Gently pushing the small swing in front of him, Victor's attention was drawn to the text that popped up again.
[Our Home: Pokémon will always reciprocate the love their trainer gives them. You have received a gift from all the Pokémon of the Breeding House.]
[Gift 1: The Breeding House Family Bundle (Toxic Orb, Soothe Bell, Black Belt, Black Glasses, Expert Belt).]
[Gift 2: The Pokémon of the Breeding House will now help you share the workload, caring for the Pokémon boarded here and keeping them in a cheerful mood. They will also tend to the plants you have planted, which will now grow and mature at a much faster rate.]
[Gift 3: Learning Never Ends. The Pokémon of the Breeding House have learned to teach other Pokémon the moves they are proficient in, further expanding your business's services.]
[Currently teachable moves: Gengar (Shadow Ball); The Machoke (Protect, Endure, Bulk Up); Petilil (Stun Spore)]
[Toxic Orb: A mysterious orb that will release poison upon contact. A Pokémon holding it will become badly poisoned.]
[Soothe Bell: A bell with a beautiful tone. A Pokémon holding it will grow closer to its trainer more easily.]
[Black Belt: A belt that invigorates the spirit. A Pokémon holding it will have the power of its Fighting-type moves boosted.]
[Black Glasses: Strange-looking glasses. A Pokémon holding them will have the power of its Dark-type moves boosted.]
[Expert Belt: A well-used black belt. A Pokémon holding it will have the power of its super-effective moves slightly boosted.]
"...Whoa."
Victor stared at the lines of text, completely stunned.
This was a massive welfare package!
Is it New Year's already? Or is my system about to crash?
"..."
[Gift 4:] (Garbled text, crossed out.)
"...So stingy. Can't even take a little criticism," Victor grumbled internally. But he was already more than satisfied with the first three gifts; each one was incredibly precious.
Now, his Breeding House could sell items, the growth cycle of his herbs was accelerated, which was a great boost to the herbal tea business, and with move tutoring, he could start offering that service as well.
According to the system, this tutoring was like a TM, with a 100% success rate, though the time it took might vary.
Of course, there was one condition: the Pokémon had to be able to learn the move in the first place.
Reading this, Victor sighed. A Pokémon that can't fly will never learn Fly.
Lost in thought, Victor continued to push the swing until his phone rang.
He answered. It was an order for today's herbal tea.
He let Cynthia and the others know, then headed to the kitchen.
After bottling the tea, he returned to the counter to find Shana already there, fully equipped and waiting.
Victor nodded, went to his room to get a custom-made Petilil water bottle, filled it with drinking water for Shana, and then hung the tea bag and the water bottle pouch around Dali's neck.
Along with them, he included the items from the "Family Bundle."
He tied the Black Belt around Dali's arm and nodded.
Dali looked at the Black Belt on its arm. A surge of powerful energy flowed through its body. It looked at Victor, gave him a thumbs-up, and grinned.
Victor patted its arm and then lifted Shana up to sit on its neck.
"Be safe. Come back soon."
"Bye-bye, uncle! Bye-bye, Big Sister Cynthia!"
"Machoke~"
Victor looked down at the remaining items and asked Gengar if it needed any.
Gengar floated over, picked out the Black Glasses, put them on, and flashed a peace sign.
"What about this one? You don't need it?" Victor asked, pointing to the Toxic Orb in the box.
"Gengar?" Gengar looked at the Toxic Orb, gave it a lick, but didn't know what it would do with it.
Seeing this, Victor gave up and prepared to add it to his for-sale list.
Just then, Cynthia's voice came from the side. "You could give it to Gengar. Let it get a good feel for the energy inside. It would be better to sell it after it has mastered it."
"After all, Gengar is also a Poison-type. As long as it doesn't absorb the energy inside and just uses it to practice mastering its poison energy, the orb's value won't change, and you can still sell it."
Cynthia held up a finger and continued, "This will also be a great help for Gengar in learning new moves."
It was a revelation for Victor. He had no idea a Toxic Orb could be used like that.
