Pokemon: I'm a Farmer

The Pokémon on this layer were clearly much stronger than those on the previous layer. However, groups of Pokémon appeared much less frequently. Most of the Pokémon living here roamed alone.

Apart from Sandslash, the most powerful Pokémon Rex and his team encountered was a Steelix. This type of Pokémon evolves from Onix when it holds a Metal Coat and undergoes a trade.

However, Rex knew that wild Onix wouldn't have such evolution conditions, so they must have other ways to evolve. This process likely involves continuous forging under the high temperatures and immense pressure deep underground. After all, most wild Steelix are known to live in the depths of the earth.

Of course, this method of evolution is just a hypothesis by Pokémon researchers, as no one has ever witnessed the entire process of an Onix evolving into a Steelix underground.

What people have discovered are wild Steelix occasionally encountered in deep underground caves, from which researchers deduced the natural conditions required for their evolution.

But this wasn't the most critical point. The key issue was that Rex and his team encountered such a giant creature underground, which was extremely dangerous.

If they were on the surface, Rex wouldn't have feared Steelix. However, underground tunnels were narrow and prone to collapse. Even slight movements by Steelix could cause falling rocks.

Fortunately, Combusken and Machoke acted preemptively. Combusken used Flamethrower to roast Steelix's body, and Machoke followed up with a Heavy Slam directly on Steelix's head, knocking it unconscious. This saved them from a full-scale battle.

Still, such an attack only knocked Steelix out for a short while. Before Rex and his team could get far, they heard loud noises behind them, signaling the Steelix waking up and causing destruction in its anger.

Luckily, Steelix seemed to develop a fear of them after being knocked out. Instead of recklessly chasing them, it wreaked havoc for a while and then disappeared.

After wandering for several hours, Rex and Mai finally arrived at the third marker point.

Similar to the first marker point, they had to break through the rock walls to obtain the items inside. However, instead of a single mine-like structure, this area had numerous excavation marks scattered throughout the rock walls of a vast tunnel network.

In other words, the third excavation site referred to this entire area. With so many places to dig, Rex felt that even if they spent months here, they wouldn't be able to explore even a small section of it. Thus, they could only randomly pick spots that seemed promising.

It's worth noting that the Aron didn't leave but continued following them. Perhaps the scarcity of Pokémon groups on this layer or the lack of territorial disputes made these steel Pokémon more comfortable wandering around.

Rex found this odd but decided not to trouble the Aron as long as they didn't pose a threat.

Given the vast excavation area, they found a suitable camping spot nearby without much effort. This campsite had a clear water pond, with wild Pokémon living in and around it.

When Rex touched the pond water, he found it icy cold. Washing his face with the water invigorated him, driving away much of the fatigue from their journey.

"Watch out!"

Just as Rex was about to turn and leave, he heard Mai's sudden exclamation.

Before Rex could react, a transparent energy shield appeared around him. Haunter emerged from Rex's shadow and launched a Shadow Ball toward the pond's surface.

It turned out that as Rex turned around, a Carvanha had leaped out of the pond, aiming to bite him. Fortunately, Haunter used Protect to block the attack.

After being hit by Haunter's Shadow Ball, the Carvanha fainted and floated belly-up in the pond.

"Rex, are you okay? That was so close!" Mai said with lingering fear.

"I'm fine. Thanks to Haunter's quick response. I need to be more vigilant," Rex replied, patting Haunter's head in gratitude.

Reflecting on the incident, Rex realized he had become a bit complacent lately. He was relieved the Carvanha didn't attack while he was washing his hands; otherwise, Haunter might not have reacted in time. Although it wouldn't have been fatal, an injury was almost certain.

From then on, Rex became much more cautious. He always had a Pokémon accompany him wherever he went to guard against sudden attacks. Mai did the same, with Gallade always by her side for protection.

In the following days, Rex and Mai dug at spots they thought might contain Mega Stones. The rock walls here were relatively fragile, making it easy to chip off large chunks of stone. However, their findings were less fruitful than those at the first marker point.

The Aron, observing their behavior, began mimicking them. Some used their steel claws to scrape the rock walls, while others used Iron Head to bash them, knocking down large chunks of stone.

At first, the Aron seemed to be doing this for fun. But when they uncovered rare ores, their enthusiasm soared.

Although Aron often sought iron ores to eat, such ores weren't typically found in this area. This time, following Rex and Mai brought them to a location where they could find their favorite rare ores.

Excited by this discovery, the Aron focused on digging. Despite the low density of rare ores in the area, the sheer number of Aron meant they frequently uncovered some. They would immediately eat the rare ores they found and continue digging afterward.

One particularly bold Aron even dug just a few meters away from Rex, completely ignoring the "two-legged beast" nearby.

Amused, Rex stopped his own digging to observe the Aron as it used its head to bash the rock wall. The Aron seemed unbothered by Rex's attention, fixated on finding rare ores.

Suddenly, Rex noticed a Dusk Stone among the rubble chipped off by the Aron. However, the Aron paid no attention to the evolution stone, continuing its search for rare ores.

"Wait a moment, Aron!"

Rex called out to the head-bashing Aron and quickly walked over.

The Aron paused, tilting its head in confusion as if wondering why the human was interrupting its search for food.

"Aron, can I have this Dusk Stone?" Rex asked, picking up the stone from the rubble and showing it to the Aron.

The Aron, realizing Rex only wanted a "worthless rock," nodded without hesitation and resumed digging for rare ores.

To Aron, anything that wasn't a rare ore was unimportant. Evolution stones didn't aid their strength, so they rarely paid attention to such items when they encountered them.

(Chapter End)