Chapter 86: Like Hell That's Normal!

Kanto Region, Cerulean City.

In a luxurious villa, Kairos stood up from his computer desk and stretched with a big yawn.

Ever since discovering that Cynthia's game progress was much faster than he'd expected, he'd been glued to his computer frantically creating follow-up game content.

After a night's worth of effort, he'd made solid progress.

He'd successfully completed the entire Petalburg Woods area map, including the Weather Institute and Flying-type Gym content.

Beyond that, Kairos had also finished all the land and sea map modeling for the waters around Dewford Town, plus all the battles with swimmers and sailors.

During the process of making this game, he couldn't help feeling somewhat emotional.

As a pixel game, Emerald could be described as "vast" in terms of its map size, with so much added content - hard to believe this was a pixel game released in the 2000s.

His version was basically standing on the shoulders of giants.

"Okay, this should be about enough, right?"

He breathed a slight sigh of relief - this much game content should keep those players busy for quite a while.

He sat back down at his computer desk, opened the game interface, and checked the current players' progress.

But what he saw completely caught him off guard.

When he discovered that Cynthia had already completed Norman's Gym challenge and obtained Surf, his eyes couldn't help widening.

"Seriously, Cynthia, how are you this intense? Even Norman's gym couldn't stop you?"

Kairos was stunned.

Of all the gyms so far, if Roxanne's gym was a newbie killer, then Norman's gym was the highest difficulty among the remaining gyms, the hardest to pass.

After all, Norman was basically cheating - he'd use Mega Evolution on his Kangaskhan against his own kids, teaching them some hard lessons with "Parental Bond"...

Kairos honestly couldn't understand how Cynthia had gotten past Norman...

But after thinking it over, he shook his head slightly.

Whatever, good for her if she had the skills to clear it.

At least it proved the game difficulty he'd set wasn't so ridiculous that clearing it was impossible.

He looked again and found that Lance, who was ranked second in game progress, had just finished challenging Flannery's gym and was heading to find Norman. Iono's lightning-fast progress was about the same.

Kairos breathed a sigh of relief - good, good. Not all players were progressing at Cynthia's insane pace...

Otherwise, he'd be under serious pressure...

While thinking, he switched to the game's backend to check current sales figures.

The promotional effect of that 59 million ₽ investment had been remarkably significant.

After another day, game sales had reached nearly 180,000-190,000, far exceeding his expectations.

His game had also rightfully and naturally claimed first place on the New Game Festival rankings.

The rankings themselves brought traffic to the game, creating a positive feedback loop.

At this rate, both the main quest and side quest should be no problem.

With this thought, Kairos opened his phone and found another advertising company, throwing another 59 million ₽ into promotion.

He realized the system's 5,922 ₽ price point was actually a good thing - at least he didn't feel bad spending money like this, since every 10,000 copies sold meant 59 million ₽ in revenue!

(t/n): 5,992 ₽ is the game's official price as of now.

Lately, he'd been too numb to even check his account balance.

After transferring the money and finishing the ad placement arrangements, Kairos turned off his computer monitor and prepared to shower and sleep.

He looked around and still didn't see Litwick anywhere.

This little guy was nowhere to be found during the day or night lately, only appearing punctually at mealtimes, like he was raising a free-range cat.

But since Kairos spent most of his time making games anyway, he didn't mind much - as long as Litwick didn't get lost outside.

With this thought, he stood up to wash up and sleep, planning to get up early tomorrow to continue working on game content.

But just then, a series of notifications suddenly popped up before his eyes.

[Ding! Please note, your current cycle's emotion points have been calculated. This time you received a total of 1,135 emotion points from all game players and livestream viewers.]

[728 emotion points from Cynthia, 639 points combined from Iono and other special players.]

[Including the above income, your current emotion point balance is 1,767!]

Looking at this information, Kairos couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

As the number of game players continued growing, his emotion point income was becoming increasingly impressive.

What used to require ages of saving to buy one intermediate production module now only takes about a day's wait.

He couldn't help looking forward to the future - who knew what level his emotion point income would reach once his games became popular worldwide?

