Lin Feng didn't believe for a second that this little troublemaker had called him simply because she missed him.
If she really missed him, she wouldn't have called him while staying in a wilderness area like this.
"Alright. Send me your location. I'll have Pidgeot make the delivery."
"Hehe, thanks, Bro~"
[Anything else?]
Ignoring her thanks, Lin Feng continued asking.
"Nope."
"Then I'll hang up?"
"Okay."
"...Take good care of that Gible. Don't let your guard down too much at the beginning."
"Got it, got it..."
And with that, Qin Shu took the initiative and hung up.
That alone made Lin Feng feel a little strange.
He couldn't help muttering, "Damn, why does it feel like she's become sneakier after going out on that trip?"
He shook his head afterward.
Still, this was probably a good thing.
After all, she was traveling outside.
She couldn't afford to remain too naive.
Meanwhile, deep within the Earth God Mountains...
The "Qin Shu" on the other end had just put down the phone.
The smile disappeared from her lips as she let out a long breath.
"What an incredible human. Even through a screen, he somehow gave me the feeling that I might be seen through."
Then, the scenery around her began to change.
The Meowscarada, Blastoise, Noivern, Gible, and Farfetch'd that had been standing nearby all began to fade away like ink dissolving in water.
What remained was a girl lying unconscious on the ground.
And beside her stood a Pokémon covered in wild, flowing fur.
Its fur was a mixture of crimson and white, dancing around its body like the hair of a vengeful spirit.
Its scarlet eyes were terrifying enough to make a child stop crying.
The girl's appearance was exactly the same as the Qin Shu who had just been speaking on the phone.
Zoroark looked down at the sleeping girl.
Then it remembered the human it had just spoken with.
Even now, it couldn't suppress the lingering sense of unease in its heart.
It was certain that the human hadn't noticed anything wrong.
That was because they had been separated by a screen, and the other party hadn't detected anything unusual.
Moreover, the memories Zoroark had obtained from this girl had given it a very strong warning about the human's abilities.
Everything it had shown during the call had actually happened in reality.
It had deliberately recreated those scenes so there would be no inconsistencies for him to notice.
Yet even after taking all those precautions, Zoroark still felt an intense sense of danger.
That was why it had ended the call so quickly.
If they were standing face-to-face in reality...
That would be a completely different matter.
Even so, it still had to try.
It had to go back.
It did not belong to this era...
Back home, Lin Feng put away his phone and continued toward the barn.
He walked straight to the wine barrels.
Then he pulled out the stopper.
A fresh fruity fragrance mixed with the rich aroma of alcohol immediately rushed into his nose.
His eyes lit up.
"It's ready~!"
He didn't check the first barrel immediately.
Instead, he turned toward another barrel beside it, the one containing Dragon Fire Berry Wine brewed with Rayquaza's scales.
When he opened it, there was indeed a fruity fragrance, but it wasn't particularly strong.
According to the description from his Appraisal Eye, it was still in the middle of fermentation.
Lin Feng turned back toward the first barrel.
Sure enough, its description had already changed.
[Legendary Cuisine: All-Purpose Deer Antler Berry Wine]
[A fruit wine brewed from dozens of different Berries and the antlers of Xerneas. It possesses various unique culinary effects for Fairy-type Pokémon.]
[Cooking Effect 1: Fairy Aura]
[Exclusive to Fairy-type Pokémon. The first Fairy-type Pokémon to consume this dish will gain the Fairy Aura Ability.]
[Cooking Effect 2: Fountain of Life]
[This dish contains an extremely concentrated life force. Long-term consumption can extend one's lifespan.]
[Cooking Effect 3: Strike]
[When facing an opponent whose type is weak against Fairy-type attacks, the chance of landing a critical hit increases by 30%.]
[Cooking Effect 4: Fairy Affinity]
[After consumption, the affinity of Fairy-type Pokémon increases by 30%.]
[Cooking Effect 5: Poison Resistance...]
[Cooking Effect 6: ...]
[...]
Perhaps because he had used so many different types of Berries, the wine had ended up with an unusually large number of culinary effects.
Lin Feng counted them.
There were a full ten effects.
Of course, many of them overlapped with one another, so Lin Feng didn't pay much attention to those.
Even then, the strength of the effects varied.
Take Poison Resistance, for example.
Wine brewed with ordinary Pecha Berries could only increase poison resistance by 10%.
But wine brewed using the Pecha Berries from the central tree could raise that effect from 10% all the way to 25%.
That was already an incredibly powerful effect.
What really surprised Lin Feng, however, were Effects 1 and 2.
Fairy Aura.
That was Xerneas's signature Ability.
It could effectively increase the power of Fairy-type moves.
Combined with the Strike effect, Lin Feng didn't even dare imagine how painful a Fairy-type attack would be against a Dragon-type Pokémon.
These two effects gave Lin Feng a strange feeling.
Why did it seem like...
Everything was being prepared specifically for Rayquaza?
Could it be that, somewhere in the future, Rayquaza was really going to suffer at their hands?
At that thought, Lin Feng couldn't help bursting into laughter.
He immediately shook his head and tossed the thought aside.
Then he began thinking about who should get the first taste of the wine.
The description of the first effect was extremely clear.
Only the first Fairy-type Pokémon to drink the wine would gain Fairy Aura.
And Lin Feng had quite a few Fairy-type Pokémon at his breeding house.
Gardevoir.
Alolan Ninetales.
Sylveon.
And Flabébé and the others.
Flabébé could obviously be ruled out.
That left Gardevoir, Alolan Ninetales, and Sylveon.
Strictly speaking, Gardevoir would be the best choice.
Its level was the highest.
But Gardevoir didn't have any grand ambition of defeating Rayquaza.
So Lin Feng's main consideration was still between Alolan Ninetales and Sylveon.
As for Alolan Ninetales, it had gained the ability to manipulate weather, but Rayquaza completely countered that advantage.
Forget it.
There was no point overthinking it.
Sylveon was the only one that was purely Fairy-type.
Alolan Ninetales should focus on Ice-type abilities.
Trying to master too many things at once would only leave everything half-baked.
After making his decision, Lin Feng returned to the kitchen.
He was going to be busy today.
Not only did he need to prepare special dishes for the four little ones, but he also had to make Energy Cubes for Qin Shu's Pokémon, who were thousands of kilometers away.
This busywork continued through lunch and didn't finally end until around three in the afternoon.
"Phew..."
Looking at the storage balls neatly packed together, Lin Feng finally let out a long breath.
Because Qin Shu had gained another Gible, he had prepared one additional batch of supplies for her.
Still, Lin Feng was rather curious to see what that Gible would become after evolving into Garchomp.
If it could eventually learn Dragon Dance and make a name for itself in various competitions, that would be quite something.
Originally, Lin Feng had planned to simply send a Pidgeot over with the supplies.
But after thinking about it, the distance was actually quite considerable.
Pidgeot had never traveled to that area before.
Dragonite, on the other hand, had just returned from the Alola region.
So the glorious task naturally fell to it.
[Wuuuuh...]
Dragonite had only just returned.
Before it could even rest its feet, it was sent right back out again.
Its expression immediately became miserable.
Lin Feng hugged its big belly and comforted it.
"Alright, alright. I know you've worked hard."
"But you're really good at recognizing locations, so I'll have to leave this one to you."
Only then did Dragonite carry the storage balls and fly toward the sky.
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