"Perhaps it's worth trying. Is there any way to obtain it?"
Ethan frowned. After thinking about the effect of the Magmarizer, he decided that he wanted to give it a try.
"That item belongs to the guild's headquarters and is placed here. If you want it, you'll have to apply to the guild headquarters," Professor Brands said without lifting his head, observing the ancient texts through a magnifying glass after hearing Ethan's words.
"Is it something that belongs to the guild headquarters?"
Upon hearing that, Ethan's heart was immediately filled with joy.
Without wasting any time, he took out his phone and directly called the Grand President of the guild.
The call connected, and after clearly hearing Ethan's intention, President Beckett accepted rather quickly. However, he asked Ethan to follow the normal procedure for applying for academic research.
Ethan hesitated slightly for a moment, but in the end he accepted.
When applying for research as an investigator, the final results must be submitted to the Pokémon Researchers' Guild.
Of course, the guild also grants the corresponding points and rewards based on the results obtained, and the intellectual property of the research still belongs to the researcher.
This did not worry Ethan too much. If he managed to complete the research successfully, he had originally intended to hand it over to the guild anyway.
Moreover, by doing it in the name of official research, the Pokémon Researchers' Guild would even provide research funding, so he would only benefit.
After reaching an agreement with President Beckett, Ethan immediately went to the guild headquarters in Nova City, where he drafted and submitted a formal application for academic research.
"Now all that's left is to wait for the guild to approve the application." Thinking of this, Ethan let out a small sigh of relief. Then he sat down in front of a computer and opened a webpage.
"Here it is... the Cross Cup."
With practiced ease, he accessed the official League competition registration site and quickly found the information he was looking for.
Leo Cross, one of the current champions of the League, guarded the southwestern region of the League and was recognized as the most powerful Fire-type trainer in the history of Solaris City.
The Cross Cup was a major tournament that bore his surname and was also known as the League's Fire-type Trainers' Gathering.
Every year, in the month of July, during the hottest period in Solaris City, the Cross Cup was held. At that time, Champion Leo would personally appear to explain to trainers the most common issues in raising Fire-type Pokémon. In addition, the champion of the tournament would earn the opportunity to battle Leo Cross himself.
Of course, that battle against the champion was not a real battle, but rather a guiding and instructional match. Even so, that opportunity made countless trainers rack their brains to participate, turning the Cross Cup into a true festival for Fire-type trainers across the entire League.
Ever since Ethan first learned of the existence of the Cross Cup, he had already been paying close attention to it.
As for the fact that his Charizard was a descendant of Champion Leo's Charizard, Ethan only learned that much later, when Professor Harris mentioned it to him.
At that time, upon hearing the news, he was a little surprised and, at the same time, secretly pleased with his choice. Among the sixteen starter Pokémon, Charmander was undoubtedly the one with the greatest potential.
Therefore, after learning about the Cross Cup, Ethan had planned to bring Charizard. However, his initial intention was only to listen to Champion Leo's explanations regarding the breeding of Fire-type Pokémon; he had not paid much attention to the competition itself.
After all, it was a large-scale tournament open to the entire League. He knew his own limitations well.
But now, suddenly, a bold idea occurred to Ethan.
If he could evolve Magmar into Magmortar before the Cross Cup began... wouldn't that be a huge surprise for everyone?
Moreover, he remembered that among Champion Leo's six main Pokémon there was a Magmar. If his Magmar could evolve even further, the increase in power would be enormous.
And if Ethan could hand over the evolution method for Magmortar to this champion, he would undoubtedly win his favor.
By then...
"Heh, heh."
Ethan let out a light chuckle and continued reviewing the rules of the Cross Cup. Before, he had not planned to participate, so he had not bothered to study them.
Suddenly, his expression changed slightly. One of the requirements for participating in the Cross Cup was possessing three Fire-type Pokémon.
The reason was clear: to prevent trainers with only one or two Fire-type Pokémon from participating just to fill slots. After all, it was a competition dedicated exclusively to Fire-type trainers; if they could not even present three Pokémon of that type, they could hardly be considered Fire-type specialists.
"This really is a problem. It seems that before the registration deadline ends, I'll have to capture two more Fire-type Pokémon."
"And on top of that, the tournament format is three versus three. If I want to advance in the competition, those other two Fire-type Pokémon will also need to have decent combat strength. Otherwise, participating would just be making up the numbers."
Ethan sighed softly. His eyes turned as he thought about the situation: in the short term, training two truly powerful Fire-type Pokémon was practically impossible.
"It seems the only option is to capture Pokémon whose combat capability is already fully developed."
"One of them can be Magmar, which is ready to evolve into Magmortar. As for the other, ideally it should have the Flash Fire ability, to minimize the damage from the opponent's Fire-type moves."
"In internal battles between Fire-type Pokémon, the Flash Fire ability is truly overpowered!"
Ethan had already made his decision. At this moment, the most urgent task was to obtain the Magmarizer to verify his idea and, in addition, to capture a powerful Magmar as soon as possible and evolve it into Magmortar.
"According to the information, in the mountainous forests around Emberfall City there are several Secret Kingdoms with volcanoes."
"Under normal circumstances, trainers can enter there to train, and I remember that capturing Pokémon in those Secret Kingdoms is also permitted, as long as the corresponding fee is paid."
"In those Secret Kingdoms, it's very likely to find Magmar, and restoring the Magmarizer also necessarily requires the power of magma."
"Magmarizer... as its name implies, it's a device that enhances the power of magma. As long as it is refilled with enough magma, it should be possible to restore its function."
With the tip of his pen sliding across the map, Ethan once again changed his travel route. He planned to detour first to Emberfall City, then return to Coral City, afterward head to Gullhaven City, and finally, his ultimate destination would be Solaris City.
(End of chapter)