Chapter 115: The Origin of Dragonite

Ziqin Town, a small coastal settlement on the seashore, has the South Paldea Sea to its west, bordering Paldea's largest desert, the Asado Desert, as well as Luo Mu's primary destination for this journey: Casseroya Lake.

Aside from its seaside town-style architecture, the most famous feature here is the Ziqin Market located in the town center.

The Ziqin Market gathers merchants and vendors from all over Paldea, selling a dazzling array of goods of every kind.

But if one speaks of the most distinctive feature of the Ziqin Market, it is undoubtedly the small-scale auctions unique to this marketplace.

Holding an auction here requires prior application and registration with the Ziqin Market Management Committee, who then arrange a suitable venue for the event.

For an ordinary person, this process is quite troublesome, but for Luo Mu, it is very easy.

He happens to know someone on the Ziqin Market Management Committee.

While traveling abroad in the past, he had rescued a severely dehydrated victim in the Asado Desert, someone clearly lost in the sands with exhausted supplies.

That victim is the middle-aged man now standing before Luo Mu, eyes brimming with warmth.

The man's name is Terry; wearing understated gold-rimmed glasses, he looks every bit the scholar.

Terry removed his glasses, picked up a magnifying glass to carefully examine the fluff Luo Mu had brought, and gently stroked it with his gloved right hand, his face showing admiration: "Indeed, this is fluff from the Flabébé, a Pokémon unique to the Galar region. Just by touching this cloud-like, pure white, and fluffy material, one can imagine how beautiful and captivating the luster of the thread processed from it will be."

A moment later, Terry looked up at Luo Mu: "Mr. Luo, regarding the auction method for this fluff, I believe this proposal would be excellent."

Terry wrote a few large characters on a sheet of white paper and handed it to Luo Mu.

Taking the paper, Luo Mu lowered his head and read aloud: "Conduct the auction in four stages?"

Terry nodded and said, "Flabébé fluff is a relatively rare commodity in the Paldea region; it will surely attract many merchants and wealthy individuals."

"Since you have exactly ten jin of fluff, I suggest dividing it into portions of one jin, one jin, three jin, and five jin for auction. This approach will both heat up the atmosphere and drive the price higher."

"The starting bid for the first two one-jin portions will be set at 4,000 League Coins, while the starting bids for the three-jin and five-jin portions will be 5,000 and 6,000 League Coins respectively. What do you think?"

Terry looked cautiously at Luo Mu, fearing he might see displeasure on the other's face.

To him, Luo Mu was his savior, and Terry naturally would not miss such a fine opportunity to repay him.

Furthermore, by coordinating with a few shills, the selling price could easily exceed 6,000 League Coins per jin.

Luo Mu nodded indifferently; for him, selling the entire batch at 6,000 League Coins per jin would be fine, and having extra income from an auction was also no problem—as long as it sold for money, that was enough.

In any case, no matter how one calculated it, he would not lose out.

Just as Terry revealed a satisfied smile of relief, Luo Mu suddenly said, "Wait a moment."

Since he was entrusting the Management Committee to auction the Flabébé fluff, there should be a handling fee, typically a percentage commission on the transaction amount.

Luo Mu looked at Terry with confusion: "Aren't you taking a commission?"

"How could that be!" Terry waved his hands hurriedly, speaking from the heart: "You are my savior; being able to help you is satisfaction enough for me. How could I possibly do something as unconscionable as taking a commission!"

Since Terry's expression was so resolute, looking as though he would jump from where he stood if Luo Mu insisted on them taking a commission, Luo Mu could only helplessly accept Terry's kindness.

Even though they were only on the second floor.

After completing the handover with Terry and confirming that the Flabébé fluff would be auctioned tomorrow at the Ziqin Market, Luo Mu politely declined Terry's invitation; compared to touring Ziqin Town or visiting the coast, he had more important business to attend to right now.

Luo Mu was not worried about Terry embezzling the money from the fluff auction, nor did he intend to stay in Ziqin Town until the auction concluded.

Leaving aside whether Terry was that kind of person, even if he really did such a thing, he would first have to ask whether Luo Mu and his Pokémon agreed to it.

He possessed the ability to deal with any infringement of rights or underhanded oppression, so there was absolutely no need to worry about anyone playing petty tricks.

While daylight still remained, Luo Mu walked to the outskirts of Ziqin Town, summoned his Dragonite, and flew directly toward Casseroya Lake.

Departing from Ziqin Town, relying on Dragonite's flight speed, it would take approximately forty minutes to see the outline of Casseroya Lake.

Stroking Dragonite's back, which showed obvious excitement, Luo Mu smiled: "It's been a long time since we last went to Casseroya Lake; I wonder how the Dragonair and the others are doing now."

"Boo-wu~"

Dragonite responded with eager anticipation, and its flight speed, already easily surpassing that of flying birds, increased even further.

