Seeing that James was truly angry, Julian immediately poured him a glass of water and said with a flattering smile, "Granduncle, don't be mad, don't be mad! I was just kidding."
"If you and Grandpa really followed Champion William's example and started having kids at your age, wouldn't that just create more competition for my inheritance?"
Julian said it as though he was trying to soothe the situation—but his words only made James lose his appetite for even the water. 'Is this brat trying to send me to an early grave?'
"Compete with you for the inheritance? Hah! Your grandfather already gave you the Walker family inheritance when you were born!"
"Ah, really? Why didn't Grandpa tell me?" Julian blinked in surprise.
He honestly hadn't known. Not that it mattered much, although he often joked about the Walker family's inheritance—given his current strength and influence, whether he had the Walker family's fortune or not made little difference.
"Then what about yours, Granduncle? Why don't you just give it to me too? I'll take care of you when you're old," Julian said with a grin.
"Secretary Ren, go find me a stick," James thundered. "If I don't beat this brat to death today, I'll take his surname!"
James was on the verge of exploding with rage. He wasn't even dead yet, and this kid was already eyeing his assets? Besides, the majority of the Walker Group's shares were held by his grandfather—meaning they were all Julian's already.
Secretary Ren smiled but made no move to act.
"Granduncle, we already share the same surname. Your phrasing doesn't make sense," Julian said innocently.
James sat back down with a heavy sigh, deciding not to waste more breath on this troublemaker. The kid was clearly deliberately provoking him today, all to avoid being the team leader.
"You really don't want to be the team leader?" he asked again.
Julian nodded eagerly. This kind of job was tiring and thankless—let someone else do it. If he accepted, it'd tie him up for at least two months: one for training and another for the tournament itself.
Basically, he'd be stuck playing babysitter for two months—boring, exhausting, and unrewarding.
"In that case, the Steel-type Ultimate treasure, Strange Water, will have to go to another team leader," James said with a hint of resignation.
He glanced up, expecting Julian to finally show some interest—but the boy remained completely calm.
'Is this brat not even tempted by an Ultimate treasure?'
In reality, Julian was already searching for information on Strange Water in the system store and quickly found it.
[Strange Water: Reduces damage from Water-type moves by 30%, increases the power of Steel-type moves by 20%. (Effective for all types)]
It was indeed an Ultimate treasure, though admittedly a fairly ordinary one.
"Alright then, I'll reluctantly accept," Julian agreed with a nod.
Working for free without any benefits? No way. But if there were benefits, that was another story.
James shot Julian a sidelong glance and continued, "You handled the incident in Victoria very well. So the Elders Council has authorized you to enter the national vault and pick one item of your choice."
"Really?"
Julian was a little excited.
The National Treasure Vault of Drakoria was no ordinary place—it held countless valuable items collected from the feudal era all the way to the modern age of Pokémon.
Even Champions couldn't just walk in and take what they wanted.
Only after making significant contributions to the nation would one be allowed to select items from the treasure vault, and that too, based on the scale of their achievements.
Considering that Julian had single-handedly repelled the First-class Legendary Groudon, protecting not just Victoria but the entire nation in the process—such an impressive feat meant the Elders Council couldn't be stingy.
Thus, they granted Julian the privilege to freely select any treasure from the treasure vault.
This was an opportunity even Duke would envy.
After leaving James's office, Julian was led by staff to the national treasure vault, located underground beneath the administrative building.
"Champion Walker, you have until the end of the day to make your selection," the staff member reminded.
"Got it," Julian nodded.
As the staff closed the vault door, Julian slowly walked through the space. The vault was divided into several sections.
Treasures related to Pokémon were categorized by Type and placed on designated shelves.
Julian headed straight to the section holding Pokémon treasures, as other artifacts held little appeal for him.
With half a day to choose, he was in no hurry. Using his Probing Eyes, he carefully examined each treasure one by one.
Every item stored in the vault was at least a sub-Ultimate treasure, with many being full-fledged Ultimate treasures. Julian even spotted a few World-class Ultimate treasures.
Some of the items he examined included:
[Magnetic Crystal: Increases the power of Ground and Rock-type moves by 80%. (Usable only by Pokémon with Purple-grade potential)]
[Patterned Soil: Enhances a Grass-type Pokémon's photosynthesis, restoring 5–10% HP per second depending on sunlight. (Limited to Grass-type Pokémon)]
[Steel Stone: Instantly upgrades a Steel-type Pokémon's potential to Purple-grade. (Usable only by Pokémon with Blue-grade potential)]
[Violet Water: Adds Poison-type properties to all Water-type moves. (No type restriction)]
Even though Julian had seen and used many Ultimate treasures before, standing before nearly a hundred Ultimate treasures laid out in front of him still made his eyes burn with desire.
He honestly wanted to sweep his arm across the shelves and pack everything up.
Most of these treasures came from Secret Realms and Ancient Ruins explored by Drakoria's exploration teams, while others had been voluntarily handed over by trainers who couldn't use them due to restrictions—traded to the state in exchange for equivalent resources.
If these treasures were strategically concentrated on a few chosen individuals, they could significantly increase the chances of producing new Champions.
The newly promoted 35-year-old Champion from Celestria was precisely the result of their nation leveraging a vast number of treasures from their own vault to forcefully propel him.
Although they gained an additional Champion, this also drastically depleted nation's treasure vault. It would take decades, if not a century, to replenish their stock.
In essence, they had consumed a part of their nation's very foundation.
For a superpower like Celestria, this was a rather short-sighted trade-off.
After all, they already had five Champions; one more didn't really change much.
Even if all six of their Champions joined forces, they still wouldn't be able to defeat just Kyogre.
Compared to Drakoria, they were still the "little brother."
If Drakoria wished, they could emulate Celestria's approach—using over a dozen or so Ultimate treasures to help one or two peak Pseudo-Champion trainers to break through.
But there was simply no need. Unless the nation faced existential crisis, such a approach was not advisable.
Aside from treasures, there were also many top-tier Pokémon items.
For example, the spoons wielded by a Champion Alakazam, or the massive pillars forged from meteorites suitable for Conkeldurr—though whether Conkeldurr could even lift such pillars was another matter entirely.
There were also Pokémon Eggs, all with at least Cyan-grade potential. Julian even spotted quite a few with Blue-grade potential, and even one with Purple-grade potential.
In addition, there were top-tier recipes for Pokéblocks, breeding notes for specific Pokémon lineages, and much more.
The variety was extensive—virtually any treasure one could imagine was stored here.
Unfortunately, with so many treasures to choose from, he could only take one. Julian was momentarily at a loss, unsure how to decide—after all, he was only human.
"Let's keep looking, keep looking."
Muttering to himself, Julian continued exploring the vault. There were still many items he hadn't examined yet. He had time to finish looking before making his choice.
*****
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