Early the next morning, Julian devoured twenty giant meat buns—a local specialty of Hara City—in one go, completing his "Daily Task." Each bun was the size of an adult's fist.
If not for his inhuman constitution, he would've thrown up halfway through.
The bun shop owner, watching Julian finish off all twenty, initially thought he was a food streamer and offered him a discount in exchange for promoting the shop.
But Julian clarified he wasn't a streamer, leaving the owner sighing in regret. With an appetite like that, not being in food broadcasting felt like such a waste.
After paying, Julian released his Dragonite and quickly took off under the owner's stunned gaze.
"A pseudo-legendary Pokémon's trainer actually likes my buns… and even ate so many of them!"
Watching Julian fly off, the owner muttered to himself proudly, though he didn't recognize Julian—otherwise, he'd have bragged even harder.
Riding on Dragonite's back, Julian had now entered the outer layer of the Hara Desert.
He was in luck today—the desert was unusually calm, with no sandstorms. According to what Julian had read, this kind of weather only appeared once every few months.
As a result, crowds of trainers and merchants had flooded into the desert.
A large marketplace had formed around the desert's edge.
Some people were buying supplies they'd need to explore the Hara Desert. Others were selling the items they'd found inside.
Hovering in midair, Julian pulled out his Dowsing Machine. On a whim, he scanned the market—there were a few red dots, but all of them were tiny.
As expected, rare items like the Glossy Ganoderma wouldn't appear at a place like this. He wasn't some blessed protagonist with insane luck—he'd have to rely on himself to find it.
"Dragonite, head to the core area," Julian ordered.
The core of the Hara Desert was the most dangerous part, home to many Elite and three Champion-level wild Pokémon.
But if the Glossy Ganoderma truly was in the desert, the core area was the most likely place for it to be.
So the plan was to search the core area first—and if it wasn't there, he would gradually expand the search outward from that point.
The Hara Desert spanned about two million square kilometers. It was the largest desert in the country and the third largest in the world.
That was bigger than many small countries—many only had around a million square kilometers of land.
Of course, compared to Advanced-level secret realms, that wasn't especially large. Many Advanced-level realms were over three million square kilometers in size.
As for Top-tier secret realms, some of them were even larger than the entire nation of Drakoria.
Julian's Dowsing Machine had a scanning range of 50 kilometers.
Currently, Dragonite was flying at an altitude of about three kilometers. As long as the Glossy Ganoderma wasn't buried deeper than 47 kilometers, the Dowsing Machine would detect it.
None of the three Champion-level Pokémon in the Hara Desert could fly. At this height, even if they noticed Dragonite, there was nothing they could do.
So, unless the Glossy Ganoderma was located directly within their territory, Julian could safely fly over without any risk.
But he wasn't hoping for that.
After more than half a day of flying and scanning, the core area had been fully explored. The territories of the three Champion-level Pokémon were also scanned, and the Dowsing Machine lit up with three large red dots.
However, these weren't the kind of red dots that marked treasures—they were the Champion-level Pokémon themselves.
The Dowsing Machine could detect wild Pokémon with Blue-grade or higher potential.
And since Champion-level Pokémon all had Purple-grade potential, they naturally showed up.
Back when Julian's Gengar was still a Gastly, it had been detected due to its Purple-grade potential, which was how he'd caught it in the first place.
Now, the three large red dots clearly indicated the presence of those three Champion-level Pokémon.
To be absolutely certain, Julian descended briefly to verify each one—just in case one of the red dots was a treasure and not a Pokémon.
The red dot in the eastern part of the core area was a Sandslash. The one to the west was a Hippowdon. And the one in the very center belonged to Tyranitar.
Julian had seen the first two with his own eyes.
As for the late-stage Champion Tyranitar, he didn't dare get too close. It lived inside a rocky hill. Julian kept his distance and simply confirmed the powerful aura matched the red dot on the Dowsing Machine—then left right away.
That confirmed it—these three red dots were the three Champion-level Pokémon, not the Glossy Ganoderma.
Which meant… there was no Glossy Ganoderma in the core area.
Julian's expression darkened.
The core area was the most likely place for the Glossy Ganoderma to appear. If it wasn't here, then the chances of finding it elsewhere in the desert were even lower.
Unless, of course, the Glossy Ganoderma was buried deeper than fifty kilometers underground, beyond the Dowsing Machine's detection range—but that was almost impossible.
Historically, every recorded Glossy Ganoderma discovery had been found at depths of around one kilometer—some even just a few hundred meters.
It was a shallow-to-mid depth plant.
A Glossy Ganoderma buried more than fifty kilometers deep? Practically impossible.
So the core area could almost certainly be ruled out.
"I guess I have to start expanding outward," Julian sighed.
The core area was a bust. The rest of the desert had an even slimmer chance—but slim hope was still hope.
He guided Dragonite to begin a spiraling search pattern, starting from the core and expanding outward in rings spaced fifty kilometers apart—like a giant mosquito coil unraveling over the vast desert.
With Dragonite's speed, Julian had already scoured half of the Hara Desert in a single day. The remaining mid-to-outer layers were even larger—likely requiring two more days to cover fully.
As night fell, the desert's infamous winds roared to life.
Metagross erected a Light Screen barrier, shaping it into a makeshift shelter that blocked the howling winds and abrasive sand.
The desert's merciless temperature swing was in full effect: from a blistering 40+°C (104°F) during the day, it had plummeted to a chilly 4-5°C (39-41°F) by 9 PM. By midnight, it would dive further into -10°C (14°F) territory.
If it were winter, the temperature would be even colder.
Every year, many unprepared trainers froze to death in these conditions.
THUD
A dull thump came from below. Julian looked down and saw a dazed Sandshrew rubbing a freshly swollen bump on its head.
Metagross had extended the Light Screen beneath them too, so when this poor Sandshrew tried tunneling up for food—BAM—it faceplanted into an invisible wall.
Sandshrew: 'What's going on? Why is there something above my head?'
Then it saw Julian and immediately thought it was his fault. It wanted to teach the human a lesson, but no matter what it did, it couldn't break through the clear, glass-like wall above it. Its claws were almost worn down.
Watching the Sandshrew scratch helplessly at the Light Screen, Julian felt it probably wasn't too bright. Its claws were already sparking from friction, and the Light Screen hadn't taken any damage. Yet it kept scratching away—really a hard-headed fool.
*****
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