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[Start of the chapter]
"I'm number eight! First round, Arena One!"
"I'm number thirteen! Who's my opponent? Come here and die already!"
"Holy— I'm finished. I drew Joji-sama!"
"Hahahaha! Bro, my condolences!"
"I think drawing Joji-sama is still better than drawing Himeko, right?"
"Definitely!"
"I'm done! I drew Himeko! I might as well just forfeit!"
"....."
As soon as the first-round draw results came out, the lounge instantly exploded into chaos.
Quite a few people had gotten good draws, and they were so excited they were jumping and shouting.
Quite a few others had drawn opponents they couldn't hope to beat, and they looked dejected, heads hanging low.
Joji's matchup was the second battle of the first round.
He was just about to follow the crowd out when he suddenly heard that line comparing him to Himeko.
The anger he'd finally suppressed was ignited again.
A bunch of short-sighted fools.
Today I'll let all of you see my true strength again!
This championship can only be mine!
.....
Himeko's match number was ten.
Her assigned slot was Arena Three of the second round.
As for who her opponent was, she had no interest whatsoever.
After all, after seeing the overwhelmingly powerful battle strength Shiko had displayed before, the last trace of worry in her heart had vanished.
This championship—
there was no need to even think about it. It would be hers.
What she cared about more was the reward she would receive after winning, and the direction her future would take.
Inside the Luxury Ball, Shiko, who had slept for an hour, slowly woke up.
He checked the Daily Quests panel.
The next task happened to be spectating.
This wake-up timing was really something.
The past two days, after finishing his daily tasks, the experience points fed back to him added up to exactly sixty.
It was a little less than he'd expected.
Shiko guessed it was probably because he was approaching the critical threshold for his second evolution.
He'd originally been thinking—since he'd already revealed his overwhelming strength, should he try actual Pokémon battles and get some experience points?
But—that day during the Entry-level Trainer Exam, the moment he appeared and scared that Raticate into fainting, winning the battle, the system's electronic prompt—"Experience points +1"—had instantly talked Shiko out of the idea.
Compared like that, it was obvious that lying flat and lazily finishing daily tasks was far more efficient and faster!
Looks like one-on-one battles can forget it.
If there ever came a day when he could get on the field and mow down a whole bunch at once, Shiko would still be willing to come out, show a bit of strength, and harvest a wave of experience.
Other than that, he could also feel something unusual changing inside his body.
That change seemed to be coming from the stage after next in the overall evolution line—in other words, the next stage after completing the evolution of his current stage: the WarGreymon form Shiko had been looking forward to.
For his next evolution, as long as he reached the required level, he could complete it.
But the stage after that wouldn't just have a level requirement.
Shiko could clearly sense it—to evolve into WarGreymon, he would need an extremely pure and powerful, massive amount of Dragon-type energy.
Only when his energy reserves reached a critical point would he be able to undergo another evolution and metamorphosis.
But here came the problem.
Where was he supposed to find such an enormous amount of pure Dragon-type energy?
That was a question worth thinking about.
While Shiko was deep in thought inside the Luxury Ball, on the battle arenas outside, the eight contestants of the first round had already taken the stage.
The battles were about to begin.
The crowd of two hundred thousand erupted in a roar like a tsunami.
Large amounts of cash flooded into the betting pools.
Everyone was predicting and wagering on the side they favored.
This Pokémon tournament had drawn the attention of countless people.
"Teacher Moo Inoshishe, how many candidates passed the exam this year? Did anyone pass under you?"
Aisa looked over the list of participants in her hand and asked Teacher Moo Inoshishe about this year's exam results.
"A total of five hundred took the exam. In the end, fifty-four passed the Entry-level Trainer Exam."
"Two passed under me this year."
Teacher Moo Inoshishe pushed up her glasses, her tone calm and flat.
"Two?!"
The evaluators from the Pokémon universities in the row behind them immediately cried out in surprise, faces full of disbelief.
If they'd been dispatched to Wintergreen City to assist with assessment, they naturally had some understanding of the situation here.
This "female demon" Teacher Moo Inoshishe—previously, only three people had ever passed under her and graduated.
Every single one of those three had become a mainstay of the Great Axia Alliance as it stood today.
One of them—an Elite Four-level figure—was sitting right in front of them now.
With standards that harsh, she had actually allowed two people to pass in a single year?
Didn't that mean—
Wintergreen City Pokémon Academy had produced two exceptionally talented seedlings this year?
For a moment, the eyes of those evaluators began to gleam as they grew restless and eager.
(End of Chapter)
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