Inside the castle, the officials were reporting the latest developments regarding the construction and management of the territory.
Among the many updates, the winter berry harvesting and replanting projects were proceeding exceptionally smoothly, and the education programs were also being carried out in an orderly fashion.
"So… there's still no news of a master blacksmith?" Aven frowned deeply.
Within his grand plan for the development of the Pokémon League, the presence of a true master blacksmith played a crucial role.
The invention of the Poké Ball was, without a doubt, something that could bring about an era-defining revolution in this world—it was a milestone that could directly propel the dawning of the Pokémon Age.
Now that the formation of the Pokémon League had officially begun, the entire city of Aspiration was already stepping into the very "Pokémon Era" that Aven had envisioned.
However, if they could not craft Poké Balls, the development of the Pokémon League would find it extremely difficult to make any qualitative leap in the short term and that was something Aven absolutely did not want to see.
During this time, he had actually tested the blacksmiths within the Pokémon Domain using ordinary metals. But all their forging techniques were crude and simplistic—utterly incapable of handling the delicate process of making Poké Balls.
Perhaps in the future, with the help of machinery and Pokémon, these blacksmiths might be able to handle such work but at present, that was clearly impossible.
"Lord Aven, I've checked all the new commoners, there are no blacksmiths among them."
"Although the former Gilded Fang Merchant Guild employed a large number of blacksmiths, during the chaos at the Ironblood Fortress, most of them hid among the common folk and fled."
Matthew sighed heavily. Clearly, these blacksmiths had feared being implicated with the Merchant Guild, and therefore chose to go into hiding. That made it even less likely that they would have come here to the Pokémon Domain.
"It seems we'll have to think of another way." Aven's brows furrowed even deeper.
In truth, the simplest method would be to recruit master blacksmith from other territories or even request them directly from Aspiration City.
But with such outsiders, Aven could never fully trust them. Only those who were truly his own people would he feel comfortable entrusting with the secret art of Poké Ball crafting.
"Lord Aven…" Seeing the look of disappointment on Aven's face, the knight standing behind Matthew suddenly spoke up, though with a hint of hesitation. "If Lord Aven is looking for a master blacksmith… I might know one."
The moment he said that, Aven's eyes lit up. He turned to look at the knight—a former member of the Ironblood Knight Order.
These knights who had pledged allegiance under Aven's banner were now all assigned into Matthew's ranger forces, responsible for guarding the border defenses within the forest regions.
The knight, named Caesar, was the captain of this border ranger unit. He had come today to report on the latest patrol results, but unexpectedly, he had brought valuable information about a master blacksmith.
"Hmm… this blacksmith master or rather, former blacksmith master…"
Caesar carefully chose his words. "Originally, Master Makin was an exceptionally talented blacksmith."
"But later on, for reasons unknown, he became obsessed with turning stones into metal. He began collecting various kinds of stones and devoted himself entirely to researching this art."
"Gradually, this master blacksmith faded from everyone's sight. Since then, no more of his works have ever been seen in circulation."
Hearing Caesar's words, Matthew frowned slightly as a memory surfaced. "You mean that blacksmith? Didn't he go missing years ago?"
Caesar shook his head. "Not entirely. During one of our patrols through the Aspiration Mountains, we actually caught sight of him once. He was accompanied by his trademark Pokémon—an enormous Onix."
"Wait a second—you said this blacksmith has a giant Onix?" Aven suddenly interrupted, his eyes gleaming.
"Yes, Lord Aven," Caesar quickly replied, bowing respectfully. "Aside from being a blacksmith master, Master Makin is also a powerful knight himself."
"I see… 'turning stone into metal,' huh?" Aven narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then tell me, Caesar, can you still find this Master Makin?"
"I can't be completely certain," Caesar admitted, "but if Lord Aven truly wishes to locate him, I can try. We spotted him about a month ago, so he should still be somewhere within the Aspiration Mountains."
He dropped to one knee and clasped his hands to his chest in a solemn pledge.
"Good. Then I'm counting on you for this task," Aven said with a nod, before turning to Matthew. "You'll coordinate this matter alongside the immigration plan."
"Later, you will lead a squad of knights to the Ironblood Fortress. While searching for Master Makin, also escort the families of our knights back to the Domain."
Upon hearing Aven's orders, both Matthew and Caesar immediately knelt and accepted the command. Then, after saluting, they withdrew from the castle, preparing to rally their men for departure toward the Ironblood Fortress.
"An Onix… and the concept of transmutation," Aven murmured softly to himself after they left.
"Onix's body, when tempered under intense heat and pressure, is capable of evolving into a Steelix!"
"In a sense, that really is turning stone into steel—a literal form of transmutation!"
"Could it be… that Master Makin discovered the evolutionary method for Onix? That his so-called research into transmutation was actually an attempt to uncover how Onix evolves into Steelix?"
Inside the castle, Aven fell into deep contemplation. The more he thought about it, the more the connection between Onix and "turning stone into metal" made perfect sense.
