Your Caterpie Is... Off (Please Keep Reading)

"Oran Berries? Did you pick these in Clear Stream Forest?"

"Yes. You gave me two bottles of Potion a few days ago, and I happened to find these berries, so I brought some back for you. Also, I plan to sell some of these Oran Berries. You know, my Caterpie has always wanted a Pokeball."

At Mark's words, Caterpie's eyes suddenly widened.

The surprise had come too suddenly. Was it about to have a Pokeball of its own?

Old Man Qian reached out and rubbed Caterpie's head. "Little guy, I'm afraid you got your hopes up for nothing. With just these Oran Berries you and your owner picked, it wouldn't even cover a fraction of the cost of a secondhand Pokeball."

Mark frowned slightly. "Are Oran Berries really that cheap?"

Although the Village Elder casually giving him two bottles of Potion had told him that Oran Berries, as a primary ingredient for Potion, probably were not worth much, Mark had not expected them to be this cheap.

After all, he had brought back nearly two pounds of Oran Berries.

Old Man Qian said, "In Three Mountains Town, merchants buy them for about a hundred yuan per pound. If you want to buy a brand-new Pokeball, you'll need around fifty pounds—that is, the yield of two Oran Berry trees laden with fruit.

"Or, you could set up a stall in Three Mountains Town and sell them yourself. You could earn an extra twenty to thirty yuan per pound, and if you're lucky, selling them for a hundred and fifty yuan per pound is possible.

"But I wouldn't recommend that. Not only do I not recommend setting up a stall, I don't even recommend selling them to the merchants in Three Mountains Town. You can keep these berries for your Caterpie and the Wimpod that will hatch soon.

"Besides being the main ingredient in Potion, Oran Berries can also improve a Pokémon's physique when consumed. Taking them over a long period can make a Pokémon stronger."

Mark fell into thought.

With the dozen or so Oran Berry trees in the Caterpie Territory, he could gather several hundred pounds of Oran Berries to trade for money and buy Pokeballs. But that would be far too wasteful.

Even if he stripped every Oran Berry tree bare, he would only be able to exchange them for seven or eight Pokeballs.

And doing so would disrupt the ecological balance of the Caterpie Group, slowing the Caterpies' recovery from injuries and indirectly delaying their training progress through battle.

Compared to that, it would be better to select several hundred old, weak, sick, and disabled Caterpies from the group and sell them to the Caterpie Breeding Base in Clear Stream Village.

On the one hand, those old, weak, sick, and disabled Caterpies could spend their remaining years at the breeding base. On the other, he could earn some startup capital. After all, no matter what world one lived in, money was necessary.

"Wait, something's off about the smell of these Oran Berries. Could they have gone bad?"

Mark's thoughts were interrupted by the voice. He saw Old Man Qian sniffing the Oran Berries and immediately explained, "They haven't gone bad. These Oran Berries were sprayed with some foul fluid from Caterpie's antennae, so they smell a little bad. Just wash them."

Old Man Qian was surprised at first, then his expression turned approving. He patted Mark on the shoulder. "Impressive! I never thought you and Caterpie would come up with something like this. Now you won't have to worry about the Oran Berries on the trees being picked by wild Pokémon. You brat, you've got the same flair I had back in my day..."

Listening to the Village Elder's praise, Mark wanted to explain. After all, the foul fluid on the berries had been the Caterpie Leader's doing. But he quickly thought of something.

Clear Stream Village still did not know that there was a wild Caterpie Group in Clear Stream Forest.

If that was exposed, his plans to train using the Caterpie Group would be ruined.

In the end, Mark silently accepted Old Man Qian's praise.

Across from Mark, Old Man Qian's thoughts had already drifted back to the past.

When he was young, he had once discovered an Oran Berry tree in Clear Stream Forest that was laden with fruit.

Unlike now, artificial cultivation techniques for Oran Berries had not been very mature in those days, and their price had been more than ten times what it was now.

He had immediately taken Machoke back to the village to prepare harvesting tools and bags. But when he saw that it was already getting late, he decided to set out the next day.

When he returned the next day, nearly all the ripe fruit on the tree had already been eaten by the Pokémon in the forest, leaving only some unripe, misshapen leftovers...

Life was full of all kinds of regrets. Whenever Old Man Qian thought back on that incident, he could not help but feel depressed.

