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Chapter 43: The Ghost World Coffin - Paul's Challenge!
🕑 Added 2025-08-11 18:24:27 +0000 UTCAfter looking at the news content for a while, Kairos roughly understood the ins and outs of this so-called Ghost World.
Generally speaking, it was a special space that existed independently from reality, containing a large number of Ghost-type Pokémon.
In recent years, just as Litwick had described, the Ghost Pokémon inside had somehow begun rioting, with groups of them escaping into the real world from time to time, causing injuries to people and damage to cities.
According to the news, they left the Ghost World through special passages that connected the two realms, appearing in the real world.
Such passages were distributed around cities in various regions, and there was a sizable Ghost World passage near Viridian City, where he was currently located.
Seeing this, Kairos understood why Litwick had suddenly appeared in his room.
It seemed Litwick had probably emerged from the Ghost World passage near Viridian City.
He closed the news interface and searched further, finding that the Ghost World passage near Viridian City had shown anomalies two days ago.
The League had therefore increased security around nearby cities, even dispatching elite trainers to support Viridian City against the riots.
Even so, some small towns near Viridian City had been attacked by Ghost-type Pokémon, though fortunately, there were no casualties.
Similar situations were occurring worldwide, and with increasing frequency.
Kairos clicked his tongue—it seemed this Pokémon world wasn’t completely peaceful either.
Fortunately, with the League’s presence, ordinary citizens’ safety could still be somewhat guaranteed.
Speaking of which, his luck was pretty good too—the Litwick he encountered was actually a Ghost-type Pokémon that didn’t want to harm humans.
The more Kairos thought about it, the luckier he felt. He took out another can of Pokémon food from the cabinet and opened it for Litwick.
“Eat as much as you want, I’ve got plenty. If you want to change flavors, just tell me—money’s no problem for us.”
Litwick nodded in seeming understanding and buried his head in the food.
Meanwhile, Kairos watched him, lost in thought.
Regarding becoming a trainer, he really wasn’t interested.
His current income from making games was enough for him and several Pokémon to live happily.
But this Ghost World news reminded him of one thing—the world he was in wasn’t entirely safe.
To live peacefully, having the ability to protect oneself in emergencies was important.
With that in mind, his gaze fell on the five “Miraculous Candy Gift Boxes” in his system inventory.
—Why not just use all these candies on Litwick?
After all, Litwick was his only Pokémon right now, so only he could use them—they couldn’t be given to others like the other five sets.
After brief consideration, Kairos decided to hold off for now, not rushing to feed them to him.
According to the game’s mechanics, this item had different effects based on a Pokémon’s current level—the higher the level, the better the effect.
And Litwick was still in his developmental stage. Using all the Miraculous Candies at once would be somewhat wasteful.
Better to wait until he grew a bit more… then feed them to him.
With that thought, Kairos stretched and headed to the bathroom.
It was getting late—time to wash up and sleep.
Tomorrow, he’d set out with Litwick.
Night deepened.
The lights throughout Viridian City dimmed, and the city fell quiet.
Everything looked peaceful and serene.
However, at the city’s edge, dozens of kilometers away in a suburban clearing, a massive deep purple whirlpool was suspended in the air, constantly emitting black mist that quickly dissipated, looking ominous.
Around the whirlpool, dozens of trainers wearing League uniforms watched it intently, their expressions both grave and fatigued.
Clearly, they had been guarding it for some time.
Beside them stood powerful Pokémon one after another.
Leading them was a woman with long, dark blue hair.
“Everyone, please stay alert. Today should be the last night of this Ghost World tide. Once any Ghost-type Pokémon appear from the passage, subdue them immediately!
“I know you’re all very tired, but whether for protecting citizens’ safety or for the rewards the League is giving us, we must push through this final moment with all our strength.”
Her latter statement was obviously more effective than the first. As soon as she said it, everyone’s eyes lit up, they straightened somewhat, and looked up at the whirlpool.
Most of these people weren’t official League trainers but had been temporarily called in due to the emergency.
For them, the reason they stood here was purely the generous compensation the League offered.
Just then, the whirlpool suddenly began shaking rapidly, with deep black mist pouring out!
Wailing howls arose, sending chills down their spines.
—Something seemed about to emerge.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
At the same time, in the Ghost World.
This was a gray space with neither sun nor moon. The black earth was dry and cracked, stretching endlessly.
Under the crimson canopy, a figure emerged from a shadow on the ground.
It was a man wearing a mask and cloak.
He pointed forward, and the surrounding air shattered like bubbles, revealing the place’s true appearance.
—A deep black coffin dozens of meters high stood quietly before him.
It was wrapped in countless golden, wrist-thick chains, with dense incantations on its surface flickering with faint light.
All of this… seemed to be binding whatever was inside!
