After staying in the secret realm for a few more days, Julian prepared to leave.
Stepping through the secret realm exit, Julian appeared outside the next second.
"Marshal Walker!"
Upon seeing Julian emerge, the soldiers guarding the entrance immediately saluted.
"Mm."
Julian nodded.
"Is Pierce here?"
"Lieutenant General is in the tent over there," a soldier pointed to a tent not far away.
Around this Top-tier secret realm, Drakoria had stationed three thousand soldiers, each at the pseudo-Elite level, not to mention the abundance of firearms.
These soldiers could be considered the elite among elites.
After all, they were all pseudo-Elites—absolutely top-tier among regular soldiers.
And this elite unit was now under Pierce's command.
"Julian, you're finally out!"
Pierce emerged from the tent and rushed over to Julian, giving him a tight hug.
"Alright, I'm not into that," Julian patted Pierce's back lightly.
"Get lost, neither am I!" Pierce cursed laughing.
"Not bad, lieutenant general!"
Previously, Pierce was a major general, but now he was a lieutenant general. Though it might seem like just one rank up, in the military, advancing even one rank among general-level officers was incredibly difficult.
Unless you achieved significant merits or improved your trainer rank, promotions were rarely granted.
In the World Youth Championship, Rowan was the champion, and he was the runner-up. Combined with his close relationship with Julian, the military comprehensively considered these factors and promoted him to lieutenant general.
"So, how is it? Any danger in the secret realm?"
"Nope. No one worth fighting. This secret realm doesn't have any First-class Legendaries either," Julian shook his head.
With his strength, only First-class Legendaries could truly threaten him—and even then, only the ones like Yveltal.
Ordinary First-class Legendaries wouldn't even stand a chance against Zekrom and Reshiram.
Top-tier secret realms did have a certain chance of housing First-class Legendaries.
Like in the previous Alola-region based secret realm, where the two slumbering First-class Legendaries, Solgaleo and Lunala, resided.
However, most First-class Legendaries actually originated from Ruins. It was usually after Ruins appeared and humans entered them, disturbing the slumbering First-class Legendaries, that these Pokémon leave the Ruins.
The probability of encountering a First-class Legendary in Ruins was far higher than in Secret Realms.
"Here, this is for you."
Julian took out a sub-Ultimate Rock-type treasure.
"Thanks."
Pierce didn't stand on ceremony—his relationship with Julian had long passed the point of formalities.
"So, what's the situation inside?"
Pierce pointed to the Top-tier secret realm portal behind him.
This secret realm posed no danger to Julian, but that was because he had two First-class Legendaries by his side. For anyone else, even a Champion trainer, entering a Top-tier secret realm would be quite risky, as such realms typically contained Champion-level Pokémon.
So far, every discovered Top-tier secret realm had had Champion-level Pokémon within.
If a Top-tier secret realm lacked Champion-level Pokémon, it might not even qualify as a true Top-tier secret realm in a certain sense.
"Three Champions, all Steel-type. This secret realm is indeed a Steel-type dominated one. Most of the Pokémon inside are Steel-types, and there are some undiscovered species as well."
"For exploration, you'd need at least a Pseudo-Champion Trainer to lead the team. As long as you don't enter the territories of those three Champions, there shouldn't be much danger."
"As for terrain and Pokémon distribution, I've already had Metagross record everything. Just bring a computer later, and I'll copy the data over."
Pierce nodded, looking pleased. "With detailed maps and Pokémon distribution charts, the risks of entering will be greatly reduced."
The danger of an unfamiliar Top-tier secret realm naturally stemmed from the unknown environment—you had no idea where you were.
And perhaps after taking just a few steps, you might walk straight into the territory of a powerful Pokémon.
But with maps and distribution charts, you could avoid those territories altogether, preventing conflicts and minimizing casualties.
Of course, the territories of stronger Pokémon were also more likely to contain valuable treasures.
So, if you lowered the risks, you also lowered the potential rewards.
Pierce understood this well, even without Julian mentioning it.
"There's a Magnetic Valley inside. You should spend some time there when you go in—it'll benefit your Regirock."
Julian knew that Pierce would definitely be part of the second group entering the secret realm, though he wasn't sure if Pierce would be leading it.
As a key talent being cultivated by the military and a future Champion candidate, Pierce would undoubtedly be given a spot to explore this new Top-tier secret realm.
"Mm. I'll check it out when I go in."
Pierce nodded. He did not doubt Julian's words—if he said it would benefit Regirock, then it definitely would—and the benefits would likely be not small.
Soon, a soldier brought over a laptop, and Metagross transferred the data into it. Immediately, a detailed map of the secret realm appeared.
It was even more detailed than satellite imagery.
Metagross had marked down every single tree in the forest.
It had noted the depth of each river.
It had even documented the locations of medicinal plants that could treat specific injuries.
With this map in hand, even a pseudo-Elite trainer could survive for a long time inside this Top-tier secret realm—as long as they were careful and kept a low profile.
"Only a Pokémon like Metagross could create such a detailed map—even Alakazam would fall short."
As Pierce examined the map, he noticed that it even marked the specific spots where Arcanine had urinated to claim territory. He couldn't help but chuckle. Such precise documentation could only come from a Pokémon like Metagross, equipped with a supercomputer-like mind.
"Why did you even record that?" Julian asked, looking helplessly at Metagross. Did it really need to map out where the dog peed?
Was it worried that exploration teams might go and lick that tree or something?
"Meta~"
Metagross: "That dumb dog was worried that the people entering might overwrite its markings, so it specifically asked me to record them."
"And you actually agreed to such a ridiculous request?" Julian sighed even more deeply.
"Just a glance," Metagross replied nonchalantly.
Even if it wanted to forget what Arcanine said, the supercomputer in its mind had already memorized it—forgetting was impossible. But executing the request still required its consent.
"Alright, you win."
Looking at Metagross, which seemed to take pride in its intellect, Julian decided not to press further. Its mind truly was impressive—far beyond his own.
Arcanine's Poké Ball on Julian's waist wobbled gently, likely as a gesture of thanks to "Big Bro Metagross" for taking its request to heart.
'Indeed, besides being Master's favorite Pokémon, I'm also the most trusted by Big Bro.'
'How can that stupid bird compare to me? It doesn't even stand a chance...'
*****
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