Chapter 59: Freshman Challenge Match
Relatively speaking, neither Floette nor Torterra needed his worry, and even Starmie had begun to research the Water Blade mode.
It could be said that Chenxi's Small Elves were still growing, but Floette's growth was still a slow and steady process.
As for the other two, Chenxi still trained Nidorino in the same way he had initially trained Torterra.
The main focus was on developing his stamina, strength, and body coordination gained from the Focus Energy skill.
The forms, abilities, and fighting styles of Nidorino and Nidoking were, after all, too different.
Training them to form their own combat system at this stage might not be a good thing; it was better to let them continue to build their foundation.
This was like Ash's Turtwig, which, when young, used a speed-oriented fighting style.
But after it evolved into Torterra, its former fighting style was no longer suitable and had to be discarded; everything had to start anew.
Instead of that, it was better to put aside the idea of constructing a fighting style and continue to deepen Nidorino's foundation, so that when Nidorino became Nidoking, he would possess an even stronger physique and power, and the combat system could be made up for later.
Of course, the most important thing for Nidorino was to learn Horn Drill; then everything would be easy to discuss.
Additionally, a life orb was needed.
Chenxi had searched for this item for a long time without success; after all, such an unorthodox item that exchanged life for combat power was too niche.
However, since Nidorino hadn't evolved into Nidoking yet, Chenxi stated that he wasn't in a hurry.
Compared to Chenxi's other Pokémon, which all had quite good aptitudes, Chenxi's gaze fell on the last Magikarp.
Watching Magikarp flop in the water, Chenxi didn't make things too difficult for it.
Starting with a thousand Splashes a day, he gradually increased it to ten thousand Splashes in the pool daily.
The main purpose was to train its water control ability, the strength of its tail, and, very importantly, its stamina and willpower.
After training, every night it would be placed in a medicinal bath containing various strengthening and nourishing herbs for recuperation.
Chenxi estimated that this method could forcibly raise the Magikarp's limit to Orange rank.
That is, to increase its level cap from level 29 to level 39.
Of course, the medicinal bath method, which involved a lot of money, was mainly to help the Pokémon quickly recover its stamina after training.
Its effect of improving the Pokémon was a secondary benefit, at most only effective for Pokémon with potential lower than Yellow rank.
Moreover, after this method successfully raises a Pokémon by one grade, it will develop drug resistance and cannot be further improved.
For Chenxi now, spending money was a minor issue.
But how to continue to improve the potential of Water type Pokémon, Chenxi truly didn't know.
If it were Grass Type or Bug Type Pokémon, the Yuan Family had a complete set of solutions, but normal, ordinary Pokémon were simply not worth that much investment.
"So, it's still a matter of academic credits. If I had enough academic credits, I would definitely be able to exchange them from Qiefeng Academy for the combat system and training methods I want..." Chenxi couldn't help but sigh.
At this moment, Chenxi was somewhat looking forward to the freshman challenge match so he could earn academic credits.
Life without academic credits was truly difficult.
Once he had academic credits, how should he spend them on Torterra's Ground type skill system, Starmie's Psychic system, Nidoking's Power Gem, and Magikarp's bottleneck breakthrough channels?
What a headache!
Of course, even though the opening ceremony was about to begin, Chenxi still systematically trained his Pokémon.
Until the day before the opening ceremony, Chenxi instead let his Pokémon rest for a day, adjusting their condition to the highest.
Anyway, Chenxi wasn't the kind of person who believed in last-minute cramming; after all, compared to cramming, Chenxi believed more in having put in all the effort normally, and now it was just about performing to his full potential.
Chenxi arrived in the Elite Class, and besides Zhu Lan and Riley, who remained calm and composed, Maya and A Liu both had obvious dark circles under their eyes, looking like these two guys didn't sleep very well last night.
Komatsu, however, due to his proficiency with Ghost type Pokémon, always had dark circles, so it wasn't noticeable on him.
"It looks like you guys don't have much enthusiasm. You're not going to intentionally throw the match, are you!" Chenxi glanced around and said.
