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"Wait."
Kael suddenly realized a very serious problem.
In the Pokémon world, not all evolutions are governed by level alone.
A considerable number of Pokémon required strict and unusual conditions to evolve.
Take Eevee, for example a Pokémon that had been immensely popular among players in Kael's previous life.
Because its genetic structure was notoriously unstable and highly susceptible to environmental influences, Eevee possessed more evolutionary branches than almost any other Pokémon in existence.
Yet simply leveling up could not trigger any of those evolutions.
Instead, it required exposure to elemental stones, or more abstract and almost mystical conditions such as friendship or affection, to complete its transformation.
Kael's own evolutionary line followed a similar rule.
The final evolution of Machamp represented a massive leap in power.
But its evolution condition was… problematic.
Trade Evolution.
In the Pokémon world's oddly skewed technological tree, this was a form of black-box technology that combined advanced spatial transfer and electronic data transmission.
Two Poké Balls could exchange Pokémon across vast distances in an instant.
And for reasons still not fully understood, certain Pokémon could only evolve during that exchange process.
Some researchers theorized that the intense virtual and electronic energy involved in transmission temporarily altered a Pokémon's genetic structure, activating dormant ancestral factors and triggering evolution.
Whatever the reason—
Machoke evolving into Machamp required a trade.
Back during humanity's golden age, before the Nightmare Pokémon invasion, this had been trivial.
Pokémon Centers were everywhere.
Trade machines were commonplace.
Machoke didn't even require a minimum level.
Back then, Kael could have evolved from Machop to Machoke, stepped into a trade booth, and immediately completed the entire evolutionary line.
But now—
That world was gone.
In the shattered era left behind by Nightmare Pokémon, humanity barely clung to survival.
During the dark years, countless technologies representing the pinnacle of human ingenuity were rendered useless by electromagnetic storms, abandoned in cities that later became ruins.
Trade technology was one of those lost systems.
Even though humanity had regained some stability in recent decades, it was still far from its former peak.
Exploration of urban ruins remained extremely dangerous, blocked by Nightmare Pokémon roaming the wilds.
At least in Kael's experience during his three months at the Fighting Gym, he hadn't seen a single functioning trade device.
Either the technology hadn't been recovered yet…
Or it was monopolized by the League's upper echelons.
In either case, it was far beyond Kael's reach.
And now—
He had already left Ignis City, drifting toward an unknown destination.
When he'd return… if he ever did—
Who knew how long it would be?
"…Great."
Kael scratched the back of his head, irritation creeping in.
Back when he was still a Machop, he'd focused solely on training and growth, never considering this issue.
Now that he'd evolved—
The headache came crashing down all at once.
If he wanted to reach the absolute pinnacle of combat power in this world, evolving into Machamp was unavoidable.
For now, all Kael could do was hope that during his journey, he might stumble upon a surviving trade device or encounter some extraordinary opportunity.
As he wrestled with these thoughts—
Suddenly, a strange tremor rippled through the psychic current enveloping him.
Kael's focus snapped back instantly.
He closed his eyes and extended his highly sensitive perception toward the disturbance.
The once-rushing pink psychic torrent had begun to slow.
Its momentum was weakening.
After all—
Grumpig was only a normal Psychic-type Pokémon.
Even after burning through every last drop of its energy—including its life force—
Attempting to transport a living being across vast distances like a Legendary Pokémon was simply too much.
Realizing this, Kael's calm finally cracked.
At the moment, he existed within a special subspace.
This space allowed rapid traversal across unimaginable distances but it was also completely devoid of oxygen and violently unstable.
Without the psychic current protecting him, Kael wouldn't survive even a minute.
If Grumpig's psychic power ran out halfway—
His body would be torn apart by spatial turbulence, his soul dragged back into the cycle of reincarnation.
That outcome was unacceptable.
He had endured too much.
Planned too long.
Only just reached the point where his strength had undergone a true qualitative leap.
To end here—
Would be unbearably anticlimactic.
Kael instinctively drew his powerful body inward, minimizing movement to avoid wasting even the slightest bit of energy.
Beyond that—
There was nothing he could do.
A faint sense of regret surfaced.
Panic would achieve nothing. Calm was the only option.
To distract himself, Kael let his thoughts wander.
If he didn't know that Grumpig bore him no ill will, he might have suspected this was a final suicidal attack meant to drag him down as well.
"…Did I really gamble my life on a gut feeling?"
Perhaps he'd trusted that vague intuition too much.
In the future, he'd need to weigh actual conditions more carefully—avoid cornering himself into situations with no retreat.
Just as the pink psychic current around him weakened further, beginning to unravel—
A brilliant white light suddenly flared into existence ahead of him.
Like the mouth of a tunnel, blazing and absolute.
Space around it twisted and distorted.
The surface shimmered like rippling water made of light, and through the blinding glow, Kael could vaguely glimpse something beyond—
A hazy, unreal scene.
"…This is—?"
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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