Seeing Kairos's reaction.
Lila thought he hadn't understood and explained again: "I think that's what they're called... I've heard there's a special type of Pokémon whose bodies are almost intangible, made of pure energy or spiritual essence.
They're usually very powerful, so so researchers collectively call them 'Soul Bodies.' Looking at your partner, with such a unique form and those flas that seem almost ethereal... is that what it is?"
Kairos thought to himself, Isn't she just describing Ghost-type Pokémon?
It seed this world had different classifications and terminology for Pokémon.
He couldn't be bothered to explain in detail, so he simply nodded along with her assessnt.
"Yeah, sothing like that."
Professor Lila's eyes imdiately lit up with a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and intense curiosity, the instinctive reaction of a researcher encountering sothing unknown.
Suppressing her excitent, she said earnestly, "I really have to thank you and your partner for stepping in earlier.
Otherwise, things could have spiraled out of control. It's too chaotic here. Why don't we find sowhere quieter to talk? I'd like to properly express my gratitude."
Kairos thought about it. Perfect, he could use her to learn more about this world.
He agreed directly: "Alright."
The two left the chaotic park center and went to a reception room in a nearby research institute building.
The reception room was simple, with the typical high-tech aesthetic of this world.
Professor Lila poured Kairos a cup of hot tea, its fragrant aroma slightly dispelling the faint sll of machine oil in the air.
Kairos accepted the tea, thanked her, and decided to cut straight to the point:
"Professor Lila, I've just arrived from very far away and don't know much about this place.
Could you tell about this world... well, about the situation with Pokémon? I feel like things are quite different from where I'm from."
At his words, a complex expression flashed across Professor Lila's face.
"You certainly don't look like you're from our region."
She sighed softly.
"Different... yes, things have beco very different indeed."
Cradling her teacup, her gaze grew distant.
"It all goes back many years to that massive disaster that swept across several regions... That catastrophe nearly destroyed the original ecological balance, and many species of Pokémon... disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Kairos's heart jolted.
"Yes," Professor Lila nodded, her tone heavy.
"Extinct. Especially those that depended on specific natural environnts, or whose attributes leaned toward... well, natural energy. Most Grass, Water, Fire, and Flying types... almost none survived.
The Pokémon that remain in the world now are mostly those with stronger adaptability, or those that naturally aligned more with steel and electricity, like Magnemite, Klink, Voltorb, and their evolved forms."
Kairos suddenly understood.
No wonder they had to ss around with that "Genesis Engine" to artificially create rain and simulate sunlight!
It was because the Water and Fire types that could naturally manipulate weather and alter environnts had almost completely vanished.
He thought back to the Pokémon he'd seen on the streets with obvious chanical modifications, and asked: "So what about all those Pokémon I saw with chanical parts attached? What's that about?"
Professor Lila looked montarily surprised, as if the question was self-evident: "That's the most direct and simple way to enhance a Pokémon's strength.
Because of that disaster's effects, Pokémon abilities are generally not very high anymore. chanical modifications can improve them quite a bit."
As she spoke, she took out her Poké Ball and released a Magneton.
This Magneton looked similar to what Kairos rembered, but its tallic shell was noticeably shinier, the tal rods connecting the three magnets had tiny indicator lights embedded in them, and the humming magnetic field carried an artificial enhancent quality.
Kairos used his experience to roughly sense the creature's aura.
Compared to Chandelure, this energy was incomparably weaker, aning this Magneton's strength was probably just barely at the Ace level.
Lila looked at the Chandelure quietly floating behind Kairos, its red-violet flas and condensed spiritual energy making her marvel once again. She couldn't help asking curiously: "If I may ask... what star rating would you say your 'Soul Body' partner is?"
"Star rating?" Kairos didn't understand.
"Oh, that's our universal power classification standard here," Professor Lila explained.
"From one star to five stars. One star is the weakest, basically just past the juvenile stage, and five stars is the strongest, currently recognized as peak combat power."
Kairos quickly converted in his mind. His Chandelure had Champion-level strength, so by this standard... "Probably four stars?" he said conservatively.
"Four stars?!"
Professor Lila's voice jumped up an octave, looking at Chandelure as if it were so kind of monster.
