Elf: Start your slow-paced life after becoming a farmer.

"Of course, I think I still have that much face," Yu Longdu replied with a smile.

Carl then chatted with Yulongdu for a few more minutes before hanging up the phone.

It is worth noting that Lance mentioned in casual conversation that many well-known trainers in the Kanto and Johto regions have recently gone missing, and he is currently investigating their whereabouts.

"Could it be the Rockets?" Karl wondered to himself.

Although Team Rocket was officially disbanded in this world due to the existence of Crimson, Karl suspected that Giovanni might be planning to capture a "young god" who had escaped his control.

After all, a month ago, after the battle, Karl had asked Red if he had captured Mewtwo, and he received a negative answer.

Carl believed that Red, given his personality, would not lie to him.

Wait, a trainer has gone missing? Could this be part of Niijima's storyline?

When it comes to the plot of New Island, the first thing that comes to Karl's mind is the scene of a certain super rookie breaking the barrier with his bare hands and a certain street thug who throws a match.

If given the chance, who wouldn't want to touch Pokémon #151?

Carl pondered for a moment. If he wanted to get involved in the storyline of the new island, there were only three ways.

First, he received an invitation from Mewtwo, who can then travel to the new island according to the coordinates recorded on the invitation.

Secondly, find Ash who is traveling with Misty and Brock. By following this main character, Carl can also reach the new island.

Third, keep Zapdos by your side. Once the story begins, the climate around the new island will become abnormal. With Zapdos's ability to sense the weather, he will likely be able to find the location of the new island.

Currently, Carl cannot guarantee that he will receive the invitation, and he also does not know Ash's whereabouts.

Therefore, if Carl wants to participate in the plot, the third method is the most reliable.

Karl thought about it and ultimately gave up the idea of ​​going directly to the city. After all, he had promised Piper and Nemo that he would take them to participate in the fishing tournament, and he did not want to break his promise.

Furthermore, Carl couldn't be sure if the disappearance of those trainers was really related to Mewtwo. If it wasn't, wouldn't it be a joke for him to go to the Johto region?

With that thought in mind, Karl suppressed his thoughts and led Serperior to Zapdos, who was sunbathing on the lawn.

"Serpent Serpent, while I'm away, please keep an eye on Metagross and make sure it doesn't cause any more trouble than before," Carl instructed Serpent, sitting atop Zapdos. "I know you can do it, right?"

"Garro~ (I'll keep an eye on that metal head.)" The Serpent Lord said, quietly releasing the vine whip that was wrapped around Karl's calf. "Garro. (Remember to come home early after you're done.)"

"I will, after all, you're still at home." Karl smiled and waved to Serperior, then said to Zapdos, "Let's go, Zapdos."

……

The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, on the outskirts of Ziqin Town, at Land Farm.

"Oh! Carl, you're finally here!" Rand walked out of the farm gate and gave Carl a big hug.

After breaking free from Rand's embrace, Carl said nonchalantly, "Of course, I never break my promise."

After saying that, Carl turned to the side and introduced them to Rand: "This is my cousin, Pipa, and this is my future student, Nemo. They are both students of Orange Academy."

“Hey, Pipa, hey, Nemo, welcome to my farm.” Rand greeted the two little ones warmly, then turned to Carl and asked in surprise, “You just said that Nemo is your future student?”

“Yes, in a while, I’ll be joining Orange Academy as a teacher of combat studies.” Karl glanced down at himself. “What, do I not look like a good teacher?”

Rand recalled how Carl had stopped a rampaging group of Tauros with just one Pokémon the day before yesterday, and said in a complicated tone, "No, of course not, but I remember you're a farmer, aren't you?"

“Teaching is a part-time job for me,” Carl said without elaborating further. “Besides, Rand, we’re here today to visit your farm.”

“Oh, sorry! I forgot.” Rand slapped his forehead in regret. “Come on, guys, come with me, let me show you the good baby that was recently born on the farm.”

About ten minutes later, Rand led the three of them to a barren mound. He pointed behind the mound and said, "As usual, those little guys like to stay there."

As they got closer to the mound, Carl could see clearly the "little guys" Rand was talking about. They were a group of Pokémon that looked like two sugar cubes stuck together with mud—Saltstone Pokémon.

Chapter 67 Salt Stone Treasure and the New Journey (Please continue reading, please vote with monthly tickets)

"Wow, Rand, you can actually cultivate Saltstone Treasures!"

Salt Pokémon, also known as Rock Salt Pokémon, is theoretically born naturally in underground salt deposits and can produce delicious rock salt.

The Salt family is an important part of the Padina ecosystem. They share precious salt with wild Pokémon, and the Salt family, possessing the Clean Salt property, can produce Clean Salt that can cure Pokémon's status conditions.

Although Pokémon are a magical species that can mysteriously produce an extra Pokémon egg when people go on picnics together, raising them and hatching them are two different things.

For example, Marne Farm, which Carl once visited, also sells saltstone treasures, but anyone with a discerning eye can easily see that the ram mount is Marne Farm's signature product.

