Steven's arrival

At noon, an unexpected guest arrived at the farm.

Chen Shi hurried over to welcome him with a smile.

"Steven, what brings you here today?"

The visitor was none other than Steven.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he excitedly pulled Chen Shi into a hug.

"Chen Shi, our research succeeded! Your method was right."

"Just last night, the world's first revived Fossil Pokémon was born."

"It was an Aerodactyl."

Chen Shi was surprised. He hadn't expected the Devon Corporation to produce results so quickly.

The power of a great family really was hard for him to imagine. With nothing more than a rough direction to follow, they had managed to revive the first Fossil Pokémon so quickly.

So Chen Shi smiled and congratulated him. "Congratulations! You finally cracked the problem."

Steven waved a hand. "Without you, who knows how much longer it would have taken us?"

"You have no idea. When I went back and told them we needed to use Munna's dream energy to turn Fossil Pokémon from illusory forms into physical beings to revive them, the researchers practically thought I'd lost my mind."

"Fortunately, my father gave me his full support. That's the only reason we managed to figure it out so quickly."

Steven sounded rather emotional. Even now, he still remembered the looks of disbelief on the researchers' faces after that Aerodactyl had been revived.

Those researchers had only agreed to study Munna's energy because of pressure from the chairman. They hadn't held out any hope at all.

They had simply thought the young master of the Stone family was indulging a passing whim.

After all, it really was far too unbelievable.

No one could have imagined that reviving Fossil Pokémon would actually require dream energy.

Chen Shi didn't take credit, though. He felt that even without his reminder, the Stone family would soon have figured it out.

He had merely brought that moment forward.

Besides, he had only provided a rough direction. The results were entirely thanks to the strength of the Stone family's research team.

So Chen Shi shook his head and said, "That's down to how capable your family's research team is. It doesn't have much to do with me."

"Anyway, let's leave that for now. Come sit down."

Without giving Steven a chance to argue, Chen Shi led him into the living room, sat him down, and brewed him a cup of tea.

The two elderly men were busy with something in the laboratory, so he had to make the tea himself.

Once seated, Steven said earnestly, "Chen Shi, thank you so much for that information."

"It was an enormous help to the company, and it helped me a great deal too. I don't even know how to thank you."

Chen Shi paused, then understood.

Although Steven was Mu Jin's son and the family's first in line to inherit,

there were plenty of other contenders for that position. A family as large as the Stone family was bound to have many outstanding members.

Quite a few people were probably waiting for Steven to make a mistake so they could knock him out of his position as first in line.

This time, Steven had likely used this achievement to secure his position.

At that thought, Chen Shi congratulated him again. "Then congratulations really are in order."

"You don't have to worry about how to thank me. Just drop by when you have time."

"We're friends, aren't we?"

Steven paused, warmth stirring in his heart.

"That's right. We're friends."

In truth, when Steven first proposed using Munna to revive Fossil Pokémon, Mu Jin had opposed it too.

But Steven had insisted, even staking his position as the family heir on it. Mu Jin had realized his son wasn't joking. He was serious.

Because he trusted his son, Mu Jin had overruled every objection and assigned a large number of researchers to study Munna's energy.

It was easy to imagine how much pressure Steven had been under during that time.

Yet he had remained resolute, simply because he trusted his first friend-and his only friend.

In the end, the results hadn't disappointed him. Last night, the first Aerodactyl had been revived.

Steven's trust hadn't been misplaced.

"So, have you finished developing the device for converting dream energy?"

Steven shook his head and said regretfully, "Since it was our first time reviving a Fossil Pokémon, we didn't have much experience. The simple energy conversion device we'd built ended up exploding."

"But now we have some experience. I'm sure we'll be able to build a better energy conversion device."

Chen Shi nodded slightly in agreement.

It was their first time, after all.

A lack of experience was normal.

Then he turned to another question. "Have you heard about the Pokémon World Championships taking place in just over two months?"

"My grandfather said the League is really pulling out all the stops this time."

Steven had clearly heard about it already. "That's right. My father also said the League is sparing no expense this time."

"Apparently, everyone in the top sixteen gets to choose a Pokémon Egg."

Chen Shi frowned. Just one Pokémon Egg didn't seem to match the scale of the League's investment.

Seeing his frown, Steven smiled and explained, "You don't think these are ordinary Pokémon Eggs, do you?"

Understanding dawned on Chen Shi. Of course. With such a huge undertaking, why would the League give out ordinary Pokémon Eggs?

Even thinking about it, that seemed impossible.

Steven continued, "This batch of Pokémon Eggs is something special. Not a single Pokémon inside has less potential than the Beldum I gave you."

Now Chen Shi was truly stunned. What kind of potential did the Beldum Steven had given him have?

Near-Champion potential! With proper training and some resources, that could reliably rise to Champion potential.

None of Chen Shi's current Pokémon had potential below Near-Champion level, but Florges and Leafeon had already reached their final evolutionary forms. Raising their potential further would be difficult.

But what were they offering here?

Pokémon with that kind of potential while they were still in their Eggs! That was extraordinary.

Take Chen Shi's Swampert, for example. Who knew how much effort Grandpa Chen had put in just to barely give him Near-Champion potential in his initial form?

Yet the League was now letting each of the top sixteen choose an Egg, and from what Steven had said, Near-Champion was only the minimum.

"Then my grandfather really wasn't exaggerating. The League really is sparing no expense this time."

"If it's just as you say, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the League is giving away sixteen future Champion-level Pokémon."

Steven shook his head.

"That's not all."

"The top sixteen can also enter the League's treasure vault and choose one item to take away."

"The higher your ranking, the better the items you can choose."

"I don't know exactly what's available, but it's bound to be valuable."

Chen Shi fell silent. It looked like Dreepy and the others would need more training.

How could a mere eight hours of training a day be enough?

It had to be twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Skarmory