After talking for so long, Cain ended up with a dry throat.
"This is more or less everything I know. I never found a suitable moment to talk about it, so I didn't know when to mention it. I hope that now that you know, you won't spread it before I make it public—especially you, Steven and Lance."
"For now, I want you not to inform your families. Sometimes, obtaining Mega Stones too early is not necessarily a good thing. I'm sure you understand that better than I do."
"Although I trust you completely, I want to remind you not to focus only on the immediate benefits. This is something that could completely change the structure of the Pokémon world. Before making it public, we must be extremely cautious."
"Of course, if you want to try gathering some on your own, I have no objections. After all, individual collection won't alter the overall situation," Cain emphasized several times at the end.
Steven, Lance, Cynthia, and the others nodded with solemn expressions.
With the level of power they had reached, their perspective on the Pokémon world was completely different.
"If you want to try Mega Evolution, I still have two Mega Stones here that haven't been assigned to any Pokémon. We can see whether either of them is compatible with yours," Cain said, taking two gleaming Mega Stones out of his pocket.
He still hadn't tested which Pokémon they belonged to. He only knew that they weren't compatible with his own, but he didn't know exactly which Pokémon could use them.
Hearing this, everyone present—including Steven—lit up, clearly eager to try.
"But before that, call out your injured Pokémon. Let me check them," Cain said, first releasing his Salamence, which was still somewhat exhausted.
During the time they had been talking, Drapion and the other Pokémon hadn't been idle. They had already expanded the cave into an enormous space, large enough to accommodate the seven of them and all their Pokémon.
Using Drapion, a Pokémon with strength close to the Champion level, to dig tunnels was clearly a waste of talent. However, for some reason, Drapion greatly enjoyed that work, and when Cain recalled it, it still seemed dissatisfied.
Immediate pleasure, without any nostalgia.
Something like that.
Cain could only be left speechless by it.
After releasing Salamence, Phoebe immediately released all of her Pokémon. She had wanted Cain to check them for a long time, but because of the importance of the earlier topic, she had forgotten until he reminded her.
When Phoebe had been captured earlier, almost all of her Pokémon had lost their ability to fight. Now, upon being released, they looked dispirited.
Besides her, the others also summoned several injured Pokémon, with wounds of varying severity.
The wild Pokémon in this area were very high level. Like Cain, they preferred to train the most suitable Pokémon, and due to the scarcity of resources, many minor injuries had gone untreated.
The cave instantly became lively. Many injuries looked minor, but they couldn't be ignored. Over time, such injuries would become hidden and turn into internal damage, reducing the Pokémon's potential.
If they didn't receive timely treatment, they could even become serious wounds.
That was why truly strong wild Pokémon were so rare. Without the means or ability to treat their injuries, those wounds accumulated, reducing their talent and exhausting their potential over time.
This explained why most highly talented Pokémon found in the wild tended to be young, with little combat experience.
In this special land, the reason so many strong, high-level wild Pokémon existed was partly because humans interfered very little in their lives.
The other reason was the extreme abundance of resources. Many injured Pokémon could find special plants that allowed them to heal significantly—though not always completely—which was far better than receiving no treatment at all.
So it was no coincidence that the wild Pokémon of this region were so powerful.
Cain took special bottles and various items out of his storage space, including materials he had obtained there.
Each type of injury required different preparations. A scratch was not the same as a burn, nor was a bruise the same as poisoning.
Normally, when time was tight, it was enough to use general-purpose medicines or healing sprays. But now they had time and abundant materials, so Cain didn't hesitate to show his skill once again.
After all, his reputation as an Advanced-level breeder was already well known.
As the youngest Advanced-level breeder, he was treated like a treasure in any region.
And that was without even mentioning that his identity as an Advanced-level breeder wasn't even his main occupation.
Watching his expert technique, one bottle and special spray after another appeared quickly in his hands, and any injury recovered rapidly under the effects of those treatments.
In many cases, what limited a breeder wasn't the difficulty of the injury or the complexity of the formulas, but the scarcity of valuable materials.
Of course, the fact that Cain had the help of the system, which eliminated the need for complex calculations, was also a decisive factor.
Seeing their Pokémon recover rapidly in Cain's hands, the faces of Phoebe and the others lit up with smiles.
Traveling and training alongside Cain in the wild was truly reassuring. There was no need to worry about Pokémon injuries.
"Phew... done. Everything is basically taken care of," Cain said, exhaling deeply as he put away the remaining bottles and materials.
Then he added, "I already know which of your Pokémon can undergo Mega Evolution."
While treating their Pokémon, he had also been using the system to analyze who those two Mega Stones ultimately belonged to.
And fortunately, both of them had suitable owners.
(End of chapter)