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Jacob had achieved ten consecutive wins, relying primarily on his Charmeleon and Noibat to secure these easy victories. Even his Sceptile hadn't needed to take the field during any of these battles.
This result surprised Jacob somewhat. He couldn't determine whether his own strength had improved or if his opponents had simply been weaker than expected. Throughout all ten matches, Jacob hadn't encountered anyone at Isaac's skill level, which left him wondering about the true measure of his abilities.
Glancing at his watch, Jacob noticed it was already five o'clock in the afternoon. Today's combat training session had come to an end, so he and Nina returned to the Dragon Secret Realm together.
After a full day of repairs, the damaged buildings within the Dragon Secret Realm had been mostly restored and would resume normal operations tomorrow. The training classes would also continue their regular schedule as planned.
However, compared to their previous visit, the secret realm now carried a more solemn and intense atmosphere, as if charged with barely contained energy.
Several days passed, and by Sunday, they had reached the end of January. Approximately two months remained until the College Cup competition, with only two weeks left before the Chinese New Year celebrations. The streets had begun to show hints of the festive atmosphere, and even the secret realm started displaying colorful lights and decorations.
As time grew increasingly urgent, everyone in the training classes worked with greater dedication. Even Julia, who had previously been somewhat casual about her training schedule, now rose early and stayed up late to train her Dragonair with intense focus.
After four months of rigorous training, her Dragonair had reached the peak of the Overlord level and would soon breakthrough to the Gym Leader level of strength.
Jacob felt genuinely concerned when observing her Dragonair's progress. If her Dragonair successfully broke through to gym leader level and evolved into Dragonite, it would become absolutely unstoppable in the College Cup competition, giving her an excellent chance of claiming the championship title.
In previous High School Cup tournaments, there had been several instances where contestants brought quasi-legendary Pokemon that had evolved to their final evolutionary forms.
The earliest recorded case occurred ten years ago, followed by another seven years ago, then five years ago, and most recently three years ago.
Since that fourth instance three years ago, contestants with quasi-legendary Pokemon had participated in the competition annually. Last year alone featured two contestants whose quasi-legendary Pokemon had reached their final evolutionary stages.
Although quasi-legendary Pokemon remained extremely rare, individuals from the highest echelons of power could potentially obtain them from birth.
It resembled owning a luxury sports car - some people might be born with one in their family, but for the vast majority of people, if they weren't born with such privileges, there was a high probability they would never possess one throughout their entire lives.
As the heirs of the older generation's Heavenly Kings matured and came of age, increasing numbers of young, talented trainers stepped onto the competitive stage. Many of them might qualify as gym leaders by age twenty, which caused many veteran gym leader-level trainers to sigh that today's young people were becoming increasingly formidable.
The waves behind push forward the waves ahead, as each new generation surpasses the previous one.
As time constraints became more pressing, Jacob trained with ever-increasing intensity, often sleeping only six hours per night. However, the more anxious he became, the less effective his training seemed to be. While Axew and Bagon showed steady improvement in their strength, both Noibat and Sceptile's progress had begun to slow considerably. His Charmeleon remained frustratingly stuck on the edge of evolution, unable to make the final breakthrough.
Only Dreepy's strength continued growing rapidly, thanks to the mysterious effects of the Poison Pot.
This situation made Jacob even more anxious. Since it was Sunday, he went to Nina's dormitory early in the morning and convinced her to accompany him to the Dragon Gym.
He believed that after achieving a ten-game winning streak, many strong opponents would surely come to challenge him and attempt to break his victory record. This would provide an excellent opportunity to further train his Charmeleon.
Unfortunately, the results proved unexpected.
Throughout the entire morning, no particularly strong opponents appeared. Only some lord-level trainers of average skill came to challenge him. Jacob naturally secured four more consecutive victories, bringing his winning streak to fourteen games.
"Warning: The system has detected that the host has used improper methods to manipulate the winning streak. The winning streak is now locked and the streak mission has been interrupted. To reactivate this mission, please complete the priority task."
Jacob, who had just celebrated his fourteenth consecutive victory, didn't have time to feel happy before hearing the system's announcement. He was filled with confusion - when had he used any improper methods to manipulate his winning streak?
"Reason for mission interruption: One month ago, Julia engaged in a private battle with Isaac and issued a warning, which resulted in other powerful trainers avoiding challenges."
Jacob finally understood the situation and wondered why no gym-level trainers had appeared. It turned out this girl was responsible for the situation, though he couldn't really blame himself for her actions.
Fortunately, the system still provided an opportunity. As long as he completed the priority task, he could reactivate the winning streak mission.
"Priority Task: Please use your verified social media account to post a challenge video online. The video content must be as follows: 'I, Jacob, am here to announce today that everyone here is trash except me. I am the strongest lord-level trainer in the Capital. If you disagree, come to the Capital Dragon Gym every Sunday to challenge me. I will wait for you weaklings to come and face your defeat.' (A selfie at the Dragon Gym is required)"
"After completing the priority mission, the winning streak mission will be reactivated. The stronger the lord-level trainer who comes to challenge, the more generous the rewards will be."
Jacob stared at the priority task issued by the system, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. What kind of ridiculous task was this?
His emotions were extremely complicated at this moment. Jacob realized he should never praise this system. Just last week, he had complimented the system for finally acting reasonably, but now it had created this troublesome situation again.
The task itself wasn't particularly difficult - he simply needed to post a video on social media. It could be considered quite simple from a technical standpoint, but it presented enormous psychological challenges.
What should he do? Jacob found himself deeply conflicted, torn between preserving his dignity and obtaining the promised rewards. He suspected his system must have been infected by some kind of virus. From the passive "Master Style" ability at the beginning, to the "Dragon Master Mission," and now this priority task, it consistently generated increasingly outrageous missions.
Jacob couldn't help but feel resentment building in his heart. This was all Julia's fault - everything was her responsibility. If it weren't for her interference, how could he have ended up in this embarrassing situation?
Checking the time, Jacob noticed it was already twelve o'clock in the afternoon, and the gym would be closing for a two-hour lunch break. After considerable internal debate, his desire for the promised rewards ultimately overcame his sense of shame. He had already experienced enough embarrassing moments, so one more wouldn't make much difference.
In the end, Jacob edited the required text with trembling hands, took the necessary photos, and clicked the publish button.
After completing these actions, Jacob breathed heavily, switched his phone to silent mode, placed it in his pocket, and went to have lunch.
Julia, I despise this situation! Jacob secretly resolved that next time, he would make Julia record several more private training videos to compensate for this embarrassment.
At this moment, in the wealthy district of the capital, Julia was training her Pokemon while secretly thinking that if Jacob knew what she had done to protect him, he would surely be deeply moved by her consideration.
"Notification: Someone you follow has released new content."
"Oh, Jacob actually posted something." Julia looked with surprise at Jacob's account, which she followed with special attention. He had actually posted a video, and she quickly clicked to watch it.
After viewing the video, Julia fell into stunned silence. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found herself unable to form words.
The same scene unfolded for Nina, Kyle, Aria, Amelia, and others. When they saw the video Jacob had posted, they were equally shocked by its contents.
2:00 PM
"Master, Master, something terrible has happened!" A Dragon-type gym apprentice approached Kindler, breathing heavily from running.
"What's wrong? Why are you in such a panic?" Kindler asked with a frown, concerned by the apprentice's obvious distress.
"There are massive crowds of people outside the gym, and they all want to challenge Jacob!"