Chapter 356: SS-Rank Secret Treasure
In the sky, once Pan Shanyu left, the following teams also began requesting withdrawal from the preliminaries via Rotom one after another.
Some who were unwilling to withdraw also gradually left the island.
Seeing this, the two Dragonite slowly landed, and Latias also emerged from [Godly Stealth].
The wooden box on its back indicated that this time's sky-fallen secret treasure had still ended up in Hikaru's hands.
"Well done."
He offered his customary praise, but Latias quickly put down the wooden box it was carrying.
It seemed quite uncomfortable with this secret treasure.
"Nngh..." (Icy...)
This made Hikaru subconsciously use his Aura to investigate the treasure.
Inside the wooden box was a piece of mystic ice, about the size of a fist, entirely sky-blue, a clear ice crystal. But if you looked closely, you could see iridescent colors within it.
As if refracted from inside.
As soon as the wooden box was opened, a bone-chilling coldness rushed out.
A secret treasure of both Ice and Fairy types. No wonder Latias was so resistant to it.
Both types were super effective against it.
Hikaru added another sentence, "Thank you for your hard work."
"Nngh..." (When are we going back?)
Latias hovered in front of Hikaru, asking curiously.
The scenery of the sea might have been interesting to it when it first arrived.
But after seeing so much, it was all the same landscape. It couldn't transform in front of Rotom either, feeling a bit stifled.
"Should be soon..."
Hikaru replied casually, his gaze falling upon the secret treasure.
SS-rank Secret Treasure - Never-Melt Ice: Frozen snow from a snow mountain peak that hasn't melted for ten thousand years, formed into Never-Melt Ice through prolonged compression. Additionally, because it was used as a habitat by Fairy-type Pokémon for a long time, it contains a trace of Fairy-type energy.
Wearing it greatly enhances the user's internal Ice-type energy, boosting Ice-type energy strength by 20% (Champion level) - 35% (Lord level).
Note: Most effective when worn by Pokémon possessing both Ice and Fairy-type energy.
Ice plus Fairy type...
Hikaru glanced around at the others.
Everyone shook their heads.
None of them had Ice-type Pokémon.
This secret treasure defaulted to Hikaru.
Hikaru didn't stand on ceremony and put the treasure directly into his backpack.
Among his own Pokémon, Greninja knew Ice-type moves.
Besides, an SS-rank secret treasure...
The League organizers were actually this generous this time!
Sensing the gradually emptying Orange Islands, Hikaru thought for a moment and suggested, "Should we leave too?"
The secret treasures placed in the Orange Islands had almost all been scavenged.
Staying longer would just mean waiting for treasures from the sky.
As for treasures from the sky...
Hikaru felt the chances were slim.
After all, the League officials weren't blind. Seeing all the treasures this time end up in his hands.
Dropping more wouldn't make much sense.
Perhaps this treasure was even a hint for him to leave quickly.
Sakura nodded, "Good choice."
The smile on Hu Yan'er's lips couldn't be hidden, "Hahaha, although this was a great experience, I still want to go back. The environment here is too basic!"
For a girl.
Staying by the sea for an extended period was definitely undesirable.
Sakura also cheered.
Since everyone agreed, Hikaru immediately submitted a request to withdraw from the preliminaries to Rotom.
Subsequently, Latias and the Dragonite carried the two of them away with a whoosh...
...
Inside the Education Bureau's live broadcast room.
Watching Hikaru leave, the person in charge of dropping the sky-fallen treasures wiped non-existent cold sweat from his forehead.
"If we let this kid continue messing around, I'm afraid everything will be cleaned out this time..."
"Is he here to compete? He's here to stock up..."
"Let's see if there's anyone left tomorrow. If there are many people, maybe drop one more..."
He already anticipated that after these preliminaries ended, someone would definitely stir up trouble, asking why no secret treasures were seen this time.
And tracing it back to the source, he, the person in charge of dropping them, would surely suffer the consequences.
Now, the only hope was to see if dropping a pile of A-rank secret treasures could reduce some of the public pressure.
Throwing down a pile of A-rank secret treasures meant spending another pile of money!
Beside him,
In the seats for Central Youth University,
Xie Ming stroked his beard, feeling an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
Wherever this kid goes, that place suffers a loss!
When he was placed in the Changchun Secret Realm back then, the secret realm lost over a tenth of its annual income.
This kind of loss shouldn't be borne by him alone!
The biggest sponsor for the preliminaries is the Ye family, the Ye family... Ye family...
Doesn't seem like a loss for them?
That's what he thought.
But compared to the calm expression of the North China University principal next to him, Xie Ming's grin hadn't left his face these past few days.
Without a doubt, Hikaru's performance in the preliminaries had exceeded his imagination.
He was even stunned when he saw Latias effortlessly take on five opponents at once.
Then he turned his gaze to Gu Cheng beside him.
The school team coach and the team members naturally knew each other best.
But what Xie Ming hadn't expected was.
His own coach also shook his head, looking equally baffled...
Didn't he just get his Master-level certificate?
How did he suddenly leap to being able to crush Master-level Pokémon like they were rookies?
Now.
Watching Hikaru leave,
Xie Ming felt quite pleased, and as if showing off, said, "This kid should be able to fight for a spot in the top sixteen for me this time."
"Heh..."
Beside him, the principal of North China University chuckled softly.
How could he not see that old Xie was showing off to him?
Yet Xie Ming started with the passive-aggressive sarcasm again, "Unfortunately, he's still too young. If it were a year or two later, maybe he could compete for the championship..."
"Sigh, it was like this with Pan Shanyu last year, and now it's like this with Hikaru..."
Yu Hui's fist clenched slightly, but ultimately, he didn't say anything.
The two universities had competed for decades.
The two principals had also competed for decades; their relationship went without saying.
Now, he could only let him gloat.
And it wasn't just gloating this year; next year's champion might also come from Central Youth University.
This meant he would be overshadowed by old Xie for another two years...
Thinking of this possibility,
He felt like his life was bleak.
...
After returning from the Orange Islands, due to the unique nature of the Youth League contestants, the group parted ways above Kyoto.
Sakura and Hikaru naturally headed towards the school.
Senior Hu Yan'er bid farewell to the others and went to her own home, saying she wanted a good shower to wash off the smell of seawater.
When Latias flew over the school grounds, Hikaru could see the students gradually gathering below.
This made Hikaru quickly say goodbye to Senior Sakura, then had Latias activate [Godly Stealth] and fly towards home.
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