"The report is accurate," Dan Heng said, looking up from his datapad. "You can open the bulletin and check the attachments yourself. There are clear photographs of four living specimens. Julian has no reason to put out false claims to deceive players."
"Julian walks the Path of Elation, but he has never been one of those chaotic troublemakers from the Masked Fools."
Dan Heng had skimmed the release notes in detail and nodded toward March.
"Furthermore, station logs confirm that the researcher collaborating with Julian is Madam Ruan Mei. Nous invited her into the Genius Society specifically for her mastery over life sciences. If someone of her stature is handling the synthesis, bringing real Pokémon into the world is well within reason."
"The Genius Society is terrifying..." March muttered, shuddering slightly. "They can actually bring creatures like Pokémon to life?"
March had begun to realize that she might have taken Herta's station far too lightly, largely because the puppet master had always treated the Trailblazers with casual familiarity. In March's mind, Ruan Mei was simply another quiet member of the Society, while Herta was the true titan walking as an Emanator of Erudition.
"No, Julian's ability to project living forms was the decisive catalyst," Himeko countered gently, leaning forward with a scientist's measured view. While she had never sought entry into the Genius Society, she understood the foundational laws of biology well enough.
"Standard elemental traits might be replicated through synthetic tissue, but the concept of instantaneous cellular evolution is something that defies conventional physics. Without an existing template born from the Path, I doubt anyone short of an Aeon could engineer an organism with that kind of metamorphic capability."
"It remains to be seen whether these clones can undergo true evolution or simply mature like standard animals," Himeko noted. "Yet since they are stabilized clones rather than organisms engineered from scratch, the trait should carry through."
"So what if they are real now?" Stelle asked, scratching the back of her head with a blank look. "What makes it such a massive deal?"
"Wait! Hold on!" March gasped, her eyes lighting up as she caught Stelle by the shoulders. "Doesn't that mean I can actually raise a real Beautifly of my own?!"
Once the initial shock faded, March's mind went straight to the dream every Trainer shared. Owning an actual living companion—who in the galaxy could have dared dream of that?
Welt and Himeko exchanged a quiet glance, both wearing fond, wry smiles.
"It seems our two younger companions have not yet grasped the weight of their own path," Welt observed with a light sigh.
Stelle blinked in confusion. Weren't they talking about raising cute pets? How did the conversation suddenly shift into a lecture on duty and responsibility?
Himeko set down her cup, explaining softly:
"Though Stelle has only traveled with us for a short time, both of you should have noticed how Herta, the Xianzhou, and the IPC consistently extend courtesy to the Astral Express, yes?"
Stelle and March nodded in unison. Aside from their initial brush with the frozen isolation of Jarilo-VI, every major faction they had encountered—from the scholars of the space station to the grand commissions of the Luofu—had treated the Nameless with open respect.
On the Luofu, they had boarded under the shadow of a Stellaron Hunter tip-off, an infraction that technically warranted immediate detention. Yet the authorities had held back; even Madam Yukong, who had been the most guarded at first, had only sought to restrict their movements until the crisis passed.
"Is it because the Express pioneers transit routes and repairs the star rail network?" March offered, thinking through the train's historic purpose.
"That is merely part of it," Dan Heng replied, looking at his two friends with a helpless expression. "Given enough time and resources, the IPC and the Xianzhou can lay transit lanes on their own."
"What matters most is that outside of the Aeons themselves, only the Astral Express can breach the uncharted boundaries of the cosmos to pioneer new worlds."
"Dan Heng is right," Himeko continued. "Every virgin world brings access to untamed resources, unknown energy forms, exotic metallurgy, and novel biological lineages. Among those, living organisms are the most volatile asset."
"The living world has always driven technological revolutions. From foundational physics and advanced materials to bionics, gene editing, modern medicine, synthetic agriculture, and clean energy, civilization has constantly modeled its greatest breakthroughs on nature."
"Drawing inspiration from biological mechanics is an ancient consensus among galactic researchers. The sudden arrival of a completely foreign biological tree inevitably sparks a rapid leap in science."
"Pokémon possess miraculous traits that defy standard biology. Their physical existence is bound to ignite a massive technological race."
Himeko paused, letting the implication sink in. March and Stelle fell quiet, finally piecing the broader picture together.
Whoever secured stable access to living Pokémon first would hold the high ground in the next technological era.
If the species remained locked away in the private archives of the Genius Society—guarded by neutral scholars like Herta, Ruan Mei, and Screwllum—the galactic superpowers would swallow their pride. The Society's minds had already outstripped the rest of civilization in their respective fields; widening that gap by a few more steps threatened nobody's borders.
Yet the moment a sovereign superpower seized exclusive control over such a biological treasure, the balance of power across the cosmos would tilt violently.
In a dark, competitive galaxy, falling behind meant inviting ruin. No government would willingly allow a rival to pull ahead.
And Julian, the sole architect behind these creatures, was a native citizen of the Xianzhou Alliance.
"Still, there is no need for us to shoulder those political headaches," Welt said calmly, keeping everyone grounded. Having lived through eras of global upheaval on his home world, such developments were familiar territory. If an entire foreign power system like the Herrschers had manifested in this universe, the potential to birth beings on par with Emanators—or even touching the heights of an Aeon—would have set off the exact same galactic scramble.
"We may face similar diplomatic friction when we pioneer untouched systems in the future," Welt added. "Consider today's news a useful preview."
"Quite so," Himeko agreed with a gentle smile. "And for the Express, this announcement brings a welcome practical benefit."
"Right!" March snapped her fingers, her eyes gleaming with sharp commercial sense. "When it comes to ancient cosmic records, nobody has more comprehensive archives than the data bank right here on the train!"
To fund her personal hobbies and buy high-end camera lenses, March had taken on plenty of data-recovery commissions for external researchers, making her very familiar with the market rates.
The Astral Express had crisscrossed the stars for eras, linking countless planetary nodes into its central databanks. Though sections of the historical archives had been corrupted during the train's past derailment, the surviving records remained vast.
Most importantly, the Express held the most detailed spatial logs in existence regarding locations touched by divine miracles.
Where miracles had occurred, divine remnants and rare catalysts were bound to remain.
With Julian offering open bounties that vastly outbid standard research grants from Herta, this was a golden opportunity to fill the train's operational coffers.
The Express was hardly hurting for funds, but nobody on board was going to turn down extra credits.
Meanwhile, aboard the Herta Space Station, Julian had only recently grasped the true geopolitical weight of his project after a brief, pointed conversation with Herta.
It finally made sense why Cai Xing's exorbitant Gym licensing terms had been accepted without a single complaint.
None of the diplomatic delegates had even attempted to bargain down the construction fees. Instead, every envoy had pushed to insert a priority clause guaranteeing early access to living specimens before signing on the dotted line.
They were never just buying a promotional game arena. They were securing their place in line for the dawn of a new biological era.
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