Above the coffin was a massive claw mark… bearing fresh red traces that made one shudder.
The cloaked figure glanced at the coffin and raised his hand again. A golden magic circle burst forth beneath his feet.
The symbols and patterns matched those on the coffin, but the light was more dazzling and carried a sacred aura.
The man carefully checked the surrounding magic circles. After confirming everything was correct, he stared at the coffin for a moment, sighed softly, and turned to leave.
The air became blurry and distorted again, concealing the massive coffin.
But just as the last piece of void closed…
A barely perceptible sound rang out.
“Crack.”
—Something had broken.
The next morning.
Hoenn region, Rustboro City.
Today had rare good weather. Roxanne pushed open the doors of Rustboro Gym, looked up at the clear sky, and her mood immediately brightened.
—Weather like this was perfect for slacking off.
Today should also be a day without challengers, right?
Thinking this, she prepared to move a lounge chair out from the gym to sunbathe and spend the day leisurely.
But then she noticed something wrong.
She was surrounded by a large crowd of trainers—dozens of people!
—Why were there so many people at Rustboro Gym’s entrance today??
The moment they saw Roxanne, they swarmed up, raising Poké Balls and Pokédexes, competing to challenge her:
“The gym’s open!! I’m first!”
“I was here first!”
“Please accept my challenge first!”
“Miss Roxanne, can I challenge that Cradily and Archeops?”
“Yeah, let us see!!”
Roxanne: ???
Archeops?
Cradily??
What were they talking about??
At the same time, in the Sinnoh region.
Cynthia was in a good mood because today she had rare free time with no emergency missions.
Naturally, she would use it to advance in Emerald.
As usual, she started her live stream, then launched the game.
Tens of thousands of viewers immediately joined.
Whether it was her imagination or not, ever since she started streaming Emerald, her viewer count had been significantly higher.
—It seemed everyone was interested in this game too.
“Good morning everyone, it’s Emerald again today.”
She smiled and greeted the chat, but froze at the game’s notification popup.
She hadn’t expected the game to update again last night…
This update’s content was enhancing CG realism?
Cynthia’s expression became strange.
When watching that Regirock CG sequence yesterday, even her consciousness had been deeply drawn in.
And now this update said it had further enhanced that realism?
What would that be like?
Suppressing her curiosity, she read the second update notification, understood the content, and opened the rankings.
A series of prompts appeared about weekly ranking rewards and indicators.
Like Iono, Cynthia wasn’t interested in rewards.
She only wanted the game creator’s contact information.
After skimming the prompts, Cynthia checked the progress of other players.
She froze.
The player ranked first wasn’t her account “Strawberry Ice Cream,” but “Dragon Types Rule.”
That incredibly familiar name—she’d recognize it even if it turned to ash.
When did Lance start playing this game??
And… how was his progress faster than hers??
She checked Lance’s profile:
[NO.1 Dragon Types Rule]
[Current Game Progress: 2 badges, arrived at Slateport City beach.]
[Current defeated NPCs: 35]
[Current team: Fletchling, Pidgeotto, Grubbin, Magikarp, Horsea]
[Registration time: 19 hours ago]
[Play time: 18 hours 50 minutes]
The live stream erupted:
[Registration time… equals play time? Dragonite, you crazy guy]
[Too insane, he probably only slept 10 minutes ago.]
[You can tell he really loves this game]
Seeing the nearly identical play and registration times, Cynthia suddenly felt relieved.
No wonder his progress was so ridiculous… he’d powered through an afternoon, evening, and all-nighter.
Even sleeping just 10 minutes ago…
“Tsk, this guy.”
She shook her head.
Clearly an Elite Four member, yet still capable of such childish behavior.
But then, that was exactly the kind of thing Lance would do…
Well then, time to reclaim first place!
Cynthia’s gaze sharpened as she entered the game.
Originally, she’d wanted to fish, but considering last night’s fishing experience and her need to catch up, she boarded Old Man Hachi’s boat to Slateport City.
Slateport was a coastal city connecting to Mauville City in the Hoenn region.
It was full of harbors, with cruise ships arriving daily.
As Old Man Hachi’s boat docked, Cynthia thanked him and walked up the beach.
After a few steps, several trainer NPCs with exclamation marks appeared to challenge her.
As before, their difficulty wasn’t high. After Cynthia defeated them, her team’s overall level increased by two.
In this game, even Pokémon that didn’t participate in battle gained most of the experience.
Now, Ludicolo was level 22, while Grovyle and Spinda were both level 21.
Just as she was about to leave the beach…
A figure jogged up to her.
He wasn’t tall, with purple hair, dark sportswear, and an unsmiling, cold expression.
“I saw you defeat quite a few trainers. As my target today… You’ll do just fine.
“So… prepare to battle!”
Amid rousing music, Poké Ball icons flashed—the battle was about to begin!