"Really four stars?! That's already incredibly powerful combat strength! In our world, trainers who can possess four-star Pokémon are exceedingly rare!"
Kairos was sowhat bewildered by her reaction and instinctively asked: "Then... what about five stars? How much stronger is the strongest five-star compared to mine?"
Professor Lila thought seriously for a mont before answering: "It's hard to quantify exactly, but according to League assessnt data, the comprehensive strength of a five-star Pokémon is at least twenty tis that of my Magneton."
Twenty tis?!
Hearing that number, Kairos nearly choked on his own saliva.
Twenty tis an Ace-level? That would at most barely touch the edge of Gym Leader level.
So the ace Pokémon of this world's top trainers only matched the Gym Leader level from his world?
Maybe not even that?
He imdiately realized this must be closely related to the disaster she'd ntioned.
That catastrophe not only drastically reduced Pokémon species, it had probably knocked down the entire world's power level significantly, severely limiting the upper ceiling of Pokémon strength.
No wonder when the incident happened earlier, no one sent out Pokémon to solve the problem. It wasn't that they didn't want to; they simply didn't dare. For that kind of energy fluctuation, Pokémon below Gym Leader level truly had no way to handle it.
So what exactly was this so-called disaster in this world?
But then Kairos reconsidered.
Wait, what does this have to do with ?
He quickly tossed aside his surprise.
He hadn't forgotten his fundantal purpose for crossing into this world: to use the ga developnt system to create and publish Pokémon gas here, collecting emotion points!
With that thought, Kairos's eyes nearly lit up.
Advanced technology level, comprehensive network infrastructure - that ant his gas could spread rapidly!
Moreover, the people of this world had such limited knowledge of Pokémon, and their power system was so... low. Wouldn't the complete ecology, diverse attributes, evolution chains, and powerful Legendary Pokémon shown in his gas easily create an outrageous shock factor?
This was practically the perfect newbie village prepared just for him, a pure emotion point extraction farm!
Why hadn't he crossed into this world first?
If that had been the case, this start would have been so much easier...
anwhile, that woman nad Professor Lila, seeing Kairos fall into deep thought after the five-star question, with his expression changing constantly, didn't know what to say.
After thinking, she changed the subject: "By the way... I still don't know what to call you. Where are you from? Beings like you and your partner, who are so... well... pristine, I haven't seen in many years."
Kairos snapped back to attention and casually made up a reason, taking a sip of tea: "Just call Kairos. I co from... a very distant place. Very remote, information doesn't travel well there."
He deliberately kept it vague. Otherwise, if he straight up said he ca from another world, that would probably cause even more trouble.
Professor Lila nodded thoughtfully, seeming to accept this explanation, though her gaze couldn't help drifting back to the mysteriously auraed Chandelure, her eyes full of research desire.
Watching her expression, Kairos quietly ford a plan.
Perhaps this doctor in charge of the "Genesis Engine" project could beco a useful entry point?
Hearing Kairos's vague answer, the probing desire in Professor Lila's eyes intensified, but she was clearly well-mannered and didn't continue pressing about Kairos's origins, such sensitive questions.
Her intuition told her this person's background might not be so simple, but now wasn't the ti to pursue it further.
Her attention quickly returned to Chandelure.
"Um, Mr. Kairos, your... Chandelure, it seems to very effectively interfere with and even absorb that special energy escaping from the 'Genesis Engine.'"
Professor Lila carefully chose her words, her tone carrying both caution and excitent. "This ability is extrely rare. Our project team has been searching for thods to stably guide or even enhance that energy. Perhaps... your partner could provide so crucial data support?"
Kairos's heart stirred. If he could get closer to this Lila, it would be a good opportunity to understand this world more deeply, and he could naturally obtain his identity in this world.
He pretended to think it over before nodding: "We can try. However, my Chandelure's condition needs to remain stable. I can't allow any risky experints."
"Of course! Of course!"
Professor Lila quickly assured him.
"We absolutely put your Pokémon's safety as our top priority! Just so non-invasive observation and data recording!"
As if afraid Kairos might change his mind, she imdiately pulled out an advanced-looking tablet and rapidly operated it.
"I'll set you up with a temporary advanced visitor clearance for the research institute right away.
