Electric-type moves often shared common principles.
After all, even in his previous life, the fantastical concepts were rooted in people's understanding of the nature of electricity.
In an instant, Blastoise's heavy body was flipped over!
It spun several times midair before landing flat on its back, legs sticking up and eyes swirling as it fainted.
At the same moment, Zeraora's level rose to 37.
"Nicely done! As expected of my Pokémon!"
Nathan bumped fists with his exhausted Zeraora, a smile on his face.
"Zoar..."
For the first time, Zeraora gave Nathan a smile in return before collapsing onto him, not from injury, but sheer exhaustion.
After treating both Blastoise and Zeraora using his Viridian Power, Nathan left behind some Pokéblocks and mounted his Flygon to continue flying in the direction Torterra had pointed out.
They flew for a long time before Nathan finally saw a massive tree.
It was so huge it looked like it had undergone Dynamaxing.
However, in contrast, the fruits on it were tiny — small enough to be easily held in one hand.
It was like seeing a tiny green worm on the body of a giant; no matter how he looked at it, it felt bizarre.
These berries had a bright red color, somewhat resembling the dragon fruits from Nathan's previous life.
Yet their shape was closer to Salac Berries, making them look even more peculiar.
"So few, and they're so well hidden too..."
Scratching the back of his head, Nathan couldn't help muttering.
A tree towering dozens — even hundreds — of meters tall, but bearing only a handful of tiny fruits?
It completely defied the natural laws of growth!
It wasn't scientific, wasn't magical, and wasn't even proper Pokémon logic!
Still, despite the complaints, Nathan happily began picking the berries.
With Flygon's help, it wasn't hard to find them.
At least he didn't have to climb the huge, thick trunk himself.
After picking for a while, Nathan stopped searching for more berries.
Instead, he landed on a massive branch and started preparing food.
"Volcarona, try one! It should really help with your Dynamax development!"
Nathan said expectantly, his eyes sparkling.
Just the thought of combining Dynamaxing and Mega Evolution was thrilling enough.
If anyone else knew about Volcarona's condition, even dark organizations would stop at nothing to steal it!
Only to end up getting completely wiped out.
"Vol~"
Volcarona curiously sniffed the berry Nathan handed over, then swallowed it in one gulp.
It wasn't a matter of trust — with Nathan's Viridian Power, there was no need to worry about the berry being dangerous.
As soon as Volcarona ate the berry, its flames suddenly flared up!
The faint golden sheen disappeared, returning to a deep orange-red —
but the temperature became even higher!
Before Nathan could react further, Volcarona's flames began shifting colors —
turning into a molten lava-like red and white!
The whole transformation lasted only about twenty seconds.
After that, Volcarona returned to its normal appearance, without any obvious changes in size.
"One berry isn't enough... or maybe it needs time?"
Nathan mused, stroking Volcarona's soft, warm body.
He didn't doubt Torterra's words; there was no way the guardian of the forest, especially one so closely connected to the Viridian Power, would lie.
Not just because of the Pokémon's innate purity, but because that Torterra was both the overlord and protector of the forest's children.
Nathan wasn't disappointed.
He didn't keep feeding Volcarona the berries he had already named "Dynamax Berries."
After all, most berries were best used to make Pokéblocks.
If he could refine Dynamax Berries into Dynamax Energy Pokéblocks, the value would be maximized!
At the very least, it would significantly shorten the time needed to fully tame Steelix.
With that in mind, Nathan pitched his tent and fell into a deep sleep.
…
The next morning,
Nathan was stunned by the changes in Volcarona!
Previously, the growth was barely a few millimeters or centimeters at a time — hardly noticeable unless he measured it carefully.
But overnight, Volcarona's body had clearly grown a full size larger!
And it looked even more dazzling and majestic —
as if the entire Pokémon was evolving toward a true "Sun God" form!
"Vol~"
Seeing Nathan awake, Volcarona immediately flew over and clung to him affectionately.
No matter how much Volcarona grew, its personality remained like that of a little girl —
completely childish, without the slightest sign of maturing.
But during battle, Volcarona never failed Nathan's expectations.
No matter what order he gave, as long as it was possible, Volcarona would give everything it had to complete it.
"Alright, alright. Volcarona, how do you feel? Any lingering effects from the berry?"
Nathan asked, doting on the cuddly Volcarona.
If it were someone else, they might assume the growth would keep going.
Unfortunately, the berry was so small —
and even if it could accelerate Dynamax development, one berry alone couldn't achieve miracles.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be called a Dynamax Berry — it would be a "Divine Giant Berry," handcrafted by Arceus itself!
As expected,
Volcarona closed its eyes and tried sensing the lingering power, then shook its head.
"Vol~"
Its meaning was simple: the berry's effect was completely gone.
"Of course. To speed up Dynamax evolution, we'll need frequent consumption of Dynamax Berries."
Nathan nodded without surprise.
At the same time, his curiosity toward this particular mystic realm grew even more intense.
An A-rank mystic realm that housed so many Elite-level Pokémon and could produce such potent berries...
Nathan could say with certainty:
even among S-rank secret realms, few could compare to the uniqueness of this place!
"Could it be... another legendary Pokémon's doing?"
Thinking of his Ash like "legendary Pokémon attraction" physique, Nathan twitched a little.
Honestly, while legendary Pokémon had mostly brought him benefits,
the risks involved made him wish he could avoid running into them too often.
Compared to the power of legendary Pokémon,
even though he could be considered fairly strong among humans, he was still like an ant —
way too insecure.
As Nathan's thoughts wandered, the system store suddenly refreshed!
This time, unlike previous refreshes that were full of junk,
the store offered something that made Nathan's eyes light up like spotlights:
At the very top, it read:
[Pokéblock Master's Guide to Pokéblock Production!]
"Only three million? Huh... that's really... not expensive at all!"
Forcing himself to accept the bleeding pain in his heart, Nathan kept hypnotizing himself.
Although three million wasn't a huge amount for him anymore,
he couldn't help but miss the days when he was still thrifty.
After purchasing the Master's Guide, Nathan's understanding of Pokéblock production leveled up drastically.
Before, he could only mechanically produce high-quality Pokéblocks.
But now… he felt like he could start making his own improvements!
Especially when he glanced again at the gleaming, gem-like Dynamax Berries —
a flood of ideas for maximizing their effects rushed into his mind.
"Enough thinking. Let's work hard today first!"
Nathan told himself, deciding to wait until nightfall to start refining Dynamax Energy Pokéblocks.
With that, he set out once more on the road to becoming stronger.
This time, though, he left the forest and headed for the grasslands.
In other words —
he had basically defeated all the Elite-level Pokémon in the forest.
Thanks to the massive supply of high-quality Pokéblocks and the frequent real battles,
Volcarona finally reached level 60 — just one step away from the Champion level!
To be honest, this method was extremely unorthodox.
How did Elite trainers in human society usually grow stronger?
They nurtured their entire team relatively evenly, but poured the most resources into their starter or ace Pokémon.
It was a slow and grinding process.
Even just nurturing one Elite-level Pokémon to full strength required an astronomical amount of time and resources —
let alone raising an entire team of Elites, or pushing a single ace to the Champion level!
That's why, even though there were plenty of Elite trainers,
true Elites were rare —
and Champions were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.