-154- Ruolan City Pokémon Contest, Commence!

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Ruolan City ushered in the grand opening ceremony of the Pokémon Contest.

It was no exaggeration to say that the entire city was filled with eager anticipation for today's event.

It felt just like a major holiday.

Schools were closed and offices granted leave, all for the sake of today's Pokémon Contest.

This reflected the immense importance attached by various departments to the burgeoning Pokémon Contest events in recent years.

Virtually every city afforded the same level of enthusiasm when hosting a Contest.

As for the coordinator trainers participating in the event, the majority were local residents who joined either to release stress or simply for a bit of lighthearted fun.

Of course, there were also many travelers from other cities who had traveled vast distances just to compete in the Contest, hoping to secure a path toward the ultimate Grand Festival.

Toshi and that gentleman, Mr. Harley, had come to Ruolan City specifically for the sake of that final Grand Festival.

At the venue, Toshi looked out at the audience, a sea of people packed densely together with not a single empty seat to be found.

"I never expected there to be such a massive number of contestants and spectators?"

At first, Toshi had assumed that the number of participating coordinator trainers would be relatively small.

It was only by truly immersing himself in the atmosphere that he realized just how wildly popular Pokémon Contests were in Linhai Province.

As the opening ceremony commenced, the host, Lily Ann, walked out onto the stage.

The moment the audience caught sight of Lily Ann, thunderous cheers erupted through the arena.

Lily Ann was an exceptionally renowned female host in Linhai Province.

With her striking facial features, stunning figure, and wealth of hosting experience, she had effortlessly captured the hearts of a massive legion of fans.

In fact, the Linhai Province Pokémon Contest Association had officially retained her as their resident host.

It was safe to say that regardless of which city hosted a Contest within Linhai Province, Lily Ann would always be the one at the helm.

A good portion of the male audience members had come specifically because of the female host, Lily Ann.

Following Lily Ann's introductions, the three judges slowly made their way to the judging panel.

The judges were Mr. Xu Muzhuo, president of the Pokémon Fan Club; Mr. Councilman Contests, director of the Contest Bureau; and Duan Meng, the president of the Ruolan City Pokémon Association.

It was worth noting that the president of the Ruolan City Pokémon Association was a rare young female president.

Duan Meng, at merely twenty-five years of age, had already attained the status of a three-star professional-grade trainer.

Her future prospects were boundless, to say the least.

Serving as the president of the Ruolan City Pokémon Association was merely a test assigned to her by the Linhai Province Pokémon League.

As Lily Ann introduced them, another wave of thunderous applause and cheers swept through the venue.

To witness Mr. Xu Muzhuo and Mr. Councilman Contests in person was already an honor in itself.

Who would have thought they would also get to lay eyes on the great beauty Duan Meng?

Many of the male spectators were already utterly captivated.

Lily Ann combined with Duan Meng? Tonight was bound to be filled with sweet dreams!

Indeed!

Amidst the enthusiastic clamor of the crowd, the Pokémon Contest hosted by Ruolan City was about to begin.

Under the grand announcement of host Lily Ann, the first contestant stepped onto the stage.

Contestant No. 001 utilized a Growlithe that had been rather well-trained.

Possessing a Pokémon like Growlithe was a clear indication that this contestant had powerful backing.

Under normal circumstances, Growlithes were exclusive to Pokémon officers.

Only descendants of police officers had reliable channels through which to acquire a Growlithe.

As soon as his Growlithe took the stage, it showcased the captivating charm unique to Fire-type Pokémon, instantly winning the favor of a large portion of the audience.

Once his performance concluded, scoring was conducted by the three thousand spectators present at the venue, along with two thousand randomly selected online viewers.

A total of five thousand audience members, one vote per person, with every on-site spectator holding a voting device in their hands.

From the moment the contestant's performance began, throughout the routine, and up until twenty seconds after it ended, the audience could use their voting devices to cast votes for the contestant.

The rules for online voting were identical.

Voting remained open from the start of the performance until twenty seconds after its conclusion.

Following the conclusion of the five thousand audience votes, the three judges provided their critiques and entered the scoring phase.

Each of the three judges held the power of one hundred votes.

If all three judges unanimously voted for a particular contestant, that contestant's accumulated score was bypassed entirely, and they advanced directly to the second round—the Contest Battle round.

If only one or two judges voted for them, one hundred or two hundred points, respectively, were simply added to the contestant's total score.

The very first contestant to take the stage received only the one hundred votes from Mr. Xu Muzhuo, alongside two thousand three hundred votes from the live audience and one thousand five hundred online votes.

This brought a grand total of three thousand nine00 votes.

As the opening performer of the event, this score was already quite impressive.

As the second and third contestants took their turns on stage, Toshi suddenly felt a slight flutter of nervousness.

"Is this what a large-scale stage feels like?"

Toshi paused momentarily in thought.

From the beginning of his journey until now, he didn't seem to have ever performed on a stage of this magnitude.

The largest stage he had previously experienced was, at best, the joint tournament co-organized by several Pokémon clubs in Jiahua City.

As one contestant after another ascended and descended the stage, it was finally approaching Toshi's turn.

Toshi took a deep breath and slowly stepped onto the elevator platform.

"Don't be nervous, Contestant No. 029, believe in yourself!"

Noticing Toshi's trace of nervousness, the young staff member smiled and offered words of encouragement.

"Got it!"

As the elevator platform rose, host Lily Ann was in the midst of introducing Toshi's personal background.

"Next up is an extraordinary contender, Contestant No. 029! He is a rising supernova hailing from Jiahua City! He only became a rookie trainer this past summer, making it barely four months since he started. Yet, shortly after becoming a trainer, he claimed the title of Jiahua City's Best Rookie King! And now, embarking on his journey of learning, he has arrived upon the stage of our Ruolan City Pokémon Contest. Let us look forward to the kind of performance this Jiahua City Rookie King will bring us!"

Hearing Lily Ann's introduction, Toshi only grew more nervous.

He should have known better than to include the tag of Jiahua City's Best Rookie King in his past resume.

Who could have guessed it would be read aloud publicly by Lily Ann?

How utterly embarrassing!

Meanwhile, far away on the other side.

Jiahua University, Jiahua City.

The Breeding Class Group Chat:

Wen Lan: !!!
Wen Lan: Has everyone checked out the live stream of the Ruolan City Pokémon Contest?
Li Xuanxuan: Haven't watched it, what's going on?
Wen Lan: Toshi! It's Toshi! Toshi is up on the Contest stage!
Xu Shanshan: [Confusion] (Emoticon)
Chen Xue: It's true! I just opened the streaming channel, and it really is Toshi! The host is introducing Toshi right now!!!
Li Xuanxuan: You're kidding? Could it be that Toshi is taking the path of a Pokémon Coordinator now?
Li Xuanxuan: [Shock] (Emoticon)
Xu Shanshan: Who knows~ Even though he clearly has much more talent in Pokémon battles~
Xu Shanshan: [Cute] (Emoticon)
Homeroom Teacher Xia Yan: Ahem! This is class time, student Wen Lan, please raise your head—your face is practically sinking below the desk.
Wen Lan: [Awkward] (Emoticon)
Homeroom Teacher Xia Yan: This class is temporarily canceled. Everyone, let's watch the live stream of student Toshi's Pokémon Contest together and cheer him on! ❀
Chen Xue: Teacher Xia is the best!
Wen Lan: The absolute best!
Li Xuanxuan: +1
...: +1+1+1
... (To be continued)