Chapter 81: Water Stone Vein And Noibat
On the surface, there seemed to be no Water Stone in this cave, but the Ludicolo Leader clearly hadn’t lied, so the truth could only be one thing.
“Do I have to dig it myself?” Lu Li thought with some annoyance.
Lu Li didn’t want to do this high-risk mining work. Leaving aside whether he had the time, if his luck was bad and he caused the cave to collapse, even as a Cultivator he would be crushed to death.
Of course, there was an even greater probability of dying from suffocation.
This kind of work should be left to Sandshrew. Lu Li decided to find a Sandshrew when leaving later to reach this cooperation.
“Fire~”
（Should we leave here first?）
Lu Li didn’t speak, but used Spiritual Power Scan on the entire cave. From the digging marks, this cave obviously had traces of being dug before.
However, it wasn’t manual digging, but Pokémon had been mining here long-term, and their claws weren’t sharp, more like shovels.
Thinking of this, Lu Li glanced at the Ludicolo Leader’s duck-webbed claws.
Hmm! The marks matched.
No wonder they dug Water Stone so slowly; it turned out they were professionally mismatched.
Unfortunately, the Ludicolo Leader didn’t have the capital to switch jobs to Capitalist. As the Overlord of this area, the Ludicolo Leader was fully capable of oppressing other Pokémon to come mine here.
Lu Li soon discovered the Singularity. Following his Spiritual Power to a corner, Lu Li ordered the Charmander beside him: “Charmander, dig here. We’ll leave once we dig something up.”
The Charmander, who had long wanted to leave, ignored its discomfort. Its two sharp claws quickly started digging, and soon a blue stone was unearthed.
It was a fist-sized Water Stone. If cut well, it could probably be cut into three Water Stones.
In the time it took Charmander to move its claws, they had earned 300,000.
Examining the Water Stone in his hand, Lu Li sincerely exclaimed in his heart: “No wonder so many Trainers risk their lives rushing into the Wilderness and Secret Realms; the speed of making money is truly astonishing.”
The Ludicolo Leader looked at the Water Stone in Lu Li’s hand in surprise. It had never dug up such a large Water Stone.
After putting away the Water Stone, Lu Li squatted down, looked at the Ludicolo Leader, and asked seriously: “Ludicolo Leader, how about we make a transaction?”
“Gah?”
（What?）
The Ludicolo Leader looked at Lu Li in confusion.
Revealing his true intentions, Lu Li stated his purpose: “In the future, you help me guard this place. I’ll send Pokémon to dig Water Stone here. As compensation, your tribe can freely use the dug Water Stones.”
The Ludicolo Leader tilted its head, thought for a moment, then nodded, agreeing to Lu Li’s transaction.
Lu Li didn’t know how many Water Stones were in this cave chamber, but one thing was certain: there was definitely a Water Stone Vein here, with value possibly over ten billion.
According to the Alliance’s Wilderness development rules, unclaimed veins like this generally belong to whoever discovers them first and registers them with the Alliance.
However, Lu Li hadn’t considered reporting to the Alliance.
After all, the Alliance didn’t stipulate sending people to guard the vein for you.
In fact, if he really dared to report it, he would probably die in a Wilderness exploration accident tomorrow, and the vein would get a new owner.
Lu Li, who didn’t trust Humans, chose to trust the relatively simple Pokémon.
The most important thing now was to secure the bag first; future matters could be dealt with later.
After fooling the Ludicolo Leader, Lu Li took Charmander and the others away from the Water Stone Mine.
Charmander couldn’t wait to leave this place. After all, a place full of Water Attribute Energy was equivalent to putting itself at the Seabed for Charmander.
On the way out, Lu Li suddenly remembered the Ludicolo Leader’s friends.
Pokémon living in caves—Lu Li first thought of Noibat.
Noibat…
Lu Li had a tiny bit of desire to capture it, but not much.
If there really was one with super good Qualification, Lu Li wouldn’t mind capturing it. As a powerful Pokémon with a Base Stat Total of 535 after final evolution, it was definitely worth capturing if the Qualification was good.
However, the probability of such a Pokémon appearing in the Wilderness should not be higher than finding a Mine.
“Ludicolo Leader, can you introduce me to your friends?” Lu Li asked with a smile.
“Gah~”
（Will you hurt my friends?）
Lu Li shook his head: “Of course not.”
“Gah~”
（Then come on.）
The naive Ludicolo Leader believed Lu Li once again.
Led by the Ludicolo Leader, Lu Li soon met its friends.
Lu Li had originally thought they would be Noibat here, but now, Lu Li wanted to say his vision was still too narrow.
Looking at the group of Noibat hanging on the walls, Lu Li was stunned.
He never expected there to actually be Dragon Type Pokémon here.
Question: Among Gyarados, Noibat, and Charizard, which is the Dragon Type Pokémon?
Answer: Noibat!
This was a proper Dragon, one with Dragon Attribute.
“Is my first Dragon about to come?”
Lu Li’s heart raced as he gazed hotly at the Noibat before him.