Seeing his expression, Cynthia was a bit puzzled. "The energy contained in these kinds of orbs is spontaneously released upon contact. A Pokémon of the same type can absorb it to boost the power of its moves, while a non-same-type Pokémon will be afflicted with a specific status. However, a Pokémon can also try to absorb the released energy and then feed it back, thereby improving its control over the power within its own body."
"You didn't know that?"
"I'm not a trainer. Isn't it normal for me not to know?" Victor said with a blink.
"..."
"But..." Cynthia was even more confused. He had raised Gengar and the others so well, and their control over their own energy was excellent. When she had guided them that morning, they had understood everything instantly. That should mean Victor was also an excellent trainer.
She couldn't figure it out.
Unaware of what was going through Cynthia's mind, Victor gave the Toxic Orb to Gengar, then took the Soothe Bell and the Expert Belt and placed them on the item display on the wall.
Games and reality really are very different. There are so many more flexible applications in the real world.
He patted Gengar's bottom. Gengar nodded, rolled the Toxic Orb up with its tongue, swallowed it, and then floated towards the door.
"Just watch from a distance," Victor called out.
"Gengar—"
"I know what I'm doing better than you."
After a moment of thought, Cynthia decided to stop thinking about it. She looked up and saw Gengar sneakily following behind Shana.
"Gengar is...?"
"Oh, we're all worried about Shana, so we have Gengar follow her secretly, just in case."
Cynthia nodded. "Should I go watch over her too?"
"If you don't mind causing a traffic jam, I have no objection."
Hearing this, Cynthia sighed with regret. It was true. The moment she appeared in public, a huge crowd would surely gather.
Victor finished polishing the wooden tag in his hands, let out a breath, and looked up. Seeing her disappointed expression, he smiled.
"How about we prepare some afternoon tea?"
"Umm..."
"How about ice cream for the afternoon tea dessert?"
"Okay." Cynthia's eyes lit up, and she agreed without a second thought.
Victor handed her the wooden tags he had made and let her personally put them on her Garchomp and the others. He then took out his great-aunt's recipe book.
"What would you like for dinner? You can order from the menu."
He handed the recipe book to Cynthia and then went back to the kitchen to make the ice cream.
When Victor came out of the kitchen, he found her and Gengar, who had returned at some point, flipping through the recipe book and discussing something.
"So? Have you decided what you want to eat?" Victor asked, placing a scoop on the ice cream and handing it to Cynthia.
Behind him, Mime Jr. held a small tray in each of its hands, each with several servings of ice cream, which it gave to Gengar, Garchomp, and the others, before running back to the kitchen.
Cynthia took a spoonful of ice cream. The cool sensation exploded in her mouth. She closed her eyes in delight, then pointed at the recipe book with Gengar.
"This one."
"Gengar—"
"Knife-cut noodles? Roger that, bosses!" Victor nodded. He then lifted Shana, who had just returned, off Dali's neck, wiped the sweat from her brow, and asked Gengar to watch the counter in case any customers arrived. He then went back to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Shana took her Chingling to the backyard to help Mime Jr. distribute the ice cream.
Cynthia also went to the backyard, sneakily had Mime Jr. give her a second serving of ice cream, and lay back on the lounge chair to slowly enjoy it.
Before long, she saw Gengar, Garchomp, and Lucario run out of the kitchen in a panic, looking like they had done something bad.
Since the kitchen window still hadn't been fixed, Cynthia could clearly hear Victor's shouting.
"Gengar, where is that huge pot of braised meat filling I cooked?! You'd better give me a straight answer!"
"Gengar!"
"I don't know! I didn't steal it! Don't ask me!"
"Grawr!"
"I didn't eat it either! It was all Lucario!"
"Aura?"
Me?!
Watching Victor stand at the doorway with his hands on his hips and a helpless expression, Cynthia savored the sweetness of the ice cream in her hand and laughed softly.
I should bring Diantha and the others here to relax next time, Cynthia thought, nodding to herself.
---
[Get 10+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"]