Chapter 46: Big Brother, Do You Not Need to Sleep? (4k)

Looking at the prompt before her, Cynthia couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

Swampertite?

What on earth is this?

Her gaze fell upon the description of this item:

[A special stone unique to Swampert. Under certain circumstances, it might unleash incredible power.]

"So this thing should be Swampert's exclusive held item... or tool?"

Cynthia murmured thoughtfully.

Regardless, this golden prompt proved that the effect of this item should be extraordinary, but the problem was that to make this item take effect, one must own a Swampert.

And Swampert was the final evolved form of Mudkip, one of the three starter Pokémon of the Hoenn region. Judging by her current game progress, Cynthia truly had no idea where to go to find a Mudkip.

She had no choice but to store the stone into her backpack.

However, giving it some thought, Marshtomp seemed like it could be a very good choice for her team.

Since she intended to build a weather team centered around rain, Water-type Pokémon could naturally be integrated into it.

Furthermore, Swampert itself also possessed a secondary Ground-type attribute, which would grant it resistance to many types while also allowing it to counter Electric, Poison, Rock, and Steel-type Pokémon...

Alongside its excellent typing, Swampert was also a Pokémon equipped with both physical and special offensive capabilities and quite decent durability. In the real world, there were also quite a few trainers who raised it either toward the direction of a tanky warrior or pursued unconventional routes aiming for ultimate burst damage.

If one had to point out a flaw, it might be its speed. That indeed felt somewhat regrettable; its massive body moved quite sluggishly indeed.

Yet in the game, this speed issue wouldn't loom quite as large. After all, being slower than others by a little was still being slow, and being slower by a lot was still being slow—it all amounted to striking second in the end.

At this thought, Cynthia shook her head slightly and made her decision: she would find a way later to look for a suitable Mudkip to catch.

Speaking of which, when it came to the matter of catching new Pokémon...

Whether it was just now with Paul or her rival, both already possessed four Pokémon.

Under such circumstances, battling them with only three Pokémon would put her at an increasing disadvantage as the battles went on.

The upcoming gym would presumably also possess more than three Pokémon. As the game's progress advanced, the Pokémon belonging to the trainers she had to face would naturally become more and more numerous.

It seemed... she needed to consider catching new Pokémon.

Cynthia pondered.

Her basic team was now fundamentally formed. Pancham, Ludicolo, and Grovyle together were already capable of handling the vast majority of situations.

And if she were to continue building a rain team... then a Pokémon capable of summoning "rainy" weather would be crucial.

Among such Pokémon... it seemed there really was a rather good choice.

Her thoughts drifted back to when she had just boarded old man Mr. Briney's ferry and was sailing across the sea.

Whether it was from Petalburg City to Dewford Town, or from Dewford Town to Slateport City, along this entire journey, she had seen the silhouette of a certain Pokémon in the cutscenes more than once.

——Wingull!

This Pokémon's type was Water and Flying, and its final evolved form, Pelipper, could learn the "Rain Dance" move to summon rainy weather.

Moreover, for some reason, in the real world, this kind of Pokémon learned the Rain Dance move remarkably quickly; it seemed they possessed a unique and innate talent in this regard.

She wondered how its performance in this game would turn out.

Besides, the team indeed lacked a Flying-type Pokémon, so catching a Wingull would also fill that vacancy.

At this thought, Cynthia made up her mind.

She would head back down to the beach to wander around and see if she could catch a suitable Wingull.

Yet just as she was deep in thought, a sound abruptly pulled her consciousness back to the real world.

——The smartphone placed on the desk rang; someone was calling.

When she glanced down, she discovered that the person calling her was actually Professor Oak.

Could it be that the information she had given him had been verified?

Regarding the matters of Lotad's and Pancham's abilities, Cynthia had actually been quite curious whether they were true or false...

She immediately muted her livestream microphone and chose to answer the call.

Very soon, Professor Oak's excited voice rang out abruptly from the other end of the line:

"Little Cynthia, is the game you're playing right now called Emerald? Send it to me, I want to play too!"

This single sentence left Cynthia completely stunned, taking her a full several seconds to snap back to her senses.

"Professor, what's wrong with you? Why all of a sudden..."

In her mind, Professor Oak had always been a steady, experienced, and knowledgeable elder—it had been like that since she was a child, and even now, it remained the same.

Yet right now...

Not only did she rarely see Professor Oak display such an excited emotion...

Moreover, in her impression, Professor Oak ought to have zero interest in matters concerning video games, shouldn't he?