“Zzz~zzz!”
（Light! Why is there light here!）
“Zzz~zzz!”
（Quickly take the light away!）
Hearing the Noibat grumbling Growls, Lu Li awkwardly turned off his flashlight.
“Hello, I’m a friend of Ludicolo. I came specifically to meet you.” Lu Li hurriedly said.
“Zzz~”
（Are you the legendary Human?）
Among the Noibat, one close to Elite Level landed in front of Lu Li, then curiously sized him up.
Lu Li nodded.
None of the Noibat had evolved. In the Game, Noibat evolves into Noivern at level 48, which in real-world Strength is Elite Late Stage.
Although reality differs from the Game, it’s equally hard for Noibat to evolve into Noivern; at least it needs to breakthrough Elite Level to have a chance of evolution.
Lu Li used his Spirit Eye Technique to check the 12 Noibat here and found the highest Qualification was only Elite Level, and that Noibat was already very old.
With his now vastly improved eyesight, Lu Li instantly dismissed the idea of capturing Noibat.
No way around it; this group’s Noibat had really poor Qualifications.
But a new problem arose: how did this group of Noibat end up here?
Normally, a powerful Pokémon tribe like Noibat should occupy Territory in the Mountain Range core area.
Lu Li asked curiously: “Can you tell me the reason you moved here?”
The Noibat Leader listened, let out a sad cry, then explained the reason their entire tribe migrated to this Cave.
It turned out the Noibat originally lived in the core area, but their ancestors entered Secret Realms to become stronger. Unable to live in the core area anymore, they brought the tribe here.
As for why not follow their ancestors to the Secret Realm? Because Secret Realms are more dangerous than the Wilderness; even those powerful ancestors couldn’t protect them in the Secret Realm.
After hearing the Noibat’s story, Lu Li’s eyes flickered slightly.
The online guesses were true; there was very likely a Large Secret Realm deep in the core of Qingyun Mountain Range.
Lu Li now understood what the Great Omen of Misfortune turning into Great Omen of Good Fortune during Divination meant.
Knowing about a new Secret Realm was good news, but for him now, it was completely useless.
The danger of Secret Realms isn’t comparable to the Wilderness.
Lu Li guessed the Alliance very likely knew about that Secret Realm but chose to conceal it from the public because they couldn’t develop it.
But thinking about it, it made sense. If it were confirmed there was a Secret Realm deep in Qingyun Mountain Range, the peace of Qingyun Mountain Range would definitely be broken, and causing a Pokémon tide riot would be more loss than gain.
The Jiuzhou Region now emphasizes Stability, not Forge Ahead.
After learning more about the core area from the Noibat, Lu Li bid farewell to them.
After leaving the Cave, Lu Li looked up at the sunset and sighed in his heart: “It seems my fourth Pokémon can only be found in a Secret Realm.”
Noibat are indeed rare, but unfortunately, none met the Qualification standard.
“Ludicolo, do you know where there are Sandshrew nearby?” Lu Li asked, lowering his head.
“Gah?”
（Why are you looking for them? They’re hard to find.）
“I have something I want to ask them to help with.” Lu Li explained kindly.
“Gah~”
（They’re very timid. They Dig and run away as soon as they see other Pokémon. You won’t find them.）
Lu Li: “How will I know without trying? Just tell me their location.”
The Ludicolo Leader listened and nodded.
Weak Sandshrew have no Territory in the Wilderness. First, they don’t rely on Territory to live; second, Pokémon that can Dig in the Wilderness generally make their homes underground to avoid surface dangers.
On the way back, the Ludicolo Leader specifically pointed out the Region where the Sandshrew were active.
“Gah~”
（That group of timid Pokémon generally activities in this Area. They occasionally come out at noon to bask in the sun.）
Lu Li nodded and silently memorized this information, deciding to come check tomorrow.
By the time they returned to the Camp, the Seedot had mostly recovered.
Lu Li kept his promise and let the Seedot go.
“Remember our transaction. Come find me here at this time tomorrow.” Lu Li instructed.
Ludicolo nodded, then led the Seedot down the river and finally disappeared from the river surface.
After the Ludicolo Leader took the Seedot away, Lu Li clapped his hands and decided: “Alright, let’s have our meal too.”
After taking out Pills from his Backpack, Lu Li began distributing the Pills in his hand.
“This is Milotic’s Spirit Beauty Pill, Tropius’s Grass Spirit Pill, and finally Charmander’s Fire Spirit Pill…”
Finally, Lu Li took a Bigu Pill from his Backpack and ate it.
With little need for food anymore, Lu Li didn’t like cooking in the Wilderness because cooking there easily attracted wild Pokémon.
He didn’t have wild Pokémon affinity physique. According to wild Pokémon habits, after seeing the Delicacy he made, most would think of robbing it rather than waiting obediently for his sympathy.
Wild Pokémon don’t survive by begging.
After nightfall, Lu Li meditated in the Tent.
Lu Li had no intention of exploring outside at night. If the Wilderness danger level during the day was one, then at night it was at least three, or even higher.
