Elf: I have a secret realm of emerald green.

[She has just awakened and is not fully conscious, but Magiana is a spirit that can sense hearts. Calm your mind and try to get her to accept you.]

Xia Shen's telepathic message brought her a little peace of mind. A calm mind... she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Without saying another word, Yan Yan placed his palm on Mayiya's heart on her chest, conveying his feelings to her.

“Ma... machine…”

A delicate white flower suddenly bloomed from Maya's hand, blossoming in its full glory.

……

Yan Yan and Magiya went off to the side to cultivate their relationship, and Tapu Butterfly, who was extremely interested in Hun Xin and Magiya, followed them.

The remaining boxes could only be opened by Xia Shen. As expected, after the Soul Heart, the boxes contained only Radiant Stones and Z-Crystals.

Or other valuable spirit items that also exist in the outside world.

Having seen the ocean, one finds it hard to be impressed by a mere stream. Compared to Magiana, these things no longer hold much interest for Xia Shen.

After separating Yan Yan's portion and categorizing it neatly in the space, Xia Shen contentedly tallied up today's gains.

Several Pokémon items worth over 100 million, a Magearna that may be unique in the world, several Ultra Balls, a pile of documents, and a dozen or so metal boxes of unknown but very special material...

Xia Shen glanced at Tapu Lele talking to Magearna and thought to himself, "Oh well, I'll add Tapu Lele's friendship to the mix..."

I hope I'm not just imagining things.

…………

A crescent moon hangs high in the sky, stars twinkle, and yet, wisps of smoke rise from the island's chimneys in the dead of night.

Tapu Lele watched Xia Shen start a fire and cook, and asked curiously, "[Didn't I just use energy to eliminate your hunger? You're hungry again so quickly?]"

Xia Shen used his superpower to control the wok-tossing action, replying, "Humans are creatures controlled by all sorts of needs... or rather, desires. The feeling of being full is just the most basic survival need."

[Is creating life also a form of these desires?]

"Maybe so. The desire to create, the desire to explore, the desire to control... After people are full, their minds start to wander into all sorts of things... Tibrim, turn the fire up a bit."

"Cloth~"

[......]

As Tapu Lele smelled the fragrance wafting in the air, she surprisingly felt a touch of empathy for Xia Shen's words.

"Okay, Tibrim, put the fire away... Alright, Guardian Angel, would you like to try this stir-fried Slowpoke Tail with green onions?"

Xia Shen skillfully used his superpowers to plate the stir-fried dishes and extended a warm invitation to Tapu Lele.

Tapu Lele hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly flew over, muttering all the while.

[If it doesn't taste good, I'll get angry.]

Using her telekinesis to control the first, still steaming, Slowpoke tail entrance, Tapu Lele's face showed an expression of amazement in the firelight.

"Is it alright?" Xia Shen asked with a smile, looking at Tapu Lele who had stopped enjoying herself.

[It's just so-so.]

That being said, the number of Slowpoke tails floating in the dish in front of Tapu Lele was steadily decreasing.

"Eat less, save some room, there's more food to come." Like an old father instructing a greedy child, Xia Shen finished speaking and urged Tibrim to continue cooking.

[......]

Tapu Lele stared blankly at Xia Shen and the elves who were still busy, lost in thought.

…………

Although the Soul Heart and Maya, which are probably the most valuable items in the ruins, have been found, Xia Shen wondered if there might be something else he had missed.

The next day, he and Yan Yan went to explore the ruins again, but this time, Tapu Lele was not with them.

It mysteriously disappeared again after dinner last night, and this time, it hasn't come out since.

Xia Shen thought he had developed some affection for it, but he didn't expect it to be nothing more than a creature that could leave without saying goodbye.

Thinking of its ruthless side, Xia Shen could only shake his head regretfully.

This exploration of the ruins didn't yield any noteworthy results, but that was within Xia Shen's expectations, so he wasn't too disappointed.

Including this day, this is Xia Shen and Yan Yan's fifth day in the secret realm. They have already achieved their main objectives for coming here—

In helping Meilutan find her family, Yan Yan also captured her sixth spirit.

They even had many unexpected gains, so the two decided to return to the real world the next day.

They had agreed with Lilff for seven days at the time.

The following morning, a Garchomp, not native to the Secret Realm, slowly took off from the babbling hill, followed by the farewells of the native Pokémon with whom it had spent a short but pleasant time.

However, compared to when they entered the secret realm, Xia Shen had over twenty more metal pendants on his person on the return journey...

That's right, the entire Meilutan tribe has become attached to Xia Shen and refuses to leave.

But this time, he didn't actively lure them away; instead, he was entangled by these little screws, as if they were stuck to Xia Shen's clothes, and he couldn't shake them off no matter what he did.