But thinking about the astronomical prices those advanced modules might have, Kairos suddenly became more realistic.

Forget it, better just focus on completing quests...

He glanced at his balance - 4,562 points remaining, enough to buy a pretty useful intermediate module without any problem.

But he didn't currently have anything specific in mind to purchase...

After today's full day of game development, if he had to name something he wanted, it would be upgrading his game creation efficiency module to an advanced level.

Although the current intermediate module had significantly boosted his game-making speed, it was still exhausting when the workload increased.

And this was just a pixel game - the 3D games and VR content he'd make later would be even more demanding, so the intermediate efficiency module would definitely fall short.

Among all modules, this was undoubtedly the highest value choice.

Unfortunately, after checking the shop, Kairos discovered that upgrading the intermediate production efficiency module to advanced would cost over 10,000 emotion points.

At his current point acquisition rate, he'd probably need to wait several more days.

With this thought, he closed the panel again and prepared to shower and sleep.

But today the system seemed determined not to let him sleep, as another notification suddenly popped up.

"Ding! Detected that host has met the trigger conditions for a hidden quest - Hidden Quest: First Game Forum Established."

"Hidden series quest activated!"

[SS-rank Hidden Series Quest: Player Empire!]

[Please note: This is a series quest. Each time the host completes a current quest phase, the quest objectives and rewards will update accordingly, until completing the final objective for the ultimate reward.]

Looking at the quest notification, Kairos couldn't help being stunned.

This system actually had hidden quests?

And... this trigger condition?

So there was already a forum for his game online? That fast?

Kairos had actually considered doing this before.

But he'd discovered that establishing such a new forum in this world involved complicated procedures that would take at least half a month, so he hadn't rushed to set it up.

Now someone had beaten him to it and created the forum.

His attention quickly returned to the quest itself.

All his previous quests had been S-rank - this was his first SS-rank!

So correspondingly, the rewards should be quite generous, right? He continued reading the quest panel carefully.

[Final Quest Objective: Player-created derivative content for all your Pokémon games reaches 1 million heat value online.]

[Heat value is independently calculated by the system. Each share and view of such content increases heat value to some degree. Current heat value: 1,211 points.]

[Current Phase Objective: Emerald forum reaches 100,000 registered players.]

[Current Phase Rewards: Random intermediate special module, random advanced Pokémon item, new system function unlock.]

[Current Progress: 364/100,000 people.]

The information in these two text blocks was quite overwhelming - it took Kairos a while to process it all.

So the forum that triggered this hidden quest... was this Emerald forum created by some unknown person?

And the quest rewards made Kairos raise an eyebrow - another special module?

The last special module was the "Easter Egg Module," and its effects had been nothing short of spectacular. That battle scene between Zacian and Eternatus had even surprised Kairos himself.

That single module alone had brought him nearly several thousand emotion points in income.

Clearly, special modules were much more powerful than regular ones - the more, the better.

Besides the special module, this quest also offered advanced Pokémon item rewards and a new system function.

Honestly, just the current module functionality was enough to last Kairos a lifetime.

He never expected there'd be new features...

He immediately made his decision.

This quest definitely needed priority - better to complete it early, especially since it was offering so much.

And this was just the first phase of a series of quests with such generous rewards.

If he could complete the entire quest line, who knew how amazing the final rewards would be...

With this thought, he shook his head slightly and pulled out his phone to search online. Sure enough, he quickly found that Emerald forum.

The forum only had five or six scattered posts, clearly just established.

But the forum's member count had already grown from 364 to 380 since he'd last checked; obviously, someone was promoting it and attracting new players.

But at this pace, reaching 100,000 was still quite distant, especially since Emerald's total player base was only around 150,000-160,000.

Seeing this, Kairos immediately had an idea - might as well give it a helping hand.

Tomorrow, when making game updates, he'd just include this forum's website in the game's announcement interface.

If possible, he could even create some kind of forum collaboration gift package...

Don't ask how he knew this - he'd learned from other industry veterans.

This way, even players not particularly interested in game forums might register an account just for the rewards.

