Ten days later, it had been 50 days since John and Jake entered the Primal Secret Realm. As the light of the Primal Secret Realm's gate began to tremble slightly, twenty individuals slowly emerged from within.
"Ah, we're finally out. If we stayed in there any longer, I felt like I was going to die."
"The energy corrosion in this secret realm is truly terrifying. Every bodily function declined by more than half—thankfully, it's recoverable."
"I almost lost my old life in there."
"Dangerous as it was, the gains were tremendous. We discovered three new types of Berries alone, and even succeeded in cultivating one patch of land in the Horseshoe Plains…"
Though disheveled, pale, and mentally drained—especially the older scholars, who looked half-dead—the twenty individuals chattered among themselves.
A permanent medical team of a hundred personnel was stationed at the Primal Secret Realm's gate precisely for situations like this.
But now, even though these individuals had emerged in poor condition, the medical team hesitated to approach.
Because Reshiram was sleeping right at the entrance.
Before Julian left, he had arranged for it to guard the gate.
"Reshiram, why are you here?"
John and Jake naturally noticed Reshiram too. Their condition was relatively stable—after all, Julian had given them numerous body-strengthening treasures, making their physical resilience far superior to the others.
While others could only endure two months, they could actually last three.
Reshiram nodded toward John and Jake.
Seeing that everyone had emerged and knowing its mission was complete, it immediately flew off.
"Dad, look at that ungrateful brat. When he went in, the two of us guarded the gate for over half a year. And when it was our turn to go in, he just had Reshiram stand guard."
Jake never missed a chance to complain about Julian in front of John. Anyone who didn't know better might think there was some deep-seated grudge between the father and son.
"You're not satisfied even with a First-class Legendary guarding the gate? Who else in this world would even qualify than?"
John snorted coldly.
"Dad, I'm not talking about that, why do you—"
"Grandpa! Dad!"
Before Jake could finish, Julian's delighted voice reached their ears.
They saw Julian riding on the recently departed Reshiram, leaping off its back from over ten meters high. Scared out of his wits, Jake immediately rushed forward, arms outstretched, hoping to catch Julian that way.
However, when Julian was still about three to four meters above Jake, he used his psychic powers to hover in mid-air.
"Dad, what are you doing?"
Julian looked at his father with a hint of amusement.
"Nothing—I was just stretching a bit, just stretching," Jake replied awkwardly. 'Damn, I forgot this brat is a Psychic.'
That damned paternal instinct.
John, on the other hand, said unhurriedly, "When will you learn to be more steady? Even if my good grandson didn't have psychic powers, coming down like that wouldn't have caused any problems."
And he was right, even if he didn't have psychic abilities, landing from that height indeed wouldn't have been a big issue.
Still, John seemed to have immense confidence in him—not just immense, John's faith in Julian surpassed even his faith in himself.
"So, how were the gains?"
Julian looked at the two of them. He had secretly given them some marked locations on the map. Although their exploration time was short, their harvest shouldn't have been small.
"Mm, pretty good."
As Jake said this, his face flushed slightly with excitement. He and John had dug up quite a few treasures according to the map Julian had provided.
Although these treasures weren't Ultimate treasures, they weren't bad either, and there had been a lot of them.
Although the Walker family had vast assets, and most of these treasures weren't very useful to them directly, they could be used for networking and favors, and also allocated to their second team.
Despite the Walker family's current dominance in Drakoria, their conduct remained the same as before—they didn't arrogantly monopolize most resources just because of their strength.
"Both your father's and my Pokémon have improved quite a bit," John said softly.
The energy within the Primal Secret Realm was highly beneficial to Pokémon. Both of their Metagross had consumed many resources over time, and although their foundations were far less solid than Julian's Metagross, they still surpassed many Pokémon of the same level.
This time, John's Metagross had leveled up once, while Jake's Metagross had leveled up twice.
The level gains were even more important than the treasures they had found.
"Though we probably won't improve this quickly next time," Jake said with a hint of disappointment.
Metagross's foundation had been largely depleted. To level up further, he needed to rebuild its foundation first. Otherwise, forcing a level-up with an insufficient foundation could cause irreversible damage to its body.
Breakthroughs shouldn't be rushed blindly—sometimes the consequences could be unbearable.
Julian whispered, "When I come out next time, I'll bring you something good, Dad."
Jake's eyes lit up slightly, and he whispered back, "Then the quantity can't be less than what you give your grandpa. I'm your father, don't always favor your grandpa."
As soon as he finished speaking, he got a kick in the rear from John.
"What's wrong with my grandson being good to me? Are you jealous? Jealousy won't help—and did you really think my hearing isn't sharp?" John glared at Jake.
"Dad, I wasn't talking about you. And there are other people here—could you save some face for me?"
"Save face? Watch me teach you a lesson!"
Watching the two of them bicker, the people around them were already used to it. Over the past month and a half, such scenes had happened almost daily.
Julian paid them no mind and instead walked over to Victor.
"Teacher, how were your gains?"
Julian had always maintained a respectful attitude toward Victor. Even though his current strength was enough to overpower Victor in an instant, the latter had taught him a great deal about Dragon-types before he had fully grown—some of it even included the Drake family's closely guarded secrets.
Of course, Julian knew that this was Victor's investment in his future potential.
Though even if the investment had failed, it wouldn't have mattered—after all, Julian still had a Champion grandfather.
Still, Julian had genuinely benefited. With the Drake family's specialized methods for raising Dragon-types, Julian had avoided many pitfalls in raising Dragonite, Garchomp, Salamence, and Duraludon.
"I still haven't broken through."
Victor shook his head in disappointment. Among the twenty individuals, three were at the peak of the Pseudo-Champion level, and he was one of them.
But the chasm between a Pseudo-Champion and a Champion was simply too vast. Staying in the Primal Secret Realm for just a month and a half and expecting to break through—unless there was the support of a Ultimate treasure, the chances were very slim.
"Teacher, it's alright. Once the energy erosion from the secret realm dissipates and you can enter again, you'll become a Champion sooner or later," Julian encouraged.
He wanted to help Victor, but even he didn't have enough Dragon-type Ultimate treasures to spare—how could he give any to Victor? For now, he could only offer verbal support.
If he ever had extra Dragon-type Ultimate treasures in the future, he might consider giving some to Victor.
*****
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