What he coveted was clearly the resources or experience that allowed Kairos to cultivate such powerful Ghost-type Pokémon. After all, for someone of this age to have two such Pokémon by his side, there were only two possibilities.
One: these weren't his Pokémon; he simply had a prestigious background that allowed him to borrow others' Pokémon.
Two: he had trained them himself.
However, there was an obvious bond between Gengar, Chandelure, and the young man before him, a connection unique to trainers and their Ghost Pokémon. He could sense it.
In other words, this young man had cultivated these two Pokémon at such an age...
If it weren't for their similar strength levels, he might have just attacked directly.
Hearing this, Kairos felt somewhat speechless.
Ghost-type resources? He'd never even seen such things, let alone possessed them.
As for secrets, he'd never actually trained Gengar and Chandelure in any formal way.
That said, what the other party wanted, he did actually have something.
His mind racing, he pretended to rummage through the backpack behind him while actually pulling out from his system space a peculiarly packaged candy that glowed with a soft blue light.
Naturally, it was an old friend: a Rare Candy.
"I don't have any secrets," Kairos said, spreading his palm to reveal the candy. "But this will definitely benefit it."
The gaunt man squinted suspiciously, his withered fingers carefully picking up the candy.
He sniffed it under his nose, then with a gesture, a faint black energy surged out, testing the candy. He found no signs of traps or poison.
He hesitantly glanced at the Trevenant beside him.
The red lights in Trevenant's hollow eye sockets flickered slightly. It seemed to sense an extremely pure, tempting energy wave from the candy and instinctively extended a vine.
The gaunt man ultimately tossed the candy over.
Trevenant's vine nimbly caught the candy and absorbed it into its body without hesitation.
The next moment, a shocking scene unfolded!
Woom!
A powerful purple-black light suddenly erupted from within Trevenant!
Its dark purple wooden body emitted tooth-grinding creaking sounds, as if parched earth had instantly absorbed water. It visibly expanded, becoming more robust and resilient!
A Ghost-type energy wave far more powerful than before surged outward like a tidal wave!
The red lights in Trevenant's hollow eye sockets blazed like searchlights as it raised its head and let out a low, satisfied yet surprised roar!
Its aura instantly broke through its previous bottleneck, firmly stepping into the high tier of Elite Four level!
The mockery, doubt, and greed on the gaunt man's face froze instantly, replaced by extreme shock and disbelief!
His mouth gaped wide enough to fit a duck egg, his eyeballs nearly popping out, his withered body trembling violently from excitement.
"What... what the hell is this thing?!"
He shrieked, his voice cracking.
"One piece... and it broke through?! Where... where did you get this?!"
He stared at Kairos with eyes full of horror and incomprehensible fervor.
Kairos had already prepared his explanation, his face still showing no ripples.
"It's a special item called a Rare Candy. I got it as a reward from playing a game called Pokémon Ultimate Emerald."
He explained in a flat tone.
"A game? A reward?"
The shock on the gaunt man's face instantly vanished, replaced by confusion.
"Bullshit!" he exclaimed, spittle flying. "What kind of game gives something like this as a reward in real life?"
Hearing this, Kairos was momentarily stunned.
"The game is very popular. You haven't heard of it?"
The man curled his lip.
"How would I know? Never heard of it."
"The Ghost World has been half-isolated from those weaklings' territory for eight hundred damn years!
Some outposts occasionally pass in broken news, and I don't even know if the Champion has changed, let alone whatever game you're talking about."
He scoffed, his tone filled with unfamiliarity toward the outside world and a barely perceptible disdain.
Kairos suddenly understood.
So that's it!
Deep in the Ghost World, especially for those who struggled on the edge of life and death like savages, they were almost completely cut off from outside information.
The Nightwatch higher-ups might know about Alliance support, but even a globally popular gaming craze was completely unknown to them.
No wonder he'd received such a task...
At the same time, although the origin of the Rare Candy was utterly bizarre, Trevenant's real, earth-shattering transformation was right before his eyes. The gaunt man had to accept it whether he believed it or not.
Looking at Trevenant beside him, whose aura had strengthened considerably, the greed in his eyes nearly materialized.
"Kid!" He panted heavily. "I don't care if you stole this candy, robbed it, or if it really popped out of some damn game... this thing definitely has great use!"
He stared fixedly at Kairos.
"Got any more? Give me a few more! I'll tell you where that route is right away, how about it?"
He extended his withered hand, palm up, full of eager desire.
Kairos decisively shook his head.
"This kind of resource is extremely rare. I only have a little myself, otherwise would I be at this level of strength?"
"With this effect, one candy for one route is very fair."
The Rare Candies he currently had all had level restrictions for use. The ones he could give away didn't, but there really weren't many left.
Besides, if he really let this man increase his strength, whether he could even leave here would be questionable. He wasn't an idiot.
The gaunt man stared at Kairos, his eyes flashing viciously several times.
His greedy nature made him desperately desire more candies, but the calm and boundaries Kairos displayed, along with the Chandelure with its deep, cold aura and the Gengar hidden in his shadow, made him hesitate.
Finally, he made his decision.
"Fine... stingy kid." He curled his lip. "One piece it is! Follow me!"
Without further words, he turned and plunged into the nearby labyrinth of jagged rocks and chaotic energy currents with Trevenant, whose strength had greatly increased and whose steps seemed heavier.
Kairos immediately followed.
Chandelure floated at his side, its ghostly red flames steadily dispelling the Soul-Eroding Mist trying to approach.
Gengar completely merged into Kairos's shadow, leaving only basic perception.
The gaunt man was obviously intimately familiar with this area, navigating through the maze like a mole.
