Pokémon: Starting with a Pokémon Ranch.

Chapter 258 Harvesting Rice

After seeing the mayor off, Su Yu stopped observing the Drummers.

It seemed to be having a lot of fun. Its ability to transform into lightning was almost unmatched among the newcomers. At the very least, it had mastered a special lightning technique thanks to Su Yu's previous cooking.

This is something it obtained from the technique imprint; its power is enormous, far exceeding that of ordinary thunder.

Currently, the reputation of the trials in the ranch has only just begun to spread, and a considerable number of newcomers from the surrounding towns are coming to challenge it. However, once the hype dies down, the number of people coming will likely decrease.

Therefore, Su Yu plans to organize another trial later, in the form of a 1v1 mentoring battle, to specifically guide a group of newcomers.

To put it simply, the goal is to refine the trials, rather than offering the common, mass-produced trials we have now, and providing meticulous guidance.

……

Go back inside.

The Silly King was still studying, holding a geography book with great interest. He had already read the last volume of the nine-year compulsory education textbook.

Upon seeing Su Yu arrive, the dazed king said with a blank expression:

"Messenger, I've finished reading all these geography books. Could you lend me some new ones?"

"You're interested in geography? And stop calling me Divine Messenger... I already said I'm not from Lugia," Su Yu said helplessly.

To this, Slowking nodded very seriously: "Yes, divine messenger."

Su Yu: ...

"Then I'll go check out the town library later."

"By the way, did you stay up late reading last night?"

Looking at Dazed King's dark circles, Su Yu asked in confusion, "It looks like you haven't slept at all these past few days."

"Yes, because I feel that sleep is not a very efficient use of the brain, and it's not worth it at all."

"Even if you need to sleep, you have to exhaust your brain's current energy before you can rest."

Su Yu: ...

Your mind can hold up, but your body can't!

I've figured it out, you're a top-tier workaholic. And it seems that because your brain is so developed, you have inexhaustible energy.

"Alright then, I'll go get you a manual on the [Stand] technique. With that, you should be able to improve your learning efficiency."

"But the prerequisite is that you must ensure you get sleep every day. Otherwise, I'm afraid your body won't be able to handle it."

By creating clones using the Stand move, Slowking can accelerate its learning efficiency. Its highly developed brain can also support multiple programs running in parallel.

Can you accept this now?

……

After getting the move manual for Dazed King, Su Yu let it learn it on its own.

He himself glanced outside.

The ducks that Frost Milk Fairy takes care of have recently hatched some ducklings. Right now, they are teaching the ducklings to swim.

The Slowpokes lay by the lake, leisurely basking in the sun. Every now and then, one of the Slowpokes would lift its tail, because a fish had taken the bait.

The sweet substance secreted by their tails acts as a natural bait. Therefore, all Slowpokes are expert fishermen, and there's almost never a case of them coming home empty-handed.

In the distance, golden wheat ears and emerald green rice leaves form a vast ocean in the rice paddies, swaying in the sea breeze and creating waves of rice.

"It's time to harvest this rice too..."

Su Yu summoned Scyther and prepared to harvest the rice. Before leaving, he took two straw hats and put one on Scyther's head.

He explained:

"It's already June, and the sun will get stronger and stronger from now on."

"Even if you don't have anything to do normally, you should still pay attention to sun protection."

While this amount of sunlight is nothing to Pokémon that can withstand the power of moves, it's still uncomfortable, just like a mosquito bite.

"Sha—"

Upon hearing this, Scyther nodded.

When they arrived at the field, several mosquito tadpoles that were playing in the water saw them and quickly swam away.

Before long, the mosquito coil arrived.

Seeing that they seemed a little nervous, Su Yu guessed that they were afraid he had come to drive them away, so he explained:

"Scyther and I are just here to harvest this rice, don't be nervous."

"By the way, is your nest finished? Would you mind showing it to me?"

Upon hearing this, the mosquito coil users finally relaxed.

They turned around, glanced at the mosquito coil tadpoles hiding not far away, and nodded.

Leading Su Yu along the way, they arrived at a pool of water. This pool was dug out by the screw mole earlier and was originally intended for storing water.

The water source for this pool is directly connected to Moon Lake, saving the trouble of carrying water back and forth. Now it seems perfect for mosquito coil users to have a home.

In the pond, there are many nests built by mosquito coils, and many mosquito coil tadpoles swimming around inside.

Some of these mosquito coil tadpoles were even born after their parents arrived at the ranch.

"Not bad, looks like you're adapting well here."

Seeing that the Mosquito Coil clan had already multiplied in the rice paddies, Su Yu felt relieved. He took Scyther back and began harvesting the rice.

One after another, the rice ears were placed on the ridge of the field, while the flying praying mantis waved its arms swiftly nearby.

With such a skillful Pokémon at the helm, Su Yu only needed to lend a hand. And as they busied themselves, noon quickly arrived.

"Let's go back and have lunch first. Take a break at noon and come back to continue in the afternoon."

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Su Yu said, "After the rice is harvested, it still needs to be threshed."

However, since they were already in the Pokémon world, Su Yu didn't plan to husk the grains himself. He could leave that to the porter.

Make a threshing tool that quickly throws the rice grains off by swinging the rice stalks and striking them against a wooden grid.

This method is actually quite primitive, but it's Su Yu's first time harvesting rice. He plans to buy a machine next time he goes to town.

Let the porters get busy first, and in the afternoon, Su Yu went to help the Flying Mantis.

After the rice was threshed, Su Yu had the porters carry it to the roof to dry.

The passing Alcremie fairies were also very curious about this kind of farm work, and even wanted to try it themselves and help the porter thresh the grain.

After working hard for most of the day...

The rice in the entire field has been harvested. And this is the productivity of the elven world.

However, with so much rice... we might have to trouble the coal turtle to help dry it.

After a long day, Su Yu took the Scyther home with him. On his way home, he stopped by the Sky Tree and picked some leaves from the Auditorium Tree.

These tea leaves are perfect for stir-frying.

That evening...

Using fresh rice to cook the food, Su Yu served each dish to the table.

The dining table was filled with Pokémon from the ranch.

The chuckled mouse was chattering away, telling the Frostfair and the others about its daytime experiences and how it had wreaked havoc on the battlefield.

"Mama..." That sounds amazing.

Hearing the description from the Drummer, the Alcremie and the others were very excited. Alcremie even went to Su Yu to ask what kind of food could enhance it.

"Oh, it's you?"

There doesn't seem to be any dish that would suit Alcremie.

Su Yu shook his head regretfully.

But Alcremie didn't really like fighting before, so why is she acting so strangely today?

Meanwhile, Suicune and Arcanine, after running around all day, also caught up with dinner time.

When we went out today, Speeddog even tried bringing Electric Dog along, placing it on its head so they could see the world together.

Meanwhile, Slowking was holding the Stand movebook, looking at it while eating, not even letting go of his mealtime.

(End of this chapter)