"Who's going to throw the match? I'll take on a thousand by myself; I absolutely won't give you a chance to appear!" A Liu, as if his tail had been stepped on, instantly became invigorated and roared at Chenxi without hesitation.
"Very spirited, then you lead the charge. The demand isn't high, just take down the first hundred people for me!" Chenxi said.
"Leave it to me; I'll show you how powerful I am!" A Liu said without ceremony.
"The second one is yours!" Chenxi glanced at Komatsu and said, "This guy seems too unreliable. If he doesn't complete the task, you lend a hand."
"Do you think you're the class monitor? You're already assigning tasks now." Komatsu looked at Chenxi and said.
"It doesn't matter if I'm the class monitor, but don't you want to be the second one to go?" Chenxi said calmly.
"Alright!" Komatsu nodded and said, "Indeed, I have no reason to refuse to go second."
"Maya, then you go third. After all, as a successor of the Whirl Islands, I believe you'll more than suffice as the backbone. I'm very optimistic about you ending this competition in the third round." Chenxi said to Maya.
"Alright, I'll show you the strength of a successor of the Whirl Islands!" Maya said with full confidence.
"Riley, you go fourth. Any problems?" Chenxi asked Riley.
"I have no objections." Riley's answer was simple and direct, and he did not object to Chenxi's command.
How should I put it... because of some competition between Iron Island and the Ju family, Iron Island and the Yuan Family had some dealings.
So, compared to the others, Riley was truly an acquaintance of Chenxi, having met him several times.
"We'll be last." Chenxi glanced at Zhu Lan and stated his plan simply and directly.
"Why?" Zhu Lan looked up at Chenxi, her gaze calm and distant, as if she wanted to see through Chenxi.
Chenxi confidently said to Zhu Lan, "You always have to give others some opportunities."
"We'll see then." Zhu Lan didn't refute Chenxi, but merely said to Chenxi with a placid expression.
Chenxi's arrangement wasn't entirely due to the reasons he stated.
The real reason A Liu was first was because he was the only Bug Catcher among them.
A Liu basically had no background or foundation; this school was the only place he could acquire resources.
So Chenxi gave him this stage to acquire resources; how many resources he could get depended on A Liu's own strength.
Chenxi believed that A Liu's fighting spirit was definitely the strongest among the six of them, and letting him lead the charge could somewhat liven up the atmosphere.
The others all came from prominent families and didn't lack this bit of resources, so they didn't object to A Liu leading the charge.
Komatsu and Maya were behind because they were from Chengdu.
Their order didn't matter, but they definitely had to be before Chenxi and the others.
After all, they were in Sinnoh now, so it was appropriate to let them have some advantage; this counted as local hospitality.
Next were Zhu Lan and Riley, with Zhu Lan definitely being last.
It might be truly difficult for others to continuously defend the arena, but Zhu Lan, with her Garchomp, might actually be able to keep defending it.
Because Zhu Lan's Garchomp was a Master rank Pokémon, and not one that had just entered the Master rank.
Chenxi was really afraid that Garchomp would go berserk and sweep away all these people.
Therefore, Chenxi arranged Zhu Lan to be the last one, at least to give others some opportunities.
The freshman ceremony was held directly in an arena where Elite level Masters competed, which was for the convenience of the final freshman challenge match.
And besides the seats reserved for the original freshmen, this super arena, capable of accommodating 100,000 people, already had people sitting in twos and threes in the stands.
These people naturally weren't there to watch the freshman ceremony, but to wait for the final freshman challenge match.
And various organizations within the school would seize this opportunity to observe the quality of this batch of freshmen and scout for their own talents.
Ordinary students, on the other hand, would reminisce about their lost beautiful youth and come to watch the excitement.
In short, the freshman ceremony was an annual lively event for Qiefeng Academy.
At this time, Chenxi also met Sha Miao, the legendary figure who single-handedly founded Qiefeng Academy.
His face looked younger than Chenxi had imagined; at least, there were no traces of time on his face, a middle-aged man.
However, his full head of silver hair draped behind him also revealed that he was no longer young.
