After all, he was still a top-tier Elite Four member. Having come all this way, it would be embarrassing to fail even a beginner's quest. What followed was exactly as they had seen in that video: the game's tutorial system was remarkably detailed and comprehensive.
Unexpectedly, however, the system did not ask them to defeat a specific Pokémon to complete the task. Instead, it directed them to a shared destination, a plaza where trainers were gathering.
The two followed the system's guidance through a barren stretch of terrain and arrived at a relatively open ruined plaza.
More trainers had gathered here, and signs of battle were visible everywhere.
Just then, a familiar figure appeared in Cynthia's field of vision.
The figure wore a red hoodie and carried a massive backpack. His black hair was slightly disheveled, and his entire presence radiated an energetic vitality.
Standing beside him was an enormous Charizard.
The flames burning across the Charizard's body were fierce and vigorous, with flickers of gold threaded through the orange-red fire. The intimidating pressure in those dragon eyes was so intense that the surrounding air seemed to rise several degrees in temperature.
Cynthia's steps slowed slightly, a flash of surprise crossing her eyes.
"Leon?"
She murmured the name softly.
The young man heard her voice and immediately turned around. The moment he saw Cynthia, a brilliant smile broke across his face and he jogged over. "Cynthia! It's really you!"
Leon seemed genuinely excited. He had always admired Cynthia, and the last thing he expected was to run into her here.
"What brings you to the Ghost World?"
Cynthia looked at the bright-spirited young man before her, her gaze settling on the Charizard at his side. Her expression grew thoughtful. "I heard something was wrong in the Ghost World, so I came to have a look."
Cynthia nodded toward the Charizard, her tone carrying a hint of curiosity.
"Your Charizard, though... its aura seems different from before."
She knew well enough that the last time this trainer had come to mind, she had thought of him as nothing more than a promising up-and-coming Elite Four-level trainer. Yet now, the Charizard beside him had clearly reached Champion-level strength.
A leap of that magnitude had only one explanation.
Leon scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin, then gave his Charizard a pat on the head. The Charizard let out a proud roar and breathed a burst of flame. "Yeah, you caught that right away."
He laughed, his voice full of excitement.
"Honestly, I owe it all to that game!"
"Emerald?" Cynthia and Caitlin exchanged a glance, both growing more certain of their earlier suspicions.
"Exactly!" Leon continued. "The rewards in that game are incredible, and it can even boost a Pokémon's potential in targeted ways. My Charizard completed a special trial inside the game, earned some unique enhancement items, and its strength jumped significantly!" His eyes lit up as he spoke.
"I heard there's a new game launching on the Ghost World side, one that even hands out rewards in real time. I figured I'd jump in and see if I could make Charizard even stronger!"
Cynthia listened, then gave a small nod.
So it was exactly as she had thought.
Though, Leon's situation sounded a little different from her own.
Did the game distribute rewards at times other than the weekly leaderboard settlement?
She thought it over and quickly recalled something else: yes, aside from the weekly rankings payout, she had also received extra rewards when clearing certain game stages herself.
Perhaps there were special missions hidden within the game, ones that, once completed, could yield real-world rewards as well.
Looking at it now, the reward delivery in this game built by Kairos seemed to be getting faster and faster. Emerald had been like that, and now Ghost World Hunter GO was the same, moving from a once-a-week settlement to immediate payouts.
Following that line of thinking, could there come a day when improvements gained inside the game would be applied directly and instantly to one's own Pokémon?
The moment that thought surfaced, Cynthia was startled by her own imagination. She gave a small shake of her head.
No, that probably wasn't possible.
If it ever came to that, the implications would be staggering.
Even the current system, providing real-world rewards the way it already did, was astonishing enough on its own.
Meanwhile, the Caitlin beside her didn't seem to be thinking nearly so deeply. She was simply studying Leon with open curiosity, as though he were a complete stranger and she couldn't recall when a Champion-level trainer like this had ever existed.
