"As we thought, it really is Magmar's evolved form. Now you can tell us—how did you manage to make Magmar evolve?"
Grand President Beckett carefully observed Magmar and Magmortar, then asked Ethan.
Seeing that Grand President Beckett had spoken, Ethan stopped hiding it and directly explained Magmortar's evolution method.
"Magmarizer?"
After hearing Ethan's explanation, Grand President Beckett and President Morgan looked at each other.
"That's right. That item from the ancient ruins laboratory was precisely the Magmarizer. It's just that, due to the passage of time, the lava energy contained within the Magmarizer had dissipated."
"I used the power of the volcano to refill the Magmarizer with lava energy, thus helping Magmar complete its evolution."
Ethan nodded and fully explained Magmortar's evolution method, causing the pupils of both presidents to dilate slightly once again.
"I see... the Magmarizer."
"President Morgan, the Magmortar evolution experiments will be entrusted to you."
Grand President Beckett took a deep breath and addressed President Morgan.
"Don't worry, leave it to me. If we really manage to complete Magmortar's evolution thanks to this, Solaris City will owe you a great favor!"
President Morgan took a deep breath and spoke to Ethan with utmost seriousness.
"All right, thank you very much, President Morgan."
Ethan returned the smile.
After President Morgan left, Grand President Beckett's expression suddenly became grave.
Seeing this, Ethan breathed softly and revealed a faint smile.
"Ethan, can you tell me how you discovered these Pokémon evolution methods?"
Upon hearing Grand President Beckett's question, Ethan thought to himself, "Just as expected." After all, very little time had passed since he obtained the Magmarizer, let alone conducting extensive experiments.
However, he already had an explanation prepared. After nodding slightly, Ethan took a notebook out of his backpack.
"What is this?"
Grand President Beckett took it with a serious expression.
Inside the notebook were the names of many Pokémon.
Among them were Onix, Scyther, Slowpoke, Seadra, and Magmar, among others.
Moreover, beneath each name was a simple sketch of the corresponding Pokémon, along with some explanatory notes.
"It's a list: all of them are Pokémon that I assume have evolutionary forms."
Ethan looked at the surprised Grand President Beckett as he spoke, causing his pupils to contract.
"Assumptions?"
Grand President Beckett immediately caught onto that key word.
"Exactly—assumptions. But from what we've seen so far, my conjectures were correct."
Ethan nodded. Grand President Beckett also inclined his head slightly, knowing there was more to come.
"In fact, I once entered a Secret Kingdom. Inside that Secret Kingdom, I saw some murals. The Pokémon depicted in those murals were ones I had never seen before. However, based on their shapes, I discovered that they closely resembled some known Pokémon."
After hearing this, Grand President Beckett looked again at the names written in the notebook and said, "So you assumed that the Pokémon in the murals were the evolved forms of these Pokémon?"
"That's right. Actually, at the beginning, I didn't think of it that way either. But after successively discovering that Steelix is the evolution of Onix..."
"That Scyther can indeed evolve into Scizor, that Slowpoke and Shellder also have another evolutionary form..."
"And then, with the evolution of Seadra and the recent one of Magmar, all of that confirmed my assumption."
"Of course, this is still only a conjecture. I deduced the Pokémon in this notebook by comparing their appearances before and after evolution, so it's not necessarily completely accurate. At that point, it will be necessary for you to verify it."
Ethan nodded. He had pondered this explanation for a long time, and now it seemed to have no issues at all.
"And the evolution methods?"
Grand President Beckett asked impatiently. The facts had already proven that Ethan's conjectures had a high probability of being correct.
"In that Secret Kingdom, there were only murals. These evolution methods were also deduced by me halfway through assumptions and experiments. However, from the Pokémon's appearance, some clues can still be obtained."
"For example, the cannon-like mouths on Magmortar's arms. When I saw the Magmarizer, I thought that its evolution might be related to that item."
"So I went to a volcanic Secret Kingdom and captured a Magmar. In the end, Magmar really did manage to evolve with the help of the Magmarizer's power."
Ethan nodded as he spoke. Revealing some things and concealing others was something he had planned in advance. Even so, Grand President Beckett was already extremely satisfied.
This time, it could be said that Ethan had prepared an enormous gift for the Pokémon Researchers' Guild, and even for the entire League. Once these evolution methods were published, the League's overall strength would undoubtedly experience a tremendous increase.
For example, Champion Leo Cross had Magmar as one of his main Pokémon. Moreover, those Elite-level trainers who specialized in Electric-, Ground-, and Rock-type Pokémon often used Electabuzz and Rhydon as the pillars of their teams. For them, this boost in power would truly be gigantic.
"Ethan, do you know where that Secret Kingdom is located?"
After taking a deep breath to suppress the excitement in his heart, Grand President Beckett continued.
"That Secret Kingdom is in Stonefield Town. I also tried to enter it again, but it had already disappeared. However, I suspect that place is very likely located in the Spirit World."
Upon hearing Grand President Beckett's question, Ethan's gaze flickered slightly before he replied.
"The Spirit World?!"
Grand President Beckett was startled.
"That's right—the Spirit World. At first, it was only a guess, but now I can practically confirm it."
Ethan nodded, opened the Poké Ball in his hand, and Litwick's figure appeared.
"Litwick, have you been to the Spirit World?"
Upon seeing Litwick, Grand President Beckett immediately understood part of the situation.
"Exactly. That Secret Kingdom is very similar to the realm Litwick was in."
Ethan nodded and took the opportunity to reveal the possibility that an entrance to the Spirit World existed in Stonefield Town.
In fact, he himself felt extremely curious about it: did an entrance to the Spirit World really exist in Stonefield Town?
"All right, I understand now. I'll send people to thoroughly investigate Stonefield Town. If we manage to find that remnant of the Spirit World, perhaps we can uncover even more things."
Grand President Beckett nodded, took out his phone on the spot, and began issuing instructions.
Ethan listened in silence, while a sense of gravity settled in his heart. The Spirit World, Dusknoir, the anomalies of his own soul, and even the mystery of his transmigration... behind Stonefield Town lay a layer of enigmas waiting to be unveiled.
(End of chapter)