By the time the 'Five-Nation Summit' concluded and Lorelei finally met up with Giovanni, three full days had passed on Caleb's side...
During those three days, the 'Friend Out of Thin Air' skill had reset and activated twice, but neither summon was who Caleb hoped for. Instead, Officer Jenny from Celadon City and Nurse Joy from Snowpoint City had appeared.
Meanwhile, the marketplace in his territory had refreshed several times. Compared to before, it now offered new items, the most valuable of which were the Sow Discord Card and the Territory Illusion Function.
- Sow Discord Card: Sever diplomatic ties between two player territories, forcing them into a hostile state and triggering automatic attacks between them...
- Territory Illusion Function: Alter your territory's outward appearance, allowing you to freely switch its visual tier between Lv1 to Lv5 (visible only to enemies), rendering enemy scouts ineffective...
The Sow Discord Card's utility was obvious, but compared to the Illusion Function, it paled in significance.
No one played the 'humble village idiot' better than Caleb.
The moment he purchased both items, he activated the Illusion Function, instantly transforming his newly upgraded Lv5 territory, which was now a bustling city, into the shabby, into a humble lv2 village.
Outside the territory, Nurse Joy, who had just been summoned, let out a surprised gasp: "Wow!"
Seeing her reaction, Caleb led his entourage of Pokémon out of the territory. Sure enough, the moment his right foot left the territory, its appearance shifted from a thriving city to a modest village.
Inside, of course, everything remained unchanged.
Nurse Joy's eyes sparkled as she ran over. She asked, glancing toward Mewtwo, "How did you do that? Is it one of your Pokémon's abilities?"
Mewtwo heard the question but didn't answer. Instead, it looked toward Caleb. The meaning was clear, and Nurse Joy quickly caught on.
Following Mewtwo's gaze, she focused on the tall, strikingly handsome young man...
This morning, she'd been startled by the sudden appearance of a portal. But driven by curiosity and her adventurous spirit, she stepped through it after only a few seconds of hesitation.
Then she saw the young man who was surrounded by a group of diverse Pokémon, some adorable, some imposing.
They were all curiously observing her.
After Caleb explained the situation, Nurse Joy quickly accepted it and happily enjoyed her rare 'otherworldly day trip'.
But for some reason, she felt a strange familiarity about the young man, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
Facing this Nurse Joy, the very same one who he'd once briefly met in Snowpoint City, Caleb nodded and lied with a straight face, "It's Mewtwo's ability."
'Mewtwo...' Nurse Joy recalled a recent article she'd read in the Pokémon Daily.
It had described Mewtwo as a 'mysterious humanoid Pokémon', 'first discovery', 'incredible power', and 'unknown origin'.
Since Pokémon were capable of near-miraculous feats, she accepted Caleb's explanation without suspicion.
But she still studied him, hesitating before finally asking, "Excuse me… have we met before?"
Caleb thought: 'You've not only met me, but you held me in your arms...'
Back when he had just entered the Transformation and Substitution Instance, when he'd been turned into a little kid, it was this very Nurse Joy who'd taken care of him.
But he didn't say that. Instead, he shrugged lightly, "Maybe when I challenged the Gym in Snowpoint City?"
"Ohhh, no wonder you seemed familiar," Joy said, but a nagging doubt still lingered in her mind.
Caleb didn't give her time to dwell on it. He immediately had Dragonite and a few other Pokémon take her on a tour. Even though this was a virtual world, the scenery was still quite nice.
At his command, Dragonite let out an eager cry and nudged Joy's shoulder with his big head, inviting her to climb onto his back...
After sending Nurse Joy off, Caleb returned to the farm plot to continue to harvest food for future needs.
Over the past three days, he'd successfully upgraded his territory and all key facilities to Lv5. He had also quietly dealt with several players who'd been eyeing him suspiciously.
All over the world, battles raged on. Every day, large numbers of players were eliminated from the game.
The Glazed Volcano region was no exception. But strangely, aside from a few provocations early on, no one had attacked his territory in recent days.
Yesterday, Caleb even watched a squad of NPCs bypass his territory to attack another player's base.
It was as if they all knew this place wasn't worth provoking.
Caleb: "…"
That was awkward. He'd even prepared for battle.
But the reason was easy to guess.
They must've realized this was Caleb's territory. And who was Caleb? Number one on the Infinite World power rankings. The first player to own a Mewtwo. He was clearly not someone they could afford to mess with.
Seeing this, Caleb didn't interfere. He continued farming and expanding his city.
Indeed, as his territory leveled up, it's size and land coverage had also increased. According to the map, he now controlled one-fifth of the entire Glazed Volcano region.
Compared to Day 1, his territory had completely transformed from a backward village into a massive city.
Caleb looked at the map. After three days, only eighteen players remained in the Glazed Volcano region.
The game had entered its climax.
Each region would have only one winner. Once unified, players would face off against winners from other regions.
That would be the climax of the game.
Caleb wasn't worried. He had plenty of cards up his sleeve. Beyond his early development advantage and troop numbers, he had Arceus and Giratina, two god-tier external reinforcements.
He even had an unused Rewind opportunity, which he saved for the perfect moment...
…
The next morning, 'Friend Out of Thin Air' ended its summon duration.
As Caleb sent Nurse Joy off, he handed her two letters.
Holding the letters, Nurse Joy asked, "What are these?"
"Please help me deliver these to House #207 in Celestic Town." Caleb said earnestly.
"Celestic Town?" Joy echoed.
Caleb nodded, "My family lives there. I can't leave this place or contact the outside world right now…"
Joy smiled softly, "I see. In that case, leave it to me!"
Caleb offered her a pouch of League Coins, "Thank you."
Nurse Joy declined, "No need for payment! I should be thanking you for yesterday's hospitality!"
"Then I won't insist," Caleb said with a grateful nod, "I really appreciate it!"
"Goodbye!" Nurse Joy smiled warmly, then jumped into the dimensional rift with the two letters.