However, Sada’s words allowed Michael to breathe a sigh of relief.
Since the plans related to the Great Crater of Paldea were still only in the restarting phase, that meant the time machine had not yet been built by the two professors.
In other words, perhaps everything could still be changed.
The overall story of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet wasn’t driven by deep-seated hatred or irreconcilable conflict.
It carried the feeling of an ideal world.
The only real tragedies were the future deaths of Sada and Turo, and Arven losing both of his parents.
Perhaps…
he could change some of those things.
The moment Sada started talking about Area Zero, she displayed the same level of chatterbox talent as Arven, no, she was at least one tier above him.
Perhaps she was also trying to pique Michael’s interest in Area Zero.
Her words poured out in an endless stream, one technical term after another, each flowing seamlessly into the next like beads strung together.
By the time Michael’s head was spinning from listening, he had only managed to understand one thing.
Arven’s habit of talking nonstop was probably inherited from his mother.
What finally stopped Sada’s sermon wasn’t a natural disaster or some unexpected accident.
It was the shrill alarm that suddenly blared from the pile of advanced research equipment behind her.
“…Looks like another failure.” Sada sighed, finally ending her nonstop explanation.
Putting on a pair of gloves with practiced ease, she walked over to the machine and used a pair of tweezers to pick up a clearly ruined special core, her face filled with frustration.
The experiment testing its tolerance for spatial transportation had failed again.
The wild Pokémon within the Great Crater of Paldea were extremely powerful.
If they wanted to establish stable laboratories and observation stations deep inside while traveling back and forth freely, they first needed to build upon Poké Ball transportation technology and develop teleportation devices that could link observation stations together.
With those devices, they would no longer have to repeatedly transport supplies through the crater’s harsh and complex terrain.
The theoretical calculations had already been completed.
The only problem was that every experiment involving the core kept failing, and they couldn’t determine why.
At this rate, the restart of the Tera research project would have to be postponed.
That was the last thing Sada and Turo, who longed to study Pokémon from the past and future, wanted to see.
Looking at the core held in Sada’s tweezers, Michael suddenly wanted to test the system’s hint function.
‘System, can you give me a hint about this?’ he asked in his mind.
[Mix the blue solution in the second bottle to the professor’s left with the pink solution in the fourth bottle.] Following the system’s guidance, Michael looked over.
Sure enough, those two bottles were exactly where the system had described.
He suddenly spoke up.
“Professor Sada, could you tell me what those two solutions on your left are?” “No problem.” Though puzzled, Sada picked up the two bottles Michael had mentioned.
Gently swirling them, she explained, “They’re a spatial stabilizer and an extract containing the Psychic energy found in Kadabra’s saliva.” “A spatial stabilizer?” “Simply put, it reduces and stabilizes the area of space being affected…” Michael didn’t really understand the advanced scientific concepts pouring from Sada’s mouth.
But as she continued explaining, she seemed to suddenly receive a flash of inspiration.
Calling for Michael to wait a moment, she immediately buried herself in her research.
Perhaps because she had already failed countless times before, Sada moved with remarkable familiarity.
Taking out several empty core shells, she immediately began testing her newfound idea.
There was no need to describe all the failed attempts.
Another hour and a half passed.
Muttering formulas under her breath the entire time, Sada finally succeeded after several more failures.
Two cores emitting a soft green glow were born.
She installed them into the device on the floor.
The moment the rings of light on the machine lit up, excitement instantly spread across her face.
“It worked!” As someone who had transmigrated from the modern world, Michael had never tried to understand the Pokémon world’s absurd black technology.
It would only be a pointless waste of brain cells.
But the instant Sada activated the machine, he recognized exactly what it was.
‘…Isn’t this the black-tech teleportation device from the games that lets you fast-travel between research stations?’ Sada cautiously placed an empty beaker onto the teleportation platform.
Her right hand trembled slightly as she pressed the old-fashioned red button that looked capable of launching a nuclear missile.
A faint humming sound followed.
Brilliant green light flashed before quickly fading.
The beaker had vanished, only to appear on the other teleportation platform four or five meters away.
Michael was dumbfounded.
‘Was inventing revolutionary technology really this easy?’ This was way too ridiculous.
Whether it was the system’s seemingly omniscient hints or Sada somehow achieving enlightenment out of nowhere, both left Michael with the crushing feeling that his intelligence had been completely outclassed.
In his mind, he exclaimed in shock, ‘You’re seriously this amazing?’ [Hehe!] Even though it was only two short words, Michael could practically see how smug the system was just from the way the text seemed to bounce.
Well, let it be proud.
Its absurd yet completely controllable hint function would undoubtedly contribute tremendously to the future development of his farm.
Michael had enough foresight to recognize that.
After entrusting Sada with the raw materials for his Tera Orb, she seemed convinced that it was only because of Michael’s reminder that she had successfully completed the teleportation device.
While thanking him, she enthusiastically invited Michael to switch careers and become a researcher instead.
She promised better salary and treatment than Naranja Academy, with only one requirement.
He might have to work a little overtime now and then.
That phrase, might and now and then, was incredibly suspicious.
Michael vaguely remembered that after Sada and Turo devoted themselves to researching Area Zero, Arven literally became a neglected child.
Over the course of several years, the number of times he met his parents could be counted on one hand.
If the bosses themselves worked like that, just how overworked would the people under them be?
‘No thanks!’ Seeing Michael reject her invitation with inexplicable determination, Sada could only give up regretfully.
She walked over to a refrigerated storage cabinet and took out several bags of suspicious-looking seeds that had absolutely no labels before handing them to him.
“These are some seeds I happened to obtain while researching ancient history,” Sada explained.
“I don’t know what species they belong to, but the energy inside them is extremely active.
They shouldn’t be ordinary plants.” Michael picked up one of the bags and examined it carefully.
With his pitifully limited botanical knowledge, he couldn’t identify the seeds at all.
He definitely intended to grow crops to make money once his farm was established.
With seeds of unknown origin, he didn’t even know what they were.
Even if they grew successfully, there was no guarantee they could actually be sold.
Michael’s IQ wasn’t particularly high but his EQ was pretty decent.
Even though he had no idea what these seeds were for, they were still a thoughtful gift from Sada.
He decided to accept them and stash them away for now.
Once his farm was running smoothly, he could plant them in some unused corner when he had the time.
After all, someone had once said that you should make as many friends as possible.
As Michael was about to leave with the seeds, Sada suddenly seemed to remember something and called out after him.
“Michael!
Once you’re at Naranja Academy, I’d appreciate it if you could look after Arven for me!” Michael’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
His expression instantly became strange.
For some reason, his stomach suddenly started hurting.
‘If Arven is going to become my student…
Doesn’t that mean I’ll end up dealing with the rest of the protagonists…
and all those problem children too!?
Ugh…
Please don’t let that happen!’ He hadn’t even started work yet and he already wanted to resign.