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The reward and punishment meeting would be held tomorrow. At the same time, the new round of performance point competitions would begin on October 1st.
"Another sixty points..."
Li Xiang lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling like he was just one step away from the A-rank arena.
That afternoon, as one of the successful ten-time defenders, he had stepped onto the stage to draw lots.
The balls contained the student IDs of those with less than sixty performance points.
Li Xiang was lucky—he hadn't drawn any classmates from No. 1 Middle School, only students from other schools.
But Song Jie and the others had ended up with one or two from their own school.
Internal battles were inevitable.
The group chat was filled with lamentations from those who had been selected, some even begging for mercy. Among them, some had only a few dozen points left, while others were already in the negatives.
Even those who only participated in the bare minimum of matches couldn't perfectly control their scores. If they couldn't make the top hundred in running or kept losing pre-meal battles, the sixty points given at the start of each month wouldn't be enough to save them.
Thus, the point competition was their only chance to turn things around.
But just before that, the reward and punishment meeting had piled even more misfortune onto them.
As a result, those who still had some points left were pushed further into the hole, while those already in the negatives plummeted into an abyss with no hope of recovery.
Many had already decided to give up.
With gaps of dozens of points, no amount of struggling would help at their current level.
However, this also revealed the differences in student quality between schools.
No. 2 and No. 4 lived up to their reputations as elite schools—their students' overall skill levels far surpassed the other four.
They had the fewest students with less than sixty points.
The other four schools were roughly on par with each other.
The same pattern held for those who had advanced to the C-rank arena.
Even with Li Xiang and the others raising the ceiling for No. 1 Middle School, their middle and lower tiers still couldn't compete with No. 2 and No. 4.
Of course, this wasn't something Li Xiang and his group needed to worry about.
Time to sleep.
Li Xiang slowly closed his eyes, looking forward to tomorrow.
...…
The Next Day
The reward and punishment meeting was underway.
Some of the selected students were determined to fight back, but the gap in strength was too wide—no amount of struggling would change the outcome.
Out of sixty battles, not a single underdog managed to pull off an upset.
The expected winners won, and the expected losers lost.
Sixty points.
The C-rank defenders reaped a bountiful harvest—this many points would normally take them nearly a week to accumulate.
Among the remaining 203 students, another twenty or so were left with zero or negative points.
If they couldn't turn things around in the point competition at the start of next month, they would be sent packing—no second chances.
The fact that the Youth Training Camp didn't immediately expel students when they hit negative points, but instead gave them until the monthly competition to redeem themselves, was already a generous opportunity.
If they still couldn't seize it, there was nothing more to say.
.....
October – The Performance Point Competition Begins
Lin Feng and Xu Wan insisted on sticking together as a team.
They seemed dead set on being Li Xiang's tools, refusing to listen to any persuasion.
Li Xiang figured that since he'd already accepted their help before, a little more wouldn't hurt. After gritting his teeth, he agreed.
Thus, the point competition became a six-person operation. Through teamwork and division of labor, they secured an overwhelming advantage from the start.
Stealing Pokémon from them?
Impossible. They'd be lucky if they weren't the ones getting robbed.
With six arena-defender-level students banded together, most competitors took one look at them and turned tail. Even if someone managed to snatch a Pokémon, they'd never hold onto it in a revenge match.
To maximize efficiency, the group split into pairs to search for Pokémon, then used walkie-talkies to communicate and mark locations.
Eventually, Li Xiang only needed to rush from one spot to another—his Pokémon were often just there for the finishing blow.
Simple and efficient.
Under these conditions, group after group of Pokémon, regardless of their point values, were all captured by Li Xiang alone.
When strong students united to farm points for a single person, the efficiency was terrifying.
It was almost like sweeping through the competition. Following the map's routes, they left no Pokémon behind, no matter how insignificant.
For the other students, the experience was miserable.
They couldn't find Pokémon as quickly, nor capture them as efficiently. By the time they finally managed to catch one and resumed searching, they were shocked to find the surrounding Pokémon had already vanished—as if they'd never existed.
Those in the negatives had half their morale crushed on the spot.
'They're not even leaving us scraps!'
But what could they do? Complain that Li Xiang's team was too efficient?
Just look at the event's name—Performance Point Competition. The key word was competition.
From the very beginning, this wasn't a place for losers to struggle for survival—it was a feast for the winners.
The Pokémon that seemed like insurmountable challenges to others were nothing more than foot soldiers, captains, and generals in a Dynasty Warriors game to Li Xiang's group.