With this thought, Kairos shook his head slightly and opened his other two quests in the task panel. The side quest needed just 140,000 more game sales to complete - just a matter of time.

And the main quest for first place in the New Game Festival had less than a week left until the new champion was announced.

If he remembered correctly, Dream Factory's game would be released the day after tomorrow...

Well, how to put it...

Unless Dream Factory suddenly had some kind of awakening and pulled out something amazing, Kairos really didn't think his Emerald would be dethroned.

He had that confidence in his game.

...

As night deepened, and shortly after, he fell asleep from exhaustion after a day of game development, Kairos naturally went to bed early.

But the bedroom door was pushed open by a small figure - it was Litwick.

Litwick was currently covered in sweat and looked extremely tired.

But if you looked carefully, you could see its body was a full size larger than when it first came to Kairos.

Clearly, it had been diligently training itself these past few days, which was why Kairos hadn't seen it around.

Now, Litwick pushed open the door and peeked out its head, carefully surveying the room's situation. After confirming Kairos was asleep, it tiptoed inside.

It gently closed the door, then went to the cabinet and skillfully found its Pokémon food, beginning to eat heartily.

While eating, Litwick looked at the sleeping Kairos on the bed and nodded seriously.

Although it didn't know what its trainer did during the day, he seemed to be working very hard too, so it definitely couldn't fall behind.

But just as it was thinking this, a deep black figure accompanied by icy mist suddenly flashed past the window.

The next moment, that figure appeared directly in front of Litwick.

It was like a mass of congealed shadow, with a purple-black body floating in mid-air, its blunt outline emanating an eerie presence.

Large white eyes remained perpetually squinted into crescent shapes, with crimson pupils and a grin stretching to its ears, looking quite disturbing.

It bared saw-like fangs and looked up at Litwick.

In that moment, intense fear combined with powerful pressure instantly swept through Litwick's entire body.

This familiar feeling was something it would never forget, even in dreams.

Back in the Ghost World, when those Ghost-type Pokémon far stronger than itself had stolen its food and occupied its territory, they had given it this exact feeling.

It was a shadow carved into its heart, a fear it had no way to resist!

Instinct repeatedly told it that this Pokémon was far more dangerous and powerful than itself - it was absolutely no match.

At this moment, that Gengar fully materialized in the air, first glancing at Litwick beside it. Its gaze quickly swept past and landed on the sleeping Kairos in the bed.

Gengar's grin became even more pronounced, as if it had spotted some delicious meal. It licked its lips and floated step by step toward Kairos.

Dark mist combined with intense pressure gathered and manifested around its body.

With each step, even the surrounding air became distorted.

In that instant, Litwick suddenly understood what was happening - this thing was targeting Kairos's soul, it was going to feed here!

The moment this thought arose in its mind, the fear that had been covering its entire body instantly vanished.

Without hesitation, Litwick charged forward, headbutting straight toward Gengar!

At the same time, a small deep purple energy ball formed and floated out of its mouth, and it raised its head to spit it at the Gengar.

But the next moment, faced with Litwick's attack, Gengar immediately noticed, its body flickered and instantly disappeared from its original position, appearing behind Litwick.

With one slap, it sent Litwick flying!

Litwick's figure spun through the air like a broken kite, swaying left and right several times before crashing into the wall nearby.

Although, as a Ghost-type Pokémon without a physical body, it wouldn't take much damage from the impact, the power contained in Gengar's casual light slap was completely unbearable.

The purple energy it had barely managed to gather in its mouth also instantly dissipated in the air.

In a daze, Litwick heard a light snort from Gengar's direction as it looked down at it condescendingly.

Litwick was all too familiar with that kind of gaze - it was the dismissive contempt a powerful Pokémon showed toward weak Pokémon like itself.

Yes, from the moment Gengar entered this room, it had never considered this weak Litwick worth its attention.

At this moment, Gengar turned and continued walking toward Kairos, raising a claw toward him.

The next moment, deep black mist instantly emanated from its claw, enveloping the sleeping Kairos.

Kairos's brow immediately furrowed as he slept, his body trembling slightly, as if he had fallen into an extremely uncomfortable state.

