"Take good care of Meowth."
After arriving home, Anji issued the day's wages to Esper Meowth, and also handed over the Pokémon food given to Meowth by Nurse Joy.
"Meow-pah~"
Esper Meowth nodded vigorously, then took Meowth back to the secret base.
After getting home, it placed Meowth on the bed, covered it with a blanket, and then lay down by the bedside.
Looking at Meowth's peaceful sleeping face, a comforting smile appeared on Esper Meowth's face.
Esper Meowth remembered its own childhood, when it was also picked up by Trevenant and brought back to the Nibel Plateau, where it settled down.
Esper Meowth still remembered that it was a rainy night when it was still an egg, and somehow it fell into the fast-flowing Nibel River.
It was at this moment that it hatched.
Because it was too small, it was tossed left and right by the current, and was about to be drowned when a passing Trevenant reached out a branch to save it.
After being rescued, Esper Meowth, who was still just a Meowth at the time, developed a high fever. Trevenant took it home and took care of it carefully for a long time before it recovered.
Esper Meowth didn't know where it came from, so it lived with Trevenant.
Trevenant was an elder of the Nibel Plateau and was once one of its guardians, but it was too old and passed away not long after picking up Esper Meowth.
Since then, Esper Meowth lived alone, but it inherited Trevenant's legacy and has been trying its best to help all the Pokémon on the plateau who are in trouble.
Recalling the past, Esper Meowth gradually fell into a dream by the bedside.
In its dream, it seemed to meet Trevenant again, and a smile unconsciously appeared on its face.
––––––
After seeing Esper Meowth off, Anji opened the system, because he seemed to have received a system notification when Snorlax's House closed today.
Sure enough, the moment he opened the system, a pop-up window appeared.
"Congratulations to the host for cumulatively serving 10,000 Pokémon, obtaining achievement rewards: Constitution +5, Intelligence +5."
Anji was overjoyed, there were new achievement rewards again, and both Constitution and Intelligence increased by 5 points.
As the difficulty of achieving achievements increased, the rewards Anji received became more and more generous.
He opened his personal information interface and saw that the information above had been updated.
Anji
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 16 (+500)
Constitution: 30
Intelligence: 17
After feeling the changes in his body, Anji shouted loudly outside.
"Snor~ Snor~" Master, what is it!
Snorlax ran over with its short legs.
"Let's spar, shall we?" Anji said.
"Snor~ Snor~~ Snor~~~" Sparring in cooking? Okay, okay, let Master see the results of my recent training!
Snorlax clenched its fists, its face full of fighting spirit.
I, Snorlax, will overcome my superior today!
Anji knew that it had misunderstood as soon as he saw Snorlax's expression, so he held its fist and said, "I'm talking about a battle competition."
???
A big question mark appeared on Snorlax's face.
Master, what did you say? Battle competition? You can fight? How come I don't know?
Seeing Snorlax standing there dumbfounded, Anji grabbed its hand and walked outside. He couldn't fight, but he could practice, otherwise, what would he do if he encountered a kidnapping in the future and no one saved him!
However, it didn't seem very likely that no one would save him, because he could summon Diancie and the others to his side at any time.
But it's always good to have more skills.
Snorlax was just led dumbly by Anji to the grass outside.
Sobble was playing with the other Pokémon on the wall.
It placed small stones on the wall one by one, then stood far away and pointed a finger at the small stones.
"Shoo~"
It simulated the sound of a gun shooting in its mouth, and a stream of water shot out from its fingertip (Water Gun skill), accurately hitting a small stone and shattering it.
Sobble pretended to put its finger to its mouth and blow it gently.
"Sob~ble~" How is it? Are you mesmerized by me?
The onlookers immediately cheered and applauded, and Sobble became even more proud.
"Shoo~ Shoo~~ Shoo~~~"
It shot out three more streams of water, each time hitting accurately.
After shooting, Sobble retracted its arm, put the gesture of a gun at the position of its temple, posed in a cool pose, and asked everyone: "Sob~ble~ Sob~ble~" Am I handsome? Am I handsome?
Everyone was very supportive and kept praising it for being handsome.
Sobble was already dizzy from being praised, and ran back and forth excitedly on the wall, like a puppy begging for praise.