In essence, Li Xiang's team was playing a farming simulator. Meanwhile, the students in the negatives were playing Dark Souls.
The difference was night and day.
It wasn't just the struggling students who felt this way—some from the C-rank arena did too, including Luo Dayou and others.
With the top students teaming up, what chance did anyone else have?
Their options were either to form their own teams and compete head-on or swallow their pride and accept defeat.
Luo Dayou chose the latter. Having dealt with Li Xiang before, he knew just how relentless the boy was in chasing points—and how strong he was.
He didn't dare challenge them directly.
Besides, gathering a large team would just lead to another problem—how to distribute the points fairly.
The point competition didn't pool points for later division—each capture was tied to the individual's PokéBall.
Different Pokémon had different point values, making equal distribution nearly impossible.
—Lin Feng's rival learned this the hard way when he tried to mimic Li Xiang's strategy.
After one clash with Li Xiang's group, he retreated and attempted to form his own team.
But dividing the spoils proved complicated.
Someone always ended up with one more point than the others.
Those who got less naturally refused to accept it. The next time they encountered Pokémon, they'd demand to be the ones to capture them.
But if a three-pointer appeared and was caught by someone else, another person would end up short.
By noon, some still had more points than others.
'We agreed to split evenly—why do you have more?'
Arguments broke out. The team dissolved into infighting before finally disbanding in frustration.
The root of the problem was the lack of a leader with enough authority to enforce a fair distribution system.
The organizer had wanted to replicate Li Xiang's team's efficiency, but with more people came more points to divide—and in the end, the actual gains weren't much better than when they'd worked in smaller groups.
All he got for his efforts was a headache and a team in shambles. In the end, he had no choice but to disband.
—Such was the fate of hastily assembled teams.
Cooperation wasn't something that could be achieved on a whim.
...
Noon Break
After spending the morning sweeping through most of the area and capturing the majority of the Pokémon, Li Xiang's group decided to take a break and return to camp.
They'd resume in the afternoon.
It wasn't that they didn't want to keep going—both they and their Pokémon were reaching their limits.
A full morning of high-intensity activity wasn't as easy as playing a game.
Of course, the rewards were satisfying.
Their efficiency far surpassed the last competition, sending Li Xiang's performance points skyrocketing.
In just one morning, they'd amassed over 350 points—an unbelievable number.
Double the previous haul.
They'd captured so many Pokémon that their backpacks couldn't hold them all, forcing them to send some back to camp.
Among them:
Ten five-point Pokémon.
Over forty three-point Pokémon.
More than a hundred one-point Pokémon.
If Li Xiang had tried to do this alone, even a full day wouldn't have been enough.
Six people working together truly made a difference.
Most of the Pokémon had been captured in the first few hours. After 10:30 AM, the efficiency began to drop as they entered the "hidden Pokémon" phase.
Li Xiang estimated that they could break 400 points within an hour in the afternoon.
With a little more effort, 500 points wasn't out of reach.
At this rate, he might actually be able to exchange for the shiny Metang this semester.
The Youth Training Camp ran until the end of February, with the next semester starting in late March. The full academic year wouldn't end until August of the following year, when the top twenty were finalized.
It was only early October now—he still had five months.
At this rate of point accumulation, he should have enough by then.
Of course, this still relied on being "fed" by Song Jie and the others, ensuring he maxed out his daily matches to reach 6,000 points in time.
To be honest, he'd considered giving up.
The shiny Metang was just cool-looking—it hadn't shown any extraordinary talent or unique traits.
Raising a regular Metang and using the points to support his current team might have been the more practical choice—even benefiting Incineroar and the others.
But when the other five had resolutely insisted on helping him, even at the cost of their own points, just so he could get that shiny Metang...
Li Xiang realized this was no longer just about him.
That shiny Metang carried the weight of their friendship and determination. It was something he had to hold high and strive for, no matter what.
He couldn't afford to say anything discouraging, and he absolutely couldn't give up.
Giving up was easy—but it also eroded one's will.
Once was fine. Twice was manageable. By the third time, doubt would creep in, making it impossible to rise again.
Six thousand points might seem insurmountable, but for the six of them, it was entirely achievable.
If they could do it, why not go for it?
Life was short. Sometimes, you had to go all-in on things others might laugh at or not understand.
What did other people's opinions matter?
They were living for themselves. As long as they felt fulfilled and happy, that was enough.
When the time came, Li Xiang would repay them with everything he had.
That was the right way.
Until then, he would keep his head down and lead the way forward.
Never looking back.