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However, David still felt slightly uneasy and decided to inquire within his mind.
"Are you there, System?"
"Yes, yes! What can I do for you, Host?"
The System responded to David's question immediately.
"Tell me, what exactly is happening with my Ralts right now?"
"Ding! System is scanning... continuing to scan..."
The results came in quickly.
"The dark energy within Ralts is currently in a stable state. As long as she doesn't fall too deeply into her previous condition, no accidents will occur.
However, using Dark Power still places a considerable burden on Ralts. The powerful dark energy will erode her life force when used.
As a Fairy-type Pokémon, Ralts naturally possesses extremely strong vitality, which allows her to resist this erosion. The Host can provide Ralts with life energy supplements as needed.
This symptom may improve once she fully masters that dark energy..."
Hearing the System's words, David first breathed a sigh of relief, but then his heart tensed up again.
Looking at Ralts's slightly pale face, David secretly resolved that he must find a way for her to completely master the Dark Power.
After offering her an Oran Berry to restore her stamina, he let Ralts rest on the side for a while.
David and Riolu then moved forward to check their spoils from the battle.
The Ariados had been completely disintegrated by the little girl's Dark Pulse—or perhaps it should be called Dark Vortex now—so naturally, no spoils remained from it.
David led Riolu directly to the Ariados's nest to investigate the area.
By this time, some of the Spinarak and Ariados that had been knocked unconscious earlier were gradually beginning to regain consciousness.
However, David didn't do anything to them. He simply communicated through his Aura and ordered them to leave the area.
Not daring to linger, the Ariados understood David's meaning perfectly and frantically chose to flee, their purplish-yellow legs spinning so fast they became almost a blur.
How could they dare to stay? They had just woken from unconsciousness only to find that the strongest member of their colony had been turned into powder scattered everywhere!
"Do they really need to run that fast? I'm not a devil, am I?" David said, looking bewildered as he pointed to himself and glanced at Riolu.
Riolu, however, simply spread his paws helplessly.
"Hiss~ hiss! (You ARE a devil, and so is your Pokémon—you're all devils!)"
The deceased Ariados, who had already met Arceus in the heavens—if they could even go there—would have said exactly that.
Soon, David and his Pokémon moved all the valuable items from the nest and then left the area.
After eating a few Oran Berries and resting for a short while, Ralts's complexion finally recovered to normal.
By this time, David and his companions had finished moving all the valuable items from the Ariados colony's nest in one trip.
They began examining their gains together.
First were the Ariados colony's specialty items. David had found many silk cocoons in the nest earlier. He only selected the highest quality portions, which amounted to seven or eight bundles.
These were all excellent materials for crafting high-quality fabric, and their value was considerable. According to his watch's appraisal, they were worth a full 200 points.
Then there were various miscellaneous items related to Pokémon, such as Sandslash claws, Crobat wings, and even a Shuckle shell.
These were likely left behind by Pokémon that had been preyed upon by the Ariados colony. Many of these materials possessed high medicinal value, so they were worth 300 points.
Furthermore, there were some standard Pokémon resources. Among them, the most precious was a small amount of ore. David even found a few Fairy-type Gems among them.
Unfortunately, the purity was at most around 60 percent. Outside of this examination, they would probably be worth tens of thousands of dollars! At 60 points each, it was barely acceptable.
Adding the points Ralts had gained from defeating the Ariados colony—although it wasn't a specific assignment by the League, any Pokémon defeated in the examination grounds still earned points—the rewards were substantial.
The nest of just one Ariados colony had yielded so many treasures.
His points had not only broken the 1,000-point mark but were even approaching 1,500 points.
"Indeed, taking down nests is the fastest way!" David couldn't help but exclaim.
However, David had no intention of going around raiding Pokémon nests everywhere.
Ordinary wild Pokémon colonies probably wouldn't have such rich hoards.
First of all, this colony, led by a Superior-level Ariados, had considerable influence among wild Pokémon. Even an Ursaring would probably have to give them wide berth. The items accumulated here were likely the result of the entire Ariados colony's combined efforts.
It was unknown how much time it had taken to accumulate so many items, so the possibility of replicating this success was quite low.
After tidying everything up and seeing that Ralts had almost fully recovered, David and his companions continued their journey.
As they delved deeper into the cave, David and his companions found spider webs everywhere they looked.
Recalling the information about Ariados's habit of using these webs for both hunting and tracking, David realized that this entire large area was likely their hunting ground.
No wonder there were no traces of other Pokémon around.
That made sense—a colony of nearly ten Pokémon, with several Ariados among them, certainly wasn't weak. With their combined strength in this cave, their territory wouldn't be small. Any Pokémon active here without some real skill would probably end up in their stomachs.
After walking for an unknown period, David and his companions finally left the Ariados's territory. Checking the time, it was almost eleven in the morning.
Since they hadn't eaten breakfast yet, David and his companions found a suitable spot, took out the pre-prepared compressed biscuits and Energy Cubes from their backpacks, and decided to fill their stomachs first.
After eating and resting for a while, they continued moving forward.
The cave turned out to be surprisingly large. Besides the main path David and his companions were following, the walls and corners were covered with various tunnels of different sizes. Sounds of Pokémon moving within them occasionally emerged.
As they ventured deeper, the space suddenly opened up, and David discovered that there were several forks in the road deep within the cave.
David frowned, looking at these branching paths, unsure of which way to take.
He tentatively released his Aura to investigate, but found that the entrances to each direction seemed to lead somewhere significant. There was nothing particularly special about any of them.
Even with Riolu's Aura augmentation, David's Aura could only explore a distance of about one hundred meters at most. Beyond that exceeded his current capabilities.
Just as David scratched his head, unsure of which path to choose—
"Ralts~"
Ralts beside him suddenly pointed toward the leftmost path.
"Are you saying you sense a faint, special Aura coming from inside that makes you feel very close to it?"
Ralts nodded affirmatively.
They didn't know which way to go anyway, so now that they had a target, what were they waiting for? Time to act!
No longer hesitating, David directly led Ralts and Riolu into the leftmost cave entrance.