The Gap in Talent

Jiang Jing fanned the air. It was a mixture of sweat, sourness, paint from the equipment, and the smell of rusted iron.

The first time you smelled it, it really made you feel dizzy.

As they continued inside, Jiang Jing activated Data Eye to observe the Pokémon around them.

Pokémon: Beautifly

Attribute: Bug

Talent: ★

Level: LV20

Ability: Swarm

Hmm, this belonged to a pretty senior girl in her final year.

Pokémon: Swellow

Attribute: Normal, Flying

Talent: ★

Level: LV22

Ability: Guts

This belonged to a senior boy. Jiang Jing looked around for quite a while and found that nearly all the Pokémon had One-Star Talent. There were only a handful with Two-Star Talent.

It seemed that the students training here came from relatively ordinary families. They could not afford better training centers and could only work hard in the school's training center.

There were probably three or four hundred people in the entire training center, making it especially crowded, which was why the smell was so strong.

Jiang Jing truly admired the seniors who trained here every day.

Liu Bin said, "There are so many people, and they're all seniors. Don't they have evening self-study?"

Sun Le said, "I heard a teacher say that seniors have mostly learned everything they need to learn, and there won't be much change anyway. So they might as well train like crazy and raise their levels. Maybe they'll still have a chance at getting good results."

Jiang Jing nodded in understanding. By senior year, grades had more or less taken shape. Doing practice papers during the day and training here at night was pretty good.

Sun Le continued, "Some students don't even attend classes during the day. They just come here to train."

Liu Bin asked doubtfully, "They skip class? The teachers don't care?"

Sun Le said, "Only a small number of people do that. Besides, during the last two months of the final semester, Spirit Studies is managed rather loosely, so they just let them skip class."

Jiang Jing understood. Next, the three of them could not even find a place to put their things, so they could only leave them somewhere unoccupied.

Then they joined the massive crowd of people training and tried out all kinds of training equipment.

Half an hour later, a student using a Sandbag was probably tired from punching it. He left with his Hitmontop.

Jiang Jing hurried over with Aron to train. Sun Le and Liu Bin brought their Mankey and Shinx along as well.

The three Pokémon surrounded the Sandbag and unleashed their moves.

"Aron, use Tackle on the Sandbag!"

"Mankey, use Scratch on the Sandbag!"

"Shinx, use Tackle on the Sandbag!"

Aron was the first to launch its move, its body shooting forward like a cannonball and slamming into the Sandbag.

Bang!

The Sandbag began to sway, swinging toward Shinx. Shinx immediately burst forward, curling its body into a compact ball before smashing fiercely into the Sandbag.

When the Sandbag was knocked toward Mankey, it locked onto the target and resolutely swung its claws, scratching the Sandbag.

Its claw marks left only faint traces on the Sandbag, which quickly disappeared.

The outer layer of this kind of Sandbag was not made of ordinary material and possessed a certain degree of recovery ability.

The three Pokémon kept launching moves at the Sandbag. They attacked for a full three minutes until they were exhausted, then rested and let the Trainers waiting nearby have their turn.

While resting, Liu Bin asked curiously, "Brother Jing, why does it feel like Aron's Tackle is smoother and stronger than Shinx's, even though they're using the same move?"

Jiang Jing smiled. "Its mastery level is probably higher."

Aron's Tackle had already reached Proficient. It felt like it was not far from Specialized.

Liu Bin's eyes widened. "That fast? I think Shinx's Tackle is only Proficient too, but it's still a ways off from Specialized."

"Brother Jing, how did you train it?"

Jiang Jing said, "Aron just likes training more. It liked charging into targets only a few days after hatching, and it's very self-disciplined. Even if I leave it in the room, it trains on its own."

"So its mastery of every move is pretty high."

Sun Le chimed in from the side, "There's another reason: Aron's talent is better."

"Even among Two-Star Talents, there are still differences."

"Brother Jing's Aron is more talented than Shinx and Mankey!"

Liu Bin suddenly understood. "Right, so that's how it is. Damn, Shinx will have to keep working hard. Its talent can't compare to theirs. If it doesn't work hard, how will it catch up later?"

Shinx shuddered all over, feeling that its future would not be easy.

Jiang Jing said, "Actually, I watched some Aron training videos on Douyin. They were posted by experts, and they seemed pretty useful."

Sun Le said, "I watch them often too. You can learn quite a lot from them."

After they finished discussing it, Jiang Jing noticed that Liu Bin's expression occasionally became unusually serious. It seemed that he was feeling pressured.

After trying all kinds of training equipment during the session, they found it quite novel, but they also wasted a lot of time waiting.

Every time, they had to wait until someone else was tired and went to rest before it was their turn.

They trained until ten-thirty before leaving the training center. Even when they left, there were still over a hundred people training, all of them senior students.

Liu Bin sighed. "They really are hardworking!"

Jiang Jing said, "When we reach senior year, we'll probably be about the same."

Sun Le nodded in agreement.

However, the three of them had already decided never to come to the school training center again. Although they had trained for nearly two hours, almost an hour of that had been spent waiting.

The efficiency was far too low. Continuing to train here would truly be a waste of time. They might as well get a training card at an outside training center and train there every day.

Zhang Haocheng also returned at ten-thirty. Liu Bin asked how he felt about it, and Zhang Haocheng immediately understood that the school training center was not very good. So he described his experience at the Longxiang Pokémon Training Center.

The entire Longxiang Pokémon Training Center was divided into two floors. The first floor was the training hall, where all kinds of training equipment were placed. You could train with whatever you wanted.

The second floor consisted of private rooms. Some Trainers did not like others watching them train, whether because of their personalities or because their training methods were unique and they did not want others to see them, so they would rent private rooms.

However, private rooms required additional payment, and monthly private room packages were much more expensive than ordinary Trainer packages.

The main reason was simply that the rooms were larger and had more varied training equipment. They were specifically prepared for rich people.

Zhang Haocheng had purchased an ordinary monthly package and planned to consider switching to a private room only after this month ended.

He was obviously someone who did not lack money. After hearing him out, the three decided to visit the Longxiang Spirit Training Center the next day.

August 2nd, the second day of school.

After morning reading class ended, Cheng Cheng suddenly turned around and said, "Do you know what the highest level from yesterday's level testing was?"

Liu Bin said, "Wasn't it Brother Jing? Level 17 isn't the highest?"

Jiang Jing said, "Level 17 isn't the highest. There are definitely people with higher levels than me."

Cheng Cheng blinked her sparkling eyes and said, "It was Ye Zijin from Class 1. Her Pokémon tested at Level 18 yesterday."