As the saying goes, a mountain may look close, but it can take a horse forever to reach it.
Although the World-Origin Tree looked quite close from where Chen Mo had entered the secret realm, there was actually still an extremely long distance to cover.
In order to find more Time Flowers along the way, and also to gain a deeper understanding of this secret realm and investigate its conditions, Chen Mo didn't simply have Pidgeot fly him straight to the World-Origin Tree.
After flying across a particularly difficult stretch of terrain, he switched to traveling on foot across the relatively flat ground of the secret realm.
At first, Chen Mo could still chat casually with the countless viewers in the livestream.
But the farther he went, the less he spoke, and the heavier his mood became.
Standing still and looking into the distance, there wasn't a trace of life anywhere in the entire world.
Forget animals—even a single living plant was nowhere to be seen.
The world had fallen into a deathly silence.
Looking at the red-glowing crystals embedded in the surrounding mountain walls, Chen Mo couldn't help but wonder.
"Can anything really still be alive in a world like this?"
To alleviate the indescribable loneliness, Chen Mo released every Pokémon from their Poké Balls except Magikarp.
With his Pokémon accompanying him, his mood improved considerably, allowing the journey to continue.
But it wasn't long before something happened again.
"Ka-ao!"
Gible, who had been walking on the far side of the group, suddenly let out a frightened cry.
Chen Mo turned his head.
The little shark was pointing toward a certain direction with a terrified expression, continually backing away.
Then, with a flash, it rushed over and hugged Chen Mo's leg, hiding behind him.
On the ground in the direction Gible had pointed, a pile of white objects stood out starkly.
Chen Mo could see them clearly.
They were a pile of bones left behind by some unknown creature after its death.
And this wasn't even the first time they'd encountered such a scene along the way.
"Gengar."
Chen Mo called softly.
Gengar, who normally remained lively even while carrying the camera, had been unusually quiet today.
After hearing Chen Mo's voice, it immediately reached into its body and pulled out a shovel with practiced ease.
A short while later...
After burying the pile of bones where they had found it, Chen Mo clasped his hands together and silently mourned for several seconds.
That was all he could do.
Just then...
A strange sensation suddenly arose.
Immediately afterward...
The entire world began undergoing a tremendous transformation.
"It's happening again..."
Chen Mo rubbed his temples, looking somewhat troubled.
He glanced around and quickly spotted a Time Flower tucked away in a corner.
For some unknown reason, he didn't even need to deliberately search for them.
Whenever he arrived at a location where a Time Flower was present, its activation mechanism would trigger automatically.
Even when Chen Mo wasn't actively releasing Aura.
"Sigh..."
Chen Mo sighed softly.
There was no time to think further. He raised his head, preparing to see what kind of image the Time Flower would reproduce this time.
The next second...
A conversation in a language Chen Mo couldn't understand came from nearby.
Chen Mo turned toward the sound.
A handsome young man wearing a blue casual suit and a blue top hat was crouching on the ground, an expression of pain on his face.
Beside him stood a blue Pokémon resembling a small dog.
It stood upright on two legs, its appearance majestic and imposing.
At this moment, it was crouched beside the young man, its face filled with concern as it anxiously asked him something.
Chen Mo recognized the Pokémon.
Before Gible had hatched from its Egg, Chen Mo had more than once thought that he might end up with one of these Pokémon himself.
That's right.
It was the Pokémon naturally gifted with Aura, the ideal partner every Aura Guardian dreamed of possessing—the rare Aura Pokémon, Lucario.
As for the young man beside Lucario...
His identity was obvious.
He was most likely an Aura Guardian.
"..."
The pain gradually faded from the young man's face.
He gave Lucario a gentle expression that seemed to say, Don't worry about me.
Then, with Lucario's support, the young man stood once more and looked toward a certain direction.
Chen Mo froze.
The images reproduced by a Time Flower could have environmental differences depending on the era being shown, but the geographical location itself shouldn't change very much.
And the direction the young man was looking at...
Was clearly the direction of the World-Origin Tree.
At that moment, Chen Mo noticed something else.
