At that moment, Nathan couldn't help but wish his cheat ability wasn't so lame.
Since childhood, it had always been just a store.
Unfortunately, the system store never cared about the host's complaints, and in the end, Nathan could only leave with the crystal pendant, full of frustration.
On the night before leaving the mystic realm, Nathan had a dream—something rare, strange, and extremely vivid.
It was rare because Nathan could enter deep sleep and had barely dreamed throughout his life.
As for strange and vivid...
In a world where even the concepts of black and white, good and evil, right and wrong hadn't yet formed, the first Alpaca—no, the first pokemon—was born!
It pushed the development of the universe forward, adding countless creations of its own along the way.
Eventually, it shaped a utopia-like world: the world of pokemon.
In this world, humans and pokemons coexisted, and pokemon lived harmoniously among themselves.
There was no killing, no survival of the fittest.
The Pokémon anime Nathan had seen in his previous life was already pretty beautiful, right?
But even there, Farfetch'd were hunted nearly to extinction for food, and Marowak's bone club was considered a famous delicacy...
In contrast, the world in Nathan's dream had none of that.
Everything was pure, perfect.
So much so that even Nathan, who had been born in a time of peace, felt a deep sense of doubt and shame.
He doubted the reality of such a world.
And felt ashamed of his own impurity.
After spending too much time in the world of light and darkness, witnessing countless ugly sides of humanity,
even though Nathan liked to believe he still had a moral bottom line, he realized he simply couldn't withstand this level of purity.
It was too bright.
So bright that Nathan felt like a moth drawn to a flame—only to perish in its brilliance!
The world of pokemon continued to revolve quietly.
Until one day, the alpaca—the being revered as the creator by both humans and pokemons—encountered a mishap.
Because it had interfered too much in the natural development of the universe,
even though the alpaca's intentions were good,
mistakes were inevitably made.
Maybe because the alpaca was too righteous and majestic,
One day, it had the memory of doing something wrong, or the emotion at that time, or something else entirely...
Whatever it was, it began to rebel against the alpaca.
It was like how humans can develop diseases, like cancer, which can evade the body's immune system.
Those rebellious fragments were like the alpaca's cancer!
Until one day, the pokemon world suffered a massive upheaval, and fragments of that world fell into Nathan's world.
They were assimilated by the rules of this new world!
And the alpaca's "cancer cells" were discarded along the way, eventually ending up here in this mystic realm, left to survive or perish on their own.
When the morning sun rose, Nathan's biological clock woke him up.
Looking down at the pendant hanging around his neck, he suddenly felt less repelled by it.
In his mind, the pendant seemed rather pitiful too.
After all, it was the result of Arceus' own mistakes—or perhaps the emotions born from them.
Yet when the opportunity came, Arceus ruthlessly discarded it without a second thought!
No mercy at all!
Thus, this "cancer cell" could only, through sheer survival instinct, gradually evolve into what it was now.
"If this were a novel from my past life," Nathan said as he held the pendant in his palm, "you'd basically be Arceus' dark side, right?"
He stared at it for a while, then suddenly teased,
"If you hadn't fallen into this mystic realm, but instead directly into the world..."
—
Yeah, without a doubt, this pendant would have become the ultimate apocalyptic boss in the real world!
Wait a second.
Natsume suddenly had a feeling that after obtaining this pendant, he suddenly felt like he had become a destined villain?
If he were to be corrupted and fall into darkness under the pendant's influence,
then become the villain who gets defeated by the hero using the power of light...
yeah, it would make for a perfect storyline, wouldn't it?
Especially since Nathan was called a rising star and an unprecedented genius.
This setup just screamed "villain's backstory that makes the hero look stronger"!
Damn it!
Forcing these unnecessary thoughts out of his mind, Nathan was certain that if this was a novel, the author would be doomed to failure.
Such a cliché!
After leaving the mystic realm, Nathan didn't go straight home.
Instead, he booked a room at a hotel.
He wasn't sure whether the pendant might affect his family.
Although after last night's dream, he had a vague feeling that he and the pendant were now one and the same,
some caution was still necessary until he was sure.
