Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game

Yuanling Island is developing rapidly. Xia Chen has only been gone for a few months, and it has already undergone significant changes.

The newly opened Pokémon Center, Pokémon Shop, and Hotel have made this lake island even more lively, and even during the closed season, there are still many visitors.

There are trainers and ordinary people.

Trainers mostly aim to capture the Pokémon on this island. Perhaps based on some mystical idea, they unanimously believe that even the wild Pokémon on Xia Chen's island are stronger and have higher potential than those in other places.

However, to be fair, they were right. First, there was Groudon's shell buried underground on the island, and then several legendary Pokémon moved in. Under the influence of these factors, the island's resources were very rich, and they were all imbued with the "spiritual energy" of the legendary Pokémon, which greatly benefited the Pokémon on Spirit Island.

The trainers who captured them quickly discovered this, and through the spread and amplification of the internet, it eventually formed this craze.

However, not just anyone can tame the spirits of Yuanling Island.

Since Xia Chen took over Yuanling Island, the quality of life of wild Pokémon has greatly improved, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is better than that of Pokémon raised by ordinary trainers.

Therefore, they are not like wild elves that can be bribed and lured away by a little energy cube or other benefits.

This has resulted in many trainers wanting to capture Pokémon, but few actually succeeding.

The booming tourism industry brought Xia Chen more income, which he invested entirely in the continued development of the island and in subsidizing the wild elves.

It's not that he's particularly noble or virtuous; it's just that this income is a drop in the ocean compared to Energy Cube's main business.

In the past two years, under Jiang Qian's leadership, the Energy Cube business has continued to grow rapidly. In addition to the [Gorgeous] series represented by the Beautiful Energy Cube, the [Secret] high-end series of Energy Cubes, developed based on the Secret Plant, is extremely popular.

After all, compared to the flashy series, the secret series, which can strengthen the body and heal injuries, is a necessity for trainers.

Due to limited production capacity, each batch of Power Cubes is almost sold out as soon as it hits the shelves, and the price of Secret Power Cubes on the second-hand market can almost double.

It's hard to imagine that this craze was started by an energy cube manufacturing company, which is considered a sunset industry.

In any case, based on the data provided by Jiang Qian, Xia Chen can now confidently say that "money is just a string of numbers to me."

However, while the company's revenue is indeed substantial, its investment and expenditure are also enormous. In addition to the construction of new energy block factories and production lines, the largest investment is in the research projects of the Washing Green Research Institute.

The key projects include Goodra, Ursaring's evolved form, and Zorroark.

The good news is that the invested research and development funds have finally yielded results. Xia Chen, who had just returned, received some good news: the research on the evolutionary form of the Circle Bear has made great progress.

Chapter 474 The Evolution of the Circle Bear Appears: Moon Bear!

December 5th, Minor Snow.

This is the first snowfall of winter on Yuanling Island. It's a bit early for Zhijiang, which is located in the south. The snow fell on the still lush and green vegetation, and it didn't look like snow. It looked more like willow catkins flying all over the sky.

Around noon, thunder rumbled from the back mountain, but this was not natural lightning; it was the sound of the captured Lightning Bird generating electricity, which now supplies all the power to the entire Yuanling Island.

This sounds a bit tragic, but the total amount of electricity generated isn't that large. After all, it's a legendary elf, and basically, generating electricity for the power station for two hours every week is more than enough.

Xia Chen first learned about this late at night.

He was fast asleep when the thunder woke him up. He wondered why there would be thunder in winter, only to realize that Zapdos was acting crazy... no, I mean, generating electricity.

This guy has been doing whatever he wants ever since he came to Yuanling Island. He posts whenever he remembers, regardless of whether it's day or night, or whether it will disturb the neighbors.

The thunder could be heard throughout the entire Yuanling Island, but everyone dared not speak out against it.

After all, this is a Zapdos; who would dare to complain about it?

Things will be different when Xia Chen comes back.

A headache from the noise prompted Xia Chen to run over and scold it for disturbing the peace at night, telling it to generate electricity during the day from now on.

Zapdos reluctantly agreed, now it was its turn to be angry but dared not speak out.

After teaching Zapdos a lesson, Xia Chen returned to his room satisfied. He then chased Gardevoir, who had sneaked into his bed to warm the covers, back to his room before finally falling into a deep sleep.

Let's rewind to the present.

After finishing lunch amidst the sound of thunder, Xia Chen and the elves cleaned up the table.

"I'm going to the Emerald Elf Research Institute this afternoon. Anyone want to come along?"

Xia Chen sought the elves' opinions.

After resting for several days after returning home, he finally had enough rest and prepared to inspect the research institute.

The person in charge said that the evolution of the Circle Bear had made progress and it might evolve in a couple of days. Xia Chen certainly didn't want to miss this opportunity.

"Sanai~ (I'll go with you.)"

Gardevoir, who was using her superpowers to clear away the dishes, was the first to sign up. Besides being quite attached to Xia Chen, there was another important reason: she was the Pokémon in the world that understood the Green Pokémon the most.

Having spent so much time in that simulator world that was so realistic it was almost unreal, she had a general understanding of why these elves came into being.

Even the item [Peat Block] that allows the Circular Bear to evolve was something she brought from the simulation world for Xia Chen.

However, this is not the only condition for the evolution of the Circly Bear, which is why that form was not researched so quickly.

Now, the other conditions for evolution are met, and the elf named Moonbear may reappear after a thousand years.

…………

In the end, only Gardevoir and Zoroark stayed with Xia Chen.

After all, the Emerald Elf Research Institute is located on a small island next to Yuanling Island, so it's not a long journey.

