Leon looked at the prizes he had drawn, feeling very excited. All four items were quite good.
The Antidote, as the name suggests, could cure a Pokémon's poisoned status when used.
Ember Town was located near Glowfern Forest, where most Pokémon were Bug-type, Grass-type, or Poison-type. Nearly all of them had moves that could poison Pokémon.
Players would frequently encounter and battle them in the future, so the demand for Antidotes would definitely be high.
At that time, Leon could make a huge profit again.
Ahem, no!
Why was his mind now constantly thinking about how to make money off players? Had he truly become a despicable capitalist? That wouldn't do—he'd be hung from a streetlight by the players!
Leon engaged in deep self-reflection and decided to reduce the price by one Poké Dollar when selling to players. Then he moved on to examine the next prize.
The Smoke Ball's effect was that when thrown on the ground, it would produce irregular dust and smoke, obscuring the surrounding vision.
In the games, it also had a function to prevent Pokémon from noticing, but the real-world Smoke Ball didn't have this effect.
It made sense—any Pokémon with a normal level of intelligence would find it suspicious if smoke suddenly rose from the ground. There was no way they wouldn't notice.
Still, this item was quite useful for escaping, so it was a decent prize.
Next was the TM. He hadn't expected to draw Protect this time.
Protect was a god-tier move on par with Dodge.
When a Pokémon used Protect, it would enter a protective state, shielding itself from most moves.
Simply put, it could block one attack from an opponent's Pokémon.
Moreover, this move wasn't picky about Pokémon. Aside from a very few Pokémon like Wobbuffet that couldn't learn it, almost all other Pokémon could learn this move.
With its powerful effect and wide compatibility, it truly lived up to its reputation as a "god-tier move."
Leon was extremely satisfied with this prize. Even if all the other prizes were Poké Balls and he only got this one Protect TM, he'd still be very happy.
Leon happily stored the TM and took out the last—and most anticipated—prize: the Peat Block!
In terms of rarity and importance, the Peat Block couldn't compare to the Protect TM.
The reason Leon was most excited about it was because it could evolve a specific Pokémon.
And he happened to have that specific Pokémon—yes, it was Ursaring!
The Peat Block could evolve Ursaring into Ursaluna during a full moon!
How could Leon not be excited? He had never seen a Pokémon evolution before, and this time it was his own Pokémon evolving.
Most importantly, tonight was a full moon!
What a coincidence!
Leon held the Peat Block and looked up at the full moon in the night sky.
It seemed even the heavens wanted him to evolve Ursaring immediately.
"The heavens' will is hard to defy~"
Leon hurried outside the castle, calling the players over as well. With a smile, he said to them:
"I've mentioned to you before that most Pokémon can evolve. After evolution, a Pokémon's appearance and physique undergo obvious changes, and its strength improves significantly."
"For example, Secretary Walter's Beedrill is the final evolved form of Weedle. Oh wait, it might also... Never mind, you wouldn't understand even if I explained further."
Leon regretted using Beedrill as an example. He didn't even know if Mega Evolution existed in this Pokémon world.
"Anyway, evolution is one of the most effective ways to increase a Pokémon's strength. Your Pokémon will evolve in the future too."
"To give you a clear understanding of evolution, I'll now evolve a Pokémon. This is a rare opportunity, so pay close attention."
"Come out, Ursaring!"
"Roar!!"
Leon threw a Poké Ball, releasing Ursaring.
"Holy shit? Ursaring?"
"Ursaring is already so strong, and it can still evolve?"
"Before evolving, it could slap me to death in one hit. What's it gonna be like after evolving?"
The players were stunned when they saw it was Ursaring evolving.
They had thought it would be Bounsweet or Aron evolving, but no one expected it to be Ursaring.
Leon was very satisfied with the players' reactions. This was exactly the look of surprise he wanted.
He turned to Ursaring and said:
"Ursaring, this Peat Block can make you evolve. You'll become even stronger than you are now. Do you want to evolve?"
"Roar!"
Ursaring nodded. Most Pokémon wanted to evolve—they all wanted to grow stronger.
Only a very few Pokémon refused to evolve for various reasons. Fortunately, most of those Pokémon belonged to Ash~
After getting Ursaring's consent, Leon handed over the Peat Block.
As soon as Ursaring took the Peat Block, its body suddenly emitted a strong blue light.
The blue light enveloped Ursaring's entire body, then began to change shape.
Soon, the light's shape stabilized.
As the glow faded, a Pokémon with a vastly different appearance and physique from Ursaring emerged.
Unlike Ursaring, which stood on its hind legs, this Pokémon crouched on all fours. Even so, its height was about the same as Ursaring's.
Ursaluna's forelimbs were much thicker and stronger than its hind legs. Its upper body and limbs were covered in gray fur, while the rest of its body was brown.
Its most distinctive feature was the yellow circle on its forehead, which, combined with its eyebrows, formed a "cloud-covered moon" pattern, giving it a unique kind of beauty.
"Roar!!"
Ursaluna raised its forelimbs and let out a mighty roar, as if announcing its successful evolution to everyone.
Leon walked up to Ursaluna and patted its thick shoulder, then glanced at its back.
Good, it was quite spacious—perfect for riding!
In his past life, he could only ride Ursaluna in the games. Now he could ride one himself!
To be honest, he was already a little impatient.
"Can I ride it without a saddle..."
Leon muttered to himself.
He signaled Ursaluna to crouch down, then climbed onto its back.
"Ouch..."
Ursaluna's fur was really damn coarse. But it was still bearable.
Leon leaned forward and grabbed the square patches of fur on Ursaluna's back.
He first had Ursaluna walk forward slowly, feeling no noticeable bumps.
Encouraged, he boldly had Ursaluna start running.
Ursaluna obediently ran toward the outskirts of town.
"Woo-hoo~"
Leon was a little scared at first, but he noticed Ursaluna wasn't running very fast and the ride was quite stable.
He gradually got used to this mode of transportation and let out a cheerful shout.
Meanwhile, the players outside the castle were completely dumbfounded, unable to recover for a long time.
First, they were stunned by Ursaring's evolution. The players had originally thought evolution would be like a tadpole turning into a frog in the real world—a slow, gradual change.
But they hadn't expected evolution to transform a Pokémon into another form in a short time.
Just as they were still trying to process this miraculous phenomenon, they then saw Leon riding the bear.
"Guys, am I seeing this right? Our lord... just rode a bear and ran off?!"
While browsing chapter comments today, I noticed a problem. I had originally mistaken Bounsweet's red outer skin for purple (I'm not colorblind—the color was somewhere between purple and red). So in the text, I described it as a "purple figure." Coincidentally, shiny Bounsweet's calyx is purple, which led many to think the protagonist's Bounsweet was shiny. Actually, it's not—the protagonist's Bounsweet is just a regular one. After all, I think a pure white Tsareena looks much better~
[End of Chapter]