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[Congratulations, Master, on completing the Temporary Task... Reward: Constitution +2, Intelligence +2, Space Tunnel 1 (connecting Nebel Plateau and Azoth Royal City).]
[Congratulations, Master, on completing the Ingredient Acquisition Task... Reward: Constitution +2, Individual Value +2.]
[Congratulations, Master, on completing the Recipe Upgrade Task... Reward: Constitution +2, Individual Value +2.]
The other rewards were all within Lucas's expectations, but that Space Tunnel... Lucas was stunned. Could it really mean he wouldn't have to travel back and forth between Azoth Royal City and Nebel Plateau anymore?
"No use overthinking it," he muttered. "I'll just ask Diancie tomorrow."
He glanced down at his personal information.
Lucas
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 16 (+500)
Constitution: 23
Intelligence: 12
Culinary Evaluation: A newbie who can make edible dishes.
His Constitution had increased to 23. The persistent training during this time had improved his physical condition slightly.
Lucas now felt full of energy. What should he do with this sudden urge to run wild?
He ignored the Intelligence points increase. It wasn't like he actually felt any smarter or noticed any changes to his mental capabilities.
There were also 4 Individual Value rewards. Without hesitation, he added them all to Munchlax!
Munchlax
[Type] Normal
[Ability] Thick Fat
[Gender] Male
[Level] 28
[Moves] Tackle, Lick, Defense Curl, Recycle, Covet, Bite, Stockpile, Swallow, Body Slam, Take Down, Charm, Seed Bomb, Brick Break, Double Team.
[Individual Values]
HP: 29
Attack: 25
Defense: 20
Special Attack: 6
Special Defense: 10
Speed: 31
As before, Lucas still added the Individual Values to Attack. During this time, Munchlax's level had increased several levels.
Not only had Munchlax's level increased, but Diancie's had as well. It had also learned several new moves from the Pokemon on the plateau.
Diancie
[Type] Rock, Fairy
[Ability] Clear Body
[Gender] None
[Level] 55
[Moves] Tackle, Harden, Diamond Storm, Guard Split, Smack Down, Flail, Ancient Power, Rock Polish, Light Screen, Rock Slide, Reflect, Moonblast, Power Gem, Play Rough.
[Individual Values]
HP: 31
Attack: 31
Defense: 31
Special Attack: 31
Special Defense: 31
Speed: 31
"I've become stronger, and my Pokemon have also become stronger," Lucas thought, feeling great. "Time to sleep."
With a pleasant mood, Lucas slept until dawn.
In the early morning, Lucas and Diancie walked out of the room together.
"Good morning, Diancie," Lucas greeted with a smile.
"Good morning, Lucas," responded Diancie, smiling back.
The human and Pokemon shared a warm smile.
"Diancie, I have a gift for you," Lucas said, beckoning the Pokemon closer.
Diancie's eyes lit up slightly, and it floated over with anticipation. "What gift?" she asked.
"Look!" Lucas took out the sachet from last night.
"Wow~ So beautiful!" Diancie took the sachet in surprise. "It smells so good!"
"Do you like it?" Lucas asked with a smile.
"I like it," Diancie happily hung the sachet on itself.
"I knew you would like it," Lucas said.
After hanging the sachet, Diancie twirled around beautifully. "Does it look good?" it asked Lucas.
The movement sent a burst of fragrance emanating from its body.
"It looks great on you. I knew it would suit you," Lucas praised without hesitation.
The sachet style resembled a small crossbody bag, and it looked very charming worn diagonally across Diancie's body. The pink color matched Diancie's crystalline form perfectly.
"Hee hee, thank you, Lucas," Diancie said, gently touching the sachet.
"By the way, Diancie, there's something called a Space Tunnel in my task rewards. Do you know what's going on?" Remembering last night's reward, Lucas asked.
"I know, I know, come with me."
Diancie was in a very good mood, hopping and skipping as it pulled Lucas to the third floor. It pointed to one of the many doors and said, "This is the doorway connecting Nebel Plateau and Azoth Royal City. Once you set up another teleportation point in Azoth Royal City, you can freely travel between Nebel Plateau and Azoth Royal City from here."
On that door, there was a string of icons, showing: Nebel Plateau ↔ Azoth Royal City
Lucas suddenly understood. No wonder the system wanted him to set up a shop in the Azoth Kingdom. It must be to establish another teleportation point.
