Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Chapter 169

"Gar?"

[Where are we going?]

Gengar looked back.

"Let’s look for Nidoking and Nidoran♀."

Mike adjusted Glameow in his arms.

"We said we’d visit them if we came back to Eterna Forest, remember?"

Gengar nodded.

"Gar?"

[How do we find them?]

"No idea."

Mike looked toward the river running alongside the trail.

"But there’s a water source here, so we can follow it upstream. If we find them, great. If not, there isn’t much we can do."

He continued walking beside the river.

"We were always going to be relying on luck. Eterna Forest is enormous."

"If Nidoking really settled here with Nidoran♀, I doubt he’d choose a territory too far from water. With his strength, claiming a decent area near a river shouldn’t be particularly difficult."

"So following the water probably gives us the best chance of running into them. Even if we don’t, staying close to a river makes camping easier because we’ll always have water for bathing and cooking."

"Gar—"

Gengar had no objections.

Glameow saw that everyone had agreed and immediately ran ahead to take the lead.

The Soothe Bell around her neck jingled with every step, almost as though she were announcing to Nidoking and Nidoran♀ that she had come to visit.

They had only been walking for a short while when Mike’s phone rang.

He pulled out his Rotom Phone and saw a video-call request from Manryo.

Mike looked puzzled.

’Did he already find Gimmighoul’s chest?’

He accepted the call.

"Hey, Gholdengo Bro. What’s up? Did you find Gimmighoul’s chest?"

Manryo blinked on the other side of the screen, then seemed to realize what Mike was asking.

"Yeah. We found it."

He turned the camera.

Mike saw Gimmighoul happily sitting inside its old chest and smiled.

"Congratulations, Gimmighoul. You finally got your chest back."

"Gim~"

Coins rattled softly inside as Gimmighoul cried happily.

"The chest was sitting inside the house where I lived as a child," Manryo explained after turning the camera back toward himself.

"Once I came back here, finding it was surprisingly easy."

"That’s great."

Mike continued walking behind Glameow while talking.

"Now you really are going to end up with a Gholdengo."

A gleaming golden Gholdengo—who wouldn’t want one?

Manryo laughed.

"I really do owe you for this."

He looked genuinely happy.

"Garde~"

Gardevoir spoke from nearby, reminding Manryo that he had called for another reason.

Manryo shook his head.

"Right. I nearly forgot. Mike, take a look at this."

He switched the camera again and aimed it toward the coal-like lump Gardevoir was holding.

Mike narrowed his eyes at the irregular clump of dark earth.

"What is that?"

Manryo stared at him.

"You don’t recognize it?"

"Am I supposed to?"

Mike looked equally confused.

"Shouldn’t you recognize it?"

"How am I supposed to recognize it if you won’t tell me what it is?"

The two stared at each other through the screen for several seconds.

"Garde..."

Gardevoir finally interrupted them.

Mike listened and looked again at the object in her hands.

"You think that looks like a Peat Block?"

Gardevoir nodded.

Mike studied the rough lump more carefully and compared it with his memory of the item from the games.

Now that she mentioned it, there was definitely some resemblance.

He concentrated on it.

System information appeared.

{Peat Block — Irregular Fragment}

{A coal-like block with an earthy texture. Once dried, it can be used as fuel. A certain Pokémon seems particularly fond of it.}

{Possibly due to poor mining technique, this fragment was crudely chipped from a much larger Peat Block. Its effect, however, appears unchanged.}

{When used on Ursaring during a full moon, it can cause Ursaring to evolve into Ursaluna.}

Then another system message appeared.

{Legendary Photographer: Legends of Hisui}

{An outstanding photographer has already captured footage of Wyrdeer, a Pokémon long believed lost to history. Having taken that first step, you have decided to photograph every Pokémon and Hisuian form known from the Hisui era, achieving something no other photographer in this world has ever accomplished. To do so, you must search for the lost Pokémon of Hisui, restore those that can return, and record them with your camera.}

{Go forth. Search for them, restore them, and photograph them.}

{Each time you photograph a Pokémon or Hisuian form originating from the Hisui era, you will receive an exceptionally generous reward associated with that species, along with Viewership Points equal to the total number of Hisui-era Pokémon you have photographed × 1,000.}

{Move forward, Legendary Photographer, and claim your place among the legends of photography!}

Mike stopped walking.

