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After returning to Sunshine Gym, Aiden and his Pokémon (except for Miraidon) immediately gathered in a circle, observing the already-evolved Shelgon.
"Luca..."
At Aiden's request, Lucario closed its eyes, carefully sensing the aura energy within Shelgon.
Aura was a very mysterious energy in the Pokémon world. It was said that aura power existed in any object, but only a very small number of humans and Pokémon could perceive its existence.
Aiden definitely didn't have this kind of talent anyway.
However, Sunshine Gym was filled with hidden talents (referring to Incineroar and Kingdra), so there was no shortage of various skilled individuals.
Sensing Aura was almost instinctive for Lucario. Plus, it was the only one in the team who had used Mega Stone power before, so Aiden entrusted it to investigate the whereabouts of the Mega Stone after Shelgon's evolution.
Actually, there wasn't much need for Lucario's help—Aiden already had about 90% certainty in his heart.
After all, they had searched the entire Casseroya Lake, and the answer could almost certainly be only one.
But to be safe, they might as well check again.
"Luca!"
Lucario suddenly opened its eyes, looking at Shelgon—who was clueless and hadn't figured out what was happening—with a shocked expression. It then quickly turned to Aiden and nodded firmly.
Thus, the answer was revealed—
When Shelgon evolved, the Mega Stone it was carrying was also unwittingly evolved into its body...
After confirming the answer in his heart, Aiden couldn't help but sigh with a complex expression, turning to look at Shelgon, who only showed its eyes besides its white shell.
After staring for a few seconds, several lines of small text quickly appeared before his eyes.
[Shelgon (Male)]
[Type: Dragon]
[Ability: Rock Head]
[Moves: Tackle, Protect, Dragon Breath, Scary Face, Dragon Claw, Crunch, Dragon Rush]
[Very Stubborn nature.]
[December 20th: Hatched in Cabo Poco—where you met it.]
[Dislikes sour flavors.]
[Yearns for the sky.]
It looked quite ordinary, very much in line with Aiden's imagination of a "late-blooming Pokémon."
The only noteworthy move, Dragon Rush, was probably inherited from its parents and had seemingly never been used by Bagon.
If I had to say something, just by looking at its stats, this Shelgon was probably the most ordinary existence in the entire Sunshine Gym, showing no signs of cheating at all.
However, this was just the surface...
"Confirmed—there is indeed a special energy within Shelgon's belly."
Mewtwo on the other side also quickly stopped controlling its psychic power, turning to look at Aiden.
Besides Lucario, Mewtwo's psychic abilities could also demonstrate various unimaginable functions.
Along with Aiden, three experts conducted a joint diagnosis and quickly formed some guesses about Shelgon's current condition.
"However, this shouldn't be harmful to it. The abundant Dragon-type energy in the Mega Stone is continuously supplying power to its body. It might even be beneficial for evolution."
"So even though it has temporarily lost its ability to eat, it shouldn't be a problem for it."
As Mewtwo spoke, it looked at Shelgon again.
There wasn't much information online about evolution absorbing items into the body—only some Pokémon that required special items for evolution would behave this way.
But for Shelgon, this unconscious behavior might very likely create an exceptional individual.
"Due to the subtle influence of the Mega Stone, its cells seem to be gradually adapting to the energy changes within its body, accumulating energy needed for evolution through the Mega Stone."
"Perhaps your guess is correct—after evolution, this Salamence might indeed be able to master the power of autonomous Mega Evolution."
How to make Pokémon achieve Mega Evolution on their own was also Mewtwo's main research direction recently.
For something it was still struggling with, it never expected a living example would suddenly appear beside it.
Therefore, Mewtwo's gaze toward Shelgon also became somewhat expectant.
If it could do it, perhaps it could also achieve this by analyzing its energy changes?
"I understand."
Aiden nodded, looking at Shelgon with a complex gaze.
As expected of the Bagon chosen by that black Rayquaza—before even evolving into Salamence, it was already becoming illegal.
When Rayquaza appeared at the closing ceremony of the Dragon-type Master Tournament and gave him Salamence's Mega Stone, had it already foreseen this day?
