Chapter 25 25: Peat Block
"Rrr…"
Bloodmoon Ursaluna's intelligence turned out to be far higher than Sora had initially expected.
The fact that it had lived in seclusion in the Timeless Woods for so many years without clashing with the villagers of Kitakami already spoke volumes about its principles.
As long as no one attacked it first, even if humans ran around right in front of it, Ursaluna would not treat them as enemies.
"Hm?"
Mid-conversation, Sora noticed Ursaluna trying to express something.
"Do you have something you want to give me?"
"Roar."
Ursaluna nodded.
Victini immediately floated over to communicate with it.
After a brief exchange in Pokémon language—completely unintelligible to Sora—Victini returned and began gesturing energetically.
"You mean… back where Ursaluna used to live, it has treasures it collected, and now it wants to give them to me?"
The moment he heard the word treasure, Sora's eyes lit up.
Right now, what he lacked most was money.
Of course, Ursaluna's treasures might not necessarily be valuable to humans.
But what if they were?
And besides—he was going to be supporting Ursaluna for years to come.
As long as Ursaluna stayed on his team, he would need to feed and care for it every day. The cost would easily exceed that of the other three Pokémon combined.
So using Ursaluna's own resources to support it felt perfectly reasonable.
"Vini vini!"
Victini patted her chest confidently, volunteering to go with Ursaluna.
She would bring back all the treasure.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you, Vini."
Sora had Ursaluna guide Victini back to its old den, while he stayed behind with Lilligant and Ogerpon to prepare a welcome feast for their new teammate.
After all, Ursaluna had lived in the wild for so long—it probably hadn't tasted much human cooking.
But surprisingly, before Sora had even finished preparing the ingredients, Victini and Ursaluna returned.
"Vini~"
Victini sat atop Ursaluna's head, swaying happily from side to side.
The moment she saw Sora, she flew into his arms and raised both hands high, presenting a pitch-black chunk of material.
"…This…"
Sora accepted it, frowning slightly as recognition dawned.
"Could this be… a Peat Block—the item that allows Ursaring to evolve into Ursaluna?"
In the Pokémon world, a Peat Block was a special evolution item.
Under a full moon, it enabled Ursaring to evolve into its final form: Ursaluna.
Bloodmoon Ursaluna, meanwhile, was a variant—similar to a Pokémon that had broken past level 80 and become a unique individual.
"This is good stuff."
Moments ago, Sora had been wondering whether Ursaluna possessed anything valuable.
Now the answer was literally in his hands.
"Roar~"
Ursaluna stepped closer, then lowered its arms.
A cascade of dark chunks spilled onto the ground.
Dozens of them.
At a glance, there were at least twenty to thirty Peat Blocks.
"That many?!"
Sora was genuinely surprised.
The value of Peat Blocks was unquestionable.
In the Pokémon world, anything related to Pokémon development already carried a high price tag—especially evolution items that enabled breakthroughs in power.
Peat Blocks had a very specific use case: Ursaring.
But rarity created value.
And in the current era, there was only one known Ursaluna in the world—this one.
Which meant:
Sora now controlled the key to Ursaring evolution.
A monopoly.
Without question, this represented a significant business opportunity.
He wasn't worried that producing more Ursaluna would diminish his own.
Ordinary Ursaluna were rare—but they were not on the same level as Bloodmoon Ursaluna, a limit-breaking individual.
In fact, if someone else evolved an Ursaring into Ursaluna and achieved competitive success, that would become living advertisement—boosting demand for Peat Blocks.
"Still, before that…"
Sora asked:
"Ursaluna, where did you get these Peat Blocks?"
If Kitakami itself produced them naturally, that would complicate matters.
Frankly, Sora had no interest in helping the local villagers profit.
This wasn't just about money.
It was about principle.
He had no desire to enrich people he fundamentally disliked.
"Rrr."
Fortunately, Ursaluna shook its head.
The Peat Blocks had nothing to do with Kitakami.
With Victini and Ogerpon translating together, Sora gradually understood the mechanism behind their creation.
Peat Blocks were deeply connected to Ursaluna itself.
In essence—
They were crystallized products of its power.
In theory, any Ursaluna could generate new Peat Blocks over long periods of time.
But Bloodmoon Ursaluna, being far stronger than ordinary ones, produced them faster and with higher quality.
These nearly thirty blocks represented one to two centuries of accumulated energy.
"Peat Blocks allow Ursaring to evolve into Ursaluna."
"And Ursaluna, over time, can produce new Peat Blocks."
The relationship resembled a cycle—each sustaining the other.
As long as at least one remained, neither would vanish completely.
But in the modern era, Bloodmoon Ursaluna might very well be the last of its kind.
"Ursaluna and Peat Blocks are like the chicken and the egg."
Sora suspected there had to be another origin method.
Otherwise, history's first Ursaluna would be impossible to explain.
"Maybe ancient climates or special environments once triggered evolution naturally."
"As time passed, those environmental factors disappeared—and Peat Blocks became the new pathway."
He wasn't a researcher.
He had little interest in the academic mystery of extinction.
What he cared about was far more practical:
How much could these sell for?
"In today's market, a top-grade evolution stone can fetch hundreds of thousands of League credits."
"So my one-of-a-kind Peat Blocks…"
He weighed one in his hand, a calculating glint in his eyes.
"Selling them for a million each sounds perfectly reasonable."
He recalled the Sun Stone he had once purchased to evolve Lilligant from Petilil.
That single stone had cost over 40,000 League credits, and it wasn't even high quality.
Evolution stones were graded by quality—roughly equivalent to gemstone purity or gold content.
The best stones could even enhance a Pokémon's potential, raising its future level ceiling.
Inferior ones, on the other hand, could drain vitality during evolution and permanently damage a Pokémon's foundation.
That was why premium evolution items commanded astonishing prices.
And now—
Standing in front of him was a pile of materials rarer than any standard evolution stone.
A resource measured not just in money—
But in decades, even centuries, of accumulated power.
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Pat reon Advance Chapters: /YonkoSlayer