Shiro didn't know how things were in other regions, but in Galar, the number of trainers stuck at the Advanced level was the highest.
For Pokémon around level thirty, even those with average talent could be forced to that stage with enough time and limited resources. It just usually took several years.
During those years, some Pokémon with short lifespans, like Bug-types, might already grow old before they even had the chance to advance further. Their strength would start to decline before they could make any real progress.
An ordinary wilderness trainer spent every day carefully avoiding battles. Only after a Dynamax den ended would they gather some energy particles or capture weak Pokémon to sell, barely scraping by to support the needs of a few Pokémon.
Without special berries or experience candies, it could take six or seven years for a normal Rookidee to grow to level thirty or so, just by eating low quality Pokéblocks. Yet, a Rookidee's natural lifespan was only about three years. After evolving into a Corvisquire, it could live around ten years. But whether it could reach level thirty-eight and evolve again before aging became a big question. If it stopped battling and lived idly, it might survive longer, but that was impossible.
If it ever got injured, that would lead to even bigger problems.
Some trainers with slightly better talent might take two or three years to raise a Rookidee to Advanced-level Corvisquire, then another year or two to train it into a Corviknight. After evolution, its strength would greatly improve, but most of the Pokémon's potential would have been used up. Without a strong growth boost from evolution, its strength would quickly hit a ceiling.
Without strong connections, money, or the courage to take big risks, an ordinary wilderness trainer would never reach the Gym-level. By the time those trainers grew old themselves, after years of raising and trading, they could afford to steadily maintain a few Advanced-level Pokémon. But that was usually their limit.
The reason why there were so many Flying Taxis across Galar was exactly because of this. Who would raise a Corviknight to Gym-level only to pull passengers around the wilderness? It made more sense to join a big corporation and work for them.
If they had to be transport tools anyway, the corporations would at least pay better than random wilderness jobs. Plus, given Corviknight's lifespan, as long as nothing unexpected happened, it would be able to stay with its trainer until the end of their life.
"Being a corporate lackey is the best. Having a secure position really feels good," Shiro muttered as he hugged the pouncing Growlithe and roughly ruffled its furry head.
This time, the mission he completed had brought plenty of rewards, but also a lot of danger. Luckily, most of the problems had been solved by now.
The decayed Sword and Shield he picked up would stay in his backpack gathering dust for a while. According to the storyline, it would still take years before Rose collected enough Dynamax energy to revive Eternatus.
Who knew what the world would look like by then? If Shiro could survive until that time, he would at least be an Elite-level trainer. With that kind of strength, anything he wanted to do would become much easier.
As for now...
"Haaaunter!"
The newly evolved Haunter floated around the bedroom, holding the Dusk Stone tightly in its hands. Its body had grown much larger after evolving, finally matching the size of its big brother Corvisquire. It was clearly overjoyed.
Corvisquire, on the other hand, stayed calm. It simply perched quietly on Shiro's shoulder. As the oldest member of the team, it was much steadier than Haunter or Growlithe.
"Alright," Shiro said as he gently stroked Corvisquire's feathers a few more times, then started listing out the gains from this trip.
The disobedient Sableye had been exchanged for an Advanced-quality Dusk Stone.
Then there were the spoils he got from the Stow-on-Side Gym Leader. Five Pokémon in total, all of them Fighting-type and at the Gym-level. However, they probably would not listen to orders. Their real value would depend on what the black market merchants were willing to offer.
He also had the two Trapinch he had caught by chance in the ruins. Both were at the Advanced-level.
Shiro could now easily view the information of the two:
[Name: Trapinch
Type: Ground
Level: 34 (Advanced)
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Held Item: None]
The other Trapinch was almost identical, except its level was slightly lower at 33.
"If only I could see their moves..." Shiro murmured as he scratched his head, then put the two Poké Balls away.
If he could check their move sets, he could judge their talent more accurately. But since there was always the black market, he planned to have a merchant there appraise them instead. He would sell the weaker one and slowly train the better one.
Trapinch was an interesting Pokémon. At first, it was purely Ground-type, but after evolving, it would gain the Dragon-type too.
Since it was considered a dragon species, it had decent potential, and Trapinch was relatively rare. It was definitely worth raising.
Other than the Pokémon, the rest of Shiro's gains included the abilities he received from Zacian and Zamazenta, along with the rusted Sword and Shield.
He had already tested the ability gifted by Zacian, but it was pretty useless for now. It only had a basic detection function, and even that was very limited. He was not satisfied with it at all.
But the power from Zamazenta was different.
Although he hadn't fully tested it yet, he could feel his strength growing every day. The muscles he had trained before were now becoming denser and stronger.
Shiro even felt like he could take on his Advanced-level Trapinch with his bare hands. Of course, it was just a feeling; he hadn't tried it out yet.
He thought about going to the training room to test his physical ability and try to calculate how it would compare to a Pokémon's level. After all, humans could have traits similar to Fighting-types too. Many people were capable of fighting Pokémon hand-to-hand.
'Maybe compared to mental power, my talent leans more toward the physical side?' Shiro thought. 'My Psychic-type ability is pretty weak, but Fighting-type seems okay?'
It sounded reasonable to him. Lots of dual-type Pokémon were naturally stronger in one type. The same could happen with humans. Like Caitlin from Sinnoh, or Sabrina from Kanto. Even Bea, whom he had met before at Stow-on-Side.
Speaking of that... Shiro still wasn't sure if that Eldon guy was really Bea's father. He was so weak, it seemed like he had never trained his body at all.
Shiro shook the thought away since he couldn't figure it out anyway. He pulled out his communicator and checked the time. It was already close to noon. He glanced at Haunter, who was still playing with Growlithe, and decided to restart his training plan tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Haunter, still laughing in mid-air, used both hands to stretch its mouth open and made a goofy face with its somewhat unfamiliar claws.
"Haaaaunter~"
"Growl! Growl! Growl!"
Growlithe jumped up trying to catch him, but every time the Ghost-type easily floated higher to dodge.
Seeing them play, Dreepy finally crept out from the shadows. It floated between Haunter and Growlithe, curiously studying the former's now larger form.
"Dree?"
Since Dreepy hadn't seen Haunter evolve, it thought this was probably some relative of Gastly.
"Haaaaun..."
Haunter blew out a ring of black mist that wrapped around itself like a ghostly flame, making Dreepy stare in amazement.
On the other side, Shiro clapped his hands against his cheeks to wake himself up. He had made up his mind. He had to get stronger while this short window of peace lasted.
As for this afternoon, he was planning to visit the black market. With that thought, Shiro grabbed his bag and headed out for lunch.
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