Chapter 404: Being a Gym Leader Is Really Hard!

Time flew by to January 16th, Friday.

Nearly a week had passed since the opening of the Victory Road.

During this period, the Sunny Gym guarded by Xiang Qingyu also welcomed quite a few challengers.

On Monday, the trainers who came to challenge encountered a Sableye with the Prankster ability and were defeated and returned.

On Tuesday, thanks to the collective efforts of some clever kids (of course, partly because Xiang Qingyu took the initiative to teach), the Gym's first Pokémon was finally broken through.

Xiang Qingyu's Prankster disruption tactic was quickly seen through, and just when the students were overjoyed, thinking they could finally get the badge...

The appearance of the second Pokémon, Riolu, instantly caused the situation to reverse again.

Of course, this wasn't Xiang Qingyu's whim, deliberately blocking other students from passing.

Right from the beginning, he had anticipated that Sableye would be broken through sooner or later.

After all, the first level mainly tests the understanding of ability common sense. As long as they can grasp his intention, they can easily resolve Sableye just by relying on type advantages.

If he only used Sableye for the assessment, Geeta would probably come to question him by the end of this week, asking why the Gym pass rate was so high...

Too high is bad, and too low is also not good.

Being a Gym Leader is really hard!

That's why Xiang Qingyu let Riolu serve as a backup, and while letting half of the Paldea Sea go, he tested the cultivation status of these students' Pokémon.

Command level and thinking must keep up, and Pokémon cultivation strength cannot be left behind; this is a sound trainer!

After all, the goal of this Victory Road is different from the past. Chairwoman Geeta has clearly stated that she wants to select a Champion with solid strength.

This future new Champion will likely explore Area Zero with the team. If their strength cannot keep up, they will only hold the team back inside, and it might even be very dangerous.

Therefore, adhering to the principle of "better to have none than to have substandard," the overall difficulty of this year's Victory Road has increased.

Instead of letting people pass only to continue suffering in the next level, it's better to let them settle down in his own "newbie village," accumulate strength, and then sprint in one go.

And in the following days, people finally passed the assessment at the Sunny Gym one after another.

Although there were only a few genius teenagers with truly good strength, it also gave the students a glimmer of hope for victory.

As long as they can win the Sunny Gym assessment...

They can become the most handsome guy in school!

A week passed in this cycle of challenging the Gym, repeatedly failing, and becoming braver with each setback.

On Friday night, Xiang Qingyu finally let out a sigh of relief.

"The assessment for this week is over. I didn't expect there to be so many stubborn kids..."

A Gym Leader can be seen as a job with an Alliance establishment. According to Alliance regulations, they can generally work four days and rest three, so the actual working time is not much.

But Xiang Qingyu is a little more "hardworking" than other Gym Leaders, so he worked an extra day.

And for the upcoming weekend, he plans to close the Gym for two days.

There are some things he needs to resolve.

"Speaking of which, shouldn't that child Riolu have evolved long ago?"

On the other end of the video call, Cynthia's voice sounded.

Following her gaze, Xiang Qingyu looked at Riolu, who was doing one-armed push-ups in the Gym.

Sylveon, who became Xiang Qingyu's "unbearable weight of life" after evolving, was sitting on it and yawning at this moment.

Riolu's weight doesn't seem to be as heavy as Sylveon's, and it can still exercise normally while carrying such a large weight.

It can be considered a manifestation of its training results...

Xiang Qingyu shook his head.

Just as Cynthia said, Riolu actually had signs of evolution long ago.

Just in the battles over the past few days, Xiang Qingyu had seen the special evolutionary glow phenomenon on it several times.

It's just that this child seems a bit too steady, and every time it appeared, it was sucked back in by it...

It seems that before the training at the Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor is completed, Riolu does not intend to evolve.

However, before heading to Sinnoh and Kitakami, Riolu's training in the Invisible Fist was actually already coming to an end.

Coupled with the practical training over the past few days, its progress in the Invisible Fist had long been stuck at a 99% bottleneck, only lacking an opportunity to break through.

Although he didn't participate much in its training throughout the process, Xiang Qingyu knew very well:

The Invisible Fist training at the Master Dojo requires passing the final trial to enter the highest level of the Dojo and learn the mysteries in the secret scrolls.