Something seemed to be forcibly pulled and extracted from his body...

In the violent impact, Litwick hazily took a long time to barely regain consciousness. When it saw the scene before it clearly, it felt its entire body freeze.

It truly wanted to get up and protect Kairos, but found that under the powerful pressure emanating from Gengar, it couldn't even get close to the bed.

A deep despair immediately rose in Litwick's heart.

It was still too weak...

It had finally met a human willing to accompany it, but now it didn't even have the ability to protect him.

If only it could have more time to become stronger...

It had already been working so hard, so why... why was there no chance so soon?

...

Wait... become stronger?!

A flash of inspiration, like a shooting star across the sky, flickered through Litwick's heart.

It suddenly remembered something important, turning to look at the stack of deep blue candy packages in the open cabinet beside it.

It remembered that day when Kairos had held that pile of things, looking at it earnestly and saying something important.

"Remember this - after eating these things, you can become very strong all at once, but their effect depends on a Pokémon's base power level, so wait until you've grown a bit more before eating them for maximum benefit."

"Don't worry, these will all be yours later; no one's going to compete with you for them."

"Don't sneak any, okay! If you want candy anytime, just tell me and I'll buy you some. Just don't waste these things."

Because it was Kairos's instruction, Litwick remembered it very clearly. Even though those things gave off an enticing aroma, it had always resisted the urge not to eat them.

But at this moment, only two words from what Kairos had said remained in Litwick's mind:

—Become stronger!

By the bed, Gengar had approached Kairos.

It raised both claws, and deep black mist flowed from Kairos's body into Gengar's form.

Kairos's brow furrowed even tighter, and he let out a somewhat pained moan, shifting slightly in bed, but seemed completely unable to wake up from this state.

As that mist entered Gengar's body, the latter let out a comfortable sigh, and its entire form seemed to become more solid. This was how Ghost-type Pokémon gained power by devouring human souls!

And as a powerful Ghost-type Pokémon, merely consuming a bit of human soul was clearly not enough to satisfy Gengar.

It raised both claws again, about to collect all of that deep black mist floating above Kairos's head.

Seeing this scene, Litwick no longer hesitated, slamming hard toward the cabinet. Those five boxes of deep blue candy scattered and rolled onto the floor.

The next moment, throughout the room, a dazzling rainbow light suddenly flashed!

Gengar also noticed this sudden anomaly, turning to look toward where the light came from, but ultimately found nothing.

After scratching its head, it stopped thinking about it and resumed raising both claws, preparing to absorb and drain Kairos's soul.

But just then, Gengar suddenly felt something tap it on the back.

It couldn't help but pause, its actions interrupted.

Gengar frowned slightly - it must be that weak little thing again!

How presumptuous, clearly so weak yet daring to compete with it for food...

It hadn't wanted to bother with it before, but now it looked like it needed a proper lesson.

With this thought, Gengar whipped around, revealing a fierce and terrifying expression.

However, the next moment...

What it met was a pair of hollow crimson eyes...

Standing behind it wasn't some weak Litwick at all, but a massive lamp burning eerily in the darkness.

Purple flames hung from metal fixtures, moving and dripping like viscous living things, emanating terrifying, bone-chilling cold and deathly silence.

The moment Gengar looked at it, all the candle flames turned toward it. Gengar felt an instinctive fear suddenly surge from the depths of its soul, as if being stared at by a predator.

This terrifying feeling was something it hadn't experienced in a very, very long time since becoming a powerful Gengar...

This kind of aura, this kind of pressure - this thing's power was far above its own!

In a daze, within this extreme fear, Gengar finally managed to raise one claw with all its strength, preparing to fight desperately.

Deep black terrifying energy gathered in its palm, and everything around trembled slightly, turning to nothingness.

But the next moment, it saw the figure in front of it extend one lamp arm and gently pat its hand. "Slap" - the energy in Gengar's palm flickered once and simply disappeared.

This scene left Gengar stunned.

As a Gym Leader-level Pokémon, it clearly knew that to produce such energy suppression, the opponent's level was definitely far above its own - meaning... this guy was an Elite Four-level Pokémon?

