Chapter 354: The Identity of the Black-Robed Man
Since he couldn't read the text in the ancient book, Basalt focused on the illustrations.
The first illustration seemed to be an introduction to Xerneas.
The second showed Xerneas apparently engaged in battle and sustaining an injury.
The third showed a small piece of Xerneas's antler falling off.
The fourth showed the fragment of Xerneas's antler changing hands several times before finally ending up in the possession of a bearded man.
"This book... I need to keep it safe!"
When it came to Legendary Pokémon, Basalt didn't dare to be careless. He carefully stowed the ancient book away.
This kind of information was priceless!
You might not need it often, but when you did, it could affect the fate of nations. He couldn't be sloppy with it.
After putting away the first book, Basalt opened several others. They seemed to be from different Leagues, as the text varied greatly.
But the subject they described was the same: Carbink.
Carbink is a Rock/Fairy dual-type Pokémon. Its overall shape is conical, with a rock containing diamonds at its base, a ruff of white fluff in the middle, and a head with blue eyes and diamond-shaped ears. A diamond-like protrusion also extends from its head. The shape of its ears makes it look a bit like a rabbit burrowing into the ground.
Seeing this, a bolt of lightning struck Basalt's mind. He remembered the conversation between the two trainers on his flight to the desert.
The heirloom of the Cardia family in the Kalos League had been lost, and many Carbink had been stolen. The culprit seemed to be a prince from a league in the Arad region.
"So the fragment of Xerneas's antler eventually fell into the hands of the Cardia family and became their heirloom."
In an instant, everything became clear to Basalt. He looked at the black-robed man on the ground and muttered, "And you are that... what's-his-name Prince?"
Basalt really couldn't remember the black-robed man's name.
But knowing his identity made searching for information easy.
Malik Balushi, the third prince of the Arad League's ruler, known as Prince Malik.
This was the guy who used his handsome looks and status as a prince to get close to the princess of the Cardia family and steal their heirloom—the Horn of Life!
When Basalt searched for Malik, the search engine automatically brought up a lot of news about him. Bounty hunters from the Unova League and mercenaries from the Kalos League had turned the Arad League upside down but hadn't found a trace of him.
But who would have thought that this guy would be hiding quietly in the desert of the Alliance?
And the Alliance just happened to be the one League that spared no effort in cracking down on foreign forces. It was a forbidden zone for them.
"The Alliance's heavy-handed approach to international forces unwittingly became a protective umbrella for Prince Malik. That's really..."
Basalt shook his head with a bitter smile.
If Basalt hadn't appeared, Malik was indeed prepared to hide in Roba City for three to five years, waiting for the incident to blow over and his strength to increase before returning quietly.
Unfortunately, Basalt's "sand-controlling" Larvitar was just too tempting for Malik.
As a Sandstorm trainer, who could refuse a Desert Tyrant, Tyranitar?
Impossible!
Especially since Larvitar had such strong sand-control abilities.
Shaking his head, Basalt continued to check the items in the backpack. To his disappointment, although there were quite a few items, their overall value wasn't high.
Aside from the diamonds, the total value was probably only a few million, not even comparable to a single medium-grade enhancing item.
"I thought he was a prince? Why is he so poor?"
Basalt grumbled inwardly.
Compared to the oil baron Basalt had met in Saffron City, Prince Malik wasn't even fit to polish his shoes.
But Basalt didn't know that the Arad League was just a small, insignificant league in the Arad world, and its main source of income was agriculture. Its strength was far inferior to the Sultanate League.
Not to mention that after stealing the Horn of Life, Malik's bank accounts had been frozen. Otherwise, his balance would have been quite substantial.
"Hey, wait a minute! Where's the Cardia family heirloom, the Horn of Life?"
Basalt suddenly realized something.
The Horn of Life didn't seem to be in the dimensional backpack.
"Did I miss it?"
So Basalt searched the backpack again, but still found nothing.
Unwilling to give up, Basalt thoroughly searched Malik's body, but came up empty-handed.
"Did Malik not bring the Horn of Life with him? Or did I guess wrong, and he's not Malik?"
Basalt frowned.
The Horn of Life was a treasure worth a billion.
With it, Basalt would be set for life.
Without it, he'd have to continue working hard to earn money to raise his Pokémon. How tragic!
After organizing Malik's backpack, Excadrill, Bronzong, and Pupitar, who had eaten the Revives, finally woke up.
Basalt immediately gave them "Fountain of Life" water to help them recover their stamina, and sprayed their wounds with special Potion.
Half an hour later, all three Pokémon had recovered some of their combat strength.
With his Pokémon recovered, Basalt relaxed. He released the unconscious Stoutland and removed the Silk Scarf from it.
Without a doubt, this was another medium-grade enhancing item.
Then, Basalt released the Skarmory.
"Skarm!"
A flash of red light, and Skarmory shrieked wildly. But soon, it realized something was wrong.
Because it was surrounded on all sides, from the sky and the ground, by Pokémon!
"Skarm!"
Skarmory was stunned.
Did the black-robed man not escape?
What's going on?
That black-robed guy always acted so tough. Is he really this useless when it counts?
"Bronzong, Gravity!"
Just as Skarmory was in a daze, Basalt's cold voice rang out.
A super-gravity field appeared, and Skarmory instantly lost its ability to fly, crashing to the ground.
Bronzong in mid-air showed no mercy, using Heavy Slam to beat Skarmory to within an inch of its life.
"Skarm... Skarm-skarm~"
Skarmory panicked and quickly flapped its wings, begging for mercy, bowing and scraping.
It had never been a tough one, otherwise it wouldn't have been violently captured by the black-robed man in the first place.
"Skarmory says, please don't kill it. It's still useful. It knows where the black-robed man's secret base is! As long as we let it go, it can take us there!"
Bronzong quickly translated via telepathy.
"Secret base?"
Basalt's eyes widened, his heart racing.
Malik has a secret base?
Then does that mean... the Horn of Life might have been stored in the secret base by Malik?
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