"How could that be possible? If every human had the kind of strength I possess, and every one of them had a Pokémon as powerful as Volcarona, wouldn't this world have long since descended into chaos?"
Nathan let out a bitter smile as he spoke.
Xerneas, hearing Nathan's words, turned its head slightly in his direction.
As expected, any human who could reach the mystic realm where Xerneas resided clearly wasn't ordinary.
Human beings truly were mysterious and fascinating creatures.
However, at that moment, Nathan didn't have the mind to dwell on such thoughts for long.
---------------
It was because, after Volcarona defeated Kyurem, the system issued a notification.
Normally, after every battle, the system would give a message about gained experience.
Nathan had long since grown used to ignoring those messages.
But this time, the notification was completely different.
Because this time, it was related to his Pokémon advancing to the Legendary tier!
[Volcarona has defeated one Legendary Pokémon. Progress toward Legendary-level advancement: 1/3.]
"What does this mean?"
Nathan asked the system in his mind.
"Isn't it enough for a Pokémon to evolve just by accumulating enough experience?"
This time, his Volcarona was able to defeat Kyurem for a few reasons.
First, although Kyurem was indeed a Legendary Pokémon, among Legendaries, it wasn't considered particularly powerful.
Secondly, Volcarona had a strong type advantage.
Volcarona's typing completely countered Kyurem. Plus, Kyurem was a wild Pokémon, which meant it had not received the kind of intensive training that Volcarona had undergone.
Nathan had raised Volcarona from a young age, sparing no effort or expense.
He had used all kinds of rare and powerful items and training methods to nurture it—far beyond what other Pokémon of the same level had received.
As a result, Volcarona was significantly stronger than most others at its tier.
[Before the Legendary level, a Pokémon only need enough experience to advance.
To advance to the Legendary level, it must defeat three Legendary-level Pokémon.
To advance to the World-level, it must defeat one World-level Pokémon.]
The system's cold and mechanical voice rang out in Nathan's mind.
Hearing that response, Nathan suddenly felt as if he had hit a wall.
A bottleneck.
Defeating three Legendary Pokémon while still at the Champion level—while it was certainly difficult, for Nathan, it was still within the realm of possibility.
But using a Pokémon that had just reached the Legendary tier to challenge and defeat a World-class Pokémon?
That wasn't just hard—it was on an entirely different scale.
If you were to imagine Pokémon power levels on a scale, with Champion-level Pokémon having a strength range from 1 to 10,
Then Legendary Pokémon would start around 15 and go up to around 30.
Nathan's Volcarona, due to superior training and development, could already reach a 13 or 14 even while technically still Champion-level.
With that level of strength and a favorable matchup, defeating a lower-end Legendary like Kyurem wasn't unreasonable.
But World-class Pokémon?
Their base strength started at 100.
And for Pokémon like Ho-Oh, it would be at least 200.
Now the system was telling him that both advancing to Legendary and World-class tiers required defeating stronger Pokémon in battle.
How was he supposed to accept that?
He asked, "Is this condition absolutely necessary? Is there no alternative way to help my Pokémon reach the Legendary or World-class level?"
He loved challenges.
But that didn't mean he wanted to be constantly crushed.
The difficulty gap between over-leveling against Legendaries and over-leveling against World-class Pokémon was massive.
To willingly walk into that kind of slaughter? That was just asking to be abused.
[Aside from defeating high-tier Pokémon, there are specific conditions under which a Pokémon can evolve.]
The system replied once again.
However, this follow-up response was painfully vague.
Specific conditions? What did that even mean?
"What does that mean? What kind of specific conditions are we talking about?"
Nathan asked in frustration.
But this time, the system said nothing.
That only made Nathan even more helpless.
It gave no explanation, no clue—wasn't that the same as having no other options?
Advancing to the Legendary tier was already tough, but what about beyond that?
Was he really supposed to stop all his Pokémon at the Legendary level?
A damn stingy system—talking about special conditions but refusing to say what they were.
Was he supposed to throw Volcarona into an active volcano and see what happens?
Xerneas noticed that Nathan had frozen in place, his thoughts clearly somewhere far away.
So it gently nudged him with its head.
"What's wrong?"
Xerneas asked.
Hearing Xerneas's voice, Nathan snapped out of it and scratched his head with an embarrassed smile.
"Oh, it's nothing. I just remembered something all of a sudden."
But as he looked at Xerneas beside him, a sudden idea popped into his head.
What if… I could arrange a staged battle with another Legendary Pokémon?
A fake match? If I do that, and Volcarona gains enough experience, maybe I could challenge Ho-Oh in the future and stand a chance!
