After quickly harvesting a batch of Morey Seaweed, Ace stuffed it into his fanny pack. The space fanny pack gifted by the system had powerful defensive capabilities, making it a bug-like existence.
He harvested about five kilograms of seaweed in total. Ace then stirred up the mud at his feet, and as the water swept through, it revealed the true ground beneath. Submerged in seawater, the ground had been eroded and was somewhat blurred.
However, Ace only took one glance and noticed the faint patterns on the ground. "This is..."
Ace gestured to Lapras. In an instant, Lapras created a powerful current, quickly washing the ground. The turbulent water instantly filled the entire space, but with Lapras's continuous washing, the mud was cleared away, exposing the ground and walls.
"Lugia..."
Although the image was blurred, Ace could still make out that it was Lugia from some of the prominent features.
The mural depicted a large altar, where many people were kneeling and offering sacrifices. Above the altar was Lugia. The mural also had some other patterns, which appeared to be ancient, unknown writing. Ace couldn't translate it, so he took out an underwater camera and photographed the mural, hoping to translate it later.
As he continued to look at the murals, Ace gradually noticed something was wrong. In some of the murals, although the ancient people worshipped Lugia, Ace noticed that they would also collect water-like droplets from Lugia's wings. At first, Ace thought it was blood, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
The droplets they collected were respectfully given to a person who looked like a high priest. The high priest then concocted a solution. In the following murals, a skinny person drank the solution and instantly transformed into a muscular man. With that, the murals ended.
"This is interesting."
Ace smiled faintly, intrigued by the things in the mural. Although he didn't know what was in it, it was clearly something that could strengthen the body. Ace's physical strength was definitely the highest among his peers, but compared to top-tier fighters like Bruno, he wasn't even fit to carry their shoes. Now that he had discovered a potion that could clearly enhance his physical strength, Ace was naturally interested.
"But Lugia..."
Ace shook his head. He had no intention of disturbing Lugia for now, or rather, he couldn't find it at the moment. In the original story, Lugia lived in the Whirl Islands. But when Ace had visited the Whirl Islands last time, he had flown overhead and hadn't detected any trace of Lugia.
Legendary Pokémon weren't unbeatable for Ace, but their whereabouts were simply too difficult to find. Just like Green, who had captured all three legendary birds, most of his time was spent searching for their habitats. And that was because the legendary birds had appeared once before, making the search simple. Otherwise, when Team Rocket first searched for them, they had to use the entire organization's power to find their locations.
"Let's go, Lapras."
This time's harvest was pretty good. Ace patted Lapras's head, and Lapras immediately swam under Ace, carrying him out of the temple.
Outside the temple, Blastoise was blocking the entrance, holding its ground against a swarm of water Pokémon. In front of it was a dense crowd of water Pokémon, but Blastoise showed no fear. Three attacks were sent in three directions to stop the Pokémon from advancing. Not a single Pokémon could get within a meter of Blastoise!
"Blastoise, retreat."
Ace swam out. Hearing Ace's command, Lapras and Blastoise worked together. A double Surf created a huge wave under the sea, scattering the water Pokémon's formation.
In the next moment, under Blastoise's cover, Ace and Lapras broke through the encirclement, and the group escaped the ring of water Pokémon.
However, Ace's actions had clearly angered the surrounding water Pokémon. Their "canteen," which they relied on for survival, had been invaded, and its precious food had been stolen. This was an unforgivable offense!
After stabilizing themselves, some Pokémon rushed into the temple to assess the damage, while the majority charged towards Ace and his Pokémon, seemingly ready to fight to the death.
"It looks like we can't leave without dealing with them."
Lapras made a turn and stopped with Blastoise, facing the group of water Pokémon.
"It's been a while since I had seafood. Let's have a feast today!"
Ace said coldly, "Double Ice Beam!"
Lapras and Blastoise instantly fired beams of freezing light. The charging water Pokémon had no time to react and several were instantly frozen solid.
"Blastoise, Dark Pulse! Lapras, Confuse Ray!"
Blastoise adjusted its cannons, and two Dark Pulses followed, sweeping towards the frozen Pokémon. Except for a Gyarados that managed to break free, the other Pokémon were instantly shattered by the Dark Pulses and turned into ice shards that floated upwards.
Using this brief moment, a large number of water Pokémon closed in. Lapras let out a high-pitched cry, and a beam of light burst from its body. Blastoise, having anticipated this, tucked its head in and was unaffected by the Confuse Ray. The charging water Pokémon, as if hit by a flashbang, stopped in their tracks, dizzy and disoriented, and were then knocked aside by the Pokémon coming up behind them. But in their confusion, they didn't care. Some attacked anything around them, while others attacked themselves.
Having stalled a small group of Pokémon, Blastoise used Skull Bash to charge into the middle of the crowd. With its hard shell, it instantly broke through the line of water Pokémon.
Lapras turned sideways, dodging a few attacks, but its ultimate move was already ready. The moment Blastoise broke through the crowd, a wave of sub-zero temperature, Sheer Cold, rushed forward.
Ace had already separated from Lapras. If he had stayed close to Lapras while underwater, this Sheer Cold would not have distinguished between friend and foe!
"Crack, crack, crack..."
Large blocks of ice quickly formed, freezing the water Pokémon charging at Lapras. Some of the faster water Pokémon realized something was wrong and retreated, narrowly escaping. As for the others, they weren't so lucky.
Soon, a small iceberg was formed and floated upwards. The remaining water Pokémon were so terrified by this move that they fled without looking back. Ace looked up at the iceberg slowly floating to the surface and said flatly, "Let's go home. We've got some iced seafood to eat!"