Along the way, Nathan encountered far too many Ice-type Pokémon.
What surprised him the most was that none of them were below the Gym level in strength.
The weakest among them were still Gym-tier Pokémon—this kind of place clearly wasn't somewhere ordinary people could just stroll into.
Only someone like Nathan, who possessed more than two Champion-level Pokémon, could operate with such freedom in a place like this.
During his journey, Nathan had fought several wild Pokémon.
Many of them were aggressive by nature, and the frequent battles left him completely exhausted.
Moreover, he had also encountered a few Pokémon that referred to him as "Outsider."
This confirmed his suspicion—someone else had come through before him, and they had also ventured deep into the far north.
It was just unclear where that person had awakened the "Ice Walker" that the others had spoken of.
But to have traveled this far, that person's strength must have been formidable.
It was a pity, though—such power, yet they had chosen the wrong place.
Wouldn't it have been better to participate in the World Tournament?
Winning the championship there would bring enormous rewards and benefits from their home country.
No matter how you looked at it, it would be far more rewarding than wandering this frozen wasteland.
"Hoo~ Finally made it!"
Staring at the massive ice mountain that pierced the clouds, Nathan pulled out his map to carefully compare it with his surroundings.
The location marked on the map pointed precisely to this area.
However, what gave him a headache was that this wasn't a single ice mountain—it was part of an endless, continuous range of them...
As the saying goes: "Looking at a mountain from afar, even a horse would die trying to reach it."
From a distance, these mountains didn't seem that far away.
But once you started traversing the undulating terrain, even a horse would collapse from exhaustion.
Let alone Nathan—who was traveling on foot through the freezing temperatures of the far north.
Just as Nathan was brooding over this, the map in his hand suddenly began to glow.
Above him, the aurora lights in the sky shimmered and shifted in color.
"Huh? This... this isn't just a piece of paper?!"
Nathan stared in shock at the glowing map.
He had originally thought it was just an ordinary sheet of paper.
But clearly, that wasn't the case at all.
As the glow intensified, the map suddenly shot up into the sky and vanished entirely.
One minute passed… three minutes… then a whole hour…
After waiting for over an hour, Nathan was completely dumbfounded.
The map had disappeared—so what now?
If this were following the usual narrative beats, shouldn't some door appear? Or maybe a glowing marker?
But nothing had happened. Was he supposed to just search randomly on his own?
"System! Get the hell out here and explain yourself! What the hell just happened? Where's my map?! Did you swallow it?!"
Nathan was now thoroughly annoyed.
Even though the map had guided him to the center of the far north, this entire place was just a massive range of ice-covered mountains!
Who knew where the thing he was looking for might be hidden?
If he had to search by himself, it might take two years to cover the entire region.
[Opportunity and luck go hand in hand.]
The system finally responded.
But upon seeing that message, Nathan's forehead twitched violently.
"What the hell does that even mean—'opportunity and luck go hand in hand'?
Who doesn't know that? Anyone with good luck could stumble upon an opportunity!"
Sigh... sigh...
Taking two deep breaths, Nathan didn't know whether to curse the system or just accept his fate.
It was clear the system had nothing more to say.
Suppressing his growing irritation, he ventured into the ice mountain range.
He had completely given up on trying to communicate with the system—every time it opened its virtual mouth, it just made things worse.
--------------
Two days.
He had wandered around these mountains for a full two days, without finding anything at all.
"This is a waste of time," Nathan muttered.
In just these two days, he had crossed countless ice-covered peaks.
If he continued wasting time like this, he might even lose his spot in the mystic realm reward pool from the World Tournament.
Just as he was about to give up and leave—
CRACK!
A loud sound echoed through the mountains—like the sharp shatter of breaking glass.
The sound was incredibly loud.
Hearing that, Nathan's heart leapt with joy.
Could it be? Was the thing he'd been looking for finally appearing?
Without a moment's hesitation, Nathan summoned his Flygon.
He climbed onto its back and soared into the sky, squinting against the bitter wind to keep his eyes open.
From high above, he saw it clearly—an entrance to a mystic realm had appeared atop a nearby ice mountain.
Nathan directed Flygon to head straight for it.
"Please don't let me down..."
He took a deep breath as he stared at the entrance.
After two days of searching, this was all he'd found.
If there was nothing valuable inside, then this entire trip would've been for nothing.
He stepped forward into the portal.
A flash of white light surrounded him—and in an instant, Nathan vanished from the Frostline Region.
The moment he entered, the mystic realm entrance also disappeared—leaving no trace behind, as if it had never existed.
--------------
When Nathan opened his eyes, he almost thought he was dreaming.
The ground beneath his feet was no longer a freezing sheet of snow and ice, but instead a vibrant carpet of green grass.
Delicate, star-like flowers dotted the field, creating a beautiful and almost surreal landscape.
Looking up, he found himself in a dense forest.
Many of the trees bore fruit, though none were the kind that could boost a Pokémon's strength.
The scent of flowers in the air was intoxicating.
"I seriously want to know—how the hell did a mystic realm like this appear in the far north, a place completely devoid of plant life?"
Nathan couldn't help but wonder about the origin of this mystic realm.
Could it be that this lush forest was created precisely because the surrounding region lacked any vegetation?
Walking across the soft grass, Nathan shed his heavy outerwear.
He summoned Flygon and had it carry him up into the sky.
What he saw next shocked him.
From above, the mystic realm stretched far into the distance, vast and seemingly without end.
But what truly stunned him was that the entire realm was forest—green, vibrant, and full of life.
There wasn't a single patch of land that broke this endless sea of green.
It was as if green was the realm's defining color.
As he scanned the area from above, Nathan noticed a single, towering tree in the distance.
He directed Flygon to fly closer.
From afar, he could tell the tree was huge.
But once he got close, he truly understood just how massive it was.
The trunk alone had a radius of five meters—at least a dozen people would need to link hands to circle it entirely.
Its branches and leaves were so lush that it seemed almost unnatural.
As Nathan approached, the tree suddenly began to glow with radiant, multicolored light.
Startled, Nathan instinctively took a few steps back.
Even though the area seemed full of vitality, he didn't dare assume this was a good sign.
What if a powerful Pokémon was about to attack?
The glow lasted less than three minutes before converging into a single beam of light—shooting directly toward Nathan's chest.
Alarmed, Nathan tried to dodge it.
But the beam followed him relentlessly.
His speed wasn't fast enough.
In the end, the beam of light caught up to him and pierced into one of the Poké Balls on his belt.
That Poké Ball popped open—and Volcarona was forcibly released.
Yes, forcibly.
It was a forced release.
The moment it happened, Nathan knew something was wrong.
Volcarona emerged, but its body was limp and unmoving.
Its eyes were shut tight—it looked as if it had fallen unconscious.
Panicked, Nathan quickly released all of his other Pokémon.
In the span of just two breaths, every one of his Pokémon was out.
"Attack! Attack that tree! Protect Volcarona!"
Mothim, Mewtwo, Metagross, and the rest of the team launched their attacks simultaneously at the giant tree.
But none of their moves made it through.
A multicolored barrier surrounded the tree, completely blocking every single attack.
Once didn't work—so they tried again.
And again.
But no matter how many times they struck, they couldn't break through.
The barrier didn't even ripple.
(End of Chapter)