"Atavism? You mean...?" Professor Harris asked with some doubt.
"Yes, in reality, Piloswine still has one more evolutionary form. And the process of that evolution is related to its primitive form. As long as we can trigger an ancestral return phenomenon in Piloswine, they will be able to complete the evolution."
Ethan nodded and explained part of the information about Mamoswine.
Upon hearing it, Professor Harris was clearly surprised, but immediately seemed to remember Ethan's identity and showed a thoughtful expression.
After a few moments, he looked at Ethan and asked: "And how can Piloswine be made to complete that ancestral return?"
"Ancient Power."
"Through the strength of the move Ancient Power, Piloswine can be made to return to its ancestral state."
Ethan spoke directly and bluntly revealed the necessary condition for Piloswine to evolve into Mamoswine.
If this had been before, naturally, he would not have revealed it so easily.
But now his situation was different.
Just like with experts and professors, everything he said about evolution now had authority.
"Rock-type Ancient Power..."
Professor Harris's eyes shone slightly, as if he had grasped something important.
The life transition experiment was not limited only to evolution; was atavism not also a process of life transition?
Once he understood that point, Professor Harris gave Ethan a thumbs-up.
Everyone knew that the experiment on life transition was extremely difficult.
In fact, it was very likely that this field would end up brushing against the realm of the legendary.
But at that moment, for the first time, he felt a certain confidence that they could truly completely unravel life energy.
Pokémon evolution, life energy, the life energy contained in healing moves, the transformation between Ghost-type energy and life energy, atavism...
If they managed to conquer all those topics one by one, perhaps they could touch the very essence of life energy and thus finally complete the subject of life transition.
"I understand now. Then, leave the research on the move Ancient Power to me as well."
Professor Harris took a deep breath, and a sharp light appeared in his eyes.
Regarding life energy, he actually had not researched too much. But Rock and Ground types were precisely the field he was best in.
Researching life energy starting from the phenomenon of ancestral return might be a much more suitable entry point for him.
During the following time, Ethan and Professor Harris continued discussing the topic in full detail.
If they wanted Swinub and Piloswine to learn the move Ancient Power and, through it, complete ancestral return, they would first have to raise them properly.
"If we wanted to train all the Swinub and Piloswine, it would be too difficult. We only need to choose among them those with the greatest talent for the Rock type."
Ethan smiled slightly. And as for how to identify the Swinub and Piloswine with that talent, it was actually very simple: they only had to use a Hidden Power Potion.
After so many experiments, the League had long since discovered the pattern by which Pokémon awakened certain attributes with the Hidden Power Potion.
When the time came, they would only have to make those Swinub drink the potion. If they managed to awaken the Rock type in the move Hidden Power, then they would be exactly the specimens they were looking for.
After Ethan presented his idea, Professor Harris immediately nodded and began preparing everything necessary to start that line of research.
Naturally, Ethan was very familiar with the Hidden Power Potion.
Now, after becoming a Pokémon Professor, he had finally discovered the true origin of that substance.
It turned out that, in the Pokémon world, there existed a special berry called the Awakening Fruit, and when a Pokémon consumed it, it could successfully master the move Hidden Power.
The League, after processing those berries in a more advanced way, had managed to mass-produce the Hidden Power Potion.
After learning the method for making the Hidden Power Potion, Ethan could even have Shuckle refine it further and directly produce Pokéblocks.
In that way, the effect of the Awakening Fruit could be used even better, greatly increasing the efficiency with which Pokémon learn the move Hidden Power.
Once the plan was confirmed, Ethan immediately got to work and, making use of his privileges, requested that valuable resource from the Pokémon Researcher Guild.
However, Ethan's credits had been completely exhausted when he exchanged them for Steel-type resources, so this time he used Professor Harris's credits.
After so many years of accumulation, Professor Harris's number of credits was also enormous, especially thanks to his summary on the learning methods of weather moves. Naturally, his credits had also reached an astonishing figure.
Before officially beginning the life transition experiment, Professor Harris had already exchanged for a large amount of resources, and now he was spending another pile.
But he did not care about that at all. For a researcher, credits existed precisely to be used in research.
And besides, he himself knew that, if they managed to complete that experiment, the credits he was spending now would return multiplied, so he was not losing out at all.
After leaving everything decided, Ethan went to see the Piloswine and, just as he had promised, prepared the inside of a cave they had found for them.
After introducing a large amount of Ice-type resources, the temperature of the entire cave dropped sharply, transforming it into an environment suitable for Ice-type Pokémon to live in.
With those icy resources and the Ground- and Rock-type energy that already existed inside the Secret Kingdom, Swinub and Piloswine would be able to grow very quickly.
(End of chapter)