Chapter 31: The Ritual of Awakening, the Legendary Pokemon!

As Cynthia pondered, a new development unfolded before her eyes.

Within the temple, a pentagram formation suddenly emerged. The ancient symbols she had just pieced together rose from the array, hovering in the air and aligning neatly into two rows. Following this, an ancient and weathered voice resonated, as if traversing thousands of years to reach her from the distant past:

[In the legendary land of abundance, the Rock Pillar stands guard.]
[Its body is indestructible, its power vast and infinite...]
[It bestows the blessings of the earth upon all living things.]
...

As the ancient voice chanted, Cynthia realized that it was reciting the very passage she had just deciphered. She immediately hit the screenshot button and simultaneously activated her computer’s recording software. There was no other reason than this: this audio, combined with these ancient symbols, would become invaluable research material. With this video, the field of archaeology could make a groundbreaking leap in the study of such ancient scripts.

As Cynthia continued recording, the voice went on, describing the strength of the Rock Pillar and the help and protection it provided to the surrounding people. However, as the ancient voice continued, it suddenly began to blur and fade. It seemed as though a section of the content had been skipped. The symbols floating in the air began to tremble and sway, eventually scattering and vanishing into nothingness. Only a voice filled with reluctance faintly echoed from the distant void:

[Offer... the sacrifice...]
[...The pillar... awakens...]

The voice cut off abruptly, silenced completely. On the dais, the pentagram formation glowed intensely, with a circle of light appearing at each of its five points. Seeing this, Cynthia understood immediately. So, the situation was that she needed to place offerings within these circles to awaken the Rock Pillar?

Meanwhile, the chat in the livestream surged like a tide. Everyone had been shocked by Regirock's performance in the cutscene, and many were only just beginning to regain their composure.

"Streamer, what kind of Pokémon is this?? It's so huge, isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
"Is it really a Legendary Pokémon?"
"So the voice earlier meant that this Pokémon was very powerful in ancient times and helped humans?"
"What are we supposed to offer to wake it up??"

Cynthia glanced at the chat and thought for a moment. The League did not intentionally suppress information regarding Legendary Pokémon; it was simply that their movements were too mysterious, and many had not appeared for thousands of years. For most Legendary Pokémon, even the League possessed very little detailed data. Therefore, the general public and average Trainers naturally knew nothing about them.

But this game seemed to offer ordinary people a chance—a chance to learn about Legendary Pokémon. No, not just to learn about them. Cynthia looked at the massive form of the Rock Pillar on the screen. This game had given everyone the possibility of encountering a Legendary Pokémon. The massive popularity of this game was inevitable. Sooner or later, everyone would understand the situation and the charm of various Legendary Pokémon. For a mythologist like her, this was exactly what she hoped to see.

With this thought, a glint appeared in Cynthia’s eyes, and she spoke softly: "Yes, what you are all seeing now is Regirock, the Rock Pillar, one of the three Legendary giants of the Hoenn region. It is said that this Pokémon is composed entirely of special minerals, making it incredibly hard. Unfortunately, I don't know much more, as I have never seen it with my own eyes..."

At this, with Cynthia’s confirmation and explanation, the chat exploded again.

"Holy cow! It really is a Legendary Pokémon?!!"
"66666, this developer really dares to include anything!"
"Why wouldn't he? Did you see the quality of that CG? Is making a Legendary Pokémon really that hard for him?"
"That's true..."

As the chat went wild, Cynthia spoke again: "It seems we need to place something precious into this formation to awaken it. I suspect... perhaps it requires rare and valuable minerals?"

In truth, looking at the sleeping Rock Pillar before her, her heart was filled with excitement and anticipation. To be able to encounter these Legendary Pokémon at such close range, and perhaps even communicate with them—for her, even doing this in a game brought immense satisfaction and thrill. After all, such an opportunity simply did not exist in reality.

Just as Cynthia finished speaking, the entire cavern began to tremble violently. The temple, along with Regirock’s massive body, began to sink back into the ground. In just a few seconds, it vanished completely, as if nothing had ever happened. However, the glowing pentagram formation left on the floor proved it was no hallucination.

Looking at the scene, Cynthia stepped forward and selected a "Leaf Stone" from her bag. She had accidentally found it in a Poké Ball in the grass by the roadside while returning to Old Man Dale's cottage from the Petalburg Woods after leaving Rustboro City. Since she was trying to awaken a Pokémon made entirely of stone, perhaps this would be a suitable "sacrifice"?

As Cynthia made her selection, the Leaf Stone landed on one corner of the altar and instantly turned into a beam of light, vanishing. The entire altar shuddered slightly, and a blank circle appeared at the very center. A brownish light surged into the circle, filling less than one-twentieth of it. The ring of light flickered, as if urging Cynthia to provide more energy.

Seeing this, Cynthia couldn't help but sigh softly. Although the progress had increased slightly, it was negligible compared to the size of the entire formation. It was clear that, having just started the game, she had no way to find enough "sacrifices" to awaken the Rock Pillar. But at least the reaction of the formation confirmed that what was needed to awaken Regirock was various precious minerals.

"I suppose I'll have to come back later..."

She silently memorized the location of the formation, turned, and left the fourth floor through a side passage. However, just as she emerged from the passage and returned to the third floor, she froze. A familiar figure was already standing before her.