The barren earth had regained a little of its former vitality through the miracle of time.
But judging from the withered grass on the ground, the red-glowing crystals, and the young man's clothing, this timeline seemed to be very close to the point when something had gone wrong with the World-Origin Tree.
Chen Mo immediately became alert.
But just then, the Time Flower seemed to have reached its limit.
The scene rapidly blurred.
In the blink of an eye, the world had returned to its original barren state.
The withered Time Flower shattered and scattered across the ground.
"Shit!"
The feeling of getting halfway through taking your pants off only to be forced to stop made even Chen Mo blurt out a classic curse.
But the side effect of repeatedly triggering the Time Flowers soon appeared again.
He had consumed too much Aura.
Dizziness and nausea washed over him.
Chen Mo covered his head with one hand and staggered backward several steps.
Seeing this...
Jirachi, who had been sitting on Chen Mo's shoulder, didn't hesitate for even a moment.
It immediately used its Psychic power to stabilize Chen Mo.
Then, with an unusually serious expression, it planted its tiny white hands on its hips and spoke rapidly.
"Jira!" (Chen Mo, you need to rest!)
Jirachi had voiced the feelings of every Pokémon around them.
Seeing the concern on all their faces, Chen Mo realized how late it had become and smiled.
"Alright, alright. I understand. That's enough for today. Let's find a place to set up camp, then we'll light a fire and make dinner!"
"Jira!"
Jirachi was delighted that its persuasion had worked.
As though it had won a great victory, it raised its little white hand high into the air and happily flew circles around Chen Mo.
There was no longer anything that could really be called beautiful scenery in this secret realm.
Chen Mo found a relatively open patch of barren land and immediately called on his Pokémon to get to work.
Since Jirachi had awakened and spent most of its time living aboard the Wingull, it had never actually seen anyone set up a tent before.
So the little star was extremely enthusiastic.
"This is the tent pole. And this is the pole sleeve. First, we need to thread the pole through the sleeve."
Chen Mo patiently explained the entire process of setting up a tent to Jirachi.
The little star listened attentively.
Finally, when it learned that the tent would be considered properly set up after the stakes were driven into the ground, Jirachi couldn't hold itself back any longer.
Hugging a tent stake taller than itself, it insisted on helping Chen Mo.
Knowing that Jirachi simply wanted him to rest a little more, Chen Mo didn't refuse.
For a while...
Seeing the little star floating just above the ground with a tiny hammer in its hands, going heave-ho, heave-ho as it hammered the tent stakes into the earth, the heavy atmosphere that had accumulated from everything they'd witnessed earlier was greatly alleviated.
[So cute~]
[I finally understand why there have been more and more Jirachi memes online lately. It's seriously adorable. I love it~]
[Actually, that blue Pokémon from the illusion earlier was pretty cool too. I looked it up in the Pokédex. Its name seems to be Lucario.]
[Lucario and Jirachi are completely different types of Pokémon. Jirachi is mainly cute, like Pikachu, while Lucario is just straight-up cool. Its vibe is kind of like Pidgeot and Absol from Teacher Mo's team.]
[Another Pokémon to add to my favorites.]
[What I'm even more curious about is Lucario's Pokédex entry. It says Lucario can detect Aura. Teacher Mo, what exactly is Aura?]
After temporarily leaving most of the tent setup and dinner preparations to Gengar, Chen Mo finally had some free time.
He glanced at the comments.
The timing seemed about right.
So Chen Mo slowly began explaining.
"Aura is a very special form of energy. It represents and reflects the spirit and heart of a living being, and it can manifest in many incredibly powerful ways."
"Telepathy, seeing through things, creating attacks and barriers, and all kinds of other miraculous abilities can be achieved through the power of Aura."
"And all living things in this world possess their own Aura."
"The Lucario line is somewhat special when it comes to Aura. Pokémon of this species are naturally capable of sensing Aura and using their own Aura."
After hearing Chen Mo's explanation, the entire livestream immediately erupted into discussion.
[I don't understand it, but it sounds amazing!]
[So Lucario is a really powerful Pokémon. Then the human standing beside Lucario should be its Trainer, right?]