"Alright, I got it. Let's go wake up Munchlax. It's time to work!"
A new day began. Lucas still went to the Royal City to set up his stall, while Munchlax was responsible for the business at home.
At noon, Lucas returned from his stall to find two Skiddo waiting at his door.
"Good afternoon, Skiddo. Are you here to pick up vegetables?" Lucas greeted them.
"Skid~" "Do~"
The two Skiddo nodded.
"Wait here, I'll get them for you right away," Lucas said, sprinting into the house.
In a little while, he and Munchlax carried large baskets of various vegetables out. Now Lucas could do physical work easily, without even breaking a sweat.
"23 points of Constitution is awesome!" he thought to himself.
After loading the vegetables onto the backs of the two Skiddo, Lucas asked, "How is it? Can you handle it?"
"Skid~" "Do~"
The two Skiddo nodded confidently. This small burden was nothing! They could easily handle twice as much.
"Let's go. I'll head back with you," Lucas said.
He was planning to milk the Gogoat.
The Skiddo nodded and began walking.
Lucas and Munchlax followed the two Skiddo to the Gogoat clan's habitat. After taking out small and large buckets he'd bought from the system store, he began the great milking business.
The small buckets were for collecting the milk, and the large buckets were for storing it.
The Gogoat lined up one by one, waiting for Lucas to milk them. Munchlax helped too. After Lucas's guidance, it also successfully learned to milk the Gogoat.
Munchlax's hands-on ability was impressively strong.
However, after milking just two Gogoat , Lucas stood up with a sore back and looked at the long line of Gogoat waiting to be milked. He thought:
"No, this won't do. The milking efficiency is too low! And it's exhausting!"
"I need to think of a better way."
There were special milking machines available in the system store, but they were expensive. Lucas felt that buying them would be wasteful.
"With that money, it's better to hire some of the Pokemon on the plateau to help," he thought.
With this in mind, Lucas said to Munchlax, "Munchlax, can you help me invite Gardevoir and Gallade over?"
"Munch~~ Lax~~" Okay, okay!
After acknowledging, Munchlax dropped the milking work and ran away in a cloud of dust. Soon, the Pokemon returned with Gardevoir and Gallade.
The Psychic-type couple were holding their egg in their arms. They looked confused about why Lucas had called them over.
"Gardevoir, Gallade, how would you like to be formally hired as employees in my store?" Lucas proposed.
It just so happened that the Pokemon food sent by the royal family wasn't appealing to any of his three Pokemon. It was taking up space at home, so it would be better to use it to hire Gardevoir and Gallade to help with work.
Although none of his Pokemon were willing to eat it, the food was indeed high quality, and it would be too wasteful to just leave it sitting around.
Gardevoir and Gallade looked at each other, their eyes showing a hint of confusion.
Lucas continued, "You'd work for me, and the job would be to help Munchlax and Diancie greet guests every morning, and also help with cleaning. Additionally, you'd come to milk the Gogoat here at noon. Just half a day's work."
"The reward is that you can eat breakfast directly in the store, and I'll convert lunch and dinner into Pokemon food for you to take home. This way, you don't have to keep foraging for a living, and you'll have food and shelter without worry after your baby hatches."
After hearing Lucas's proposition, Gardevoir and Gallade both showed surprise in their eyes.
"How does that sound? Are you willing?" Lucas asked.
"Garde~ Gardevoir~"
"Gall~ Gallade~"
The couple nodded quickly, willing! Willing! They couldn't be more eager. Where else could they find such a good arrangement?
"Then it's settled. Come, I'll teach you how to milk now," Lucas said happily, beckoning to the two Pokemon.
Gardevoir and Gallade hurried over, listening carefully to Lucas's explanation and demonstration.
To Lucas's surprise, Gardevoir and Gallade had very strong learning abilities. They remembered all the instructions after just one explanation.
As expected of high-intelligence Psychic-type Pokemon.
Moreover, they didn't need to use their hands at all. They could easily milk the Gogoat just by using their psychic powers, able to milk three or four Gogoat simultaneously. Their work efficiency was... awesome!
Almost immediately, the milking work was completed. Lucas and Munchlax hardly had to intervene at all.
Looking at the buckets of fresh milk that had been collected, Lucas was extremely pleased. These employees were definitely worth hiring!
"Worth it! Totally worth it!" he thought.
He decided to go back and look for some suitable gifts for Gardevoir and Gallade as a bonus.