"Since you're here, why don't we go together?"
Snapping back to the present, Cynthia glanced at Leon and extended the invitation.
This trainer called Leon was not merely a talented young newcomer. He was equally well known for his character. By all accounts, after reaching Elite Four status, his efficiency and initiative on field missions far surpassed that of other Elite Four members.
Day to day, he was someone who genuinely went out of his way to help people, and countless members of the public had said as much. In a situation like the one they now faced, exactly this kind of person was what was needed: fresh blood to bolster the Champion's ranks.
So Cynthia decided to take advantage of the moment and invite him along, while also getting a clearer read on his actual capabilities.
"We just picked up a quest ourselves and were about to get started."
"Sure, of course! No problem at all! I won't hold you back."
Leon nodded eagerly, clearly thrilled. Getting to team up with his idol for a quest was more than he could have hoped for.
At that very moment, all three of their phones buzzed simultaneously, and a crisp game system chime rang out in their ears.
"Ding! Three high-quality combat trainers detected in proximity!"
"Cynthia (Champion-level), Caitlin (Champion-level), Leon (Near Champion-level)"
"Combat assessment threshold met. Special team mission triggered!"
"Mission Title: Raid the Champion-Tier Ghost Nest"
"Mission Description: Deep within the Ghost World, a terrifying ghost nest of unprecedented danger is gestating. Vast numbers of Ghost-type Pokémon are amassing, preparing to launch a strike against the real world. All trainers are requested to proceed and eliminate the nest, destroying its core!"
"Mission Rewards: Points +15, Rare Item Chest x5, Special TM x1"
"Bonus rewards available upon reaching 100% raid completion."
Staring at the vivid red mission panel that had just appeared before her, Cynthia's expression sharpened instantly.
A Champion-tier ghost nest...
It seemed the trouble this time was even greater than she had imagined, if something like this had already emerged.
Even so, it confirmed something. Wind was definitely somewhere in this Ghost World, watching everything unfold.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have such detailed, first-hand information.
"Let's move."
Cynthia pocketed her phone, turned to look at the two beside her, and accepted the quest.
---
At the same moment, in Saffron City, inside an internet café.
In the rearmost private booth, the dim light of a computer screen cast a faint blue glow across Kairos's face.
He sat sunken into a plush reclining chair, his expression calm, his eyes resting on a semi-transparent panel hovering before him.
Beside him, a violet figure sat cross-legged in midair, cradling a crystal that pulsed with dense black mist. The energy sealed within it seemed restless, occasionally crackling with arcs of purple electricity.
This was the S-rank Ghost-type resource Kairos had obtained through a prize draw earlier, a Soul Crystal.
Gengar was eating with complete focus. As the crystal gradually shrank, its already formidable aura began to climb steadily, the ghostly energy around it growing denser and more concentrated, almost giving the illusion of becoming tangible.
Before long, the last wisp of the crystal was swallowed.
Gengar let out a satisfied belch, its expression one of lingering contentment. Then it opened its eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through its violet pupils. Clearly, this "feast" had done it a great deal of good, with its strength visibly improved.
Kairos turned his head and looked at the Gengar, who seemed to be in excellent condition. His mind was already working through what came next.
"Good improvement in strength, but raw resources alone won't cut it. You need to work on your technique and plug some gaps."
Gengar tilted its head and looked at him, waiting for the rest.
"Once things settle down on this end, I'll take you to see Will."
Kairos went on.
"He's the Ghost World Lord we just met."
At the name, Gengar's mind immediately conjured the image of that perpetually stone-faced man, and his Gengar alongside him. Kairos paused briefly, then continued his analysis.
"The Gengar at his side has exceptional mastery over shadow techniques."
He had seen it firsthand back in the Ghost World corridor.
Will's Gengar could meld itself seamlessly into shadows, moving as though slipping through another dimension entirely, its speed startling, and capable even of manipulating the surrounding shadows to attack.