The term "Elite Four-level" was incredibly foreign even to it, having lived in the Ghost World for so long.

It had never seen an Elite Four-level Ghost-type Pokémon in its entire life...

After all, those powerful beings all had their own exclusive territories, and whenever it saw those places, clever as it was, it would always take a wide detour. Outside those powerful beings' territories was its own domain.

But at this moment, Gengar really couldn't figure it out.

It had finally managed to escape from that hellish place and just wanted to find someone to eat - where did this terrifying thing come from?

Was the outside world actually this freaking dangerous?

This wasn't what those other ghosts who'd been outside had told it!

It no longer hesitated and immediately turned to run!

But just as it started moving, a deep black shadow once again enveloped its body...

That massive Chandelure had somehow repositioned itself in front of it again.

Deep blue flames flickered before its eyes, pressing down toward it...

The next morning, Kairos woke up feeling somewhat groggy.

He stretched and rubbed the back of his head, looking confused.

He'd gone to bed early yesterday, but waking up now, he still felt tired, as if he hadn't slept well.

Maybe yesterday's full day of game development had exhausted him, so he hadn't gotten enough rest?

Should he... sleep a bit more?

After thinking it over, Kairos shook his head slightly.

Forget it, he'd never been one for sleeping in - trying to go back to sleep now probably wouldn't work anyway.

He got dressed and prepared to leave his room to wash up.

But the moment he opened the door, the scene before him made three huge question marks appear above his head.

At his room's entrance were two Pokémon that definitely shouldn't be there.

The first was a purple, balloon-like Pokémon.

Even if this Pokémon were reduced to ash, Kairos would recognize it, because it was the most popular Ghost-type Pokémon - Gengar.

But unlike the Gengar in his memories, seeing this one in person actually gave him a sense of terrifying pressure, clearly indicating this was a quite powerful Pokémon.

Based on the Elite-level Pokémon aura from his predecessor's memories...

This was probably... at least Gym Leader-level!

In this world, a Gym Leader-level Pokémon was already quite powerful.

Especially a Ghost-type Pokémon!

Normally, having such a strange Gym Leader-level Ghost-type Pokémon appear in your home would scare anyone out of their wits.

But right now, Kairos felt this Gengar actually wasn't the problem.

Because behind this Gengar was a crystal chandelier-like Pokémon.

Four lamps on its body all burned with deep blue flames, emanating an even more terrifying and powerful aura than that of Gengar, to the point where Kairos felt somewhat breathless.

Stronger than a Gym Leader...

This couldn't possibly be an Elite Four Pokémon, could it??

But the moment he saw this Pokémon, Kairos suddenly realized something.

A blue-flamed shiny Chandelure...?

His gaze met that of Chandelure's for an instant, and it immediately became excited, coming over and flying in a circle around him.

A familiar voice instantly rang in his ears: "Litwick! Litwick!"

Kairos: "???"

Wait, isn't this my Litwick's voice?

He glanced at the scattered deep blue candy boxes on the floor, then at the shiny Chandelure in front of him, suddenly realizing something.

He tentatively asked:

"So... you're Litwick?"

The Chandelure nodded like a bobblehead, giving an affirmative answer.

"And you ate all the Rare Candy and then evolved?"

Kairos couldn't help asking.

Chandelure nodded again, then turned its head and glared fiercely at the Gengar beside it.

Gengar immediately shuddered, as if feeling immense pressure. It quickly ran in front of Kairos, dropped to its knees with a "thud," and began frantically bowing with both hands, as if begging for mercy.

"Gengar! Gengar! Kekeke! Kekeke!"

[Big bro, I was wrong! I shouldn't have disturbed your sleep, and I definitely shouldn't have eaten your soul! Please don't hold it against me - I really didn't mean it! I was just hungry and wanted to eat a little something; I had no intention of harming you!]

Hearing what Gengar was saying, Kairos paused, then realized:

"Eat my soul?"

Oh, right, no wonder he felt like he hadn't slept well when he woke up this morning - this guy had taken a bite of his soul.

So that's what happened, no wonder then...

...

...

—Like hell that’s normal!!