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"Hahaha~ Kid, you've got sharp eyes. That silver feather is the finest treasure in my whole collection. Know what it is? It's a feather from the legendary Pokémon Lugia."
"I've spent most of my life on the sea, but even then I've only ever seen Lugia once. Back then, I was just a young buck… sigh, youth never comes back once it's gone."
"Let me tell you, I was quite something in my youth! I won that feather from a dozen rivals of my generation. Took them all on at once, beat every last one of them, and claimed it as mine!"
Captain Reggie clearly noticed Sato staring at the silver feather. With a grin, he launched into boasting about its origin, growing more excited the more he spoke.
Sato understood that if he wanted any good item from the old captain, he had to keep him in high spirits. So, he wore the perfect expression — attentive, reverent, full of admiration.
Old men like to talk. Seeing Sato's look of admiration and yearning made Reggie beam with joy, his wrinkled face glowing red with pride, grinning ear to ear.
"Tyler, take anything you like from here. Anything at all."
After bragging for nearly half an hour, Reggie finally calmed down and kindly offered Sato a choice.
It was clear Sato's perfect performance had soothed the old sea captain's mood. His tone and gaze softened considerably.
Sato's first impulse was to take the silver feather. But the thought barely formed before he crushed it. He resisted the greatest temptation.
Though Reggie was bragging, Sato could tell from the way he spoke that much of it was rooted in truth. The feather's importance to him was beyond doubt — a sacred relic in his heart.
If Sato were naive enough to think he could claim it in return for a small favor, he knew the old captain's mood would darken in an instant, and misfortune would follow.
Until he could truly offer Reggie a significant favor, he couldn't even think about asking for the silver feather. Instead, he had to settle for something else.
Fortunately, most of the treasures in this little vault were rare Pokémon items, priceless on the outside world. Any one of them could fund a Trainer's team for years.
But Reggie had spent most of his life at sea, and as a Water-type specialist, his collection was filled with items related to training Water-type Pokémon.
After looking around, Sato finally chose a strange coral stone.
It was the size of a baby's fist, sky-blue all over, with faint azure light flowing across its surface. Holding it in his hand felt like soaking in cool seawater on a hot summer's day — refreshing beyond words.
Using the system's appraisal, he quickly obtained its information.
...…....
Item Information:
Item: Sea God's Coral Stone
Effect: Constantly provides the holder with a soothing feeling, helps them enter meditation quickly, and increases meditation efficiency by 30%.
Description: This coral stone spent thousands of years deep in an undersea cavern, alongside Lugia as it meditated. Over the millennia, it underwent a mysterious transformation.
...…....
Aside from the silver feather, this stone wasn't the most precious item in the vault — but to Sato, it was the most fitting.
For a Psychic with only average talent like him, the Sea God's Coral Stone was practically a cheat device, an external power-up.
He could already imagine how much faster his psychic power would grow with it.
Just a while ago, he had obtained a Gardevoirite. No matter what, he was destined to raise a Gardevoir.
But to fully unleash Mega Gardevoir's potential, his psychic power couldn't be weak.
This coral stone perfectly solved the problem of his slow psychic growth. With its help, his meditation efficiency would rival that of gifted Psychics.
He even dared to hope that, within his lifetime, he could break through into the ranks of Advanced Psychic.
(Note: advancing to Advanced Psychic requires surpassing 5000 points of psychic/mental power.)
"Sir, I'd like this coral stone. Would you be willing to part with it?"
Sato pointed nervously at the Sea God's Coral Stone on the shelf. His heart pounded — worried that Reggie might refuse to part with such a treasure for a Psychic.
But to Reggie, apart from Lugia's feather, the rest of the vault meant little. Seeing that Sato hadn't chosen the feather, his impression of the boy improved further.
"Are you sure about this? I'd suggest picking something else. This is just a funny little rock I found in a cavern. Aside from keeping you cool in summer, it's not much use."
Reggie clearly didn't know the coral stone's true value. When he saw Sato choosing such a seemingly worthless item, he even tried to dissuade him.
"Yes, that's the one, sir. Please, I hope you can part with it."
Realizing that Reggie was unaware of its real worth, Sato's anxiety faded. But he kept up the act of not wanting to take advantage of him, insisting on the "useless" stone.
"Alright then. If you insist, it's yours."
Reggie took the coral stone from the shelf and handed it to him.
Sato accepted it reverently and placed it carefully into his space backpack. But to his surprise, Reggie wasn't done giving.
"Sigh… kid, what am I going to do with you? You don't even know how to take advantage. That broken stone is useless. Forget it — since you don't care for my treasures, I'll give you a fine Pokémon instead."
"The ones you have aren't bad, but their potential isn't that great. These three Water-types are my darlings, descendants of my old partners. Pick one to take with you."
After leaving the vault, Reggie rubbed his old face and spoke reluctantly, though with sincerity.