[Interastral Trainer's Departure Guide]
1. The Initial Contract
Complete biometric authentication at any game terminal of the Interastral & Apple Company.
Claim a starter Aether Spirit from an officially designated starting point, or use Aether Coins to capture Aether Spirits yourself.
Obtain the basic equipment: the Aether Spirit Codex + Tactical Goggles combination terminal.
Note: Wearing the Tactical Goggles lets you search for and watch any Aether Spirit battle within the season, to observe and learn.
2. Training During the Cultivation Stage
Board the IPC's shuttle ships to travel to different planets and do battle.
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3. The Advanced Enhancement System
Use chips to boost your Aether Spirits' stats.
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Caelus flipped through the 'Aether Front Manual' that had been prepared for the locals of Belobog; with over a hundred entries, it looked a little complicated.
But the Honkémon World Championship… ahem, the process of getting into Aether Front was actually quite simple.
Take the Aether Pal you received from some Professor Oak over at the IPC, head to the regions of various planets to challenge other trainers, capture wild Aether Pals along the way to level up and grow stronger, and you can also feed them chips to enhance their stats.
The starter Aether Spirit original trio that Giovanni pulled out genuinely caught Caelus a little off guard. Grinning, Caelus narrowed his eyes and stared at the mask—the upper half half-red, half-black, the lower half clown-white.
Sensing Caelus's gaze, Giovanni turned his head and revealed a smile—the mask wore a smiling expression.
Caelus could feel the laughter deep within the man's eyes, and the two grown men gazed at each other affectionately just like that.
One look in the eyes confirmed it: this guy was here for the laughs.
A Masked Fool—and no ordinary Masked Fool at that.
Someone who could pull out the original trio—this fellow might also be…
"Don't you think gazing at each other like this much longer is a little bad for appearances?"
Giovanni was gentle and refined.
"Mm, a little, yeah."
Caelus reined in that lovesick, dewy-eyed expression, fished out of his spatial ring the gift Asta had given him—eye drops—and tilted his head up to put in a few drops.
March 7th's gaze drifted back and forth between Caelus and Giovanni; she vaguely felt something was off about the mood between the two of them, but she couldn't put her finger on what.
"Um, Mr. Giovanni di Gio… whatever-whatever."
Unable to pronounce the man's name, Little March scratched her head in embarrassment.
"Ah Qi, that's far too rude of you."
Stelle reprimanded her sternly, leveling an accusation.
"So-rry~ I didn't do it on purpose, Mr. Giovanni di Gio… whatever-whatever's name is just kinda long."
March 7th's brows drooped and her lips pouted slightly, the trace of grievance in her voice quickly shifting into matter-of-factness:
"Is it so weird that This young lady can't remember it? If you're so good, you do it!"
"Go on, what's his name? Answer me! Look in my eyes!"
Little March widened her pink-and-blue Intertwined Fate eyes and pressed in toward Stelle.
"That's easy enough."
Stelle gave a perfunctory laugh and looked at Giovanni:
"JOJO, mind taking off the mask so I can have a look?"
"Hahaha, you really are humorous! But sadly, this mask concerns my very life—so let's leave each other a little private space, shall we?"
Laughter came from beneath the mask as Giovanni gracefully spread his arms.
"Allow me to remind you, beautiful Miss Dio."
Giovanni raised his palm and gestured toward Caelus:
"The real Mr. JOJO beside you would be hurt—after all, isn't that a nickname between good friends like the two of you?"
"It's fine, I can switch to calling him QOQO."
Caelus said earnestly: "I'll just give the nickname JOJO to my new friend as a gift."
"That would be a tremendous honor for me!"
Giovanni let out a laugh that sounded genuine, not the least bit feigned.
"Then please be sure to pay us a friendship fee on a monthly basis."
Stelle pulled out her phone and brought up a payment QR code, bowing slightly like a cashier as she held it out in front of Giovanni.
"Hahahaha, Miss Dio is even better at joking than I am!"
Giovanni deftly called up a holographic payment interface; his fingertip swiped across it, and a crisp transfer-notification chime rang out.
"There—consider this money my treat: a cold drink for all my new friends."
Looking at the 1,000 credits that had landed in the account, Stelle shook her head:
"Sorry, JOJO, that amount only unlocks the newcomer's perk package—valid for 72 hours."
Giovanni chuckled and looked toward the girl with deep-blue hair.
White Seele was half-crouched before the spectral projections of the Aether Spirits, her willow brows lightly knitted, a glimmer of hesitation flickering in her eyes.
On the left, the seed bulb on Bulbasaur's back unfurled two tender sprouts, drawing a soft gasp from Little 'White' Seele.
In the middle, the flame on Charmander's tail flickered bright and dim, casting dancing orange flecks of light in the girl's sea-blue eyes.
On the right, Squirtle's big, watery eyes reflected Little 'White' Seele's conflicted profile.
Little 'White' Seele tilted her head one moment and gently swayed her body the next, her short deep-blue hair swishing faintly.
Whenever the three little ones did something cute all at once, she would glance around in a fluster, as if searching for someone to help her decide, and finally looked helplessly toward Caelus.
"Brother Caelus, which one should Seele pick?"
"Which of the original trio to choose? Hmm, this really could count as the fourth great question of life."
Caelus stroked his chin.
"I think Squirtle's the cuter one."
As an ice-type beautiful girl, March 7th felt closer to the water type.
"Bulbasaur's vine whip can help carry luggage, and it can double as a mobile potted plant to purify the air; Charmander can dry off soaked uniforms."
Stelle counted off on her fingers, holding forth grandly:
"As for Squirtle… for spraying water to clean the train cars, Dan Heng's Azure Dragon Cleanses the World is plenty. Squirtle overlaps with Dan Heng's typing—not recommended."
