Elf: Starts with small diamonds, then mutates into Diancie.

Even if the Crescent Moon Cult really did have the legendary Pokémon Cresselia behind it, the girl was confident that as an ordinary, disillusioned middle-aged person, the Crescent Moon Cult wouldn't allocate too much power to specifically control her.

Once he passes the initial brainwashing during his initiation into the Crescent Moon Cult, he will be able to officially infiltrate the cult and uncover its secrets.

------------

To clarify, Su Hao's position doesn't allow him to investigate the Crescent Moon Cult, nor does he have the time; rescuing Articuno is his top priority. Therefore, some of the Crescent Moon Cult's secrets will be uncovered by the Interpol agent, Mei Mei.

Otherwise, if a sudden mechanical deus ex machina were to appear in the later plot, everyone would surely be completely confused.

Chapter 628 Grass-themed Pokémon Army

His operation to infiltrate the Crescent Moon Cult under the alias Kazuma Ito went incredibly smoothly, to an alarming degree.

But once inside the Crescent Moon Cult, the girl found everything to be perfectly logical. The Crescent Moon Cult had clearly become a large-scale organization; all its actions were well-organized and orderly, and everyone had their own responsibilities and was very dedicated to them...

Based on the young woman's years of experience as an Interpol agent, it's no exaggeration to call this a "miniature ideal society."

Before he was converted, he was taken to a small church. The church was brightly and luxuriously decorated, with a warm color scheme that gave people a positive and uplifting feeling.

The most striking feature of the church is undoubtedly the enormous crescent moon hanging in mid-air.

Both the enormous new moon and the distributed crescent pendants contained mental control fluctuations of varying sizes.

This was undoubtedly a fluctuation in the mental control that Su Hao discovered and influenced the instigators of the power plant incident.

As far as he knew, even the officials within the Shenzhou Alliance who assisted in covering up the incident involving wild Pokémon in Viridian Forest due to the Nova Organization were later found to have consistent mental control fluctuations.

There must be some unknown connection between the Crescent Moon Cult, the R Institute, and the Nova Organization.

The deeper the girl dug, the more she realized she had uncovered a shocking secret...

All of this was thanks to Su Hao, who pointed out the deeply hidden mental control fluctuations within the crescent moon pendant.

The distributed crescent pendants, combined with the enormous crescent moon, instantly created a dreamlike pink spiritual force that enveloped the entire church.

The dozens of people who participated in the initiation ceremony fell into a deep sleep the moment they were enveloped, with strange, blissful smiles on their faces.

The girl reacted quickly, keeping in sync with those around her. It was only because Meloeta's singing kept him in his ears that he was able to escape the mind control fluctuations.

While pretending to be asleep, the girl couldn't help but feel a wave of fear.

If he had simply disguised himself and infiltrated, he would have failed at the very first step.

After passing the first hurdle of joining the church, everything else went smoothly.

This probably reflects the absolute confidence of the Crescent Moon Church's leaders: as long as someone goes through the initiation ceremony, no matter who they are, they will become the most loyal believer of the Crescent Moon Church.

That afternoon, Kazuma Ito, using the pseudonym of the girl, was assigned his tasks and responsibilities—to preach in the streets and alleys of Tokyo while ensuring the density of Crescent Moon Cult members throughout the city.

His direct superior was... an ordinary-looking ramen shop owner, one of the protectors of the Crescent Moon Cult.

..............

The first day of the selection competition.

At 11:00 AM, on the northern edge of the Aokigahara Forest.

Led by their mounted goats, the Shenzhou Alliance team arrived at the territory of the mounted goat tribe located at the top of the mountain.

What's amazing is that the place is covered with vegetation, and there's even a pond in the center.

The herd, led by the riding goat, consists of twenty-three riding lambs and seven riding goats, including the leader's riding goat.

The total number is thirty, a typical small to medium-sized Pokémon group.

The plan had been completely changed, so the group didn't rush on their way. Led by Su Hao, they rested and had a picnic in the territory of their mountain goats.

The main cooks were Xiao Zijian and Jin Lin. As a breeder, Jin Lin was one thing, but Xiao Zijian, a muscular man, actually claimed to be a good cook, which was quite a contrast.

Bai Linglong and Cheng Liming hunted wild game in the resource-rich Aokigahara Forest. With Su Hao's waveguide coverage, they didn't have to worry about being attacked suddenly.

Meanwhile, Su Hao asked his knowledgeable mountain goat, who often wandered the edge of the territory, about the distribution of wild Pokémon in the area.

"Hmm... I see. So, there's only one Pokémon occupying the territory, and only two around here? Olivier, a late-stage Gym Leader level Pokémon, and Meowth, a early-stage Elite Four level Pokémon..."

Su Hao's main focus was on wild Pokémon with strong individual abilities.

Upon arriving at the territory of the mount goats, he realized that the mount goats and lambs here had all learned the move "Green Field," which was why the mountaintops, which should have been bare, were covered with lush vegetation.

Although the strength of these riding sheep and riding goats ranges from elite to gym level, and their individual strength is not as good as his own, the "Grassy Terrain" move alone can generate enough strategic value.

Led by the leader of the riding goat, multiple Grassy Terrains will be deployed... The boost to Grass-type Pokémon will be enormous, and with Su Hao's Viridian Power and Aura Power coordinating the process, there's no need to worry about any inconsistencies in the timing.

With such a strong logistical team, the next step is to befriend other Grass-type wild Pokémon and form a "Grass Pokémon army" capable of defeating all opponents.

However, before forming such an army, Su Hao needed to further strengthen his relationship with the mountain goat tribe, which is to say, cultivate intimacy.

