Three minutes later, Cynthia's character emerged from the house carrying a small wooden box.
The man had already rushed out ahead of her, his face glowing with excitement.
After understanding his situation, Cynthia didn't hesitate. She immediately pulled out 30,000 yen from her funds and handed it to him as travel money to search for his daughter.
After all, by this point Cynthia had accumulated plenty of items and money. In comparison, 30,000 yen wasn't much—less than half her total funds—but it could genuinely help this man.
Naturally, just like with Iono, Cynthia obtained an item as well.
At this moment, she stared at the small, glassy marble-like stone inside the wooden box. It had an orange and green spiral pattern, along with that familiar prompt. Cynthia couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
[Special Item: Sceptile Mega Stone]
[Description: When carried by Sceptile, it may unleash incredible power under certain circumstances!]
Cynthia understood that, similar to the Swampert "Mega Stone" from before, this should be an exclusive item for Sceptile.
But beyond that, she knew nothing else about it.
So what exactly were these Mega Stones? Did every Pokémon have a corresponding one?
The good news was that compared to Swampert, her Grovyle wasn't far from evolving into Sceptile.
When that time came, she could have it carry the stone and perhaps uncover some clues about what it actually did.
Until then, she could only pocket it and take things one step at a time.
With that thought, Cynthia carefully stored the Mega Stone, placing it in the same bag slot as the Swampert Mega Stone, and left Rustboro City.
Crossing the familiar suspension bridge, she quickly returned to Petalburg Woods.
However, she didn't rush straight through to the exit. Instead, she searched the forest for spots she remembered where trees had blocked hidden paths.
Soon, she found them and had Grovyle use Cut to clear the trees, opening brand-new passages!
And just as she had expected—
These blocked paths hid many special rewards.
For example, after talking to a roadside NPC, she obtained an item called *Miracle Seed,* which could boost Grass-type moves by 30% when carried by a Grass-type Pokémon.
She also found a black-and-white Poké Ball—clearly a type that couldn't be purchased at this stage of the game. It might prove tremendously useful when catching her next Pokémon.
Besides these, she discovered other valuable items scattered about, like gold nuggets. When she tallied them up, they were worth nearly 10,000 yen combined! To put it in perspective, she had spent half an hour searching all of Rustboro City and had only found items worth just over 10,000 yen.
It seemed that in the future, whenever she encountered hidden paths blocked by rocks or trees, she'd definitely need to explore them thoroughly.
Just as she was thinking this, Cynthia noticed another tree-blocked path in the distance.
But unlike the others, this one was far more concealed—you really had to look closely to notice it.
Without hesitation, she had Grovyle use Cut to clear it.
But what happened next felt different.
Her character ventured deeper down the path, and white mist gradually began spreading around her. At first it was thin, but it soon grew denser and denser. On screen, she could only see her character and a small stretch of path ahead.
Both the road ahead and behind were now swallowed in thick mist, making it impossible to see clearly.
Cynthia's brow furrowed. Based on experience, something special was about to happen.
Sure enough, the next moment a massive pale building appeared before her.
It was a large European-style manor mansion, with touches of Gothic design.
But the setting was incredibly eerie. The once-lush trees around it had withered and died, strewn across the ground like dried bones.
The building's walls were cracked and peeling, nearly all its windows shattered. From the outside, only dark, shadowy silhouettes were visible within the black window frames.
Dim, melancholy light hung over the entire scene. Dried weeds and broken stones littered the entrance.
In this atmosphere of thick white mist, the manor's condition seemed especially unsettling.
The livestream chat immediately reflected the tension.
[I'm getting serious bad vibes here. Maybe we shouldn't go in?]
[Yeah... why would a manor like this even exist in the middle of the forest?]
[I don't know why, but I've got goosebumps. My scalp is tingling.]
...
But some braver viewers had other opinions.
[What's there to be scared of? It's just a game. At worst, there'll be some Ghost-types inside.]
[Exactly, it just looks abandoned. Maybe someone lived here not too long ago.]
...
Just as the chat was split, eerie, tense music suddenly began playing as Cynthia's character approached the manor!
The moment the music started, Cynthia's expression shifted.
Her heartbeat quickened.
