A faint smile crossed Aaron's face as he opened the rewards from his newly completed quest.
The first item was a small stone radiating a strange, almost ethereal light.
Its information immediately appeared before him.
[Name: Spirit Form Conversion Stone]
[Item Type: Held Item]
[Effect: Can only be equipped by a Pokémon that exists in spirit form. The holder can freely switch between spirit and physical form. While in spirit form, it is immune to physical damage. While in physical form, its level and combat strength become equal to those of its contracted master.]
Aaron's eyes lit up as he finished reading.
Perfect.
Corviknight can finally have a physical body.
Until now, Corviknight had always existed as a spirit. Aside from Aaron himself, only Zeraora could see her.
Because their souls were bound by a contract, Aaron understood her feelings better than anyone.
Corviknight always acted cheerful around him, but he knew how lonely she really was. She wanted what the rest of his Pokémon already had—friends she could roughhouse with, someone to play with, a place beside everyone when they sat around eating grilled fish, Pokémon she could train and battle with, companions she could simply talk to whenever she wanted.
But as a spirit, she had never been able to truly take part in any of those things.
That had bothered Aaron for a long time.
Now there was finally a solution.
With the Spirit Form Conversion Stone, Corviknight could become physical whenever she wanted and spend time with the rest of the team like any of them.
"Corviknight."
Aaron summoned her and held up the stone.
"This is for you."
Corviknight tilted her head curiously.
Aaron explained what the item could do.
For a moment, she simply stared at him.
Then her eyes widened.
"Is... is that really true?"
Her voice trembled.
"Aaron, you're not messing with me, right?"
She looked from him to the stone and back again.
"This can really give me a physical body? I'll be able to play with everyone? Fight with them? Eat grilled fish with them?"
The words came faster and faster, excitement mixing with nervous disbelief.
Aaron smiled and gently ran a hand over her cold steel feathers.
"Why would I lie to you about something like this, silly?"
That was enough.
Corviknight threw herself against him.
"Waaah!"
"Aaron... thank you!"
She clung tightly to him as tears streamed down her face.
"Thank you so much..."
All the loneliness she had kept buried behind her usual cheerful attitude finally came pouring out.
Aaron wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.
"It's okay."
He gently stroked her back.
"Let it out."
Corviknight sobbed against him.
Aaron smiled softly.
"From now on, you get to be with everyone properly. No more watching from the sidelines."
"Mm..."
She nodded against his chest.
"I'm so happy..."
Then she started crying even harder.
Aaron could only keep comforting her.
For all the things Corviknight had been through, she was still little more than a child. She had experienced far too much loneliness and pain at an age when she should have been able to simply enjoy having friends around her.
No wonder this meant so much.
It took quite a while before she finally calmed down.
Exhausted from crying, Corviknight eventually drifted off to sleep and returned to the spiritual space within Aaron.
He watched her disappear with a gentle smile.
Then his attention shifted to the second reward.
A Skill Card.
Lightning Release: Kirin.
Aaron immediately recognized it.
Sasuke's technique.
That alone was enough to guarantee that this was going to be something special.
The information panel appeared.
[Name: Lightning Release: Kirin]
[Type: Electric]
[Category: Special/Physical]
[Power: 180 — Power increases with proficiency.]
[Effect: Condenses Electric-type energy into a massive Kirin that crashes down on the target at tremendous speed. A successful hit has a 50% chance to paralyze the target.]
Aaron's eyes brightened.
This was practically made for Zeraora.
He already had the Eight Gates.
Now he had Kirin too.
Aaron rubbed his chin.
Eight Gates plus Kirin...
His imagination immediately produced an image of Zeraora charging in with the Eight Gates open while a gigantic lightning Kirin descended from the sky behind him.
What would that even be? Night Guy: Kirin Edition?
Aaron almost laughed.
Whatever they ended up calling it, the combination would be terrifying.
He did not hesitate.
The Lightning Release: Kirin Skill Card went straight to Zeraora.
Over the past few days, the Zap Plate had been steadily nurturing him, and his growth had been explosive.
Zeraora had already reached early-stage Elite.
At this rate, it would not be long before he caught up with the core members of Aaron's team.
And once a Zeraora armed with the Eight Gates and Kirin reached that point...
Aaron was very interested to see what he could do.
"Aaron! Grant! Ryan!"
An urgent shout suddenly came from deeper inside the cave.
"We found something!"
Aaron immediately looked over.
One of the expedition's technicians was standing beside a cluster of detection equipment, waving them over.
Grant walked over first.
"Lei... what's going on?"
He glanced at the instruments.
"What did you find?"
Lei could barely contain his excitement.
"We're picking up energy signatures from Ice Stones deeper inside the cave."
Grant's expression changed.
"How strong?"
"Strong enough that this probably isn't just one or two stones."
Lei tapped several readings on the display.
"There's a very good chance there's an Ice Stone vein somewhere inside the mountain."
Aaron, Grant, and Ryan exchanged looks.
"An Ice Stone vein?" Ryan repeated.
That was significant.
Ice Stones were valuable resources in their own right. Certain Pokémon required them to evolve, and in this world, sufficiently high-quality stones could also be consumed by Ice-types to strengthen their bodies and improve their potential.
An entire vein could make this cave one of the most valuable discoveries of the expedition so far.
Grant grinned.
"Finally, some good news."
Ryan was already looking toward the dark passage leading farther into the cave.
"So do we check it tonight, or wait until morning?"
Grant considered the question.
The passage ahead was noticeably narrower than the main chamber. Sending the entire expedition through at once would only make movement difficult, and none of them knew what might be waiting farther inside.
After what had happened with Sandslash, he had no interest in sending dozens of people blindly into another unknown area.
"How about this," Grant said. "The three of us go first with one or two people carrying the detection equipment."
Ryan nodded slowly.
Grant continued.
"We confirm the location of the vein and make sure the passage is safe. If everything checks out, we bring the rest of the team in afterward and start extracting the Ice Stones."
That would also keep most of the expedition out of unnecessary danger.
Aaron nodded.
"Works for me."
Ryan agreed as well.
"Same. I was thinking along those lines."
Grant clapped his hands once.
"Good. Then we eat first."
He glanced toward the food still steaming around the camp.
"After that, we head in."
"Sounds good."
"Agreed."
The plan was settled.