In the end, Professor Oliver decided to follow Norman’s suggestion and head to the forest tomorrow. To be honest, he was also very curious about that enormous tree. Although he was not a botanist, he was still a researcher, and curiosity was a common trait among researchers.
When Nicole heard this, she sighed inwardly. Because of Julian, she already knew that the tree was called the Ancient Giant Tree and was guarded by three Pokémon at the mid-stage Champion level.
With that kind of strength, not to ntion Norman and the others—even if her own grandfather ca, he would be outmatched.
But she didn’t try to stop them or say anything. As a scholar, she knew very well that no matter what she said now, it would be useless—even if she told them the truth.
Unless these people saw it with their own eyes, they would not believe her.
Or unless Julian himself appeared and told them.
The next day, Julian, who had been keeping a constant eye on the exploration team, suddenly noticed that they weren’t exploring the city as usual but were instead heading toward the forest.
He let out a heavy sigh. Sure enough, just as he had expected, Nicole had not been able to stop them.
No surprise there.
"Looks like I’ll have to show myself after all," Julian muttered.
He glanced at tagross, and the latter instantly used Teleport.
The next mont, Julian appeared right in front of the exploration team.
Faced with Julian’s sudden appearance, Norman had not even reacted yet when the Espeon beside him imdiately launched a Psybeam.
There were three reasons for Espeon’s preemptive strike: first, Julian was far too close to them—less than ten ters away; second, his appearance was far too abrupt; and third, apart from the exploration team, there were no other humans around.
"ta~"
tagross used Psychic to effortlessly block Espeon’s Psybeam, leaving not even a ripple of residual energy from the clash.
"Esp!"
Espeon imdiately grew wary of tagross. To deflect its attack so effortlessly ant this opponent was at least as strong as it was—perhaps even stronger.
Espeon could have also blocked that Psybeam, but to neutralize it completely without any residual shockwaves? That was sothing it couldn’t do.
The sudden appearance of a stranger also put the entire exploration team on high alert. At this mont, Nicole suddenly called out: "Julian!"
With that, she ran toward Julian.
After not seeing Julian for over half a year, she naturally missed him.
Seeing her running toward him, Julian instinctively reached out and embraced her.
And so, the two of them stood hugging each other under the gaze of over forty people.
"So it’s Gym Leader Walker… But why is he here?" soone muttered in confusion.
It was Georgia one of the early-stage Pseudo-Champions. For a female trainer to reach such a height was truly remarkable.
Many female trainers idolized her and Catherine.
"Didn’t we say earlier that soone had already entered this place ahead of us? Now, who do you think that person is?" asked Mark, another early-stage Pseudo-Champion trainer.
Mark was a mber of the Cross family and also the uncle of Lily Cross. He was currently the strongest trainer in the Cross family, aside from a few of their old-tirs.
"What a terrifying young man… If I recall correctly, Elite Norman’s Espeon is a late-stage Pseudo-Champion Pokémon, right? Yet Julian’s tagross blocked its attack so effortlessly?" Mark sighed, his tone carrying a faint sense of defeat.
Compared to Julian, he felt like he had wasted all these years—like he’d been living in vain.
"Let it go. You couldn’t surpass Jake back then, and now his son is even more monstrous. There’s no point dwelling on it," Georgia said flatly.
Her words instantly made Mark’s face stiffen.
"Don’t talk to ," Mark snapped irritably.
He and Jake were trainers of the sa generation. Back in their youth, Jake had overshadowed him, and now, it was his son’s turn.
It was truly infuriating.
Georgia just shrugged, signaling that she wouldn’t say anything more.
Within the team, Nicole’s Fourth Senior Brother (the simp) wore an ugly expression, his gaze toward Julian practically spitting fire.
With his Aura abilities now at the Master tier, Julian’s sensitivity to Aura had sharpened significantly. Sensing the hostile aura directed at him, he instinctively turned his attention toward the exploration team.
The man reacted quickly, imdiately withdrawing his gaze and lowering his head so Julian could not see his resentful expression.
By now, Julian had already led Nicole to stand before the exploration team.
"Elite Norman," Julian greeted Norman.
The man belonged to the sa generation as his grandfather and was a peak Pseudo-Champion trainer—soone worthy of Julian’s respect.
"Julian… so it was you who’s been watching us these past few days," Norman said with sudden realization.
For the past few days, he had felt as though they were being watched, but whenever he sent out his Pokémon to investigate, they found nothing. He had thought it was just his imagination, but now it seed otherwise.
"Yes," Julian nodded, looking at Norman with mild surprise.
With Gengar’s absolute invisibility, neither Norman nor his Pokémon should have been able to detect anything.
Truly, veteran trainers who had made a na for themselves all had their own extraordinary qualities.
In truth, Norman had only had a vague suspicion—he hadn’t been certain. Now that Julian confird it, it ant that all this ti, they had indeed been under his surveillance.
A slight chill ran down Norman’s spine. If Julian had been an enemy, they might already be dead.
"Professor Oliver."
The second person Julian greeted was naturally Professor Oliver. This man was a leading figure in the scholarly world, holding a high position both in academia and at Imperial University.
Professor Oliver was also one of Drakoria’s representatives to the outside world.
A country’s representatives were not just Champion-level Trainers—scholars with groundbreaking research achievents were equally important.
Back at university, Julian had attended several of his lectures and even asked him a question once.
"Julian, I rember you," Professor Oliver said with a smile.
His mory of Julian wasn’t due to his fa or his grandfather’s legacy, but because of the question he had posed during one of his lectures—a question that had stuck with him.
That question was: "Is it possible for ordinary Pokémon to break through to Level 100?"
At the ti, Professor Oliver hadn’t given him an answer.
In fact, Julian wasn’t the first to ask this. Many had debated it before.
Most scholars believed that reaching the peak of the Champion-level was the absolute limit for ordinary Pokémon—that their innate potential simply wasn’t enough to surpass it.
"Nicole often ntions you in front of ," Professor Oliver chuckled.
Julian smiled and nodded.
Nicole’s cheeks turned slightly red, and only when she lowered her head did she realize that Julian was still holding her hand.
She thought about pulling away but then decided against it.
It had been so long since she’d seen him—of course she wanted to stay close, even if it ant standing hand-in-hand in front of all these people.
Still, her cheeks burned even redder, making her look all the more captivating.
*****
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