They were now rapidly extinguishing the flames with sand. If not for Houndoom occasionally adding another Ember or two, they might have already charged straight at them.
"As expected, I still underestimated them. Even with a clever strategy, a high-level Ordinary Stage mission really isn't that easy."
Icarus silently sighed as he looked at the increasing number of Pokémon surrounding them.
"Pidgeotto, you and Houndoom give them one last farewell gift! Use Fire Spin, then retreat immediately!"
After issuing his final command to Pidgeotto and Houndoom, Icarus quickly led the others in retreat.
"Yito!" "Ariya!" "Shashasha~"
Seeing the culprits trying to escape, the surrounding Spinarak and Ariados became frantic, desperately kicking sand with their claws. Some even charged directly through the flames in their panic.
"Anyway, the fire isn't too large. It won't seriously injure us. As long as I hold these humans here for a little while longer, the rest of my kin will arrive soon."
One Ariados, leading seven or eight Spinarak, rushed straight through the ring of fire. Although the flames burned painfully, it still felt rather smug.
"Whoosh Whoosh"
Unfortunately, just after crossing the flames, a massive Fire Spin swept directly toward them, instantly throwing several Pokémon into the air.
"Pshhh Chii chii Whoosh~"
The final Fire Spin successfully blocked the pursuing enemies.
"Beep" "Woof"
Pidgeotto and Houndoom had no intention of staying behind to collect spoils. The moment they completed their attack, they immediately turned and chased after Icarus and the others.
With the help of strong Repel, the group safely escaped Spinarak territory. As for Pidgeotto and Houndoom, their speed was fast enough that they caught up midway through the retreat.
"Huff… Huff… That was seriously dangerous!"
Leaning against a tree stump, Icarus wiped the sweat from his forehead, still shaken.
If they hadn't retreated just now, they would definitely have died.
It might have looked easy when they dealt with twenty-plus Spinarak and two Ariados earlier, but that was only because Houndoom's ring of fire had completely broken their formation. There were spider webs everywhere, providing endless fuel for the flames and greatly amplifying their power.
If they had stayed behind after the surrounding webs burned away, those Pokémon wouldn't have foolishly continued spraying silk for them to ignite.
More than forty Spinarak alongside five or six Ariados—even a single volley of Poison Sting would have been enough to overwhelm them.
And once entangled, even if they blocked the first wave, the commotion would only attract more Ariados leading additional groups.
In that situation, their chances of survival would only continue to decrease.
"Yes, that really was dangerous. As expected, no three-star mission is simple."
"Exactly. No wonder high-level Ordinary Stage Trainers are considered the strongest combat force among the smaller families in town.
I used to think there wouldn't be much difference since everyone was still at the Ordinary Stage, but I didn't expect the gap to be this huge."
Airi and Stone also spoke with lingering fear. After this battle, they finally gained a much clearer understanding of what true high-level combat strength looked like.
"So… are we still continuing? Or are we giving up on the mission?"
After catching her breath, Airi hesitantly asked Icarus.
"We continue! Ten Ariados are still manageable. We already got two. As long as we keep using the same hit-and-run strategy, we can finish the mission.
It'll just take more time. We'll need to wait for the Ariados to settle back into their territory before attacking again."
Icarus hesitated briefly before gritting his teeth and making the decision.
It was only a matter of time. They could afford to wait.
"Alright, then let's clean up these Spinarak first."
Hearing that Icarus still intended to continue, the other two nodded as well. Honestly, they really did feel they had a chance of completing the mission.
"Beep… Ordinary Stage, low-grade aptitude…"
"Beep… Ordinary Stage, low-grade aptitude…"
The resting group began testing aptitudes. All low-grade Spinarak were released, killed, and dismantled for materials.
In the end, they harvested one mid-grade Ordinary Stage Spinarak and materials from eleven low-grade ones.
This ratio was perfectly normal. Although Spinarak were slightly stronger than Weedle, bug-type Pokémon like them still relied mainly on numbers.
Just like Beedrill and Butterfree, they survived in the forest through swarming tactics.
"That should do it. This time we'll attack from another direction and repeat the same strategy."
After checking the time and confirming that about an hour had passed, Icarus led everyone around to the other side of Spinarak territory.
The tactic remained unchanged—ignite the spider webs, strike quickly, then retreat immediately.
This time, they successfully collected three more Ariados thread sacs before fleeing once again.
