Viridian City.
Night had fallen deep.
In a corner of the city, under the dim light of a small rental apartment, a handsome young man with black hair stared intensely at a folder on his computer screen labeled "Rainbow Eevee Puzzle Pop."
"This time it's gotta work," he muttered.
Taking a deep breath, he dragged the folder with his mouse to a website's upload area and clicked confirm.
But the next moment, a big red X appeared, along with an error message, and the folder on his desktop instantly vanished.
[Unknown Error: 404, File Corrupted.]
"Damn it! Not again!"
The young man cursed and slammed his fist on the table.
His name was Kairos, and he'd been transported to this world a week ago.
The good news: this was a world he loved and knew well—the world of Pokémon.
The bad news: he'd been reincarnated as a broke, identity-less orphan teen, renting a temporary room on the outskirts of Viridian City, barely scraping by on odd jobs each day.
Coming to this world, Kairos had no grand plans of becoming a trainer. He'd be perfectly content just befriending one or two Pokémon and living out his days with them as companions.
But reality was even harsher than he'd imagined. Right now, he was dirt poor and couldn't even feed himself properly. If he tried to catch a Pokémon, they'd probably end up homeless together.
Picture this: him and his Pokémon on the street with a begging bowl—Kairos handling the crying, the Pokémon doing the pleading.
To change this situation, Kairos—who'd been a top game developer in his previous life—spent his first day after arriving researching this world's entertainment industry online.
The results were beyond his expectations. While this world had smartphones and computers for everyone, with a highly developed internet, the entertainment sector was basically a blank slate.
Whether movies, TV shows, novels, or games—everything was stuck in a primitive, low-level stage.
Take this example: the #1 game on the League Gaming official hot list cost a whopping 99 yuan and was called "Angry Rocks."
It was literally just a racing game where you played as a Geodude rolling down roads—and it was single-player only, not even having online multiplayer.
If you were lucky enough to reach the later levels, your Geodude would evolve into Golem and become like a massive eighteen-wheeler on the highway, giving pedestrians a taste of what "living life to the fullest" really meant.
This situation filled Kairos with excitement.
With his abilities, in a world so starved for gaming culture, he could live comfortably just by casually porting over a few classics from his previous life.
But then the problems started.
When Kairos spent two days creating a simple "Pac-Man Starter Trio" game and tried to upload it, the upload failed, and the folder disappeared.
At first, he thought his computer was malfunctioning, so he remade the game, took a USB to the internet café downstairs to try again—only to encounter the exact same issue!
Refusing to give up, he created a new "Lucario Gold Miner" mini-game, but met the same fate again.
Including what just happened, this was now the fifth game he'd made that failed to upload and vanished.
This was giving Kairos a serious headache.
What was he supposed to do?
Next week was rent day.
But he'd been so focused on making games lately that all the money he had wouldn't even buy a bottle of Moomoo Milk from the convenience store downstairs.
Just as he was lost in thought, wrestling with his dilemma, a golden panel suddenly materialized before his eyes!
Along with it came an electronic voice:
[Seven-day buffer period complete! Blocking function operating normally!]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. The "Ultimate Pokémon Game Development System" has been activated!]
[This system can provide you with efficient game development technology to help the host become the ultimate Pokémon game developer!]
[Beginner bonus tech modules activated! Please check your panel!]
After reading through the information, Kairos's gaze fixed on the first line of text.
So my games failing this whole week was because of this system?
The electronic voice spoke again, with a hint of pride:
[Ding! Please note, Host, since you are a transmigrator, to prevent spacetime disruption that could result in your erasure, you are temporarily limited to creating games with Pokémon as core content. Non-Pokémon games have been automatically blocked by the system. No need to thank this system.]
"...Gee, thanks a million," Kairos muttered sarcastically.
He mentally ran through every curse word he'd learned in this lifetime before taking a deep breath and assessing his current situation.
Simply put, this system could help him rapidly develop games—but only games with Pokémon as the core content?
He looked at the panel, where two squares glowed with blue light.
[Pixel Game Module (Low-tier)—Can rapidly create pixel-based content]
[Basic Programming Module (Low-tier)—Can rapidly create small-scale, simple program content]
[Unlocking other modules or upgrading existing ones requires Emotion Points, obtained when others experience anger, shock, emotion, admiration, etc. toward your games or yourself.]
[Current Balance: 0]
Rapid content creation?
Kairos thought for a moment, opened his computer's game development software, and visualized a pixel image in his mind.
The next moment, a Pikachu made of yellow pixels instantly appeared on screen!
"Now that's pretty sweet."
Kairos's eyes lit up.
Even as a top-tier game developer, creating a game solo required tremendous time and energy.
That's why he'd been choosing small-scale games to work on this week.
Because making those big games single-handedly was simply impossible.
Plus, his specialty was game design, not programming—there was a difference between the two.
Usually, Kairos just provided direction, concepts, and ideas while others at the company handled the programming.
But with this system, that problem was solved.
Not only that—as long as the games he created sparked emotional reactions in others, he could unlock more new modules and create even more advanced Pokémon games!
With this realization, Kairos's mind raced.
Pokémon-core games only, basic programming, pixel limitations...
One game immediately came to mind.
[Pokémon: Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Series]
This was pure heavyweight material—the Pokémon awakening for countless fans' childhoods, the most classic handheld game ever made.
With his current system capabilities, making this game seemed just about perfect!
But in that moment, a completely new idea suddenly flashed through Kairos's mind.
To unlock more modules and create higher-level games, he needed more emotion points.
In that case... the original, authentic Emerald just wouldn't cut it.
Sitting at his desk, he suddenly broke into a meaningful smile.
If you had to ask what emotion gamers most commonly experienced, it was definitely rage and getting completely wrecked.
And even Emerald could deliver that!
Kairos clicked his mouse and tapped his keyboard, and a new folder appeared on his desktop—
[Pokémon: Ultimate Emerald (Insanity Mode Limited Edition)!]