In a secluded cave far from the battlefield, Jack—better known in the underground as the Ghost Fox—sat cross-legged, tallying up his gains.
Mara may have been a psychic with elite-level potential, but Willy was a bona fide elite trainer. So naturally, the mission assigned by Jack's system was classified as D-rank.
That alone earned Jack 9,350 experience points and mercenary points. When added to Mara's contribution, his total accumulated experience and mercenary points had reached a new high—just one more E-rank mission, and Haunter would reach level 28, inching ever closer to elite-tier power.
More importantly, the system didn't enforce any thresholds when leveling up. No bottlenecks. No qualifications needed.
In other words, once Haunter hit the required level, he'd directly ascend to the elite class without the usual need for talent tests or rare evolution catalysts.
For most trainers, this kind of progress was pure fantasy.
After all, the reason trainers spent years seeking high-potential Pokémon was to avoid wasting time on ones that couldn't evolve or break through class barriers. If they knew Jack had a system that allowed instant, unconditional breakthroughs, they'd probably kill him out of jealousy.
Then there were the mercenary points—another crucial resource.
Thanks to the recent kills, Jack now had enough points to use bombs liberally in future missions. Based on his experience, four bombs could seriously injure an elite-level Pokémon, although the target might still retain combat capability. But five or more? That would mean death—even for elite-tier foes.
Still, Jack never accepted missions targeting elite-class trainers unless absolutely necessary.
He lived by simple rules: "The ones who drown are usually the best swimmers."
He never forgot those proverbs.
After tallying the system rewards, it was time to check the bounties.
Among the people Willy had gathered, some came in pairs, others hadn't yet been added to the official bounty list. But with Willy and Mara included, Jack's total cash reward amounted to 450,000 Alliance Credits.
Interestingly, Mara's bounty was nearly as high as Willy's.
Among individuals with special abilities, psychics were relatively common—but that didn't mean they were easy targets. In fact, they were one of the most dangerous to hunt.
Psychic-type Pokémon were notoriously hard to bond with unless the trainer possessed psychic powers themselves. And once trained, psychics could not only use telepathy to coordinate in battle, but also teleport, detect danger, and use psychic abilities for both offense and escape.
In short, psychics were living Swiss Army knives—support, offense, and survival all in one.
Then came Willy and Mara's Pokémon.
Willy's Arbok may have been elite-class, but its market value was actually lower than Mara's Hypno.
Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokémon were among the rarest and most expensive in the black market—along with Dragon and Fairy types.
Why?
Because Psychic-types were hard to tame without psychic affinity, and Ghost-types were malevolent by nature. They could easily backfire on the trainer, vanish without a trace, or even curse their owners.
In short, handling them required skill, nerve, and usually luck.
That made Mara's Hypno—a Psychic-type with teleportation already mastered—a high-value asset.
The only pity was that even Mara, for all her talents, only had one excellent-grade Pokémon: a Beedrill.
And due to the time-sensitive pursuit of Willy and Mara, Jack hadn't been able to search the bodies of the others for their Poké Balls.
Looking back, he realized he'd lost quite a bit of potential profit.
But no matter—he could still milk Willy dry.
Thanks to the surveillance footage, Jack already knew the location of some of Willy's hidden caches. To save time—and since the Hunter's Guild offered fair prices—he sold all of Willy and Mara's Pokémon there, just as he'd done before.
Sure, Mara's Hypno could've fetched a premium on the black market, but Jack didn't have time to treat its injuries or the skill to tame such a volatile Pokémon. It was far easier and safer to offload it to the guild.
After dawn, Jack changed into a disguise and returned to town like a wandering traveler, collecting parts of Willy's inheritance before slipping away again.
Meanwhile, at the Town Police Station
"Director, it's confirmed—the Ghost Fox was behind it."
"All the victims were either mercenaries or known Pokémon hunters. As for the final explosion at the bar? We suspect the bar owner was working as a liaison for the Foxy gang. It looks like something went wrong between them."
"Also, we investigated the escape tunnel. There are signs of an explosion at the exit—two bodies found. One belongs to the bar owner. The other was a psychic, likely a hired reinforcement."
By mid-morning, the local police had pieced together most of the story.
The only thing they couldn't resolve… was how to catch the Ghost Fox.
"Report this to the Alliance," the police chief said, rubbing his temples in frustration. "Continue the investigation quietly. If anyone sees the Ghost Fox, don't engage. Alert me immediately."
He knew this was out of his league.
The Ghost Fox had already killed Captain Tabito, and anyone who knew the captain also knew how powerful he was. Which meant this wasn't just some small-time criminal. This was someone extremely dangerous.
If they tried to go after him without proper support, the entire station could become a target.
All the chief could do was report it, hope the Alliance took action, and pray the Ghost Fox didn't grow stronger in the meantime.
Because deep in his bones, the chief knew: if this man kept rising unchecked, he'd eventually become a real threat to the entire Alliance.
But at that very moment, the so-called threat had already come and gone—walking freely through the town, collecting his rewards, then disappearing like a ghost.