Just as this slightly underhanded thought surfaced, the system's voice struck again:
[When a Pokémon challenges a higher-level opponent, the system records the battle and assesses its authenticity.
If the opponent is determined not to be fighting at full strength, the battle will be considered invalid.]
That single sentence shattered all of Nathan's beautiful dreams.
"Ugh… I'll just treat its wounds, and then we'll go."
Nathan sighed in resignation.
Of course, the system would monitor even this.
No surprise there.
Xerneas was stunned when it heard what Nathan said.
It hadn't expected that this human—who had just been attacked by Kyurem—would now be healing that same Pokémon.
Sure, the wounds on Kyurem were inflicted by Volcarona.
But let's not forget: just moments ago, Kyurem had tried to attack both Nathan and his Pokémon.
Now, not only had Nathan defeated Kyurem, but he didn't retaliate at all.
Instead, he was tending to Kyurem's wounds?
"Are all humans like this?"
Xerneas asked curiously.
It was starting to realize that it truly didn't understand humans very well.
At the very least, it definitely didn't understand this human.
He had used a Champion-level Pokémon to defeat a Legendary, even under ambush.
And after that, he healed his attacker.
"I don't know about others," Nathan said, shaking his head slightly,
"But at the very least, when it comes to wild Pokémon, I've always done things this way."
"No matter why a wild Pokémon attacks me or my Pokémon… if the injuries were caused by me, I'll take responsibility and help with treatment."
Nathan nodded firmly as he spoke.
He had long since grown used to doing this.
To him, there was nothing special about it.
He didn't mind spending a little money on medicine.
Wild Pokémon already struggled to survive.
If his own Pokémon defeated them for experience and they were left with serious injuries…
And if, due to those injuries, something happened to them afterward…
Then no matter how much experience they gained in return, it would still sit uneasily in his heart.
With practiced hands, Nathan treated Kyurem's wounds.
Once that was done, he turned around and walked away.
Xerneas glanced at Kyurem, now mostly healed, and then followed behind.
-------------
The journey back was surprisingly smooth.
In fact, it was so smooth that it was almost suspicious.
But it made sense—after all, a Legendary Pokémon like Xerneas was walking beside Nathan.
Other wild Pokémon, upon sensing Xerneas's presence, scattered and avoided them like the plague.
Not a single one dared to come close.
Still, something puzzled Nathan.
He had walked this same path before—but he had yet to see the creature that the Mr. Rime had mentioned.
Could that mysterious being still be asleep?
Honestly, Nathan was very curious about what kind of Pokémon it was.
To scare Mr. Rime so much that it wouldn't even say its name?
When he came this way before, he hadn't had Xerneas with him.
But now?
With Xerneas by his side, Nathan wasn't afraid at all.
Even if something did happen—could Xerneas really just stand there and watch him get beat up?
They traveled all the way through the glaciers and finally returned to the sea—but still, they never saw that so-called "creature."
It seemed that it was truly hiding—so Nathan had no choice but to give up for now.
And so began another long, dull trek.
But this time, Nathan's mood was very different.
----------
Once again stepping onto solid ground, Nathan felt a strange warmth—like he'd returned home.
For more than half a month, he had either been drifting on the ocean or trekking through glacial wastelands.
It had been a long, exhausting journey.
But he had also reaped great rewards.
He wouldn't even mention having a Legendary like Xerneas traveling with him for now.
Just the eternal life that Xerneas shared with him—something priceless and beyond all material value.
Right now, though, what Nathan needed most…
Was a shower and a haircut.
After more than half a month, his hair looked like a bird's nest.
His beard had grown long and scruffy.
When he walked down the street, no one even recognized him as Nathan.
Meanwhile, Xerneas, walking beside him, attracted all sorts of attention.
Its appearance was naturally stunning.
Even though it wasn't currently using any moves or glowing with rainbow light, people were still taking pictures nonstop.
And Nathan?
Completely ignored—like he wasn't even there.
"Hey, Nathan," Xerneas asked mentally, "Why are those people all looking at me?"
Nathan chuckled and replied,
"Why else? Because you're beautiful—and because you're a Pokémon they've never seen before. Of course they're curious."
On the internet, there were websites dedicated to compiling and cataloging all known Pokémon.
And Xerneas?
It was a one-of-a-kind Pokémon, one that had only just awakened.
Since Pokémon hadn't existed in this world for very long…
Of course no one had ever seen Xerneas before.
(End of Chapter)
TN: Sigh, like what about the Master-tier, what about steelix, I'm so confused. Felt like the author forget about it. I tried the Chinese character for the master tier of steelix and search it on other chapters but it never match on anything.