[Tomatoes with White Sugar (D): A homestyle dish. The sweet-and-sour flavor is a perfect match. Cooking Effect: Appetite Boost]
[Stir-Fried Cabbage with Meat (C): A perfect balance of meat and vegetables, savory and fragrant. Cooking Effect: Energy Recovery (Medium)]
[Baked Beef with Potatoes (B): A comforting family dish. Soft potatoes soaked full of meaty aroma, beef tender and not chewy, rich fragrance overflowing—one bite fills you with pure satisfaction. Cooking Effect: Surging Vigor]
[Mung Bean Cake (Minccino Exclusive): A dish infused with the creator's special emotions. It produces a unique and special effect on Minccino. Cooking Effect: Sweetheart]
Silas's gaze swept past the descriptions of the first three dishes and landed directly on the last one.
The special dish made exclusively for Minccino, he himself was extremely curious about what kind of effect it would have.
[Sweetheart: After consumption, Minccino permanently gains a slight increase to Luck (effective on first consumption only). Every subsequent consumption grants a Super Luck buff lasting 60 minutes.]
Permanent increase?
This was the very first dish that provided a permanent boost to a Pokémon's abilities—and it was to the elusive, intangible stat known as luck.
Thinking back, Minccino's luck had always been quite good.
A Pokémon living in the wild, yet it had never been bullied by other wild Pokémon.
Then, in less than a week after leaving its parents, Silas and Kangaskhan came to the ranch, and the two sides met for the first time by the lake.
Minccino joined them and became the very first ranch Pokémon.
This little one had been accompanied by good fortune all the way.
Seen from this angle, this dish merely made that effect tangible and strengthened it to a certain extent.
No matter how you looked at it, there was only benefit and no drawback for Minccino.
From now on, things like store lotteries, searching for special crops, and any other matters that relied on luck could all be entrusted to Minccino.
"So? How does it taste?" Silas asked.
Kangaskhan spread its hands and passed over an empty plate, grains of rice still stuck at the corner of its mouth—it had been so good that it simply couldn't stop eating.
Minccino used its tail to brush the rice grains from Kangaskhan's mouth, nibbling at the sweet mung bean cake in small bites while letting out blissful little sounds.
The three Mudbray had half their faces buried in their bowls. The once-full servings of vegetable salad made from tomatoes, potatoes, and cabbage had been completely wiped out, leaving only a bit of broth behind.
Sticking to their no-waste principles, the Mudbray stretched out their tongues and licked up every last drop of the sweet-and-sour liquid.
Compared to their side, the other side was far livelier, filled with the constant cries of various bird Pokémon.
Chatot and its "friends" were eating there as well. What Silas had prepared for them last was a berry salad, made in sufficient quantity to satisfy all the bird Pokémon.
Every now and then, a small scuffle would break out, deciding who could stand a little closer to Chatot.
Silas seriously suspected that the changes happening to Chatot were not entirely the result of Century Soup Flavor effect.
He had previously gone to ask some Pokémon from the back mountain, and they all said that Chatot had always been a well-known social butterfly among Pokémon.
The effect of Century Soup Flavor was more like an amplifier.
Dinner lasted for over an hour.
After Chatot led the flock back to the rear mountain, Silas and Minccino cleaned up and prepared to sleep as well.
Everyone had been busy all day, and turning in early would mean having energy for tomorrow.
Before going to bed, Silas didn't forget to give the Mudbray a thorough wash.
Once they were clean from head to toe, he let them stay inside the ranch house to sleep together.
After all, the ranch house still had special effects—Silas hadn't forgotten that.
Holding the soft, fragrant Minccino in his arms, a faint vanilla scent drifting over, Silas fell into a deep sleep before long.
The tall Kangaskhan stood by the bed and took a glance—it also wanted to sleep together with Silas.
But with its grown size, it would probably crush the bed. Kangaskhan gently draped a small blanket over Silas, then leaned against the bedside, guarding him as it drifted into slumber as well.
In its dream, Silas and the little baby were sleeping together inside its pouch, and a happy curve appeared at the corner of Kangaskhan's mouth.
…
The next day.
After quickly finishing breakfast with a Burger King burger and a cup of milk, Silas led the Pokémon to the fields harvested the day before.
If he wanted to plant the next batch of seeds, the land had to be turned over again.
Today was going to be a busy one.
First, the remaining stalks and weeds in the vegetable fields needed to be cleared away, to prevent leftover pests or diseases from affecting the growth of the next crops.
Next came deep plowing, using a hoe to turn the soil bit by bit, generally to a depth of around 15 to 25 centimeters—to break up compacted soil and expose the deeper layers.
This step was the most physically demanding. If Silas were on his own, there was no way he could finish it in just one or two days.
But with Kangaskhan, Mudbray, and the others helping, it became much easier.
Silas attached the plow he had purchased earlier to the Mudbray. He walked behind them, maintaining balance, as the Mudbray pulled the plow in rotary tilling.
In roughly two hours, with two rotations of rest and replacement, the entire vegetable field was deeply tilled.
Kangaskhan followed behind, using its monstrous strength to smash larger clods of soil, making the earth exceptionally loose.
Minccino brought up the rear, sweeping and leveling the soil that Kangaskhan had broken up, ensuring the field wasn't full of pits and bumps.
At a glance, the entire plot looked flat and even, preventing water accumulation and uneven seed depth during planting.
To grow crops tall and robust, fertilization was also necessary to increase soil fertility.
Silas had long since prepared for this—he chose Abundant Harvest Fertilizer, a type of fertilizer that increased yield.
It was widely used throughout the League's regions, with the exception of the Hoenn region.
After mixing the fertilizer evenly into the soil, all Silas had to do was wait until tomorrow to sow the seeds.
With the Pokémon working together at full capacity, the day's plowing work was completed in a single morning.
If the ranch had a tractor, the speed would be even faster.
Silas alone could handle all the above tasks.
Deep plowing, soil breaking, and leveling could all be done at once.
If he remembered correctly, a brand-new, fully functional tractor produced by Devon Corporation cost around one hundred thousand League Coins.
Mm!
Working together with Pokémon also strengthened their bonds.
Machines and the like—no good, no good.
At present, the ranch didn't need large machinery like tractors at all; there was simply no use for them.
If, in the future, the ranch expanded in scale,
and relying solely on Pokémon was no longer enough to finish the work in a short time, Silas would definitely consider purchasing a tractor to prevent the Pokémon from becoming overworked.
But for now—
It was time to rest.
Lunch could wait a bit. Working continuously for two days was even more exhausting than a week of survival in the wild.
Right now, he didn't want to move a single finger.
All he wanted was to lie on Kangaskhan's belly—the gently rising, soft abdomen was no worse than any high-end mattress on the market.
The only thing that could compare was Snorlax's massive belly.
No one could refuse using Snorlax's belly as a bed; the only thing to consider was Snorlax's outrageous appetite—not something just anyone could afford.
Holding Minccino in his arms, occasionally squeezing its ears or leaning in to take a deep sniff—
Heck yeah! Today it was strawberry pudding flavored.
(End of Chapter)