"I'm the one who will kill you."
Upon hearing that, Eric realized that Julian wasn't relying Jirachi but intended to take action himself. Did he really have the ability to instantly kill him?
If he didn't, once the fight broke out, the battle's fallout would be impossible to contain.
"Jirachi."
Julian patted Jirachi's small head.
The latter nodded, and immediately a white light emanated from Jirachi. In an instant the entire Dawson family Manor was enveloped in a protective barrier.
As the barrier formed, Julian's face turned slightly pale.
Metagross, Celebi, and Jirachi immediately looked at Julian with concern.
"It's fine, don't worry," Julian shook his head.
In his heart, however, he was cursing fiercely—'damn it, it actually cost me twenty years of my lifespan.'
And this was just for having Jirachi create a protective barrier. If he were to actually command Jirachi to kill Eric, it would likely cost him a hundred years of his life.
The cost of commanding a First-class Legendary was one's lifespan, and only a Champion was qualified to command such a being.
Even though Julian had an excellent relationship with Jirachi and Jirachi was willing to follow his commands, there was a fundamental difference between humans and gods. When you commanded a First-class Legendary to act on your behalf, the corresponding lifespan would be deducted based on the scale of the task.
This was an unbreakable rule. Even though Jirachi was deeply unwilling for Julian to lose lifespan because of commanding it, there was nothing it could do.
And commanding was not merely about verbally instructing which moves to use.
Some might cleverly think, "What if I don't command it and let the First-class Legendary fight on its own? Then it shouldn't count, right?"
Thinking that way would lead to a miserable end.
Commanding was not just about the literal meaning; it specifically referred to whether the action taken by the First-class Legendary was done for your sake.
For example, when Julian had Jirachi use the protective barrier to cover the entire Dawson family Manor, he hadn't given a verbal command, but his lifespan was still deducted.
This was because Jirachi's use of the protective barrier was inherently for Julian's sake, not for itself.
This was the rule—neither First-class Legendaries nor humans could deceive it.
Mewtwo was a different case altogether though, as it was a Pokémon given by the system and it was essentially created by humans and not a natural First-class Legendary.
Fortunately, Julian could live for over five hundred years, so losing twenty years of lifespan was something he could afford.
"Protective barrier..."
Eric's expression turned grim.
He now understood Julian's intention. With the protective barrier covering the Dawson family manor, and one set up by a First-class Legendary at that, the shockwaves from their battle would be blocked by the barrier, ensuring no one outside would die.
The casualties would only be those inside the barrier—and these were all members of the Dawson family.
Jirachi's identity as a First-class Legendary was now completely confirmed.
Eric stared intently at Julian: "In that case, let's fight. Let me see the strength of Drakoria's youngest Champion."
With a flash of white light, a Pokémon appeared before Julian.
It resembled a baboon, with a pink nose and beige skin, currently lying lazily on the ground.
---
Pokémon: Slaking (Normal/Fighting)
Level: 94
Potential: Purple
Ability: Truant
Held Item: Choice Band
Gender: Male
Moves: Sucker Punch, Swagger, Scratch, Encore, Yawn, Slack Off, Flail, Amnesia, Covet, Throat Chop, Counter, Fling, Mega Kick, Hammer Arm
TMs: Protect, Take Down, Hyper Beam, Scary Face, Facade, Endure, Stomping Tantrum, Metal Claw, Icy Wind, Mud Shot, Bulldoze, Mega Punch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Low Kick, Brick Break, Giga Impact, Low Sweep, Focus Punch, Earthquake
Egg Moves: Body Slam, Slash, Snore, Crush Claw
Note: Used Explosive Jelly; strength increased by 50%.
Note: Used Star Water; power of Normal-type moves increased by 30%.
Note: After using the Fighting Heart, it gained the Fighting-type.
Note: Used Zeal Seed, once in battle, fighting spirit soars for ten minutes, all negative statuses are cleared, and overall strength increases by 10%. After ten minutes, enters a weakened state for ten days.
---
"Damn!"
When Julian used his Probing Eyes to see Slaking's status, his calm expression broke, and he couldn't help but curse aloud.
What the hell was this thing? Did it have to be so ridiculously overpowered?
Slaking was a controversial Pokémon—both loved and hated among trainers, especially Normal-type specialists.
They loved it because it was incredibly powerful. In terms of base stats alone, this guy had a whopping 670, making pseudo-legendaries look like amateurs in comparison.
What did a base stat of 670 mean? To put it in perspective, Kyogre and Groudon, two First-class Legendary Pokémon, also had a base stat of 670.
So, purely in terms of stats, it could rival those First-class Legendaries. How insane was that?
Unfortunately, despite being so overpowered, Slaking had an utterly crippling ability: Truant.
[Truant: Can only attack once every two turns.]
In other words, it was just too lazy to move. Even if another Pokémon attacked it, it won't bother to counterattack.
Wild Slakings could go months without moving, just munching on nearby grass. Only when the grass was gone would they reluctantly move.
Some extremely lazy Slaking would rather starve to death than move after finishing the grass around them.
With an ability like that, no matter how strong Slaking was, it was essentially a useless Pokémon.
It seemed as though the world, realizing that an ordinary Pokémon like Slaking could rival First-class Legendaries in stats, decided to "bless" it with the Truant ability.
This caused it to fall from the heights of glory straight into the mundane world, becoming the most pitied and "useless" existence.
But now, this Slaking of Eric, while still having the Truant ability, had actually consumed four Ultimate treasures. One of those treasures seemed almost tailor-made for Slaking.
The Zeal Seed had essentially opened the path to godhood for Slaking. For ten minutes, all negative statuses were cleared—and laziness counted as one of them.
In other words, for ten whole minutes, Slaking was completely free from the effects of Truant. From a lazy baboon, it could transform into a King Kong capable of fighting Godzilla.
On top of that, the Zeal Seed also boosted its overall power by 10%.
Then there was the Fighting Heart.
Originally, Slaking only had a single Normal typing, but after using the Fighting Heart, it gained an additional Fighting type.
Julian felt somewhat lucky now—lucky that he had managed to buy the Heart's Tear earlier. Otherwise, if Eric had also used the Heart's Tear to increase its critical hit rate, combined with the boosts from the other Ultimate treasures...
If even one of its hits landed critically, even Metagross would likely cough up a few mouthfuls of blood.
This Slaking had used a total of four Ultimate treasures. It truly showed that this world was never lacking in people who possessed talent, family background, luck, and opportunity—all at once.
And Eric was definitely one of those people.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain how he'd obtained something like the Zeal Seed—a treasure that literally rewrote Slaking's fate.
For most Pokémon, it was just a decent item. But for Slaking—it was nothing short of a god-tier treasure among treasures.
*****
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