Chapter 19: Basic Herbalism
Dratini and Snowrunt happily ate lunch sitting around the table.
Lei Wen, meanwhile, opened his technology panel to check which technologies he could currently unlock.
Currently, there are four branches for technologies in the Agricultural Era.
【 Gathering （ unlocked ）】 → Branch 1 【 Basic Berry Cultivation （ can unlock ）】
→ Branch 2 【 Basic Herbalism （ can unlock ）】
【 Livestock （ can unlock ）】 → 【 Basic Processing （ unlocks some basic processing recipes for agricultural and sideline products ）】
【 Fishing （ can unlock ）】 → 【 Basic Shipbuilding （ unlocks some basic shipbuilding methods ）】
【 Mining （ can unlock ）】 → 【 Basic Ore Theory （ unlocks smelting methods for some ores ）】
The panel displayed a dense array of technologies. The early Agricultural Era was manageable, but later on, almost every branch had numerous sub-branches.
However, to unlock them, one must first unlock the preceding technologies.
Further ahead, Lei Wen even saw Pokémon World-exclusive black technologies such as 【 Poké Ball Teleportation Technology 】, 【 Fossil Revival Technology 】, and 【 Gene Cloning Technology 】.
However, the points required to exchange for these technologies were as high as hundreds of thousands of Satisfaction.
“I’ll probably die of exhaustion before I can unlock any of them,” Lei Wen muttered to himself.
However, the most important thing right now is to unlock a technology that can help the territory.
Lei Wen’s gaze returned to the row of technologies on the far left.
However, when he saw that 【 Gathering 】 was marked as unlocked, he was stunned for a moment.
When did he unlock Gathering?
No, that’s not right… Recalling the situation in the territory over the past few days, Lei Wen suddenly understood.
If the residents in the territory complete a certain progress on their own, the corresponding technology will be automatically unlocked!
It was his previous order for the residents to gather Berries that led to this technology being unlocked.
“Good, this saves me a lot of time.”
Lei Wen’s gaze shifted to the subsequent technologies that could be unlocked.
【 Basic Berry Cultivation: Unlocks the cultivation methods and nurturing processes for Berries such as Oran Berry, Pecha Berry, Persim Berry, and Lum Berry. Required exchange: 200 Satisfaction. 】
“Berries…” Lei Wen fell into thought.
Berries, a unique resource in the Pokémon World, resemble ordinary fruits but are far more nutritious and possess various wondrous powers.
They can heal, detoxify, and treat burns and frostbite. Some Berries can even restore a Pokémon’s energy, commonly known as PP in games.
However, the territory currently does not grow Berry trees, and this technology is not very useful at the moment.
This is because, according to the original owner’s memories, some humans in this world have already mastered the cultivation of Berries, making its use here somewhat of a waste.
However, further down this branch are two crucial technologies for Pokémon: 【 Energy Cube Crafting 】 and 【 Poffin Crafting 】.
“I can just wait for the residents to find Berries in the wild, and it will unlock automatically, saving me 200 Satisfaction,” Lei Wen was quite frugal.
As for the technologies 【 Livestock 】 and 【 Fishing 】, Lei Wen will not consider them for now, as the number of Pokémon in the territory is currently very small.
Moreover, even if he unlocked them in advance, he wouldn’t have any live Miltank, Tauros, or Wooloo to raise.
It’s like a clever cook trying to cook without ingredients.
As for mining technology, no Ore Veins have been discovered near this territory yet, so it would be useless even if unlocked.
Therefore, the most practical technology at the moment is the second branch of 【 Gathering 】: 【 Basic Herbalism 】.
With it, the territory can use Herbs to prepare Medicine to help Pokémon heal.
Pokémon living in this territory will no longer have to worry about being injured and not receiving timely treatment.
And the nurturing of Dratini can officially begin.
“Exchange!”
With the deduction of 200 Satisfaction, the next second, various Herb recipes and steps automatically appeared in Lei Wen’s mind.
【 Basic Medicine 】, 【 Great Medicine 】, 【 Antidote 】, 【 Burn Heal 】, 【 Sleep Heal 】…
Lei Wen carefully browsed through them, then took out a parchment, dipped his feather pen in ink, and recorded the recipes for these potions.
“Elif, give this to Lila,” Lei Wen handed the parchment to Elif.
