Chen Shi truly disliked old men who spoke in circles and wrapped every sentence in layers of formality.
Compared with them, he much preferred someone like Professor Oak.
Professor Oak said whatever was on his mind without beating around the bush.
So Chen Shi spoke directly.
"I prefer people to be straightforward, so I'll be honest with you."
"As long as none of you do anything excessive, I won't harm you."
"You seem perceptive enough, so you should understand that if I truly meant to attack your tribe, I wouldn't need to waste so many words."
His words were far from polite.
Yet after hearing them, Nio actually relaxed.
A smile appeared on his face.
"It is our honor to have you as a guest of our tribe."
He stepped slightly to the side and extended a hand in invitation.
Chen Shi curled his lips and pointed toward the food Metagross was carrying.
"Where should we put all of that?"
Shate hurriedly answered,
"My lord, you can place it directly on the ground. We'll handle the rest ourselves."
"Alright."
Chen Shi nodded.
"Metagross, put it down."
"Meta~"
Metagross responded and lowered all the food onto the ground.
Nio spoke again.
"Honored guest, please follow me inside."
Chen Shi jumped down from Dragapult's back and followed Nio into the tribe.
Dragapult and Metagross trailed behind him.
As they passed, the other tribespeople watched the group with a mixture of curiosity and reverence, whispering among themselves.
Shate gave them a helpless look.
"Everyone should move the food first."
"Some of the prey hasn't been bled yet. It'll spoil if we leave it like this."
At those words, no one had time to continue discussing Chen Shi.
They excitedly hurried over to begin processing and storing the food.
...
"Thank you for helping us obtain so much food."
"It is truly important to us."
Inside a small wooden hut, Nio and Chen Shi sat facing each other.
Dragapult had already slipped into Chen Shi's shadow, while Metagross had been recalled into its Poké Ball.
Chen Shi replied calmly,
"It was only a minor matter to me."
"You don't need to take it too seriously."
Nio opened his mouth as though he wanted to say more.
Then he remembered that Chen Shi preferred direct conversation, so he merely nodded and did not continue dwelling on the subject.
"I heard that you came from a very distant place and wish to learn about this region."
"When I was young, I traveled to many places."
"I hope I can answer your questions."
Chen Shi gave him a surprised look.
"How many tribes like yours exist on this continent?"
"Far too many to count. No one knows the exact number," Nio answered.
"Among the smaller tribes, ours is actually considered fairly large."
"Many small tribes have only a few dozen people."
After thinking for a moment, Chen Shi continued,
"What about the large tribes?"
"How many people do they have, and how many large tribes are there?"
Nio slowly shook his head.
"Honored guest, I truly do not know the exact numbers."
"Perhaps no one does."
"As far as I know, there are only three large tribes near Meteor Falls."
"Like you, they possess the ability to command magical beasts."
"However... their methods are nowhere near as miraculous as yours, and they are not nearly as powerful."
"They have far more people than us. Each tribe has at least a thousand members."
On the journey back, Nio had already witnessed Chen Shi use a small black-and-white sphere to contain an enormous metallic Pokémon.
Nio was certain that the people of those large tribes could not do anything like that.
He could also sense that Chen Shi's two Pokémon were vastly stronger than any of the magical beasts controlled by those tribes.
Chen Shi nodded, unsurprised.
This era lacked even the most basic knowledge about Pokémon.
To the people of this time, an Elite-level Pokémon was probably already an unimaginably powerful existence.
Even one thousand years later, when knowledge was far more developed and countless resources were available, raising a Pokémon to the Elite level was still no simple feat.
Chen Shi then asked curiously,
"Why haven't you tried raising Poké—"
He stopped himself.
"Magical beasts?"
"If you had their help, obtaining food would be much easier."
Nio sighed.
"Honored guest, you may not know this, but we have tried to subdue magical beasts before."
"However, we lacked the necessary knowledge and never succeeded."
"Instead, several tribespeople lost their lives."
"After that, we no longer dared to try."
Chen Shi raised an eyebrow in surprise.
He knew that Poké Balls did not exist in this era, so catching Pokémon would naturally be difficult.
But he hadn't expected it to be this difficult.
"This era is harsher than I imagined," Chen Shi muttered.
Nio, however, found Chen Shi's reaction rather strange.
According to Chen Shi, he had come from an extremely distant place.
But no matter how far away it was, shouldn't people everywhere face similar circumstances?
Why did it seem as though he knew almost nothing about the world of this era?
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Nio asked,
"Honored guest, may I ask where you came from?"
A complicated look appeared in Chen Shi's eyes.
"I come from a place very, very far away."
"I don't know exactly where I'm supposed to go."
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
"I only know that I have a mission I must complete."
Nio nodded slightly.
He did not ask for the reason behind those words and immediately changed the subject.
"Honored guest, may I request something of you?"
Chen Shi paused, then quickly understood and smiled.
"You want me to teach your people how to catch Pokémon—magical beasts, correct?"
"Yes, honored guest. That is indeed my request."
"I understand that it may be extremely impudent—"
Before Nio could finish, Chen Shi interrupted him.
"You don't need to say all that."
"It isn't a difficult matter for me."
"Of course, I have one condition of my own."
"Find me somewhere to stay nearby."
"I may remain here for several days."
"During that time, I'll teach that man named Shate how to catch magical beasts."
"How does that sound?"
Nio's grip on his cane tightened.
Suppressing his excitement, he answered,
"Of course. That will not be a problem."
"We will prepare the finest room we have for you."
"Anything is fine. I don't have many requirements."
Chen Shi waved dismissively.
For him, casually teaching Shate a few things was simple.
The real reason he intended to remain here for a while was so he could investigate the nearby tribes and Meteor Falls.
Perhaps he would be able to locate the Draconid people.
According to Rayquaza and Mew, there was someone in this era who possessed the same psychic power as Chen Shi.
That person was the ancestor of the Draconid people.
This should be the period in which that person lived.
Since Chen Shi had already come here, how could he pass up the chance to meet him?
Nio seemed to remember something.
"Honored guest, we still do not know how to address you."
"How to address me?"
Chen Shi paused, then smiled.
"Just call me Qiu."
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