"I'm Qu Ning, the teacher accompanying you to the competition!"
On the day of their departure, a woman with neatly cropped hair and a sharp outfit appeared in Battle Arena No. 1.
"During the competition, I'll handle all your day-to-day needs. If anything comes up, let me know right away. I'll leave the tactics to the team."
Qu Ning had always believed that specialized work belonged in the hands of specialists.
She knew little about the team members and was hardly an expert in Pokémon battles, so she would only handle arrangements for meals, lodging, and other practical matters.
Of course, she was not the only teacher in charge.
Three other teachers were traveling with them. A woman from the secretariat would assist Qu Ning, while one teacher from the Breeder Academy would oversee the Pokémon's diets and another from the Trainer Academy would compile intelligence.
"Mu Yun, here's the information I gathered on every team in the Black Dragon Cup. I've sorted them by overall strength." The teacher responsible for the research was an unremarkable-looking man.
The thick stack of printed documents and the USB drive showed how much work he had put in.
Mu Yun doubted the information would make much difference, but out of respect for the teacher's effort—and because it never hurt to know the competition—he read through it all.
The teacher had divided the sixty-four teams into three tiers.
First came the Top Ten.
They were Imperial City University, Shuimu University, Magic City University, New Capital University, Flower Capital University, Mountain River University, Black River University, Southwest University, Flat Lake University, and Western Regions University.
The Top Ten had earned that name because they had shown terrifying dominance in competitions year after year.
Unless two of them happened to meet early, Top Ten teams had