Early the next morning, Carver took the carefully crafted Pokéblocks he had made to the shed.
When he pushed the door open, the Pokémon inside were startled.
But when they saw clearly that the person entering was Carver, they immediately relaxed.
Carver's gaze swept across the room.
Abra and Bulbasaur were still sleeping.
Gastly floated over while calling "Gastly gastly."
Facing the human, Ralts and Ditto still hid fearfully behind Chansey, not daring to show themselves.
"Gastly!"
Carver smiled at Gastly and nodded: "Yes, I came to check on you all."
He divided the Pokéblocks into six portions and placed them in front of these Pokémon, then handed a bottle of energy restoration medicine to Chansey, instructing:
"When Bulbasaur wakes up, remember to have it drink this. It's good for its health."
This medicine was something Carver had made himself following a recipe. Its effect was to help Pokémon recover energy after depletion, avoiding harm to the body from overexertion.
"Lucky..." Chansey was stunned but quickly realized what was happening.
Carver knew about what they had been secretly doing at night!
"Don't do that anymore," Carver said with a smile. "I've received your thoughtfulness."
If Bulbasaur were a Venusaur, he wouldn't say anything.
But Bulbasaur was still young, at the age when it needed to grow. If it continued overexerting itself every day without timely nutritional supplementation, it would place a considerable burden on its body over time.
Too much of anything was harmful.
As a Pokémon breeder, Carver understood this principle deeply.
Hearing these words, Chansey was stunned, then gently nodded: "Lucky!"
"I'll go get busy now. I won't disturb your rest!" Carver waved goodbye to them.
Gastly also wanted to follow and play.
Seeing that Carver didn't stop it, Gastly boldly followed along.
The human and Pokémon returned to the breeding house. Carver had Gastly go play with the Clefairy while he opened the breeding house doors and officially began a new day of business.
In front of the breeding house, trainers gradually began passing by.
Occasionally, several boys and girls would come together to inquire about what services the breeding house could provide.
Some people stood at the counter selecting moves, asking the breeding house to help teach their Pokémon.
Carver received them all.
At ten in the morning, the customer flow gradually decreased.
Carver was planning to use this time to make more Pokéblocks when the breeding house welcomed an unexpected guest.
Looking at the white-haired, hunched elderly man who walked into the house, Carver was very surprised.
"Mr. Eggi?"
He remembered him—the president of Autumn Leaf Town's Breeders' Association!
When he had gone to take the novice breeder examination, he had encountered this old man. After learning of his results, the man had wanted to invite him to continue advanced studies in the breeder's path.
But Carver had refused at the time.
At this moment, Elder Eggi was looking at Carver with a smile, saying:
"Young friend Carver, we meet again!"
"What brings you here today?" Carver asked while having Clefairy bring tea.
"Of course I wanted to see how your breeding house is doing!" Elder Eggi replied.
Speaking of this made him somewhat frustrated.
From the entire examination process back then, this kid clearly had unparalleled talent in breeding.
He had thought the other party was taking the examination to become a top-tier Pokémon breeder.
But this kid had taken the breeder examination just to get the qualifications to operate a breeding house!
What a waste of talent!
This kind of talent... not continuing to cultivate it in breeding but going to operate a breeding house was such a waste!
Therefore, Elder Eggi's main purpose in coming here today was to persuade Carver not to give up the breeder profession.
"It's going well. The breeding house just started recently, but everything has been quite smooth," Carver replied somewhat embarrassedly.
With the arrival of Oddish and the Clefairy, Growlithe's addition, the hatching of Chingling and Castform, plus Chansey, Gastly and the others, the breeding house had gradually become lively.
Hearing this, Elder Eggi turned to look around, examining everything in this breeding house.
The arrangement was quite cozy.
That Pokémon... was it Growlithe?
Its fur was glossy and smooth, eyes bright and spirited, physique robust, with a faint aura of heat—clearly bred to perfection.
"Is this Growlithe your Pokémon?" Elder Eggi showed an appreciative look: "It's bred amazingly well!"
Carver nodded: "Yes, Growlithe is my starter Pokémon."
Elder Eggi didn't speak but continued looking at the other Pokémon around.
Clefairy, Gastly... there were even Pokémon not found in the Hoenn region.
Every Pokémon here was in excellent condition both in appearance and mental state. You could tell Carver cared for them very attentively.
To achieve this level at only ten years old...
This could completely be called genius!
Moreover, this kid was very sensible, polite, and had a steady personality—very much to his liking.
Before coming here, Elder Eggi had been thinking that maybe Carver's business wasn't going well, so when the breeding house failed, he could become a breeder instead.
But now it seemed the breeding house was running very well, and the Pokémon here were all bred perfectly.
Having him give up the breeding house to become a breeder was clearly impossible.
Elder Eggi felt deeply regretful. He had wanted to take this kid as his apprentice so he could pass down his lifelong knowledge.
As one of the few top-tier breeders in the Hoenn region, if his old bones passed away someday without anyone to inherit his knowledge, he wouldn't rest in peace even in death.
Wait!
Thinking of this, Elder Eggi's eyes suddenly widened.
He had been confused by age!
Because he suddenly realized something.
Becoming a breeder and operating a breeding house didn't conflict with each other!
"Carver, follow me to continue advancing on the breeder's path!" Elder Eggi invited with an excited tone.
It was rare to encounter such an excellent talent. If he missed this village, there wouldn't be another shop!
Carver was stunned on the spot: "Huh?"
"Become my disciple, and I'll teach you everything I know!" Elder Eggi said seriously.
Carver was somewhat dumbfounded. In fact, he still hadn't figured out the purpose of Elder Eggi's visit today.
Now suddenly hearing that the other party wanted to take him as a disciple, Carver's first reaction was: Isn't this a bit too sudden?
But to Elder Eggi, this wasn't sudden at all.
In fact, before coming, he had carefully inquired about Carver from Jenny and learned about this child's story from her.
Sometimes, from how a person treated Pokémon, looked at Pokémon, and interacted with Pokémon, you could tell what kind of person they were.
Thinking this in his heart, Carver also spoke: "Isn't this a bit too sudden?"
In fact, he didn't have much interest in becoming a breeder. He just wanted to collect his favorite Pokémon and live with them in this breeding house.
"Operating a breeding house and becoming a breeder don't conflict!" Elder Eggi quickly said: "You don't need to leave. I can usually come here to teach you and instruct you in deeper knowledge."
Hearing this, Carver couldn't help but feel tempted.
Although Elder Eggi had never said it, judging from Jenny's attitude, his identity was clearly not ordinary.
"This..." Carver hesitated: "But I usually have to take care of Pokémon and run the shop, so I might not have much time..."
Seeing that the other party's attitude was softening, Elder Eggi immediately continued:
"No problem, it won't take much time. I can compile that knowledge into books and send them over for you to read slowly. You can ask me about anything you don't understand. Moreover, as my disciple, I can also give you a complete set of top-tier Pokéblock recipes!"
Top-tier Pokéblock recipes?
Carver immediately widened his eyes—he was tempted!
During this time, he had been researching Pokéblock recipes but hadn't figured anything out.
Forget top-tier Pokéblocks—he hadn't even developed ordinary Pokéblock recipes.
Purchasing recipes required money, somewhat like copyright fees.
And now, a perfect opportunity was right in front of him.
A complete set of top-tier Pokéblock recipes...
Carver's heart began pounding.
With this set of Pokéblock recipes, wouldn't that gluttonous Taillow's joy level shoot straight to the sky, directly kidnapping Latias and Latios and bringing them before him?