7:00 AM
[Sky Pillar, the top floor is the habitat of Rayquaza]
After entering the randomized world with a mere thought, Hakuya couldn't wait to open the Easter Egg Dungeon.
A brief flash of seven-colored light passed, and a towering spire piercing straight through the clouds came into view.
—On a lush, green island, countless fragments peeled off its mottled outer walls, and ethereal clouds obscured the upper sections of the pillar, as if it were supporting the sky to keep it from collapsing.
It had to be said, its appearance was almost exactly the same as the one he had seen in reality.
It looked a bit as if that Prankster Alpaca had handmade it by copying reality.
[Entered the Sky Pillar. The player must consecutively climb ten floors to reach the top. The content of each floor will not be exactly the same. If you fail, you must start over from the beginning. Please select your accompanying Pokémon for entering the Sky Pillar in advance. Limited to one.]
[Note: The vast majority of stat changes and other effects within the tower are only effective inside the tower and will not affect reality or the randomized game (with the exception of specific items).]
"So... this is basically a Pokémon version of a roguelike tower climb?"
Looking at the prompt sign at the entrance of the tall tower, Hakuya fell into deep thought.
For someone who had played several roguelike tower-climbing games, this kind of prompt was all too familiar.
Choosing a character at the start, going through a process like opening blind boxes where it's never the same twice, and having your progress wiped to zero to fight again if you fail.
He didn't expect the creator of this randomized game to be such a gamer.
Immediately after, selectively ignoring the two expectant little gazes beside him, Hakuya, whose head was full of meta-gaming strategies, turned his head and naturally looked at the little jet plane.
"Latias, come up with me."
It was true that Alcremie's Wonder Guard ability was very strong, but unfortunately, its limitations were also huge.
Poison and Steel-type moves were everywhere in the game, opponents with abilities like Mold Breaker might appear, and considering Alcremie had always acted as a meat shield and support in the team, her single-target burst damage capability wasn't particularly outstanding.
As for Floragato, she relied on her teammates even more than Alcremie. Without the Omni-Transformation ability, Hakuya was very worried that even if the 'prison cat' went all out, she wouldn't be able to elbow her way through the overpowered monsters that might randomly spawn in the tower, so it was best for her to obediently stay in the backline.
Mhm... the [Contrary] ability little jet plane, wielding the Beads of Ruin after Mega Evolving, still provided the most sense of security.
"La-woo~" Latias raised her face, wearing her usual tsundere little expression of having received recognition but still acting haughty.
"Meowha—"
Floragato watched the backs of Latias and her Trainer climbing the tower together, her face full of resentment.
Restricted by the system's underlying code, she could now only squat on the ground outside the Sky Pillar and draw circles.
Yeah.
This scene could perhaps become a world-famous painting, titled "The Incompetent Floragato."
Meanwhile, inside the Sky Pillar, just as Hakuya had predicted, the mode truly was a Pokémon version of a roguelike tower climb.
The start was the familiar "choose one of three buffs."
"Choice Specs state, Rocky Helmet state, and immunity to the first stat reduction state in every battle..."
Hakuya read the text in the selection box before him, ultimately choosing the third one.
Although he liked to spam Draco Meteor, the restriction of the Choice Specs state—only being able to use one move the entire time—would have a bigger impact than the Special Attack boost provided. Furthermore, Latias's role wasn't a meat shield, so the necessity of counterattacking with contact damage wasn't great. It was better to keep the third one to synergize with her Mega Evolution.
And when Hakuya finished his selection, the little jet plane instantly felt a warm current flow into her body, as if she had been empowered.
Unlike the internal structure of the Sky Pillar in reality, each floor had three independent spaces leading to the next floor.
And each space had a corresponding info prompt indicating what it was: a Caterpie icon represented a normal enemy room, an Eternatus icon represented an elite enemy room, a question mark represented an unknown room, and League Coins represented a shop...
For example, the three spaces on the first floor had two Caterpie icons and one Eternatus.
After all, it was his first time climbing the tower, so Hakuya's choice leaned towards caution at the start.
Pushing open the door with the Caterpie icon and entering inside, on the square battlefield, a Level 15 Pokémon standing upright with its arms crossed—looking very much like a master—leaped into view.
Accelgor, pure Bug-type.
495 base stats. Aside from its master-like stance, the only thing that left a deep impression was basically its suicidal [Final Gambit] playstyle in every battle.
Seeing its signature scene of flashing red light all over its body, Hakuya knew exactly what this guy was preparing to do.
"Latias, use Endure."
A light symbolizing resilience enveloped Latias's entire body. Under the effect of the Endure move, no matter how severe an attack she received, she was guaranteed to survive with 1 HP. This instantly shattered this Accelgor's idea of a one-for-one trade into an illusion.
[Battle won. Please select from the following buff effects:]
[Revive (Used automatically during this tower climb, can only be used once), White Flute (Upon obtaining, randomly transforms the Pokémon in any three rooms into their base forms), Stardust (Valuable item, possessing this grants a certain discount when shopping at the store)]
After thinking it over repeatedly, Hakuya ultimately chose the Revive.
—Only combat items could give him the proper sense of security. The White Flute was too random and he didn't quite trust his luck, while store discounts weren't very meaningful. His main goal right now was still to climb the tower and catch Rayquaza.
"For every floor I climb up the tower, I have to pay an advance tower-climbing fee of 10,000 League Coins? What a profiteer."
After paying the fee for the second floor, Hakuya looked at the three different rooms before him.
On the left was the shop, in the middle was an elite monster, and on the right was a question mark room symbolizing an unknown event.
"Since it's a roguelike tower climb, choosing the random event question mark room is the ultimate soul of the game—"
Hakuya rubbed his hands together, then couldn't wait to push open the question mark room in front of him.
Since he was already here, he naturally had to experience the other things besides combat.
[Arceus's Mysterious Greeting Gift]
[As you enter this room, you unexpectedly discover a luxurious treasure chest specially prepared for you by the God of Creation.]
A legendary drop?
"Oh? Now this is good stuff!"
Looking at the golden, sparkling potion inside the treasure chest and the annotation info box beside it, Hakuya's eyes suddenly lit up.
Unlike the previously obtained buffs that were only effective inside the tower and would be cleared upon every new tower climb, this potion opened from the treasure chest was actually a rare item that could affect reality. After using it, one could freely select several of a Pokémon's Effort Values (EVs) to clear.