Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

After a selection process, the first cohort of members for the senior year key class at Pengcheng No.1 High School has been finalized.

Thirty boys and girls, along with their various Rookie-level Digimon partners, gathered in a spacious and brightly lit dedicated battle training arena.

The air was thick with excitement and tension. These top students from eighteen classes had very different personalities, but their eyes all sparkled with anticipation for the future and a hint of competition.

The list includes almost all known animal trainers in their developmental stage from students at Pengcheng No.1 High School:

Cheng Yuan's snow-white, sacred little dog beast;

The pangolin with thick scales and a steady gait;

Zhao Lu's gleaming, precisely rotating gear beast;

There are also Digimon such as Flamemon, Palmon, Candlemon, Wormmon, and Goremon... These Digimon, representing different evolutionary paths and functional roles, are all quietly lying down or standing beside their respective tamers.

"Squeak—"

The heavy metal door of the training ground was pushed open, and the footsteps were steady and powerful.

A young figure walked in. He had a neat buzz cut, wore a simple and practical dark gray training uniform, and had a tall and straight posture. His steps were efficient and steady, characteristic of a professional animal trainer.

His sharp gaze swept across the entire field, and an invisible pressure instantly silenced the previously noisy training ground.

"Hello everyone." His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly, carrying a calmness born from real combat experience.

"My name is Xu Xin, and I believe you already know me this morning." Xu Xin nodded slightly, his face displaying a senior's calmness. "Perhaps you are still relatively unfamiliar with me, but technically, I am your senior. I also graduated from Pengcheng No.1 High School and am currently studying at Pengcheng Animal Trainer Technology University. I am now a professional animal trainer. This month, I was invited by my alma mater to return to assess and train you all, helping you improve your abilities to prepare for the college entrance examination. Please guide me over the next month."

Looking at the humble Xu Xin, Cheng Yuan became even more curious about professional animal trainers.

He subconsciously patted the little dog's head, and the little guy looked up at his new teacher with curiosity in his bright blue eyes.

"Because we've added practical training courses this semester, which are quite intensive, we need to select a new class representative to assist with the work," Xu Xin said bluntly. "Anyone willing to volunteer?"

The vast training ground fell silent instantly, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Thirty pairs of eyes looked at each other, maintaining a tacit silence. Everyone knew that being a class representative under a professional animal trainer, especially in this elite, elimination-based class, meant more responsibility, more exposure, and also... more "attention" and extra training.

Xu Xin seemed unsurprised by the silence, her expression remaining unchanged: "So, does anyone have any recommendations?"

He then listed several requirements: "They need to have a certain level of organizational and coordination skills, their physical fitness shouldn't be too poor, they need to react quickly, and preferably... a little bit clever, able to adapt to changing circumstances, and a little 'restless' but not inherently bad." He paused, "On the training field, following the rules isn't necessarily a good thing; sometimes you need a bit of the drive to break the mold."

As Cheng Yuan listened, his heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition arose within him.

"I recommend Cheng Yuan!" A clear voice rang out with a hint of sly laughter; it was Zhao Lu. She raised her hand high, and Cheng Yuan glared at her instantly.

"Zhao Lu, please don't hurt me."

"Teacher Xu, Cheng Yuan meets all the criteria you mentioned! He's a clique member, a witty fellow, a goofball, and has a sharp tongue, and... well, he's not a bad person at heart!"

Cheng Yuan: "..." Did I take that as a compliment?

"Oh? Is that so?" Xu Xin turned her gaze to Cheng Yuan, her expression a mixture of inquiry and understanding.

In the next few minutes, with Teacher Xu Xin's unwavering encouragement that "I have faith in you," Cheng Yuan almost reluctantly accepted his first "class officer" title—representative of the key class's practical training session.

He inwardly groaned: Zhao Lu! This feud is now set in stone! Don't leave after school!

Xu Xin looked at Cheng Yuan, who seemed helpless and resigned, and a thought flashed through her mind. Was this the tamer who evolved from a digital egg to a child stage in just two weeks?

He glanced at the little dog beast, which had already revealed quite a few problems: its basic attributes were somewhat weak, and its control over energy was rather crude... It had potential, but it needed to be honed and refined by the system.

"Alright, class representatives, back to your positions." Xu Xin composed himself, clapped his hands, and drew everyone's attention back to the main topic. "Now, let's begin the first lesson of our elite class—the basic operation of the Digivice and survival training for trainers."

His voice suddenly turned serious and cold: "First of all, you need to understand one thing: real-world battles, especially encounters in the wild and in the digital realm, are not the friendly sparring you see in the arena, protected by shields! There, if your Digimon suffers a fatal attack and its Digicore is shattered, it means—complete disappearance, never to be recovered!"

The cold reality made many students instinctively tighten their grip on their Digimon, and their eyes looked at their partners with more seriousness and worry.

"Therefore, as Digimon Tamers, your primary responsibility is not to command your Digimon to defeat your opponents, but to use your Digivices to accurately and swiftly recall your partners at crucial moments, preventing irreparable losses!" Xu Xin's gaze swept across the entire arena like a blade. "Remember, the battlefield is not a fair 1v1 duel, but a life-or-death struggle. And Digimon Tamers are never spectators standing on the sidelines!"

He raised his voice, each word striking the students' hearts: "You are part of the battle! Your positioning, movement, ability to find cover, remote command capabilities… all of these directly determine the life or death of you and your Digimon partner!"

As Cheng Yuan listened, he silently compared this cruel reality with the huge difference between it and the Digimon anime he had watched in his previous life.

In the anime, Tai and his friends are blasted away by the skills of mature or even complete stages, but they can just dust themselves off and stand up to continue shouting slogans.

But here, a full-force attack from a Rookie-level Digimon is enough to seriously injure or even kill an unprotected human.

The tamer's own survival skills become the most basic yet most crucial element. Those who cannot protect themselves will only become a burden to their partners.

"Therefore," Xu Xin summarized, "today's first lesson is the most basic of basics—physical fitness! Without sufficient physical fitness, all tactics and techniques are just empty talk. Class representative!" He looked at Cheng Yuan.

Cheng Yuan's heart skipped a beat, but he forced a smile and said, "Here!"

"Lead the team in a warm-up, then with your partners—a 10-kilometer weighted run! Let's begin!" Xu Xin gave the order that left no room for argument.