I haven't decided on a name for my Pokémon trainer yet.

Now that I need to cook for my girlfriend, I suddenly realized I only know these two very simple dishes. I'm wondering if I should learn a few more...

"Hmm? It seems pretty good!" Ning Xian took a bite and her eyes lit up.

"That's right, I'm confident in at least these two!" Ye Feng proudly raised his chin.

Ning Xian scoffed and focused on eating.

Ye Feng went into the courtyard and released the elves to feed them.

Touching Coco Dora's hard head, Ye Feng began to think about the next steps.

This winter break is definitely not to be wasted.

Gardevoir has already reached an advanced level, and it's difficult to improve it through simple battles anymore. With the Lunar New Year approaching, the association is also very busy, and Ye Feng has no way to find Wu Jiang and the others for battle training. It's also difficult to find a Pokémon in Jinghai City that can battle against it.

Ordinary secret realms no longer pose a challenge to it; going there would be a waste of time. Ye Feng can no longer enter advanced secret realms either.

Meanwhile, Arcanine and Gyarados's main task recently has been to follow Gardevoir and learn about life energy.

In addition, during the battle with Zhang Qiang, Ye Feng discovered that Gyarados's offensive methods were somewhat lacking, and it was somewhat passive against ranged Pokémon. Therefore, he would need to buy some suitable TMs for Gyarados.

Last but not least, Ye Feng needs to improve Cocodor's strength and help it evolve as soon as possible so that he can apply to become an intermediate trainer.

After advancing to the intermediate level, Ye Feng will be able to enter the B-level danger zone.

After finalizing his plan, Ye Feng returned to the house. Ning Xian had already finished eating and was looking at something on her phone.

"What are you looking at?" Ye Feng asked curiously as he leaned closer.

Ning Xian leaned on Ye Feng's shoulder and handed him her phone: "The city is holding a rookie competition this afternoon."

"Oh? Let me see." Ye Feng became interested. If it was a rookie battle, it would be perfect for Coco Dora to participate.

During Ye Feng's university years, the second Xiao Feng Wang Newcomer Cup was also successfully held.

Thanks to the success of the competition, not only other provinces and cities began to hold the Newcomer Cup, but also various other competitions emerged among the general public.

These are mainly small competitions held by companies in various Pokémon-related industries for advertising purposes. Currently, they are still in the exploratory stage and are mainly aimed at new trainers.

In the afternoon, there happened to be a rookie competition held by Deli Company in Jinghai City.

Deli is a company specializing in Pokémon food and training equipment. Their products are of very good quality and have a great reputation.

Before Ye Feng created the energy cube, he bought the elf food produced by this company.

"Are you interested?" Ning Xian asked, seeing Ye Feng intently reading the competition introduction.

"Yes, I plan to have Coco Dora participate so she can gain some experience." Ye Feng nodded.

“But this is the rookie cup, wouldn’t you be bullying them if you went?” Ning Xian said.

"Ah... CocoDora doesn't have much battle experience, so it shouldn't count, right?" Ye Feng hesitated for a moment before asking.

However, Ning Xian was right. Cocodora just lacked practical experience. Internal battles were ultimately just training and were far less effective than real combat. However, under the repeated training of the other three Pokémon, its strength had already surpassed that of a novice.

It's not very effective against ordinary rookie trainers.

"Besides, how can a new trainer's command ability compare to yours?" Ning Xian said disdainfully. In a battle, besides the strength of the Pokémon, the trainer's command also plays a significant role in the outcome.

If you compare a rookie trainer's command ability with Ye Feng's, then it's safe to say... a total annihilation!

Ye Feng was taken aback; he hadn't expected that.

"What you said seems to make sense." Ye Feng scratched his head. If that's the case, then we can't go?

"Hmm? Look at this one," Ning Xian said, pointing to the screen.

"We cordially invite beginner and intermediate trainers to serve as judges... Hmm, that sounds good!" Ye Feng's eyes lit up. Although he couldn't participate in the competition, being a judge would allow him to have coaching battles with the champion.

Since they were able to get first place, they must have some skill, right?

······

Ye Feng arrived alone at the competition venue hosted by Deli Company—Ning Xian wanted to rest at home for a while.

Ye Feng approached the organizers and expressed his desire to serve as a judge.

"Are you Ye Feng?" The person in charge was a manager who asked Ye Feng, noticing his uncertainty.

"Huh? You know me?" Ye Feng was a little surprised.

"Is it really Ye Feng? You've become quite famous!" The manager excitedly pulled Ye Feng into the store, pointing to a poster on the wall.

