Chapter 18: The Land of Hisui and Sinjoh

"Arceus's fanatical fan, known as Brother Alpaca, the ancient version of Cynthia... He actually lived until now and hasn't changed at all? He must be over a hundred years old!"

"Hmm, but in the Pokémon world, there do exist some immortals who have lived for a long time for various reasons. Did Volo also find a way to live forever? Or is he an immortal to begin with?"

This was also one of the questions of all players in the past, because after Volo lost to the protagonist in the Hisui era, he once broke down and said:

【Someday, someday! I will solve all the mythical mysteries of the Pokémon of the Hisui region. And meet Arceus! No, I will make it obey me! No matter how many years... decades... or centuries it takes, I will not hesitate!】

It was this passage that made many people feel that Volo might have lived for a long time, and he also knew the human avatar of Arceus, "Cogita," and was quite familiar with her, although Volo himself probably didn't realize that Cogita might be related to Arceus.

And Volo and Cogita, these two people also looked very similar to Cynthia. Volo might be Cynthia's ancestor, and Cogita's identity was confusing. If Volo was the ancient version of Cynthia, then Cogita was the primal reversion of Cynthia...

Perhaps the lifespan of ancient Sinnoh people was different from ordinary people.

"I am an artisan from a nearby village, entrusted by the villagers to deliver supplies here. Of course, I am indeed interested in the Sinjoh Ruins."

Xiang Guangtai put down the chaotic thoughts in his mind and began to talk to the other party seriously. At the same time, he brought Doduo to the door of the cabin, tied the reins to the pillar, and the latter also automatically curled up into a ball and closed its eyes, seeming to prepare to rest for a while.

"Your clothing is not that of an artisan from the village. Did you move from another region? There are actually people who come to settle in this forgotten land of Sinjoh."

Volo smiled. The clothing of outsiders and villagers was of course completely different. At the same time, he saw Dujianqiao peeking out on Xiang Guangtai's back.

"Eh... it's a Pokémon I've never seen before."

"Yo~" Dujianqiao glanced at Volo with its single eye, but it became interested.

A traveling merchant!

This guy must have some treasures.

Volo took Xiang Guangtai into the largest wooden house, and an elderly man lived in the house, as well as an Abra.

In the game, when the protagonist enters the area of the Sinjoh Ruins, they can teleport home through the mountain elder's Abra.

"Old man, supplies have been sent from the village."

And Xiang Guangtai heard Volo call the Mountain Elder "old man." His first reaction was that Volo's age was clearly older than the elder's, yet he was still pretending to be young. Although he knew it was a disguise, he still couldn't help but laugh, but soon reacted—Volo's age might not necessarily be older than the elder's.

What if this elder was also a descendant of the ancient Sinnoh people?

Normal people wouldn't live near this ruin, right! Since he is the guardian of the ruins, it shows that he must have a deep connection with this ruin!

"Oh-oh, thank you... but I don't seem to have seen you. Are you a new ruin investigator?"

"Eh, a well-known ruin investigation team from the Johto region has already been here... They left two months ago. Hu-hu, they seemed to be investigating the connection between the Ruins of Alph and here, but in the end, it seems they didn't investigate any useful results."

The Mountain Elder shook his head, and Volo also introduced himself to Xiang Guangtai:

"My name is Volo, an inconspicuous merchant who loves history and myths. Because I was chasing ancient knowledge, I came here. Now I am temporarily serving as a guide for mountaineering and ruin exploration here."

"However, there are not many ruin researchers who come here, mainly because this is not a place that can be reached by a single person. From the end of spring to the entire summer, there will be no blizzards, which is a suitable time to enter. But once summer ends, perhaps the distant village can still see the arrival of autumn, but here it will directly start to snow~"

"Of course, the reason I stay here is also because I love history and myths. I have knowledge I want to know, so I look forward to those researchers being able to research something from here, and hope to get that rare knowledge..."

"After all, a merchant's nature is to personally confirm rare people, things, and objects."

"An excellent merchant knows very well how important information is, because if you can't grasp the trend of this world, you will be eliminated by the harsh survival competition. So I have to collect fresh information here."

Speaking of this, Volo suddenly spread his hands and shook his head quite discouragedly:

"The result is not satisfactory! I originally thought those researchers could research something, but in the end, they found nothing. But in my opinion, it's probably because they weren't chosen by the ruins... Ah, this is just my personal thought."

"Do you know ancient poetry?"

Volo smiled and told Xiang Guangtai why he came here. His tone was a bit nostalgic:

"That is some ancient poetry discovered in the Hisui region. Every region has this kind of thing, right? From the meaningless words discovered in ancient times... But what makes me care is the content of one of them, although I was already very late when I saw that content."

