On the second day after Professor Haruta's visit, Yuga went to the Ancient Plant Research Institute to confirm the authenticity of what Professor Haruta had told him. Only then did he entrust his Cradily to him.
In the following days, Yuga enjoyed a relaxed routine. Besides training his Pokémon, he helped out at his hotel and occasionally accepted challenges at his Gym.
Time passed swiftly—one month, two months, three months—summer turned into autumn, and autumn transitioned into winter. The first snowfall arrived in Verdanturf Town.
As usual, Verdanturf Town didn't experience heavy snowfall; even when it did snow, it was the kind that quickly melted, leaving the streets wet.
During this time, Yuga managed to draw two purple items from the system store, but both turned out to be the same thing: essence fluid.
At first, Yuga thought his luck had turned around, but he soon realized that it was due to the Pokémon Egg. The system seemed to want the Pokémon Egg to hatch safely.
The system told Yuga that this Pokémon Egg has been born for over fifty years, but it has never been able to hatch. Without the system's unique essence fluid, the Egg would have been doomed.
After using three bottles of essence fluid, the Pokémon Egg showed a burst of vitality stronger than any Yuga had seen before. This further confirmed the exceptional nature of the little creature inside.
During this time, the Deino in the Ecopark finally evolved into a Zweilous, and the Shelgon showed signs of evolving into a Salamence. The resource Yuga's had invested in them had paid off.
The Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark task had been pending for a long time due to the slow growth of the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon.
Even the Noibat that hatched from an egg had evolved into a Noivern, not long after the Zweilous evolution.
In addition to the Noivern, several of Yuga's later caught Horsea had evolved into their final forms.
Yuga's Ecopark had quite a few Dragon-type Pokémon, so there was no shortage of Dragon Scales, which were necessary for evolving Seadra into Kingdra.
Thanks to these Kingdra, Yuga obtained the formula for a Universal Pokéblock for Dragon-type Pokémon from the system and named it Dragon Bone. Which It had recently been added to the store.
Initially, Yuga thought that with Kingdra, he could complete the Dragon's Den Sub-Ecopark task in place of Zweilous or Shelgon.
However, the system informed him that this was not possible because the task had already been initiated when the Horsea entered the Ecopark. To prevent Yuga from taking shortcuts, he had to evolve both Zweilous and Shelgon to their final forms to fulfill the Dragon's Den task.
However, what pleased Yuga the most was the progress made by Gengar and Mismagius in the Distortion World.
Gengar and Mismagius used the Reversal Mirror to enter the Distortion World, confirming its safety, and Yuga comfortably let his Pokémon train there.
Since only five slots were available each time and only Ghost, Dark, Poison, and Dragon-types were allowed, Yuga chose Gengar, Mismagius, Absol, Roserade, and Dragonite.
As expected from what Giratina had mentioned, the Distortion World was indeed ideal for training Ghost, Dark, Poison, and Dragon-types.
After training for a while, the aura surrounding the Elite level Gengar, Mismagius, Absol, and Dragonite grew stronger, even Roserade, who was at the peak of the Pseudo-Elite level, showed signs of advancing to the Elite level.
However, there was a small downside to practicing in the Distortion World. The Distortion Mirror could only be opened once every three months, and the Pokémon training there would be forcibly returned by Giratina every month.
In other words, there was a two-month gap during which the Pokémon could not enter the Distortion World.
However, the opportunity to train in the Distortion World was already something that others could only dream of, so this small drawback wasn't a big concern.
After the Pokémon returned from their third trip to the Distortion World, they brought Yuga a massive surprise—they had discovered a Ghost Gem mine and returned with a large quantity of Ghost Gems.
Yuga was nearly knocked over by this tremendous surprise; happiness had come so suddenly.
The Distortion World truly seemed like an unexplored treasure trove.
In the Pokémon world, private ownership of Gem mines was not allowed. But in the Distortion World, who would know? If nobody knew, then it was all Yuga's.
How much was a Gem mine worth? Yuga felt like he could lie in a pile of money and never count it all.
However, Gengar later informed Yuga that they had discovered the Ghost Gem mine along with Cynthia's Pokémon, Spiritomb, so they couldn't claim it exclusively.
They had encountered Cynthia's Pokémon, who had also trained in the Distortion World in the past, shortly after entering the Distortion World.
Sometimes, they would explore the Distortion World together. The discovery of the Ghost Gem mine had occurred during one of these joint explorations.
Yuga then contacted Cynthia, and they quickly reached an agreement to share the Ghost Gem mine.
Yuga knew he couldn't use up all these Ghost Gems himself, so he would occasionally make some discreet transactions.
Gems were rarely traded openly; most transactions occurred in private. The Pokémon League didn't interfere in such matters, allowing Yuga to earn a considerable amount of money through these deals. His biggest client was Elitr Four Phoebe.
Yuga's modest transactions involving Ghost Gems didn't draw much attention, and he didn't mind if some people did take notice.
Those who had the intention to investigate were blocked by Mr. Kuni'o, and nobody dared to offend him. As for those with mischievous intentions, Yuga could handle them effortlessly.
He had gained both status and influence now, making him quite impervious to the average troublemakers.
Previously, Yuga being Mr. Kuni'o's disciple was a semi-public secret, but as Yuga became more famous, this secret was no longer much of a secret. Most informed individuals were aware of it.
However, the discovery of the Ghost Gem mine was not the most significant news. Recently, when Gengar and Mismagius returned, they brought Yuga another piece of good news—they had found another Dark Gem mine.
This Dark Gem mine was discovered solely by Gengar and his companions, meaning it all belonged to Yuga, and he didn't need to split it with Cynthia.
With this one and half of an attribute Gem mine, Yuga truly became incredibly wealthy. He no longer had to worry about money and had reached the pinnacle of his life.
Even if the Pokémon League were to investigate the origin of these attribute Gems in the future, he had nothing to worry about. Items from the Distortion World fell outside the jurisdiction of the League.
Moreover, he had no intention of casually revealing that he possessed a large quantity of attribute Gems. Just because he didn't mind trouble didn't mean he liked it.