Hearing that name, a lot of people just went blank.
Sure, some had caught wind of rumors about the Ghost World, but that was ultimately a place only Trainers ever paid attention to. For regular people, it was both mysterious and completely irrelevant to their lives.
And yet... why the urgency?
Their heads were full of questions, but nobody dared hesitate.
They opened the compressed file immediately and started going through its contents.
One by one, the files opened, and the expressions on their faces shifted dramatically. Blank confusion gave way to shock, and shock gave way to barely contained excitement.
"What the hell! This map... how was it even made?"
One of the artists on the map design team couldn't hold it together, pointing at the insanely detailed 3D model on his screen with trembling hands.
"Look at the lighting! The fog rendering! This looks more real than actual reality! How is that even possible?"
"Wait, he's planning to convert real-world battles directly into in-game missions?"
"No way that actually works. But if it does... won't that break everything?"
The lobby, previously dead quiet, erupted into chaos.
These were professional game developers. They could see at a glance the sheer value packed into this framework.
This wasn't just a game. This was an entirely new world.
That electric feeling of watching two realities collide sent every single one of their hearts racing.
They didn't even need to ask why, because they already knew: if this thing actually got built, it would go down as a landmark moment in gaming history.
"Enough talking! Why is everyone just standing around!"
Renn slammed his palm on the table and shot to his feet, his eyes sharp as a blade.
"Wind handed us something extraordinary. We are not dropping the ball on this. Everyone, follow my lead!"
"Strategy team, start mapping out the mission logic right now. I want every single mission node accounted for!"
"Programming team, get the interfaces connected. Zero latency in data transmission, not a frame of lag!"
"Art team, pull up every asset library we have. Match this style and start filling in every model and texture!"
"Move! Now!"
"Yes sir!"
Everyone answered at once, voices sharp and energized.
A second later, the entire lobby plunged back into that frenzied, full-throttle work mode. The sound of typing was faster and louder than before.
---
Inside a private booth at a net cafe in Saffron City.
Kairos let out a long, satisfied yawn, his joints popping all over as he stretched out.
After sending the message, he'd already moved on. He trusted that team. Now that he'd handed them a solid framework like that, they'd come through. All he had to do was wait.
Next up was the part he found both the most aggravating and the most exciting.
The lottery.
Kairos checked his remaining points.
Fifty thousand.
An absolute fortune.
He took a slow breath, settled into his chair, and quietly gave the command in his head.
"System, single draw."
"Confirming five hundred points consumed. Drawing now..."
The wheel on the screen spun up fast, a dazzling blur of color that almost made his eyes cross.
Kairos watched it with a flat expression.
No matter how flashy the animation looked, luck wasn't something you could just will into existence.
As the wheel gradually wound down, a flash of white light passed across the screen.
"Congratulations, Host. Obtained: High-Grade Potion x10."
"Congratulations, Host. Obtained: Antidote x10."
"Congratulations, Host. Obtained: Full Heal x5."
A cluster of white light points drifted across the screen. Not a bad haul in terms of quantity, but all basic consumables.
Kairos curled his lip.
Exactly what he'd expected. Luck didn't just show up because you wanted it to.
On second thought, though, while these items were useless to him personally, they'd be solid supplies for regular Trainers. Especially in the brutal conditions of the Ghost World, having extra recovery items on hand was genuinely worth something.
"Five thousand more."
"Consuming five thousand points..."
"Congratulations, Host. Obtained: TM Fire Blast x1."
"Congratulations, Host. Obtained: TM Thunderbolt x1."
"Congratulations, Host. Obtained: Sp. Atk EV Booster x1."
Now that was more like it.
These TMs weren't the rarest pulls in the world, but their market value was high and their practical use was through the roof. Fire Blast and Thunderbolt in particular were the go-to high-power moves for Fire and Electric types. Half the Trainers out there would kill to get their hands on them.
Kairos relaxed a little, though his hands didn't stop moving.
"Keep going. Five thousand more."
And so, in one long, unbroken session, he burned through nearly twenty thousand points.
The screen filled up fast with all kinds of items. Rare Evolution Stones, powerful TMs across a range of types, various resources, and friendship-boosting toys and accessories. No S-grade item had popped up to make his heart jump, and A-grade pulls were sparse, with the vast majority landing in the B and C tiers.
But the sheer volume more than made up for it.
This pile of items was basically a small armory.
For Trainers about to throw themselves headfirst into the Ghost World, this was the ultimate temptation.
Kairos looked over everything stacked in his inventory and felt a quiet confidence settle over him.
That should do it.
Even without pulling anything useful for himself, this batch of supplies was more than enough to stock the initial reward pool. Once the game went live and these rewards dropped in, it would set off a frenzy.
He was just about to close the lottery screen and take a breather when a strange sensation suddenly flickered through the back of his mind.
It was a weird feeling, almost like a pair of eyes watching him from somewhere.
Kairos stopped what he was doing and focused.
That feeling... had it been there since he left the Ghost World earlier?
He'd assumed it was just some aftereffect of the spatial transfer, or a psychological shadow left over from the Ghost World's oppressive atmosphere.
But thinking about it now, that didn't quite fit.
This feeling was something else entirely.
Kairos reached up instinctively and touched his chest.
Something clicked. He opened the system panel and pulled up his character sheet.
It didn't take long to find it. His gaze landed on the bottom-left corner of the screen, a spot he never normally looked at.
Where there should have been nothing, there was now a line of deep violet text.
It looked like it had been written in blood, still twisting and shifting, giving off a faint, unsettling glow.
Kairos's eyes went sharp, and his expression changed in an instant.
