Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

This elite-level Dragon-type Pokémon, Redface Dragon, finally crashed heavily to the ground under the relentless bombardment of Togepi and Beedrill, its eyes rolling back as it lost its ability to battle.

"Hiss!"

"Kashi!"

"Chocolate!"

The three elves shouted excitedly at the same time.

They went to great lengths to deal with this red-faced dragon, much like fighting a boss in a game. Despite being just as strong, they managed to slowly whittle it down through teamwork and planning.

The sense of accomplishment from overcoming a superior force is unparalleled.

Through this battle, they also learned a lesson.

To some extent, it's not that stronger Pokémon are invincible; as long as they are of one mind, there is a chance to turn the impossible into possible.

With Xia Yan throwing out the Poké Ball and capturing the elite-level Red-faced Dragon, their operation came to a perfect end.

Looking at the Red-faced Dragon lying quietly inside the Poké Ball through the red glass, Xia Yan also showed a satisfied smile.

Just by successfully capturing this red-faced dragon, his trip to the island had already been incredibly profitable.

Being a Dragon-type Pokémon and possessing elite-level strength, these two factors alone make the Red-faced Dragon very expensive.

The key point is...

This is what a true dragon-type spirit should be like.

However, his gains should not be limited to this.

I looked up and gazed at the cave where the red-faced dragon lived.

"Given the Red-faced Dragon's near-dominant position in this region, its cave should contain some valuable items," Xia Yan murmured.

The sky was dark.

They took out a flashlight and, with a few elves, plunged into the Red-faced Dragon's cave.

...

...

"Boss Henry, this is the area we discovered last time. We can cut off signals here, preventing the St. Anne's and 'Black King' crew from searching. We can also take a good rest and regroup before..."

On the Crimson Werewolf, Henry was listening to his men report on the situation.

Henry's cold gaze swept across the empty sea.

“We can easily get lost in places without a signal, so remember to mark the way,” Henry said rationally.

"Yes!"

"Also, we can't stay at sea forever if we want to rest and recuperate; we need to find a place to land first."

"Understood. However, we haven't thoroughly explored this area, and finding a place to settle down in a short time will likely be..."

"Ok?"

Henry's bloodshot eyes came into view of the crew, like a hungry wolf licking its wounds in the night, and no one dared to provoke him.

The crew member immediately snapped to attention and said, "I'll send people out to scout the area right away. We should be able to find a place to stay soon."

"Go ahead." Henry withdrew his gaze and waved his hand gently.

...

...

"No way..."

A chorus of wails filled the ship.

Under the despairing gazes of the crowd, Binena raised her head and put her hands on her hips, "Hey... what's the rush? It's just getting lost. Since we're sailing the seas, how can we call ourselves true pirates if we don't get lost a few times?"

This is the pirate ship of "Enchanting Star" Binena and her crew.

One of the older middle-aged women patted her forehead.

"You actually made our 'directionally challenged' captain lead the way? Are you all sure you're not out of your minds?"

"But you didn't stop me either..." someone muttered under their breath.

It has gained unanimous recognition from others.

The middle-aged woman's face showed even greater despair. "You haven't experienced what it was like when Binena first became a pirate. She led us on a three-month-long journey across the sea without finding a single island to settle on."

We almost, we were so close, we were almost the first pirates to get lost and die at sea...

"What's the panic?" Binena glared at her. "The ship has plenty of supplies for this trip. Even if... even if we travel for a month or two, so what? We'll just treat it as a trip."

Looking at Binena's "righteous" attitude, everyone felt despair.

However, at that moment...

Suddenly, a crew member standing on the lookout tower, holding a telescope, shouted, "Captain, there's a small boat heading our way!"

"Who is it?" Binena's joking expression vanished.

"It seems... to be one of the 'Crimson' people!"

Chapter 40: You have a bounty, right?

"It seems that the Red-Faced Dragon has quite a few good things in his collection."

In the cave filled with a strong, pungent stench, Xia Yan's flashlight beam swept across the skeletons scattered on the ground.

Among these piles of bones, he found some interesting things, such as a crimson prismatic crystal that he had just pulled out from the thick pile of bones. It emitted a faint glow and provided a little warmth.

Holding it in his hand, he could feel the continuous heat being transferred from the crystal to his palm.

"The reason why the Red-Faced Dragon chose this cave as its dwelling is probably because of this stone, right?"

Fiery hot rock.

A magical item.

This item allows the Pokémon holding the item to extend the duration of Sunny Day when casting Sunny Day or when Sunny Day is triggered by the "Solar" ability.

This is a very useful item for some trainers and Pokémon who rely on sunny weather as their core strategy.

Furthermore, hot rocks are relatively rare and their value is not low.

But for Xia Yan now, it doesn't have much effect.

Of course, it can be sold.

However, it may be difficult to find buyers, since only a small number of trainers understand the importance of these core tactics. Most trainers capture Pokémon simply based on their own preferences or luck.

Among the trainers who understand the importance of tactical cores, only a very small percentage use sunny weather as the core of their tactics.

Finding a suitable buyer is not easy.

If you can't find it, you might have to accept a price that black market dealers deliberately drive down.

However, these were not major problems for Xia Yan.

Because he has a friend who is a stone expert with a vast network of connections, he should deliberately find a suitable buyer for him and offer a reasonable price.

This is where the importance of a network of relationships becomes apparent.

Besides the "scorching rock," Xia Yan found some other good things, but none of them were as valuable as the "scorching rock."

It's better than nothing.

An elite-level red-faced dragon can be exchanged for a large amount of money.

"Perhaps I can consider adding another new member to our team."

He has now accumulated about four million Alliance Coins, and he also has two mid-quality Fire Stones and Water Stones that he obtained from Kikuko and Liu Bo respectively, plus this blazing rock, and the Spirit Cloth whose value has not yet been determined.

It should be enough to barely sustain the daily needs of the four Pokémon.

in fact.

Not every trainer invests as much resources in their Pokémon as Xia Yan.

In fact, people like him make up only a very small percentage.

The most common situation is that similar Pokémon, similar breeding methods, similar resource investment, and similar training results ultimately produce similar trainers and Pokémon.

This is commonly known as "Passerby A and Passerby B".

With the resources he currently possesses, he could easily raise more than two times the number of Pokémon that others could raise, let alone three or four.

"That's about it, there shouldn't be anything good left."

After searching again and confirming that there was nothing of value, Xia Yan prepared to leave.

"Pokkiku?"

But as Xia Yan was about to leave, he saw Pokkigu emitting a faint glow, staring blankly at the rock wall at the deepest part of the cave.

“Chocolate…”

Meanwhile, in the shadow cast by the dim light, Marshall also peeked out, his orange eyes looking at the rock wall just like Pokkigu's.

"What's wrong, Pokjiko?"

Xia Yan walked to his side and asked softly.

“It’s just right.”

Pokkigu shook his head.

It didn't know that the halo around its body was slowly receding, but there was an indescribable feeling.

A thought struck Xia Yan, and he couldn't help but ask, "Is there something hidden behind this rock wall?"

In the underground tunnels beneath the dark ruins, Togepi had already sensed and felt strange fluctuations in the rock walls where the Dark Stone had condensed.

When Kikuko finally arrived there, she learned that a large number of elf corpses were buried behind the rock wall.

For Pokkigu, who is capable of perceiving happiness, sometimes its perception, its intuition, is deeper than what the naked eye can see.

This made Xia Yan inevitably draw some connections.