"What a pity that Mega Stones are bound to specific Pokémon. If only they were like the Key Stone," Aven sighed softly.
Four Mega Stones—Gengarite, Tyranitarite, Manectite, and Pidgeotite. Within the Pokémon Domain, only Haunter barely met the requirements.
And even then, to allow Haunter to successfully Mega Evolve, it would first need to evolve into Gengar, then build mutual understanding and rapport before ultimately achieving Mega Evolution.
As for the other three Pokémon, none currently existed within the Pokémon Domain. To put those Mega Stones to use, he would first have to locate those species.
"Tyranitar, Manectric, and Pidgeot… if they can't be found, perhaps they could be bred."
"Especially Tyranitar. As a pseudo-legendary Pokémon with tremendous potential, if it could be bred, it would significantly enhance the foundation of the Pokémon Breeding Zone."
Aven contemplated this deeply. As the number of Trainers within the territory continued to grow, demand for Pokémon was increasing as well—especially among new Trainers, many of whom lacked suitable starter Pokémon.
The reason these three species could serve as starter Pokémon was primarily because they were numerous and relatively easy to capture, allowing large numbers of civilians to cross the threshold into becoming trainee Trainers.
Although Oddish, Burmy, and Magikarp had now become starter choices for many Trainers, these three Pokémon were difficult to train and had limited potential.
Magikarp in particular—even though it could undergo a dramatic transformation through evolution, only a minority ever managed to do so. This greatly restricted a Trainer's development, often forcing them to seek alternative starter Pokémon.
As for Pokémon like Oddish, while early training was simple, once it evolved into Gloom, further evolution required rare items such as Evolution Stones, making it equally unsuitable for ordinary novice Trainers.
According to experience from the future world, only Pokémon that were easy to breed and raosed, had sufficient potential, and evolved simply were truly suitable as starter Pokémon. These were known as the "Starter Trio."
In the Sinnoh region, the Starter Trio consisted of Empoleon, Torterra, and Infernape. All three existed within the Pokémon Domain. Among them, Infernape already had a tribe, containing a large number of Chimchar.
Therefore, after subduing the Infernape tribe, Aven had long since begun planning to assist them in breeding, cultivating more outstanding Chimchar. For a Pokémon Breeder, assisting in Pokémon reproduction was, after all, fundamental work.
As for Empoleon and Torterra, he had been searching for their tribes as well. Once he had sufficient numbers of Starter Trio Pokémon, he could gradually formalize their status and allow outstanding graduates of Pokémon academies to select them.
Beyond the cultivation of Starter Trio Pokémon, the Pokémon Breeding House had also collected many ownerless Pokémon Eggs from the forests.
In previous years, these eggs could only dissipate and perish naturally. Now, however, once collected by the Breeding House, they could be incubated using nutrient solutions and then made available for adoption by Trainers through a points exchange system.
This would allow the Breeding House to maintain a greater supply of Pokémon, while also granting these Pokémon a second chance at life—allowing them to grow stronger alongside their Trainers.
"The most difficult Pokémon to breed is still Chansey," Aven said with a troubled expression.
Chansey was a species composed entirely of females, with no male counterpart. As a result, it could only reproduce by pairing with Pokémon from the Fairy Egg Group.
Fairy Egg Group Pokémon were relatively rare among all Egg Groups. At present, within the Pokémon Domain, only Froslass and Cherrim belonged to this group.
However, due to individual differences, these Pokémon were extremely difficult to breed successfully with Chansey, which caused Aven no small amount of frustration. At the moment, he simply could not find suitable Fairy Egg Group Pokémon anywhere within the territory.
Thus, Chansey's breeding plan remained completely stalled—but producing more Chansey was crucial to the construction of Pokémon Centers, leaving him constantly worried.
"It seems I'll have to continue expanding the scope of exploration," he thought, hoping that suitable candidates could be found in nearby cities.
With that in mind, he put away the Mega Stones and the Key Stone, then looked toward Gardevoir in the distance, who was currently meditating.