Luo Mu still remembered that day clearly; it should have been shortly after he saved Terry, once his cultivation in the Asado Desert had concluded. When he went to Casseroya Lake to scout for the final Pokémon for his team, it was there that he encountered Dragonite, or rather, it while it was still a Pokémon Egg.

Although in the game Casseroya Lake is filled with Dratini and Dragonair, in the real Casseroya Lake their numbers are not only scarce but extremely difficult to track.

At that time, the Dragonite, still an egg, was guarded jointly by three Dragonair because it was the child of their leader, a Dragonite; however, the Dragonite leader had gone out one day and never returned to Casseroya Lake, completely vanishing without a trace.

Luo Mu's original target had been the most conspicuous of the three Dragonair; its pink body stood out remarkably in Casseroya Lake, and it was immediately spotted by Luo Mu, who had entered the lake to find a suitable partner.

Although a Dragonair with a pink body would evolve into a completely green Dragonite, Luo Mu was not so extravagant as to let slip the opportunity to catch a rare Pokémon just because of its appearance.

He brought his Swampert to challenge that pink Dragonair to a capture battle; generally, wild Pokémon exhibit several different reactions when a Trainer invites them to a capture battle.

Wild Pokémon that do not reject being captured will often gladly accept the challenge, those that reject being captured will most likely choose to flee, and some will charge directly forward to beat the Trainer to their knees, rendering them unable to utter the word "capture."

The pink Dragonair was a fourth type; it immediately recognized Swampert's strength and chose to seek help from Luo Mu and Swampert.

It was only then that Luo Mu realized why a Dragonair, capable of living submerged underwater, would be so blatantly floating on the surface.

It turned out that several Gyarados in Casseroya Lake had set their sights on the small lake island where they were caring for the Dragonite leader's egg, because the waters surrounding that island were the territory of those Gyarados.

This place had originally been the territory of the Dragonite leader, but due to the leader's disappearance, these Gyarados, still in their prime youth, had occupied it.

Although the three Dragonair were late-blooming Pokémon, they were not skilled in combat and always held an attitude of avoiding battle whenever possible; when avoidance was impossible, the Dragonite leader would step forward to fight.

At the Dragonair's plea for help, Luo Mu learned that the Gyarados were currently surrounding the other two Dragonair and the Pokémon Egg on the small lake island, ready to launch an attack at any moment.

After pondering for a moment, Luo Mu agreed to the pink Dragonair's request and helped them drive those Gyarados away from the small lake island.

After all, if the Dragonair saw how strong his combat power was and directly chose to throw themselves into his arms—no, rather, to follow him—wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?

Although in the end, the matter concluded with the Dragonair realizing they lacked the strength to protect the Dragonite leader's child in Casseroya Lake, thus entrusting the Pokémon Egg to Luo Mu.

But Luo Mu had not hidden the existence of the three Dragonair from Dragonite, so Dragonite was very much looking forward to meeting these three Dragonair whom it had never seen yet felt strangely affectionate toward.

Soon, the outline of Casseroya Lake appeared within the vision of Luo Mu and Dragonite.

As the largest lake in the Paldea region, Casseroya Lake covers a vast area.

Surrounded by mountains, Casseroya Lake, when viewed from the sky, resembles a giant cooking pot, hence its name; floating on the lake surface are islands of varying sizes, with the largest one even boasting a forest and a small hill.

Looking from the northeast, one can see a massive waterfall cascading down from Glaseado Mountain, Paldea's largest snow-capped mountain range; this waterfall is named the Casseroya Falls and is one of the Ten Great Views of Paldea.

If one is lucky, one might even witness the miraculous sight of a carp leaping over the dragon gate at the Casseroya Falls.

The water flow near the waterfall is extremely turbulent; ordinary Water-type Pokémon approaching that area have a certain probability of meeting disaster, so the wild Pokémon near the great waterfall tend to be much stronger.

The western and northern sides of Big Pot Lake connect to the Patia Sea, and occasionally wild Pokémon from the sea stray into Big Pot Lake, even the silhouettes of some dolphin-shaped Pokémon occasionally appearing here.

Luo Mu rode on his Dragonite, his gaze constantly sweeping downward, trying to locate the position of the small island in the lake from his memory.

It had been a while since he last came; finding the small, compact island within the vast expanse of Big Pot Lake was truly difficult.

In his field of view, numerous extremely fast-moving white lines frequently appeared on the lake's surface, darting erratically and tearing through the ethereal white mist drifting like clouds over the water.

Luo Mu knew well that these were the disturbances caused by the Torpedos; trainers training in Big Pot Lake always end up entangled with these Pokémon, scientifically known as Lightbass.

Commanding Dragonite to lower its flight altitude, Luo Mu made a new discovery.

On the calm surface of Big Pot Lake, occasional small Pokémon appeared, looking weak as if injured; these Pokémon resembled fish sushi, yet were pure Dragon+Water-type Pokémon.

This Pokémon is called Milivolt; it uses its inflated throat sac for camouflage, aiding the massive shadow beneath it in hunting — a rare Pokémon that engages in cooperative hunting across different species.

(End of Chapter)