Steven patted Masaki on the shoulder.
The Devon Corporation young master's tone was very magnanimous.
"Masaki, once this trip to Mt. Pyre is over, go to Devon Corporation and pick out an Elite Level Pokémon. Leave it to me."
Masaki stood frozen on the spot, his mouth slightly agape, unable to squeeze out a single word for a long time.
He looked down at the Sandshrew at his feet, which wasn't even level twenty-two, then looked up at the wealthy young master before him who casually gave away Elite Level Pokémon, swallowing hard.
Tome, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed.
Having struggled and worked her way up in the Rock Gym for so many years, she understood the value of an Elite Level Pokémon better than anyone.
It required a vast amount of resources, energy, and time to cultivate.
The look she gave Masaki was so filled with envy it was almost dripping.
Steven caught Tome's gaze and waved his hand grandly.
"Everyone gets one. We're all putting in the effort, and Devon Corporation won't treat friends unfairly."
Ariel stood to the side, watching this scene, and couldn't help but click his tongue in his heart.
The vile capitalist.
This is the legendary power of money.
Just opening his mouth and he's wholesaling Elite Level Pokémon; his wealth is enough to make one's teeth itch.
Still, having a teammate like this is certainly worry-free.
The Sandshrew lay on the ground, its short limbs scratching at the floor, its small nose sniffing around.
It was extremely sensitive to changes in the surrounding environment.
Whenever there was the slightest movement, it would stop in its tracks and curl up into a ball.
After confirming it was safe, it would continue to crawl forward.
The four of them followed behind the Sandshrew, along the winding stone steps, and walked into the second level inside Mt. Pyre.
Light was completely cut off here.
The stone walls on both sides of the passage were covered in thick, dark green moss, emitting a damp, rotting, earthy smell.
The temperature was much lower than on the first level, and the cold, damp air crept into their clothes through their collars.
The terrain had also changed.
The first level was just an ordinary cave, but by the time they reached this second level, there were many broken tombstones on the ground.
Some tombstones were stuck crookedly in the mud, some were broken in two, and the inscriptions on their surfaces had long been smoothed away by time.
Masaki walked in front, holding a flashlight and shining it all around.
He was too busy looking at the patterns on the stone walls on both sides and didn't pay attention to his feet, stepping onto a slightly darker stone slab.
Snap.
The stone slab made a crisp sound and collapsed downward without warning.
Masaki lost his balance, his body falling straight down.
He didn't even have time to scream, his hands Fury Swiping in the air.
Steven, standing nearby, was quick-witted and fast-handed; he reached out with his right hand, grabbed the strap of Masaki's hiking backpack, tensed his arm muscles, and forcibly dragged Masaki back up from mid-air.
Masaki fell onto solid ground, panting heavily, the back of his clothes completely soaked with cold sweat.
Gravel was still falling from the edge of the collapsed pit.
Only after a long while did the echo of stones hitting the bottom come from the bottomless black hole.
Tome walked up and shined her flashlight into the pit.
"Be careful. These holes lead directly to the next level down. If you step into one and fall, you'll drop straight back to the first level. If you're unlucky, you'll break a leg; if you're lucky, you'll just have to climb back up from the beginning."
Ariel stood by the edge of the pit and looked down; it was pitch black.
He now had a more intuitive understanding of how troublesome Mt. Pyre was.
The intricate maze routes, the Ghost-type Pokémon lurking in the shadows, plus these irregular trap pits.
For an average Trainer coming here, one wrong step meant all their previous efforts were wasted.
However, Ariel calculated their party's setup.
With a Sandshrew—a low-level Pokémon with extremely strong perception—to clear mines and find the path, and with himself and Steven, two top-tier combatants, to provide backup.
As long as they didn't run around blindly with their eyes closed, wild Pokémon posed no threat.
The only thing they needed to guard against was this kind of unavoidable terrain trap.
Masaki calmed down and thanked Steven repeatedly.
The four of them reorganized their formation and continued to follow behind the Sandshrew as they pushed forward.
A series of messy footsteps came from the front of the passage.
There were also faint sounds of conversation.
Ariel stopped and placed his hand on the Poké Ball at his waist.
In a desolate wilderness like Mt. Pyre, encountering wild Pokémon is the norm; encountering people, however, requires heightened vigilance.
In the wild, the most dangerous things are often not those claw-bearing Pokémon, but one's own kind.
Conflicts of interest, murder and robbery—these things are common in wilderness exploration.
Four figures walked out from around the corner ahead.
Two men and two women, wearing matching windbreakers, carrying large hiking backpacks, with their pant legs covered in mud.
The other party stopped from quite a distance away, and one of the leaders, a man with a buzz cut, raised his hands, waved them vigorously, and greeted them loudly.
"Friends ahead! Don't be nervous! We mean no harm!"
The man with the buzz cut led his team quickly closer, stopping two meters away from Steven.
Steven's current appearance was quite down-to-earth.
He was wearing a pair of wide black goggles on his head, covering half of his face.
The athletic outfit he was originally wearing was covered in dust and mud from digging for stones along the way, making him look as dirty as a laborer who had just crawled out of a mine.
No one would recognize that this person was the young master of Devon Corporation.
The man with the buzz cut was all smiles as he took a business card out of his pocket and handed it over.
"Meeting is fate. We are the Mt. Pyre Kindness Exploration Team. We specialize in providing convenience for Trainers who come here to explore. Map guidance, supplies replenishment, Potion sales—we have it all. Fair prices, no deception."
Steven did not take the business card.
He recalled his previous experiences of being scammed by unscrupulous merchants elsewhere, and his guard went up.
But he was gentle by nature and couldn't bring himself to give them the cold shoulder and drive them away.
He nodded and responded.
"Thank you, we don't need supplies."
While Steven was polite with his words, his body honestly shrank back half a step.
His hands tightly clutched the bulging canvas bag in front of his chest.
The bag was filled with the stones he had chipped away along the way.
In his eyes, these stones were more precious than anything, and he absolutely couldn't let these people of unknown origin get any ideas.
Ariel watched Steven's protective behavior and almost laughed out loud.
The dignified Devon young master was guarding against others stealing his stones as if they were thieves.
The man with the buzz cut saw that Steven didn't take the bait, but he wasn't embarrassed; he took back the business card and continued to try to get close.
"Looking at your setup, you're also heading for the higher levels, right? There are quite a few traps on this second level; we just heard some movement over here. Do you want to buy our hand-drawn map for avoiding pits? It's only one thousand Pokedollars."
A short-haired woman in the team also chimed in.
***************************
Enjoying the story? Don't forget to drop a review, leave a comment, and smash that like button! Every Power Stone helps push the story further—thanks for reading and supporting! 🚀