Oinkologne

Luo Mu had no desire to blow himself up, so he wisely refrained from saying that Moltres's current posture looked like a hen squatting over eggs. He crouched down, reached beneath Moltres, and directly took out the incubator, casually using his wandering hand to feel Moltres's warm feathers.

Clearly feeling a pair of hands messing around near its belly, Moltres's fury surged upward, only to be forcibly suppressed beneath Luxray's nonchalant gaze at Luo Mu's side.

Moltres felt nothing but sorrow. It was a legendary Pokémon, yet it had been groped by a human and did not even dare resist.

If word got out, how was it supposed to show its face again?

While Moltres sulked alone, Luo Mu picked up the incubator and examined it closely. He frowned and murmured, "It's only the fourth day. Isn't it absorbing it a little too fast? Is it because of Moltres?"

The nutrient solution that had originally been emerald green inside the incubator had now completely turned transparent. This meant that all the energy contained within the nutrient solution had been fully absorbed.

He remembered that the Instruction Manual had Mentioned that ordinary Pokémon Eggs could absorb most of the nutrient solution within seven days. Even the faster ones generally only finished one or two days early. Yet there was not a single example in the Instruction Manual of a Pokémon Egg like this one, which had absorbed every last bit of nutrient solution in just four days.

It was ridiculous.

Luo Mu sighed, returned to the house, and poured the second bottle of nutrient solution into the incubator. With a troubled expression, he said, "At this rate, it won't even last half a month."

Silently stuffing the incubator back beneath Moltres, Luo Mu could only hope that Moltres's Flame Body Ability was powerful enough to hatch this Pokémon Egg as soon as possible.

Otherwise, it was going to eat him into poverty.

Serperior and the others were watching over the farm, Moltres seemed fairly obedient, and Luo Mu had also asked Mimikyu to keep an eye on Moltres from within the shadows, in case it suddenly lost its mind and attacked the Pokémon Egg.

Luo Mu left with relative peace of mind.

Following the system's prompts to search the wilderness for materials and items that could be sold for money, Luo Mu and Luxray continued toward their destination.

Time always passed quickly while searching. Luo Mu had set out at noon, but the sky had already turned dusky, and night was fast approaching.

Luo Mu counted up his gains from the past half day. Aside from the herbs he wanted to keep for His Own use, the most valuable item was a Hard Stone, a held item for Rock Type Pokémon.

A Hard Stone sold for around three thousand League currency on the market. They could drop from many Rock Type Pokémon, so they were not particularly expensive.

Together with the odds and ends he had collected, he should be able to make a small profit of five thousand League currency by selling everything as a bundle in Los Platos.

When they reached the foot of a small mountain covered in dense trees, Luo Mu stopped. He told Luxray to stay alert where it was and began considering what they should eat that night.

Although he had brought some rations in his backpack, those were for emergencies when they truly could not find food. Since the plants on this small mountain were growing so well, there should be some rare mountain delicacies inside.

As Luo Mu pondered, Luxray, which had been lying on the ground vigilantly, suddenly stood up and sniffed the air, as though it had caught a scent.

After identifying the smell, delight flashed through Luxray's eyes. It called out to Luo Mu, "Lux!"

"What is it, Luxray?"

Luo Mu looked at Luxray in confusion. Rather than explaining with gestures, Luxray gave Luo Mu a look telling him to follow, then started running toward the mountain.

Luo Mu blinked, feeling that the scene was strangely familiar. It seemed like something similar had happened before.

There was no time to think. Seeing Luxray about to disappear into the mountain, Luo Mu could only set aside his memories for now and quickly follow after it.

The mountain path was difficult to traverse. There were almost no traces of human activity, and it could hardly even be called a path.

Luo Mu, however, was quite practiced. Keeping his eyes on Luxray's figure as it occasionally paused ahead, he climbed swiftly like a monkey.

As they advanced, even Luo Mu could smell the faint, intermittent fragrance in the air.

At that moment, his memories awakened, and Luo Mu recalled the time shortly after he had first crossed over.

Back then, when he had been penniless, he and Luxray, who had still been a Luxio at the time, had earned their first pot of gold in the mountains and forests by relying on Luxio's exceptional eyesight and sense of smell.

The most memorable thing from those days had also begun with a fragrance like this one in the air.

After climbing more than halfway up the mountain, even Luo Mu was slightly out of breath from the weight of his large backpack. Fortunately, Luxray stopped moving at that moment as well.

Luxray did not make a sound. It merely gestured with its eyes for Luo Mu to look ahead.

The rich fragrance clung to Luo Mu's nose, refusing to fade, but that did not stop him from looking into the distance with delighted eyes.

There was a male Oinkologne there.

Oinkologne's skin was black all over, while its eyelashes, tail tip, and hooves were pink.

In an instant, saliva began to fill Luo Mu's mouth.

Don't misunderstand. Luo Mu was not after Oinkologne itself. He was interested in what Oinkologne's abilities could bring him.

Oinkologne and its earlier stage, Lechonk, were both Pokémon known for their sense of smell. Their noses were incomparably sharp, capable of detecting all kinds of rare mountain delicacies deeply buried underground.

Since their extraordinary sense of smell existed solely to search for food, Oinkologne showed no reaction at all even though Luo Mu and Luxray, two sources of unfamiliar scents, had gotten so close.

Oinkologne continuously sniffed at the soil, occasionally rooting it aside and stuffing delicious mushrooms growing within into its mouth.

Only at night was its nearly black body less likely to be noticed by predators, allowing it to hide the body that gave off such a rich scent.

As it ate and rooted through the soil, Oinkologne failed to notice the two little tails following behind it, constantly picking up the food it had passed over.

Then Oinkologne caught an exceptionally fresh and sweet scent in the air. Its eyes lit up, and its limbs—which looked entirely fat but were actually all muscle—exploded with force as it sprinted madly toward the source of the smell.

After exchanging a glance from far behind, Luo Mu and Luxray chased after it without hesitation.

Judging from Oinkologne's reaction, there was something there!

Oinkologne ran for a full ten minutes. Strange cries and screeches occasionally rang out through the dark mountain. While most people would have found the place hair-raising, Luo Mu and Luxray only grew more excited as they ran.

Because, on the ground not far from where Oinkologne had stopped, there lay a pair of enormous claws!

They had struck gold!

Luo Mu suppressed his excited voice, his gaze fixed firmly on the pair of claws.

Naturally shed Crabrawler claws!

Their meat was tender, smooth, and sweet—a dream ingredient that countless high-end restaurants could spend a fortune trying to acquire without success!

And they were also the source of the first travel funds for Luo Mu's journey as a Champion-Level Trainer!