"Is that all?"
"Yes. This is already every dark-type gem in stock across all four Military Divisions!"
Minister Kenjiro looked at the dozen or so dark-type gems laid out on the table, his tone a little awkward.
"You know the Great Axia Alliance basically doesn't produce this kind of item. Only the Lighthouse Alliance has them."
"And there aren't any large habitats for Dark-type Pokémon within our alliance's territory either, so naturally there isn't much of this stuff."
Minister Kenjiro explained.
After pausing for a moment, he continued.
"I was originally planning to get a batch from the Lighthouse Alliance for you."
"But for some reason, even when we offered to trade Dragon-type items with them, and even raised the price very high, they still refused."
"The reply we got was that they also need this kind of resource themselves, so they won't sell any externally."
"Who knows what they're secretly scheming again."
Minister Kenjiro spread his hands as he spoke.
When it came to Himeko's request, he did not dare neglect it in the slightest.
Not only had he transferred all the dark-type items stored in the warehouses of the four Military Divisions,
he had even proactively contacted the Lighthouse Alliance as well, worried it might not be enough.
In the end, he had not expected this kind of result.
"I understand. Thank you for the trouble, Minister."
Himeko nodded.
She did not say anything more. After thanking him, she put those items away and hurried out the door.
Watching her figure reach the doorway,
Minister Kenjiro had originally intended to call her back and ask what exactly she wanted those things for.
But when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back down.
…
Himeko's new residence had been arranged in the central area of the camp.
At the same time, where she lived had changed from a single-room bungalow into a small villa.
Its size was about the same as her old home in Wintergreen City.
In the backyard of the villa,
Shiko was lazily lying on the grass, basking in the sun.
As usual, he was doing the system's daily tasks.
However, ever since evolving into WarGreymon,
he had clearly felt that the experience granted by the daily tasks had dropped by another large chunk compared with before.
However,
after trying to defeat a Gym-level Pokémon
and getting a notification that he had gained 0.005 experience points,
he once again gave up on the method of going out to grind monsters for experience.
Experience came in far too slowly that way.
He might as well just lie here leisurely and do daily tasks instead.
When Shiko saw Himeko appear, he jumped up from the ground and asked,
"Did you get them?"
"I did."
Himeko nodded and took out the bag, handing it over to Shiko.
"Just this little?"
He had originally thought that, even if the entire Military of the Great Axia Alliance did not have many dark-type items in storage, there should at least be a few hundred kinds.
But after counting them again and again, he found that there were only a dozen or so in his hand.
And it felt as though the energy contained within them was not especially pure either, mixed with all kinds of different energy impurities.
Even if he extracted all of it, it would probably only increase the dark-type power within his body by half a percentage point.
That little improvement was practically useless.
"That's all."
Himeko pursed her lips, also feeling a little awkward.
"The Great Axia Alliance doesn't have large-scale Dark-type Pokémon habitats, so naturally there isn't a large reserve of this kind of item."
"And the Lighthouse Alliance won't trade with us either. This is already everything the Military has in stock."
Himeko explained.
"Fine."
Shiko nodded and did not say anything more.
To begin with, he had never placed all his hopes on this alone.
Holding the dozen or so dark-type items in his palm,
Shiko sat down again.
He carefully sensed the flow of energy within them.
After catching the faint fluctuations of dark-type energy,
he began to pull that energy away and absorb it into his body.
A few minutes later,
he opened his eyes and let out a deep breath.
Two streams of black air shot from his nostrils like two dark fire-serpents.
As expected.
It was exactly the same as he had estimated.
His grasp of dark-type energy had indeed risen by only half a percentage point.
Looking at the dark-type items in his hand, now stripped of their luster,
Shiko began to frown and think.
At this rate, how long would it take before he could completely master all of the dark-type energy?
(End of Chapter)
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