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"How does one achieve Gigantamax with Pokémon?" Chris asked.
"What? You have a Pokémon that needs to attempt Gigantamax ?" Vladimir replied with curiosity.
"Currently, the way to make Pokémon undergo Gigantamax is purely based on luck. Your Pokémon needs to have the natural potential for Gigantamax, and then it might successfully Gigantamax on the first attempt. Otherwise, that Pokémon will never be able to Gigantamax for its entire life. The only alternative would be normal Dynamax transformation," Vladimir explained patiently.
"There are research projects focusing on Gigantamax in the western regions, but I've heard there hasn't been any significant progress," he added with a thoughtful expression.
This was Professor Vladimir's answer to Chris's inquiry.
Chris felt a little disappointed by this response, but then an idea struck him—a potential way to make money. Since Professor Vladimir had mentioned that there was currently no reliable method to allow Pokémon to Gigantamax freely, it meant that Max Soup had not yet been discovered in this world.
If Chris could create Max Soup, wouldn't he be able to earn substantial profits?
Chris immediately searched the internet but found nothing relevant. Perhaps it wasn't called Max Soup in this world, so he expanded his search to include any methods for helping Pokémon achieve Gigantamax, checking through over two hundred and forty different entries.
This time, the search results were quite different from what he expected. Instead of legitimate research, he found numerous news articles about scam groups that claimed to help Pokémon Gigantamax, only to defraud trainers of both their Pokémon and money. There were also reports about western research groups announcing breakthroughs in Gigantamax projects, but these were later exposed as fraudulent claims that had only produced empty folders with no actual results.
From these search results, Chris could confidently conclude that Max Soup truly didn't exist in this world yet.
However, Max Soup seemed to be somewhat problematic in practice.
In China, very few people utilized ordinary Dynamax transformation for several reasons.
First, the level of Dynamax particles in China was quite low, meaning the concentration of these particles in the atmosphere was insufficient. Naturally, Wishing Stars were extremely rare—even rarer than Mega Evolution stones. Since Dynamax Bands were crafted using Wishing Stars, there couldn't be many of these devices available.
Second, the power increase provided by low-level Dynamax was far less significant than what Mega Evolution and Z-Moves could offer. Even the stamina boost that low-level Dynamax provided couldn't compensate for the disadvantage of the "massive size" that made Pokémon easy targets while preventing them from dodging attacks effectively.
As a result, only trainers who preferred battling with heavy, defense-specialized Pokémon would choose to make their Pokémon undergo Dynamax transformation.
However, Max Raid Battles were completely different from regular Dynamax.
Max Raid Battles changed the appearance of Pokémon and granted them access to exclusive Max Moves. Even with the same drawbacks as ordinary Dynamax after the Max Raid transformation, trainers could still use it as their ultimate trump card technique.
They could activate the Max Raid transformation, unleash exclusive Max Moves, and then immediately end the transformation.
Therefore, if Chris could truly bring Max Soup—which would allow Pokémon to achieve one hundred percent Max Raid capability—to this world, it would be like discovering a gold mine.
For an item that could enable a Pokémon to participate in Max Raid Battles, trading it for a Mega Evolution stone or several Z-Crystals might seem excessive. But what about an item that could make two Pokémon capable of Max Raids?
Actually, this was just China, where Dynamax levels were extremely low.
If this were placed in western countries, the Dynamax level could reach the maximum level of ten. In those regions, if your ace Pokémon couldn't participate in Max Raid Battles, it would be equivalent to starting with a significant disadvantage.
Whether a Pokémon could perform Max Raid transformation had completely become the determining factor for whether a trainer could become a top-tier competitor.
So in western countries, the value of a single bowl of Max Soup might exceed that of a Mega Evolution stone. There would be no comparison at all!
"I'll think about this kind of opportunity later," Chris quickly regained his composure. What he needed to do now was obtain Max Soup first; otherwise, everything he had just considered would remain nothing more than a daydream.
Since he could no longer rely on real-world resources, he still had to find a solution within the game.
The problem Chris needed to solve now was acquiring an Armor Pass to reach the "Isle of Armor." After all, all the materials required for creating Max Soup were located on that isolated island.
Chris had tried asking Sonia about this in the past, but when she wasn't in dungeon mode, plot mode, or other interactive modes, her responses were limited to just a few repetitive phrases. As for crafting Dynamax Bands, Chris estimated this was because Sonia herself was the NPC responsible for creating Dynamax Bands in the game.
If Chris still had Wishing Stars in his possession, he could continue asking Sonia to craft more bands for him. If there were still Wishing Stars available in the Galar Region, Chris wouldn't mind becoming a "Dynamax Band" merchant for a while.
Wait—it seemed like Dynamax Bands might actually be worth more than Max Soup, but Wishing Stars appeared to be quite difficult to obtain.
"It looks like I'll have to use a more straightforward approach," Chris muttered to himself.
Chris settled onto the sofa, turned on his handheld gaming device, and began controlling his character to travel to various Galar gymnasiums. If he entered battle mode, he would be able to engage in conversations with the game characters. By finding Gym Trainers, they should possess more knowledge about these topics.
He decided to visit the nearest gym first, wondering which unlucky trainer he would encounter.
Chris opened the in-game map and discovered that the closest gymnasium was quite far from Wedgehurst. Using the subway system, there were three nearest gymnasiums, all located along a circular railway line.
These were the Grass-type Turffield Stadium, the Fire-type Motostoke Stadium, and the Water-type Hulbury Stadium.
For Chris's purposes, challenging any of these gyms would serve equally well. The Gym Leaders' strength was locked at level seventy across all locations.
However, Chris remembered that when he had played through the game previously, he had encountered Nessa, the Gym Leader of Hulbury Stadium, on the Isle of Armor during that storyline.
Chris immediately decided on his target and took the subway to Hulbury. His first stop was the Pokémon Center, where he registered for the Trainer Challenge League.
While there, he also switched out one of his Pokémon team members. There was no need to use his primary team against an ordinary Gym Leader; he could give his second and third-string Pokémon some valuable battle experience instead.
Afterward, Chris made his way to Hulbury Stadium, ready to begin his investigation into obtaining passage to the Isle of Armor and ultimately creating Max Soup.
The stakes were high, and the potential rewards were enormous. If he could successfully bring this innovation to the world, it would revolutionize competitive Pokémon battling and establish him as a pioneer in the field. But first, he needed to overcome the challenge that lay ahead at the Water-type gymnasium.