The next day, after washing up, Ace once again took his invigorated Pokémon and headed towards the Dragon's Den.
As usual, he dealt with the troublesome Kommo-o and returned to the Kommo-o's territory, beginning the second round of attempts.
He still sent out Gengar, and Kommo-o continued to respond calmly.
Especially after learning of Gengar's eerie Curse and Destiny Bond, Kommo-o's attacks were exceptionally fierce this time.
After boosting its stats with Dragon Dance, it almost completely suppressed Gengar throughout the battle. Gengar fought frustratingly; it couldn't even unleash Curse. Moreover, using Curse forcibly consumed half of its HP, which was too damaging.
Especially now that Kommo-o was at full power, Gengar might be defeated by Kommo-o due to its low HP before Curse could even take effect.
From morning until dusk, Ace challenged Kommo-o five times consecutively. In the final attempt, he seized the opportunity when Kommo-o was boosting its stats with Dragon Dance and coincidentally put it to sleep with Hypnosis.
Then, a Dream Eater restored a large amount of Gengar's stamina, laying the foundation for victory.
Ace dragged his weary body out of the Dragon's Den and leaned against the wall, sighing, "I didn't expect to fight Kommo-o six times in one go to finally defeat it. It seems the further in you go, the stronger the Pokémon become."
As Ace was sighing, the elder once again arrived at the outer perimeter of the Dragon's Den, carrying a cloth bag.
She tossed the cloth bag to Ace as usual. Ace took it, not bothering with anything else. He untied the rope, grabbed several pieces of dried meat, and stuffed them into his mouth.
"Growth Quest (Dragon Hunter) activated. Completed: (10/50). Physical Strength: +1."
"Congratulations to the host for consuming a large amount of high-quality dragon meat! Dragon Hunter state forcibly activated! Dragon-type Pokémon capture rate +20%!"
Ace, who was about to continue eating, froze. He hadn't expected that the Dragon Hunter growth quest would actually make him awaken the Dragon Hunter state early!
While Ace was momentarily stunned, the elder, who had been about to leave, suddenly noticed a peculiar power surging from Ace's body.
Infected by this power, the Dragon-type Pokémon around the outer perimeter of the Dragon's Den all stopped their movements and stared intently at Ace.
"Dragon affinity…"
The elder suddenly murmured to herself, a glint in her eyes.
Sure enough, she hadn't misjudged. This young boy indeed had potential!
It wasn't for naught that she had found so much high-quality dragon meat for him. By using high-quality dragon meat to activate his Dragon-type affinity, once he accepted the Inheritor's ceremony, he would be the new Inheritor!
Ace, however, didn't notice the elder's unusual behavior. He was silently examining his physical condition under the Dragon Hunter state.
If Ace knew what the elder was thinking, he would probably hesitate for a minute, then accept the title of Inheritor.
The Inheritor held a high position among the Draconid people, as it symbolized a responsibility.
However, from Ace's perspective, to put it bluntly, that responsibility simply meant not being strong enough.
As long as one was strong enough, so-called responsibility was simply not worth mentioning.
More importantly, once one inherited the mantle of the Inheritor, it would be equivalent to Ace already controlling Rayquaza.
Rayquaza was incredibly proud. To capture it and command it in battle without giving something in return would be impossible.
For details, just look at Norman, who controlled Rayquaza once and directly paid with his life.
If not for Celebi forcefully reversing time and shifting the future to a happy ending, Norman and Steven here in Hoenn would have died in the subsequent battles.
However, now Ace had helped Zinnia release Rayquaza early, and Norman no longer needed to take the blame. It was estimated that he would bring his family to Hoenn to inherit the Petalburg Gym soon.
The direction of the future was no longer the same as the plot's development, and who knew if Celebi would still come out to clean up the mess later.
As for Ace, after a system scan, the system also told him that his body was very healthy, just lacking some vitamin supplementation, suggesting Ace eat more vegetables.
Ace could only roll his eyes at this.
Now, he was constantly gnawing on dried meat for every meal, occasionally having a fried egg.
As for vegetables?
Where was he supposed to find vegetables here?
During special training, just being able to eat enough was already good. As for vegetables, he would wait until he broke through the Dragon's Den before supplementing them.
Picking up a piece of dried meat and stuffing it into his mouth, Ace chewed continuously. Only then did he realize the elder hadn't left.
"Grandma, what's wrong?"
Ace quickly swallowed the dried meat, then stood up and asked the elder if there was anything.
"How far have you gone in the Dragon's Den?"
The elder suddenly spoke, asking about Ace's progress.
"I just defeated a Kommo-o. It's very strong. It took Gengar six tries to defeat it."
Ace didn't hide anything and spoke directly.
"You've already made it this far?"
The elder closed her eyes, then opened them and looked at Ace, saying, "That Kommo-o is a Pokémon left behind by the third generation of Inheritors. The fact that you encountered it means you've reached halfway into the Dragon's Den."
"Third generation? Hmm, they seem strong, to be able to raise a Kommo-o like that."
Ace sighed, then thought about the remaining half of the journey he needed to conquer. Ace felt it would probably take him several months to do it.
"Further inside, there are four more Pokémon belonging to previous Inheritors. Defeat all of them, and you'll reach the deepest part of the Dragon's Den."
The elder looked at Ace and said, "There, you will receive a gift. Take that gift, then come find me. Understood?"
"Huh? Oh."
Ace nodded, unclear what the elder suddenly meant by that.
The elder gave Ace a deep look, then left, leaving Ace somewhat bewildered.
However, in the following days, Ace understood the elder's meaning.
Because she no longer brought him dried meat. Instead, other Draconid people came and brought Ace lavish dinners.
Ace was a bit frustrated by this.
Dragon meat allowed him to complete his Dragon Hunter quest and also increased his physical strength.
Although eating it constantly became a bit monotonous, it provided ample nutrition and boosted his physical strength!
Now that it had been replaced with delicious meals, the taste was better, but Ace greatly missed the elder's dried meat.
What also puzzled Ace was that the Draconid people who brought him meals were different each time.
But the one constant was their exceptional warmth towards Ace. They looked at him as if he were some rare treasure.
This greatly confused Ace, but he didn't voice his questions. Each time, he could only quickly finish his dinner under the gaze of these meal deliverers.