A Salamence that could Mega Evolve on its own—what was the difference between that and a Mega Rayquaza!
While Aiden was thinking this, Shelgon had gradually lost patience, rolling its eyes and lying down on the ground to sleep soundly.
For it, today's trip had indeed consumed quite a bit of energy. Now tired from playing, falling asleep was also normal.
Aiden smiled helplessly, preparing to carry Shelgon like before and bring it back to its little nest to sleep well. But after reaching out, he realized—
Shelgon was way too heavy!
Only then did he suddenly realize.
In its Bagon stage, it weighed at most just over 40 kilograms. Although it was indeed a bit difficult, he could still carry it.
But the average weight of Shelgon in the Pokédex was 110 kilograms...
Even just after evolving into Shelgon, its weight had suddenly more than doubled. A normal human could almost never bear its weight.
Fortunately, it was Lucario—the martial artist—who had caught it at Casseroya Falls. If it had been him, he might have been flattened into a pancake by now.
It seemed he couldn't lift it up high anymore, and it couldn't casually act spoiled with him either.
Tiny Pokémon like Bagon and Sylveon were already the limit of what Aiden could handle. A 200+ pound Shelgon...
Just thinking about it felt terrifying!
Aiden shook his head.
For Pokémon, growth was naturally a good thing, especially for Bagon who yearned for the sky.
However... evolving from the cute and lovely Bagon into the fierce-looking Salamence, gradually shedding childishness to become reliable, even unable to eat—perhaps this was also the price of growth!
Just as Aiden was thinking this, preparing to go back to his bedroom to lie down for a while, several lines of text suddenly appeared before his eyes again:
[Main Quest "Path of Legends" has been updated.]
[Current Quest: Collect Herba Mysticas, awaken Miraidon's peak form. (Current progress 5/5)]
[Reward: Random Gold-Tier item*1, being distributed...]
[Reward: "Special Z-Crystal Ore"*1]
At the same time as receiving the message, Aiden suddenly felt a rocky texture in his hand.
Subconsciously opening his palm, a completely transparent diamond-shaped gemstone suddenly appeared in his hand.
After staring at it for a few seconds, its information quickly appeared before his eyes.
[Special Z-Crystal Ore (Gold): Originally rare material used by the Alola Four Islands' deities to make Z-Crystals. Since this Z-Crystal contains no energy, it can be used to fuse and create exclusive Z-Crystals.]
[Usage: Fuse with another Z-Crystal and inject an aura of sufficient strength.]
"..."
Aiden froze.
What, it could even get this kind of Z-Crystal?
Z-Crystals were essentially very special energy crystals related to Ultra Aura.
After absorbing energy of different types, they would form corresponding Z-Crystals. When carried, they could greatly enhance Pokémon moves of the corresponding type.
Although the stored energy was only enough for one use per battle, the role they could play in battles was self-evident.
He had previously obtained and used the Z-Power Ring that came with Z-Crystals.
Besides the eighteen type Z-Crystals, there were also more special exclusive Z-Crystals that could only be activated by specific Pokémon moves to unleash their powerful contained energy.
For example, the Eevium Z he possessed had very powerful effects—able to even let Eevee borrow the power of Eevee from all over the world across thousands of miles, temporarily gaining a huge boost in all abilities.
However, after Eevee completed its evolution, the Eevium Z had no effect on it anymore.
As for the origin of exclusive Z-Crystals, the game didn't actually mention it clearly.
But in the anime, Ash's illegal [Ash-Greninja Z] was clearly recorded.
Created by Tapu Koko, one of Alola's Four Islands deities, by enhancing a regular [Electric Z] to get an exclusive Z-Crystal that only Ash's Pikachu could use.
The evolved Z-Move also changed from [Pikachu Z]'s "10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt" to the unique "Catastropika."
The Alola Four Islands deities could control Ultra Aura themselves and skillfully use its energy to create Z-Crystals, corresponding to the system's description.
If his reasoning was correct, perhaps this Z-Crystal could also be used like [Ash-Greninja Z] to create other illegal exclusive Z-Crystals?
