Eichi suddenly understood. So that was how it was. That guy had really been unlucky—first, he ran into Bei Wu and had all his Star Beads taken. Later, he finally managed to gather ten more, only to lose them to Eichi as well.
Suddenly, the man said, "junior student, how about this? I'll tell you a secret, and you leave me three Star Beads."
"Don't worry, it's definitely a secret that very few people know."
Seeing how confident he looked, Eichi felt that he did not seem to be lying. He said, "Alright, tell me." At the same time, he took out three Star Beads and tossed them over.
After catching the Star Beads, the man immediately put them into his pocket. "It's like this. Aside from the Star Beads each student has, there are also Star Beads hidden in certain places throughout this forest."
"There are varying amounts in those places, but there are at least twenty in each one."
Eichi felt a little frustrated after hearing that. Why had no one mentioned this before?
He simply knew too little. Those people knew so much, which really was not very fair to ordinary students.
Still, it was understandable. Things like that had to be hidden in particularly dangerous and remote places.
Anyone who could reach those places, whether through luck or strength, deserved to have those Star Beads.
So he asked, "Is what you said true?"
The man hurriedly replied, "Absolutely true! Everything I said is true. I overheard it from Bei Wu and his lackeys."
Eichi knew he was telling the truth. He nodded and said, "Alright, you can go."
Upon hearing that, the man immediately ran off.
After he had left, Eichi continued onward and released Joltik and Dragonair.
There were quite a lot of wild Pokémon