A new mission?

The system wanted him to photograph every Hisuian Pokémon and regional form, with a generous species-related reward each time plus Viewership Points based on the total number he had already documented.

Since Wyrdeer counted as the first, restoring and photographing Ursaluna would bring the total to two, meaning that particular milestone should award him 2,000 Viewership Points.

Before Mike could finish calculating, another message appeared.

{Coal and Moonlight}

{Who said a full moon belongs only to wolves? Ursaluna has every right to claim it too. Restore Ursaluna to the modern world and spread detailed information about the species. Reward upon completion: 3,000 Viewership Points.}

Mike stared at the reward.

’Only three thousand?’

Wyrdeer had paid ten thousand!

Was the system lowballing him now?

{...}

{Please note that restoring every lost Hisuian Pokémon is not equally difficult. Different levels of difficulty provide different rewards.}

Mike considered that and had to admit it made sense.

Restoring Wyrdeer had been genuinely difficult because the entire Stantler population had forgotten how to use Psyshield Bash, forcing the research team to reconstruct the move and evolution process from scratch.

Ursaluna and Kleavor were much simpler in comparison. If the required items could be found, the evolutionary mechanism itself was relatively straightforward.

Then Mike’s thoughts moved to Hisuian Lilligant and the other lost Hisuian forms.

If rewards scaled with difficulty, wouldn’t some of those be worth considerably more?

That realization led to an even more important question. If the system was phrasing the mission this way, did that mean other Pokémon from the Hisui era could also be restored in the modern world?

Mike’s eyes widened as the implications sank in.

The more he thought about it, the bigger the entire project became.

"Mike?"

Manryo’s voice finally pulled him out of his thoughts.

Mike looked back at the screen and nodded to the increasingly nervous man.

"That really is a Peat Block."

An excited smile spread across Manryo’s face, and even his voice trembled slightly.

"Then that means..."

Mike nodded firmly.

"Yeah. With this, there’s a very good chance the first true modern Ursaluna is about to return."

Then he looked at the ugly lump on screen again and couldn’t resist adding, "Although whoever mined that thing did an absolutely terrible job. No wonder I couldn’t recognize it at first."

Manryo fell silent.

Behind him, Gardevoir lowered her head and covered her mouth with one hand.

"I mined it," Manryo said.

Mike’s expression changed instantly.

"Oh! You mined it? That explains why it has such a distinctive shape. Honestly, now that I look at it properly, the workmanship has a certain unique character that really—"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

Manryo rubbed his brow.

"I’ll ship the Peat Block to you now."

Mike checked the date, then shook his head.

"Keep it with you for the moment."

"Why?"

Manryo looked confused.

"If the Peat Block can evolve Ursaring, wouldn’t you want it as soon as possible? You’re attending the Academic Summit next month. Restoring Ursaluna before then would give you another major result to present."

"The Peat Block only works under a full moon."

Mike reminded him, "We were looking at a full moon together yesterday, remember?"

"So we have to wait until next month?"

Mike nodded.

"There’s no rush. We already found the Peat Block, so Ursaluna isn’t going anywhere."

"When I reach Eterna City, you can ship it to me. Until then, I’ll discuss the experiment with Professor Rowan and the others so we can plan everything properly and eliminate as many risks as possible."

"All right."

Manryo paused.

"When you do the evolution, can I come watch in person?"

"Of course. You’re the one who found the Peat Block."

"Good. I’ll send it once you reach Eterna City."

After ending the call, Mike found a large rock beside the river and sat down.

He took out his phone, opened the group chat with practiced ease, and typed a message.

[Mike: Everyone, I think... I can bring Ursaluna back.]

[Professor Rowan: ???]

[Professor Oak: ???]

[Professor Kukui: ???]

[Cynthia: ???]

[Lucian: ???]

{Professor Rowan invited you to join a group chat...}

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