After the battle, the few of them didn't linger and returned to their respective classrooms for lessons.
The class schedule on the first day of school was relatively relaxed; apart from two consecutive physical education classes in the morning, there were no other lessons, while the afternoon was packed with cultural subjects.
Lin Fan casually flipped through the newly acquired textbooks, pondering slightly.
Although they were new books, they were all related to the theoretical knowledge of Pokémon, which happened to be his strongest suit; the knowledge in his mind was only more, not less, than what was in the books.
Even if there were some areas he didn't fully understand, after a careful read, he already had a general impression, as most of this Pokémon knowledge shared similarities, allowing for a comprehensive understanding, unlike subjects like mathematics and physics, which were extremely difficult.
"Although it sounds a bit arrogant to say this, it seems that continuing to attend theoretical classes at school would actually be a hindrance for me."
Lin Fan closed the book, having made a decision.
He'd find an opportunity to talk to his homeroom teacher about it, to see if he could be allowed to freely allocate his theoretical class time to other, more suitable training.
The first day of school passed quickly. As the only Pokémon high school, they enjoyed the right not to attend evening self-study, so after school in the afternoon, they all went straight home.
After arriving home, Lin Fan sat at his desk, letting Beedrill play by itself, and opened his computer to start editing.
He wasn't writing a speech, but rather creating a paper about Beedrill's characteristic.
After he had mentioned the speech to his homeroom teacher during the day, the teacher directly indicated that he would handle it, and Lin Fan only needed to read it the next day.
Regarding Beedrill's characteristic, Lin Fan had long intended to publish it as a paper.
It wasn't for fame or fortune, but purely for money.
Xia Guo offered very high rewards for this kind of research, as Pokémon had only appeared for a hundred years, and all countries' research on Pokémon was not comprehensive enough; whoever could gain the upper hand in theoretical knowledge would have a great advantage.
Since papers researching the impact of Snorlax's appetite on mood could be published, there was no reason his couldn't.
It wasn't uncommon for high school students to publish papers, although someone from a commoner family like him might be the first.
Aside from Beedrill's characteristic, many other characteristics were also quite vague and not understood, such as Battle Armor, which prevents critical hits, or Limber, which prevents paralysis—all extremely difficult characteristics to discover.
There were also aspects like Pokémon evolution; Tangela needed to learn Ancient Power before it could evolve into Tangrowth, and another Pokémon with similar evolution requirements was Piloswine, which evolves into Mamoswine. If Lin Fan hadn't possessed an already systematic body of knowledge, he would never have thought such bizarre things existed.
These were undoubtedly extremely valuable theoretical knowledge. If successfully published, they would undoubtedly bring Lin Fan a continuous stream of wealth, as well as a respectable position in the research community.
However, publishing a paper requires research results for support, and currently, the only thing Lin Fan could publish was about Beedrill's characteristic.
At the Zero Moon Cup, Beedrill's astonishing performance was undoubtedly eye-catching. If he didn't publish the results as soon as possible, it was inevitable that someone would notice and publish related papers first.
"By the way, can Weedle's Escape characteristic and Beedrill's Sniper characteristic be published as two separate papers?"
Lin Fan had a sudden thought and fell into contemplation, finally shaking his head.
The Sniper characteristic had already been discovered; the absurdly high critical hit damage was quite easy to notice during continuous high-intensity battles, which was why he felt that Beedrill's characteristic would be noticed as abnormal by others.
Forget it, one paper is one paper; earning a little is better than nothing.
Having made up his mind, Lin Fan had just finished typing the paper title when he suddenly fell into deep thought.
Oh no, he didn't seem to know how to write a paper, what format to use, or what aspects the content should cover.
"Tsk, forget it, I'll learn from scratch."
Sighing, Lin Fan embarked on another journey of learning.
...
The next day, which was Monday.
Lin Fan stood behind the podium, secretly complaining.
Why was the start of school always on Sunday? Couldn't it be on Friday, so they could have one day of school and then go straight to vacation?
Shaking his head, hearing his name mentioned, Lin Fan knew it was time to make his appearance.
His homeroom teacher had helped him complete the speech. By the way, the teacher taught mathematics, but his literary talent was quite good; this speech really had a bit of a passionate, inspirational feel to it.
At least Zhao Liang below the stage was loudly cheering for Lin Fan, drawing frequent glances from students in other classes, while those in his own class had long grown accustomed to it.
Lin Fan's expression was normal, and he delivered the speech with emotion and proper intonation.
He had no choice; there was an order from above, and he dared not disobey.
Besides the speech, Lin Fan was also pulled by the principal to be awarded the title of "Star of First High," with the principal calling on all students to learn from him.
Lin Fan secretly complained, feeling like he was some kind of mascot... what was going on?
After a series of tedious procedures, Lin Fan was finally freed and got a short break behind the podium.
His homeroom teacher, Bai Qiliang, walked over and praised him, "Your speech was quite good, as expected of a draft I wrote."
Lin Fan: ...
He looked at his homeroom teacher with a hint of speechlessness, not expecting him to be quite so narcissistic.
His eyes shifted slightly, and a smile suddenly appeared on Lin Fan's face as he eagerly stepped forward: "Teacher, the draft you wrote is indeed excellent. As expected of you, you're simply amazing."
Bai Qiliang's expression stiffened, and he looked at Lin Fan suspiciously, then returned to his stern expression: "It's nothing, just doing my duty. All right, you can return to class early; you don't need to stay here."
"Don't be like that, Teacher." Lin Fan's smile became even more eager, "It's like this, Teacher, I roughly looked through our textbooks yesterday and found that the content, well, how should I put it, I seem to know a bit of everything already. So, I wanted to ask your permission if I could skip those theoretical classes and train myself outside of school."
"What?!" Bai Qiliang's eyes widened with a 'whoosh,' looking at Lin Fan somewhat losing his composure.
There was no helping it; after so many years of teaching, it was the first time a student had made such an odd request to him.
Taking a breath, Bai Qiliang regained his composure and looked at Lin Fan, saying, "The principal just said he wants you to be a role model for all students, and you want to skip class right away?"
"It's not skipping class, it's making reasonable use of my time," Lin Fan corrected him.
Bai Qiliang was silent, watching Lin Fan stare at him unblinkingly, and said, "Are you serious?"
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Bai Qiliang unexpectedly nodded.
"Your request isn't impossible, but I need to test whether you truly have the ability to skip theoretical classes. I happen to have a few sets of test papers. If you really do well, then I can agree, as long as you maintain your grades in the monthly exams."