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

Chapter 8 Getting Closer

Anjie used a shovel to turn over the soil, and then Tianxi used a hoe to break up the large clumps of soil.

After digging a small patch of ground, Anjie straightened up, leaning on the shovel handle. "It seems that not everyone can do this kind of work." He had only been working for a short while when he felt a sore back and aching waist.

Upon hearing this, Tianxi mocked Ange, saying, "Ange, you're no good!"

"You're saying I can't do it?" Anjie immediately retorted, "You dare say I can't?" With that, he slammed his shovel into the ground, shouting, "I'll show you today whether I can or not!"

However, about ten minutes later, Anjie straightened up again, supporting himself with the shovel handle and holding his back. "Ouch, it seems I really can't do it."

Tianxi burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at!" Anjie glared at Tianxi in annoyance.

"Hahaha~~" Diancie laughed even harder.

While rubbing his aching back, Anjie turned to the Komamura and said, "Komamura, do you want to come down and help? A family should share both good times and bad!"

Anjie had only asked casually, but to her surprise, the tree-pillow koala actually rolled over.

It raised the tree pillow in its hand, which shone with a green light, and then slammed it hard on the ground. The ground shook, clods of earth were turned up, and a piece of land was thus cultivated.

"It's a wooden mallet!" Anjie exclaimed.

The move that Koala just used was the Grass-type physical attack, Wood Hammer.

"Tree pillow koala, you're amazing, unlike some people," Tianci said, glancing at Ange.

Anjie: ...

"It's not a personal attack!"

Tianxi feigned ignorance, saying, "I wasn't talking about you, why are you so quick to assume it's me?"

Anjie huffed, "Just you wait! Once I've done a few more missions and earned a few more physique points, I'll beat you all to a pulp!"

Tianxi shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Then I'll be waiting."

Planting flowers doesn't require a large area; the area that the tree-pillow bear cleared with a wooden mallet was enough. So Anjai dropped the shovel and squatted down to pick out the weeds one by one.

If weeds are not cleared away, they will soon revive and compete with the flowers for nutrients.

The tree-pillow koala wasn't idle either; it rolled around in the ground, using its tree pillow to break up large clumps of soil along with Diancie.

It's covered in mud, so it'll need a good wash later.

Anjie watched as Diancie and the tree-pillow bear busied themselves, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

He enjoys his current life, with lovely companions and a not-too-busy career; his days are peaceful and serene.

Just then, Anjie suddenly heard a noise coming from the bushes not far away. He asked in confusion, "Who's there?"

The bushes rustled again, and several seconds later, Anjie saw a Candle Spirit jump out.

"Mmm~ Mmm~~"

Upon seeing Ange, Lidgling's expression became somewhat unnatural. It turned around and called out twice towards the bushes behind it. One after another, Pokémon such as Pancham, Lizard, Skitty, and Skunk Poo jumped out of the bushes. The last one to emerge was the Melting Beast that Ange recognized.

Upon seeing the Melting Beast, Anjie greeted it with a smile, "Oh, it's you! Are these your companions?"

The consuming beast nodded slightly.

"Hello, my name is Angel, and I'm a human who just moved to the Nibel Plateau." Angel knew that the Pokémon were afraid of him, but he still greeted them generously.

Several Pokémon cowered and took two steps back.

Upon seeing this, Tianxi quickly stepped forward and asked, "Is there something you need here? For a meal?"

The Candlelight Spirit mustered its courage and took the lead. It first shook its head, and then explained its purpose.

After learning that the person who brought them food was a human, they were scared, but they still decided to come and thank him. They would not ignore Anjie's kindness to them just because they dislike humans.

After hearing Tianxi's account, Ange asked, "You want to repay me?"

"Mmm~"

Candlelight Spirit nodded.

"I see..." Anjie lowered her head, lost in thought. After a dozen seconds, she suddenly said, "Well then, I was just planning to plant some flowers, why don't you come and help me?"

Improving relations with Pokémon can't be rushed, so let's start by creating more opportunities to spend time with them. I believe that as time goes by, people will gradually accept him.

Upon hearing Anjie's suggestion, Candlelight Spirit hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.

"Alright, let's begin."

As he spoke, Anjie began assigning tasks to the Pokémon.

