After training for an hour on the training ground, Fang Yuan received a phone call from Old Tang, the instructor of the Battle Society.
"The temporary Spirit Center in the arena? I'll be there right away."
Fang Yuan hung up the phone and looked at his Pokemon, ending the training session.
Old Tang had told him over the phone that the upcoming contestants needed to go to the temporary Spirit Center inside the arena to have their Poké Balls registered and checked and asked him to make a trip there shortly.
...
Afternoon.
By this time, nearly all the contestants had arrived at the contestant village.
The service staff of the competition were already busy working inside the temporary Spirit Center.
On the first floor of the Spirit Center, quite a few Trainers gathered, all waiting in line for registration.
Fang Yuan seemed to have arrived a bit early; the team from Demon Capital University had not yet arrived.
He looked up at the Huge Gold Monster-style electronic clock on the wall, calculated the time, and went to a vending machine to grab a bottle of hot milk tea. Then, he sat down on a sofa in the lobby to wait for the main troop.
"Hey, look at that person, is he the Champion of the East China Division?"
"I remember his name is Fang Yuan, a contestant from Magic City University."
As Fang Yuan sat on the sofa drinking his milk tea and reading a novel, the contestants around who were waiting for registration also took notice of him.
There were only seven regional Champions, and Fang Yuan was one of them, so he naturally attracted a lot of attention.
However, the fact that an ordinary lower-grade member of Magic City University had beaten their team captain made many people sense something fishy, suspecting Magic City University of a grand conspiracy.
"This 'My Love Story with Shana Duo' is cut off?" Meanwhile, Fang Yuan glanced at the novel's update time, frowned; it hadn't been updated for three days now... After opening the comment section, Fang Yuan discovered a bunch of interesting comments.
1st Floor: Author, please update!!!
2nd Floor: Damn cut-offs, damn cut-offs, damn cut-offs!!
3rd Floor: Don't rush, I heard that the author secretly writing novels was discovered by his wife, and now they are in the middle of a divorce.
4th Floor: Wow? Could it be based on true experience?
5th Floor: I didn't hear about that, the author doesn't even have a Gardevoir, supposedly only has a female Machamp.
"Are you Fang Yuan?"
As Fang Yuan was engrossed in reading the comment section, suddenly a voice called out to him!
Fang Yuan slightly looked up to see a tall Trainer in front of him, showing a puzzled expression, "I am Fang Yuan, who are you?"
"Captain Zhuo, he's pretending not to recognize you."
"So arrogant..."
Zhuo Yue looked at Fang Yuan, hearing his teammates' discussion behind him, his mouth twitched slightly, his gaze stayed fixed on Fang Yuan, pretending he hadn't reacted yet.
After all, as the individual champion of the Central China Division, there was no reason Fang Yuan shouldn't recognize him.
As a fellow Champion, Fang Yuan should at least pay attention to his upcoming opponents, right?!!
"Captain Zhuo?" After hearing the muttering of the people behind the other person, Fang Yuan was still utterly clueless. Who is that...
This is bad!
"..." Zhuo Yue, looking at Fang Yuan's bewildered expression, suddenly had a bad feeling. Damn it, it seemed that Fang Yuan genuinely didn't recognize him, such an indifferent contestant to the competition.
Introduce himself?
That would be too humiliating... He wished he hadn't come to greet him.
Soon, many people gathered around, waiting to see the clash between the two division Champions.
"He is Zhuo Yue, the individual battle Champion of the Central China Division, captain of Central China University, and is judged to be the most likely candidate to win the individual battle Champion this time." Someone from the crowd stepped forward to introduce him.
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"In the betting rankings, he ranks first, the biggest dark horse in this National Competition, while you only ranked second, and I ranked third. As for your Magic City University's captain Ji Yan, although he is the regional runner-up, he also ranks fourth."
Fang Yuan and Zhuo Yue turned their heads to look at the young man who had stepped forward in a blue team uniform.
"The captain of Imperial City University, Tao Shengjie?" Zhuo Yue spoke.
He felt very pleased with Tao Shengjie's praise.
Fang Yuan was completely baffled. How had another Imperial University captain appeared, and what was going on with these rankings?
He hadn't heard of this Tao Shengjie...
However, he did recall a trainer from Imperial City University named Dong Fanghua.
