Elf: Seriously? You only get a cheat code when you're about to die?

Chapter 2 Waaaaah~ I got rejected.

After breakfast, Anjie began preparing to entertain his guests, eagerly anticipating what reward the system would give him after completing the task.

He went to the kitchen and took out the ingredients needed to make steamed buns: warm water, white vinegar, flour, yeast, etc., and then started to get busy.

First, add an appropriate amount of yeast to water and stir well. Let it stand for a few minutes, then add flour and stir until the flour forms clumps. Then add more flour and knead.

In this process, the ratio of water, yeast, and flour is extremely important; not a single ingredient can be added or subtracted.

More attention needs to be paid to the force when kneading; it should not be too strong or too weak. A skillful approach is required. Even the direction of hand rotation when kneading flour has been rigorously trained for Anjie by the system.

It was Tianxi who supervised Ange's training.

Don't let Anjie's gentle and quiet personality fool you; when Tianxi transforms into a system coach, her attitude becomes incredibly strict.

Anjie's cooking skills have improved so quickly thanks in no small part to Tianxi's strict requirements. With the system's support, its eyes are practically all-seeing, and it can easily spot even the slightest mistake Anjie makes.

After kneading the dough properly, coat the surface of the dough with a layer of vegetable oil, then place it in a bowl to rest, cover it with plastic wrap, and then just wait for it to ferment slowly.

Applying vegetable oil helps the dough and water blend better, making the dough more elastic and softer, and also prevents moisture from evaporating.

After finishing all this, he washed his hands and called out to Diancie, "Dianci, shall we go outside and take a look?"

It's unrealistic to just stay at home and wait for customers to come to you. It's more practical to go out and attract customers. Otherwise, how will anyone know you run a restaurant?

I went out while the dough was fermenting, and when I came back I could proceed to the next step of the process.

"Okay!" Tianxi poked her head out from behind the door frame.

"Let's go then." Anjie walked out of the kitchen and closed the door, then changed into civilian clothes.

All of Anjie's current resources are provided by the system. According to Tianxi, this is a newbie perk. Once he passes the newbie period, he will have to work hard to obtain everything he needs, including his food, clothing, shelter, and cooking ingredients.

Before leaving, Anjie took away the koala's empty food bowl and placed a cup of warm water next to it. "Koala, please watch the house. Diancie and I are going out for a bit."

The tree-pillow koala rolled over, hugging the tree pillow, and gently tugged at the small blanket covering it with its little paws before continuing to snore, its eyes never opening. Anjie had no idea whether it understood or not.

Anjie didn't dwell on it; after all, that's just how tree-pillow koalas are.

"Tianci, let's go."

"Here you are!"

Each person and their Pokémon stepped out of their home with a relaxed attitude. Being able to go out together like this is a happy thing for them.

They walked on the soft, green grass, feeling the gentle light cast by the sky, letting the breeze caress their faces, and admiring the beautiful scenery of the Nibel Plateau.

Anjie opened her arms and took a deep breath. "The air here is really nice."

Tianxi mimicked Ange, squinting her eyes and tilting her head back, "Yes, that's right!"

Just then, a white butterfly flew by in the sky, and Anjie waved to it in a friendly manner, saying, "Hi, everyone!"

"Oh my god! It's a human! How scary!"

However, the butterflies reacted as if they had seen a plague when they saw Anjie, and immediately flapped their wings and flew away.

Anjie stared blankly at Diancie and asked, "Dianci, do I look that scary?" The little arrow-sparrow looked like that, and so did the white butterfly.

Tianxi gave a thumbs up and said, "Angel is so handsome! The most handsome!"

"Right, then... never mind, let's go look somewhere else." With that, Angel continued to lead Diancie in the search for Pokémon.

Not long after they walked, a small mound suddenly appeared on the grass not far away. Then a digging rabbit poked half of its body out from inside, holding the root of an unknown plant in its arms.

Just as Digger Rabbit took a small bite of the root, it heard a sound.

Good morning, Digger Rabbit.

"Hoo-beep~"

The burrowing rabbit was startled and immediately shrank back into its hole, even dropping the food it was carrying at the edge of the hole.

"Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~~"

Meanwhile, a flower bud flew by, humming a little tune. As it flew, its body swayed to the rhythm of the music, as if it were dancing on the flowers beneath it, and it seemed to be in a very good mood.

But as soon as it looked down, it saw Anjie.

"Whoosh~ Whoosh~~"

() Hua Beibei was instantly terrified and almost fell off the fairy flower. She screamed and ran away.

Anjie: ...

Diancie: ...

After a long while, Anjie saw a small paw sticking out of the burrow of the digger rabbit. It groped around at the edge of the burrow for a while, and after grabbing the dropped root, it quickly pulled its hand back, as if there was something hot to the touch outside.

Anjie wailed, "Why is this happening?!"

Snap~ Snap~~~

Affected by his wail, several rocket finches and little arrow finches passing by in the sky not far away quickly flapped their wings and moved away from there. They looked so panicked that Anjie suspected they might fall down because they couldn't fly steadily.

Seeing this, Ange said angrily, "I don't believe it! Do I really have a face that looks like it eats Pokémon? Come on, Diancie, let's go look somewhere else!"

Tianxi clenched her little hands in a dilemma and said, "Could it be that they are scared because they see me?" After all, it looks different from before.

Upon hearing this, Anjie replied without hesitation and with absolute certainty, "How could that be? My Diancie is so, so, so cute, who wouldn't like her? I love Diancie the most!"

Ange's expression was exaggerated yet certain, which amused Tianxi. She said, both happy and shy, "Since Ange has said so..." Then I'll believe it.

"Let's go look around somewhere else," Anjie said, striding out.

"Hmm~" Tianxi quickly followed.

Anjie arrived at the lake not far from the small building. Many pink lotus flowers were growing on the lake near the building, and round lotus leaves were touching the water. Several mosquito tadpoles and mosquito coils were leisurely lying on them sunbathing.

Every now and then, a few dragonflies and ancient giant dragonflies would fly across the lake, gently creating ripples before finally settling on the budding lotus flowers to rest.

Then a voice broke the silence.

Hi everyone, interested in becoming friends?

Once the Pokémon could see what Ange looked like, Flygon and Dribou immediately flapped their wings and flew away, their wings almost leaving afterimages. Poliwag and the others also panicked and scrambled into the water.

Thump~ Thump~~ Thump~~~

An innocent little mosquito tadpole didn't run away immediately. It blinked its big, round eyes, tilted its head, and curiously looked at Anjie.

Anjie was delighted to see this and was about to step forward to have a deeper conversation with the mosquito coil tadpole when a mosquito coil tadpole poked its head out of the water, grabbed the tadpole's tail, and pulled it back into the water until it disappeared.

Looking at the ripples spreading among the lotus leaves, Anjie was overwhelmed with sorrow.

He now strongly suspects that he carries some kind of aura that makes Pokémon fear him.

His greatest wish in life was to pet Pokémon to his heart's content. Could it be that God sent him to the Pokémon world but couldn't grant him this wish? Isn't this just bullying an honest person?

Anjie turned her gaze to the lake, and saw that Wubo's head had surfaced in the water at some point. They cautiously observed Anjie, and when they realized that Anjie was looking at them, they immediately and frantically dived back into the water.

Anjie: ...

"Never mind, let's go home first."

By then, the dough had almost finished fermenting, so Angie had no choice but to dejectedly go home with Tianxi.

On the way home, Tianxi comforted Anjie, saying, "Anjie, don't be discouraged. Everyone is probably just seeing you for the first time and isn't used to your human identity yet. You'll get used to it once you're familiar with everyone."

When Anjie was frail and sickly, he couldn't help but secretly envy others who were lively and energetic. Little Diamond would always come to comfort him at these times.

Although they couldn't communicate directly at that time, they understood each other's feelings, and each time Diancie comforted him, his agitated heart would calm down again.

It's the same this time.

Anjie hugged Tianxi tightly and said, "It's good that Tianxi has always been with me."

Tianxi hugged Anjie back and gently patted his back, saying, "Of course I'll stay with Anjie. Let's go home. We can take our time with the mission. There's no rush."

After the person and their Pokémon returned home, Komaru was still fast asleep, but when it heard Ange's return, its big ears twitched slightly.