At this time, it saw Anji walking towards here with Snorlax, so it ran to the entrance of the wall in a puff of smoke, "Sob~ble~ Sob~ble~" Anji, where are you going?
"I'm going to have a competition with Snorlax." Anji replied as he continued to walk forward.
"Competition?" Sobble looked puzzled, jumped down from the wall, and chased after Anji.
Seeing that there was no excitement to watch, the other Pokémon also followed.
Anji and Snorlax came to an open space. After standing on both sides, Anji bent his legs slightly and posed in a fighting stance.
"Snorlax, come at me!"
Snorlax was still in a daze at the moment. Come at me? Come at what?
Everyone surrounded Anji and Snorlax at this time, but they didn't understand what Anji meant for a while.
Anji shouted: "Snorlax, swing your fist and attack me!"
Snorlax was startled and subconsciously rushed towards Anji with its fist.
Bang!
Snorlax and Anji collided, and the hands of one person and one Pokémon were clasped together, but to the surprise of all the Pokémon, Anji did not retreat at all, and was evenly matched with Snorlax.
At this time, Diancie happened to push through the Pokémon crowd and squeezed into the encirclement, and saw this shocking scene in front of it.
Is... Is this still the Anji Your Highness it knows?
Although it knew that with the increase of Constitution, Anji's physical fitness would get better and better, it never expected that he had now reached the point where he could contend with Snorlax.
Snorlax was also stunned.
Master actually took its attack, although it didn't use skills, but it was a Pokémon, and Master was a human!
At this moment, Anji shouted at it: "Snorlax, didn't you eat breakfast? Why do you only have this little strength?"
"Snor?" Master, you were looking down on me just now!
In this instant, Snorlax's originally cute eyes became sharp.
"Snor~" It shouted, hugged Anji's waist, and tried to knock Anji down.
Ange also subconsciously hugged Munchlax's waist, but Munchlax's belly was too round, and Ange couldn't get a good grip, only managing to grab the fur on either side of its waist.
The master and apprentice were locked in a contest, each trying to knock the other down, but since they were both hugging each other's waists, neither could gain an advantage.
"Mesa~ Mesa~" Ange, go! Munchlax, go!
Sobble took the lead in cheering for the master and apprentice, and the other Pokémon, seeing this, also cheered for their respective supporters, some supporting Ange, some supporting Munchlax, and some, like Sobble, supporting both.
Snorlax didn't know when it had rolled into the circle, its eyes tightly closed, still fast asleep, and it was unclear what it was doing there.
However, the frequency of its swaying strangely matched the cheers of the crowd.
Finally, Ange couldn't hold on any longer and ran out of strength first, being knocked onto the grass by Munchlax.
He lay on the grass, covered in sweat, panting heavily, and shouted, "Refreshing!"
It had been a long time since he had such an exhilarating workout, and Ange felt as if all the cells in his body had come alive, full of vitality.
"Goon~ Goon~~" Master, you're so amazing!
Munchlax plopped down next to Ange, and although it had won, it was also quite tired.
Ange patted Munchlax on the back, "Let's spar again next time!"
The only reason he could last so long was that Munchlax didn't use any skills, only brute force.
However, he was already very, very satisfied with his current physical fitness, and even though Munchlax's level wasn't that high, he could be considered someone who could compete with Pokémon.
"Goon~ Goon~" Okay, okay! Next time, continue, continue!
Munchlax said happily, feeling its blood boiling after the sparring session.
"You need to exercise properly, you're getting fatter and fatter." Ange sat up and patted Munchlax's belly, which immediately jiggled like a wobbly pudding.
"Goon~ Goon~"
Munchlax scratched the back of its head embarrassedly. Since coming to Ange's house, it had been eating well and getting plenty to eat every day, so it would be strange if it didn't gain weight.
At this time, Diancie came over and asked with concern, "Ange, are you alright?"
When Ange was knocked down by Munchlax just now, her heart was in her throat, afraid that Ange would be seriously injured.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry." Ange patted his chest and said, "I'm not the same person I used to be, I'm very strong now!"
The increase in physique points improved Ange's physical fitness in all aspects, including not only strength but also resistance to beatings.
Seeing Ange's relaxed expression, Diancie breathed a sigh of relief.