You can freely use most public facilities, including the library and internal network. Oh, and this is a thank-you gift. Please don't refuse."
She pulled out a small tal box from a drawer and handed it to Kairos. Opening it, he saw five crystalline gems radiating pure energy fluctuations.
"These are the highest quality Electrium Gems,"
Professor Lila explained. "They're excellent supplents for Electric and Steel-type Pokémon, quickly restoring stamina and even slightly raising energy capacity.
Although your partner is a... Soul Body, it should still be able to absorb this pure energy, right?"
Kairos sensed the energy fluctuations, which seed quite substantial. Although the attributes didn't perfectly match his Pokémon, they were still good items... and unique to this world.
"Thank you, it should like them."
Kairos nodded and accepted them directly.
After exchanging a few more words and arranging to et again to discuss the observation cooperation in detail, Kairos excused himself, saying he needed rest, and left the institute.
Leaving the institute's reception room and walking on the high-tech streets, Kairos was in quite a good mood.
The advanced clearance Professor Lila had given him was exactly what he needed most right now.
He found what looked like a public library, smoothly entered with his temporary clearance, found a quiet corner, and connected to the network.
Sure enough, the network information here was far richer than the information kiosks outside.
Kairos began rapidly browsing, focusing on materials related to history, Pokémon research, technological developnt, and the entertainnt industry.
As he dug deeper, he gained a clearer understanding of this world that the system had designated PM-0734.
The disaster called "The Great Silence" occurred about fifty years ago.
Its cause remained controversial, with the mainstream view being that underground energy sources in multiple regions were over-exploited, triggering so kind of global energy depletion and ecological collapse.
The result was that Pokémon dependent on natural energy died off in droves. Grass, Water, Fire, and Flying types in particular suffered catastrophic losses. Those that survived were mostly types like Magnemite and Klink that had low dependence on natural environnts, or types like Magneton, Magnezone, and tagross that were inherently connected to steel and electricity.
To survive and develop, humanity's technology tree completely tilted, placing all focus on electrical power, machinery, and artificial intelligence.
Perception of Pokémon also underwent a massive shift.
They were increasingly viewed as a "biochanical" resource, optimized and enhanced through chip implants, exoskeleton attachnts, energy conduits, and other modifications to compensate for insufficient innate potential.
The so-called "star rating evaluation system" was established based on this kind of post-modification comprehensive combat power.
The peak of five stars was essentially the ceiling constraining this world's Pokémon power level.
As for the "Genesis Engine" project, rather than saying it was for environntal improvent, it was more like a desperate attempt by the League and major corporations to artificially recreate "natural energy."
They seed to have discovered sothing in ancient ruins and were trying to reproduce so kind of nature-harmonizing power from Legendary Pokémon, resulting in this unstable energy core.
Seeing this, Kairos couldn't help but smile.
Regarding the entertainnt industry, this world's gas and film works were almost entirely cha, space warfare, and cyberpunk thed.
Even those occasionally involving Pokémon were hardcore sci-fi gas like "cha Tyrannosaurus" and "Electromagnetic Frenzy Shark."
Works like Erald, depicting humans and Pokémon living harmoniously in nature, full of adventure and warmth... There wasn't a single one.
And this situation was, without question, perfect.
Because the people of this world were like children who'd never tasted sugar, and his ga would be the first massive, incredibly sweet chocolate dropped into their lives.
This information gap and cognitive chasm was ridiculously huge, aning once the ga launched, the emotion points he could harvest would be astronomical!
He glanced at the ti display on his interface. He still had over ten hours left in this world, so he didn't hesitate any longer and imdiately called out to the system in his mind.
"System, if I want to publish Erald in this world, do I need to make any adaptations or modifications?"
[Ding! Detecting current world's network environnt and fundantal rules... conducting compatibility analysis...]
[Analysis complete. Current world's technology level exceeds the main world, network coverage reaches 99%, and terminal compatibility is excellent.]
[Notice: Detected massive discrepancy between current world's Pokémon ecological data and ga content. Direct publication may trigger unpredictable chain reactions.]
[Warning: Due to ga independence, you cannot publish Erald in the current world. You need to publish a brand new ga!]
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