August arrived, and the weather became increasingly hot, but one relatively good thing about the Elf World is that, apart from certain special regions, other areas do not experience extremely high temperatures. At this time, the temperature in Shuangqing City was still at an acceptable level.
On the afternoon of August 1st, Zhou Yuan finished a day of training and dragged his tired body back to his room. As soon as he lay on the bed and let out a sigh of relief, Zhou Yuan took out his phone and checked his follower count, which had already exceeded 500,000. Following this, the system's notification sound rang out:
"Congratulations, Host, your follower count has exceeded 500,000. Energy Points +1000."
"Host's current Energy Points: 1960 points."
"New task issued: Please, Host, start a live stream within three days. Task rewards will be issued according to the live stream's popularity.
If live stream popularity exceeds 100,000, reward 500 Energy Points.
If live stream popularity exceeds 500,000, reward 1000 Energy Points.
If live stream popularity exceeds 1,000,000, reward 2000 Energy Points, and one random Lv3 Skill.
If live stream popularity exceeds 2,000,000 or more, reward 3000 Energy Points, and one random Gold Item."
Zhou Yuan's eyes turned red looking at these rewards. In his opinion, this wasn't a task; it was Lv4 energy cube production waving at him.
The problem was, he had never live-streamed before. How should he do it? Even if he started a live stream, how would he attract viewers?
After much thought, Zhou Yuan decided to record another tactical video. Then, while the tactical video's popularity was rising, he would post an update announcing his live stream time, ultimately attracting a large number of fans and viewers.
Just as Zhou Yuan was perfecting his live stream plan, Liu Yongming knocked on the door and entered.
"Xiao Yuan, Uncle Liu has something to tell you. You know about the Warm Pig Cup competition that our Shuangqing City holds every year in early August, right? It's a competition specifically for new Trainers. The reason it's held in August is to give new Trainers a month to train their starter Pokémon."
"I know about this competition. Uncle Liu, do you mean you want me to sign up?" Zhou Yuan felt that this competition was worth doing, after all, he needed to get Energy Points. Were Energy Points a big deal? Of course not, it wasn't embarrassing for Energy Points.
"No, it's not that I want you to sign up, but that I've already signed you up." Liu Yongming took out a participant's badge, on which Zhou Yuan's name was clearly written.
Zhou Yuan was a bit stunned. He didn't even know the competition's process or its final rewards, yet Uncle Liu had already signed him up.
Liu Yongming, seeing that the notification was delivered, dropped a line, "I've given you the participant's badge. The competition starts in seven days, remember to participate," and then left Zhou Yuan's room.
Opening his computer, Zhou Yuan began searching for information about the Warm Pig Cup.
The Warm Pig Cup's format is primarily an elimination tournament, with participants assigned by computer, battling in pairs, and finally determining the top eight, top four, and the champion, runner-up, and third-place winner.
This year's Warm Pig Cup rewards are richer than in previous years, including a large amount of Pokémon currency and energy cubes, as well as shopping cards from friendly stores under Devon Corporation, with the same value as the prize money, and the ability to purchase items at wholesale prices in friendly stores.
In addition to these rewards, the top eight of the Warm Pig Cup will also directly enter the top sixty-four of the "Little Fire Emperor Cup" competition for new Trainers in the southwest region of the Yanhuang area, as seed players from Shuangqing City.
The "Little Fire Emperor Cup" is a new Trainer competition jointly organized by Shuangqing City and Yun Dian City, along with several other cities in the southwest region. It is held once a year, and the rewards are always very generous.
The top eight in the competition can receive a Pokémon Egg provided by various cities in the southwest region. Last year's competition even saw a Bagon Pokémon Egg, the initial form of Salamence.
Although it's uncertain if there will still be pseudo-legendary baby Pokémon Eggs this year, even with the uncertainty, the number of registrants this year will increase.
The "Little Fire Emperor Cup" usually starts in mid-December.
Just as Zhou Yuan was searching for relevant information, the system popped up again.
"New task issued: Please, Host, achieve a top-eight finish in the Warm Pig Cup competition. The final reward will be determined by your final ranking.
Upon completion of this task, the second phase of the task will be unlocked."
"Another task has appeared. This time, the task doesn't specify the reward amount, only that it's determined by the final ranking, and it's a chain task. I guess the reward won't be small."
After reviewing some relevant information and system requirements again, Zhou Yuan temporarily set the matter aside. After all, the competition was still seven days away, but the live stream task only had a three-day limit. Within these three days, it would be best to finish and upload the video today, but given that it was already almost six o'clock, it might be eleven o'clock by the time the review was complete. The video's popularity would probably only rise tomorrow. Tomorrow, after the video's popularity rises, he would then post an update announcing that he would live stream the day after tomorrow. This was already his best effort, and the final popularity of the live stream would depend on how popular his video became.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yuan began to ponder the tactics for this video. After all, only tactics that were dirty... (crossed out) ...sufficiently exciting could attract more viewers.