Lila is currently the only physician in the territory. It’s worth noting that these potions are not only effective for Pokémon but also for humans.
The temperature is currently cold, and Lei Wen had previously noticed that many Commoners in the territory had developed frostbite and chilblains on their hands, faces, and ears.
These potions should be useful.
Elif reached out and took it, replying, “Yes, Your Highness Lei Wen!”
Elif turned to leave, and Snowrunt and Dratini had already finished their meal.
The people in the territory reacted in various ways to the addition of three Snowrunt.
Some still harbored fear of Monsters, but others found Monsters like Snowrunt, which don’t harm people and even share their Fruit, to be magical.
Many people became curious about Snowrunt.
In the afternoon, when Snowrunt was playing outside, many people curiously gathered to watch from not too far away.
The younger children, like in the morning, ran over to play with Snowrunt.
Lei Wen, with a keen eye, noticed a Boy secretly take out a few Biscuits from his pocket and give them to Snowrunt.
It goes without saying that he had sneakily taken the Biscuits from home.
After watching for a while and seeing that Snowrunt posed no threat, the crowd gradually returned to their work.
Trees need to be felled, Wooden Houses need to be built. To survive this cold winter, everyone had to work hard.
Lei Wen was no exception.
The Snowrunt stayed in the Camp to look after the children, while he, along with Dratini and those Farmers, headed to the Wasteland they had chosen that morning to be their Field.
This time, Lei Wen didn’t let Dratini hide in his clothes but allowed it to come out.
A cold wind swept by, and Dratini shivered, even getting a runny nose.
“Wooo… it’s so cold…”
Dratini felt like giving up.
But when it saw Lei Wen also getting a runny nose from the cold wind, it hesitated.
“Wooo…”
A moment later, Dratini sniffled and perked up again.
Lei Wen was facing it together, so it couldn’t back down!
“Are you ready, Dratini?” Lei Wen asked his Pokémon.
“Wooo!” Dratini responded seriously.
“Excellent, then let’s officially begin training!” Lei Wen nodded with satisfaction. “Your task this afternoon is to use Twister on that Large Stone twenty times!”
Twister, Dratini’s only offensive move at the moment, but perhaps due to having lived in the royal palace and not needing to battle, Dratini’s proficiency with Twister was low, and its power was also limited.
In this era, human development of Pokémon was very limited, the Trainer system was not yet established, and Pokémon relied more on instinct to battle.
The original owner’s memories contained related fragments.
For example, in large-scale army battles, both humans and Pokémon wore Armor and engaged in close combat, rarely using Moves.
So, the most important thing now is to improve Dratini’s proficiency with Twister, and also to train its control over its internal energy.
*
“Ability… Dark Type… Move…”
Under a large tree in the territory, Anna sat with Zorua, carefully examining the parchment given to her by Prince Lei Wen.
But after thinking hard for a long time, she couldn’t understand the meaning of these words.
Anna couldn’t help but feel discouraged. She asked, “Argh! This is so hard! Zorua, do you know what this 【 Psychic 】 means?”
“Wooo?” Psychic?
Zorua blinked its eyes.
The next second, Anna saw a faint blue light emanating from Zorua’s eyes.
An invisible force, unseen to the eye, quietly formed and, under Zorua’s control, blasted towards the Large Stone nearby.
“Boom!”
A violent explosion sounded, and the Large Stone directly split in the middle, breaking into two halves.
“Ah!” Anna couldn’t help but exclaim, completely stunned in place.
The blue light in Zorua’s eyes disappeared.
Even if Anna were slow-witted, she realized something at that moment.
She looked at Zorua in disbelief and asked, “Zorua, that rock… did you break it?”
“Wooo~!”
Zorua gave an affirmative answer.
“So… so strong!”
After a brief moment of daze, Anna’s eyes lit up.
Her Little Monster was truly amazing!
Wait!
It was at this moment that Anna finally realized something, belatedly.
She quickly opened the parchment, looked at her Little Monster, and tentatively asked, “Was that just now… Psychic?”
“Wooo!”
Zorua nodded its little head.
“No, no, it can’t be?!”
Could the things recorded here be powers that her Little Monster could use? Or “Moves”?
Anna was immensely shocked. To verify, she randomly found another word on the parchment.
“Fury Swipes?”
A white light surged from Zorua’s claws as it began to slash forward repeatedly.
Anna was completely dumbfounded.
