Aura was connected to the user's own mind and spirit, so naturally, releasing Aura placed a certain burden on the user.
When Chen Mo had first obtained Aura from the system, continuously releasing it while keeping his mind completely focused would make him feel tired after roughly ten minutes, forcing him to stop.
However...
As Chen Mo used Aura more and more frequently, the amount of time he could sustain it gradually increased. By now, even while maintaining complete concentration, he could easily keep it active for several hours.
Which raised the question.
In an unfamiliar environment, Chen Mo indeed had the habit of keeping his Aura active at all times to monitor any unusual movements around him.
But...
Even if one started counting from the moment Chen Mo woke up, given his current capabilities, he shouldn't have exhausted himself this quickly.
"Pi-ka!"
The Pikachu that had originally been sitting on Chen Mo's shoulder immediately jumped to the ground when he crouched down, calling out anxiously.
"Pikachu, I'm fine. And all of you, don't worry too much. I'm just a little exhausted."
After catching his breath for a moment, Chen Mo was about to stand up.
Just then...
He suddenly noticed that the color of the soil beneath his feet had changed.
The grass that had originally surrounded the path had completely disappeared, leaving behind nothing but dark-brown, withered earth.
The light around them had dimmed.
An ominous feeling suddenly welled up inside Chen Mo.
He hurriedly stood.
The next second...
He was stunned by the scene before him.
The lush, verdant mountains from earlier had now become completely barren.
As far as the eye could see, not a trace of green remained among the surrounding mountains.
Even more terrifyingly...
The World-Origin Tree, which had previously towered into the clouds like a pillar supporting the heavens, had now lost much of its outer rocky layer. Large sections had collapsed, while the entire structure radiated a terrifying red glow that made anyone looking at it instinctively uneasy.
The entire world...
Looked like the desolate remains of an apocalypse.
And then...
Chen Mo finally remembered.
There was no doubt about it.
That all-encompassing Aura he had sensed in the real world had come from the World-Origin Tree.
But...
Just as Marshadow had sensed earlier, before entering the dimensional rift, Chen Mo had also detected something strange mixed within that all-encompassing Aura.
At the time, he couldn't describe what it was.
But now, Chen Mo was gradually certain.
Death.
That was the aura of death.
The World-Origin Tree, which provided shelter for countless forms of life, was slowly approaching its demise!
"What exactly is this..."
Chen Mo's hands trembled uncontrollably, waves of shock surging through his heart.
At this moment...
There was another question he cared about far more.
Where was Mew?
Mew was an extremely mysterious Legendary Pokémon in the original story.
According to the settings depicted in Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, Mew and the World-Origin Tree should have a symbiotic relationship.
And now...
The World-Origin Tree was inevitably approaching death.
So what was the state of Mew?
Chen Mo couldn't figure it out.
He didn't even dare think too deeply about it.
His head was filled with questions.
At first, when he'd seen the World-Origin Tree, Chen Mo had assumed that the Aura Trial he needed to complete might have something to do with Mew.
But now...
It seemed the problem behind the Aura Trial given to him by the system was far more serious than he had imagined.
Chen Mo gazed toward the distant World-Origin Tree glowing red and worked hard to calm himself.
Although Chen Mo had yet to reach the point where he could remain completely unperturbed in the face of disaster, his many experiences and brushes with death had given him the ability to handle almost any situation rationally.
Still...
Although Chen Mo had gradually calmed down, countless viewers in the livestream had descended into complete chaos.
[What the hell is happening!? Why did the entire world change in an instant? And where did all those Swablu go? Why did they all disappear!?]
[Why does this feel like a dream? One second we're looking at one scene, and the next we're looking at something completely different. I can't understand this livestream at all.]
[Looking at this scenery, I feel like we just went straight from heaven to hell.]
[The World Tree is glowing red! I have a really bad feeling about this... Teacher Mo, I don't think this secret realm is a good place at all. Run while you still can!]
