Faced with Dave's words, Julian didn't refuse. Although he highly doubted that those so-called friends of Dave really had ancient tablets containing any Unown, what if one of them actually did?
Just like with the stone tablet he now held—he hadn't expected it to contain Unown either.
Moreover, Julian was genuinely curious about what kind of miraculous event might occur once all the Unown were gathered together.
He glanced at Jirachi in his arms, who was happily eating sunflower seeds and seemed completely unaware that the ancient tablet in Julian's hand was anything special. It seemed Jirachi couldn't sense the Unown sealed within the stone tablet at all.
Meanwhile, Celebi was lying on Julian's head, mumbling nonstop:
"One billion, one billion… How many fried chicken legs, how many cans of cola, and how many skins could that buy?"
Just thinking about how it had to humiliate itself by calling Julian "dad" just to get a few hundred in pocket money made Celebi feel utterly disheartened.
In its mind, Julian had spent a billion just to make that woman smile—and to earn what it called "mating rights."
So ever since Julian spent that money, Celebi had been muttering on his head nonstop. Julian simply ignored it, already knowing what the creature was thinking.
However, he had underestimated just how deeply "heartbroken" Celebi was.
"One billion! You spent a billion on a woman but won't buy my friend new clothes!" Celebi wailed.
Hearing this, Jirachi immediately became interested and asked, "Huh? Celebi, which friend of yours needs new clothes?"
It had no idea Celebi had made a new friend.
Just then, Julian calmly interjected, "Jirachi, you know Celebi's friend too."
"Ah? Really? Is it Metagross and the others?"
"No, it's Gardevoir. Recently, Gardevoir got a new 'Moonlight Princess' skin in Pokémon Glory."
As the beloved mascot of Pokémon Glory, Gardevoir seemed to get a new skin every month—its skin gallery was almost overflowing.
"So, are you going to buy it for me or not?"
Seeing that its scheme had been exposed by Julian, Celebi gave up all pretense.
"Fine," Julian said with a nod. Considering how it had behaved fairly well recently—and hadn't annoyed him every single day—he decided to indulge it.
After all, he had already spent a billion. What was another hundred or so bucks? Besides, he had shares in Pokémon Glory, so half of that money would eventually find its way back into his pocket anyway.
As they chatted, the auction continued with one item after another. The subsequent lots were indeed precious, but Julian wasn't particularly interested in any of them.
That alone made everyone else breathe a sigh of relief—because if Julian participated in the auction, they would inevitably be outmatched in terms of financial power, and they certainly didn't want to offend him.
When the forty-ninth item—the second to last—was brought out, everyone in the hall looked on with puzzled expressions.
The auctioneer rolled forward a pitch-black, glossy sphere.
"Everyone," the host said, "does anyone recognize this object?"
A crystal? Definitely not—something as ordinary as black crystal could never appear in such a high-end auction.
So, in response to the host's question, the audience cooperatively shook their heads.
The host continued, "This black orb, which appears similar to a crystal sphere, was discovered deep within a Ruin in the East African region."
Due to prolonged warfare and political instability in that region, there was almost no protection for Secret Realms or Ruins there.
For Beginner to Intermediate-level secret realms, destructive excavation was common. The Pokémon from those realms were captured and sold or enslaved in large numbers—an act condemned by many nations.
Ironically, that very chaos drew others to the region. Many countries, and even independent trainers often secretly explored their Secret Realms and Ruins.
Especially the ruins—agents from various countries were the most frequent visitors. Of course, some independent trainers also went to those Ruins, stealing treasure to exchange for resources.
"The Ruin where this was found was discovered only recently," the host explained. "Inside, they also uncovered a statue more than ten meters tall. This black sphere was retrieved from the hall where the statue stood."
He then projected an image of the statue onto the screen.
"This should be an unknown Pokémon, very possibly a Mythical or Legendary Pokémon, or even a First-class Legendary."
After all, having a dedicated statue like this usually meant the Pokémon's status was not low.
"The material of the black sphere is also extremely special. Our experts studied it for a month but couldn't determine what it's made of. It's incredibly sturdy, yet weighs only about a hundred grams. Honestly," the host added with a grin, "it'd make a great tool for cracking walnuts."
"Since we don't know what this black sphere is, the starting bid is set at 100 million."
"Everyone, this item could be priceless, or it could be something very ordinary. It's up to you, our guests, to decide."
[Dark Stone: The form taken by Zekrom's physical body after its destruction. It is said that it will awaken again when it encounters a hero with ideals.]
Under Julian's Probing Eyes, the information about this black sphere-like object was fully revealed.
Julian never expected this item to be related to the First-class Legendary Pokémon Zekrom, the Black Dragon.
And corresponding to it was the White Dragon, Reshiram.
First-class Legendaries never truly died. What mortals called "destruction" was only a temporary fall; given the right time or the right person, they would always return.
The key to Zekrom's revival lied in finding the so-called "hero."
'What the hell is this suppose to mean?'
Julian felt certain he wasn't cut out to play any kind of hero, but he was determined to get the Dark Stone anyway—it was best for it to remain with him.
"The bidding starts now, with each bid increment no less than 10 million!"
Although few were interested in this mysterious object, there were still some who were, so the bidding began quickly.
Everyone had a bit of a gambler's mentality—what if this black sphere truly held something extraordinary?
Those who placed bids were all betting that this item was something special.
The price started at 100 million, then rose to 150 million. By the time it reached 160 million, the number of bidders had significantly decreased.
Seeing that the time was right, Julian placed a bid of 170 million.
As soon as he made his bid, the number of people competing suddenly increased again.
Their thoughts were almost identical: 'If Champion Walker is bidding, it must be valuable! We can't miss out!'
Julian didn't mind. After all, even if everyone else pooled their money, they still couldn't match his wealth. This item was as good as his.
When the price was driven up to 300 million, no one else made any further bids. After all, it was an unknown item that might only be useful for decoration.
In the end, Julian purchased the Dark Stone for 300 million.
To Julian's surprise, Eric did not place a bid or deliberately drive up the price against him.
Taking the Dark Stone, Julian tucked it neatly into Celebi's tiny backpack, which it filled perfectly.
*****
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