"My dear grandson, did you say you've gained control over the entire secret realm?"
Inside a room on the warship, even John—who had seen his fair share of storms—couldn't maintain his composure upon learning that Julian had taken control of this Top-tier secret realm—even to the extent of being able to shut it down and move it at will.
Even though he had already heard about Julian successively eliminating teams from Babath, Wyvernia, Anglia, Gallia, and Celestria, and even caught a pseudo-Champion-level Moltres.
All of that had still been within the realm of what John could accept.
But gaining control over an entire secret realm? That was far beyond his expectations.
After all, ever since the emergence of secret realms, whether Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, or even Top-tier, there had never been a case where one could be artificially controlled.
Controlling a Beginner or Intermediate-level secret realm might have been somewhat believable, but Julian had taken over a Top-tier one.
According to Julian, not only did it contain regional-variant Pokémon, but it also had four pseudo-Champion-level guardian deities that could break through to Champion-level by drawing on the island's power.
Most astonishingly, it also housed two slumbering First-class Legendary Pokémon.
The resources here undoubtedly surpassed any Top-tier secret realm currently possessed by Drakoria.
And now, this very secret realm was under Julian's control.
In other words, the Walker family could own a private Top-tier secret realm—the sheer value and benefits of this were immeasurable.
Of course, fully privatizing such a secret realm alone was impossible. Cooperation with the government was the Walker family's best—and only—realistic option.
Otherwise, a crisis of trust would arise between the Walker family and the state. Unless they were planning to betray the country—which was obviously out of the question—co-managing the secret realm with the authorities was the optimal path.
Moreover, since Julian held the access rights to the secret realm, the Walker family was already in an unassailable position.
Ring ring—
John's phone suddenly rang.
"Volkarians…"
Muttering as he saw the caller ID, he picked up.
A few minutes later, he hung up.
"You kicked everyone out of the secret realm?"
During the call, the Elite Trainer from Volkaria had expressed deep gratitude to Julian. Without his intervention, all five of the Volkarian trainers would have died inside the secret realm—never mind eliminating the Celestrian and Gallian teams.
The events inside the realm had already been relayed to him through Sophia and the others.
Julian's rise was now unstoppable. Fortunately, Volkaria and Drakoria had always been close allies.
At the end of the call, the Volkarian Elite also mentioned that the Top-tier secret realm had vanished, and all the trainers inside had been kicked out.
There was a clear tone of regret in his voice.
Since the first group to enter the secret realm were juniors like Julian and his peers, the second batch was supposed to be the Elite-level trainers from various countries. But now that the secret realm had vanished, they naturally lost their chance.
"Yeah. Otherwise, should we just let them keep staying in our family's secret realm and keep taking our treasures?" Julian said, as if it were only natural.
As far as he was concerned, that secret realm now belonged to the Walker family.
"Hahaha! You're absolutely right, my good grandson. This is now our Walker family's secret realm!"
John patted Julian's shoulder. When it came to shamelessness, the kid had clearly inherited his grandfather's skills.
Meanwhile, Ember and Asher, after exiting the secret realm, immediately contacted their elders and recounted everything that had happened—with particular emphasis on Julian and the fact that he had taken full control of the Top-tier secret realm.
---
"The Walker family has really produced a dragon this time…"
In a private room, Edward sighed deeply after listening to Rowan's account.
"That brat John has killed so many people in his life, yet not only has he escaped karma, but his son is outstanding, and now his grandson is an outright monster."
The Walker family was small in number, yet every member was an elite, a genius. It was downright unfair.
Logically, the larger a family, the higher the chance of producing prodigies. But this statistical rule seemed irrelevant when it came to the Walkers.
Just think—his own family had hundreds of descendants, yet combined, they still couldn't match the Walker family's measly handful. It was absolutely infuriating.
---
"General Sam, that's how things unfolded."
Pierce had just finished recounting the events inside the secret realm to General Sam.
"What do you think of Julian's character?"
General Sam looked a bit surprised, and asked after a moment of thought.
"Julian is incredibly strong. I believe he has a real chance of becoming a Champion before he turns thirty."
"As for his character… aside from his complete indifference to women, he's someone worth befriending."
"Indifferent to women?" General Sam stared at Pierce as if questioning whether that assessment was serious.
A young master from a noble family who wasn't interested in women?
If Julian ever found out Pierce had slandered him like this behind his back, he'd probably set his Arcanine on him. This was just slander, plain and simple.
"Alright, I understand. I'll discuss this with Marshal Sun later."
Drakoria had six Champions. Four came from noble families, one rose from common origins (and was the idol of all civilian trainers), and the last was a Champion cultivated by the military.
Although becoming a Champion automatically granted the title of Marshal in the military, that was mostly honorary. The only true military Marshal who had risen through the army's own system was Champion Sun.
Elites like Pierce, who were key military prospects, were essentially following Champion Sun's path.
The fact that four out of six Champions came from noble families, alone showed just how likely it was for powerful trainers to emerge from elite lineages.
Throughout history, the emperors of Drakoria had, to varying degrees, tried to limit the influence of noble families. While they harbored thoughts of eliminating these aristocratic clans, in reality, they had no choice but to rely on the talents cultivated by these very families to govern the nation.
In ancient times, the noble families monopolized books, knowledge, and wealth, making it impossible for emperors to govern without them.
In modern times, these families monopolize Pokémon with Cyan-grade potential and above, as well as various rare Pokémon items—such as Mega Stones.
For a civilian trainer to break through all those layers of restraints was incredibly difficult.
And even if one does succeed, they often end up becoming part of the very aristocratic system they once despised.
The military, as Drakoria's most powerful armed force, had only one Champion. They were desperate to strengthen their own influence—even gaining one more Elite-level trainer would be a significant improvement.
And now, a brand-new Top-tier secret realm had appeared right before them.
Perhaps this was a chance to form deeper cooperation with the Walker family in exchange for some slots to enter the Top-tier secret realm.
There were several peak pseudo-Champion-level trainers within the military. If one of them got lucky, it was entirely possible they could emerge from the secret realm as a full Champion.
If that happened, the military's strength would increase tremendously. If Celestria dared to let its lackeys harass Drakoria again, the military wouldn't hesitate to retaliate hard—let's see if those Celestrians had the guts to escalate things further.
---
"My dear grandson, leave the secret realm negotiations to me. You just focus on resting for now," John said.
Julian nodded.
That had been his plan all along—let his grandfather handle the tedious political wrangling—he'd much rather kick back and relax.
*****
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