[I feel like what we saw earlier must have been some kind of illusion, and what we're seeing now is the secret realm's true appearance.]
[I don't understand. Did some Legendary Pokémon do this?]
[Can no one spare a thought for Teacher Mo!? He literally crouched down just now, and he looks like he's in pain!]
[Based on his previous livestreams, Teacher Mo's body seems perfectly healthy. So I'm guessing this secret realm has some kind of curse. Teacher Mo got hit by it!]
There were all kinds of theories flying through the comments.
After glancing at them, Chen Mo was left speechless.
"Thank you all for your concern. I'm really fine, and I haven't been cursed or anything. You don't need to start preparing my funeral..."
Chen Mo sighed softly before putting on a more serious expression.
"As for what's actually happening in this secret realm, some of you are actually right."
"The scene we saw earlier really was an illusion."
"Or, more accurately..."
"It was an image from the past."
Hearing Chen Mo's explanation, the livestream immediately filled with question marks again.
Without hesitation, Chen Mo turned around and walked in a certain direction.
"To be honest, I didn't realize it immediately either. The scene it reproduced was simply too realistic. Without careful observation, there was practically no difference from reality."
As he spoke, Chen Mo stopped beside a mountain wall.
Following Gengar's camera...
Countless viewers saw a strange object standing before Chen Mo.
It was roughly half a meter tall, spiral-shaped, and composed of crystals that transitioned from blue to purple.
Chen Mo's voice slowly came from off-camera.
"This is the source of the illusion we just saw."
"It's called a Time Flower."
The livestream erupted.
[A Time Flower!?]
[Wait, Teacher Mo, take another look at what you're saying. How can that thing possibly be called a flower when it looks like that!?]
Just as the comments were complaining...
Chen Mo had actually wanted to make the exact same complaint when he'd watched Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.
It was clearly a crystalline structure.
Yet Ash and May had called it a flower the moment they saw it.
It was truly baffling.
"As for the name 'Time Flower,' I didn't come up with it myself."
"That's simply what humans in the Pokémon world call it."
"So I didn't get the name wrong."
Chen Mo spread his hands helplessly.
He then ignored the audience's teasing and crouched down, carefully examining the Time Flower before him.
It was considerably larger than the one that had appeared in the movie.
"Growing this large really isn't easy."
"Some of you have probably already guessed this. Time Flowers aren't common at all."
"Even in the Pokémon world, to the vast majority of humans, Time Flowers are legendary objects that have practically disappeared."
"The only place where small numbers of them can still be found is the region surrounding the World-Origin Tree."
"Therefore, useful information about Time Flowers is extremely scarce."
"What we currently know is that Time Flowers possess a special ability similar to a video recorder."
"When a life-form with a certain special ability uses its energy to resonate with a Time Flower, it can cause the Time Flower to bloom, reproducing images from the past and allowing nearby life-forms to witness a miracle from time itself."
As he spoke, Chen Mo instinctively reached out to gently touch the enormous Time Flower.
And the instant his finger lightly touched its outer shell...
A sudden change occurred!
Like a chain reaction of falling dominoes, starting from the point where Chen Mo's finger touched it, the Time Flower's brilliant colors began fading at a visible speed.
In the blink of an eye, the entire Time Flower had turned gray-white.
Then...
Before Chen Mo could react, the Time Flower shattered like a fallen vase.
"..."
Chen Mo froze.
The livestream, however, erupted with laughter.
[Teacher Mo: "I heard you worked really hard to grow this big."]
[It's the same type of Stand! Teacher Mo accelerated the flow of time with his Stand! The Time Flower has been defeated!]
[I get it now. Teacher Mo must be the reincarnation of an undead. That hereditary tendency to touch things you're not supposed to touch—I know it all too well!]
