"What? You're saying the Guardian Deity has awakened early, so this year's Dragon Festival will be held ahead of schedule?"
It was only after Uncle Zayn explained why he was in such a hurry to get him to Shaffer City that David finally understood.
The Dragon Festival—one of the Moore family's most important special ceremonies, held every few years. Legend had it that Dragon-type Pokémon brought by Trainers participating in this ceremony had a chance to receive a mysterious blessing.
Because the Moore family granted an opportunity to capture a Pokémon from the Secret Realm during the Dragon Festival, even pseudo-legendary young ones were no exception. Therefore, whenever the Dragon Festival was held, a large number of talented young Trainers from the Cloudspire Alliance came to participate.
The Moore family alone had made a fortune from trading these slots and various other resources.
After all, not everyone could gain the recognition of a Dragon-type Pokémon, and for truly talented Trainers, the Moore family would not be stingy with a Dragon-type Pokémon.
Almost all Trainer families who truly controlled their own Pokémon Secret Realms followed this practice.
As for the blessing, others might not know the situation, but how could David not know?
The Dragon Festival ceremony only allowed young Trainers to participate. Participating in the festival could give their Dragon-type Pokémon a significant boost. There were even rumors that some lucky individuals could receive a mysterious blessing during the festival.
This so-called blessing came from the Thousand-Year Dragon, a Pokémon that transcended the realm of ordinary Pokémon and had stepped into the realm of Legendary Pokémon, sleeping in the Dragon Tomb, the core forbidden area within the Ten Thousand Dragons Nest Secret Realm.
It was the Dragon Emperor—the ancestor of the Moore family—and his last main ace Pokémon, and the one David referred to as the Guardian Deity.
Because it was an ancestral Pokémon partner and had guarded the Moore family for over a thousand years, the descendants of the Moore family respectfully referred to it by the title of Guardian Deity.
The entire Dragon Festival ceremony, including the blessing, was bestowed by the Guardian Deity activating a hidden treasure of the Moore family.
Because the energy of the hidden treasure took time to recover, and the Guardian Deity needed to sleep, the Dragon Festival was only held once every few years.
And that mysterious blessing was rarely given out. Besides family members, only a very small number of true geniuses were qualified.
The last time the festival was held was three years ago, and the one who received the blessing that time was David's older sister, Aria.
His older sister's Dragonite's strength had grown so rapidly, even becoming strong enough to defeat Ice-type Pokémon that would normally counter it. This was certainly helped by the boost and blessing from that Dragon Festival.
As for whether others might receive the blessing this time, David didn't know, but he knew that if he participated, it was almost certain to happen for him.
"Yes, Young Master! Take advantage of this opportunity to capture a Dragon-type Pokémon. You are a successor of the Moore family, after all! How can you not have a single Dragon-type Pokémon!"
Uncle Zayn continued, and it was clear that while the old man was quite pleased with David's performance over the past six months, he still had some reservations about David capturing three Pokémon without a single Dragon-type.
David's grandfather probably felt the same. After all, as a successor of a Dragon Tamer family, while it wasn't strictly necessary to focus on Dragon-types, he shouldn't go without capturing any Dragon-types like David had!
If it weren't for waiting for the Dragon Festival to be held, David's elders would have probably already gotten him a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary Pokémon Egg.
Originally, this Dragon Festival was supposed to be held after the New Year, but unexpectedly, it was moved up by several months.
At this point, it was probably not just him. Those talented young Trainers qualified to participate in the Dragon Festival were likely all rushing to Shaffer City from various parts of the Cloudspire Alliance.
As for why it was Shaffer City, it was because David's ancestor had coincidentally entered the Ten Thousand Dragons Nest Secret Realm here.
It was unknown where the Moore family's original home was, but from then on, Shaffer City became the Moore family's place of prosperity.
For at least half of the thousand-year history of the ancient Eastern Splendor Empire, Shaffer City had served as its capital.
This naturally involved the Moore family's influence. Even in the current Alliance era, the Moore family still wielded enormous influence in the provinces surrounding Gudu City.
But then again, what a coincidence.
He had just been thinking that his next Pokémon absolutely had to be one he could ride for flight, and here was someone delivering a pillow just when he was sleepy!
Since that was the case, he would make the best of it. David was already planning in his mind which Pokémon he would capture later.
Waking up early to challenge a Gym, then rushing to the airport without stopping, David couldn't help but yawn a few times, feeling a bit sleepy.
After chatting with David for a while longer, Uncle Zayn noticed he was tired, so he got up and left, leaving David alone to rest in the master bedroom on the plane.
Because it was a private plane, the interior decoration was no different from a room on the ground. Coupled with the advanced technology of the Pokémon world, one couldn't feel any turbulence on the plane at all.
The lavishly decorated room and stable, comfortable environment made it impossible to feel like they were traveling.
And so, David quickly fell asleep at an altitude of ten thousand meters.
Perhaps what one thought about during the day, one dreamed about at night. Because Uncle Zayn had just mentioned the reason for David to capture a Dragon-type Pokémon, many Dragon-type Pokémon appeared in David's dream: Flygon, Haxorus, Dragapult, Dragonite, Garchomp, Salamence...
And even at the very end, a dazzling figure clad in white feathers, surrounded by cyan flames, emerged. In a soft whisper, it seemed someone was asking him what his true self was...