But this final trial seems to require a battle with Master Mustard, so he needs to go to the Isle of Armor himself...

After telling Cynthia his thoughts, he quickly received her reply:

"The Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor? That's the private territory of Master Mustard from Galar, right? That senior is a legendary existence."

He held the Champion throne for eighteen consecutive years, was undefeated, dominated the Master Tournament, and decisively chose to retire after obtaining the title of "Battle Legend" because he was too strong.

Although he looks like a kind little old man now, Master Mustard was a well-deserved tough guy when he was young.

Even the development of the Galar Alliance has a lot to do with Master Mustard's reputation.

In the virtual image, Cynthia raised her eyebrows and said with a playful tone:

"I didn't expect Riolu to have such an encounter. It really was the right choice to send this child to your side."

She really didn't expect at the beginning that Xiang Qingyu would have such terrifying potential.

In just two months, he developed from an ordinary Gym Leader with almost no reputation to the existence that can almost be called the face of Paldea today...

Although the improvement in strength may not be as rapid as his reputation for the time being, his level as a trainer is obvious to all.

Before this, the whole world had never seen such a genius trainer who could make people's eyes light up and even achieve a complete victory across a certain strength gap just by relying on pre-reading and tactics.

"Speaking of which, the popularity of your broadcast room seems to have risen a lot during this time, do you know?"

After Cynthia in the virtual image smiled, she looked at Xiang Qingyu.

"Now many trainers from other regions are waiting on time every day to watch your Gym broadcast."

As Xiang Qingyu's reputation gradually spread to other regions through the Internet, it attracted the attention of many people.

Now in Xiang Qingyu's broadcast room, there are not only students from Paldea, but elite trainers, Gym Leaders, and even Elite Four members from various regions may be silently observing his understanding.

To some extent, his class is now not just for the students of Naranja Academy.

"I know."

Xiang Qingyu nodded.

"I didn't intend to hide anything in the first place. It can be considered a bit beneficial for the growth of newcomers if they can learn these things."

His original goal was to allow more trainers to understand some basic concepts of battle through this Victory Road and truly achieve entry-level.

"After understanding the situation at Naranja Academy, I realized that the mainstream learning method in this world is actually a bit problematic."

Since they were already talking about this, Xiang Qingyu's chatterbox gradually opened, and he began to talk about his views with Cynthia across thousands of miles.

To this, Cynthia just smiled slightly, quietly waiting for his next words.

When talking about his professional topics, the light in Xiang Qingyu's eyes looked incredibly shining.

"As a school that has been passed down for thousands of years, the teaching level of Naranja Academy is definitely not bad. Even if it experienced a temporary adjustment last year, the actual impact shouldn't be that big."

"And after understanding, I found that although the teachers at Naranja Academy taught them various theoretical foundations and encouraged students to actively battle."

"But how to use what they have learned in actual combat seems to depend on themselves to figure out."

Speaking of this, Xiang Qingyu sighed.

This can't even be considered a problem of Naranja Academy or the teachers inside, but the school system of the entire Pokémon world is like this...

Because many students have embarked on the path of becoming a trainer at the age of ten, they have enough time cost to slowly try and make mistakes, gradually cultivate their own style through the way of travel and growth, and finally leave their names in the tournament or on the Victory Road.

A very Pokémon-style way of growth.

This is also the main reason why the presence of Pokémon schools is almost non-existent in games, animations, or comics.

"But what if students can make good use of the knowledge they have learned and truly exert their functions as a trainer in battle?"

Xiang Qingyu suddenly raised his head and asked back.

After a few days of practical testing, Xiang Qingyu can also draw a conclusion.

The answer is—

Their growth rate has obviously become much faster.

In just five days, this group of students has evolved from the greenhorns who were at a loss when facing Sableye at the beginning and shouted that it was invincible, into researchers who can make him shine from time to time and take out some strange things.

This is the charm of Pokémon battle!

"Maybe after this year, the overall strength of our Paldea region will be terrifyingly strong~"

Xiang Qingyu chuckled and said a sentence as if it were a joke.

But after staring at his eyes for a few seconds, Cynthia quickly confirmed that Xiang Qingyu was definitely serious. ===== CHAPTER 406 =====