Elf: I have a secret realm of emerald green.

After working for more than an hour, everything was finally done, and Xia Shen and the elves moved lunch to the yard.

They've been living here for a week now, and those Pokémon they captured in the spacetime distortion have adapted to their current life of just eating and waiting to die.

When it's mealtime, even without Togekiss calling from the sky, Sylveon and the others will come back on time from their mischief.

Watching the elves enjoy the food he had made, Xia Shen felt a sense of accomplishment no less than his four-game winning streak in ranked matches that morning.

But as he looked around... he suddenly realized that it seemed like one elf was missing?

"Where's Mumu Owl?" Xia Shen asked, puzzled.

Aside from sleeping, Rowlet's most important thing is eating, yet he didn't show up on time for meals?

They're probably asleep somewhere again.

"Sylveon?" Led by Sylveon, the other Pokémon guarding the house stopped eating and looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Chirp~" Scorpion King seemed to know Woody Rowlet's whereabouts and gestured for Xia Shen to follow.

Then, Xia Shen found Mumu Owl asleep on the back of the Ghostly Fish in the mountain stream in front of the courtyard...

When the Dark Tail Fish saw Xia Shen finally arrive, it gurgled and blew bubbles, and felt like crying.

When Woody Owl sleeps on him, he can't even do his favorite things like diving and waterfall climbing.

It's strange, really. The Dark Tail Fish wasn't exactly an honest fish. Before it was captured, it was a brave fish that dared to risk its life to spit on Xia Shen.

He wasn't scared when facing Rowlet; it was just that for some reason, he had a feeling of wanting to spoil him.

Not only the Darktail, but also the other Pokémon in the team.

Even the most temperamental Bear and Togekiss soften their expressions when facing him.

This inexplicably and abnormally friendly demeanor even made Xia Shen suspect that Rowlet might possess the power of Eternal Moon...

…………

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Xia Shen quickly sent Scorpion King to fly over and capture Woody Owl.

The black fish with the dark tail breathed a sigh of relief and swam quickly towards the waterfall.

Xia Shen didn't wake him up. He just picked him up by the foot and walked back. This guy could really sleep. He didn't wake up even when he was upside down.

It wasn't until he entered the courtyard that the aroma of food gently awakened his slumbering soul.

"Gurgle~" He opened his eyes groggily and saw the delicious food so close to his mouth, making his mouth water.

Just as Woody was flapping his little wings, ready to fly over and wreak havoc, he found that his feet were still being held by Xia Shen's hands. He looked at Xia Shen in confusion.

"You're not allowed to sleep on other people anymore. It will bother them, you know?" Xia Shen earnestly lectured him.

"Goo~" Mumu Xiao cried out in grievance, staring at Xia Shen with her big, round eyes, and nodded.

Xia Shen didn't know why, but when she saw his eyes, she inexplicably softened.

He could only let go helplessly and said, "Okay, be careful next time."

"Goo~" Woody Rowlet, having just regained its freedom, couldn't wait to fly into the ranks of the Rice People.

The other elves also took good care of him, pushing his favorite sweet and sour foods in front of Rowlet.

Xia Shen gazed at the loving family from afar, pondering how this little elf, who had just joined the family, had unknowingly become the group's darling. Her charm was almost exaggerated...

------

The next day.

Just as Senior Ye Rou introduced to Xia Shen on the first day, Wudu University covers a huge area.

Even the largest school teams have their own top-notch training facilities.

Generally speaking, apart from the pre-competition training period, the school team does not have a strict training schedule.

After all, everyone takes different elective courses and has different daily training times.

But no matter when you come, the lights in this venue will always be on, and there will always be rotating school staff to serve the team members.

Since it's only been a week since school started, most people haven't started their classes yet, so most people arrived fairly well this morning. However, team leader Ye Rou was unusually absent.

At this moment, inside the main arena, the school team members whispered among themselves as they looked at the popular freshman brought in by their head coach.

"What do you mean? It's only been a week since school started, and this freak has already reached 2,000 points?"

"I never expected that Xia Shen would be the first challenger to this newly established rule..."

"At first, we thought the school set this score too high... but now it seems a bit low?"

"Low? What's your score now? You're saying two thousand is low?"

"One thousand six hundred..."

"So, this guy reached 2,000 points in a week. He probably climbed up on a winning streak. It's infuriating. Has he never encountered intelligent matchmaking before?"