[Honestly, Teacher Mo's dumbfounded expression is hilarious. But wait, I have another question. Didn't Teacher Mo say that Time Flowers need someone with a special ability to activate them? Then what just happened?]
[Isn't it obvious? Your analytical skills are weak, bro. Teacher Mo is the Ideal Hero. Obviously, his special ability activated the Time Flower.]
[I've always wanted to ask: does Teacher Mo even count as human anymore?]
Ignoring the jokes in the comments, Chen Mo stared solemnly at the fragments of the Time Flower scattered across the ground.
Something was strange.
Chen Mo remembered that in the movie, after a Time Flower was used, it would simply return to its original state and wait for the next blooming.
It shouldn't have shattered just because someone touched it...
So what was going on?
Chen Mo thought for a long time before coming up with two possibilities.
The Time Flower was probably connected to the World-Origin Tree in some way.
The reason it shattered after a single use might be because the World-Origin Tree was currently approaching death.
As for the second possibility...
The Time Flower had been overloaded.
After all...
The images of the past reproduced by the Time Flower just now were far more powerful than what had been shown in the movie.
Chen Mo couldn't help but suspect that the Time Flower had simply overexerted itself...
And shattered.
"..."
After thinking for a moment, Chen Mo shook his head.
He still couldn't determine which explanation was correct.
"It would be great if we could encounter more Time Flowers."
Although Chen Mo still didn't understand how Time Flowers worked or how they recorded images of the past...
If they could encounter more of them and trigger more miracles of time, perhaps he could find out what had caused the World-Origin Tree to become like this.
As his thoughts turned, Chen Mo looked toward the distant World-Origin Tree.
"Have you made your decision?"
Marshadow's voice echoed in Chen Mo's mind.
Chen Mo nodded gently.
He had made his decision.
He was going to the World-Origin Tree to see whether he could find the root cause of everything.
"There's really no getting through to you."
Marshadow sighed.
But immediately afterward, it spoke in an extremely serious tone.
"I'll do my best to help you from here on."
"Thank you, Marshadow."
Chen Mo spoke softly.
Marshadow's voice immediately became somewhat unnatural.
It rose and fell in volume, stammering for a long while before finally saying,
"Lord Ho-Oh mentioned Mew to me before, too."
"Everything I'm doing is for Lord Ho-Oh, that's all."
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Chen Mo's mouth.
He didn't say anything more.
Soon.
Having made up his mind, Chen Mo began his journey toward the World-Origin Tree.
Half an hour after Chen Mo had left...
At the outskirts of the cave...
A black silhouette moved rapidly across countless dead trees, its movements almost resembling flight.
It was incredibly fast.
To an ordinary person's eyes, it was basically nothing more than a black streak.
Finally...
With a powerful leap, the shadow vaulted directly onto a hillside.
Without hesitation, it reached behind its head with a red claw and pulled out a round, deep-blue crystal from its fluffy dark-red mane.
"Is it this way?"
After sensing the message transmitted by the crystal, the shadow quickly headed in a certain direction.
Before long, it arrived in front of the shattered Time Flower.
"It actually broke..."
The shadow picked up one of the fragments with a red claw.
Its pale-blue eyes were filled with uncontrollable shock.
"This Aura..."
"It's so powerful..."
After sensing the Aura remaining within the fragment, an intense excitement gradually appeared in the shadow's pale-blue eyes.
It sniffed the fragment of the Time Flower.
"Mm. Looks like it's human Aura."
"After all these years, has a human finally entered this secret realm?"
"And judging from this..."
"It seems to be an extremely powerful Aura Guardian..."
"There is hope."
"I'll definitely succeed this time."
"I won't fail again."
The shadow gazed toward the distant World-Origin Tree.
A resolute expression gradually appeared in its pale-blue eyes.
Thanks to its extraordinarily keen senses, it could tell that the mysterious Aura Guardian who had suddenly arrived in this world had not gone far.
Find him.
I have to find him!
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