Divine Plan? But I'm a Pokémon trainer.

Chapter 464 The Buried Tower and the Bellflower Tower
Besides the previous "ending", was there another situation where Link didn't die but the game inexplicably restarted?

Now that he has forgotten much of the details, he can only pay more attention to it in the upcoming simulations.

He then set off once again from the sea of ​​spider lilies, encountered the Moon Beast, and began this cycle of adventure methodically, until—

"The midday sun has already set, let's go to the ruins discovered by Polygon."

The midday TV series ended, and the group set off again, arriving at the southwest side of the island, where they discovered a tall tower embedded in a cliff, with half of its body submerged within it.

The tower appears to have weathered over many years and is not a product of this era.

However, the "seal" on it remains effective, isolating the tower buried in the cliff from the outside world and preventing the tower from collapsing.

"Fu..."

According to the fire fox's assessment, it can easily break the "seal," but what will happen after the seal is broken is uncertain.

Once a building that has been eroded by feng shui for many years is exposed to the light of day again, it may soon be destroyed—just like the desert tower that Youyao and his companion mentioned when they were bored in the submarine.

"This is a bit troublesome. We can see it but can't get in, and forcibly breaking in will cause problems."

The fire fox nodded. That's right. However, it could also try to unlock the "seal" without breaking it, simulating the situation of entering through legitimate channels.

However, it doesn't know the correct method, and checking and testing take time.

They probably don't have that much free time right now.

"While I'm not as good at it as the Fire Fox, I can basically do these things through brute force," suggested Porygon, who resides in the Pokédex. "How about we leave a sub-machine here to test it out slowly, and then come back to report the results to the Fire Fox after a while?"

Link had no objection. Perhaps by the next time he came, the matter of the Burial Tower would have been resolved?
The Porygon then left behind an exhaustive seal analysis of the Porygon instance, and the group returned to Azure City, spending the night in a unique inn...

……

The next morning, it was time to set off again.

"Without realizing it, I've already obtained five badges: Dragon Ice Ghost Steel Fighter. Am I actually faster this time than last time?"

"..."

Fire Fox hesitated, after all, no matter how much they traveled and sightseeed this time, they only followed the main road and did not go to other villages, towns or small dojos.

If you're a trainer from the first year when your team doesn't yet have Dragonite, it would take at least three months to beat all five gyms.

"If we explored every single side road, it would be like Ash's endless journey..."

The next target is very clear: Kikyo City, located north of Yoshihaya City.

Dragonite's flying speed was still reliable. Even at a leisurely pace, it crossed most of the Kanto region and arrived at this city surrounded by a sea of ​​trees and filled with the scent of antiquity by noon.

"The people and nature in this city are so close. Culturally it is similar to Enju, but the environment is closer to Yuenyu City... So are all the gym leaders Flying-type?"

"Ow?"

Upon hearing that the city's gym leader was also a Flying-type trainer, Dragonite, which had just returned to its Poké Ball, jumped out on its own.

It did practically nothing when it challenged the Dragon-type Gym last time, but this time it's its turn to step up and fight in single battles.

"what?"

Link paused for a moment. Asu was a new gym leader who had only recently succeeded his father. If Dragonite went, would there be any doubt?
Dragonite seemed to be thinking, "This isn't very interesting, so I'll just leave it at that."

Since there was no need to travel across regions for the foreseeable future, it lazily used the HOME system to return to the Dream Realm to fight in Langrisser. That said, the other non-main Pokémon in the team were now able to clear the main battle, and the remaining Bug-type Gym was really...

"Hey, let's not think about that too much for now, let's go sightseeing."

"Fu!"

The man and the fox headed straight for the Trumpet Sprout Tower in the northwest.

Even after traveling to so many places, seeing this local tower, swaying in the wind like a trumpet bud, still felt quite novel.

The tower has three floors and is constructed with a flexible structure, always looking like it's about to collapse. Legend has it that a trumpet bud over 30 meters tall was used to build the central pillar of the tower.

Monks in the tower practice with trumpet buds and even fight with visitors.

Judging from the fact that the Bell Sprout Tower has not collapsed over the years, the structure used solely for earthquake prevention might be much more reliable than the Bell Tower, which has already burned down.

"Fu?"

That said, there seem to be a lot of towers in the Johto region?

Having only been traveling in Johto for a month, I encountered bells, chimes, lighthouses, and the Tower of Buried Treasures and Trumpet Sprouts.

"Besides faiths in spirits like Ho-oin, the people of Johto were also most deeply influenced by Buddhism and Shugendo, among other things."

When it comes to culture and history, Link is much more interested than fighting newbies.

"These towers are a manifestation of Buddhist culture. They were originally intended to be places for enshrining relics and Buddhist scriptures, but they have developed into places for worshipping gods here. This is likely a product of the fusion with the belief in Shin'o Daizun."

"Although it has been extinct among modern Sinnoh people, spirit worship was very popular until the time of the Green Fairy more than a hundred years ago, and people believed in them as kings or gods."

"Jike?"

Hearing this, Chrysanthemum Leaf felt a little strange.

A hundred years is not a very long span for humankind, so why did this culture disappear in the Sinnoh/Senneau region?

"Well, I can't say for sure. We'd have to ask the people who participated in the development of Xicui back then what they went through, and what happened between the outsiders and the locals..."

Later, when you go to Sinnoh, bring the photos to Rin and find this archaeologist to learn more about her.

"Returning to the beliefs and culture of the Johto region, the Bell Tower and Bell Tower that you know are the result of the fusion of Sinnoh spirit worship and Johto Buddhism."

"And the trumpet bud tower in front of us is a product of Shugendo."

"The so-called Shugendo is actually a combination of Buddhism and various other miscellaneous beliefs. It advocates strengthening the mind and body through ascetic practices in the mountains, and it hides the belief of mountainous regions in the mountains themselves."

“Things like Ah-Si deliberately being hit by the waterfall every day, Pine Leaf freely training his spiritual vision to open his clairvoyance (b++), and the monks of the Bell Sprout Tower training with Bell Sprout are basically part of Shugendo.”

Of course, there are also some more dangerous methods of cultivation, such as locking a person in a cold, dark cave with the Five Heart Locks in the dead of winter, without food or water for a full 24 hours, etc.

It's difficult to tell whether an extreme practitioner is cultivating themselves or courting death.

Due to their inherent dangers, the Alliance has banned a large portion of the repair methods.

Therefore, in the Johto region today, training at the level of the Bell Sprout Tower has become relatively mainstream.

(End of this chapter)