You have to understand—she was a Champion, able to stay calm in any crisis. Yet right now, facing this scene with that haunting soundtrack, even she couldn't remain completely composed.
If even Cynthia felt that way, you can imagine how the viewers reacted.
At this moment... no one typed a word.
The eerie music continued, becoming hollow, as if echoing from far away, then slowly fading.
Only then did Cynthia feel herself regaining composure.
If this were real life, she might hesitate before going in.
But wasn't this exactly what the chat said earlier? This was just a game—there was nothing to fear.
With that thought, Cynthia took a deep breath and moved her character toward the manor.
The next instant, lightning split the sky, piercing the mist and bathing the building in pale light before darkness returned.
Rain began to pour.
With a creak, Cynthia pushed open the manor's front door.
...
Inside, the scene was nothing like she had imagined.
There were no bloodstains, corpses, or horror-movie decorations. Everything looked... normal. The floor was spotless, silverware neatly arranged on long tables, even the window frames gleaming as though freshly polished.
So... did someone actually still live here?
Cynthia wondered as she moved through what appeared to be a dining room.
The manor was vast, with several floors and countless rooms—parlors, studies, kitchens, even bathrooms.
And just like the dining room, each space was perfectly clean and orderly, as if freshly tidied.
Yet Cynthia's skin crawled. She had wandered the manor for ten minutes without seeing a single person or hearing anything beyond her own footsteps.
In the dim candlelight, the sound of rain against the windows only deepened the unease.
But Cynthia wasn't scared.
She didn't know why the place was like this.
But surely, in a mansion this size, there had to be treasures hidden inside, right?
She even felt a spark of excitement as she searched.
Soon, her eyes lit up.
On a nearby table sat a Poké Ball-shaped item.
As she approached and pressed the interaction key, a prompt appeared.
[Item "Rare Candy Box" has been placed in your bag!]
Cynthia blinked in surprise at the deep blue box now in her inventory.
What was this?
She opened it to find several light-blue candies inside—five or six in total.
Immediately, a description popped up.
[Rare Candy Box (Intermediate)]
[Description: After a Pokémon consumes the candy inside, it can directly increase the Pokémon's level. The specific enhancement effect depends on the Pokémon's current level!]
Cynthia raised an eyebrow.
So these candies could instantly boost levels?
After a moment's thought, she opened her party menu and fed all the candies to Ludicolo, her highest-leveled Pokémon.
The next instant, Ludicolo's body glowed with a brilliant light as powerful energy surged through him!
[Ludicolo consumed Rare Candy!]
[Ludicolo's level increased from Lv33 to Lv40!]
[Ludicolo wants to level up, but you have reached the current level cap. You need to obtain a new badge to properly digest the overflow experience!]
Cynthia: ???
Ever since defeating the Lavaridge Gym and raising her team's level cap to 40, she'd noticed a new problem.
Her Pokémon still gained experience, but leveling was getting slower and slower.
Thinking about it, this made sense.
The stronger a Pokémon became, the more energy it needed to advance. Once a Pokémon reached Gym Leader-level strength, progress slowed dramatically, climbing almost exponentially.
At Elite Four level, further growth became extremely difficult, requiring long periods of training and battle to accumulate strength before breaking through again.
So naturally, leveling up in the game became harder as Pokémon got stronger.
On the way back from Lavaridge Town, Cynthia had fought plenty of trainers with Ludicolo, yet he'd only gained two levels—proving the point.
And now, this small candy had boosted him eight levels in one go, with overflow experience on top?!
What the hell?
The chat exploded.
[We detected small amounts of sugar in this candy box, along with massive amounts of stimulants, catalysts, and genetic enhancers.]
[This is candy?? More like a cheat code!]
[Told you the creepy mansion would have good loot.]
Meanwhile, after her initial shock, Cynthia realized something.
So far, every item in the game had matched something from reality.
But there were also things she'd never heard of—like the two Mega Stones.
So what about these "Rare Candies"? Did they actually exist in the real world too?
The thought made her hesitate.
No... that couldn't be, right?
This had to just be a game item.
There couldn't be something in real life that worked like this—basically cheating—granting Pokémon rapid growth.
Right...?
But thinking back on everything she had experienced so far...
Cynthia wasn't so sure anymore.
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