According to the old man's exact words:

——[Rather than immersing oneself in those virtual games, it is better to spend more time exploring the mysteries of Pokémon. There are still many riddles waiting for an old man like me to uncover.]

Professor Oak's voice hurried from the other end of the phone once more:

"Why? Because the appearance of that 'Lileep' from before was drawn into blueprints and sent to the lab. They compared it side-by-side with current data and found that it indeed matched up perfectly!"

"The 'Archen' you mentioned has also had an ancient fossil with a similar appearance discovered!"

"As for Pancham and Lotad... my research institute happens to have quite a few of both Pokémon. Through comparative testing, we found that under a simulated rainy environment, Lotad's movement speed truly did receive a significant boost, and Pancham is indeed quite fearful of Fire-type moves!"

"Also, the translations of those ancient scripts you provided—I sent them to the archaeology department as well. In less than a single day, they've already managed to decipher the meanings of over a hundred symbols overnight. This is progress that couldn't even be achieved by combining the past few years!!"

"Therefore, that game might just bring forth even more useful information!"

"How could an old man like me possibly miss out on such a game?"

...

Cynthia was stunned once more.

She hadn't expected Professor Oak's pace of action to be so swift, verifying the answers regarding abilities in such a short span of time.

"But Professor, don't you have several very important projects on your hands recently?"

In a daze, as if suddenly remembering something, she spoke instinctively.

If she remembered correctly, the research projects currently in Professor Oak's hands were major tasks assigned by the League. They were extremely important, and he had to personally guide and control them...

For the past few months, Professor Oak had basically been busy with this matter, pouring a great deal of heart and soul into it.

Logically speaking, this should be the critical period for those research projects...

Yet the moment she asked, she regretted it.

Between these two... truly seemed to have no comparison whatsoever.

Sure enough, faced with Cynthia's question, Professor Oak didn't hesitate even a fraction of a second:

"Oh my! Those projects are important, but how could they compare to this game?"

"Think about it, ancient fossils, legendary Pokémon, hidden abilities, and all sorts of items we've never seen before..."

"The value of this information compared to a few projects—which is heavy and which is light? An old man like me naturally knows how to tell!"

"Besides, didn't you say that whoever clears this game first will be able to obtain the contact information of this game's creator?"

"Quick, quick, quick, send the game over! I'm already sitting in front of my computer!"

"Right, hurry and tell me... this game... how do you generally operate it?"

...

To tell the truth, watching a senior in his sixties, a legendary figure in the scientific research community, ask her how to play a video game, Cynthia always felt things were a bit surreal.

Still, she honestly told Professor Oak all the relevant information and details regarding Pokémon Emerald and casually sent him a game link.

Immediately afterward, she heard Professor Oak's astonished voice come through the phone:

"Less than three hundred bucks... such an exceptional game, and the price is actually this cheap? It's truly hard to believe..."

"After all, a single official encyclopedia Pokédex costs over four hundred."

Hearing this, Cynthia paused for a moment before forcefully suppressing the urge welling up inside her to explain market pricing to Professor Oak.

Yet, asking herself honestly, before playing this game, she really had felt that 288 was expensive.

Yet now, having gone through these past few days of gaming experience, she only felt that selling this game for a mere 288 was practically akin to charity!

Buying it was pure, unadulterated profit...

Amidst her reflections, Professor Oak's voice sounded once more:

"Little Cynthia, how is your game progress right now?"

Cynthia answered truthfully:

"As for me... I've already prepared to set off for Mauville City. That's where the 3rd gym is located."

"Good, keep up that drive and charge forward! We must secure the contact info of that game creator!"

"I'm going to go play the game now, keep up the good work!"

With that, Professor Oak hung up the call.

Cynthia turned her microphone back on and cast her gaze back onto the screen.

The resources and items near Slateport City had already been thoroughly searched by her, and the two tough challenger battles had also concluded. So now, it was time to head toward the next city—Mauville City.

She maneuvered her game character past Slateport City, and a large bridge loomed impressively ahead, stretching straight toward the distance.

Yet just as her character reached the front of the bridge, a line of prompts abruptly popped up:

[The area ahead—please explore it later!]

[Note: The game will update the content for "Mauville City" before 12 o'clock today. Please wait a moment, thank you for your cooperation.]

Cynthia froze completely in place.

Only then did she abruptly recall a certain fact.

This game was merely a test preview version released at the New Game Festival!

It was simply because the gaming experience was exceptionally good, the game's completion degree was extraordinarily high, and the update speed was astonishing, that it had given her the illusion that this game was already a finished product!

