Becoming the King of Charicific Valley came with three advantages.
First, you gained access to the resources within the valley. Beyond the Purgatory Valley itself, there were other resources that could also be used. It could be said that all the resources of Charicific Valley were consolidated into a single position.
Second, you gained command over every Charizard in the valley. Don't underestimate this force just because Ash's Charizard had defeated them one at a time. Viewed at a global scale, this collective was extraordinary. And the strength of these Charizards was nowhere near a ceiling.
In the future, they would only grow stronger, and their numbers would only grow larger. On top of that, the previous king was now also under command, which effectively meant Ash had acquired an extremely formidable force in a single stroke.
This was also one of the reasons Charicific Valley had set such strict rules to prevent other Charizards from becoming king. If becoming the King of Charicific Valley were easy, then Trainers from all over the world would come to challenge for the position regardless of their odds, on the "you don't know until you try" logic.
But under the current rules, the challenge was virtually unappetizing, and that was exactly why the competition around it stayed uncomplicated. If the King of Charicific Valley ever ended up controlled by a criminal organization, it would be a genuine disaster. Even though the valley's power wasn't on the same scale as a regional League, it couldn't be underestimated either. A Champion Peak Pokémon was incredibly powerful.
So the purpose of those strict conditions was to prevent any change in the position of King. If a change did occur, a new king could be immediately selected from within the valley, leaving outsiders with virtually no window. They couldn't just sit around waiting for the King to be unseated by an outsider, or for him to die of old age and abdicate. And yet now, that "impossible" condition had actually been met by someone.
Fortunately, that someone was not a criminal or a bad actor, but a genuinely good-hearted person. So even if he ended up commanding every Charizard in the valley, it wouldn't be a problem. Besides, he wouldn't exploit the Charizards for anything either.
Those two advantages alone were enough to justify the strict trial conditions. But becoming the King of Charicific Valley came with a third advantage as well. Receiving a relic that had been passed down through generations in the valley.
"Compared to the first two advantages, this third one is a bit lacking, because the relic passed down through the valley, well, it's useless." Liza muttered helplessly as she led everyone toward a secluded spot deep within Charicific Valley.
"Useless?"
Charicific Valley had been passed down for who knew how long. Never mind whether it had a longer history, it certainly had over a hundred years behind it. A relic passed down for over a hundred years was useless? That didn't sound remotely realistic.
But Liza didn't have any reason to deceive them. She was about to hand the artifact over to Ash, and she wasn't the type to lie about it just to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. So was it really as she said, that this relic passed down for over a hundred years was useless?
While they talked, they arrived at the innermost section of Charicific Valley. There was a temple-like structure there. Everyone had passed by it earlier on the tour, and at the time it had only been mentioned briefly. It had just been described as a place of worship for many of the valley's Charizards.
Back then, people had been puzzled. Did Charizards actually have objects of worship? If they did, it should be about powerful beings. Visiting a temple to worship them wasn't strange in itself. Now it turned out this temple wasn't only for worship, though. It was also for storing a relic.
As Ash approached the temple, the spark in his mind that he'd deliberately suppressed began to stir. Before they'd even reached Charicific Valley, that spark had already started to pulse, a feeling similar to the previous two guidances.
Each time the guiding light flared, it meant approaching the guidance was about to give him something.
So the Dragon Pearl is here. This time, getting it will be much harder than the previous two times. Ash thought to himself.
Indeed. The light flickering in his mind was the S-rank ability he'd drawn: the Sky Dragon Pearl's Guiding Light. A considerable amount of time had passed since he'd first obtained this opportunity, and he'd almost forgotten about it. Unexpectedly, he was encountering it again here in Charicific Valley.
That said, encountering it was one thing. Ash still wanted to complain: this thing didn't seem to have any effect at all. Even without this "toy," he'd known about Charicific Valley and had known about challenging the trial here. If he'd lost, regardless of whether he had the guidance or not, he wouldn't have been able to obtain the valley's inheritance, which was the Sky Dragon Pearl.
If he'd won, even without the guidance, he could still have obtained the green pearl, though he might not have known what it was in the short term.
Even without the guidance, he could still have obtained the green pearl, though he might not have known what it was in the short term. But just by taking it to a knowledgeable Seniors in Chat group, that problem would have been solved naturally.
In summary, this thing was completely useless. The S-rank ability really did seem wasted this time.
While Ash was lost in thought, Liza opened the small shrine and took out a square box about twenty centimeters long. She opened the box, and inside lay a turquoise gem. Even though the gem had color, it looked dull and lifeless, like a low-grade stone.
"This is Charicific Valley's relic. No one knows what it does, or when it first came to Charicific Valley. All I know is that it belongs to the valley's inheritance. Take it if you don't mind."
Ash accepted the box from Liza's hands. A second later, the originally dull green gem suddenly burst into a dazzling emerald light. The radiance shot straight up to the horizon, startling Liza and Brock. Even Ash, who had just received it, was stunned.
What was this thing? How had it lit up the instant it landed in his hand? Could this gem have spontaneously activated and summoned Rayquaza? No way. He couldn't even defeat Rayquaza right now.
Following the emerald light that shot toward the horizon, in a certain patch of sky, a massive black dragon slowly opened its eyes. A strange expression flashed in his golden pupils. The emerald gem had appeared. And this time, whoever had obtained it had already been recognized by the gem itself. That made it impossible for him to simply go retrieve it.
The Green Orb, regarded as the most precious relic of the Rayquaza species, had been lost for a long time. Without the Green Orb, he couldn't even fully unleash his divine power. His own strength was greatly diminished, and Mega Evolution was extremely difficult.
