Chen Shi stood frozen in place.
Before him lay a treasure vault so absurdly valuable that for a moment, he genuinely wondered if he was dreaming.
Top-grade Attribute Gems.
Elite-level medicinal herbs.
Premium Evolution Stones.
Everything was valuable.
But on the far wall—
Chen Shi's breath caught.
Dozens of legendary feathers.
Not normal feathers—
Zapdos.
Articuno.
Moltres.
The Three Sacred Birds.
There were dozens.
He stepped closer, eyes narrowing as he read the system descriptions.
Most were naturally shed feathers from Champion-tier variants of the birds.
Yet even "just" these were priceless.
One single legendary feather could sell for a fortune unimaginable to normal Trainers.
Then he spotted one feather shining with a deeper, divine flame.
A Moltres Origin Tail Feather.
Not from the common Moltres variants—
but from the true Moltres, the one who held divine authority over sacred flame.
A core tail feather, brimming with legendary essence.
If he fed this to Charmeleon before evolution…
Charizard would ascend like wildfire.
Professor Oak followed Chen Shi's gaze and chuckled.
"That one is special. It contains Moltres' Origin Flame.
If a Fire-type uses it, the effect is tremendous."
"Your Charmeleon is already mid-Elite and hasn't evolved yet.
Give this to him—he'll rise far faster."
Chen Shi's eyes gleamed.
He nodded eagerly.
But the more he looked around, the more overwhelmed he felt.
"Teacher… there's too much good stuff. I don't even know what to choose.
How about…"
He smiled cunningly.
"…you recommend something?"
Oak stared at him—annoyed yet amused.
"You little fox…"
"Fine. I'll pick two items for you.
Only two. Even I can't bear to give more."
He walked to a tall shelf and retrieved a reinforced metal box.
"Open it."
Chen Shi opened the lid—
and his pulse spiked.
[Registeel Body Fragment — Contains traces of Registeel's essence.
Exceptional effect on Steel-type Pokémon.]
He nearly yelped.
A fragment of Registeel itself.
Metang would ascend like a meteor.
Decision made:
Treasure #1 secured.
Hands trembling, he closed the box and grinned like an idiot.
"Teacher… what's the third one?"
Oak laughed at the anticipation on Chen Shi's face.
He pulled down another container from the top shelf.
"See for yourself."
Inside was a palm-sized crystalline shard, pure white and rhombus-shaped.
[High-Grade Secret Realm Core Fragment — Contains massive neutral elemental energy.
All Pokémon can absorb it.
Dramatically accelerates growth.]
Oak began explaining:
"This is a fragment of a Secret Realm's core.
Neutral, purified energy—safe for any species."
"With your team's mixed levels, this is perfect."
"Use it on your Elite-tier Pokémon.
Their breakthroughs will accelerate enormously."
"This suits you far more than any single-type treasure."
Chen Shi hugged the box like a starving man receiving bread.
This was exactly what he needed.
With this, Florges, Metang, Leafeon, Togekiss—
all of them could rocket forward in power.
His World Championship odds had just multiplied.
"Thank you, Teacher. This is… unbelievably precious."
Oak waved him off.
"Don't be polite."
He tossed the Moltres feather into Chen Shi's arms as well.
Then he continued:
"Treasures like these aren't that rare to certain people."
"Even legendary items have grades."
"For example: that Moltres tail feather?
It barely helps anything above Champion-tier."
"But below that? It's phenomenal."
"As for the Secret Realm core—
fantastic for Elite tiers, limited for Champions.
If you feed it to Dragapult or Swampert, you'll waste it."
Chen Shi blinked.
"Teacher… you said… a month… to reach Gym Peak?"
Oak nodded calmly.
"Easily."
"High-grade Secret Realm energy is absurdly dense."
"Honestly, give the whole fragment to Dragapult
and he'd jump straight into Elite-tier."
Chen Shi inhaled sharply.
A direct jump into Elite-tier Dragapult…
But he shook his head.
Dragapult already had the most resources.
The Giratina Scale alone had given him a near-legendary potential.
If Chen Shi kept pouring everything into Dragapult while leaving the others behind—
the team would fracture.
Even if they never complained.
So he made up his mind:
The Secret Realm fragment would be evenly shared.
Let everyone rise together.
If all his team reached Gym-Peak…
With Mega Metagross.
With Mega Charizard X.
With Dragapult and Swampert.
His dream of becoming World Champion suddenly felt much closer.
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