Planting flowers requires fertilizer, which Anjie obviously didn't have. He could buy it in the system, but he didn't have many happiness points, so he couldn't bear to part with it.

Since that's the case, then I'll just have to make it myself.

Ange sent Naughty Panda, Bandana Stooge, Umbrella Lizard, and Foam Squirrel to collect some dead leaves, twigs, rotten soil, and Pokémon poop.

He also needed to enclose the flowerbed with some stones, so he asked Little Lion, Tail-tailed Cat, Skunk Pu, Pink Fragrance, Snake-patterned Bear, and Melting Beast to fetch some stones back.

The stones couldn't be too small, but if they were too big, even several Pokémon might not be able to move them. So Angelin instructed the Slicerobacter to use its venom to corrode the stones into smaller pieces before moving them if they encountered stones that were too big.

As for the Candlelight Spirit...

Although Anjie had cleared away all the weeds from the field, there must still be some roots and seeds left in the soil that hadn't been properly cleaned. So he had Candlelight Spirit use a flame to carefully bake the broken soil, which would both remove the weeds and sterilize the soil.

After the tasks were assigned, the Pokémon immediately got to work.

Before long, piles of withered branches, leaves, rotten soil, excrement, and stones were returned by the Pokémon.

Foam Squirrel is a very clean Pokémon, so when Angel asked it to pick up poop, the disgusted look on its face when it brought it back wrapped in leaves made everyone laugh.

Luckily, the droppings that could be found outside had already dried out, otherwise the foam squirrel might have jumped up and scratched Angie's face.

After the soil is treated, it needs to be left to dry for a while because the ground temperature is a bit high after the candlelight has been heated.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Anjie led the mischievous pandas to compost fertilizer, while Tianxi led the little lions to fence off the land with stones.

Anjie first dug a deep pit next to the ground with a shovel, then had Lidgetzan light the branches and dead leaves. Then he and the other Pokémon mixed the ashes with the rotten soil and Pokémon poop, and pushed it into the pit. Finally, they covered it with the remaining unburned dead leaves to let the fertilizer ferment.

While Ange finished her work, Tianxi and the others also finished surrounding the area with stones. With the stones in place, the plot of land finally looked a bit like a flower bed.

"Thank you all for your hard work, you're all so capable!" Seeing how efficient everyone was, Anjie couldn't help but praise them.

The Pokémon were both afraid of Ange and dared not look her in the eye, but they were also happy because of Ange's praise, so they couldn't help but steal glances at Ange.

Among them, Pink Fragrance and Snake Bear couldn't help but think: Humans aren't as scary as everyone says!

Of these Pokémon, only Pinkie Pie and Zigzagoon are native to the Nibel Plateau. They have never had contact with humans before, nor have they been harmed by them. Their fear of humans is simply based on how people in the plateau describe humans.

Seeing that Pink Fragrance and Snake Bear were the most daring in their gazes, Anjie grinned at them, revealing two rows of big white teeth.

(ω)

Upon seeing Ange's smile, the two Pokémon immediately turned their heads away awkwardly, pretending to be nonchalant.

Once the heat in the ground dissipated, Angel and his Pokémon dug small holes in the enclosed flowerbed and then buried the flower seeds in them.

"The last thing to do is water it," Anjie said to everyone, taking out several small buckets from her home.

Suddenly, Fenxiang flew out.

"Whoosh~ Whoosh~~"

Anjie looked at Diancie with a puzzled expression and asked, "What does 'pink fragrance' mean?"

Tianxi relayed, "Fragrant said to leave the watering to it."

"Really?" Anjie looked at Fenxiang and asked, "Can I really entrust this to you?"

Pinky patted its chest confidently with its wings, assuring everyone there was no problem. However, once it realized it was talking to a human, it immediately hid uneasily behind the serpentine bear, only peeking out to peek at Anjie.

Seeing this, Anjie said to it in a gentle tone, "Alright, I'll leave it to you then."

Pinky nodded, then quickly flapped its wings and flew away.

Anjie watched the pink fragrance's back and was very curious about how it would water the flower bed.

After a short while, Pinky flew back, accompanied by another Pokémon. Seeing it, Ange finally understood why Pinky had said that the watering task was left to it.

The Pokémon that Pink Fragrance brought was a floating bubble.