Speaking of Mega Evolution, both Gardevoir and Garchomp under his command possessed Mega Evolution potential—but unfortunately, he lacked the corresponding Mega Stones for them.
Of course, this was not absolute. After all, Lilligant had already mastered something similar to Mega Evolution through Natural Reversion. Moreover, according to his understanding, a small number of Pokémon truly did possess the ability to Mega Evolve independently.
Based on Aven's own conjectures, combined with the fact that the energy Lilligant wielded contained Mega Evolution energy as a special form of life energy, true mastery of life energy was likely the key to achieving Mega Evolution.
"Garde~ voir~"
At this moment, Gardevoir was training the Energy Ball move.
It had learned this technique from Lilligant via telepathy, using Energy Ball as a means to train grass and life energy.
In addition, through telepathy, it had also absorbed Lilligant's experience in controlling life energy. At present, its grasp of life energy could be considered entry-level.
Next, it would continue strengthening its control over life energy, attempting to convert it into Mega Evolution energy and thereby achieve Mega Evolution.
Of course, all of this was merely Gardevoir's own experimentation. Even if it failed to achieve self-triggered Mega Evolution, mastering life energy would still represent a tremendous enhancement for Gardevoir.
"Lass~"
On the other side, Froslass, who lacked Mega Evolution potential, was training the Gray Mist.
After the previous battle, its control over Gray Mist had grown even stronger. After all, when it evolved, Gray Mist had already been etched into its genetic makeup.
Now, with the power of the yellow crystal, it could freely manipulate Gray Mist, even converting a portion of its Ghost-type energy into Gray Mist power.
Moreover, as a Ghost-type Pokémon, a large part of Froslass's body was composed of Ghost-type energy. Through continuous fusion, it was clearly capable of transforming its own body into a Gray Mist form.
This Gray Mist possessed the ability to absorb life energy, continuously converting it into its own power.
During the previous Abyssal Beast Tide, it was precisely because this Gray Mist continuously devoured the life force of living beings that it spread so rapidly, causing countless creatures to perish after their life energy was completely drained.
According to Aven's judgment, this Gray Mist energy was a force entirely opposed to life energy—perhaps it could be called the power of death, an extremely formidable force.
"When I have time, I should still take Froslass to the Abyssal Cavern."
"With the power of the Sendoff Spring, Froslass should be able to grow much stronger more quickly."
Aven pondered quietly. He had learned of the Sendoff Spring from the Black-Robed Grand Sorcerer. In legend, the Sendoff Spring was the fourth lake of the Sinnoh region, connected to the Ghost World.
He now possessed the method to enter the Sendoff Spring and could even open it through certain means, thereby opening a passage to the Ghost World.
At the same time, legend also suggested that the fourth Lake Guardian might be hidden within the Sendoff Spring. Even the Black-Robed Grand Sorcerer himself did not know the specifics—this might be the very deity worshipped within ancient ruins.
For Aven, this could represent another opportunity. If he could obtain the power of this fourth Lake Guardian, the strength of the Pokémon Domain would once again see a tremendous increase. Every Legendary Pokémon in this world was exceedingly rare.
Speaking of Legendary Pokémon, there was also another Legendary Pokémon larva he owned—Poipole. The Shiny Poipole was currently training in the Poisonous Swamp.
The Poisonous Swamp was home to large numbers of Dragalge, Poison- and Dragon-type Pokémon. Absorbing the toxins within these Dragalge was extremely beneficial to Poipole's growth.
At the same time, many Dragalge had mastered the move Dragon Pulse, which was also the primary move Poipole needed to learn at its current stage. Once it successfully mastered Dragon Pulse, it would undergo a qualitative transformation and evolve into the Ultra Beast Naganadel.
At present, Poipole's strength had already approached the pseudo-king level. Once it successfully evolved, its strength would smoothly break through to the king level. Combined with Naganadel's potential and the special power of Ultra Beasts, its combat power would leap beyond the king level in a single bound.
(End of Chapter)