……

The "smart matchmaking" they refer to usually means matching you with an opponent who is a strong counter to your team composition.

For example, Electric-type trainers are often assigned to Ground-type trainers, and Dragon-type trainers are often assigned to Fairy-type trainers.

In the early stages of a battle where teams typically only train three or four main Pokémon and there's no coordinated defense, if both sides are evenly matched and you're paired with this kind of opponent, you can basically surrender.

Xia Shen was able to win all the way because, firstly, his strength was indeed higher than that of his opponents.

Secondly, his team is fairly well-balanced and has virtually no weaknesses.

Yesterday's match against that "Lijia" senior was the most difficult one.

…………

The coach clapped his hands to restore discipline, and after the discussion below the field subsided, he began to introduce himself.

"This junior is probably familiar to everyone; he is Xia Shen, the representative of our freshmen this year. A week ago, he also defeated Wang Yan with an amazing score of 3:0 in the freshman vs. veteran match."

Although Wang Yan is a member of the school team, he did not shy away from this matter.

In the words of this coach with the powerful hairstyle, if a trainer can't even accept the setback of a single match, he should just go home and raise pigs.

The head coach of Wudu University is surnamed Ma. He is a professional 7th Dan trainer, which is not particularly outstanding for someone who is nearly 50 years old.

However, in the coaching profession, it's not always better to be the strongest; the ability to "talk the talk" is more important.

Besides, if someone is truly an extremely skilled trainer, they'd be busy training themselves, why would they come to you to be their coach?

Besides his excellent theoretical tactical skills and outstanding management abilities, Coach Ma is also an extremely good physical trainer.

Under his grueling training program, the Pokémon of the Fog City University team have always been known as "indestructible cockroaches" in the National University Pokémon Battle League.

In addition, he had been with the school team for over ten years, and his hard work and extensive management experience had earned him considerable prestige.

Let alone Wang Yan, who just joined the team, if he really wanted to be ruthless, he would also scold Captain Ye Rou without any mercy.

……

After giving a brief introduction to Xia Shen, he moved on to the main topic.

"As everyone knows, after Principal Mu took office, he introduced a rule that anyone who reaches 2,000 points in the school rankings can qualify for the school team challenge. Xia Shen reached that score yesterday, so he will become the first person to initiate the school team challenge."

"According to the rules, the team needs to send a senior reserve member to take on the challenge. Has anyone volunteered?"

Before Coach Ma could finish speaking and before anyone could react, Xia Shen spoke first.

"Coach, I have a suggestion... I'd like to directly challenge for a substitute position on the school team, is that okay?"

He spoke calmly, as if stating something obvious and commonplace.

But the school team members below were in an uproar.

## Chapter 191 Then what do our efforts amount to!

Even madness has different levels.

The lowest form of arrogance is boasting and exaggerating one's abilities to a level that is beyond one's actual capabilities.

For example, breaking a 20-centimeter solid steel pipe...

He drank sulfuric acid and acted like nothing happened...

This kind of madness is commonly referred to as "going crazy," and everyone thinks you're just a clown.

A more normal form of arrogance involves slightly embellishing one's achievements.

Then, you deliberately or casually reveal it to others to attract their attention.

The highest form of arrogance is to casually and nonchalantly say things that seem unbelievable to others but are perfectly normal to oneself.

Just like Xia Shen in everyone's eyes right now.

…………

Is this junior really that arrogant?

This was the first reaction of most people on the school team.

It's important to understand that reserves and substitutes are not the same thing.

Just by looking at the numbers, you can see that there are as many as forty or fifty members in the school team's reserve force.

Even so, they were still among the top one-thousandth of the elite students in the school.

The requirements for substitutes are even stricter; they must be professional second-dan trainers.

In other words, you need at least one professional level 3 Pokémon and two professional level 2 Pokémon to have a chance to advance.

The conditions were so stringent that there were only a handful of substitutes on the school team.

To put it bluntly, substitutes have the opportunity and the ability to play.

And the reserves... are really just pure backup plans.

Xia Shen...does he really think he's invincible just because he defeated that newbie Wang Yan in a 3-on-1 run?

Most substitute main Pokémon can do this, okay? They don't even need any kind of boosting like baton transfer or tricks.

Apart from "Lijia", everyone else on the school team was somewhat angry.

Xia Shen's unintentional display of arrogance slightly stung their hearts.