Lu Chen's plan was simple.
He would head to a nearby town, sell a few things for some startup funds, then take care of two pressing needs: buy some daily necessities and, ideally, get a phone with internet access.
But before setting off, he had a practical problem to deal with.
He looked at Gouging Fire and Lapras beside him, took two Poké Balls off his belt, and waved them in front of the pair.
"I'm going to put you inside these Poké Balls in a moment. Remember not to resist."
"They're called Poké Balls. They make it easier to take you places."
Of course, Lu Chen knew that strolling into town with Gouging Fire, Aerodactyl, and the others would be no different from carrying two bombs into a shopping mall.
He took out two of the Poké Balls Professor Oak had given him and threw them at Gouging Fire and Lapras.
"Return."
The Poké Balls traced two red arcs through the air, striking Gouging Fire and Lapras squarely.
The two Pokémon turned into red light and were drawn inside. The Poké Balls landed on the ground and rocked from side to side twice.
"Ding."
"Ding."
Two crisp chimes rang out.
With the bonds between Lu Chen, Gouging Fire, and Lapras, there was no possibility of the captures failing.
He bent down to pick up the Poké Balls, then let both Pokémon out again.
Red light flashed, and Gouging Fire and Lapras reappeared where they had been.
"What does it feel like inside?" Lu Chen asked curiously.
Gouging Fire swished its tail and snorted, indicating that it was pretty nice in there, but the space was a little cramped and not very comfortable.
Lapras nodded too, expressing much the same thing.
Lu Chen sighed.
"Nothing we can do about it. Professor Oak only gave me ordinary Poké Balls."
"Once I make some money, I'll get you Luxury Balls instead. Supposedly, they're comfortable even if you stay inside for a long time. You'll just have to put up with these for now."
Neither Gouging Fire nor Lapras minded.
After all, however uncomfortable the Poké Balls were, they were far better than those times when they had crawled straight into piles of corpses to avoid enemies and stayed hidden for three days at a stretch.
Lu Chen took out the Poké Balls, recalled Gouging Fire and Lapras, and clipped them onto the Trainer belt around his waist.
Professor Oak had given him that Trainer belt too.
After putting his Pokémon away, Lu Chen swung himself onto Aerodactyl's back and patted its neck.
"Let's go. To the nearest town."
Aerodactyl flapped its wings and shot into the sky.
As they approached the town, Lu Chen had Aerodactyl land in an unoccupied patch of woods first.
He jumped down and looked at Aerodactyl. "Your turn to get inside."
Honestly, compared with Lapras and Gouging Fire, Aerodactyl was the one that stood out the most.
The bloody aura and killing intent surrounding it could be felt from far away.
Just like the Mr. Mime at Delia's house, who had trembled in terror merely standing nearby.
A more timid Pokémon would probably faint on the spot from ten meters away.
After all, in this era, blood-soaked monsters like Aerodactyl, who had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, simply did not exist.
To put it in fantasy novel terms, Lu Chen's Aerodactyl was the sort of bloodthirsty demon king who had suddenly traveled from ancient times into the modern world.
Lu Chen threw a Poké Ball and captured this "great demon king" inside.
Just as Lu Chen was about to enter town-
"Heeheehee-"
Gengar emerged from Lu Chen's shadow and grinned at him, then reached out a stubby hand of its own accord and tapped the Poké Ball in his pocket.
Its entire body zipped inside.
The next second.
"Pop."
It came back out of the Poké Ball on its own, then slipped back into Lu Chen's shadow with a look of disdain.
Lu Chen watched helplessly.
"So you care about the ceremony too? I thought you liked staying in my shadow, so I wasn't going to capture you with a Poké Ball."
Gengar answered him with nothing but a strange laugh.
Remembering something, Lu Chen said to Gengar, "Oh, right. Take out that secret treasure the queen of Cameran Palace gave us after we helped her last time."
Gengar cackled, opened its mouth wide, and began rummaging through its own pocket dimension.
It rummaged and rummaged for quite a while before finally producing an exquisite-looking statue of a goddess.
The goddess statue had an archaic design and was carved entirely from an unknown milky-white stone.
Its lines were smooth, and its expression dignified. A lifelike Lucario was carved beside the goddess.
Looking at the statue in his hands, Lu Chen muttered to himself.
"When Cameran Palace gave me this statue, they said it was priceless."
"I'd feel a little bad about the queen, but selling it for a few million to get myself some startup funds wouldn't be bad."
Then he walked into town.
But even though Lu Chen had put all his Pokémon away beforehand, he still stood out far too much.
Lu Chen was still dressed in his clothes from the super-ancient era.
His clothes were sewn from animal hides and coarse hemp cloth, covered in patches, with plenty of bloodstains lodged in the seams that could no longer be washed out.
An animal-hide shawl whose original color was impossible to make out hung over his shoulders, and the soles of his leather boots were almost worn through.
If Lu Chen himself had not looked fairly bright and handsome rather than like some burly, muscle-bound brute, someone probably would have called the police already.
Passersby kept glancing at him, some curious and some wary. A few children were even dragged away by their mothers with hands over their mouths.
Lu Chen scratched his head helplessly. He did not want to stand out like this either, being gawked at like a monkey.
Lu Chen quickened his pace and soon ducked into a department store.
