Once the opening ceremony concluded and the students began dispersing across the academy grounds in search of their assigned dormitories, classrooms, and training sectors, the atmosphere of the campus shifted rapidly from formal anticipation into active movent, as what had until now existed only as a carefully constructed institution finally began functioning as a living environnt filled with purpose, energy, and direction.
Groups ford naturally as students moved through the wide pathways connecting the various academy buildings, so already familiar with one another from the entrance examination while others introduced themselves for the first ti, and conversations spread constantly through the grounds as excitent gradually overtook the earlier nervousness that had dominated the opening ceremony.
So discussed rankings from the examination and argued over which battles had been the most impressive, while others focused entirely on future plans, already debating which Pokémon they hoped to capture once they qualified for external missions and additional team slots. A few students appeared overwheld by the sheer scale of the academy itself, their attention constantly shifting between towering training facilities, research buildings, and the large battle arenas that were already beginning to fill despite classes not having properly started yet.
From above, the academy looked entirely different from how it had during construction.
The dormitories were occupied.
The pathways were filled.
The arenas echoed with movent and noise.
And for the first ti since the rge began, there was a place specifically designed to shape the next generation of trainers rather than rely react to the chaos of a changing world.
As for , I quietly left the main grounds once the ceremony ended and headed toward my office, allowing the sounds of the lively campus to gradually fade into the background as I moved deeper into the administrative section of the academy.
The mont I entered the office and the door closed behind , my focus shifted toward sothing I had been considering seriously for the past several days.
An elite team.
Even in my own mind, the na sounded sowhat exaggerated, because what I actually intended to create was not a formal elite unit in the military sense, nor a publicly announced special class designed to create unnecessary division among students. What I truly wanted was sothing much closer to the old master-disciple relationships from historical stories and cultivation novels, where exceptionally promising individuals received direct guidance beyond the limits of standard institutional teaching.
The academy itself would provide structure.
The professors would provide foundational education.
But there were certain students whose potential made ordinary instruction insufficient in the long term, and those were the individuals I wanted to observe personally and train directly.
Still, the idea carried one problem that I found strangely difficult to ignore.
My physical age.
ntally, the issue didn't, especially given my age before rebirth, but outwardly I was still close in age to the students themselves, and the idea of formally accepting people Sa age or even a year older than as "disciples" felt unnecessarily awkward no matter how I tried to justify it.
Because of that, I eventually discarded the idea of direct discipleship entirely and settled on sothing simpler.
A team which is less rigid and less uncomfortable, But functionally similar in purpose.
By the ti I sat down behind my desk, the first two mbers had already been decided.
Apoorv More and Rakesh stood out too clearly to ignore, not simply because of their rankings during the entrance examination, but because both had demonstrated the ability to remain functional when situations escalated beyond expectation.
That mattered far more than raw strength.
Strength could always be improved through proper training and experience, but ntality was significantly harder to shape once a person had already settled into their habits and instincts.
Both of them adapted quickly under pressure.
Both made decisions instead of freezing.
And most importantly, both understood how to act without waiting endlessly for instructions.
Those qualities were far rarer than talent.
As for the remaining positions within the team, I had no intention of rushing the process, because the academy had only just begun and there were still many students I needed to observe properly before deciding whether they possessed the qualities I was looking for.
Potential alone was not enough.
I wanted judgnt.
Adaptability.
The ability to remain calm when plans failed.
And above all, the willingness to act when necessary instead of relying entirely on authority figures to solve every problem for them.
Leaning back slightly in my chair, I began organizing the structure ntally, deciding that for at least the first month, nothing about the arrangent would change outwardly for the selected students.
They would attend normal classes.
Participate in regular activities.
Live alongside the rest of the academy population without special privileges.
That period was important because no matter how talented soone was, becoming disconnected from ordinary academy life too early often created arrogance or instability later.
After that first month, however, things would begin changing gradually.
Weekend expeditions.
Zone visits.
Field observation.
I intended to personally take them into real environnts outside controlled arenas and classrooms, showing them how the Pokémon Departnt actually operated beyond public broadcasts and simplified explanations, because there was a massive difference between performing well in examinations and functioning properly in unstable situations involving civilians, containnt operations, logistics, and genuine danger.
If they were going to stand at the forefront of the next generation, then they needed to understand reality rather than simply mastering theory.
With the structure settled for now, I forwarded instructions through one of the professors, asking them to quietly announce the existence of the special team during the students' first lessons later that day, while deliberately avoiding detailed explanations. I wanted the selection process to remain observational rather than turning into a popularity contest driven entirely by rankings.
And with that—
The academy truly began functioning.
The following days passed far more quickly than expected as routines gradually ford across the campus, transforming the academy from a newly opened institution into a constantly moving ecosystem filled with activity from morning until late evening.
Students moved continuously between dormitories, classrooms, battle arenas, training fields, and research facilities, filling pathways that had once stood empty during construction, while professors adjusted lesson structures in real ti as they learned the strengths and weaknesses of their first batch of students.
The battle arenas beca so of the busiest locations almost imdiately.
At nearly any hour of the day, students could be found challenging one another in friendly matches, testing newly learned strategies, comparing Pokémon growth, or simply attempting to improve through repetition and competition.
So battles were crude and overly reliant on brute force.
Others already displayed surprising tactical awareness for first-year students.
But all of them reflected growth.
The Pokémon Center within the academy beca equally active, with exhausted students arriving throughout the day carrying injured or overworked Pokémon after training sessions that often exceeded their current level of understanding and control.
Thankfully, according to the latest reports from the research division, the first stable healing machine prototype should be completed within a month, which would significantly reduce the burden currently placed on dical staff and healing Pokémon alike.
Until then, however, the workload remained extrely heavy.
Even so, complaints were rare.
The atmosphere throughout the academy was simply too alive for that.
Students had already begun developing the early concepts of what kind of trainers they wanted to beco, and those intentions beca increasingly visible in the way they approached both battles and team-building discussions.
So focused entirely on offensive power, searching for Pokémon capable of overwhelming opponents directly.
Others leaned toward speed, adaptability, support roles, or environntal control.
A few had already begun carefully discussing balanced team compositions despite currently possessing only one or two Pokémon themselves.
The idea of a future team had begun forming in their minds long before they actually acquired those partners.
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