The last opening ceremony had been half a year ago.
At that time, Oliver had instantly become famous across the entire school because of a paper on Milotic.
Everyone originally thought that, now that Oliver had published the Fairy-type paper, the Pokémon League would once again send representatives to reward him during the opening ceremony.
But strangely enough, this ceremony was exactly the same as usual. Nothing special happened.
Of course, Oliver knew the reason.
He had already received his rewards in advance—
not only a Legendary-tier resource, but also a ten-million credit research grant.
As for why there was no public award this time, there were plenty of possible explanations:
the League had already settled things privately, or the process hadn't been fully announced yet.
In any case, most students didn't think too much about it.
Time at school passed quickly.
This was one of the rare days since publishing his first paper where Oliver did absolutely nothing—just quietly enjoyed normal school life.
Unfortunately, that peace didn't last long.
Teacher Liu arrived.
"Oliver, in a few days the Southwest Intercollegiate Tournament will begin. This afternoon, the school team will hold a motivation meeting in Training Room 19, and we'll also discuss battle strategies. You should come and listen."
Oliver thought about it.
The tournament was about to start, yet he still hadn't even met the other three team members.
That really was a bit ridiculous.
"Alright," Oliver replied. "After school, Shuyun and I will come together."
Only then did Teacher Liu leave in satisfaction.
After school, Oliver and Jiang Shuyun walked together toward the training building.
"So? Has your Charmeleon evolved yet?" Oliver asked casually.
Shuyun immediately became excited and started talking nonstop—
about special training methods at the training base, about battling other prodigies—
And most importantly—
Her Charmeleon had successfully evolved into Charizard!
Anyone who could train a Pokémon to the Advanced tier during high school was unquestionably a training genius and a future pillar of the League.
In fact, training a Pokémon from Beginner to Advanced within a year was often used as an evaluation standard.
Many top universities even set this as a baseline for admission.
As for Veteran-tier Pokémon?
Those were talents that might not appear even once in decades.
And Gym-tier?
That was practically unheard of.
While chatting, the two soon arrived at the training room.
Pushing the door open, Oliver saw Teacher Liu inside, along with three other students—clearly the remaining members of the school team.
Seeing Oliver arrive, Teacher Liu immediately smiled and walked over.
"You finally showed up! As the team captain, you're really not very responsible, you know!"
Oliver was stunned.
"Captain? I'm the captain?"
He subconsciously glanced at the other three members.
To his surprise, their faces were filled with excitement and admiration—
not even a trace of dissatisfaction.
In truth, when they first joined the school team and learned that the captain had already been decided, they were extremely unhappy.
After all, there hadn't been any battles.
Why should they accept someone else as captain?
But when they learned that the captain was Oliver, their resentment eased somewhat.
However, Oliver's long absence from training still left them displeased.
No matter how talented he was as a researcher, training battles were a different matter altogether.
What kind of captain never showed up?
That was—until Jiang Shuyun stepped in.
She challenged them one by one.
Three battles.
Three clean victories.
And after that, she left them with one sentence:
"You keep saying you're not convinced, but you can't even beat me. Let me tell you—compared to Old Ye, my strength is nothing. Him being captain? I accept it completely."
Losing to a girl was already humiliating enough.
Hearing that Oliver was far stronger only made them even more curious about his actual strength.
From that day on, none of them ever mentioned changing the captain again.
And after news spread that Oliver had discovered the Fairy type, they directly became his die-hard fans.
In their eyes,
even the entire Southwest Tournament wasn't as important as Oliver's Fairy-type research.
So his absence from training was completely understandable.
Teacher Liu clapped his hands.
"Alright, let me introduce everyone properly."
He gestured toward the three students.
"This is Liu Lixuan, Qi Jun, and Guo Shengfu.
And this is the person you've all been thinking about—your captain, Oliver."
The three students immediately straightened up, bowed deeply in unison, and shouted:
"Hello, Brother Ye!"
Oliver was startled.
"Wait—no, no. Just call me Oliver."
"That won't do!"
"If Brother Ye isn't allowed, then we'll call you Captain!"
"Hello, Captain!"
They reached an agreement almost instantly.
Compared to "Brother Ye,"
"Captain" sounded much more acceptable.
So Oliver reluctantly agreed.
Next, they introduced their starter Pokémon.
Liu Lixuan: Sandslash — Mid-tier High
Qi Jun: Pidgeotto — Mid-tier High
Guo Shengfu: Machoke — Mid-tier Mid
Guo Shengfu's Machoke had the lowest raw level among the three.
However, the chubby boy came from a wealthy family and had bought Machoke a Black Belt, which boosted Fighting-type moves.
As a result, Machoke could actually suppress Sandslash in combat.
After everyone finished introductions, Teacher Liu spoke again:
"Alright. The opening ceremony of the tournament is in just a few days. Let me first explain the traditional format of the Southwest Intercollegiate Tournament, so you can discuss tactics properly."
"In previous tournaments, the competition is divided into two stages:
Elimination Rounds and Group Stages.
"There are too many participating schools across the Southwest, so it's impossible for everyone to face each other directly.
"First, there's an elimination round to weed out teams that are clearly weaker.
"Then, the remaining 16 teams are divided into four groups for group matches.
"Each group selects one top team, forming the Top 4, which then compete in the semifinals and the final.
"That's the standard tournament structure."
After speaking, Teacher Liu looked at Oliver, signaling that he could ask questions if he had any.
After all, among everyone present,
Oliver was the least familiar with the tournament system.
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