This is because, compared to other Pokémon, Mun is better at raising riding sheep.

To breed Pokémon with mineral-rich egg groups like Saltstone, more specialized breeding knowledge is required, including extensive research and learning on everything from the mineral ratio in their food to their daily care.

This is why Karl was so surprised that Rand was able to cultivate Saltstone Treasures.

“I knew you’d say that.” Rand said with a smug smile, “My family has been breeding Pokémon like Saltstone since my great-great-great-grandfather’s generation. I can guarantee that no one in the Padilla region knows more about Pokémon than me, not even the Gym Leader Tam.”

Tim? Carl was taken aback for a moment, but quickly realized that the Gym Leader of Freezer Town was not the black rapper Rem from the game's storyline, but his sister Tim.

However, Tam's preferred type is not Ghost, but Rock.

Among the main forces of the Tam Pavilion Master is a Salt Stone Giant, also known as the Salt King by players.

Saltstone Giant, the final evolution of Saltstone Giant, boasts a base defense stat of 130 and a base HP stat of 100, making its durability reach an incredibly high level.

Although its single Rock type gives it five double weaknesses, Fighting, Steel, and Water are still popular offensive types in battles.

However, its terrifying durability, coupled with the disgusting move Regenerate, largely makes up for its attribute shortcomings.

Most importantly, the Rock Giant possesses a unique move that, in some ways, is even more disgusting than poison—salting.

Salting is a Rock-type physical move that inflicts a status effect called Salting on the opponent upon hit. This status effect is similar to poison and can cause periodic damage to the opponent.

When the opponent has the Steel or Water attribute, the periodic damage caused by Salting is doubled.

The reason why salting is even more disgusting than poison is that salting is not an abnormal state, which means that Pokémon cannot remove salting by using medicines such as Panacea or certain moves.

This is why the Salt Giant is known as the Salt King.

It was at this moment that Karl had a flash of inspiration. He remembered that in "Crimson/Purple," Pipa seemed to have a Salt Stone Giant. Why didn't he give Pipa one now?

Moreover, in "Seven or Purple", every Pokémon of Piper is related to food. For example, the prototype of Squirrel is a squirrel that is good at collecting nuts, while Jalapeno is directly related to the ingredient chili pepper.

In the Pokémon world, there are many Pokémon that can be associated with ingredients and cooking, and the famous pink devil, Chansey, is one of them.

It is said that Chansey was once overhunted because its eggs were so delicious that it almost led to the extinction of the species.

Chansey and Giant Salt are both very high-quality Pokémon. Perhaps Pippa can build a team with top-notch "quality" under Carl's guidance?

Piper instinctively shivered, his peripheral vision catching Carl's bright, "sunny" smile.

"Karl must have come up with some crazy idea again. I need to stay away from him," Piper thought to himself.

Before Pipa could react, Carl reached out his wicked hand and grabbed Pipa's neck: "Pippa, I see you're very interested in Salt Stone Treasures, so I'll buy one for you."

Piper had a vague feeling that he was about to embark on a path of no return, but looking at Karl's profile so close to his, he finally agreed: "Thank you, Karl."

Years later, Piper, who had successfully lived to old age by following the methods taught by Carl, would always recall that ordinary afternoon when he made a decision at the crossroads of fate that he would regret for the rest of his life.

Of course, Pipa doesn't know what path he's about to embark on, but every gift of fate has already come with a price.

Getting back to the main point, after observing carefully for a while, Karl confirmed that the Saltstone Pokémon that Rand had trained had very good potential. Whether he sold them back to the farm to train as economic Pokémon or gave them to Pipa to train as battle Pokémon, they would be excellent choices.

After receiving Piper's affirmative reply, Carl turned to Rand and said, "Rand, you should be planning to sell this batch of Saltstone Treasures, right?"

"Of course, what, you're also tempted by these good kids?" Rand's lips curled into a smile. "Since you helped me stop those Kentauros the other day, I can give you a 20% discount, how about it?"

……

Finally, Carl bought five Saltstone Treasures from Rand Farm, four of which were temporarily stored there. He planned to pick them up when he returned to the farm after the fishing tournament.

The last Salt Stone Treasure was the one Carl gave to Pipa, and Pipa was currently holding it and nurturing their bond.

As for why Carl didn't give Nemo one?

That's because Nemo is currently focusing all her energy on training her six main Pokémon, and doesn't have the extra energy to train other Pokémon.

Moreover, given Nemo's family background, as long as it's not a divine beast or a mythical beast, her chairman father can get her the best.

At Rand's warm invitation, Carl and his two companions enjoyed a Padia-style barbecue at Rand's farm.

The salt used to season the roasted meat is premium rock salt produced by the Saltstone Giant, Rand's initial companion, which Pipa and the Martial Arts Bear Master raved about.

After enjoying a lunch with an excessive amount of meat, Carl took the two little ones and said goodbye to Rand, then drove his off-road vehicle back to Lake Daguo.