He led Kairos through seven or eight turns, avoiding several areas where energy currents were particularly violent and spatial rifts dense. They even narrowly passed along the edge of several wandering Elite Four-level frenzied Mismagius's perception ranges.
Finally, they stopped before a massive rock wall covered in thick dark green moss.
On the wall's surface, one could vaguely see some long-blurred, primitively-lined runic carvings.
The gaunt man motioned for Kairos to stop. He walked to the wall and uttered several extremely obscure, strangely-pronounced syllables (or perhaps they weren't human language at all).
Simultaneously, Trevenant beside him extended a thick vine. Its tip glowed with dark purple light and gently touched an inconspicuous, moss-half-hidden groove on the wall.
Woom...
A slight vibration came.
On the rock wall, a nearly invisible vertical crack, only finger-width wide, silently slid open to both sides, revealing a passageway barely wide enough for one person that sloped downward.
The passage's inner walls were unusually smooth, clearly artificially polished. It exuded the scent of accumulated dust over many years, along with a Soul-Eroding Mist presence much thinner than outside, but still existing.
The gaunt man pointed at this deep entrance that seemed to lead toward the earth's core, his tone carrying impatience and detachment.
"This is it." He stepped aside, making way. "Follow this path, keep going down, don't turn. At the end, there's an abandoned observation platform. It's not far from where you want to go."
He emphasized: "Remember, inside isn't safe either! Just slightly better than those crazy piles on the main road outside! The space isn't stable either! And..."
He stepped back, retreating with Trevenant into the shadows of nearby rocks, his voice carrying a hint of schadenfreude and distance.
"If you want to go, go yourself. Even if you give me more candy, don't expect me to accompany you inside to die."
Having obtained the candy, the transaction was complete. He clearly had no intention of any further entanglement.
Kairos ignored his attitude, only taking one last look at the deep passage entrance, then glancing toward where the gaunt man had disappeared.
Without any hesitation, he took a deep breath, bent down, and squeezed into the narrow passage.
As soon as he entered, the suffocating Soul-Eroding Mist and howling wind outside vanished instantly, as if someone had pressed a mute button.
Inside the passage was unnervingly quiet, with only the extremely faint footsteps and breathing of him and his two Pokémon.
There was no black fog here.
This surprised Kairos somewhat.
He'd originally thought this route to the Ghost World's depths would have an even worse environment than the rocky caverns outside, but unexpectedly, it was excessively clean.
Though the air still carried that accumulated dust smell, there was no skin-stinging corrosive sensation.
Chandelure floated ahead, its ghostly red flames illuminating the surroundings considerably.
Kairos reached out to touch the passage's inner wall. It felt icy cold and unusually smooth.
This clearly wasn't a naturally formed cave, but bore traces of artificial excavation and polishing.
To create such a refined passage in the Ghost World's depths, filled with violent chaotic energy currents, those people (or those Pokémon) from the past must have been extraordinarily powerful.
He continued forward. The ground beneath his feet was as smooth as a giant stone slab.
After walking for about several minutes, the space ahead became slightly more spacious. Kairos stopped because he discovered something appearing on both smooth stone walls.
Were these murals?
These murals were carved very delicately. Although they'd been eroded by who knows how many years and the lines had become somewhat blurred, under Chandelure's light, one could still clearly discern what was depicted.
Kairos moved closer, carefully examining the nearest one.
The painting showed a twisted world where the sky was shattered and the earth looked as if something had forcibly torn it apart. Countless purple-black lightning bolts wandered through the rifts. At the painting's very center was a massive, strangely-formed creature.
The creature had six thick legs, its body surrounded by golden halos. The wings on its back resembled some kind of thorny brambles or sharp blades formed from metal, giving an extremely fierce yet majestic impression.
Seeing this familiar figure, Kairos suddenly froze.
This form, this aura (even painted on a wall, it radiated an oppressive force that made one want to submit), but Kairos didn't feel anything particular.
Because this was an old friend: Giratina!
He absolutely couldn't be mistaken. Though the painting was somewhat abstract, as the ruler of the Distortion World, this legendary Pokémon's image was far too distinctive.
Although this mural only depicted its profile and seemed incomplete, as if someone had torn away half from the middle, that unique quality couldn't be concealed.
So the Ghost World's origins... are related to Giratina?
Kairos pondered silently. This was indeed a new discovery.
Although there was plenty of online information saying the Ghost World was where Ghost-type Pokémon gathered, the specific cause had always been vague. He hadn't expected to see Giratina's mural here.
Could it be that the Ghost World was actually a projection of the Distortion World in the real world, or that Giratina had once descended here, leaving behind some power that formed the Ghost World?
Just as he was staring intently at the mural, a crisp notification suddenly rang in his mind.
Ding!
The system panel popped up, a line of prominent text flashing on it.
[Legendary Pokémon ruin partial area detected, key information fragment discovered, recording in progress... Recording progress 1%.]
As expected.
A hint of surprise flashed through Kairos's eyes.
The system's reaction was quite quick. It seemed this mural indeed contained considerable information, even belonging to a ruin of the Ghost Dragon.
It's just that the recording progress was only 1%, indicating that although the mural mentioned Giratina, the information was still too sparse, or rather, too incomplete.
He shook his head, preparing to continue forward to see what else lay ahead.
After all, since this passage led to the core area, there must be more than just this one mural.
Just as he was about to lift his foot, a voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Oh? I didn't expect anyone would still be interested in this thing."
The voice was very calm, without any emotional fluctuation, like an old friend greeting him.
But in this environment, this sudden voice still made the hairs on Kairos's back stand on end instantly.
You should know, his current physique and reaction abilities had all been enhanced, yet even for him, the opponent's movement speed just now was too fast.
When did the other party appear behind him?