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Kael could not properly describe what he was feeling.
Was it grief.
Or sympathy.
Nanth Town was not large, but as a settlement deep within human territory, it had once housed more than five thousand people.
Elderly men and women, Children, Teenagers. Young adults.
Drivers. Doctors. Cleaners. Laborers.
Humanity, clinging to survival in a dark age, had built this place through generations of blood and sweat, a shared home born from sacrifice.
Yet before a powerful and ferocious Ultra Beast, it had been as fragile as paper. Torn apart at a touch.
A day. Perhaps two.
The bloodlines once entrusted with hope by countless ancestors, the dreams of tearing open the darkness and welcoming a brighter future, were all reduced to cold ash beneath merciless claws, scattered by the wind.
The air around Kael was silent and lifeless.
Only broken stones rolled softly across the ground with the breeze.
The joy he had felt after defeating a powerful enemy and growing stronger faded without him noticing.
In its place settled a deep solemnity.
What echoed within him now was an unfamiliar emotion, something he had never felt, neither as a human before reincarnation nor as a Pokémon after gaining the system.
Since beginning his cycles of rebirth, many lives had ended by his hand. Yet he had never carried any emotional burden for it.
It had felt no different from defeating NPCs in a game. No guilt. No weight.
But since arriving in this shattered, dark world, everything he had seen and experienced had quietly begun to shape him.
If the Ralts he encountered in the dungeon had planted a small seed in his heart, then the thousands of lives lost in Nanth Town had ignited it completely.
Conflicting emotions spread wildly within him like thorny vines, twisting and entangling, pulling him into silence.
"…Hah."
After a long while, Kael finally drew himself out of that heavy state.
The haze in his eyes cleared, replaced by firm resolve, as though an unseen flame had ignited within them.
Before disasters that threatened the entire world, individual strength was insignificant until it reached a certain threshold.
But to live up to the weight now resting on his shoulders, the hopes and responsibilities born from countless lost lives, he made a vow.
At least until this reincarnation ended.
He would do everything he could.
To save this world.
Failure was possible.
Success was uncertain.
But if one day, in some other world, he looked back and felt no regret, knowing he had done everything within his power, then that would be enough.
Through trials across three different worlds, Kael's inner tree had finally taken root and grown.
His thinking matured. His perspective became clearer. His will hardened.
Perhaps this was the true meaning behind the system guiding him toward a life approaching eternity.
With each reincarnation, Kael gained points, badges, and tangible rewards.
They seemed crucial to his growth.
Yet the most precious thing he carried was not material at all.
It was the spiritual elevation gained through those countless, breathtaking worlds.
Points. Equipment. Items. The conveniences of the system shop.
All of them were temporary.
Consumable.
But the growth of his spirit was etched into his soul itself.
It would never fade.
Instead, as his experiences deepened, it would continue to grow.
Until it became a towering tree of the mind, reaching the heavens and casting its shadow across the world.
Though this was only his third world, and it was early to speak of such things, it was precisely the harsh experiences of this dark world that laid the most critical foundation for his future.
Growth of the soul was gradual.
And yet sometimes, it happened in an instant.
A trace of surprise surfaced in Kael's resolute eyes.
The faint presence of Gaia's consciousness, hovering invisibly around him, had sensed this growth as well.
As trust deepened, a gift once concealed due to early uncertainty was finally revealed.
Kael felt something strange awaken within his body.
A familiar barrier.
The wall of evolution.
Joy surged through him.
He already knew that this world's communication technology had not been restored. Forced evolution through relic-based transmission devices carried enormous risk.
Because of that, he had long prepared himself to never evolve into Machamp in this lifetime.
Yet now, the familiar evolutionary threshold had appeared within him once more.
And it no longer required a communication condition.
His expression turned serious as his awareness brushed against the distant barrier.
Understanding surfaced in his mind.
The evolutionary limit had existed all along, hidden since the moment Tapu Koko had given its final gift.
Gaia's consciousness, placing its last hope in him, had not only repaired Zamazenta's Heart using Tapu Koko's remaining power, but had also concealed another force within Kael.
To accelerate his growth as much as possible, that power had been guided by his subconscious toward what he needed most.
Evolution.
With his resolve now fully solidified, Kael had finally broken free of evolution's shackles.
The communication requirement was gone.
As long as his level was high enough, he could advance to the final stage of his evolutionary line.
Machamp.
Of course, limitations still existed.
With the transmission condition removed, the level requirement had become far more demanding.
And because Kael's base stats had grown far beyond those of a normal Machoke, the level required for evolution now exceeded even that of some Dragon-type Pokémon.
He sensed it clearly.
To reach his final form, he would likely need to reach level seventy.
The path was difficult.
But it also hinted at the terrifying power he would gain after evolving.
The final restriction on his growth had been lifted.
A vision of a bright future unfolded before him, and a relaxed smile appeared on his face.
He stepped forward.
At the end of the cold, silent street, beyond the empty horizon, brilliant sunlight bathed the land.
Like dawn tearing through the darkness, it enveloped the broad, dark-purple figure walking toward it.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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