Maybe it was his imagination, but ever since leaving the mystic realm,
Nathan felt that a lot of people were giving him strange looks.
After getting to the hotel room, Nathan immediately went into the bathroom.
Sure enough.
Looking at the handsome face in the mirror—no, it could even be called beautiful—
he noticed a blood-red spot in the pupil of his right eye, which had originally been brown.
It wasn't very obvious, but like a black speck on a field of snow, it was impossible to miss.
"Hey! This is your doing, right?! Get rid of it now!"
Without needing to think, Nathan grabbed the black pendant and spoke through gritted teeth.
Sure, white hair and blood-red eyes were all the rage back on Earth,
but Nathan was way past the "edgy teen" phase, thank you very much!
The pendant flickered with a purple-black glow.
Nathan somehow intuitively understood that if he wanted, he could make the red spot disappear.
And sure enough, when he looked into the mirror again, his eye had returned to normal.
"Geez, how boring," he muttered, a little regretful, "even if I got some cool Sharingan or Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, what good would it do? I can't even use it!"
He sighed in relief but also felt a weird sense of loss.
In the end, he was already used to, even molded into being, a Pokémon Trainer.
Even if he had a power comparable to a pokemon, he wouldn't use it.
Besides, being a summoner was way cooler—learn teleportation, catch a few legendary pokemon, and boom, invincible!
So forget Sharingan or Mystic Eyes of Death Perception—
even if he inherited Arceus' divine power, it wouldn't change anything for him.
Maybe that's why he ended up in this world,
and not some bizarre, chaotic anime world.
Returning from the bathroom, Nathan plugged in his phone to charge.
The message notification icon popped up with a + sign.
Before he could check it, Vice President Cloud's call came through.
As soon as he picked up, Shane burst out laughing,
"Finally! If you had stayed in there any longer, the National Tournament would've started without you!"
"If you're late, not to mention that I'm the vice president, even if I get promoted a few positions, I won't be able to help you!"
It was no exaggeration.
Since the national tournament has the word "national" in its name, what it represents is naturally self-evident.
Special treatment?
Sure, maybe in smaller events.
But at the national level? Try pulling strings, and you're basically asking for a government raid!
Of course, Nathan could wait for the next tournament, but what would be the point?
By then, he'd already be considered a fully maxed-out elite!
And considering the good results Nathan had already achieved at previous tournaments,
Vice President Cloud's own reputation would also benefit.
"This mystic realm was a bit unusual, so I got delayed,"
Nathan replied calmly while tossing the pendant aside and putting the Volcarona's Pokéball around his neck.
After all, this time, it really wasn't the League's fault.
They had accurately assessed the danger level of the mystic realm.
Even if it had been at the limit of Elite rank,
with his top-tier Volcarona, Nathan could have still escaped.
Still, Vice President Cloud's voice slightly tightened,
"What kind of trouble? Did you run into a Champion-level threat? Are you hurt?"
Hearing the concern in Shane's tone, Nathan couldn't help but laugh,
"No, nothing that bad. The mystic realm just wasn't the usual kind."
"While there wasn't anything Champion-level, in terms of geographical size..."
He explained the situation over the phone while fiddling with the pendant and Volcarona's Pokéball.
After several back-and-forths, the pendant finally stopped struggling and clung listlessly to Nathan's neck.
Meanwhile, Volcarona's Pokéball occasionally "bumped" the pendant, as if celebrating victory.
Although the pendant was pretty much an uncontrollable rogue,
there was no way Nathan would let it replace his Volcarona's place.
No way!
Once the pendant gave up resisting, Nathan finally finished his brief explanation about the mystic realm.
Vice President Cloud clicked his tongue in amazement,
"There are actually mystic realms like that in this world? Your luck is incredible!"
"Usually, even if a mystic realm only had half that size, it would already be classified as exceptionally dangerous."
"Even the Elite Guardians would struggle to guarantee 100% safety inside!"
Listening to Shane's words, Nathan just chuckled and then asked,
"Does the League really know nothing about that mystic realm?"