Half an hour later.
After Ace's Pokémon and the resident Exeggutor communicated and put a plan together for Ace to review, he finally understood what had happened.
"Mewtwo came back... and this tree is the key."
Ace took a bite of a Berry and reached out to stroke the rough bark of the giant tree. Standing beneath it, he could clearly feel his life force becoming exceptionally vibrant, and the fatigue from his long journey had almost completely vanished.
According to the system's appraisal, this tree was grown from a branch of Xerneas, and it was a one-time use item. It could form a Tree of Life with the effect of promoting fruit production and quickly restoring fatigue.
"This is a good thing?"
Ace looked at the Tree of Life's stats and couldn't help but say to the system, "Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"This item must be personally given by Xerneas; otherwise, a broken branch would be useless."
The system's prompt also let Ace know just how precious this item was.
"This is good and all, but..."
Ace looked at the heavy clusters of fruit in the orchard, feeling both joy and a bit of a headache. "The yield is way too high! What am I supposed to do with all these Berries?"
When he said that, the first person that came to mind was Professor Oak.
If Ace tried to sell these Berries himself, he would surely get fleeced, and badly. But if he brought in Professor Oak's golden name, the situation would be completely different. Professor Oak was a top-tier researcher with immense prestige within the League. If Ace could get him on board, the sale of his Berries would be a sure thing.
Ace tossed a Berry in his hand, his mind racing, and he quickly came up with a plan to handle the problem.
Three days later, Ace arrived at Professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town with a basket of Berries.
He stayed there for nearly five hours.
After those five hours, Ace left the lab with a beaming smile.
That same afternoon, Professor Oak went to the Indigo Plateau and stayed there for three days before finally finalizing the terms of the cooperation.
A week later, several trucks arrived at Ace's orchard, loaded up with tons of Berries, and then left.
Five days after that, a batch of high-grade Berries appeared on the market in the Kanto region, priced at twice the cost of regular Berries. But as soon as they were put up for sale, they sold out instantly. The price continued to rise until it was three times the price of regular Berries, at which point sales stabilized but still sold out at an extremely fast rate.
There were several reasons why these Berries were so expensive and still in such high demand.
First, these Berries weren't just fast-grown and for one-time harvesting like other Berries. They were high-quality Berries that had been fully matured and could be harvested repeatedly, and their taste was far superior to regular Berries.
Second, the effects of these high-grade Berries were much stronger than their regular counterparts. For example, a poison that would take over ten minutes to cure with a regular Berry could be cured in just one minute with a high-grade Berry. That tenfold difference naturally led to high sales.
Third, these Berries were officially recommended by the Pokémon League and endorsed by Professor Oak himself, guaranteeing their quality.
At this point, everyone had guessed that these Berries were from Ace's orchard. Ace had also connected with the League through Professor Oak. With Professor Oak as a guarantor, the League wouldn't try to take everything for themselves.
In addition, Ace smartly bundled the interests of all three parties together. The League realized that even without resorting to any shady business, they could make a huge profit. So, they decided to partner with Ace instead of trying to strong-arm him.
First, Ace would supply the Berries, and the League would buy them at 1.6 times the market price of regular Berries. Then, Professor Oak would act as the middleman, taking a 0.1x fee. Finally, the League, as the seller, would sell them at a price three times the market value, earning a 1.3x profit for themselves.
Ace also guaranteed that his acquisition price would not change, and the League could sell as many as they wanted. The more they sold, the more money they would make.
On top of that, Ace set aside two-tenths of his orchard's harvest, giving one-tenth to the League and one-tenth to Professor Oak, and only the remaining Berries would be sold on the market.
Under these conditions, the interests of all three parties were intertwined. It seemed like Ace was losing out since he was giving away a portion of his harvest and getting less money per Berry.
But in reality, Ace was making a huge profit. After all, Ace's main focus was being a Trainer, and raising Pokémon was his primary job. Spending extra energy on selling Berries would be counterproductive and not worth the effort.
Ace also didn't have a sales channel. Even if his Berries were the highest quality, who would buy them from an unknown person like him? It would take a lot of time to build up a reputation and trust, and Ace couldn't afford to wait.
So, Ace went to Professor Oak, offering him a basic profit, and then had Professor Oak communicate with the League to establish this connection. With the League's involvement, both the sales channels and the accumulation of Berry reputation were almost instantly taken care of for Ace.
If Ace had tried to do this alone, the League's market suppression alone would have ensured his business wouldn't last long. He probably wouldn't have even been able to sell them at a price higher than the market value, and even a lower price might not have worked. This was an unavoidable reality.
But now that the three parties' interests were aligned, Ace didn't have to worry about so much. The League would have to pay Ace a large sum of Pokémon dollars as soon as they took his goods. All Ace had to do was count the money and make sure he wasn't being shortchanged.
What's more, because of the massive demand for Berries, the League began to give Ace special treatment.
First was the land issue. The output from a one-acre orchard was not enough to meet the growing market demand, so the League simply gifted Ace the flatlands surrounding his property. To be clear, they didn't lease it; they gifted it. This meant that the surrounding flatlands became Ace's private property.
Next, the League reviewed some of Ace's records and found that a batch of his fossils had been confiscated by the Pewter City Museum. The day after this information was discovered, the curator of the now-burned-down and rebuilding Fossil Museum, along with a group of other employees, were all dismissed.
On the third day, those people came to Ace's house with fake smiles and gave him all sorts of expensive items, along with a private stash of Pokémon dollars. Ace estimated it to be an additional income of nearly two million Pokémon dollars.
On the fourth day, five Omanyte, five Kabuto, and two Aerodactyl were sent to Ace in Poké Balls, to compensate for the confiscated fossils. The League members who delivered them also guaranteed Ace that if he needed any Pokémon, the League would give him ten of them unconditionally.
After everything was taken care of, Ace looked at his now-full storage room, leaned against the door frame, and said with a raised eyebrow, "This is reality. Profits come first."
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