Five months later, Julian had arrived at a place called the Holm of Trials. Over these five months, he had explored the Scarlet Bog, Droning Meadow, Bolderoll Slope, Lake Valor, Gapejaw Bog, Cloudpool Ridge, as well as the previously visited Sludge Mound and Golden Lowlands—eight locations in total.
Now he had reached the ninth location: Holm of Trials.
Across those eight locations, Julian had found five Ultimate treasures. The discovery rate of Ultimate treasures here was slightly higher than back in Obsidian Fieldlands.
These five Ultimate treasures were:
From the Droning Meadow:
[Red Clay: Increases the power of Ground-type moves by 25% and boosts recovery speed by 10% when standing on the ground.]
Julian gave this Ultimate treasure to Steelix.
From Lake Valor:
[Valor Star: Increases resistance to negative status effects by 30%.]
Julian gave this to Aggron. As the strongest "shield," its shortcomings aside from speed, included its susceptibility to abnormal status conditions like poisoning, sleep, and confusion.
After all, these negative status effects bypassed defense entirely.
This Ultimate treasure would have also been highly suitable for Metagross, but since Metagross would eventually attain its King Form, which granted immunity to all negative status effects, giving the Valor Star to Metagross would render the treasure completely useless later on—wasting an Ultimate treasure for nothing.
From the Cloudpool Ridge:
[Burst Seed: Increases the power of Fighting-type moves by 200%, drains a significant amount of stamina, and grants the Burst state. The duration depends on the user's stamina, lasting until stamina is depleted.]
[Note: If activated forcibly when stamina is insufficient, it severely drains the user's foundational energy, potentially destroying their foundation.]
This Ultimate treasure provided a temporary but substantial boost to attack power, and the boost was enormous.
Julian had obtained quite a few Ultimate treasures, but one that boosted power by 200%—this was the first.
While using it required substantial stamina—meaning the more stamina one had, the longer the effect lasted.
And in terms of stamina among Julian's Pokémon, Metagross ranked first, and Aggron ranked second.
However, since this was a Fighting-type Ultimate treasure, it was destined to belong solely to Lucario.
Lucario's stamina didn't even rank in the top five among all of Julian's Pokémon—of course, that was also because every one of Julian's Pokémon was a monster in its own way.
If compared with anyone else, Lucario's stamina would undoubtedly be considered extremely abundant.
After using the Burst Seed, Julian had Lucario enter the Burst state, allowing its overall combat power to nearly rival that of an early-stage Champion.
This state lasted for approximately five minutes.
Once those five minutes passed, Lucario's stamina was completely depleted.
In a life-or-death battle, that amount of time would be more than enough to turn the tide.
After using the Burst Seed, Lucario's level had already reached 89, just one step away from the peak of Pseudo-Champion tier.
The fourth and fifth Ultimate treasures both came from the Bolderoll Slope. Julian was pleasantly surprised that one area had yielded two Ultimate treasures.
[Earthcore Fruit: Upon use, the user gains the Ground-typing (only usable by single-type Pokémon)]
[Vermilion Rock: Increases the power of Rock-type moves by 20%.]
These two Ultimate treasures were fairly average in terms of their effects.
The Earthcore Fruit allowed a Pokémon to gain the Ground typing—in other words, a single-type Pokémon could become dual-type. But since it could only be used by single-type Pokémon, if a dual-type used it, it wouldn't gain a third Typing.
Julian didn't use the Earthcore Fruit, because he didn't think gaining an extra Type was necessarily good.
While gaining an additional Typing might provide advantages against certain Types, it also introduced new weaknesses.
In the end, the pros and cons balanced out, making it seem rather pointless.
That was not to say this Ultimate treasure was useless—for Normal-type Pokémon, its effect could be quite significant, as Normal-type Pokémon often lacked strong offensive capabilities.
As for the Vermilion Rock, Julian gave it to Tyranitar. In fact, Tyranitar had already used the Diamond Core, which increased the power of Rock and Ground-type moves by 20%.
The Diamond Core's effects were even better than that of the Vermilion Rock, and since move power bonuses didn't stack, only the highest value was applied.
However, any Ultimate treasure could enhance a Pokémon's foundation. By giving the Vermilion Rock to Tyranitar, Julian treated it as strengthening Tyranitar's foundation.
Tyranitar had previously used the Stone Marrow as well, which accelerated growth and energy absorption.
The Stone Marrow was an Ultimate treasure that could, in a short time, develop a Pokémon into a formidable fighter—on the premise that your resources could keep up.
After all, without sufficient resources, even if a Pokémon used the Stone Marrow, it won't be able to absorb much.
Currently, Tyranitar was already at level 83. It had joined Julian's team relatively late. One had to know that Garchomp, which had joined earlier than it, was now only level 81.
And Tyranitar had already reached level 83—this was mainly thanks to the Stone Marrow.
For the same Ultimate treasure, Garchomp might take six months to fully absorb its energy. However, with the effects of the Stone Marrow, Tyranitar only needed a month—a sixfold difference in efficiency.
With enough of this kind of Ultimate treasure, Julian could rapidly build a team of Pseudo-Champion-level Pokémon in a short time.
After all, he didn't lack resources; what he lacked was time, and the greatest benefit of the Stone Marrow was precisely its ability to shorten that time.
Perhaps before long, Tyranitar would be ready to join the main lineup.
"I wonder if there are any Ultimate treasures here."
Looking at the desert ahead, with sandstorms rolling, Julian put on his goggles. Fortunately, the wind and sand weren't too strong. Julian rode atop Tyranitar's broad back.
The desert was Tyranitar's domain—this guy was even famously known as the "Desert Tyrant."
In the desert, Tyranitar's speed increased noticeably.
"Tyra!"
Tyranitar clearly loved the environment, letting out a joyful cry.
Due to the erosion of the secret realm's energy, Julian's time for exploration was limited, so strictly speaking, he shouldn't be riding Tyranitar while exploring the Holm of Trials.
After all, compared with Dragonite, Metagross, Salamence, and the others, Tyranitar moving on foot definitely couldn't match their speed.
But seeing how happy Tyranitar was, Julian felt it was okay to spend a little extra time here. He could always make up for it later in other areas.
After all, time was like that saying—if you squeezed hard enough, you could always find some.
Endless yellow sand stretched as far as the eye could see, with no visible Pokémon in sight. In reality, many Pokémon were hidden beneath the grains.
If not for Tyranitar radiating its Pseudo-Champion aura, its appearance would have long attracted hordes of Pokémon.
As a Totem-class Tyranitar, its body was massive, yet when it stepped on the soft sand, its feet didn't sink in at all, as if it were walking on solid concrete.
This showed that Tyranitar's control over sand had already reached a very high level. Even though Julian wore goggles, he noticed that not a single grain of sand came near him.
Around Tyranitar seemed to be an invisible barrier, parting all the blowing sand.
*****
Upto 30 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/ReduxMagister