Chapter One: The Enigma of the Void

[The luminous membrane saturated with spatial energy can only be erased by the power of space.]

Seeing the familiar text box, Zhao Fang felt a bit helpless. It seemed this box was indeed guarded by various forces, but he had no idea what would happen after touching Palkia’s mural this time. Zhao Fang just hoped things would be simple; otherwise, the pressure on him would be immense.

Taking a deep breath, Zhao Fang casually ate a sandwich before reaching out to touch Palkia’s mural. After confirming that this mural also required contact with Palkia, he nervously placed his hand on the figure. Suddenly, Zhao Fang felt a sensation of weightlessness — he was falling!

The feeling was like bungee jumping, with his heart leaping into his throat. But the sensation didn’t last long. Soon, he landed softly on something fluffy. Looking down, he saw a mass of fur, soft and indistinct.

Looking up, Zhao Fang realized he had appeared inside a structure resembling a tall tower, but it was filled with spiral staircases. He stood at the entrance of one such staircase. At the top, a purple glow shone brightly — that must be where Palkia was.

“Climb the stairs?” Zhao Fang was puzzled. There was no other path, only the staircase. Judging by the height, it seemed to be about twenty meters.

Though confused about why touching Palkia’s mural led to this, Zhao Fang began ascending quickly toward the glowing summit.

However, after some time, he sensed something was wrong. He had been climbing for over twenty minutes, counting thousands of steps, yet he still hadn’t reached the top. It felt as if he was going in circles.

Zhao Fang suspected he had entered Palkia’s domain — space itself.

As the God of Space, manipulating spatial dimensions was as effortless for Palkia as drinking water. To test his theory, Zhao Fang picked up a small stone and marked the pillars along the staircase, numbering them from the start.

“Ninety-nine, and it repeats again,” Zhao Fang panted heavily, leaning on his legs. He had marked up to ninety-nine, but ascending one more step brought him back to pillar number one.

Swallowing hard, Zhao Fang realized this staircase was absurd. Reaching ninety-nine caused it to loop back to one. He even tried descending, but stepping down also brought him back to pillar one.

He stopped. Time flowed normally here; he wasn’t growing or shrinking. But if he couldn’t escape this staircase, his fate was grim — he’d starve to death as food supplies dwindled, and his companions, the Gyarados and Ice Dragon, would suffer the same.

“Is there a pattern? Or is something wrong with the ninety-nine steps?” Zhao Fang felt deep exhaustion, both physical and mental.

Still, determined to escape this strange staircase, he pressed on, intending to examine the area around the ninety-nine pillars for any abnormalities.

After half a day, Zhao Fang finally reached the topmost staircase. Looking at the markings on the pillars, he exhaled deeply before gathering his strength to inspect the surroundings.

But no matter how closely he examined it, he found nothing unusual. The staircase was identical to those below, as if carved from the same mold. The only difference was the numbering on the pillars.

Zhao Fang touched the pillar before him.

[Marked as Staircase Ninety-Nine, Stone Material]

No other markings.

His headache worsened. What was the meaning of this Palkia trial? Zhao Fang couldn’t comprehend it at all.

Sighing, he leaned against the wall and glanced down. What he saw stunned him — the ground was astonishingly close, almost like the second floor.

“Second floor?” Zhao Fang frowned. He had diligently marked his path upward, and ninety-nine confirmed he had climbed that high. Yet, from this window, it looked like he was merely on the second floor.

Lost in thought, Zhao Fang looked back at the staircase behind him. Perhaps he had entered a twisted spatial realm. With that in mind, he pulled out the items he had purchased in the Hoenn region.

Licking his finger, he extended his hand outside, scanning every direction but felt nothing. Relieved, Zhao Fang planned to approach this Palkia challenge differently.

But as soon as he leaned out, a strange, dangerous instinct gripped him. He felt certain that if he actually climbed beyond this point, death awaited him.

Frowning, Zhao Fang withdrew and threw a stone forward. The moment the stone passed a short distance, it was crushed into powder.

“Who taught them anti-cheat measures? The penguins?” Zhao Fang muttered in frustration. He had considered climbing by scaling the walls, only to discover such a trap.

He sat down on the floor. Since cheating by climbing wasn’t an option, the solution must lie within the staircase itself — he just hadn’t found it yet.

“Do games have puzzles like this?” Zhao Fang pulled out a bottle of water, took a long drink, and frowned as he pondered.

No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t recall puzzles of this sort. Then he remembered something he had overlooked.

While climbing, Zhao Fang hadn’t looked outside the staircase — he had only been ascending. Now he suspected the entire spiral staircase was spatially distorted. Ninety-nine steps represented the second floor’s height, but what about the other floors?

With this in mind, he took out a notebook and continued climbing, recording as he went.

Upon reaching the first floor, he looked out — it was flat ground.

Continuing his climb and notes, Zhao Fang finally discovered a pattern: the seventy-second floor was the highest point from the ground.

Seventy-two should be the true summit of this spiral staircase.

“There’s no difference here either. Could it be that I need to descend?” Standing on the seventy-second step, Zhao Fang frowned, scanning his surroundings. Nothing seemed amiss. Beyond here was the seventy-third step, but that wasn’t the correct path.

He turned and began descending.

Soon, he noticed something unusual — where the seventy-first staircase should have been, there was a door.

Heart pounding, Zhao Fang hurried over and pushed it open. As he stepped through, he found Palkia looking right at him.