Naturally, Icarus wasn't worried about the flames spreading into a wildfire. The attacking spiders themselves would extinguish the remaining fires with sand.
After all, their territory was filled with highly flammable spider webs. If the flames spread unchecked, their own homes would be destroyed first.
After repeating this guerrilla tactic four times, morning gradually turned into evening.
The third attack had nearly gone wrong.
The moment Houndoom released its flames, the original twenty-plus spiders suddenly doubled into more than forty. Two additional groups had been hidden nearby in ambush, while the visible spiders were merely bait.
Fortunately, the ring of fire had already formed by then.
After a fierce battle, Icarus and the others still managed to retreat safely with three Ariados and over ten Spinarak.
There was no choice but to retreat.
Even with terrain advantage and perfect type matchups, fighting over forty spiders simultaneously was simply too difficult.
After that ambush, the vigilance of the Spinarak increased even further, forcing Icarus and the others to spend a long time searching for another opportunity.
Eventually, they still managed to launch one final guerrilla assault.
Although they were ultimately driven away, they successfully secured the final two Ariados thread sacs needed for the mission.
After leaving the deeper forest, the group began calculating their earnings.
The two-star missions were routine, rewarding them with thirty contribution points and around fifty to sixty thousand alliance currency in total profits.
The true profit came from the three-star mission.
The mission reward alone provided fifty contribution points and fifteen thousand alliance currency.
Then there were the extra gains.
The four mid-grade Ordinary Stage Spinarak alone were worth nearly fifty thousand.
The harvested bug meat could be sold for another thirty thousand, while the thread sacs and additional materials added roughly another fifty thousand.
Altogether, their total profits for the day reached around eighty contribution points and nearly two hundred thousand alliance currency.
As usual, Icarus took forty percent, earning himself thirty-two contribution points and eighty thousand alliance currency.
Naturally, the poison sacs were once again stuffed into Weepinbell's mouth by Airi and Stone as snacks.
Honestly, the profits were extremely worthwhile.
If Icarus had been alone, he could at most complete two ordinary two-star missions per day. If one happened to be troublesome, maybe only one.
That would only earn him around twenty contribution points and fifty thousand alliance currency daily at best.
But with a three-person team, three ordinary missions in a single day allowed his profits to exceed that limit.
This was precisely why very few Trainers in town operated alone.
Once civilian Trainers reached low-level Ordinary Stage and possessed at least two Pokémon, they generally teamed up at the Pokémon Center.
Otherwise, they might as well continue bullying weak Pokémon in the outer forest.
Take Stone, for example. As a low-level Ordinary Stage Trainer, he could probably only complete two simple two-star missions a day by himself, earning thirty to forty thousand alliance currency at most.
And after deducting Pokémon food expenses—which already cost around eight thousand alliance currency daily for three Pokémon trained according to proper manuals—there really wasn't much left.
Of course, anyone wanting to improve their strength couldn't remain in the outer forest forever bullying weaker opponents.
This was the real world, not a game.
Pokémon didn't gain "experience points" by endlessly farming weak enemies.
If a Pokémon constantly fought weaker opponents, it would only become arrogant and develop repetitive battle habits, ultimately weakening its real combat ability.
After safely returning to town, the group sold their materials, turned in their missions at the Pokémon Center, accepted new ones for tomorrow, and finally ended the day.
After dividing the rewards, Icarus' savings rose once again.
He now possessed 580,000 alliance currency and 842 alliance merit points.
After dinner, the group agreed on tomorrow's meeting time before heading home separately.
Nighttime training remained mandatory.
Whether for the Trainers themselves or their Pokémon, daily training could never stop.
Their routine until the end of the year became fixed:
Complete missions during the day.
Train at night.
Usually, they trained for around three hours. By the time they returned home and settled everything, it would already be around 6 PM.
Three hours of training meant resting around 10 PM.
Of course, Icarus rarely slept that early.
He usually stayed awake until after 11 PM.
As for the extra hour…
That was naturally reserved for his "special training" with Luna.
The end of the year was approaching, and the promised "white P" period was almost here, so naturally he had to make full use of the remaining time.
Over the next month, Icarus, Airi, and Stone strictly followed their schedule of missions during the day and training at night.
Before they realized it, the year had already reached its end.
All the major shops in town hung up festive promotion posters, colorful lanterns decorated the streets, and smiles filled everyone's faces.
After all, the Pokémon world only celebrated two major holidays throughout the entire year:
The Alliance Festival and the New Year Festival.