In the afternoon, the Pokémon continued to help Ange plant trees, and the planting of Rindo Berries and Wiki Berries was finally coming to an end.
Ange stayed at home with Munchlax and Sobble, as they had new work to do today.
Ange's shop had gradually introduced various types of porridge, but it had never introduced Century Egg and Pork Porridge. The reason was that there were no century eggs in the Pokémon world. If Ange wanted to introduce Century Egg and Pork Porridge in the shop, he had to make century eggs himself.
Ange was going to make century eggs with Munchlax and Sobble today.
To be honest, Ange himself was craving century eggs.
Just thinking about the delicious dishes made with century eggs, such as cold century eggs, century egg tofu, pounded pepper century eggs… Ange's heart was already stirring.
Century eggs have a unique taste and are not liked by everyone. Some people hate them, which is very similar to cilantro, and Ange belongs to the category of people who like century eggs.
In addition to century eggs, Ange also planned to make some salted duck eggs today.
Munchlax's Home and Diancie's Cafeteria had completely evolved into a breakfast shop, and Ange had no intention of changing this business structure.
Doing everything would only exhaust him.
Since he was running a breakfast shop, how could he not have salted duck eggs!
Just thinking about the oily, golden salted duck eggs, Ange's mouth was almost watering.
Ange provides the side dishes at Munchlax's Home for free, but the salted duck eggs he made this time could no longer be free. Although he couldn't earn Happiness Points by selling salted duck eggs, he worked hard to make them, so it was okay to earn some sweat money!
Ange had prepared the materials for making century eggs and salted duck eggs early in the morning.
Azoth Kingdom was experiencing heavy snowfall, but the weather in the Nibel Plateau was very clear. Whenever this happened, Ange would silently say, "Thank you, Volcanion!"
Ange, Munchlax, and Sobble moved the materials to the square in front of the door together, planning to work while basking in the sun.
Ange and Munchlax each brought a small stool to sit down, and the three of them gathered around a pile of materials. Ange announced:
"Let's begin."
"Goon~"
"Mesa~"
Munchlax and Sobble cheered. They had long been looking forward to the new delicacies Ange had mentioned.
"Then you guys follow me! Let's make century eggs first," Ange said.
"Goon~"
"Mesa~"
Munchlax and Sobble nodded at the same time.
"Okay, Sobble, let's wash the duck eggs. Fill the basin with water," Ange said, pointing to the large plastic basin in front of him.
"Mesa~~"
Sobble nodded and put a finger into the basin. The water immediately flowed in with a gurgling sound, while Ange directed Munchlax to put all the duck eggs in.
"Before we do it, we need to wash the duck eggs clean, so we can prevent the growth of bacteria," Ange said gently while washing the duck eggs.
"Goon~~"
Munchlax nodded seriously, washing the duck eggs like its master. Sobble also joined in after filling the basin with water.
"Okay! After washing the duck eggs, let's prepare the curing mud," Ange said while demonstrating to the two Pokémon.
Put quicklime, soda ash, and salt into a large bowl, add an appropriate amount of tea, and stir well until all the solids are dissolved and become a paste.
The tea needs to be prepared in advance. Boil the tea leaves with water, let it cool, and then filter out the tea leaves.
"Next comes the pickling step, which is also the most crucial step," Ange demonstrated to his two apprentices.
Take the dried duck eggs, evenly coat them with the pickling mud, and then put them into the porcelain jar that Ange had prepared in advance to seal.
"Marinating like this for about a month will give you delicious century eggs."
"Goon~ Goon~" Still need a month ah…
Munchlax looked disappointed.
"How is it? Do you remember all the steps?" Ange asked, holding up a mud-coated duck egg in his hand.
"Goon~" Remembered it!
"Mesa~" Caught it!
The two Pokémon answered in unison.
Ange said with a smile, "Okay, let's hurry up and do it, there's a lot to do today. After we finish the century eggs, we still have to make salted duck eggs."
"Goon~"
"Mesa~"
The two Pokémon cheered and immediately started working according to what Ange taught. It must be said that they both had strong hands-on abilities, and soon jar after jar of century eggs were made, and the square in front of the door was filled with a pile of sealed porcelain jars.
