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Nova was the one who had truly found the entrance to this secret realm. Still, neither of his two earlier visits had lasted very long.
The first time, he only wanted to check whether the secret realm was worth exploring. The moment he saw a White-Striped Basculin swimming in the lake, he turned around and left right away. The second time, he had gone in with both his master and his master's junior brother watching over him. Even then, he had only flown up high to study the island's geology from above. He never went deep into the secret realm.
Because of this, the Elite Trainers working inside and outside the secret realm actually knew far more about the place than Nova did. So this time, he listened closely as Aston explained things to him.
Still, hearing about something was never the same as seeing it with his own eyes. If he wanted to know what the secret realm was truly like, Nova would have to walk through it himself.
This was his third time crossing the spatial rift, and by now the dizziness that came with it no longer bothered him. His Meowscarada, however, was a different story. Watching it struggle miserably, Nova felt both irritated and a little amused.
That was just how stubborn Pokemon were. Meowscarada would rather suffer through the pain of the spatial rift than spend even one second inside a Poke Ball.
If this had happened back when Nova was still poor and only owned plain red-and-white Poke Balls, it would make sense for Meowscarada to refuse. But he had upgraded its Poke Ball a long time ago, and Meowscarada still would not go in, not even once.
It would be unfair to say the Layered Peaks Gym's exploration team had accomplished nothing. The cave holding the spatial rift had clearly been reshaped by human hands. The whole cave had been widened quite a bit, and along both sides of the small stream inside, a rough walking path had been carved out. This made it much easier for people to travel in and out of the secret realm.
The exploration team had set up camp on a wide, sandy shore beside the volcanic lake. It was not that this spot was ideal for camping, but rather that there were few good camping spots nearby, so this was simply the best option available.
After walking the rest of the way to camp, Nova finally met the person currently leading the exploration team.
He was a square-jawed man in his late fifties. Everyone at the Gym called him Mr. Vern. Before joining the Layered Peaks Gym, Mr. Vern had worked as a wilderness explorer, the same line of work as Aresdra's parents.
But Mr. Vern was clearly a more careful and steady person. He was nothing like her parents, who had risked their lives chasing their dream of conquering the Western Plateau, the most feared Uninhabited Area in the world.
Mr. Vern had spent years working in dangerous Uninhabited Areas across the region, until an unknown Pokemon's poison sting pierced his kneecap during one expedition. After that, with his movement badly limited and his mountain-climbing days behind him, he had no choice but to retire from the Explorers Association. Luckily, his skill in Pokemon battles was still strong, and he managed to find work as a Battle Master at the Layered Peaks Gym back in his hometown.
Now he was a respected veteran Trainer at the Gym. For this particular mission, Gilbert had practically pushed him into leading the team, believing that Mr. Vern's years of wilderness experience made him the best choice to take charge of the project here in the Hisui Secret Realm.
As it turned out, almost half a month had already passed. The team had called for backup three separate times, yet they still had not found a proper path leading out of the volcano. Mr. Vern felt he had truly lost face over this.
After meeting him, Nova could see for himself how embarrassed the team's leader felt. Nova had not come here to point fingers, so he offered a few kind words to ease the man's mood instead.
Nova, Aston, and Mr. Vern went into a tent together. Mr. Vern lit a small gas stove and boiled a pot of hot water. The three of them each had a warm drink before getting down to business.
Aston wrapped his hands around the hot pot and sighed. "No matter how many times I come here, I still can't get used to it. It's a scorching desert outside, but in here, a person could freeze solid."
Mr. Vern picked up on his words. "The cold is honestly the smallest problem we deal with in this secret realm."
"The camp is safe enough during the day, but once night falls, we can't risk even a single spark of light or fire. Packs of Ursaring roam the snowy mountains at night. These bears grow to an unusual size, and every so often, a rare Ursaluna is mixed in among them."
"During the day, the bears hide inside caves scattered across the snowy peaks. But once night comes, they use the moonlight to hunt Basculin in the volcanic lake. If even one bear notices our camp, there's no peace left for the rest of the night."
"Chasing off a single bear always means a fight breaks out. And once a battle starts, the noise draws every bear on the mountain toward us. After that, it never seems to end until morning."
"These Ursaring hit hard too. They fire off Hyper Beam like fireworks going off. Every time a fight breaks out, it feels less like an expedition and more like fighting off an entire Pokemon army."
"The most frightening part is that one or two Ursaluna are sometimes mixed in with the Ursaring. We barely knew anything about that Pokemon before coming here. At best, we know its name and that it shares an evolutionary line with Ursaring. Since it's a Pokemon that only existed long ago, we're even more lost when it comes to handling one."
"The worst injuries at camp all came from a single Ursaluna. It broke straight into camp and used Earthquake, breaking the legs of four Trainers on the spot."
After hearing Mr. Dawang lay out the situation, Nova began to understand why the camp had ended up in such a difficult spot.
Pokemon research in this world was still far from complete, especially when it came to ancient Pokemon. Whether among top scholars or ordinary Trainers, there was a clear lack of understanding on the subject.
This was also why someone like Aston, whose battle strength was only average, had still managed to earn the title of Elite Trainer with a Defeatist Archeops. Even Trainers who had lost to Aston's Archeops in battle rarely noticed that the Pokemon looked far stronger than it actually was. Most simply assumed that, since it was an ancient Pokemon, being a little stronger than usual only made sense.
Take Hisuian-form Pokemon as an example. So far, scientists in this world had only discovered a handful of them. Extremely rare ones, such as Hisuian Goodra or Hisuian Zoroark, were Pokemon that Nova had never once come across in any records.
Considering that humanity had explored less than one percent of the Hisui Secret Realm, and that Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon were already rare to begin with, it made sense that no one had ever found a Hisuian Goodra.
Because of this, Nova, who had played through generations of Pokemon games and watched several seasons of the anime in his past life, knew more about ancient Pokemon than anyone else currently in this world.
After listening to everything Mr. Dawang had to say, Nova finally realized something: out of everyone at the Layered Peaks Gym, he might be the one best suited to take on the task of exploring the unknown depths of the Hisui Secret Realm.