True, during that encounter with Marshadow, the ability had been completely overwhelmed and rendered useless. But Kairos understood precisely why: Marshadow itself had simply been too powerful.
Within a normal Champion-level range of strength, that Gengar would be a genuinely fearsome presence. That style of combat, elusive and unpredictable, would be enough to give the vast majority of opponents serious headaches.
His own Gengar, as it happened, was no slouch when it came to shadow affinity either.
Going back to learn those techniques and add them to its arsenal made perfect sense.
After all, he had built this game, helped the Ghost World resolve a crisis of enormous proportions, and even helped Will hold onto his territory. Asking Will to put in a little effort and teach his Gengar a few things seemed like entirely fair compensation—not unreasonable at all.
Gengar understood what Kairos meant and gave a nod.
Lately everything had been about helping Kairos build the game and boost its strength that way. It had never really thought about this angle.
Strictly speaking, Gengar was not the kind of Pokémon that disliked training or preferred to laze about. If anything, it had quite high standards for itself.
Thinking back to when it had first been caught, still scraping by in the Ghost World day after day, it had spent every single day thinking about how to grow stronger, how to survive in that unforgiving place.
It was only later, after watching Chandelure pop a candy right in front of it and immediately evolve into its final form—then proceed to give Gengar a thorough thrashing—that the entire worldview it had built up came crashing down.
Now that circumstances had improved and so many good opportunities were available, it was definitely time to pick those old habits back up.
With that thought, Gengar's gaze drifted sideways on instinct.
Floating there nearby was Chandelure, quietly radiating its soft blue-white glow, apparently dozing.
That one hadn't been idle lately, either. Its strength had been climbing steadily.
Gengar's mouth twisted into a scowl as the memory of the very first day it had arrived at Kairos's home surfaced unbidden.
It had just been caught, hadn't quite gotten its bearings yet, and had promptly been given a thorough one-sided beating by that thing.
A completely one-sided thrashing. Even now, just thinking about it made its body ache faintly.
Gengar clenched its fist and silently swore an oath.
It had that score memorized, and one day it would settle it and reclaim its dignity. Revenge was inevitable!
While Gengar sat there grinding its teeth, Kairos's attention had already shifted entirely to the system panel before him.
Across the screen, rows of data were ticking upward rapidly.
It was the real-time player data for Ghost World Hunter GO.
Kairos looked it over carefully and found that in less than a single day, the player count had already reached 100,000.
That growth rate was even faster than he had anticipated.
Clearly, when real, tangible benefits were on the table, motivation was never in short supply.
As long as there were rewards, as long as there were rare items, trainers would flood into this game without hesitation.
And the number was still climbing, with new IDs registering practically every second.
Growing alongside it were the emotion points Kairos was accumulating from all those players.
Watching the total tick steadily upward, he gave a small nod to himself.
Though, compared to Emerald, Dark Phantom, and Mystery Dungeon before it, the emotion points this time felt somehow purer.
The sources shown on the system panel were almost entirely satisfaction and surprise, with none of the fear, bewilderment, confusion, or other emotions that had featured before.
After all, everyone was playing the game and collecting rewards, and their mood was naturally upbeat.
The variety of emotions was limited, but the sheer volume of points more than made up for it.
In just one afternoon, the total had already surpassed 8,000 points.
These were all new players of Ghost World Hunter GO, and first-time players naturally contributed more points than veterans.
With that in mind, Kairos gave a slight shake of his head.
Now that the game was live and running smoothly—the servers holding up fine against the surge in traffic—there was nothing left to worry about.
From here, it was simply a matter of time. As the player base continued to grow, the ghost tide in the Ghost World should be suppressed to a considerable degree, and the spiritomb situation on that end would no longer be a serious concern.
With that, it was time for him to return to the Ghost World and assess things firsthand.