Although the freshman challenge match was the most anticipated event for everyone, before that, there was still Sha Miao's lengthy opening speech and a series of freshman ceremony procedures.
Finally, the entire process entered its last item, the freshman challenge match.
In an instant, the atmosphere on the arena changed, becoming fervent and filled with zeal.
In the audience, the 100,000 seats were now largely filled without anyone realizing it.
At this moment, Sha Miao spoke, "Next, is the important event of every annual freshman ceremony, the freshman challenge match.
First, please welcome today's six protagonists. They are this year's Elite Class freshmen, and they will be your benchmarks.
If you can defeat them within a hundred people, you will gain the resources belonging to the Elite Class.
If they can defeat a thousand of you, your admission resources will also be acquired by the Elite Class.
This is your first lesson at Qiefeng Academy.
Although Qiefeng Academy has many resources, it does not support idlers. This academy needs competition, fierce competition!"
Upon hearing this, the freshmen were either unconvinced, surprised, or curious, but all their gazes turned towards the aisle.
And at this moment, Chenxi and the other six, under everyone's expectant gazes, walked step by step onto the high platform.
These six enjoyed everyone's attention and received everyone's admiration; being able to enter the Elite Class was in itself a mark of being Superior.
Sha Miao didn't shy away from making a big deal, and loudly proclaimed, "Today, they are the Elite of the school, enjoying everyone's praise, but it doesn't matter. As long as you defeat them, you will be the true protagonists of today!"
The entire arena instantly erupted, especially the freshmen; they were all eager, wishing they could jump onto the stage immediately and have a great battle.
What was the Elite Class? They were all just twelve or thirteen-year-olds; how much stronger could they be than themselves?
At this moment, each of them seemed to have been pumped up by Principal Sha Miao, wishing they could be the first to rush up.
"Principal, may I speak into the microphone?" Chenxi looked at Principal Sha Miao, who was not far from him, and asked.
Sha Miao was slightly startled and smiled, "It seems our Elite Class student has something to say. Everyone, please quiet down."
Saying that, Sha Miao handed the microphone to Chenxi, wanting to see what this young man from the Yuan Family was planning to do.
Chenxi took the microphone with both hands and, facing all the freshmen, said, "My name is Chenxi, a freshman in the Elite Class.
I've looked into it, and the basic results of the previous Elite Classes were mostly around two to three hundred people.
On this point, I express doubts about the strength of previous Elite Class members.
As the new Elite Class, we need you to prove that we are the strongest class.
So, all the admission resources in your hands, our Elite Class wants them all!"
"Holy crap, are you crazy?!"
At this moment, A Liu and the others immediately fixed their gazes on Chenxi.
The original plan to claim freshman resources was already an outrageous thing to do, and if successful, they would likely become a public enemy.
But you, you actually weren't afraid of making things worse, not letting people sneak by, but instead setting off such a big firecracker.
Are you eager to die faster?!
A Liu looked at Chenxi, truly gritting his teeth, while the freshmen below the arena hadn't even reacted to this declaration of war from Chenxi.
In Chenxi's view, his main goal wasn't these points; the real goal was to win over these freshmen.
And what way could make them convinced?
It was to declare that he would defeat them, and then honorably defeat all of them.
This was the most convincing way for these young freshmen.
Otherwise, if they acted cautiously, they would eventually have to show their hand, and even if the Elite Class completed the thousand-person challenge, there would still be some who were not convinced.
How could that be!
How else would he show off his cool, powerful, and dazzling demeanor?
So, Chenxi directly announced his goal, then calmly handed the microphone back to Sha Miao and returned to his position.
Sha Miao looked at Chenxi with some surprise, at his composure when returning the microphone.
Clearly, what he had just said was not youthful impulsiveness, but had been carefully thought out.
Sha Miao smiled slightly and said to the freshmen below the stage, "What are your thoughts on classmate Chenxi's declaration just now?"
"Let's get him!"
At this moment, the freshmen were united as never before.
Completing the Sword and Shield second playthrough under level 70, it seems my guess was a bit wrong; in this generation, wild Pokémon are stronger than NPCs.
