The mentor

After returning to his dorm, Zhang Cheng first let Poliwag and Pidgey out and fed them Pokémon Food. Once they had eaten, he gave the two little ones a quick massage before settling down to sleep.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, Zhang Cheng slept until almost noon. After getting up, he checked the messages on his phone and discovered that the new class assignments had been announced.

There were eight classes in this year's senior cohort. The top five students from each class had been selected, making forty students in total for the Elite Class.

Zhang Cheng had assumed that all forty students who qualified would form a single Elite Class, but when he checked the assignments, he found that there were actually two.

Each Elite Class had only twenty students, with a professional mentor assigned to guide them.

As expected of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, even its elite classes were limited to twenty students each. Compared with the regular forty-student classes, that was a considerable improvement.

After reading through the details, Zhang Cheng began checking the class lists.

The first thing he noticed was that he had been placed in Elite Class One. He scanned the list for Ye Tian's name but couldn't find it.

Ye Tian had been assigned to Class Two, while Wu Yueyue, the class monitor from their former class, had been placed in Zhang Cheng's class. Hao Chenggong and the other student who had qualified were assigned to Class Two with Ye Tian.

On the Elite Class Two list, Zhang Cheng also spotted an unwelcome name—Ye Lang, the fellow student he had defeated at the Nanting Training Ground.

It looked as though there would inevitably be some trouble between them down the line, but Zhang Cheng wasn't bothered. He would deal with whatever came his way.

Not being in the same class as Ye Tian left Zhang Cheng a little disappointed. After all, Ye Tian was the only person at the school he was particularly close to. He didn't think he would click with the others.

After confirming his class assignment, Zhang Cheng began packing his things, preparing to head to the closed Training Ground where they would be living for the next few months.

The closed Training Ground lay at the easternmost end of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School and occupied nearly half the campus.

Upon entering the grounds, the first things that came into view were groves of towering trees. Right beside them stood a circular training and battle arena.

Farther inside were two dormitory buildings, with a classroom building, Cafeteria, Pokémon treatment center, and Pokémon shop nearby.

Jiangcheng No. 1 High School had clearly spared no expense on this closed Training Ground. Every facility was fully equipped, giving the students an ideal training environment.

Since Zhang Cheng had gotten up rather late, Ye Tian had already gone to his class, so Zhang Cheng arrived at the Training Ground alone.

He first found his assigned dorm room. Students in the Elite Class each had a room to themselves, an arrangement Zhang Cheng found very satisfying.

The Regular Class, meanwhile, had four-person rooms, which offered considerably less space.

After putting away his clothes and making his bed, Zhang Cheng contacted Ye Tian on his phone, and the two met up in the cafeteria.

"You're way too lazy! I couldn't find you this morning, so I had to come over on my own. I didn't expect us to end up in different classes, either. What a shame." Ye Tian launched into a stream of chatter the moment he arrived.

"I was exhausted yesterday. I slept like a log and only just woke up," Zhang Cheng said helplessly. "There's nothing we can do. The class assignments are random. Besides, we won't be training far apart, so we can still have practice battles whenever we have time."

"Of course we'll have practice battles! Our two classes are bound to have matches against each other eventually. Don't expect me to go easy on you then, haha!" Ye Tian said with a grin.

"I heard each class gets a mentor to teach us about Pokémon battles. Have you met yours yet?" Zhang Cheng asked casually.

"I got here pretty early this morning and happened to see our Class Two mentor. He's a middle-aged man, and I heard he's a Gym Leader level Trainer," Ye Tian said excitedly.

"Jiangcheng No. 1 High School actually hired Gym Leader level Trainers as mentors. They're really putting in the effort to improve this year's results," Zhang Cheng said with a sigh of admiration.

Hiring a Gym Leader level Trainer was bound to cost a staggering amount, let alone employing one as a mentor for an entire year.

"What about you, Zhang Cheng? Have you met your mentor yet? I heard your class got a real beauty," Ye Tian said with a chuckle.

"Not yet. How strong is she?"

"Why do you always focus on something different from everyone else? Man, now that you mention it, I'm jealous of your class," Ye Tian said enviously.

"Your mentor isn't just gorgeous—she's seriously strong, too. I heard she's an outstanding graduate of Modu University, and she's also a Gym Leader level Trainer."

Zhang Cheng was taken aback by this revelation. "Why would a Modu University graduate come here to work as a mentor?" he asked in confusion.

"No idea. A lot of people think she might be here to gain experience and work part-time along the way, but I don't really know the details," Ye Tian said, scratching his head.

Modu University ranked near the top even among Huaxia Country's eight prestigious universities. Every student who emerged from those eight institutions was an extraordinary talent.

Huaxia Country's Eight Great Pokémon Universities were Kyoto University, Modu University, Qingbei University, Sakura University, Jinling University, Jiaotong University, Yuenan University, and Jianghu University.

Jiangcheng, where Zhang Cheng lived, was home to the famous Sakura University, which was currently his ideal choice.

After all, everyone had some affection for the place where they had grown up, and Zhang Cheng was no exception.

Hearing Ye Tian say that this mentor came from Modu University was genuinely surprising. With someone like her guiding an elite class, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School's results this year would likely improve considerably over previous years.

The two chatted over their meal about things that had happened before the class reassignment. After lunch, they went their separate ways.

That afternoon, each class's mentor would hold a class meeting, so Zhang Cheng headed straight to Elite Class One's classroom.

Naturally, he had come so early because Ye Tian's comments had made him curious about his class's mentor. He wanted to see her for himself.

Unfortunately, she wasn't in the classroom yet. He really had arrived a little too early.

Seeing that the mentor hadn't arrived, Zhang Cheng found an empty seat, sat down, rested his head on the desk, and took a short nap.

While Zhang Cheng was still half-asleep, a sudden commotion erupted in the classroom. He raised his head and, sure enough, it was just as he had expected. A stir like that could only mean the beautiful mentor had arrived.