The outcome of the match was, naturally, a victory for Imperial University. After all, Imperial University had an Elite-level Trainer on their side, while Shu had none.
Shu’s position as the "eternal runner-up" was as solid as ever.
As the host loudly announced that Imperial University was the champion, everyone present—whether they supported Imperial or Shu—applauded for the winning team.
The MVP of the Hundred Schools League naturally went to Dylan.
Ryan had also performed well, but his strength still fell short of Dylan’s, so the MVP title was naturally out of his reach.
The MVP was rewarded with a Pseudo-Legendary hatchling.
And the Pseudo-Legendary hatchling prepared by the tournament committee was a Beldum.
However, Dylan's ace Pokémon was an Elite Metagross, so a Beldum was rather unnecessary for him.
The organizers suggested that he could instead exchange it for another Pseudo-Legendary hatchling, or receive two non-Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon with Cyan-grade potential.
One might have thought Dylan would choose to exchange for another Pseudo-Legendary, given their far greater value compared to other Pokémon.
But he didn't. Instead, he requested an Aron and a Duraludon.
Aron wasn’t a problem—Drakoria’s largest breeding company belonged to the Walker family, and they naturally controlled the vast majority of Cyan potential Aron, and the Walker family sold a few Cyan-grade Aron to the public each year.
So, it wasn't too difficult for the tournament committee to acquire a Cyan-grade Aron.
However, obtaining a Duraludon was another matter entirely.
Currently, the Walker family had no intention of selling Duraludon to the public.
Although the Walker family provided a small number of Duraludon to the Drake family, the Drakes barely had enough for themselves, let alone enough to sell externally.
And what they were talking about was a Cyan-grade one to boot.
So the tournament organizers approached Julian. Since the Walker family had the largest number of Duraludon, if Julian agreed, the problem would be solved.
Julian looked at Dylan and smiled, "Good eye. Duraludon has the Defense typical of Steel types, coupled with the powerful Special Attack of Dragon types. Aside from relatively weak Special Defense, it has almost no other flaws."
Moreover, Duraludon itself had relatively high base stats; it could definitely be considered an excellent Pokémon.
Dylan seemed somewhat shy at the moment, a stark contrast to his cold and aloof demeanor on the battlefield just earlier.
"My dream is to have a Steel-type lineup like yours, senior."
Julian was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected this guy to be one of his admirers as well.
But thinking back, the steel-types Dylan had shown earlier really did overlap with his own—Metagross, Steelix, and Lucario.
However, obtaining a Cyan-grade Aron would still be quite difficult with the Eastbrook family's resources, not to mention a Duraludon.
Of course, that was in the past. Now, the Eastbrook family had already become a subsidiary of the Walkers.
Their own legitimate daughter had been sent to Julian's side to serve as his secretary.
"I'll look into it for you later. Among the Cyan-grade Duraludon, most of them are already at the Elite-tier, which isn't suitable for you right now. Let's see if there are any Pokémon eggs. If there are, I'll get one for you."
Julian wasn't a stingy person, especially not toward his own people. Even if there weren't any Cyan-grade Duraludon eggs, he would use potions to enhance their potential.
"Thank you, senior!" Dylan said excitedly.
Julian waved his hand. Dylan was indeed a talented trainer, so of course he would help.
Thinking about it, Ella was also an Elite trainer in her twenties. Although she didn't become an Elite until she was 26, that was still considered exceptionally outstanding among aristocratic families.
The head of the Eastbrook family must have good genes—both his daughter and son were excellent.
As agreed beforehand, after the award ceremony ended, Julian took the Imperial University team members to dine at Gardevoir Hotel.
Haley had already hit it off with the two female members of the team.
She even told Julian that she also wanted to become his junior in the future.
Right now Haley had just entered her second year of high school. As for her grades—well, let's just say they were not that impressive.
With her current academic performance, unless she showed extraordinary Trainer talent, she wouldn’t even make it into Shu University.
Julian’s dismissive attitude made Haley furious, making her determined to study hard from now on. But the moment she remembered she couldn't even understand the Pythagorean theorem in math, she felt discouraged again.
Haley really couldn’t understand why a subject like math had to exist—so tormenting and incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, Julian also couldn’t understand how someone could score only 30 points on such simple math. Wasn’t it just plugging numbers into formulas? You could practically do it with your eyes closed.
As someone who had been a straight-A student since childhood, Julian simply couldn’t comprehend the pain of struggling students.
The meal lasted a little over two hours. Everyone had a few drinks, even Wade drank quite a bit.
There was no need to worry about anyone getting too drunk—Julian had already booked rooms for everyone.
Once the food and drink were finished, the gathering dispersed.
Julian walked over to Ryan, who had been rather sullen throughout the meal.
"Do you want a Beldum?"
Ryan nodded, but then quickly added, "I’ll earn it with my own strength. Senior, you don’t need to help me."
He knew very well that if he asked, Julian would most likely help him. But he refused to do that—such behavior would be far too shameful.
"If not this year, then I'll try again next year."
By the next Hundred Schools League, Dylan would have already graduated. And given another year to grow, Ryan might very well become the next MVP.
The MVP of the Hundred Schools League could definitely receive a Pseudo-Legendary hatchling as a reward.
And since this year’s Pseudo-Legendary hatchling, Beldum, hadn’t been taken by Dylan, most likely it would be reserved until the next tournament.
Therefore, if Ryan really became the MVP next year, his chances of obtaining that Beldum were quite high.
"I'm not here to help you with that. Your Alakazam's potential should be close to reaching Cyan-grade, right?"
"Yes, I'm currently gathering some resources. Once I have them all, Alakazam's potential can reach Cyan-grade." After saying that, he smiled wryly: "After buying those resources, I'll have to start tightening my belt again."
There was one thing he didn’t say: even with all those resources, it was still uncertain whether Alakazam’s potential could truly break through to the Cyan-grade.
For a Pokémon’s potential to advance, the resources required were substantial, and even then the success rate was not one hundred percent.
If the breakthrough failed, children from prestigious families could still bear the loss. But for civilian trainers, the price of failure was something they simply couldn’t afford.
"Just use this."
Julian handed him a Cyan-grade Potential Enhancement Potion.
After all, he considered Ryan one of his own. Getting him a Beldum might be forcing things too much, but giving him a potion was perfectly fine.
*****
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