After the auction ended, Julian returned to the room where he was staying. Ella had initially wanted to go in and sit for a while, but as soon as Julian stepped inside, he closed the door right behind him.
Having been left out in the cold, Ella stomped away angrily.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Julian immediately released Lucario.
"Luca~"
After appearing, Lucario glanced at Julian, then fixed its gaze on the Heart's Tear in his hand. Although it felt a surge of excitement within, it showed no trace of desire on its face.
In terms of composure, Lucario was miles ahead of Arcanine. If it had been that dog, its tail would have been wagging like a fan, and it would have been drooling all over.
"Here," Julian said, without any intention of teasing Lucario, and handed over the Heart's Tear.
As soon as Lucario's hands made contact with the Heart's Tear, the gem slowly began to merge into its body.
Once the Heart's Tear had fully integrated, Lucario's aura underwent a dramatic change—its level rose from 81 to 83.
---
Pokémon: Lucario (Fighting/Steel)
Level: 83
Potential: Blue
Ability: Inner Focus
Held Item: Muscle Band
Gender: Male
Moves: Life Dew, Work Up, Copycat, Quick Attack, Calm Mind, Endure, Detect, Feint, Metal Claw, Aura Sphere, Rock Smash, Force Palm, Metal Sound, Bone Rush, Meteor Mash, Heal Pulse, Vacuum Wave, Reversal, Extreme Speed, Helping Hand, Screech, Final Gambit, Counter, Dragon Pulse, Quick Guard
TMs: Low Sweep, Brick Break, Agility, Swords Dance, Dig, Bulk Up, Focus Blast, Dark Pulse, Protect, Drain Punch, Hyper Beam, High Jump Kick, Mega Punch, Ice Punch, Low Kick, Mach Punch, Flash Canon
Egg Moves: Mind Reader, Close Combat, Bullet Punch, Thunder Punch
Note: After absorbing the Ultimate Fighting-type treasure—Spirit of Combat, its physical attributes have been enhanced by 2x to 4x across the board.
Note: Having used the Ultimate Fighting-type treasure, Heart's Tear, the critical hit rate has increased by 30%, and the chance of avoiding critical hits has also increased by 30%. Accuracy of all moves increased by 10%.
---
"Luca~"
Lucario closed its eyes tightly, feeling the transformation within its body. After a short while, it opened them again, its aura now completely stabilized.
Just then, a ding sounded in Julian's mind.
---
[Hidden Quest Completed!]
[Treasure Master: Possess and use over 20 Ultimate treasures.]
[Reward: Rare Candy ×3 (usable below the Champion tier), Mewtwo Fragments ×6, Ultimate Treasure: Fury Fist]
---
The voice in his head made Julian's face light up with surprise. He hadn't expected to complete a hidden quest by accident.
So he already had and used over twenty Ultimate treasures?
Julian hadn't really kept count, but after a rough calculation, it seemed he had indeed used twenty. Metagross alone had used four Ultimate treasures, two of which even belonged to the World-class.
[T/N: I don't remember if this term had come up before, but I will explain here; World-class treasures are categorized as Ultimate-treasures but can be considered as the very best among them.]
The second most enhanced one after that should be Gengar, who had used three Ultimate treasures so far.
After recalling Lucario back into its Poké Ball, Julian released Moltres.
Moltres looked around curiously, not understanding why it was being let out inside a hotel room. Didn't its trainer worry that it might accidentally set the whole place on fire?
Julian took out the Rare Candies and said, "Eat these."
Moltres swallowed it, blinked, and smacked its beak—'hmm, a bit sweet—not bad at all.'
But the next second, it suddenly felt the energy within its body surging wildly. In an instant, its level rose from 87 to 90.
It had gone from late-stage Pseudo-Champion to the very peak. It was now just one step away from reaching the Champion tier.
Its level had inexplicably increased by three, leaving Moltres completely stunned. It quickly realized it must've been because of the three candies it had just eaten.
Back when Julian had just become a Trainer, the system used to reward Rare Candies quite often. But as his rank increased, they became much rarer.
Since Moltres had joined Julian's team later on, it had never eaten a Rare Candy before. Of course, the Pokémon that joined after it hadn't eaten any either.
Moltres: "Do you have any more? Just one more of these, and I can become a Champion!"
It looked at Julian with eyes full of hope.
But Julian shook his head.
"No more. I gave all three to you."
When Moltres heard the first half, it felt somewhat disappointed. But after hearing the second half, it immediately perked up.
Moltres: 'All three were for me? So I really am Master's favorite! What Metagross, what Arcanine—they can all line up behind me!'
Just by looking at the silly bird's expression, Julian could tell what it was thinking. He didn't say anything—simple-minded humans and Pokémon often tended to be happier.
Moltres had the highest level among his Pokémon, second only to Metagross. To maximize the effect of the Rare Candies, it was best to give them all to Moltres.
It was a pity it didn't reach the Champion tier. Although it was now at the peak of Pseudo-Champion tier, taking that final step was no easy task.
---
Pokémon: Moltres (Fire/Flying)
Level: 90
Potential: Purple
Ability: Pressure
Held Item: Charcoal
Gender: Genderless
Moves: Gust, Leer, Ember, Safeguard, Wing Attack, Flamethrower, Agility, Ancient Power, Incinerate, Air Slash, Roost, Heat Wave, Sunny Day, Hurricane, Endure, Overheat, Sky Attack
TMs: Protect, Take Down, Acrobatics, Flame Charge, Fire Spin, Aerial Ace, Air Cutter, Fly, Will-O-Wisp, Fire Blast, Flare Blitz, Solar Beam, Sunny Day, U-turn, Brave Bird, Hyper Beam, Temper Flare, Substitute, Sandstorm, Scorching Sands
Egg Moves: None
Note: Due to consuming a Blaze Stone, the power of Flamethrower is doubled.
Note: Due to consuming the Triple flame, there is a 50% chance that Fire-type moves will deal double damage and a 30% chance they will deal triple damage.
---
Julian currently had 84 Mewtwo Fragments. Counting the 6 new ones, he now had 90 in total—just 10 more and he would be able to summon Mewtwo for real.
"The future looks promising."
Julian grinned.
He then recalled Moltres and released Melmetal, giving it the Ultimate treasure, Fury Fist.
[Fury Fist: Increases the power of punching moves by 30%.]
This treasure was practically tailor-made for Melmetal. After all, Melmetal's ability was Iron Fist, which already increased the power of punching moves by 20%.
With both effects combined, Melmetal's punching moves now had their power boosted by a full 50%—a terrifying enhancement.
As one of the first Pokémon to follow Julian, Melmetal had only consumed one Ultimate treasure so far, which was somewhat unfair to it.
"Meta!"
After consuming Fury Fist, Melmetal felt an itch in its fists. If it hadn't restrained itself, it might have punched the floor right then and there.
After recalling Melmetal back into its Poké Ball, Julian murmured, "Tomorrow, I'll take care of Eric."
It was about time—he couldn't delay it any longer. Otherwise, Groudon would really reach Victoria, and things might spiral out of control.
"Jirachi, tomorrow—no problem, right?"
Jirachi: "No problem! Just leave it to me."
*****
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