Thinking about it carefully, it was actually a bit terrifying. Was this the kind of quality a half-finished test game ought to have?

At this thought, Cynthia shook her head slightly and glanced at the time in the bottom right corner of the screen—there were still two hours until 12 o'clock.

Should she go play "Battle Frontier" for a while?

There seemed to be an old saying that made a lot of sense: without comparison, there is no harm.

She thought about it and suddenly realized that after playing Emerald, she seemed to have lost all interest in Battle Frontier whatsoever.

Take these past few days for instance; she hadn't even logged in for a single daily check-in!

Because by comparison, the gaming experience of Battle Frontier wasn't even as good as this pixelated turn-based game...

Hmm... she might as well take the livestream viewers to find a movie to watch and wait for the update.

At this thought, she addressed the viewers in her livestream:

"Since Emerald won't update until 12 noon, how about everyone pick a movie to watch with me? Coincidentally, it's also been a long time since I've watched a movie together with everyone in the livestream..."

As she spoke, she directly opened the voting feature within the livestream room, deciding what movie to watch next based on the viewer votes.

While waiting, Cynthia subconsciously picked up her phone to check it, only to discover that the social media app on her device actually had a staggering 999+ red notification dots!

Only then did she remember that she had apparently been entirely engrossed in Emerald for the past two days. Aside from doing chores, she had been playing Emerald, and she hadn't even checked the Champion group chat.

Opening the social app named "Coco Chat," whose icon was a Aron, the direct messages sent by two people came into view.

[21 hours ago: Don't Call Me a Fire-Type Spiky Head]

[Sister Na, your tasks seem very busy lately, and nobody can get in touch with you. If you have time, come pop up in the group chat.]

[20 hours ago: Dragon-Type is Supreme]

[*(Dragonite scratching its head.jpg)* Sister Zhulan, do you know a high-ranking Battle Frontier player named "Quality Person"? I matched with this person when I was playing Battle Frontier today, and his tactics are quite interesting... even I got caught in it.]

...

[18 hours ago: Dragon-Type is Supreme]

[*(Dragonite looking aggrieved.jpg)* That person's business doesn't matter anymore, Zhulan. How on earth do you beat this Roxanne's gym? Those three Pokémon of hers are more perverted than the last!! I've been stuck for almost an hour! Since when did the Hoenn Region have Gym Leaders this strong, how come I didn't know?]

...

[10 hours ago: Dragon-Type is Supreme]

[*(Garchomp deep in thought.jpg)* The Pokémon in that cave... turns out it was Regirock? Interesting.]

...

[2 hours ago: Dragon-Type is Supreme]

[*(Dragonair dancing.jpg)* I've cleared Dewford Gym! The top spot in progress, I'll claim it for now!]

...

Aside from the first message inquiring about the identity of "Quality Person," Lance had sent a good seven or eight messages concerning his gameplay in Emerald to Cynthia.

Seeing these texts, Cynthia couldn't help but massage her temples.

This guy, where was he showing any resemblance to a Champion...

She opened the chat box and began drafting a reply:

"That 'Quality Person'... I really haven't heard of him. I haven't been on Battle Frontier these past two days either. If I get the chance, I'll ask around among those high-ranking players to help you inquire."

"As for you... why did you suddenly start playing Emerald too?"

Having finished editing the message, Cynthia directly chose to send it.

She didn't think Lance would reply to her message; after all, the fellow had been playing the game continuously for over a dozen hours and ought to be catching up on sleep right now.

Yet the next moment, to her surprise, Lance's message came right back.

[Dragon-Type is Supreme: Ah, don't mention it. I went to the group chat to look for you the other day, and hearing them say you were playing, I figured I'd give it a try.]

[Turns out the moment I tried it, I realized it's genuinely fun—way more fun than Battle Frontier.]

Cynthia froze—why hadn't this guy gone to sleep yet?

On second thought, perhaps he had just finished washing up and was about to sleep?

Just to be safe, she sent a message, intending to check on Lance's situation:

[Love Eating Ice Cream: Having played for so long, aren't you going to sleep yet?]

However, Lance's message came rushing back almost immediately.

[Dragon-Type is Supreme: Sigh, don't bring it up. I'm out on a mission in a secret realm right now. I was playing quite happily just a moment ago when the League suddenly called me out, so annoying.]

[Not chatting anymore, a Snorlax just happened to rush us up ahead; I'm gonna go beat it up to vent some steam, talk later.]

Cynthia: ???

So... you weren't tired from playing ten minutes ago, you had a mission called on you?

Big brother... do you seriously not need to sleep?