Midnight.
Inside the kitchen.
Alcremie had already gone to sleep.
Gardevoir, after finishing the production of Pokéblocks, had also left.
Lin Feng sat slumped in front of the table, staring at the variety of cakes laid out before him.
He had tried using all sorts of berries and vegetables he had on hand, but the results were underwhelming. Out of all the attempts, only one cake had turned out truly outstanding.
[S-Rank Recovery Cake — A cream cake made from Petaya Berries and Alcremie's fresh cream. Infused with strong emotional energy, it possesses unique and extraordinary effects.]
Effect 1: Fully restores all injuries a Pokémon has sustained.
Effect 2: Infused with the maker's heartfelt emotions. With long-term consumption, it can extend a Pokémon's lifespan.
Two effects.
By normal standards, this was lacking for an S-rank dish.
But the potency of the effects more than made up for it.
The first effect allowed a Pokémon's injuries to be completely healed.
Which meant that Beedrill, if it ate this cake, could instantly recover.
But that wasn't the real point.
Healing Beedrill's injuries was easy enough.
The true value lay in the second effect.
A recipe that could extend a Pokémon's life.
But it came with conditions.
First, the Pokémon needed to consume it regularly.
Beedrill wasn't his Pokémon. There was no way for Lin Feng to feed it every single day.
Second, Beedrill's current state no longer met the requirement for long-term use.
And beyond that, this effect had appeared completely by chance.
It was born from the emotions he and Alcremie poured into the cooking process that night.
When Lin Feng tried to recreate it, the effect was gone.
Still, the evening's effort hadn't been in vain.
At least the cake had given him a crucial insight: when emotions were infused into the cooking process, the resulting dishes could develop entirely new effects.
"Shu-shu?" (Still not sleeping?)
Behind him, Serperior had come looking, seeing Lin Feng still not in his room.
"I'm going, I'm going. You don't have to wait up for me," Lin Feng replied.
"Shu…"
Serperior turned its head gracefully without responding.
Of course it wouldn't admit that it couldn't fall asleep without Lin Feng nearby.
Moving with silent elegance, it tidied the countertop with psychic power and stored the completed cake in the daycare's cabinet.
Lin Feng crept back to his room, lay on his bed, and stared at the starlit sky.
His mind kept circling back to the same question: how could he create food that could truly extend Beedrill's lifespan?
Was the problem with the ingredients?
Did he need Ho-Oh's Sacred Feather?
Or perhaps leaves from Xerneas's sacred tree?
Drowsiness eventually pulled him into sleep.
Over the next few days, Lin Feng's life settled into a steady rhythm.
Up at seven each morning, wash, milk collection, honey gathering, then tending to the daycare. Once the doors closed, he would retreat into the kitchen, devoting himself to experimenting with recipes.
Aside from meal breaks, he practically lived in the kitchen.
But despite his efforts, the results were disappointing.
He produced a few more cakes similar to the S-Rank Recovery Cake, but none carried the miraculous life-extending effect.
The frustration weighed heavily on him.
On the afternoon of September 14, after closing the daycare, Lin Feng prepared to head into the kitchen again.
But as he passed through the backyard, curiosity tugged at him.
It struck him that he hadn't checked on the orchard and vegetable fields in days.
"May as well take a look."
As he stepped into the orchard, Milotic was the first to rise from the pond, gazing at him with delight. It had missed seeing the trainer who had been so hurried these past days.
"Cha?"
Combusken also ran up, rubbing against Lin Feng's leg as if to ask why he hadn't joined it for morning runs recently.
"I'll be busy for a couple more weeks. But once we have a new partner, I'll run with you again in the mornings," Lin Feng promised, stroking its head.
His gaze then fell on Serperior, who was casting Grassy Terrain across the orchard. That reminded him that he hadn't seen much of Serperior or even Vulpix lately.
Had they been maintaining Grassy Terrain here all this time?
If so… would that cause special crops to appear?
Lin Feng scanned the field.
The last batch of berry trees had already grown tall, their emerald leaves shimmering. Within days, they'd likely flower and bear fruit.
In this world, most berry trees had peculiar fruiting cycles.
Some, like Sitrus Berries or Oran Berries, bore fruit throughout most of the year except winter. Their lifespans were long, and under normal circumstances, the trees rarely withered.
But not all berries were so generous.
Pecha Berries, for instance, only blossomed in specific seasons.
If berries weren't bearing fruit, mutations couldn't occur but vegetables were a different story.
This season, Lin Feng had planted cabbage, bitter melon, spinach, and more.
Now, most had already matured.
The cabbages by the reservoir looked especially lush, each plant more than half a meter tall, their outer leaves broad like fans.
As Lin Feng's eyes roamed across the rows, he stopped at one particular cabbage.
It towered taller than the others, nearly a meter high.
[Emerald Cabbage — Mutated through the nurturing of a Grass-type Pokémon. Effect: When consumed, turns the body bright green for 24 hours and restores most injuries.]
"Uh…"
Turns the whole body green…
"Well, Beedrill's already green anyway."
Though he wanted to complain, Lin Feng plucked the cabbage and stored it in his pouch, intending to juice it later to test the effect.
As he walked further, his suspicion was confirmed.
Several days without checking the fields, plus Serperior's constant Grassy Terrain and the luck from eating the Mythic-grade Pokéblock, had created results.
In the bitter melon patch, one fruit stood out.
Unlike the others, which were still fresh green, this one had turned yellow with a hint of red, and even bore a small yellow flower.
[Bittersweet Bitter Melon — The more hardships endured, the greater the happiness felt after consuming it. Conversely, without hardship, it produces no effect.]
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
Love the story? Show your support and unlock early access to new chapters by joining me on Patreon! and if we hit every 250 Power Stones, a bonus chapter drops!
[email protected]/_tey
Change @ to a.