Chapter 8: Class
With just a few simple sentences, the new teacher, Ms. Anya, had established her authority in the classroom. She clearly knew what she was doing.
"This is everyone's first class of the new semester, so I don't want to lecture on overly dry, technical topics. I'll just talk about broad concepts. You can think of it as a general knowledge class."
"Some of this you may already know, some you may not. For those who don't know, please listen carefully. For those who do, you can listen casually, but you must still respect classroom discipline."
Ms. Anya's teaching style was very different from their usual teachers. So far, the atmosphere felt quite relaxed and was more to the students' liking. Coupled with her stunning looks, the boys were all eager to behave, hoping to win her favor. No one dared to cause a disturbance.
"All of you have your starter Pokémon, which means you are all trainers now. So, let's start by talking about trainer ranks!"
Ms. Anya walked down from the podium, slowly strolling through the aisles between the desks. "There are ten trainer ranks in total. From lowest to highest, they are: Novice, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Professional, Gym-leader, Master, Elite Four, Champion, and Legendary."
Legendary? I wonder if that has anything to do with Legendary Pokémon, Basalt thought to himself from his corner, stroking his chin as he waited for Ms. Anya to continue.
However, he was quickly disappointed.
"Today, I will mainly talk about the first six ranks. As for the latter four, they are levels that most people will likely never reach in their entire lives. I don't know much about them myself."
"If any of you here today one day becomes an Elite Four member or a Master-level trainer, please don't forget to mention in your autobiography that you had an enlightening teacher named Anya!"
The students were surprised that the serious Ms. Anya also had a playful side. Caught off guard, the whole class erupted in laughter.
She raised her hand to gesture for quiet, and the boisterous laughter immediately ceased. Ms. Anya continued, "Novice trainers are those who have turned eighteen and just received their starter Pokémon. That would be all of you."
"At this stage, your breeding and battling experience is basically zero, and your Pokémon has just been born, so it's at its weakest. However, this period won't last too long…"
"Through scientific study and training, the vast majority of you will be able to pass the ranking exam and become Junior trainers within a year. For a talented few, half a year might be enough."
"The Junior trainer rank is a stepping stone. Without it, you won't even be qualified to take the college entrance exams…"
Ms. Anya paced slowly as she spoke eloquently.
It turned out that in this world, although there were countless professions, those related to Pokémon were the absolute mainstream. And among them, the Pokémon trainer profession was the most popular of all, with incredibly fierce competition.
The Junior trainer rank only gave you the qualification to take the college entrance exams and attend university. But just like on Earth, universities were also divided into tiers. The difference between a top-tier university and a bottom-tier one was sometimes greater than the difference between a human and a dog. So, if you wanted to have a good future, getting into a good university was essential.
Damn it! After all that, I still have to go through senior year and take the college entrance exams again?
Basalt suddenly felt that this transmigration wasn't as great as he initially thought.
After pausing to let the students digest the information, Ms. Anya continued, "After the Junior rank is the Intermediate rank. This is the level of a first or second-year university student. However, if any of you can reach this level before the college entrance exams… heh heh!"
The students' curiosity was piqued. "Ms. Anya, what happens if we reach the Intermediate rank during our senior year of high school?"
Basalt's interest was also sparked. Judging by the teacher's tone, this seemed to be a remarkable achievement.
"You get to pick… any university in the entire country!"
Ms. Anya didn't keep them in suspense and gave them the answer directly.
Looks of hope appeared on the students' faces, but it was only hope. Seaside County Second High School was just an ordinary high school, not even the best in the county. The students were well aware of their own standing and didn't dare to dream of becoming such prodigies.
Next, Ms. Anya talked about the Senior rank, which was the level of a third or fourth-year university student. Graduating at this level wouldn't be a problem. Furthermore, at the Senior stage, most Pokémon would have completed their final evolutions, and their strength would increase rapidly. With a good education and strong Pokémon, they would have a high chance of being recruited by the Pokémon League for stable jobs like police officers or rangers after passing a unified exam.
As for the Professional and Gym-leader ranks that followed, Ms. Anya didn't say much. She only mentioned that Professional trainers could participate in the national Pokémon League's professional circuit and earn a substantial income through competitions, making every one of them social elites.
As for the Gym-leader rank, the meaning was obvious. The nation had an official gym in every major city, and reaching this rank was the prerequisite to becoming a trainer at one of those gyms.
"Ms. Anya, so what rank are you?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a boy raised his hand and asked. He clearly wasn't the only one curious about this question; the entire class was. Basalt was no exception.
"Want to know my trainer rank?"
A faint smile appeared on Ms. Anya's face. She let the suspense hang for a moment before saying, "It's a secret!"
"Aww~~"
Groans filled the classroom as the students expressed their dissatisfaction with boos. However, Ms. Anya was not moved.
Next, she explained the main aspects of Pokémon training and breeding: moves, abilities, physical conditioning, and tactics…
Taking a Pokémon's physical condition as an example, it could be broken down into stamina, speed, strength, defense, mental fortitude, explosive power, and coordination. In a broader sense, it even included willpower. The key was that even these sub-categories could be further detailed. For example, 'speed' could be divided into movement speed, reaction speed, evasion speed, energy-gathering speed, move-execution speed, and so on.
After listening to Ms. Anya's explanation, Basalt realized that being a Pokémon trainer was a profession that covered an extremely wide range of knowledge. It was completely different from just fighting monsters for experience and allocating stat points like in the games.
At that moment, Basalt felt he needed to start taking this seriously. Otherwise, even with the help of his two Smooth Rock Crystals, he might not be able to become a powerful sandstorm trainer.
After finishing the topic of Pokémon breeding, Ms. Anya began to talk about various other subjects, comparing Pokémon from different regions within the country, as well as domestic versus foreign Pokémon. She even made a comparison between the top trainers from their nation and America.
The students listened with rapt attention, completely losing track of time. It wasn't until the music for the school-wide broadcast calisthenics started playing that they realized two class periods had already passed.
I even have to do group exercises after transmigrating? You've got to be kidding me! Basalt thought, holding back a curse.
"Alright, that's all for today's class. Oh, right…" Ms. Anya seemed to have suddenly remembered something and called for everyone's attention. "Starting next month, the school will be organizing monthly intra-class battle tournaments. There will be generous rewards for students who achieve excellent rankings, so I hope everyone participates enthusiastically! Especially you two…"
Before leaving, Ms. Anya gave Basalt and Frank another pointed look. It was clear the two of them had already left an impression on the beautiful teacher. Whether it was a good or bad impression, however, was hard to say.
But it had to be said, Basalt had learned a great deal from Ms. Anya's class. He decided that when he got home, he would look up more information online to better understand this new, real world and avoid making a fool of himself in the future.
…
Time flew by, and the school day quickly came to an end.
When Basalt arrived home on his bicycle, it was just after five o'clock. As usual, his parents weren't back yet.
So, Basalt considered whether he should take Drilbur out to do some basic training, just to get a feel for it.