The training method of using high heat and extreme pressure could indeed cause a rock body to harden and transform, becoming steel-like. Even his own Rhydon was currently undergoing similar experiments.
Although Rhydon's rocky hide hadn't truly transformed into steel, its toughness had indeed undergone a qualitative leap—it could now rival actual metal!
Thinking of this, Aven quickly returned to his desk. Picking up a quill pen, he began sketching rapidly across a sheet of parchment, a rough outline of a massive serpentine creature made of glistening metal.
It was the evolved form of Onix, a Steelix.
When he finished, Aven rolled up the parchment. He planned to give it to Matthew and Caesar, so they could show it to Master Makin. If the man recognized this creature, then everything would fall neatly into place.
Leaving the castle, Aven made his way toward the Safari Zone. On the grassy fields near the castle, various Pokémon were still diligently training, hoping to make one more breakthrough before the next battle arrived.
After greeting the training Pokémon, Aven continued toward the rocky hills in the distance—his destination was the area where Rhydon and the other Ground- and Rock-type Pokémon were training.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Even before he reached the rocky foothills, he could already hear rhythmic hammering sounds echoing across the valley.
Clearly, Rhydon was deep in its blacksmithing training session. At present, if anyone could help him produce Poké Balls, it would be Rhydon.
Whoosh whoosh~
Suddenly, several Trapinch popped up from the sandy ground nearby, chirping excitedly when they saw Aven.
As desert-dwelling Pokémon, they loved the warm, sandy terrain. Spotting Aven, they happily called out, bouncing around his feet.
"You all keep playing—I'm just here to check on Rhydon," Aven said with a smile.
After stepping into the rocky area, he soon came across a group of Rhyhorn lounging at the base of the hill, resting.
The Rhyhorn herd had now become a large and thriving community within the safari zone and naturally, their leader was none other than Rhydon.
Without disturbing their rest, Aven climbed higher up the rocky slope until he reached a forge built entirely from stacked stone. Inside, he could see over a dozen Rhydon hammering away.
At the center stood one Rhydon whose body was noticeably darker than the rest. It was swinging its massive arms with great force, its strikes echoing like thunder.
The other Rhydon stood around awkwardly, scratching their heads and occasionally throwing a few clumsy punches in imitation.
These were the very first batch of Rhyhorn that Aven had captured. Under the strict and rigorous training of his lead Rhydon, all of them had finally evolved, greatly enhancing their overall strength.
Now, Rhydon was teaching its companions the art of forging but from the looks of it, progress was slow. They had the power, yes, but the precision and skill required for blacksmithing were far beyond their reach.
In Aven's ideal plan, if all of the Rhydon could master the process of crafting Poké Balls, the entire production could be handed over to them. But clearly, that was still a long way off.
"Lass~"
From beside Aven, the Froslass floated gracefully into view.
The scorching heat from the forge ahead clearly made her uncomfortable, so she stopped some distance away.
Then, from seemingly nowhere, she pulled out a popsicle, began licking it contentedly, and revealed a blissful smile.
"Take a break here, Froslass," Aven said with a chuckle.
He then approached the forge, and the moment the Rhydon noticed him, they immediately stopped what they were doing and stood to attention.
"Rhydon, thank you for your hard work."
Aven stepped up to the anvil and picked up a freshly forged Apricorn ball.
The next step was to install the internal capture network and other components and after one final tempering, it would officially become a completed Poké Ball.
"Hah… looks like there's still a long stretch of work ahead," Aven exhaled softly.
Creating the capture network was an especially delicate and intricate process. For now, that step could only be done by his own hands.
However, he was already considering recruiting a few trustworthy craftsmen to help him assemble the network components. Skilled jewelers who specialized in fine metalwork would make excellent candidates.
The entire Poké Ball production process was divided into five major stages: high-heat refining, Apricorn forging, network installation, component assembly, and final tempering.
He intended to divide these into a streamlined production line.
The high-heat refining step can be handled by ordinary craftsmen; as long as they can successfully master the temperature and quenching techniques, it shouldn't be difficult to complete after a period of training.
The Apricorn forging stage, however, is arguably the most difficult one. It required true blacksmiths to employ specialized forging techniques. This was the very issue Aven most urgently needed to solve, as regular craftsmen simply could not do it.
While forging the Apricorns, the blacksmith also needed to judge whether the internal capsule structure had formed, an additional complication that even master blacksmiths would need time to master.
As for the capture network and the remaining small components, those were precision work—over ten different parts had to be made to exacting standards, each requiring its own dedicated workshop.
From this alone, it was clear that establishing a full Poké Ball production line was an incredibly complex endeavor.
But in another sense, that very complexity was also its greatest safeguard—an excellent way to ensure the secrecy of Poké Ball manufacturing.
Even if someone with ill intentions were to obtain the crafting methods for one or two of the components, it would still be useless. Combined with their targeted confidentiality measures, the likelihood of the Poké Ball's production method leaking out was practically zero.
(End of Chapter)