"..." Ye Feng stared at the poster and fell silent—it was the award ceremony for the first Little Phoenix King Cup, and Ye Feng was holding the trophy and waving and smiling at the camera.

I feel inexplicably ashamed.

The manager saw the poster every day, which is why he recognized Ye Feng at a glance.

"Since it's you, serving as a judge is naturally no problem. Besides, you even defeated the captain of the Seoul National University team from H country, which made us look very proud," the manager said with a smile.

"Huh? You know about this?" Ye Feng was surprised.

"Of course! It was trending on social media a while ago, didn't you know?"

"Uh, I really haven't been paying attention to this..." Ye Feng scratched his cheek.

After the match, Ye Feng put the matter out of his mind. He didn't usually go online, so naturally he didn't know.

"Let's go, let's go, the competition has already started, let's hurry over there." The manager pulled Ye Feng and walked towards the competition venue.

Chapter 155 Judge Ye

Upon arriving at the competition venue, a match was already underway.

Ye Feng followed the manager to the judges' panel, where another trainer was also seated.

"Huh?" The trainer paused for a moment when he saw Ye Feng, as if he was trying to recall something.

"Have I seen you somewhere before?" the trainer asked tentatively.

"Um...maybe." Ye Feng was a little embarrassed, hesitating whether to reveal his identity, but he still felt so ashamed. What should he do?

"Huh? You're Ye Feng?!" Fortunately, the trainer remembered first and stood up in surprise.

"Ah, yes, I am Ye Feng..." Ye Feng nodded.

"Wow! I met you in person, brother! I'm a fan of yours! My name is Zheng Tianhong." Zheng Tianhong excitedly walked over and shook hands with Ye Feng.

"Huh?" Ye Feng blinked, somewhat dumbfounded. How did fans suddenly appear?

"Hey bro, the thing about you beating the captain of the H country school team was trending on social media, didn't you know?"

"I really don't know." Even though it was something to be proud of, Ye Feng still felt embarrassed after being asked twice.

“Those trainers from Country H,” Zheng Tianhong waved his fist, “always act like they’re the best in the world, and they’re always trying to steal our cultural heritage. They do all sorts of disgusting things. I’ve had enough of them for a long time.”

"That's true." Ye Feng nodded in agreement.

"Come on, sit down quickly." Zheng Tianhong warmly pulled Ye Feng to sit down.

The two began watching the game.

The two rookie trainers battling now are using Rattata and Oddish respectively.

"Ye Feng, which side do you think will win?" Zheng Tianhong asked.

"Hmm..." Ye Feng observed for a while and said, "Neither side has an advantage in terms of attributes, but Rattata's trainer is obviously more skilled at commanding Pokémon. I favor Rattata."

Zheng Tianhong nodded in agreement.

The result of the battle was soon announced, and Rattata emerged victorious.

What about these two?

"Well, without even looking, Popo has the advantage, as for Metapod... well, it's hard to explain."

···

The two watched the match while sharing their opinions on the game.

Zheng Tianhong is also a novice trainer who attends university in Pingjiang. Although he is far inferior to Ye Feng, he has sufficient battle experience and only made two incorrect analyses.

Ye Feng accurately predicted the outcome of each match, and also made detailed analyses of the Pokémon's weaknesses and strengths, as well as the trainer's command abilities.

There was nothing he could do; to him, these battles between rookie trainers were nothing more than child's play.

But when he thought of how he had once been just like them, Ye Feng couldn't help but smile with nostalgia.

Soon, the top three in the competition were determined.

As agreed, Ye Feng and Zheng Tianhong would conduct a training match with them.

Zheng Tianhong originally intended to give everything to Ye Feng, but Ye Feng refused. He couldn't let Ye Feng come for nothing, could he?

But it was difficult to divide the three people, so two of them played rock-paper-scissors, and in the end, Ye Feng was in charge of two people, and Zheng Tianhong was in charge of one.

Ye Feng stepped onto the battlefield, facing the third-place finisher who was using a fluffy ball—not the fluffy ball we usually talk about.

Few people would choose such a Pokémon, but Ye Feng thought it was pretty good. Although its strength ceiling after evolution is not high, for novice trainers, especially those from ordinary families, Bug-type Pokémon are actually a very good choice.

Ye Feng naturally sent out Coco Dora and then signaled the other side to attack first.

"Fluffy Ball, use a ramming attack!" the opponent commanded without hesitation.

The fluffy ball crashed into Coco Dora.