The Alliance Festival commemorated the founding of the Alliance itself.
Meanwhile, the New Year Festival celebrated surviving another year safely.
Compared to the Alliance Festival, the New Year Festival was far more beloved among ordinary people.
For three whole days, the town entered a carnival atmosphere.
People bought food and goods they normally couldn't bear to spend money on.
Everyone wanted to enjoy themselves properly.
On the first day of the New Year Festival, Icarus brought Airi and Stone to register for the Aoki Conference.
Although Aoki Town wasn't massive, it still contained five to six hundred Ordinary Stage Trainers after excluding the higher-ranked elites.
Most of them would participate.
After all, simply passing the first round rewarded ten thousand alliance currency.
Meanwhile, registration only cost two thousand.
For an Ordinary Stage Trainer, that amount was basically insignificant.
"With my strength, there's no way I'm among the weakest Ordinary Stage Trainers, right?"
"My luck can't possibly be bad enough for me to lose in the first round!"
"Maybe I'll even get lucky and advance two or three rounds!"
Regardless of strength, nearly every Trainer convinced themselves to participate for those reasons.
Weak Trainers wanted the money.
Strong Trainers aimed for the top rewards.
From the promotional posters, Icarus already knew this year's rewards were exceptionally generous.
Third place:
A second-generation Pokédex plus 500,000 alliance currency.
Second place:
One top-grade item of a common attribute plus 1,000,000 alliance currency.
First place:
An Elite-level Growlithe plus one top-grade item.
The moment Icarus saw the first-place reward, he immediately understood that this year's primary sponsor was definitely Officer Jenny from the Security Bureau.
After all, almost every first-place winner eventually married into the Jenny Family.
Tournament champions were practically guaranteed to become future Superior Trainers.
For example, the current head of the Asada Family—one of the four major families in town—had once been a tournament champion himself.
Now, despite being only in his thirties, he was already an Elite-level Trainer.
On the surface, the tournament existed to liven up Aoki Town and display the younger generation's strength.
In reality, it served as a recruitment tool for the Alliance's major powers.
Any Trainer talented enough to become a Superior held tremendous value.
Thus, first-place winners were almost always divided between the Gym, the Joy Family, and the Jenny Family.
Civilian winners received apprenticeships and marriage arrangements.
Family-born winners received political marriages and deeper alliances.
As far as Icarus knew, the current patriarch of the Asada Family was both a direct disciple of the Gym Leader and married to a legitimate daughter of the Arai Family.
Their entire family essentially functioned as the Gym Leader's faction.
Of course, anyone stubborn enough to reject both apprenticeship and marriage technically remained free to do so.
The Gym, Joy Family, and Jenny Family would naturally smile and claim:
"How could we possibly force anyone?"
The rewards would still be given.
As for whether that person later encountered unfortunate accidents in the wilderness…
Who could say?
Naturally, all of this was merely Icarus' speculation.
But after researching previous tournament winners, he discovered one civilian champion who had rejected the Gym Leader's marriage arrangement.
That Trainer later died during a dangerous conscription-clearing mission.
Coincidentally, he was also the only recent champion who never advanced to Superior rank.
Maybe it truly had been an accident.
Still, Icarus preferred preparing for the worst.
Fortunately, he had no intention of fighting for first place.
His target was second or third.
What he truly wanted was the top-grade item reward.
If he obtained it, Weepinbell's future evolution path would become much smoother.
Through researching past tournaments, Icarus discovered that first-place winners were almost always future Superior Trainers.
Meanwhile, the chances of second- or third-place winners advancing to Superior rank dropped below fifty percent.
He also learned that Uncle Sam had once placed third in the Aoki Conference many years ago.
Uncle Sam only became a Superior Trainer shortly before turning fifty-five, yet that was already considered better than most previous second- and third-place winners.
Because of this, the three major factions usually only competed intensely for first place.
Second and third place were generally left to the town's subordinate families.
After all, even high-level Ordinary Stage Trainers were extremely attractive assets to those families.
Of course, these smaller families couldn't use overly forceful recruitment methods.
Most of them only possessed a single Superior Trainer.
Instead, they relied on gentle persuasion, benefits, resources… and beautiful women.
Regarding such methods, Icarus felt completely confident in himself.
After all, as long as he accepted the bait without swallowing the hook, everything would be fine.
A mere Superior family wanting him, Icarus, to marry into their household?
Dream on.