Rayquaza with the Green Orb and Rayquaza without it were entirely different levels of existence. Without it, he could still project the strength of an ordinary, most basic god, but only at that level. A first-tier god was already only above middle level. With the Green Orb, though, his power could instantly skyrocket to the top of first-tier gods.
The most obvious effect of this was that, without the Green Orb, he would have difficulty even fighting the Time and Space Twin Gods one-on-one. With it, he wouldn't be afraid even if the Time and Space Twin Gods attacked him simultaneously. That was why, until now, his only role had been to protect the ozone layer.
They had searched relentlessly for the Green Orb, to no avail. Logically, the Green Orb should have retained a lingering connection to the Rayquaza species, and they should have been able to sense it from thousands of miles away. But the reason the Green Orb had been lost in the first place was because of a battle.
In that battle, Rayquaza had exerted all his strength and still couldn't defeat his opponent. He'd been forced to sacrifice the Green Orb, using it to release power approaching that of a Creator God. That had finally beaten his opponent, but it had also caused the Green Orb to be lost.
Moreover, the Orb had lost all its power in the process. Those powers would slowly recover over time, but unless activated by someone else, even the Rayquaza clan couldn't sense the Orb through the recovery.
Today, at last, he had sensed the aura of the Green Orb again. But the location was extremely far from where he was, and the aura was already fading. The current signal was the power the Orb had released the instant of its activation. Once that activation surge faded, the Orb's aura wouldn't radiate outward as strongly again. Better than nothing, but still like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Rayquaza's thoughtful expression vanished in an instant, replaced by determination. He turned and flew toward the region where he'd sensed the pulse. Whether he could ultimately find the Green Orb or not, going there first was better than nothing.
Once the Orb had activated, at human travel speeds, unless the holder immediately used some means of long-distance transport to leave the area, they couldn't get far. Going there now might even leave him a trail.
Even if he found the Green Orb, though, unless the holder willingly agreed, he wouldn't be able to reclaim it. The Orb's power had been activated by that person. As the leader of the Rayquaza species, he naturally had to abide by their own rules.
Finding the holder of the Green Orb meant issuing them a task and testing their qualifications. Only after fulfilling those two conditions could he reclaim the Green Orb.
It remained unknown what kind of person the human who had obtained the Green Orb was. A single person capable of receiving the Orb's recognition, though, surely wouldn't be an ordinary one.
Meanwhile, the dazzling light slowly faded. Everyone around Ash stared in stunned silence at the gem radiating divine light in his hand, momentarily unable to process what was happening. Why had Charicific Valley's inheritance transformed into this in Ash's hands?
Liza's expression was the most exaggerated of all. Her face was filled with disbelief. This thing had remained completely still in the valley for over a hundred years, yet in Ash's hands, it had suddenly erupted with an outburst like that. What was going on?
Even Ash himself was bewildered. He hadn't done anything to the gem. It had produced this reaction entirely on its own. This dud, which had sat in a valley full of Charizards for who knew how long without a flicker, why had it lit up the moment it touched his hands?
Wait. What happened to the guiding force in his head? Why was it gone?
Ash suddenly realized that the guidance that had been quietly nudging him just moments ago had completely vanished. In its place was a single point of light in his head. If the guiding force had disappeared when he found the Green Orb, that would have been normal.
But the guiding force had remained after he found the Green Orb, all the way until he actually held it in his hand, at which point it had vanished. On top of that, what was this new point of light in his head?
As Ash thought it over, he mentally tapped the point of light. It shattered, and a stream of information poured into his mind. In an instant, he understood everything.
The activation of the Green Orb was tied to the guidance he had extracted. Originally, the Green Orb had been in a sealed state. Without a specific method, even if someone obtained the Green Orb, they would be completely unable to use its power. At most it could be worn as a decent-looking gemstone.
Ash himself hadn't known the method of activating the Green Orb, but the S-rank opportunity he'd obtained had directly activated it for him, saving him a mountain of trouble.
That was it. If the guidance in his mind could only help him find the Green Orb, that would have been genuinely underpowered. He could have located the Green Orb step by step on his own. The main issue was that the guidance range was too limited. It wasn't until he actually reached Charicific Valley that the guidance in his head had even started to react.
Its range likely didn't exceed three thousand meters. That sounded like a lot, but in reality, trying to find the Green Orb across the entire world with a three-thousand-meter guidance range wasn't much different from searching for a needle in a haystack.
Without guidance, it was fishing a single needle out of the ocean. With guidance, it was fishing three thousand needles out of the same ocean. Not much of an upgrade.
Compared to the previous, actually top-tier guidance opportunities he'd received, this one on its own was on a completely different tier. That was why Ash had been confused. The ability he'd drawn this time hadn't felt worthy of S-rank at all. Now there was finally an answer. The guidance was just the most basic function. The real function was activating the Green Orb.
Once the Green Orb was activated, he could freely use its power. Summoning Rayquaza and challenging Rayquaza were only two of the Green Orb's abilities.
Beyond those two effects, the Green Orb, along with the Rainbow Wing and the branch of the Tree of Life, was one of the items specifically belonging to Legendary Pokémon that boosted power. In particular, the Green Orb boosted Dragon-type stat traits, increased the speed and level of Flying-type Pokémon, and improved energy refinement.
If a Pokémon carrying both Flying and Dragon typing wielded the Green Orb, its power boost would be unimaginable.
Currently, Ash's team didn't have a Pokémon with both of those types, but they soon would. Whether it was Dragonair, close to evolving, or the ancient Dragonite he'd made a pact with, both could use the Green Orb for their power boost.
As for challenging Rayquaza, honestly, a Legendary of that class wasn't something he could handle right now. Even Mewtwo's Mega Evolution wouldn't be enough. That could stay ignored for now.