Special Status: Brand of Giratina, Lord of the Reverse World.
Status Description: You have been observed by the King of the Ruined World, and its power has left an indelible mark deep within your soul.
Effect: This brand cannot be removed except by special means. While the brand persists, the bearer will receive one instance of protection from Giratina's power, capable of blocking a single lethal blow. However, Giratina may at any time, regardless of spatial distance, observe the brand-bearer's precise location, descend directly to the brand-bearer's side, or forcibly drag them into the Reverse World.
Warning: Once the brand has persisted for one full month, the brand-bearer will automatically be absorbed into the Reverse World and become a permanent part of it, forbidden from ever leaving.
Kairos stared at that line of dark violet text still twisting on the screen and stood frozen for a solid few seconds.
So Marshadow had been telling the truth. That Giratina really wasn't anything remotely friendly.
He'd figured that once the Spiritomb crisis in the Ghost World was dealt with, that whole chapter would close. He never expected to end up tangled with something far worse.
He definitely had no interest in joining any Reverse World. Setting aside the fact that he'd seen firsthand what that place looked like, a permanent stay wasn't just inconvenient, it was outright terrifying. He'd been planning to head back to the Ghost World once things settled down and ask Giratina for that feather, but that idea needed to get scrapped immediately. The less contact the better.
Because if that thing got irritated for even a second and decided he was trying to run, it might just drag him into the Reverse World ahead of schedule.
Kairos rubbed his temples with a vague sense of dread creeping in.
Why was this ghost dragon so dead set on getting him to join the Reverse World?
What exactly was it about him that the thing found worth fixating on?
Either way, sitting here wondering about it wasn't going to solve anything. The immediate priority was to finish pulling rewards and get the Ghost World situation sorted out. The notice said he had a full month before he'd be forcibly pulled in.
A month. Not exactly generous, but not nothing either. Plenty of time to deal with the fire right in front of him first.
As for the brand, he'd track down Marshadow later and have a talk, see if there was any way to handle it.
With that sorted out in his head, Kairos gave a small shake and pushed the noise out of his mind, turning his attention back to the lottery screen.
"Keep going."
He said it quietly, hit the wheel again, and the screen lit back up in a dizzying blur of color.
Kairos watched it with the same flat expression, already braced for another wave of junk.
But just as the wheel was about to stop, a blinding flash of gold tore free from the swirling colors and exploded across the entire screen.
A golden orb?
Kairos blinked, then understood immediately.
It actually hit.
As the orb slowly shattered, a stream of golden light poured into the system interface, and a line of glittering gold text materialized in the center of the screen.
"Congratulations, Host. Obtained: S+ Grade Reward, Purifier."
Purifier?
Kairos pulled up the item's description right away.
Item Name: Purifier (Single Use).
Item Description: A remarkable device imbued with the power of absolute rules. It can remove any status condition from any target, including curses, poisons, parasitic effects, or brands left behind by Legendary Pokemon.
Usage Restrictions: None.
Special Note: Though this item's function is powerful, upon use it will automatically calculate the resources required based on the actual strength of the status conditions present on the target. If sufficient resources cannot be provided, the item cannot be used.
After reading through it, Kairos's eyes went wide.
This thing was made for his exact situation.
Was this not basically designed to handle Giratina's brand directly?
Single use, sure, but if it could defuse that ticking time bomb, once was more than enough.
Kairos didn't hesitate for a second. He used it immediately.
"Use Purifier. Target: the Reverse World Lord's brand."
At his command, the Purifier icon on the screen dissolved into a stream of light and disappeared into him.
The system chime rang out again.
Ding. Brand detected on target: Brand of Giratina, Lord of the Reverse World. Analyzing removal difficulty...
Analysis complete.
Warning: This brand contains rule-level power of Legendary grade. Removal difficulty is extremely high.
To forcibly remove this brand, the following must be consumed: Dragon-type SS-grade resource x1, Ghost-type SS-grade resource x1.
The smile on Kairos's face stopped dead.
What?
One Dragon-type SS-grade resource and one Ghost-type SS-grade resource?
He was floored.
As far as he could remember, he hadn't so much as laid eyes on an SS-grade resource yet. The highest-grade items he had were a handful of S+ pulls from earlier draws, still a full tier short of what he needed.
This was a genuine problem.
He'd thought he'd pulled something incredible, something that would wipe the whole issue out in one shot. Apparently it really wasn't going to be that clean.
Kairos let out a long, somewhat helpless sigh and closed the system panel.
Fine. Panicking wasn't going to help.
He still had well over a month. At least now he knew how to remove the brand, which was infinitely better than being completely in the dark. As long as he figured out another angle, or found a way to get his hands on those two SS-grade resources, he'd still have time to work with.
For now, the priority was finishing the lottery and filling up the reward pool.
With that settled, Kairos cleared his head and went back to pulling.
Several hours slipped by in a blink.
Inside the private booth in Saffron City, the sound of typing had long gone quiet.
Kairos rolled his neck, working out the stiffness, and leaned back. The screen in front of him had the lottery interface closed, replaced by a dense list of items.
After hours of grinding, he'd burned through half his fifty thousand points.
Nothing as wild as the Purifier had shown up again in the meantime, but he'd stacked up a massive volume of A and B tier goods including rare Evolution Stones, high-level TMs, various resources, and a solid collection of friendship-boosting items.
It was more than enough, not just for the Ghost World players, but for the other three games as well.
Right then, the email icon in the lower-right corner of the screen started blinking.
Kairos opened it. A message from Renn.
The subject line was two words: "Done."