After leaving everything arranged, Ethan did not want to disturb Professor Reynolds, who had already begun working.
Then, he headed to the old quarry.
In this world, due to the existence of Pokémon, construction efficiency was astonishing.
At the construction site, many Rock-, Ground-, and Fighting-type Pokémon could be seen cooperating with the workers.
The old quarry had been completely transformed.
The rock walls, which had previously only been half excavated, had now been completely hollowed out, and the entire perimeter of the quarry had been carefully leveled, forming natural walls.
Within that perfectly delimited construction site, a laboratory was being built.
At the same time, the mountain located behind the quarry had also been included within the area of the Life Transition Research Laboratory.
In the future, that would become the laboratory's Pokémon breeding area, and many of the Pokémon that would participate in the research would be raised there in freedom.
After walking around the construction site a little, Ethan climbed up to a ledge on the cliff.
At that moment, at the entrance of the Sandslash Secret Kingdom, a platform had been built that completely surrounded the access point.
Beside the entrance, several Golem could be seen buried in the ground, resting, with only part of their bodies exposed.
When they detected that someone was approaching, one of the Golem poked out. But upon recognizing that it was Ethan, it immediately buried itself again.
"Thank you for your work, Golem."
Ethan greeted the Golem and entered the Sandslash Secret Kingdom.
Now, the Sandslash Secret Kingdom had already been remodeled by Professor Harris.
After a large investment of resources, the place was filled with incredibly dense Rock- and Ground-type energy.
At the same time, beside the entrance of the Secret Kingdom, Professor Harris had built a small, simple laboratory to help with certain experiments.
When Ethan entered the Secret Kingdom, Professor Harris was precisely training three Rhyperior.
Those three Rhyperior were, naturally, the original Rhydon family.
Once the method of evolution for Rhyperior became known, the parents of Ethan's own Rhyperior had also completed their evolution one after another.
Now, using the data from those three Rhyperior, Professor Harris was perfecting the Rhyperior training approach that Ethan had proposed.
"Ethan, you've come."
Seeing Ethan enter the Secret Kingdom, Professor Harris smiled.
After this period of adaptation, he had already fully integrated into life in the town.
Researching the sealed gate, training Rhyperior, and, in his free time, enjoying the peaceful rural life together with Professor Reynolds... his life was truly pleasant.
"Rhyypperrior!"
Seeing Ethan, Rhyperior immediately ran over to welcome him.
"All right, all right, all right, I missed you too."
Ethan spent a while exchanging affection with Rhyperior.
Then he took out his Poké Balls and released Sandslash, Tyranitar, and the others.
"Welcome home. Now, relax properly."
Ethan smiled at his Pokémon, letting them all bathe in the dense energy of the Secret Kingdom and finally release the tension they had accumulated.
Now, thanks to the joint efforts of Ethan and Professor Harris, the Sandslash Secret Kingdom had already become a true paradise for Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon.
"Ah, right, you too. Welcome to your new home."
Then, Ethan remembered the Piloswine and Swinub he was carrying in his backpack and released them as well.
"Piilossww!"
Upon coming out, Piloswine and Swinub looked a little bewildered.
Afterward, they quickly began to notice how different that place was from the snowy Secret Kingdom, and started observing everything with curiosity.
As Ground- and Ice-type Pokémon, Piloswine and Swinub could live both in snow and in places rich in Ground-type energy.
"Piloswine, Swinub. Go explore the Secret Kingdom a little and look for a place to settle down. Once you've chosen it, I'll take care of preparing a suitable environment for you to live in."
Ethan gave the leader of the Piloswine a friendly pat while smiling. Now he possessed a large amount of Ice-type resources, so it would not be difficult for him to create a suitable environment for them.
"Piilossww!"
The leader of the Piloswine let out an enthusiastic cry and turned its gaze toward a forest full of vegetation in the distance.
Inside the Sandslash Secret Kingdom, although mountains and rocks occupied a large part of the space, since it was a Micro-sized Secret Kingdom, the area was still fairly large, and there were also forested zones like that one.
Those forests were, in fact, one of the main sources of food for the Sandshrew that originally lived in the Secret Kingdom.
When Ethan decided to develop the Sandslash Secret Kingdom, he also had Pokémon capable of using the move Grassy Terrain specially take care of that forested area.
Under the rich Ground-type energy, those trees already stood out for their thickness and great vitality, and after also receiving the effect of the move Grassy Terrain, they had begun to grow explosively.
"Piilossww!"
Seeing that lush forest, the leader of the Piloswine let out a cry full of excitement.
And then it led all the members of its group directly toward that forested area, ready to explore their new home.
"Piloswine and Swinub... Ethan, what did you capture them for?"
Seeing Piloswine and Swinub move away, Professor Harris showed some doubt.
Although those Pokémon were also Ground type, the number Ethan had captured was a little excessive.
If he only wanted to raise one Piloswine, he should not have needed to capture so many.
"I want to try making Piloswine regress to its ancestral origin, and use that to research life energy."
Ethan smiled and explained part of his intentions.
For now, since the secret of Mega Evolution had still not been revealed, it was not convenient for him to explain everything clearly, so he could only hint at it to Professor Harris in that way.
(End of chapter)