After capturing Steelix, its level 66 immediately became Julian's highest among all his Pokémon, even surpassiagross, who currently sat at level 55.

  He khat the further ahead a Pokémon was in levels, the slower it would progress. Many Pokémon remaiuck at certain levels their entire lives due to their qualifications.

  Despite Steelix's high level, Julian uood that a high level did not necessarily equate to high bat power.

  In terms of pure bat ability, Steelix still ranked as a junior pared to Metagross, and even his Lucario and Dragonair surpassed Steelix in strength.

  They had all grown with the help of system points, elevating them to a level that far exceeded that of a wild Pokémon like Steelix.

  However, one aspect stood out: Steelix's unique e to the rough diamonds it had guarded. This had allowed it to polish its body over time, making it harder than most Steelix in the wild.

  "e out, Steelix!"

  Julian released Steelix again, and the moment it emerged, excitement radiated from it. The Pokémon wagged its massive tail joyfully, clearly it seemed to like the enviro in Poké Ball.

  "I guess Steelix isn't as stiff as I thought," Julian mused to himself, chug at the sight.

  He returned Metagross to its Poké Ball for some mueeded rest, knowing that it would be er for mining and battling.

  Steelix, sensing Julian's iions, tried l its head, but just as he was about to, Julian jumped up and nded on Steelix's head.

  Mega Pallet Town Physique sure was useful.

  "Departure, Northwest!"

  Julian anded, clutg the Dowsing Mae tightly. A rge red dot blipped on the s, as promising as the ohat indicated the soft sand he had previously uhed.

  This new unexplored intermediate-level secret realm was really a treasure trove. If he had more time, Julian would have loved to explore all the little red dots scattered around, but he focused on maximizing his ces by pursuing the rger ones.

  While Steelix was not as swift as Metagross in the air, its steadiness made it a reliable ground mount.

  'Soon, I'll have a s mount like Dragonite, and maybe even a water mount like Kyogre,' he mused, anyway it's just a fantasy, Such fantasies made the journey enjoyable, and before he k, they had reached the location of the red dot.

  But at this moment, Julian noticed anure he red dot. The persoeelix cautiously and quickly reized Julian sitting on its head.

  'I thought it was just another Pokémon in the secret realm, but it seems there's a Trainer here,' he thought.

  The man held a square device about 30 timeters long in his hand—an energy dete device capable of sensing the unique energy emitted by treasures.

  However, its accurad range were limited, and many treasures do energy at all, making it far less effective than Julian's Dowsing Mae.

  The man's ability to find this spot artly due to luck.

  As it turned out, the treasure in this area did emit energy, which had beeed by his device.

  "Young Master Walker"

  The man said, reizing Juliaed atop Steelix. His expression shifted, a mixture of surprise and crossing his face.

  Not only was Julian's identity known, but the pseudo-Elite aura radiating from Steelix made the situation even more plicated. If Julian had the desire to take the treasure, the man could do little to stop him.

  "Steelix, let's go," Julian anded.

  He had no iion of robbing the man. It wasn't that Julian didn't want the treasure; but the other Trainer was a local from Lake City, And the man hadn't been rude ressive, and the other party came here first, so it seemed only fair to allow him the opportunity to cim the find.

  However, whether the man could actually locate the treasure was another matter. The accuracy of his energy detector only reached a few dozeers, or at most, 100 meters.

  Given that treasures are often buried deep, the likelihood of him finding anything substantial was slim.

  'I'll e baorrow,' Julian thought. 'If he doesn't find it, then it's mine.'

  When the man saw Julian leave, he couldn't help but sighed in relief.

  "This Steelix must have been captured in the secret realm," he whispered to himself.

  While only Meltan remained hiddeo its special dition, everyone else knew whion Julian possessed.

  After letting Steelix roam the Rock zone for over an hour, Julian he red dots dispyed on his Dowsing Mae ged several times, but they were all of minor value, around 10 million.

  It wasn't worth a special trip.

  After returning Steelix to its Poké Ball, Julian released Metagross once more.

  "Metagross, keep flying towards the north," Julian instructed.

  He was ready to leave this Rock zohe intermediate secret realm spanned several cities, naturally featuring a variety of enviros.

  Julian had already passed through four distinct areas: forest, s, ke, and rock.

  The forest, ke, and roviros were the most on in all secret realms. Apart from a few exceptions, most secret realms incorporated these three settings.

  More than half an hour ter, Metagross was still traversing the Rock area, but Julian noticed the color of the rocks shifting from taupe to bck. The temperature began to rise, and the humidity steadily dropped.

  As he squihrough the shimmeri, Julian wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  Fire-type Pokémon occasionally popped up, their warmth mixing with the risi from the ground.

  "It seems there's a volo nearby, or maybe even one underground," Juliaed.

  This bck roation was likely the result of cooling magma after a volic eruption, with a yer of mud on its surfaed from accumuted volic ash.

  Due to the relentless heat radiating from the surface, most pnts struggled to survive, leaving only a few heat-resistant species scattered across the barren ground.

  After taking a swig from his bottle of water, Julian muttered, "My Mega Pallet Town body is definitely not built for this heat. I thought I'd be fire-resistant."

  As he ventured deeper, the temperature tio climb. Cheg his thermometer, it read 43 degrees Celsius.

  Thanks to his Mega Pallet Town physique, Julian was holding up against the heat; otherwise, he might have succumbed to heat stroke. Although his body wasn't heat-resistant, it prevented him from colpsing.

  Charizard's Fmethrower would also char Ash at best, before quickly returning to normal.

  At this heighteemperature, the fire-type Pokémon below had also leveled up siderably. Fortunately, Metagross was flying high enough that their Fmethrower attacks couldn't reach him.

  Suddenly, a level 57 Talonfme appeared before Metagross, followed by dozens of Fletder. The heat radiating from their bodies, bined with the powerful fpping of their wings, all rushed toward Julian.

  "Dragonair, use Thunderbolt!"