When Bai Linglong and Cheng Liming returned after gathering and hunting a lot of wild game and tree fruits, they saw Su Hao take out a pile of brand-new kitchen utensils from his seemingly ordinary backpack.

There was also a small energy cube manufacturing machine.

Cheng Liming quipped, "Is his backpack Doraemon's magic pocket...?"

Bai Linglong shook her head, looking envious, and said, "No, this is a space backpack that was just developed recently, and it's probably the one with the largest capacity... It's really great."

"Huh?" Upon noticing that Bai Linglong seemed a little envious, Cheng Liming looked incredulous and asked in confusion, "Aren't you a member of the Dragon Taming Clan? Shouldn't such a large clan provide each member with a spatial backpack?"

Bai Linglong shook her head, looking at Cheng Liming with an expression that said, "What are you dreaming about? This thing has only been developed for a short time. Let alone me... even a Champion-level trainer like Long Tianxing only has a tiny space backpack, which can probably only hold half a room's worth of stuff."

"But Su Hao, this one..."

The two of them felt a chill run down their spines as they looked at the various kitchen utensils and stew pots neatly arranged on the ground, along with several large tents.

Su Hao's spatial backpack capacity is probably enough to overwhelm his opponent...

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Chapter 629 Su Hao's Back View

The monitoring room... or perhaps it could be called a live broadcast room for watching the players' performances, was where the eyes of the important figures present had just turned away from a fierce battle of offense and defense.

Three hours had passed since 48 teams were deployed at 9:00 AM, and finally two teams encountered each other in the southwest direction of the Aokigahara Forest, and a battle was about to break out.

The teams that met were the Bangladesh Alliance and the Kyrgyz Alliance, both of which were considered to be in the lower-middle range of the 48 alliance teams.

However, the Bangladesh Alliance's experience in open combat was clearly superior to that of the Kyrgyz Alliance. They not only discovered the Kyrgyz Alliance's whereabouts in advance, but also planned a sneak attack, injuring one of the Kyrgyz Alliance's players and stealing that player's points bracelet.

Fortunately, the Kyrgyz Union players paid a price to snatch back the points bracelets that had already been deducted from the Bangladesh Union. Both sides are still on guard against each other and waiting for an opportunity to strike.

There was also a subtle tension between the leaders of the two conflicting alliances, and the atmosphere was tense.

At this moment, because of Su Hao's amazing performance with wild Grass-type Pokémon, Kim Rin-joo, the Grass-type champion of the Korea League who had been paying attention to the Shenzhou League team, looked at the screen, seemingly searching for the Shenzhou League team's whereabouts.

When she finally found the Shenzhou Alliance team, her expression froze, and the light smile she had been wearing gradually faded.

What she saw was that the Shenzhou Alliance team wasn't exploring the forest with the same fear and trepidation as their Korean Alliance team; they had even set up a grill and were having a barbecue!

............................

During a break from the barbecue, Jin Lin glanced at Su Hao, who was fiddling with a portable energy cube generator, and asked curiously, "Su Hao, you're already so strong as a trainer, and you're also a breeder?"

Because the energy cubes being created were of relatively high level and quality, Su Hao, who was completely focused on his work, simply nodded in response.

Seeing this, Jin Lin immediately shut her mouth. As an intermediate cultivator, she knew very well that she could not be distracted when making energy cubes, otherwise all her efforts would be wasted.

This wasn't the first time Su Hao had made Energy Cubes. He usually made all the Energy Cubes for the Pokémon in his team by hand. As the Pokémon's level increased, Su Hao's Energy Cube making skills also improved rapidly.

Obtaining advanced energy blocks is a piece of cake.

This time, he made a Grass-type Advanced Energy Cube. Considering that Grass-type Pokémon generally prefer milder flavors, he was quite particular about the ingredients he used.

A moment later, as a burst of steam rose, the portable energy block maker cooled and compressed the energy blocks in the mold, and a total of twenty emerald green energy blocks were successfully produced.

Jin Lin, who had been absentmindedly watching Su Hao's movements, came over the moment the energy cube was produced, her delicate nostrils flaring as she savored the aroma emanating from it.

The aroma also attracted the mounted goats. In the blink of an eye, the entire herd of mounted goats surrounded the area, looking longingly at the energy cube in Su Hao's hand.

Su Hao smiled and first fed an energy cube to the mouth of the goat leader.

The goat leader, riding a mount, closed its eyes and chewed slowly; Jinlin could tell it was thoroughly enjoying the delicious food.

Seeing Jin Lin's curiosity, Su Hao didn't hold back and generously gave her six Energy Cubes, saying with a smile, "Try them on your Grass-type Pokémon too. With limited space and tools, this is the best quality Energy Cube I can make right now."

Jin Lin took the energy cube, picked one up, and examined it carefully without blinking.

This level of transparency... could it be!?

Jin Lin looked shocked and turned to Su Hao, wanting an answer from him: "The quality and level of the energy cube you made...?"

Su Hao, unsurprised, asked, "It's a high-grade energy cube of perfect quality. Is there a problem?"

Jinlin's shock was within his expectations, but his main purpose was to better utilize the Energy Cube to create a large army of Grass-type Pokémon, so there was really no need to hide his abilities.

"you you you......."

Jin Lin was stuttering when she spoke.

Any questions?

What a big problem!

Su Hao's talent as a trainer is already impressive, but even her master-level trainer mentor couldn't guarantee that she could make a high-quality Energy Cube with perfect quality.

If she wasn't mistaken, all of Su Hao's energy cubes in this batch were of the same quality. That was terrifying.