only that, but with candidates No. 22 and No. 23's entries, Roy also noticed some patterns.
The candidates' categories were also intentionally arranged.
Senior Ivy was a Fire-type specialist, and among the first three candidates, none had attributes that could restrain her.
In fact, two of them were quite disadvantaged against Fire-types in terms of type matchups.
As for Roy...
With his multi-type main lineup, there were no absolute type restraint relationships.
But overall, he was at a disadvantage.
Lucario, Metagross, Ninetales—his main lineup had three popular weakness types.
After candidate No. 23 finished, it was Roy's turn.
Of course, half an hour was spared in between to allow Ivy's Pokemon to rest and restore their condition.
Pokemon that had broken through species limits possessed strong resilience. With medical equipment assistance, normal injuries could basically heal within half an hour.
Additionally, Ivy's Pokemon hadn't actually sustained much damage.
None of the first three candidates could score points against Ivy.
She had been invited to Elite qualifying competitions last year and was a Master-level Trainer.
Although her qualifying competition ranking was only in the middle-lower tier, far from comparable to top Masters, it was very easy to handle those participating in professional-level assessments.
She still had that advantage.
Roy asked curiously, "Sister, you were my midterm exam examiner last year, assisted in arresting Church of Shadows remnants, and later helped explore Alola's Sacred Realm... That's three missions. Is this frequency normal?"
"Yeah." Ivy smiled slightly. "I completed seventeen missions total last year."
"?"
Roy was in awe.
Professional-level Trainers only needed to complete one mission per year to fulfill requirements.
Even if lacking resources, four or five times was usually sufficient.
Seventeen times... what a model worker.
Decided—from now on, he'd call Senior Sister "Workaholic."
Ivy explained: "Each Trainer's breeding philosophy is different, but in my opinion, training while accumulating diverse mission experience is a good approach. Moreover, earned points can be exchanged for many excellent rewards."
"The earned resources can compensate for compressed training time."
Roy nodded.
This breeding philosophy made sense.
In a way, it was similar to his approach. He earned popularity points, which was equivalent to completing missions. Roy's efficiency was just higher, and the resources he could exchange were rarer.
Additionally, he also liked getting things for free... No, making friends with Legendary Pokemon.
After chatting briefly, Ivy's Pokemon had also returned to full condition.
The assessment officially began.
"Come on, show me your Pokemon."
Ivy took on the referee's duties and reminded him.
Roy thought about it and chose an unexpected Pokemon.
"Yi~"
The snow-white Ninetales, with its magnificent figure, immediately drew everyone's attention.
Ivy was surprised.
Playing a type that's weak to Fire... No, it's Ninetales?
Almost all Capital University students knew that her senior's signature Pokemon was Ninetales.
"As you wish." Ivy smiled and threw out her Poke Ball.
A tan-colored Ninetales appeared before everyone.
Two Ninetales with completely different atmospheres, types, and colors faced each other.
"Aww." Ivy's Ninetales wagged its tail and suddenly let out an affectionate growl.
This was...
Courtship?
Wow, he didn't expect this to be a male fox!
Roy, who had recently said "let Pokemon develop emotional relationships," now looked at this male fox with somewhat unfavorable eyes.
Absolutely no sense of propriety.
If Roy remembered correctly, this male Ninetales had offspring, and Serena's Ninetales was its child.
Good grief, and he still wanted to pursue extramarital affairs?
"Yeah?" Ninetales glanced at him coldly, raised her head proudly, full of disdain.
The male Ninetales was stunned. He was handsome anyway and had always been good at charming females—how could there be a female who could ignore his appeal?
Fine!
If a lady wouldn't be virtuous, then he'd have to convince her through battle.
The male Ninetales exuded amazing fighting spirit, deciding to rely on strength to subdue such a peerless beauty.
The moment battle began:
"Flamethrower!"
"Ice Beam!"
Ivy and Roy commanded simultaneously.
Ice and fire energy beams clashed magnificently, but instead of exploding, they produced violent evaporation, stirring up a burst of mist.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was...
Evenly matched?
Ivy opened her eyes wide, staring in disbelief at the Ninetales releasing extreme ice energy.
What was this?
The flames released by her Ninetales were genuine 'higher-tier energy.'
Even if the opponent's 'ice' was high-tier energy, there was still the type advantage relationship!
Unless...
The opponent's 'ice' was far superior to her own flames in energy structure optimization...