Ho-Oh Upgrades!

Although the rumor was false, the Shock Points it provided were real.

After a day of spreading, it earned him nearly three million more Shock Points.

Maybe because some people hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they still acted surprised, but the Shock Points they gave were pitifully few.

Still, it was enough!

Time to get to work!

But before officially starting the renovations, there was one thing he had to do.

You worked hard, Ho-Oh!

Dongshu looked at Ho-Oh beside him, his mind stirring slightly. He directly spent 82,000 Shock Points from the System Store to exchange a Rare Candy specifically for Ho-Oh.

Ho-Oh had already sensed the gaze of this human child.

It turned its head to look over and saw the human child holding both hands out, offering a seemingly ordinary candy.

"Ho-Oh, here!"

Ho-Oh paused briefly, its eyes landing on the candy. It wasn't because of Dongshu's gesture, but because it keenly sensed a surge of energy from it.

That was...

"Thank you for taking me out to play today, Ho-Oh!" Dongshu peeled off the candy wrapper and added, "This is a gift!"

A gift... Ho-Oh felt a stir in its heart.

What it had done wasn't for a gift.

Ho-Oh picked up the candy from Dongshu's hand with its beak and swallowed it.

The moment the candy entered its stomach, Ho-Oh felt a warm, abundant energy surge through every limb and bone. For a moment, it seemed its body brimmed with endless power.

Then, a fiery red glow flared from its body.

Within that light, Ho-Oh felt with absolute clarity that its strength had grown stronger!

This sudden change startled Ho-Oh. It looked at the human child in disbelief.

"This, this is?!"

Dongshu grinned. "This is my power!"

Ho-Oh knew Dongshu had the mysterious ability to conjure things out of nowhere, and that this power wasn't always available.

Still, it was puzzled.

"Before, my energy was limited and always ran out..." Dongshu tried to explain in terms Ho-Oh could understand. "But today, Ho-Oh took me to the human world. When those humans looked at me, I felt special energy gathering, so I wanted to thank Ho-Oh!"

Hearing this, Ho-Oh instantly understood, its heart both surprised and delighted.

A warm current surged through its chest. What moved it was that little Dongshu, upon gaining so much power, had thought of it first and even offered that gathered energy as a gift...

And what stirred Ho-Oh's interest was this: if it often took little Dongshu to the human world, wouldn't that let him harvest even more energy?

Ho-Oh couldn't help but picture little Dongshu again offering that condensed power as a gift.

If it could gain even greater strength, it could better protect the weak and maintain peace in this world.

After feeding Ho-Oh the Rare Candy, Dongshu checked his balance.

Balance: 6,280,500.

He didn't know what had happened in the human world after he and Ho-Oh left, or how they'd filled in the gaps.

But over six million Shock Points—enough to do a lot!

Dongshu walked slowly to the innermost part of the Cave, near the wall.

He placed his hand on the wall and activated Secret Power.

Before long, a single empty room was carved out.

Then...

Dongshu turned his gaze to the store.

[Large Space Ecological Park: Developed using Palkia's spatial power, it is an independent space equipped with an artificial sun, climate simulation, terrain adjustment, seasonal changes, and other functions, sufficient to meet all Pokémon's daily needs. Exchange cost: 2 million Shock Points.]

Exchange!

[Set it here?]

Yes!

The next second, a dense white light enveloped the empty room.

At first, everything was still chaos.

The light seemed to expand continuously, and soon, the space before them grew vast and immense...

Ho-Oh sensed the change and quickly turned its gaze over.

Before little Dongshu, a massive space had suddenly appeared.

That was...

I don't know how long passed before the intense light before me gradually faded.

What came into view was a bright, sunlit independent space.

Here, there were mountains and water—rivers, waterfalls, forests, grasslands, valleys, snowy peaks, sandy plains, beaches, the sea, volcanoes...

Above was a vast, clear blue sky dotted with white clouds, and directly overhead hung a sun radiating warm light.

It was an artificial sun, a creation nearly identical to the real one.

And before Dongshu, a control panel resembling a tablet computer materialized.

Through this panel, he could freely adjust environmental factors like temperature, humidity, terrain, day and night, seasons, and climate.

This place was a perfectly functional ecological park, capable of housing all kinds of Pokémon!

The sight before him reminded Dongshu of the ecological park at Blueberry Academy from the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Indigo Disk DLC.

But although this ecological park was physically located inside Heavenly Green Mountain, it actually belonged to an independent space, not occupying the mountain's interior.

Otherwise, the space here was so vast that even hollowing out the entire mountain couldn't contain it.

Ho-Oh had already walked over.

He gazed at the scene inside, his golden-red pupils sharply contracting.

"Dongshu, is this... also your power?"

"That's right. This way, everyone can live together here!" Dongshu said.

This power... this power was truly magnificent! Ho-Oh couldn't help but admire inwardly.

What a find!—Ho-Oh's heart surged with excitement.

With the ecological park set up, the next step was officially starting the decoration work.

[Bathtub: Furniture for bathing together with Pokémon. Redemption cost: 700 Shock Points.]

[Refrigerator: Appliance for preserving food. Requires a generator to use. Redemption cost: 1500 Shock Points.]

[Tableware: A complete set of tableware for eating. Redemption cost: 300 Shock Points.]

Bathtub redeemed, refrigerator redeemed, tableware redeemed!

[Automatic Light-Gathering Window: Can be installed in caves to simulate real sunlight streaming in from outside. Redemption cost: 1000 Shock Points.]

Dongshu bought five of them outright and installed them in several rooms.

Instantly, bright beams of light, clearly carrying the warmth of sunlight, streamed in through these windows.

Even without the Mushroom Night Light, the cave was as bright as day.

Next up was...

[Chandelier: A ceiling-mounted lighting fixture. Requires a generator to use. Redemption cost: 500 Shock Points.]

However, appliances like refrigerators and chandeliers needed electricity to function properly.

Dongshu's gaze shifted to the generator.

[Generator: Equipment for supplying power. Requires an Electric-type Pokémon to charge. Can store up to one year's worth of electricity. Redemption cost: 1000 Shock Points.]

Bought! Raikou was an Electric-type Pokémon—he could help charge it!

With the generator in place, Dongshu's eyes then drifted to a household item for convenience.

[Fully Automatic Flushing Toilet: Household item for personal hygiene. Requires installation near a water source. Can be used with the Reverse World Connection Device. Waste is automatically flushed into the Reverse World. Redemption cost: 1000 Shock Points.]

Reverse World Connection Device—what was that?

Dongshu searched the shop.

[Reverse World Connection Device: A miraculous device for connecting to the Reverse World. Can be installed on items like trash cans, toilets, and sewage tanks. Trash, waste, and sewage are automatically sent to the Reverse World. Redemption cost: 100,000 Shock Points.]

Dongshu: "..."

Was this thing basically treating Giratina's Reverse World like a trash bin?

He feared that the very day it was installed, Giratina would crawl up through the toilet while he was doing his business.

That image was too vivid—Dongshu didn't even dare imagine it.