As soon as he stepped through the door, the attendant in charge of greeting customers lit up.
Of course, it was not Lu Chen's bizarre attire that made the attendant's eyes light up.
It was the four Poké Balls at his waist.
Combined with Lu Chen's unusual outfit, they made him look every bit a powerful Trainer with a distinctive style!
"This way, esteemed Trainer."
Soon, a rather pretty woman in a black business suit came out.
Wearing a standard professional smile, she bowed slightly to Lu Chen.
"Hello, I'm the manager here. Have you come to buy something or sell something today?"
"Sell, of course," Lu Chen said bluntly.
"Do you buy artifacts from the super-ancient era here?"
"Artifacts from the super-ancient era?"
The manager's eyes visibly brightened, like a shark that had caught the scent of blood.
"Yes! Of course we do!"
She stepped aside and gestured for him to proceed, her smile at least three times more sincere than before.
"Please come with me to the VIP room so we can discuss the details."
Lu Chen followed her through the lobby and took the elevator up to the fifth floor.
The VIP room had thick carpeting, and a faint fragrance of aromatherapy oils lingered in the air.
The manager personally poured Lu Chen a cup of tea, then sat across from him, her hands folded over her knees in an elegant posture.
"May I ask what sort of artifact you wish to sell?"
Without wasting words, Lu Chen took the goddess statue from inside his clothes and set it on the table.
"This."
The moment the goddess statue appeared, even the air in the VIP room seemed to freeze for an instant.
The exquisite statue clearly drew the manager's gaze. She leaned forward slightly, examined it for a few moments, then stood and said,
"Please wait a moment. I'll fetch our appraiser."
Lu Chen picked up his teacup and took a sip.
It was slightly sweet, with a hint of floral fragrance.
Compared with the bitter medicinal brews made from wild grasses on those super-ancient battlefields, this was practically heaven and earth.
"Having money sure is nice," Lu Chen remarked sincerely.
Soon, the manager returned with an elderly, gray-haired appraiser.
The moment the old appraiser entered, his gaze fixed on the goddess statue on the table.
He walked over unsteadily, took a magnifying glass from his pocket, and examined the statue over and over.
The longer he looked, the deeper his brows furrowed.
The longer he looked, the stranger his expression became.
Finally, the old appraiser lowered his magnifying glass, turned to the manager, and shook his head.
"There's nothing wrong with the material or craftsmanship. Its form is indeed consistent with the ritual objects used by the royal family of the ancient Cameran civilization."
He paused, profound bewilderment in his voice.
"But the problem is, this thing is simply too new."
"New?" The manager froze.
"Yes. Absurdly new."
The old appraiser pointed to the statue's surface.
"The oxidation layer on this milky-white stone is practically negligible, and the wear on the edges and corners is completely inconsistent with an age of tens of thousands of years."
"Simply put, this thing looks as though it was... made yesterday."
He looked at Lu Chen, a trace of apology in his eyes.
"Judging solely by the material and craftsmanship, it could be worth a few thousand. But if you're claiming it's a super-ancient artifact..."
The old appraiser said no more and merely shook his head.
The warmth on the manager's face cooled at a visible speed.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid we can't purchase this at the price of a super-ancient artifact."
Lu Chen: "..."
He opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but ultimately said nothing.
After all, he could hardly tell them that he had traveled here from the super-ancient era, and that in his timeline, the queen really had only given this away a short while ago.
If he did, he probably would not even get a chance to sell anything before being shown straight out the door.
"So it's a fake. In that case, I won't sell it." Lu Chen could only give a self-deprecating smile.
Then he took the goddess statue back and tucked it inside his clothes again, thinking helplessly that it was not worth selling for so little money.
After all, it was also a token of that queen's regard.
Back then, if not for certain unexpected events, Lu Chen would have become the king of Cameran during his time in that super-ancient world.
Letting it go for a few thousand was something Lu Chen himself could not accept.
Looking at the goddess statue in his hands, Lu Chen suddenly recalled that super-ancient era from who knew how many years ago. Tens of thousands of years had passed, and the friends and enemies of those days had all become handfuls of earth, buried in history.
At that moment, Lu Chen could not help wondering what had happened after he suddenly disappeared from the super-ancient battlefield, and how the lives of those people he once knew had ended...
Lu Chen shook his head and put those thoughts aside for now. Perhaps he would only be able to uncover these things little by little in the future.
Putting away the goddess statue in his hands, Lu Chen could not help thinking that if even super-ancient artifacts would not fetch a decent price, what could he use to get his first batch of startup funds?
Lu Chen touched the Poké Balls at his waist.
"Tsk."
Lu Chen scratched his hair.
To think that a man who had fought his way out of the super-ancient battlefields alive was now worrying about being unable to make his first pot of gold.
If his old opponents from the battlefield found out, they would probably laugh their heads off.
While Lu Chen was thinking, a tentative voice came from behind him.
"Sir..."
Lu Chen turned around.
It was the white-haired old appraiser from earlier. He had followed him out and was standing a short distance behind Lu Chen, panting slightly.
"I was wondering... might I take a look at that animal-hide garment you're wearing?"
Lu Chen paused, then looked down at his animal-hide coat, covered in patches and dark red bloodstains.
"Of course."