However...
Even if he was given a Z-Crystal, it seemed he couldn't use it right now.
Ultra Aura only existed in the Alola region, and currently should only be usable at will by the Four Islands deities.
The whereabouts of the Four Islands deities were unpredictable—even the Island Kings couldn't maintain stable contact with them.
Even if he went to Alola now, the probability of returning empty-handed was very high.
However, with this special Z-Crystal, at least Aiden had a rough idea.
Clearly this was prepared for Sylveon.
With Lucario's training complete and Bagon beginning its cheating path, it was actually Sylveon—the earliest to show "copying aptitude"—whose progress speed had obviously slowed down.
Moreover, whether it was Lucario or Salamence, they both had corresponding Mega Evolutions to further enhance their strength.
And if he could transform Eevium Z into Sylveon Z, it would also give Sylveon a path for further development.
There's another illegal Pokémon in his team!
This matter wasn't urgent either, so Aiden chose to first store this Z-Crystal in the system and silently remember this matter.
As Aiden confirmed the reward, the text before his eyes began scrolling again.
[During your journey in Paldea to improve yourself, you gradually discovered that the rumors of "Titans" were not unfounded.]
[After months of effort, you finally defeated five powerful Titans and discovered a special plant in their caves—called "Herba Mysticas" by Arven.]
[After collecting all five Herba Mysticas, the Miraidon you accidentally saved finally recovered completely.]
[And during the exploration process, you gradually gained its recognition.]
[Now, all mysteries once again point to the place where the initial incident occurred—]
[The Area Zero Underdepths.]
[Perhaps, only by going deep inside can you find the answers.]
[Task: Collect Herba Mysticas, awaken Miraidon's peak form. (Completed)]
[Reward: "Treasure Eatery Secret Recipes· Simple Cooking Guide Anyone Can Learn!"]
[Main Quest "Path of Legends" has been updated.]
[Current Quest: Lift the League's blockade on Area Zero, enter the Area Zero Underdepths.]
"Hiss—"
Aiden immediately sucked in a cold breath.
He hadn't expected this "Path of Legends" to actually have a follow-up.
However, even with Geeta's high recognition of him now, it was still impossible to enter Area Zero at this moment.
The blockade on Area Zero wasn't meant to prevent others from exploring—it was to prevent the dangerous Paradox Pokémon inside from escaping and causing harm to Paldea.
Therefore, without a careful plan and a sufficiently strong team, Geeta wouldn't lift the blockade and let him go down alone.
The Area Zero Underdepths had been breeding Paradox Pokémon and other Pokémon for who knows how long—each was extremely fierce. This behavior itself was no different from seeking death.
So he still had to wait.
After Nemona clears the Victory Road and a new Champion is born, Geeta's exploration plan for Area Zero would restart—he could just follow in then.
Aiden quickly made his decision in his heart, and subconsciously spoke, murmuring to himself:
"By the way, I haven't seen Nemona since the Victory Road opened."
Although she only served as an apprentice at Sunshine Gym for one month, this experience had made Nemona's growth rate far exceed expectations.
Currently, the most likely candidate to become the new Champion was still Nemona.
"When she comes to challenge me, I'll know what Nemona's current strength really is..."
Nemona had seemed to say that the next time she came to challenge Sunshine Gym, she wanted him to definitely use his full strength.
But... could Nemona handle his team's full strength now?
Thinking of this, Aiden calmly smiled.
Compared to Nemona whose whereabouts were temporarily unknown, he clearly had more important things right now—
Studying the Treasure Eatery's secret recipes!
Treasure Eatery was a famous restaurant throughout Paldea, with a much higher good review rate than Sunshine Gym's bad review rate—everyone who had eaten there praised it.
Even Elite Four Larry, that office wagie, was a loyal fan of Treasure Eatery.
If he could master their cooking methods, perhaps his cooking skills could be salvaged?
A cooking guide that anyone with hands could follow—he had two hands, so it should be effortless, right?
After taking out a book that wasn't particularly thick from the system, a mysterious smile quickly appeared on Aiden's face.
The three-year period is up—today the cooking king returns!
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