"【Clear and solemn, full of a certain indescribable power.】"

"【The land of Hisui and Sinjoh, both indeed have similarities.】"

"The poetry mentioned the land of Sinjoh, so I think there might be the ruin knowledge I am chasing here. But at that time I was still in Sinnoh... Oh, Hisui is the past Sinnoh, it is its ancient name. You might not have heard of this name~"

"And in the myths of Sinjoh, ancient people obtained the life of Pokémon, and also entrusted their own lives. Correspondingly, people and Pokémon established a deeper bond than now. Every move of people was closely related to the power of Pokémon."

"The ancient ruins on this land inherited the legends of both the Ruins of Alph in Johto and the Spear Pillar in Sinnoh. That is to say, on this land in ancient times, the people of Johto and the people of Sinnoh had intersections."

"In ancient times, a group of people from the Sinnoh region moved to this land. They missed their hometown, so they built a temple here, which is the Sinjoh Ruins."

"And in this ruin, what is worshipped is a Pokémon called a god—Arceus. Have you heard this name?"

"However, no images related to Arceus were left behind. It's truly a pity."

Xiang Guangtai listened carefully. Some of the lines were almost exactly the same as in the game, simply like walking through the plot.

"Do you also know ancient history? Let's exchange information!"

Volo smiled, looking at Xiang Guangtai with expectant eyes, but Xiang Guangtai didn't know how to answer.

Right, should I tell you the base stats of Arceus? You definitely don't know this!

"I only know a little about ancient history. If you want to get any valuable information from me, I can only say I'm afraid it will disappoint you. Although I have read some ancient myth books in the Canalave Library in Sinnoh before, those are just stories."

"I have seen in ancient literature that it is said that Arceus was born from an egg in the land of nothingness, and created the universe with a thousand arms, using itself as a light source, shining on the land of Sinnoh from the sky."

"And the people who moved here also brought special customs to Johto, using special dance rituals to commemorate the Legendary Pokémon. Expressing the great power of the Legendary Pokémon through music and dance."

Xiang Guangtai said the description in the game Pokédex, and didn't intend to tell Volo the truth about the Sinjoh Ruins.

However, since Volo mentioned ancient poetry... could it be that he had already collected all those poems?

In the game, ancient poetry is not a necessary item for clearing the game. They are excavated from various regions and exist as a collection element to complement the worldview.

And more than a hundred years have passed. Volo has long known the conditions for meeting Arceus. Since he hasn't met it until now, it can only be said that Arceus doesn't want to see him, so even if the conditions are met, he can't enter the Hall of Origin and can only look for other methods.

And after hearing Xiang Guangtai's answer, Volo's expression was visibly disappointed.

"Is that so."

Sure enough, most of them were information content he already knew, but Volo was quite interested in the special dance ritual.

It is still necessary to go to the Johto region to continue the investigation.

And the Michina Ruins in Sinnoh.

Volo thought, and soon he returned to his smiling appearance: "But that's right, history and myths are fragmented, and there are still many ruins in the world, and not everyone has unique information and knowledge."

"But thank you for the news. Although there is no actual evidence, hearing another unique legend is also a good result! I know about the dance customs in the Johto region, but I have indeed never seen them. Those investigators didn't mention these things either. In their view, it's probably just ordinary inherited culture."

"Eh, sometimes history and myths are hidden in this kind of common inheritance. If you don't carefully examine them, you will miss them!"

"And... have we met somewhere before?" Volo suddenly felt a bit trance-like. He stared at Xiang Guangtai, gradually showing a thoughtful expression:

"I don't know why, but in the process of talking to you, I gradually had a nostalgic feeling."

Xiang Guangtai shook his head: "No, we shouldn't have met, right? I just came here not long ago. If we really met before, maybe we brushed past each other somewhere in Sinnoh?"

Xiang Guangtai didn't know what Volo meant, and Volo didn't seem to think too deeply, but nodded along with Xiang Guangtai's words: "Is that so... Oh, indeed, maybe we had a chance encounter somewhere before."

"By the way, since you are an artisan, do you want to buy some rare materials? I am a merchant who has traveled almost all over the Sinnoh land. I used to belong to a merchant guild, and we always liked to collect rare materials. There are definitely good goods."

Here it comes!

Xiang Guangtai cooperated with Volo to discuss, which was actually to see if this guy had any good materials.

"By the way, speaking of materials, I have a mysterious good thing here." Volo's eyes turned, seeming to think of something. He took off his backpack and took out a "plate" from his backpack!

"Although it was just picked up by me in the mountains near the Sinjoh Ruins."

Volo said while taking out a plate the size of a palm from his backpack.

The plate was dark red. One side was polished very flat and had nothing, while the other side was engraved with some blurred ancient inscriptions.

"This is an ancient plate made I don't know when. Similar things have been found in my hometown. If used for Pokémon, it seems to be able to increase the power of some attribute moves."

"If you offer 20,000, I will sell it to you, how about it? This is a special price!"

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====