Pokémon, Ash's art style is off!

The third is Lorelei, the Ice-type Elite Four member.

She had shoulder-length, wine-red hair, wore round-framed glasses, and was tall.

Wearing a black business jacket, she exuded a capable and calm demeanor.

He simply waved to the audience and received an unprecedented cheer led by Xiao Gang.

"Miss Kona—!!!"

Xiao Gang suddenly stood up, his eyes turned into hearts, and he exuded an indescribable aura.

"Please allow me to offer you my loyalty—!"

After all, he's the most handsome of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Even though she doesn't appear often, she's still quite popular.

The last one to stand up was a Dragonite, which grabbed the indifferent-looking cloaked youth sitting next to it and pulled him up.

The young man didn't even make a move, yet everyone spontaneously applauded him.

"Mr. Watari is really exuding his full aura today!"

"So indifferent! No wonder he's the Dragon Messenger!"

"What a powerful presence!"

The demeanor of a strong person?

Hearing the audience's exclamations, Ash, whose eloquence was at its peak, couldn't help but blink.

Judging from Dragonite's disgusted expression, he felt that Lance was simply daydreaming...

228. Oh no! I've become the Dragon Chaser!

"Everyone, please be quiet, please be quiet—"

Dama Lanqi's voice wasn't loud, but it steadily drowned out the noise of the entire venue.

This is how it is for the former president.

With decades of experience, what kind of situation hasn't he seen?

Just by standing in front of the microphone, his aura is enough to shut most people up.

Under the old chairman's suppression, the clamor in the audience gradually subsided.

But the excitement on people's faces was still hard to hide.

After all, the gathering of the Four Heavenly Kings of Kanto is a spectacle that might not happen even once in ten years.

We must hurry and take a group photo!

Dama Lanqi cleared his throat and continued.

"Now, before we officially begin the competition, I need to explain the competition format of this year's Quartz Conference."

Upon hearing the key point, the entire audience fell silent, put away their illustrated guides, and turned their gazes toward the stage.

"This conference will be divided into two phases."

Damaranchi's voice echoed above the giant arena.

"The first stage is the qualifying rounds."

"All players who have qualified for the main tournament through regional qualifiers will compete in a round-robin format over the next four days."

"After the preliminary rounds, the top 32 players will advance to the main tournament..."

Upon hearing this, a murmur of discussion immediately broke out among the contestants.

The top 32?

Selecting only thirty-two people from hundreds of contestants is an elimination rate that would put anyone under pressure.

"So, we have to fight our way through the qualifiers before we can play in the official tournament..."

Xiao Zhi sat in his seat, his hands unconsciously clenching together.

"This is really..."

"This is so exciting!"

"Pickup!"

"This is a one-shot deal." Hearing Ash's words, Gary reminded him, "If you lose, you're out immediately. There's no second chance."

Lillie, sensing the warning in Shigeru's words, did not make another move.

After all, she came to join the group, not to break it up.

She covered her mouth.

"What a cruel competition format!"

"Losing one match means immediate elimination... Does that mean we can't afford to make even the slightest mistake?"

Shigeru glared at Lillie, who had interrupted his conversation with Ash, looking annoyed.

As if wanting to say something more, Dama Lanqi's voice rang out again.

"—Detailed information will be pushed to the player's character profile, so I won't go into too much detail here. Now..."

He paused for a second, his deep gaze sweeping across the audience.

"So--"

"I hereby declare the Quartz Conference qualifiers open!"

"Let's begin!"

.......

It was just a formality.

Inside the VIP room, the four Heavenly Kings took their seats.

The location was chosen with great care, forming a delicate quadrilateral.

There was at least one seat's distance between each person, like a tacitly agreed-upon safety boundary.

Kona leaned back on the sofa, crossed her legs, and slowly looked around.

Although the atmosphere wasn't exactly harmonious, it was still relatively calm—well, at least no one had taken out their Poké Balls yet.

She picked up the black tea brought by the waiter, blew on it gently, and her gaze slowly swept over the three of them.

To be honest, her attendance at the Quartz Convention was originally just a gesture of goodwill towards the King.

After all, it's the Kanto Alliance's annual grand event, and one of the Four Heavenly Kings has to make an appearance.

She thought she would be the only one who came, and at most she would run into that brainless Yu Longdu.

Who knew that when we got here, good heavens, everyone was there!

"By the way, why did you all come to this conference?"

Ignoring Lance, who once again challenged everyone without considering the occasion, only to have his mouth covered by Dragonite in a flash, Lorelei asked curiously.

She tilted her head slightly, her red hair slipping down her shoulder with a hint of probing.

To be honest, their working relationship was quite tense.

Kikuko and Shiba have had a long-standing feud.

As for the specific grudge or grievance, all that can be said is that Kikuko, a veteran of the Kanto region, properly controlled Shiba, a junior. That's all I can say.

As for the Dragon Crossing.

Well, he doesn't want to make enemies with anyone.

He simply uses his frustratingly low emotional intelligence to isolate everyone.

Upon hearing this, Shiba, who had no conflict with Kona, readily agreed and grinned.

"At this conference, I have a promising junior colleague."

"A promising junior?"

Kona raised an eyebrow, put down her teacup, and leaned forward slightly.

Given Shiba's personality, a junior who would make a special trip to see him must be no ordinary person.

Shiba nodded, his gaze sweeping across the entire arena and landing on the dense crowd, as if searching for a specific figure.

Kona gave a thoughtful "Oh," then looked at Lance... and the Dragonite beside him.

"Him too?"

Dragonite nodded, then took out some berries from behind Lance's cloak and distributed them to the other three.

Those practiced movements clearly indicated that this wasn't the first time he'd done it.

Lance was robbed without batting an eye, as if he had already gotten used to his cloak being used as a personal storage locker for Dragonite.

Kona took the fruit and took a bite.

The crisp flesh cracks between your teeth, and the juice is sweet; it is a top-quality pomelo.

"Hmm... And what about you, senpai?" She looked at Kikuko, "Are you here to see which junior as well?"

"I?"

Kikuko slowly opened her eyes.

A meaningful smile appeared on her lips, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes curved upwards.

"I guess you could call it that, though."

Naturally, given her personality, she has never been interested in these amateurish battles between trainers.

In her view, those young people sweating profusely on the field were nothing more than a group of toddlers who hadn't even learned to walk yet.

But this time is different.

She had heard that Ooki Yukinari, that old man's grandson, was going to attend the conference this time!