Get Stronger by Pleasing Pokémon? Who Needs to Be a Trainer!

"Do you have any left? Are there any of those Stamina Pokéblocks left?"

The young man burst through the door the moment he arrived, unable to contain his urgency.

His name was Luan Ming, and he specialized as a livestreamer who reviewed Pokéblocks.

Right after leaving the shop earlier, Luan Ming had found a random spot outside to test just how effective these Stamina Pokéblocks really were.

He'd let his Beedrill expend more than half its energy, then fed it a few pieces of the Stamina Pokéblocks. Within less than three minutes, Beedrill's stamina was nearly fully restored.

What did that mean?

Even the D-grade Stamina Pokéblocks he'd bought through official channels from the Donghua League didn't deliver effects like that.

And those Pokéblocks sold for three thousand credits a portion at the League.

On top of that…

The Pokéblocks from Lin Feng's little shop not only tasted better, but seemed not to trigger the typical resistance effect that Pokémon sometimes developed toward regular Pokéblocks over time.

That conclusion had come after Luan Ming spent over an hour testing them with both his Beedrill and his second Pokémon, a little Snorlax.

Even after both Pokémon had eaten all the Pokéblocks he'd purchased, his Snorlax continued to recover its energy quickly and seemed completely satisfied and full.

Thank the heavens.

After discovering this second benefit of the Pokéblocks,

Luan Ming was practically overjoyed.

He'd been struggling to afford raising his Snorlax.

It had already been six months. Half a year of raising it.

He'd burned through his savings. The car he'd wanted to buy was gone from his budget.

Were these Pokéblocks good or not?

Of course he knew they were.

"I'm sorry, but we're sold out for today. You'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Seeing that more customers were still occasionally showing up, Lin Feng flipped the wooden sign he'd hung at the door to its other side.

The other side read, in bold letters, "Sold Out."

A clear and simple message.

"You've got to be kidding me. You sold out… in just two hours?"

Luan Ming stared in disbelief at the empty glass display cases inside the shop.

"I'm really sorry. Since today was our first day, I wasn't fully prepared. How about I give you some spicy Cheri Berries instead?"

Recognizing him as the same streamer from earlier, Lin Feng grabbed a plastic bag and filled it with a few Cheri Berries before handing it over.

Luan Ming stared silently.

He didn't even know how he ended up accepting the bag of Cheri Berries. Right now, all he felt was a faint, lingering regret.

If he'd known, he'd have bought three portions earlier.

Still, the thought that there'd be another chance tomorrow eased his mind a bit.

Tomorrow, he vowed, he'd be the very first in line.

...

That afternoon…

As the sun climbed high and blazed hotly overhead, the crowds drawn in by the viral videos finally started thinning out.

Lin Feng let out a long breath, figuring there probably wouldn't be many more customers coming that day. He closed the shop door and drew the curtains across the large windows.

Even if someone did show up now, he wasn't planning to open again.

"Teng… Teng…"

Beside him, Snivy gave a weary little cry.

Among the many people who'd come in that day, not all were there just to buy Pokéblocks. A small number had been drawn in specifically because they'd heard about his Snivy. The moment they entered the shop, they immediately wanted to pet it.

Of course, Lin Feng had firmly refused those requests.

"Haha… maybe tomorrow you should just hide up in the treehouse."

Lin Feng chuckled, bending down to gently rub Snivy's face. When Snivy glared up at him with a dangerous look in its eyes, he quickly withdrew his hand.

Then he turned his attention to checking his gains for the day.

Throughout the morning, his system notifications had been going off non-stop, as one Pokémon after another experienced joy from eating his Pokéblocks.

Eventually, Lin Feng had simply muted the system's notifications.

Now, looking at the results,

He saw that his stash of Golden Fertilizer had surpassed three hundred bags, and he'd collected over sixty Rare Candies and the number was still growing.

But the most exciting part was the special rewards.

Earth Sand (x5)

Haban Berries (x3)

Salac Berries (x2)

D-grade Fire Stone (x1)

…

Scrolling through the list, he counted more than twenty different special items in total.

Lin Feng couldn't help nodding over and over as he read through them.

Among all these special rewards, one item immediately caught his eye.

[Dragon Fire Berry Tree Seed. Must be planted in extremely energy-rich soil. Takes three years to sprout into a seedling, ten years to grow into a tree, and thirty years to bear fruit.]

Seeing this information, Lin Feng felt his eyelid twitch involuntarily.

Dragon Fire Berries were a crucial ingredient for crafting Pokéblocks specialized in unlocking Pokémon's hidden abilities.

The note about "thirty years to bear fruit" didn't scare Lin Feng off in the slightest.

He remembered that the system had previously rewarded him with five bags of Premium Golden Fertilizer.

Beyond the special system rewards, he also tallied up today's sales revenue.

He had Rotom read out the total.

"Roto~ This morning's total revenue is… 185,000 credits!"

As Rotom announced the figure, its digital voice practically sparkled with delight.

"Hiss… that much?"

Lin Feng drew in a sharp breath.

Even considering that most of the ingredients for today's Pokéblocks had been bought from WowWow Supermarket,

His costs had only totaled a few thousand credits and that was using a gift card.

Which meant this 185,000 credits was practically pure profit.

Staring at his account balance, Lin Feng fell into a thoughtful silence.

"Looks like… I'm not hurting for money anymore?"

In the Donghua League, even the rarest starter Pokémon went for just around three hundred thousand credits.

Earning over a hundred thousand credits was roughly equivalent to an average person's annual income.

"Forget it. No need to overthink it. I should go plant that tree first."

He shook his head.

Not worrying about money was a good thing.

But Pokémon breeding still had to continue.

Take Snivy, for example. It clearly loved the thrill and tension of battles. When the chance came, Lin Feng knew he'd have to try working part-time as a Pokémon Trainer again for its sake.

And then there was the mystery of his parents' disappearance…

Once he grew strong enough, he planned to investigate it thoroughly.

He suspected that his father's Scyther hadn't been weak. Back when they'd been living in Wutong City, it was considered one of the strongest Pokémon on par with Gym Leaders' teams.

A Pokémon of that caliber shouldn't have faced serious danger in any ordinary wilderness area.

Yet his parents had still disappeared, without leaving so much as a single message behind for Lin Feng…

At the very least… he wanted to know if they were alive or dead.

"Ah…"

Lin Feng let out a soft sigh and picked up a basket of freshly grown fruits and vegetables, then headed toward Grandpa Qin's house.

When it came to planting trees, he knew he'd need to borrow Grandpa Qin's Sandshrew.

Sometimes, he wondered if he ought to go to another Pokémon breeding house and buy his own Sandshrew, just for the purpose of tilling soil.

But then he'd think it over and decide against it.

He'd already given that job to Grandpa Qin's Sandshrew. If he bought another one, would it make that simple little Pokémon feel sad or abandoned? That was something he couldn't bear.

The borrowing process went smoothly.

Sandshrew even eagerly gifted Lin Feng an extra pile of Earth Sand.

However, when Grandpa Qin received the basket of fruits and vegetables, he seemed puzzled about why Lin Feng's garden was producing crops so quickly.

To this,

Lin Feng could only claim that he'd tilled a patch of soil earlier and planted seeds ahead of time.

Then he shifted most of the credit onto Snivy.

Grandpa Qin didn't probe too deeply, merely marveling once more at how truly magical Pokémon were.

And then, he sighed, a wistful look in his eyes.

"It's such a pity… back in my day, Pokémon studies weren't nearly as widespread as they are now…"

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