The vice-captain of Imperial City University, he had fought against Fang Yuan before. The man was strong but unfortunately still lost to Fang Yuan. However, this year, that man should have already graduated.
"Just take that ranking for what it is," Tao Shengjie's female companion behind him said. Fang Yuan, upon seeing her, finally met someone familiar.
The president of Imperial City University Athletic Society, something Xiaoyun... Fang Yuan remembered that was the name. When he initially challenged the Imperial University, she too had lost to him.
Hearing Yan Xiaoyun's words made the just-reassured Zhuo Yue unhappy again.
Wasn't this Tao Shengjie and the girl behind him implicitly suggesting the rankings were unreliable?
That was a challenge to his first place!!
"Anyway, we'll see each other on the field." Zhuo Yue said with a faint smile. This time, he was aiming for the national championship. Whether it was Magic Team's captain, Emperor Team's captain, or this Fang Yuan before him, they would all become stepping stones to his rise.
He had the confidence and strength. After saying this, Zhuo Yue called over his teammates and the group left the area.
Watching Zhuo Yue leave, Yan Xiaoyun sighed inwardly. His trump card, an Huge Gold Monster, whose strength was close to the Master level, had swept through the Central China Contest without a rival. This Zhuo Yue indeed seemed to be the biggest dark horse of this National Competition. Imperial University's strength was not as good as last year's, and even Tao Shengjie was not confident he could beat Zhuo Yue in an individual battle.
But that didn't stop her from saying that the betting rankings that had spread on the National Competition forum were unreliable...
Because in a previous tactical meeting of Imperial City University, Teacher Hu Guanxiong, who had returned from the East China Region as a professional examiner, told them a cruel truth.
Fang Yuan, a student of Demon Capital University, had participated in that session's professional examination where he displayed the level of a Quasi-Master Trainer!
In Fang Yuan's team, at least three Pokemon might have reached the Master level... Even if not, their strength was definitely enough to crush those of a professional level.
When Fang Yuan had swept over Imperial City University before, Yan Xiaoyun had felt that Fang Yuan would one day become a problem for Imperial University, but she didn't expect that in just a short year, Fang Yuan would grow to a level that made his peers look up to him.
After listening to Teacher Hu Guanxiong describe Fang Yuan's strength, the people of Imperial City University dared not have any hopes for the individual champion. Fortunately, it seemed like Fang Yuan wasn't participating in the team battle. This meant that Imperial City University might be able to defeat Magic City University in the team battle.
"Hi~ Long time no see." Fang Yuan greeted Yan Xiaoyun cheerfully.
Yan Xiaoyun also gave Fang Yuan a forced smile... Enemies sure meet on narrow paths.
...
"Hahaha, did you run into Hua University's Zhuo Yue and Imperial's Tao Shengjie?"
Before long, Magic City's team also arrived at the Spirit Center.
After the group registration was completed, the team members dispersed.
On the side, Tang Sheng heard Fang Yuan's inquiry and laughed, "Based on the performance in the regional competition, Tao Shengjie's strength is about the same as Ji Yan's, but Zhuo Yue is even better. His Main Elves are quite equal to theirs, but one thing... this Zhuo Yue's Trump Card Elf, the Gigantic Golden Monster, is a bit stronger than the ones of Tao and Ji, almost an invincible Professional level. So there's no problem considering him the biggest dark horse."
"However, for you, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Tang Sheng had already heard from Master Fang Minghai from the Master league that during the regional competition, Fang Yuan had challenged a group of Masters with a Monferno, and had also received high praise from these Masters!! They all commented that Fang Yuan's strength was no less impressive than theirs!!
Tang Sheng knew better than these Masters that the Monferno was only a Beginner Elf that Fang Yuan had subdued during his first year, a gift for new students from the Battle Society!!
In just over a year, a Beginner Elf had been trained by Fang Yuan to be close to the Master level. Tang Sheng didn't think Fang Yuan's Beginner Pokemon and the Self-detonating Magnetic Monster would be weaker than the Monferno...
Besides, the Pokemon that Fang Yuan had subdued later were all monsters, the offspring of the Thousand-year Gengar from Sun and Moon Forest... Could their strength be weak? No way!
Looking at it this way, Fang Yuan indeed had no chance of losing. These people... they were just waiting to be dominated by Demon King Fang Yuan~
"Alright, let's not talk about them. Old Tang, about the thing I talked to you about last time... How is it?" Fang Yuan asked.
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