Float is a weather Pokémon whose body shape changes with the weather (it transforms into the sun, rain, and snow clouds on sunny, rainy, and snowy days, respectively). Despite its small size, it possesses a powerful ability to control the weather.

It seems that Fenxiang had already told Floating Bubble that there were humans here, so Floating Bubble was not surprised to see Anjie. It just hid behind Fenxiang and looked a little timid.

After being introduced by Fen Xiangxiang, Anjie learned that this floating bubble was Fen Xiangxiang's good friend, which is why it still came to help so loyally even after learning that there were humans around.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Floating Bubble," Anjie said.

The floating bubble nodded and slowly flew out from behind Pink Fragrance. Looking at Anjie's kind smile, it felt, like its good friend Pink Fragrance, that humans weren't as scary as everyone said.

Like Bubble and Zigzagoon and Pinkie Pie, Bubble is a Pokémon native to the Nebel Plateau, and its existence is only known to humans through word of mouth among Pokémon.

The floating bubbles slowly drifted above the flowerbed, and then a small cloud gathered above the flowerbed. Soon after, a light drizzle began to fall.

The moment it started to rain, the floating bubble flashed with light and its shape changed from its normal form to that of rainwater. At this moment, its entire shape resembled a small water droplet with legs.

Floating Bubble has changed not only in form but also in type. It has now changed from a Normal-type Pokémon to a Water-type Pokémon. Similarly, when it transforms into its Sun and Snow Cloud forms, its type changes to Fire and Ice respectively, which is quite interesting.

The floating bubbles have a very strong ability to control rain, confining the rainfall to a small flower field without affecting other areas.

After observing for a few seconds, Anjie asked softly, "Floating bubbles, can you control the rain a little less? The flowerbeds will get flooded if the rain is too heavy."

"Pfft~"

The floating bubbles nodded, and soon the rain became even less.

Seeing this, Anjie gave the floating bubble a thumbs up and said, "Floating bubble, you're amazing."

Floating Bubble felt a little shy upon hearing this, and two blushes involuntarily appeared on her cheeks.

The watering was finished quickly, and the floating bubbles immediately tried to run away, but Anjie quickly called them back.

"Floating Bubble, don't go yet, I'll treat you to something to eat."

Upon hearing that there was food, the floating bubble instinctively stopped in mid-air. It looked at its good friend Pinky, unsure whether to go or stay.

Seeing this, An Jie said to Candlelight Spirit and the others, "Don't leave, everyone. I'll treat you to something to eat."

"Mmm~ Mmm~~"

Upon hearing this, the candle flames on the candle spirits' heads flickered, indicating that they could not stay. They had come to repay a debt of gratitude, so how could they stay to eat? Wouldn't all their hard work have been for nothing?

The other Pokémon nodded in agreement, but when they thought of the delicious food they had eaten yesterday, they all subconsciously swallowed.

At this moment, Anjie suddenly said in an exaggerated tone, "Oh dear~ I accidentally prepared too much food today, but there are only three of us at home: me, Tianxi, and the Tree Pillow Bear. We definitely can't finish it all, and it's going to go to waste. Just thinking about all that food having to be thrown away makes me so sad..."

Upon hearing Ange's words, even the simple-minded Pokémon became anxious. How could food be wasted!

"Yes, yes, I have a headache too." Tianxi understood immediately and quickly echoed Anjie, "If only someone could help us eat, that would be a huge help to Anjie and me."

"Can anyone help me?" Anjie blinked and asked the Candle Spirits.

"Stay, stay," Diancie said, picking up Candlelight.

Seeing the expectant looks on Anjie and Tianxi's faces, Candlelight Spirit couldn't help but nod.

"That's great," Diancie said, then looked at the other Pokémon. "You'll all stay too, right?"

Since Lidgment agreed, the other Pokémon naturally nodded in agreement.

"Then it's settled. Let's go wash up first, and then come back for dinner," Anjie said loudly.

After Ange's reminder, the Pokémon looked at each other and realized that they had all become mud monkeys without even realizing it.

Hahaha~~

"Ya cha~ ya cha~~"

"Mmm~ Mmm~"

……

Angie and the Pokémon burst into laughter. At that moment, the Pokémon seemed to have forgotten their fear of Angie.

(End of this chapter)