"Are you picking a tool or a partner here?!"
Little March grumbled, puffing out her cheeks:
"Aether Spirits are meant to be raised with love! That's the only way to build up a bond."
"Besides, last time Dan Heng used Azure Dragon Cleanses the World to wash the dishes, he got water all over the Express's kitchen—Squirtle wouldn't do that."
Hands in his pockets, Caelus sauntered between the two who were arguing themselves red in the face, and shook his head helplessly:
"Tsk tsk, only kids make either-or choices. Adults, of course, take them all."
"No problem, right, JOJO?"
Caelus looked at Giovanni.
"In theory, it's not recommended for a newcomer to raise multiple Aether Spirits at once—it spreads your resources and energy thin. That said, there are also collector-type players who capture rare Aether Spirits without entering battle at all."
Giovanni performed a textbook butler's bow: "Let these three Aether Spirits be Miss Seele's welcome gift, then."
"Thank you, Mr. Giovanni."
Having received the original trio, Little 'White' Seele thanked him happily:
"Seele will definitely cherish them well!"
"Next, all of you should head to the Showdown Paradise on each planet to raise your Showdowner rating. Complete the trials of every Showdown Paradise and collect all the badges, and you'll be able to sign up for the gala's headline event—the Championship."
"I wish you all a wonderful time; I'll take my leave now."
Giovanni turned away with elegant grace.
Topaz took her leave as well; she was off to other planets to collect medals.
Caelus weighed the crystal-glinting Aether Coin in his hand and tossed it high; the coin traced an arc through the air, and he caught it again:
"Well then, see you in two years at the Sabaody Archipelago."
"Huh?"
March 7th tilted her head and blinked in confusion; she had no idea where the Sabaody Archipelago was, but that didn't stop her from snarking:
"Two years from now will be a whole different installment already!"
"Then let's reunite once I've learned ultimate techniques like Mega Evolution, Dynamax, Terastallization, and Z-Moves."
From his spatial ring, Caelus shook out a cloak designed to match his Trailblazer coat—a gift from Asta.
With a casual flick, the cloak fluttered under the lights; dressed like a traveler in the desert, Caelus turned and strode forward, chanting leisurely:
"I draw my blade and laugh up at the heavens; whether I stay or go, my liver and gall stand tall as the twin Kunlun peaks."
He walked off against the halo of light, and his dashing, carefree, ranger-like figure left Little March staring slack-jawed, dumbstruck like a pup.
Stelle's brow twitched, and her steps halted.
No way—she had to strike a pose too!
In a flash of lightning, Stelle whipped out her signature baseball bat—the one stained with the blood of countless foes—and gave a sharp flick of the wrist, as if to shake off the invisible frost and crimson clinging to it.
She tugged down the brim of her red-and-white cap, her voice deliberately roughened and chilly as she ground out each word:
"The Stellaron blizzard I kick up isn't snow—it's the blood on my bat."
Stelle strode after Caelus on her big pale legs banded with leg rings.
There was only this one road off the stage of the Interastral Showdown Gala—otherwise, at a moment like this, they really ought to have walked off in different directions for that extra sense of ceremony.
"...!?"
March 7th was hard-locked for a full ten seconds before she snapped out of it and trotted after them, hollering as she ran:
"Stop it! What are you trying to do?! This is an Aether Spirit tournament—competitors are forbidden from taking the field in person, and even more forbidden from challenging Aether Spirit trainers to a real-life duel! You'll get disqualified!"
Amid the horseplay, the group passed through the city of Belobog, familiar yet somehow strange.
For one thing, with sufficient funds to hire the IPC's construction teams and property management, if not for the worry that Belobog's residents wouldn't be able to adapt, they could have remade Belobog into a modern metropolis right where it stood.
For another, quite a few Aether Spirit trainers from other planets had already arrived in Belobog, and the city's atmosphere was dozens of times livelier than it had been during the recent Solwarm Festival.
"So many furries… why are there so many humanoid Aether Spirits?"
March 7th felt a slight itch in her brain.
Out on the streets, many players were trailed by Aether Spirits—fluffy furries, as well as all sorts of good-looking, humanoid beautiful-girl Aether Spirits—making Belobog's whole art style feel as though it had wandered into another world.
"I think, for the sake of all those rookie trainers growing quickly, it's necessary to write an 'Appraisal Guide to Alien-Race Aether Spirits.'"
Caelus gazed intently at the surging swells of a mermaid Aether Spirit.
"I'll be the judge!"
With a perfectly straight face, Stelle pushed up a pair of nonexistent glasses, righteous and stern.
"Caelus-cub, how flexible do you reckon a mermaid's tail fin is? Whoa, there's a slime too! If you let a slime wrap up your ○○…"
White Seele, who had been quietly following behind, flushed in an instant, red as blood.
"Seele is still here—you two, watch yourselves!"
Before Stelle could say anything even more indecent, March 7th bonk-bonked each of the two Gray-hairs with a flick to the forehead, snarking like crazy:
"You'd better explain to me what 'appraisal' is supposed to mean?! Is that really for helping rookie trainers grow quickly? What kind of 'growth' even is that?!"
Knock, knock-knock~!
With every line of snark, March 7th rapped them once.
Three years old!
Three years old and already wanting to write an R-18 book?
"Just tell me—isn't this growth?"
Stelle covered her head, talking back in a meek, cowering tone.
Amid all the roughhousing, the group arrived at their first stop.
"We're here—this is the place~!"
March 7th bounced up and down: "Jarilo-VI's Corridor of Fading Echoes Showdown Paradise—this is the entrance!"
"Target: the badge!"
"Let's go!"
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