After pondering for a long time, Zhou Yuan opened the virtual battle and screen recording, starting with the familiar opening remarks:
"Hello, viewers! I'm A Yuan, who teaches you how to play Pokémon. Today, I'm bringing you two tactical systems. As everyone knows, the Joy sisters at the Pokémon Center work very hard. They not only take care of sick Pokémon but sometimes also have to deal with unruly Trainers causing trouble. So today, I will develop two tactical systems centered around the most commonly used Pokémon in the Pokémon Center. Now, let's introduce our protagonist."
After speaking, Zhou Yuan opened the team editor and added Chansey to his team.
"I'm sure some viewers already guessed that today's video protagonist is Chansey when I introduced it, but many viewers will definitely have questions: What's the use of this Chansey?"
"Indeed, Chansey's output is very limited, but that doesn't mean Chansey can't participate in battles. Especially when medical personnel face personal threats, a Chansey that can battle and knows how to battle becomes very important."
"Without further ado, I'll just click 'Start Matchmaking'... Huh? I got an instant match today?"
"Then I'll explain it to the viewers in a real battle."
Entering the battle screen, the pink, chubby Chansey stood on the field, swaying rhythmically. The opponent sent out a Reuniclus.
At this moment, Caitlin, far away in her castle in Unova, also looked at the Chansey on the screen with some confusion, and Wan Long, beside her, directly asked:
"Chansey? The opponent is using Chansey to battle? What is he thinking?"
"I don't know either." Caitlin shook her head. Just as she was about to command Reuniclus to use a Skill, she was hit by a barrage of Rocks, which directly forced her words back into her mouth. Looking at her Pokémon, it had already entered the flinched state.
In the subsequent game footage, Reuniclus was continuously hit on the head by Rock Slide. It could only be said that Chansey's power was truly touching; even after more than twenty hits, Reuniclus still hadn't fainted.
Caitlin's forehead veins bulged. She couldn't even recall her Pokémon; Reuniclus was already buried under the stones, and the red light emitted by the Poké Ball couldn't Lock-On its position at all.
Seeing Caitlin's air pressure getting lower and lower, Wan Long quickly spoke to comfort her:
"Don't be angry, don't be angry. It's not worth it, not worth it. It's okay, it's okay. Once Reuniclus is down, you can switch. When you switch, you'll beat the opponent to death."
Under Wan Long's comfort, Caitlin gradually relaxed, until Reuniclus was literally scratched to death by Chansey. Caitlin switched to Musharna, and again took a Rock Slide to the face, falling into a flinched state.
Caitlin's pressure directly plummeted below the bottom line, and her psychic power surged forth as if substantial. With a "peng," the computer smoked. Without the game's interference, Caitlin only felt much more comfortable.
Zhou Yuan was still commentating here.
"Because our Chansey is faster than the opponent, it can move first, but I don't know why the opponent isn't switching to a faster Pokémon. A Trick Room team? Oh, the opponent... disconnected?"
"Ahem, viewers can see that, with my exquisite timing of Rock Slide, the opponent couldn't bear the humiliation and directly disconnected."
"This is the first tactic I'm bringing to you today: Serene Grace Rock Slide Chansey. The principle is actually the same as how Serene Grace Togetic can achieve multiple flinches with Air Slash. Relying on the Serene Grace Ability doubles the chance of a Skill's additional effect activating, and Rock Slide already has a relatively high chance of causing flinching. After this doubling, there's a very high chance of achieving multiple flinches."
"Of course, since Chansey's power is indeed not strong, this tactic is just for entertainment. But when medical personnel face someone causing trouble, this tactic will have a miraculous effect. It can effectively control the troublemakers and their Pokémon, and because of Chansey's low physical attack, it won't cause too much damage, making it an excellent means of personnel control."
"This entertainment lineup for the first battle ends here. Next is Chansey's second tactic."
As he spoke, Zhou Yuan matched with an opponent again, and seeing the ID, it was the same opponent as the last battle.
"Oh, it's this person again. If the opponent hasn't changed their lineup, I'll be getting two wins in a row today."
In Unova, Caitlin, having switched to another computer, started the game again under Wan Long's encouragement but her face darkened when she matched with the same person. Wan Long quickly said:
"It's okay, it's okay. This time we put the fast Gothitelle first, right? It will be difficult for the opponent to achieve continuous flinching like in the last battle."
Entering the battle screen...