Helpless, Xia Shen could only take them all out to raise. After all, raising one is raising one, raising twenty or more is still raising one.

It's just a matter of having a few more mouths to feed the screws.

Pulling his thoughts back, Xia Shen looked back and saw that Akala Island was already a small black dot in his field of vision.

What he didn't see was that after Garchomp took off, a deep pink Pokémon watched Xia Shen and the others' departing figures until they disappeared from sight.

------------

Chapter 268 Magiana's Practical Training

The first thing Xia Shen and Yan Yan did after leaving the secret realm was to go back to their residence, take a hot bath, and then have a good night's sleep.

The two returned to their temporary seaside villa in the morning and didn't get out of bed until late in the day, feeling refreshed.

When they got up, they discovered that Lilyf Alice, who had learned of their return, had sent them a message inviting them to dinner.

Xia Shen thought about it and decided to invite the two of them to his place. He believed that social interactions should be reciprocal, and it wouldn't be right to always go to someone else's place to freeload.

Perhaps considering that Xia Shen and Yan Yan were tired from their journey after leaving the secret realm, the two readily agreed and soon arrived here following the location.

Although this place doesn't have the extravagance of a royal palace, it has the advantage of being relaxed and comfortable.

The four of them and the elves enjoyed the evening breeze on the beach, eating and chatting about their trip to the secret realm.

Since the discovery of the secret realm belongs to its discoverer, a rule established since the realm's inception, Yan Yan did not hide anything from Magiana and generously allowed the mechanical girl to appear at the banquet.

"You've only been inside for a few days, and you've already encountered so many amazing things... Lost civilizations, artificial elves, the Ironfire Kaguya, the island guardians..." Lilif said with some emotion, holding the flowers presented by Magiana.

"I estimate I spent about a year in the secret realm, and it feels like that time was wasted."

Alice comforted and reassured her, "Come on, don't you have a Sildenafil Beast too?"

“Speaking of Sildenafil... I found this in those ruins.” Xia Shen took out the combat storage disc.

The first to realize what this was was not Lilif, but Silvally.

It seemed to have an unusual sense for the battle storage disc, and as soon as Xia Shen took it out, it came over and stared at it intently.

"This is... a storage disk with other attributes?" Lillif asked in surprise, belatedly realizing what was happening.

Xia Shen nodded with a smile.

“The Royal Treasury, three items!” Lilif offered her terms without hesitation.

Xia Shen readily accepted; this was already a bit higher than he had expected. As expected of a Hawaiian princess, she was indeed generous.

…………

Trusting the wealthy man, Xia Shen handed the storage disc directly to Lilyf.

The girl excitedly challenged Xia Shen to a spirit challenge, but was stopped by Alice, who had a dark expression on her face.

"The Royal Battle is in a few days, you'll have plenty of opportunities to fight then."

Xia Shen was speechless. Could that royal battle be the same four people eating together right now?

Lilif stuck out her tongue, sat back down, looked at Yan Yan, and asked curiously, "Will you use this newly captured Magearna in Royal Battles?"

Yan Yan clearly hadn't considered this question. She thought for a moment, then glanced at Magiana, who was chatting with her Sildenafil, and replied, "No way... she only woke up a few days ago, and she doesn't even..."

"Maji—"

Magiana suddenly turned around. Her mechanical face was expressionless, but somehow it conveyed her current feelings.

Yan Yan paused for a moment, then asked, "Magiana, do you want to fight?"

"Maji!"

Magiana nodded firmly, revealing a strong fighting spirit.

Xia Shen looked at her thoughtfully.

He had a vague premonition that Magiana's fighting spirit might be related to events before that civilization was destroyed.

However, Xia Shen also attempted to communicate with Magiana at night in the secret realm, using Zoroark as a bridge, in an effort to trace back the past of civilization.

But Maya couldn't remember anything.

Perhaps the memories were buried in the dust of time, but they left an indelible mark on her heart.

…………

Since Magiana wanted to fight, Yan Yan naturally wouldn't refuse. However, since subduing Magiana, she had never trained or fought.

Therefore, the already postponed Royal Battle was delayed again by two weeks to give Magiana time to adjust.

For Liliffe, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, because she planned to use this royal battle as a fulcrum to officially announce to the world the civilization that once existed in the secret realm of Hawaii.

The main characters are the two artificial spirits of that civilization, Silvally and Magearna!

Xia Shen naturally wouldn't refuse; he and Yan Yan were the discoverers of this civilization and would definitely benefit from it as well.

Regardless of what happens next, for now, the most valuable things from that civilization's ruins are already in Xia Shen's space.

The four of them talked about Magiana and civilization alone from evening until late at night.

After seeing the princess and Alice off, Xia Shen realized that he hadn't told them about the Ultra Beasts yet.