If he had been like Mark, setting off at night and harvesting those Oran Berries overnight, then he... the grass on his grave would probably be over three meters tall by now.

The nights in Clear Stream Forest were still dangerous, after all. He was not some ruthless kid like Mark, who had been able to survive in the wilderness at two or three years old.

No longer dwelling on it, Old Man Qian said, "All right, I'm too old to stay up all night with you. Also, Teacher Sun returned to school today, so classes will resume as normal tomorrow.

"Now that you've regained your intelligence, don't go running around the forest like you used to. Stay here obediently today. Tomorrow morning, I'll take you to register at school."

After saying that, Old Man Qian returned to his bedroom to rest, while Mark went back to his own room.

The first thing he saw was a card resembling an ID card on the table.

It had his name, age, and address printed on it, along with a somewhat foolish-looking black-and-white portrait that seemed to have been taken by the Village Elder before.

Besides that, there were two sets of clothes on the bed.

Like before, they were both Bug Catching Boy-style outfits. Beside them was a set of toiletries: a toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, soap...

Mark looked at the somewhat tattered clothes he was wearing and sighed.

Deep down, he did not like owing others favors. That was why every time he returned from Clear Stream Forest, he brought something back for the Village Elder. Bringing back Oran Berries this time was the same.

Yet rather than reducing what he owed the Village Elder, it only seemed to be growing greater...

The next morning.

When Old Man Qian woke up, he saw Mark and Caterpie drawing and writing on the ground in the yard with branches. It seemed Mark was teaching Caterpie how to count.

He glanced at the Black Heavy Stone in the center of the yard and shook his head slightly.

There were no marks at all in the layer of fine sand around the Black Heavy Stone.

Young people always had enthusiasm that lasted only three minutes. Just a few days ago, Mark and Caterpie had tirelessly practiced Tackle as though they would never stop, yet today they had stopped.

Old Man Qian cleared his throat twice. "At your age, you may not like hearing lectures, but there's something I still need to say: only perseverance carries you to the end."

Mark froze for a moment, then realized something. "Are you saying I didn't have Caterpie practice Tackle with that Black Heavy Stone today?"

Old Man Qian shot Mark One a glance without spelling it out, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "That depends on how you understand it yourself."

Sensing Old Man Qian's concern, Mark smiled and explained, "Thank you for your concern. Caterpie and I haven't been slacking off like you think. It's just that compared to training with wooden stakes or rocks as targets, actual combat is more efficient."

"Actual combat?" Old Man Qian pondered. "You and Caterpie were injured a few days ago. Was that because of actual combat? And you've been staying in the forest with Caterpie instead of coming back these past few days because of actual combat too?"

"Mm."

Mark nodded slightly.

"Caterpie!"

Caterpie also chimed in. These past few days, it and Mark had been training with the Caterpie Group, and their days had been very fulfilling!

"This..."

Old Man Qian had seen some diligent Trainers before, but there were almost none who could go as far as Mark.

Mark seemed to think of something. "Oh, right, Village Chief. I've been using my spare time to teach Caterpie mathematics.

As you know, Butterfree's bloodline genes contain the Telekinesis skill. So I plan to use mathematics as an entry point to train Caterpie's mental capacity in advance. That way, when Caterpie evolves into Butterfree in the future, the Telekinesis it can master will be more powerful.

I taught Caterpie for a while longer just now, and it has already learned how to count within one hundred. It can count forward, but when counting backward, it can never seem to find the trick. Do you have any methods?"

As he listened to Mark, Old Man Qian's eyes gradually widened in surprise.

Teaching Caterpie mathematics to improve its mental capacity, so that once it evolved into Butterfree, the Telekinesis it could master would become even stronger.

It was the first time he had heard of such a method for training Caterpie, and it sounded remarkably reliable.

If he had a Caterpie himself, he would even have wanted to try Mark's method.

At that moment, he sincerely felt that the new generation had replaced the old. He felt old.

Suddenly, Old Man Qian realized something and snapped back to his senses.

Old Man Qian stared at Caterpie, which was scribbling on the ground with a branch, his face full of confusion. "Did you just say that your Caterpie has learned to count within one hundred? With Caterpie's intelligence, can it learn counting?"

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