Just as Lucas was about to pick up the small buckets of milk to pour them into the large bucket, Gardevoir and Gallade waved their hands.
"Garde~ Gardevoir~"
"Gall~ Gallade~"
The small buckets floated up in an orderly manner and automatically poured the milk into the large bucket.
Lucas couldn't help but give the couple a thumbs up. "Gardevoir, Gallade, you are amazing!"
The couple looked at each other, both a little embarrassed by Lucas's praise.
"Let's go, let's head home," Lucas said.
Gardevoir and Gallade immediately wanted to use their psychic powers to help Lucas carry the large buckets of milk back, but Lucas waved his hand. "No need."
He waved his hand, and the buckets of milk all disappeared from the spot.
Gardevoir and Gallade were both very surprised.
Before leaving, Lucas said to the Gogoat leader, "Tomorrow I'll send you more vegetables so everyone can recover their strength. Thank you for your hard work."
He had stored plenty of vegetables at home. Only by eating better could the Gogoat produce higher quality milk.
After arriving home, Lucas paid the couple their salary (Pokemon food) in advance, then saw them out the door and told them that work would officially start tomorrow.
The couple left happily.
On their way home, Gardevoir and Gallade shared the news that they had been hired by Lucas, which made the other Pokemon envious. Where else could they find a job where they didn't have to worry about food and shelter?
There used to be the Dugtrio brothers, and now the Gardevoir couple. When would it be their turn?
At Lucas's house, he and Munchlax put the fresh milk into the sterilizer for disinfection, then into the refrigerator for preservation. Now they could officially sell milk-flavored steamed buns tomorrow.
Lucas currently had no plans to sell milk-flavored steamed buns in Azoth Kingdom. First, the milk production from the Gogoat couldn't supply two places simultaneously; second, it was far more cost-effective to feed milk-flavored steamed buns to Pokemon than to humans.
Lucas had learned from Diancie that milk-flavored steamed buns were higher-level food than ordinary buns and steamed buns, and Pokemon would provide him with more happiness points if they ate them.
With the new Gogoat milk, the Lucas household of four had milk-flavored steamed buns for dinner. These had now completely become the favorite food of Munchlax, Diancie, and Komala.
After dinner, the family of four chatted, watched shows, and played games as usual. Then they entered the cooking training room for practice before finally washing up and going to bed.
Early morning~~ The bright sun rose from the forest east of the Nebel Plateau, and Lucas had already gone to set up his stall.
In the kitchen, Munchlax was busy. He was wearing a tall chef's hat and a white chef's uniform, standing on his beloved small stool, and vigorously kneading a ball of dough.
"Munch~ Munch~ Lax~" This dough needs to be perfect!
White steam was rising from the steamer nearby. Different steamers were cooking various foods, including plain steamed buns, flavored steamed buns, and the milk-flavored steamed buns that were officially launching today.
Different aromas filled the kitchen, and Munchlax himself was entranced, continuously licking his lips.
"Munch~ Lax~ Munchlax~" These all smell so good!
Diancie and the others outside weren't idle either. Gardevoir and Gallade had arrived early in the morning.
Diancie was wiping tables and sweeping the floor, while Gallade and Gardevoir were placing small portions of side dishes made by Lucas and Munchlax on each table.
Soon, the first batch of guests arrived: Delphox, Greninja, and Chesnaught.
Today was Gardevoir and Gallade's first day working at Lucas's shop, and the three Pokemon wanted to see how they were doing.
Seeing them enter, Diancie greeted them with a smile.
"Good morning, everyone," Diancie greeted.
"Del~ Phox~"
"Gren~ Ninja~"
"Ches~ Naught~"
The three Pokemon also greeted Diancie warmly.
"Del~ Phox~ Delphox~~" Why do I smell a special fragrance today?
Delphox sniffed lightly.
"Gren~ Ninja~"
"Ches~ Naught~"
Greninja and Chesnaught also caught the scent and echoed Delphox's curiosity.
Diancie gave the three Pokemon an explaination. "We launched a new delicacy today, milk-flavored steamed buns, you must try them."
The three Pokemon nodded and chose a table to sit around.
As soon as they were seated, other Pokemon began arriving one after another: Litwick and friends, Victreebel's family... The Nebel Plateau in autumn had already begun to have morning dew, and many Pokemon were covered in dewdrops on their way to the shop.