Seeing that the tree-pillow koala had drunk all the warm water he had given it, Anjie pinched its ear and said, "Tree-pillow koala, thank you for guarding the house!"

The tree-pillow koala's short tail twitched uncomfortably.

Despite its small size and cute appearance, Ange suspects that Komaru might be a powerful Pokémon.

He tried to examine the data on tree-pillow koalas with an eye for observation, but failed.

According to Diancie, Angel's Eye of Observation cannot see Pokémon whose level is higher than his own starter Pokémon, meaning that Komaru's level is higher than Diancie's.

Diancie is level 50, which is a very high level, far exceeding most wild Pokémon.

Diancie grew up by Ange's side. Although Ange was weak and sickly and neglected its training, Diancie's level steadily increased under the tutelage of the royal family of Azot.

Then a tree-pillow koala of a higher level than Diancie would be quite remarkable.

However, Anjie is a cook now and doesn't expect the tree-pillow bear to fight for her, so levels and such don't matter.

After taking the empty water glass away, Anjie returned to the kitchen to continue her work.

He kneaded the dough and found that it had fully fermented, so he lit a fire and boiled a pot of water, then put the dough in the pot to continue fermenting with the hot water.

About thirty or forty minutes later, the dough finished fermenting. Anjie took out the dough, and at this time there were many small bubbles on the dough, and the volume was about twice as large as before.

So Anjie continued to knead the dough by hand until all the small bubbles were removed. Then she rolled the dough into a long strip and cut it into equal portions.

Finally, it's time to steam it.

Before long, the kitchen was filled with the rich aroma of steamed buns.

Tianxi then poked her head in, her face full of anticipation, and asked, "Are the steamed buns ready?"

Seeing that it was practically drooling, Anjie chuckled and asked, "What's wrong? Hungry again? Didn't you just have breakfast?"

Tianxi chuckled, "It smells amazing!"

Anjie exclaimed, "As expected of a legendary Pokémon, its digestive ability is truly amazing!"

Don't assume that what Ange steams is just ordinary steamed buns. In fact, the energy contained in them is no less than that of Pokémon food sold outside. Pokémon will benefit greatly from eating them. However, Diancie can light up a whole pot of them in one go.

Every time Angie teases Tianxi about her large appetite, Tianxi chases after Angie and beats her up.

Diancie: Nonsense! How could a lady have such a large appetite! (Note: Diancie is genderless.)

After the steamed buns were cooked, Anjie turned off the heat, then opened the steamer lid, took one out, and handed it to Tianxi, saying, "Here, have a taste."

Tianxi eagerly took the steamed bun, not even caring that it was hot, and took a big bite.

"Mmm~~~" It subconsciously closed its eyes with a look of pure enjoyment. "Delicious, so delicious!" It tasted like happiness! "Anjie, I feel like the steamed buns you made are even tastier than before."

"Really?" Anjie was delighted to hear that.

After Tianxi finished eating, Anjie saw that it still wanted more, so he took out another one and handed it to it, saying, "Let's go outside and try to attract some more customers!"

We can't give up because of a little setback. This is nothing!

"Okay!" Tianxi took the steamed bun, clenching her fist with high spirits. "Ange can definitely do it!"

So the person and their Pokémon left home again.

A day passed in the blink of an eye, and as the sun set, Angie and Tianxi returned home dejectedly in the afterglow of the sunset.

Clearly, they still hadn't gained anything. All the Pokémon on the Nibel Plateau avoided Angell like the plague, refusing to come near him, let alone eat at his restaurant.

In the end, all the steamed buns that Ange made ended up in the bellies of Diancie and the tree-pillow bear.

"Ouch~ Ouch~~~"

After dinner, Anjie sat at her front door, enjoying the cool night breeze while sighing.

Tianxi then came over, took Ange's arm, and comforted him, saying, "It's nothing serious, we'll keep trying tomorrow!"

"That's all we can do," Anjie said helplessly.

After a long day of walking around, Anjie was exhausted, her whole body aching. "Forget it, I'll just take a hot shower and go to sleep. I'll deal with everything tomorrow."

"That's it!" Tianxi agreed.

"Let's go, the tree-pillow koala too!" Anjie got up and lifted the tree-pillow koala off its little bed. The tree-pillow koala needed a good bath too.

(End of this chapter)