Chapter 353: Xerneas
"Bronzong, are you okay?"
Basalt's face was full of pleasant surprise.
Bronzong, the "ultimate shield" forged from Aegis Ore, really had incredible defense!
"Broonz..."
But in the next second, Bronzong's swaying body finally fell, its eyes spinning as it fainted.
"You all worked hard."
Basalt felt a pang of sadness, but he quickly moved forward, placing a Revive in the mouths of Excadrill, Bronzong, and Pupitar.
Although the black-robed man was dead and the battle was over, the loss of his three main powerhouses made Basalt feel very unsafe.
Fortunately, his three Pokémon had excellent defenses. Although they had taken the full brunt of the Explosion, they hadn't suffered physical damage, just complete exhaustion.
So after taking the Revives, it shouldn't take long for them to recover some of their combat strength.
With the battle over, the sandstorm, lacking sustainment, quickly dissipated.
Looking at the devastated battlefield, Basalt felt a surge of emotion.
He had almost died here.
If the black-robed man hadn't underestimated him, or if his strength hadn't improved so much recently, the one dead would undoubtedly be him.
The black-robed man's strength was formidable.
Unfortunately for him, Basalt had too many cheats.
Especially Numel. If the black-robed man hadn't underestimated it, causing Stoutland to stumble, the outcome of this battle might have been very different.
"Who was he?"
Basalt frowned, glancing at the black-robed man who had been cut in half. "Cradily, come with me."
"Dily-da~"
With Cradily accompanying him, Basalt walked over to the corpse.
Claydol and Gigalith had fainted, but Basalt, not taking any chances, had Cradily bind them tightly with its root domain and periodically drain their stamina, giving them no chance to recover.
Even the Excadrill underground had been pulled out by Cradily for confirmation.
However, this Excadrill had a large hole in its chest, likely drilled by his own Excadrill. It was dead as a doornail.
But from these three Pokémon, Basalt gained an unexpected harvest.
A Smooth Rock from Gigalith, Soft Sand from Excadrill, and a Twisted Spoon from Claydol. Cradily retrieved all three enhancing items.
"They're all medium-grade! Jackpot!"
Basalt was overjoyed.
Medium-grade enhancing items were worth ten million each!
Three items meant thirty million.
And since these three had them, the Stoutland and Skarmory probably had some too. Basalt's heart raced.
Crouching down, the pungent smell of blood filled Basalt's nose, making him feel nauseous, but he held it back.
He lifted the large hood covering the black-robed man's head, revealing a dark-skinned face with a short beard.
Although blood was leaking from his nose and mouth, it couldn't hide his handsome, chiseled features. He looked rugged and masculine.
"An Arad!"
Basalt was slightly surprised.
The Arad race had distinctive features, so they weren't hard to recognize.
The key was that the black-robed man was much younger than Basalt had imagined.
Basalt estimated he was at most twenty-five, maybe only twenty-two or twenty-three.
"An elite Pro-level trainer under twenty-five... that would be considered a genius in the Arad world! Why would he come to the Alliance to be a poacher?"
Basalt couldn't figure it out.
"Arad" was a regional concept. In terms of size, it might be comparable to the Alliance.
But unfortunately, Arad had not unified like the Alliance had.
The region was filled with many small, loose leagues that competed and conflicted with each other, causing severe internal friction. Their overall strength was far inferior to the Alliance.
With the black-robed man's age and strength, he would be considered a proper genius in the Alliance, let alone in the fractured Arad world.
Handsome, young, and powerful, yet he ended up as an internationally reviled poacher.
And he dared to cause trouble in the Alliance? Basalt really couldn't understand.
Was there something wrong with his brain?
Shaking his head, Basalt stopped guessing. He saw the dimensional backpack hidden under the black robe.
It looked like a high-end model!
But just to be safe, before opening the backpack, Basalt took all the black-robed man's Pokéballs.
Besides the dead Excadrill and the restrained Claydol and Gigalith, Stoutland and Skarmory were inside their balls.
Basalt recalled all the Pokémon and locked their balls. But he quickly noticed something wrong.
There was an extra Pokéball in his hand!
"The black-robed man had a sixth Pokémon?"
Basalt's eyes widened in disbelief.
But from start to finish, the man had only sent out five Pokémon.
"An empty ball?"
Basalt frowned, but quickly shook his head.
Trainers never kept empty Pokéballs on their belts, and this one showed signs of wear. It didn't look new at all.
"Could he have a sixth Pokémon that didn't appear?"
Basalt tensed up and quickly ordered, "Cradily, Sandstorm!"
Sshh-ssh-ssh...
The sandstorm rose again, covering a large area. This put Basalt slightly at ease.
With this, any movement within the sandstorm's range wouldn't escape Cradily's notice.
After locking the balls, Basalt unzipped the dimensional backpack.
The space inside didn't disappoint him—a full cubic meter.
"A top-tier dimensional backpack!"
Basalt was shocked.
One cubic meter was very close to the limit of current spatial compression technology.
Such a top-tier backpack commanded a very high price.
"Who was this guy?"
Basalt felt suspicious.
First medium-grade enhancing items, then a top-tier dimensional backpack.
Did someone like this need to be a poacher?
Or was he a poacher who had killed some wealthy noble and taken their top-tier backpack and items?
Basalt didn't know.
Suppressing his confusion, Basalt looked through the contents of the backpack. The most conspicuous items were a large pile of ancient books, which confused him.
Do poachers nowadays love learning this much?
Scattered next to the ancient books were several large, transparent crystals, glittering in the sunlight.
"Are these... diamonds?"
Basalt froze.
These diamonds were huge. The smallest was the size of a quail egg, and the largest was comparable to a chicken egg.
If converted to carats, they would be hundreds, maybe even over a thousand carats.
And their purity was extremely high.
"I'm rich!"
Basalt was ecstatic.
What he lacked most right now was money.
But with these large diamonds, all his problems would be solved.
Taking out the diamonds, Basalt examined them carefully and suddenly realized they looked familiar.
"These diamonds... seem to have been taken from Carbink?"
Basalt wasn't entirely sure.
With such large sizes, they were definitely the "main diamonds" from Carbink. If they were taken, the Carbink would likely be crippled.
This was strictly prohibited by international law, but considering the black-robed man was a poacher, Basalt wasn't too surprised.
But thinking of Pupitar's appetite, Basalt sighed.
The evolved Pupitar not only had increased strength but also a skyrocketed digestive capacity. It could easily digest hard diamonds. It was a true "money-eater."
"I'd better save these diamonds as food for Pupitar after it evolves!"
Putting away the diamonds, Basalt casually opened one of the ancient books.
He was surprised to find that the pages were made of animal skin. Although the book looked thick, it didn't actually have many pages.
Basalt couldn't read the text at all, but there were a few illustrations. Although they were black and white and looked a bit abstract...
Basalt understood them!
It was a slender deer with eight branch-like antlers growing from its head, each antler branching into two at the end.
"Xerneas!"
Basalt was shocked, his heart almost stopping.
The Pokémon in the picture was none other than the "Life Pokémon" Xerneas, known to gamers as the mascot of Pokémon X.
These ancient books actually involved a Legendary Pokémon!
"What is this guy's background?"
Basalt sensed that things were not simple, but he suppressed his doubts and continued to flip through the book.
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