The research institute is located on a small island called Silver Island, which is a satellite island of Yuanling Island. It is very small, just big enough to house a large research institute.

The head of the research institute is Lu Yao, an outstanding young researcher whom Xia Chen met a long time ago when he was still researching beauty and the evolution of Milotic.

My first paper was co-authored with her, and I also communicated with her to some extent about my subsequent research on elves. When I established the research institute, it was only natural that I recruited her.

This girl is ambitious. She could have followed her elf grandma to gain seniority, but she insisted on coming directly to Xia Chen's fledgling Xi Cui Elf Research Institute as the person in charge.

And she is indeed capable. After Xia Chen provided the conceptual framework and key tools, she became a hands-off manager and quickly achieved results in just over a year.

"All the data from the testing instruments show that this girl is getting closer and closer to evolution."

With his refined appearance and capable demeanor, Director Lu led Xia Chen to the breeding room of the Circle Bear, which currently has the highest chance of successfully evolving, and introduced it in this way.

The circle bear she called "girl" was none other than the former overlord of Circle Island, the special, oddly colored circle bear.

The two, a human and a bear, were already quite familiar with each other, and their reunion, while not particularly touching, was still rather heartwarming.

Xia Chen smiled and stroked the green bear's head, which had come closer to show affection, saying, "Congratulations! You might become the world's first... uh, evolved circle bear."

He paused for a moment because Ursaring's evolved form didn't have a name yet.

The Ursaring nodded and replied, "Kuma... (It's almost there, it feels just like when I evolved before...)"

Xia Chen reassured Lu Yao a few more times, telling her not to be nervous, and then walked out of the incubation room with her.

The two walked and talked in the corridor.

Lu Yao explained, "Besides the [Peat Block] item you provided, another key element should be the Ground-type energy within the body, which is somewhat similar to the evolution conditions of Sylveon."

However, she didn't make any absolute statements, adding, "If she really does evolve successfully."

Xia Chen nodded, "There was a Groudon's shell buried under the ground of Yuanling Island before, and Ursaring was the one that benefited the most, so this deduction is reasonable."

Lu Yao smiled slightly and said, "Not only that, the composition of peat blocks has also been roughly analyzed. We are currently in the experimental stage of artificial synthesis, and we expect to synthesize the first batch after the new year. We hope it will be successful."

Xia Chen smiled and said, "No rush, take your time."

As a fellow elf researcher, he knew that failure would likely be the main theme of the experiment before success.

…………

After leaving the research building where Quan Quan Xiong was located, the two entered the Xi Cui Nian Mei Long base.

A senior researcher from the institute explained the project's progress: "Currently, the research on the Steel-type Sticky Dragon is progressing rather slowly. We are still creating wetland environments rich in Steel-type energy elements. The first batch of Sticky Treasures has already been put into cultivation."

This is the general direction for the cultivation of *Emerald chinensis* given by Xia Chen, starting from the environmental conditions for growth and cultivation.

As for why he was so sure... it was mainly due to Gardevoir's reminder, which Xia Chen naturally followed.

Compared to the circle bear, the research on the green worm is destined to be a slow process.

Although the difference between the normal form and the emerald form only became apparent in the second-order form of Numei, everyone knows that their genes were already quite different during the Numei period.

Therefore, the first generation of Goomy that was bred could not directly evolve into the Green-colored Goodra. Only after generations of breeding could it mutate into a true Goodra with a steel shell.

This process may be short, but it is more likely to be long, during which time the research institute will need to continuously adjust various elements for cultivating wetlands.

Furthermore, raising a pseudo-legendary character like Goohoo is very resource-intensive, which means that the investment in this project will be enormous.

Fortunately, there's another company, Energy Cube, whose money-making speed is comparable to a money-printing machine, to fill this bottomless pit of funds.

Even Xia Chen had to admit that cutting-edge research on Pokémon was incredibly expensive.

The last major project is also the Ghost Zoroark.

Xia Chen also learned from Gardevoir that his family's special Zoroark was a unique Pokémon from the Green Era, but it had "reverted" to its ancestral form due to special circumstances.

Compared to the research on Ursaring and Goodra, Zoroark has hit a bottleneck.

According to Gardevoir, the appearance of the ghost Zoroark is most likely due to Zoroark's immense suffering in its previous life, which led to its reincarnation filled with endless resentment.

This clue put Xia Chen in a very difficult position—

You can't just capture two Zoroarks, torture them to death, and then use them for experiments...

Putting aside the rarity of the Soroark, this research method is something Xia Chen could never accept or agree to.

He is not a mad scientist who would stop at nothing or even resort to perverse acts to achieve a certain goal.

So for now, all we can do is create an environment with a strong ghost energy aura, put a few little Zoroahs in that environment and see if a miracle happens.

…………

The Washing Green Elf Research Institute is neither very big nor very small.

After walking around the entire area, it was already getting dark.

After Xia Chen and Lu Yao finished discussing the future development plan of the research institute, they were about to return when good news came from the institute.

The variegated Ursaring's physical stats have reached a critical point—it's about to evolve!

Xia Chen couldn't miss such a moment, so he rushed back to the Circle Bear Breeding Base, waiting for the exciting moment to arrive.

To be honest, this is more significant than the appearance of Goodra or Zoroark, since Xia Chen already has the former two in stock, while Ursaring's evolved form is a genuine first appearance.

Back in that excessively spacious little den of the green bear, the bear's body was now emitting a faint white glow.

Anyone with even a little knowledge of Pokémon knows that this is a sign of impending evolution.