Pokémon: Hard work pays off, moves can be upgraded infinitely.

The next day.

Inside the Evergreen Arena.

Today is the sixth day of the provincial competition, and also the first day of the round of 32 elimination matches.

Mu Yun glanced at the materials that Wang He had given them.

Group 8, with 32 students, the vast majority of whom are local students from Changqing City, with fewer than ten students from the other eight cities.

There's no way around it. Although the students who can represent their cities are all elites from their respective cities, the students who represent the provincial capital are also elites.

Furthermore, their average strength and financial resources are clearly higher.

Especially those who wear spirit treasures that accelerate growth generally have higher levels.

As a result, apart from Mu Yun, only Wu Tu from the entire Songjiang City team managed to qualify as the fourth-placed member of Group F.

This is because Group F contains relatively little "evergreen" content.

Group A, which includes Liu Jianhao and Zhao Hailong, includes not only the invincible Liu Hesheng, but also many students from Changqing City and apprentices from local Changqing City dojos.

Dojos are divided into four tiers based on the size of the city they are located in and their own strength.

From lowest to highest level, they are county-level dojos, city-level dojos, provincial capital-level dojos, and national-level dojos.

A county-level dojo refers to a dojo located in a county-level city, which is almost the highest level of combat power in a county-level city.

City-level dojos are located in most small and medium-sized cities. On average, they are stronger than county-level dojos and are also among the city's top fighting forces.

Some city-level dojos are located in provincial capitals, but they are still city-level dojos because they lack the necessary resources.

Provincial capital dojos, as the name suggests, refer to large dojos located in the capital cities of various provinces. Each provincial capital dojo head can only be a Champion-level trainer who has made it into the top three of the Champion certification tournament.

It can be said that the owners of every provincial capital-level dojo are genuine top-tier trainers.

For example, the Changqing Dojo, which registered Chi Duoduo for the competition, is a provincial-level dojo, and its head, Lü Shouhe, is Lü Shouchun's older brother.

He is also Lü Jiayi's father.

As for the highest-level national-level dojos, the Yanhuang Alliance has only established ten in total.

Each one is named after the type that the current Gym Leader specializes in or the type of the strongest Pokémon. Each Gym Leader is a powerful trainer who has at least earned the title of Elite Four member.

Their strength, status, and position are all top-notch; in their respective regions, they are comparable to the kings of their regions.

..............................

"Welcome everyone to the 2025 Evergreen Province High School Elf Joint Examination! I'm your host for today, Seventeen!"

In the 101st large-scale battle arena, a host riding a sonic dragon is passionately shouting into a microphone.

"Are all the hosts of the provincial competition this capable? They even use a sonic dragon as a mount."

In the contestants' rest area, looking at the enormous, bat-like sonic wave creature, Mu Yun sighed.

Noivern is not Gyarados, nor is Aerodactyl, which is a pseudo-dragon that has the name of a dragon but no dragon attributes.

It is a true dragon-type Pokémon, relatively rare in number, and adept at using sonic attacks that are difficult to dodge.

Even among Dragon-type Pokémon, it's considered above average.

As the host, who called himself Seventeen, heated up the atmosphere, the elimination round of 32 to 16 officially began.

The first to appear was Liu Hesheng, the seventh young master of the Liu family.

His opponent was a formidable gem starfish, a high-level creature, at level 26.

In terms of attributes, it has double the fire resistance and double the weakness to ghosts.

If it were a regular Azure Flame Blade Demon, it might be troublesome to fight, and they might even lose the match.

However, Azure Flame Blade Demon, equipped with the "Mother's Armor," didn't even try to dodge when faced with the water gun attack from Gem Starfish.

With the Regret Sword in hand, he turned the water gun into steam and charged towards the Gem Starfish through the mist.

The result is self-evident.

Azure Flame Blade Demon won the match with an absolute advantage.

The second performance was by Lü Jiayi.

With Heracross's strength and rank, she easily secured victory.

Soon, the third and fourth matches were also decided.

Wu Tu finally took the stage in the fifth match.

As one of only two contestants from Songjiang City, Wu Tu felt both nervous and excited.

These two spots for advancement are just like the treatment given to the main characters in a shonen anime!

Unfortunately, his protagonist aura didn't load smoothly. In the battle to advance to the top 16, his opponent was a Grass-type Pokémon that was extremely effective against him—Whimsic.

This is a small, cute, fluffy little elf that looks like cotton.

..............................

[Sprite: Whimsicott]

[Gender: Female]

[Type: Grass + Fairy]

[Level: 25 (Senior)]

【Ability: Mischievous Heart (When using a status move, the move's casting speed is doubled)】

[Moves: Grass Whistle, Temptation, Fake Tears, Drain, Fairy Wind, Growth, Leech Seed, Stun Powder, Poison Powder, Tailwind, Rising Wind, Cotton Guard, Giga Drain, Cotton Spore, Razor Leaf, Giga Drain]

[Item carried: Multiflavor spores (intermediate)]

[Potential: Dojo Level]

[Racial stats: 480]

[Special Bonus: Top-Tier Sunstone (Increases energy quality by 10%, meaning increases move power by 10%)]

【Multi-Powder Spore (Intermediate): A special amplification-type treasure. Multi-Powder Spores, under the influence of a special power, form spore-like items that accelerate the wearer's proficiency and control over powder-based attacks. When the wearer releases an attack, it can be mixed with special powder containing paralyzing poison, or the effects of paralyzing and poison powder attacks can be enhanced.】

..............................

After seeing Qingfeng Fairy's stats, Mu Yun knew that Wu Tu's journey to the provincial competition was coming to an end.

For Wu Tu, what he likes most and is best at is head-on combat.

Relying on his inherent passion and Onix's own perseverance, even if he is slightly weaker, he may still be able to put up a fight.

Wu Tu has little chance of winning against those slippery, non-confrontational sprites.

Firstly, given Onix's size, its upper limit in terms of agility is clearly visible.

Secondly, Wu Tu's fighting style is rather rough, and he can easily lose his temper once the fighting gets tense.

The Wind Fairy is clearly a top-tier pulling-type spirit.

Not to mention, the Prankster ability can double the speed at which she can unleash her status moves.

With its incredibly fast Tailwind and Grass Whistle, Onix not only increased its own movement speed but also made it a little drowsy.

Then, the Fairy Wind mixed with paralyzing poison powder and the Parasite Seed further reduced Onix's mobility.

Finally, it's just a matter of Onix taking hits. With Rapid Leaf and Giga Drain, Onix can't withstand more than a few blows.

"What a pity."

Looking at the defeated Onix, Mu Yun sighed inwardly.

To counter this kind of disgusting fighting style, you either need extremely high speed to prevent her from having a chance to kite, or you need to use moves with a huge range to prevent her from dodging.

Clearly, neither of these two giant oni possessed the necessary qualities, so failure was inevitable.

"Next, let's welcome the two teams facing off in the next match: Gu Mingdeng and Mu Yun!"