The concept of Pokéblocks completely occupied Owen's mind. Turning relatively cheap Berries into high-value nutritional supplements—the potential profit alone made his heart race. He wasn't looking to get rich overnight; after all, a tall tree catches the wind.
But if he could quietly produce Pokéblocks for his own use, it would effectively solve his resource problems. Cutting out the middleman would slash the cost of raising Pokémon significantly.
However, Owen didn't let himself get carried away. His understanding of the production process was purely based on his memories of the games and anime; whether he could actually replicate it manually was a massive question mark.
"Having ideas is no sin; you have to be bold enough to try."
After finishing lunch with Lynnea and Leo, Owen returned to class. The afternoon session focused primarily on Lynnea and Leo, as Eevee had fewer glaring weaknesses.
Currently, Eevee's biggest issue was a lack of long-range moves. Regarding this, Zoe gave an answer that set Owen's mind at ease.
"Within six months, we will help your Eevee master two to three new moves, and Shadow Ball is among them."
Hearing this, Owen let out a sigh of relief. He had been completely clueless about how to train Shadow Ball. If Zoe hadn't promised to teach it, he might have resorted to taking Eevee to a graveyard to sleep!
The Kitchen Laboratory
As soon as class ended, Owen bid farewell to his friends. He was itching to try making a Pokéblock. He had a few Berries left at home, mostly Eevee's favorite flavors. He also had a high-speed blender.
Compression could be handled by Magnemite's psychic power. As for the solidification process... he figured it must be temperature-related.
Did the original Berry Blenders have cooling units? Logically, solidification often requires cooling, so Owen stopped at a liquid nitrogen ice cream shop and spent a few hundred yuan for a canister of liquid nitrogen.
Back home, he released Eevee and called out Magnemite.
"Eevee, go play for a bit... Magnemite, you're going to help me with an experiment."
"Vee?" Eevee narrowed her eyes, curious and slightly jealous. She refused to leave.
"Fine... just watch from the side," Owen waved her off.
The air between the two Pokémon was a bit thick with rivalry. Owen didn't have time for their petty squabbles; he prepared two different-colored berries.
Theoretically, any Berry could be made into a Pokéblock, but the effect and quality depended on the recipe and technique.
It was a craft designed to maximize energy efficiency and fuse nutrients into a qualitative change.
"Magnemite, when the blender stops, use your psychic power to grab a clump of fruit pulp from the center and move it over the liquid nitrogen to cool it," Owen instructed. "Remember, only control the pulp!"
He wasn't too worried about the blender being damaged, given Magnemite's improved precision, but he still gave a warning. The liquid nitrogen had already cost him a lot; if the blender broke too, his mother would definitely have his head.
"Kuo-yi!" Magnemite nodded.
"Good. Let's begin."
Under the watchful eyes of the two Pokémon, Owen dropped the sliced Berries into the blender and cranked it to maximum speed.
The fruit was pulverized into a muddy sludge. Once it reached a uniform consistency, Owen cut the power and popped the lid.
Simultaneously, Magnemite used its psychic power to compress a clump of pulp and hovered it over the liquid nitrogen.
Whoosh!
After the cooling, a frozen, lumpy mass of fruit slush appeared.
"..." Owen stared at it.
This definitely wasn't a Pokéblock. It was a "Dark Cuisine" disaster. Owen picked up the frozen fruit-blob and cleared his throat, offering it to Eevee. "Want a taste?"
"Vee..." Eevee gave it a look of pure disgust, took one tiny lick, shivered, and shook her head vigorously. Eat it yourself, her expression said.
"The color is all wrong... Pokéblocks should be pure and translucent. Clearly, the impurities haven't been filtered out."
The Centrifugal Clue
Owen poured out the remaining pulp. By now, most of the Berry's active nutrients had already dissipated.
"Let's refine the details," Owen scratched his head. "Magnemite, practice compressing the pulp into a small, perfect cube first. That last shape was terrible."
A single failure meant nothing. Even with the right machinery, Pokéblock making was an art. Owen hadn't expected to succeed on the first try. He needed to refine every step.
After half an hour of practicing with a bowl of pulp, Magnemite's psychic power could finally mold a small clump into a neat cube.
From a shape perspective, it looked exactly like the Pokéblocks in Owen's memory. He suspected the cube shape was perhaps the most stable structure for the energy.
"Okay, the liquid nitrogen was a waste of money. Solidification isn't caused by low temperature. More importantly... the impurity removal process is the problem."
"Maybe it needs to spin longer? Or faster?"
In the games, Pokéblock quality was tied to rotation speed. Owen had already hit the blender's limit, so he decided to try a longer duration.
During the next run, Eevee suddenly frowned and touched the side of the blender.
Having practiced the Counter Shield, Eevee was sensitive to rotational energy. She sensed that the energy in the Berries was being pulled toward the center by centripetal force, while the heavier impurities were being flung outward by centrifugal force.
She acted out her discovery for Owen, making him pause.
"So, the energy is most concentrated at the core of the rotation?" Owen realized. "I get it."
Owen cut the power. Eevee noticed that the second the rotation stopped, the energy began to disperse again.
"Vee!" she warned.
"This makes it harder. Magnemite, you'll only have a split-second window. The moment the blades stop, you have to use your psychic power to tightly wrap and extract the core pulp, then compress it instantly."
Magnemite signaled it understood.
First attempt: Failure. Second attempt: Failure.
Eevee started to look teary-eyed. Those are my berries! (╥﹏╥)
As the Berry supply dwindled and Magnemite grew exhausted, Owen shook his head. It wasn't going to happen today.
Magnemite's psychic mastery was too low to lock the energy in place instantly. Furthermore, even at high speeds, there were still impurities in the core.
Even if Magnemite could extract it perfectly, there was still a need for further purification and a "spark" for solidification.
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