"Brother Karl, are we heading straight to Big Pot Lake next?"

"No, there are still five days until the start of the fishing competition. Our next destination is the Cave of the Pillars, one of the ten scenic wonders of Parthia."

"The posthole?"

Chapter 68 What do you mean you've mastered seven moves? (Please read on, please vote with monthly tickets)

The Pillar Caves, one of the ten scenic wonders of Parthia, are located to the right of the exit of the Thon Thon Desert in the western second district.

The location of the Pillar Cave was originally a solid mountain, but due to years of erosion, it has been transformed into a cave supported by a series of rock pillars, hence the name Pillar Cave.

In the game, this is the region with the richest variety of pseudo-legendary creatures in the Padia area. You can catch Baboon, Larvitar, or Gible here.

Even in the columned cave, there is a Crystal Water Garchomp that can be caught in a fixed spot.

Although the Jeju Cave in the game is not very large, in reality, it is a giant semi-underground cave that spans most of a mountain range.

Many trainers who come here from afar will train in the wild or battle with other trainers who come here to train.

Of course, Carl's purpose in coming to the Seated Cave was not to win "bonuses" from those trainers, but to admire this magical natural landscape.

However, due to the distance, it was already 7 p.m. when Karl and his two companions arrived at the crossroads outside the cave of pillars.

Although the three could travel in the dark under Karl's guidance, they still had plenty of time, so they unanimously decided to rest for the night at the camp outside the colonnade and set off to cross the colonnade the next day.

Because many people come to the Pillar Cave for hiking or training, there is a campsite left by the "predecessors" outside the entrance of the Pillar Cave.

In fact, this phenomenon is prevalent in most areas of the Pokémon world. Whether in deep mountains and dense forests or snow-capped peaks and valleys, wherever trainers have been, they will leave behind a small camp for those who come after them.

As more and more people visit the camp, the camp will expand in size. Business-minded people will bring supplies needed for their travels to sell here as the camp expands, thus turning the camp into a kind of small temporary settlement.

Karl had often rested in such camps while traveling and had earned a lot of Alliance Coins from those who looked down on him, so he was very familiar with the environment of these camps.

After Carl got out of the off-road vehicle, he subconsciously looked around the campsite.

"Hmm? Why are there so many people in this camp?" Karl muttered to himself.

As one of the ten scenic wonders of Patia, it's normal for the Lyceum Caves to attract a lot of tourists. However, the fact that the campsite was so crowded with people is rather unusual.

Seeing this, Carl randomly approached a middle-aged man dressed in hiking gear and struck up a conversation with him in a familiar tone: "Hello, sir, are you also here to visit the Lyceum Cave?"

“That’s right, young man, you’re here on a trip too?” The mountain climbing uncle glanced at the off-road vehicle behind Karl and kindly reminded him, “There’s been a lot of commotion in the Pillar Cave lately. It’s said that two powerful Pokémon are fighting deep inside the Pillar Cave. You’d better stay in the camp for the next few days.”

"I see, thank you, brother."

"No need to thank me. We're all friends when we're away from home, so let's help each other out."

After the conversation, Carl told Piper and Nemo what he had found out, and the two reacted very differently.

"Shall we just take a detour?" Piper said earnestly. "It wouldn't be good if we missed the registration deadline for the fishing competition."

“With Karl here, let’s just set off tomorrow!” Nemo said eagerly. “I want to battle those two Pokémon that are fighting in the Seal Cave!”

Faced with the two men's drastically different reactions, Karl was also in a dilemma. Piper's suggestion was very prudent, avoiding unnecessary trouble and giving Karl more time to search for the pseudo-dragon master in the cauldron lake.

While Nemo's suggestion was risky, what's the point of traveling if you don't take risks?

Given Carl's strength, unless it's a Pokémon that can't fly or a green Gundam that emerges from underground, ordinary Pokémon wouldn't be able to get past Carl and harm the two little ones.

After thinking it over, Carl decided to stick to the original plan and set off to cross the colonnade at 10 a.m. the next day.

According to the travel guide to the Peripheral Caves that Carl found online, it takes about seven hours to drive an off-road vehicle through the caves, and you can see the spectacular sunset shining into the caves before you leave.

As for the two Pokémon fighting in the pillar hole?

If Carl were to actually encounter them, he wouldn't mind letting them taste Master Bear's iron fist.

After setting up the tent near the off-road vehicle, Carl took the two little ones to wander around the campsite.

Although the campsite is not large, the various vendors stationed here are enough to meet most of the needs of trainers and backpackers.

After passing through the small market in the camp, Carl led the two little ones to the center of the camp—a deliberately cleared area.

People gathered in twos and threes, and many of them had their Pokémon with them.

For trainers in the wild, this clearing is where they team up or exchange information.

Carl even saw a trainer with a Chansey treating an injured Pokémon.

Yes, although Chansey and its family are almost inseparable from the Joy family, there are actually a small number of lucky individuals who have captured the extremely rare wild Chansey.

In fact, Miss Joy's partner is not necessarily the Chansey family.