[Telepathy, seeing through things... This sounds a little like Psychic abilities. Is Aura a branch of Psychic power? Then why doesn't Lucario have the Psychic type?]
[Focus on the important part! Teacher Mo seems to be saying that every living thing in the world possesses Aura. So what about humans...?]
[Don't overthink it, bro. This isn't some Hollywood superhero movie. How could humans possibly have such abilities? You're better off hoping that a Legendary Pokémon takes a liking to you and grants you powers like Teacher Mo.]
[But I think he's right. Teacher Mo said that every living thing in the world has Aura. Humans are obviously part of the world, and we're alive. Why couldn't we have Aura?]
[Probably a slip of the tongue! Or maybe Teacher Mo means humans possess something similar to Aura, but unlike Pokémon such as Lucario, we can't naturally use that energy.]
"It wasn't a slip of the tongue. Humans aren't an exception. We humans are also part of all living things in this world."
Looking at the stunned comments filling the screen, Chen Mo continued with a smile.
"As you suspected, humans also possess this miraculous energy known as Aura."
"But just as not every Pokémon is naturally capable of using Aura like the Lucario line, only a small number of humans are capable of sensing and using Aura."
"These special humans are known throughout the Pokémon world as Aura Guardians."
The entire livestream exploded.
Watching the livestream, Zhou Yichuan suddenly had a flash of insight.
"Fuck, could Little Mo actually be one of these Aura Guardians?"
"But isn't he the Ideal Hero?"
Hu Chengliang spoke, then suddenly froze.
Since Aura Guardians weren't unique beings, and Aura was an innate power possessed by humans themselves, there was a good chance that being an Aura Guardian didn't conflict with being the Ideal Hero.
Just as Hu Chengliang and Zhou Yichuan, like countless viewers in the livestream, fell into thought, Professor Zhou suddenly sighed softly beside them.
Zhou Yichuan immediately noticed.
"Teacher, do you know something?"
"You're pretty sharp."
Professor Zhou looked at the smiling young man on the screen.
He understood that Chen Mo was no longer the young man who had needed to think things through over and over before taking action.
The strength Chen Mo had already revealed publicly was enough to make countless people with ulterior motives put away their malicious intentions.
As Professor Zhou's thoughts churned, Zhou Yichuan and Hu Chengliang had already understood what he meant.
Hu Chengliang frowned.
Clearly, he shared the concerns Professor Zhou had previously held.
Then he noticed something else.
Although Chen Mo was ostensibly giving a lecture, with his current skill and personality, he would normally have found a tactful way to gloss over this topic.
But why...
A flash of insight crossed Hu Chengliang's mind.
Combining their earlier discussion that Chen Mo had deliberately come to this secret realm for some purpose, along with the human Trainer accompanied by Lucario in the Time Flower's vision who was apparently an Aura Guardian...
The answer was obvious.
"Does Little Mo think that his identity as an Aura Guardian will inevitably be exposed in this secret realm?"
"Or perhaps... it's precisely because of his special identity as an Aura Guardian that he has to go to the World-Origin Tree, just like the Trainer of that Lucario?"
Professor Zhou didn't answer.
He simply watched the screen in silence.
Meanwhile...
Faced with the questions of countless viewers, Chen Mo revealed a mysterious smile.
With that infuriatingly cryptic tone of his, he slowly said,
"As for whether I'm an Aura Guardian or not..."
"Guess."
At that moment, looking at the countless furious comments flooding the screen, Chen Mo once again experienced the joy of being a master of riddles.
"You're going to get yourself beaten up one of these days."
Marshadow couldn't help but complain.
Chen Mo merely smiled.
His mood had once again lightened considerably.
Just as Chen Mo was about to banter with Marshadow, he suddenly had the strange sensation of being watched.
He instinctively looked toward a certain direction.
Marshadow immediately noticed his reaction.
"What is it?"
Chen Mo stared at the empty landscape.
Nothing was there.
The land remained as barren as ever.
After a moment, he frowned and finally shook his head.
"Maybe I just imagined it..."
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