Mu Yun Nipped the Seeds of Dark Cuisine in the Bud!

No matter what happened in the world, it would not stop the sun from rising as usual the next day.

Morning light streamed through the not-so-opaque curtains into the bedroom, making the room much brighter.

As a mature Pokémon, Xiao Du got up early as usual. Wriggling his body, he slowly crawled down from the head of the bed, ready to begin today's breakfast and training.

Just as he was about to leave the bedroom, he suddenly stopped as though he had remembered something and looked toward the bedside cabinet.

There, a Pidgey was curled up in a pile of old clothes, sleeping soundly with his eyes closed.

It was Namikaze, the late, crybaby, gluttonous little bird who had joined them yesterday.

Seeing Namikaze still showing no intention of waking despite the sun already shining on his butt, Xiao Du widened his tiny eyes and wriggled up onto the cabinet, coming to his side.

As a mature Pokémon, he had to learn to share his master's burdens and take the initiative to look after immature juniors!

"Whoa!"

(Wake up, stupid bird!)

Hearing the shout beside his ear, Namikaze groggily opened his eyes. Seeing Xiao Du right in front of him, he tilted his head and looked at him in confusion.

"Pip?"

(What is it?)

"Whoa!"

(What do you mean, what is it? Get up, eat breakfast, and train!)

At the mention of food and training, the not-yet-fully-awake Namikaze immediately remembered that he was no longer a wild sparring Pidgey. He had evolved into a domesticated working Pidgey!

As a newly hired working bird, how could he leave others with the impression that he was lazy?

He just did not know what Mu Yun had meant yesterday by working and 007. Whatever, it was not important as long as there were sandwiches to eat.

"Pip!"

Namikaze immediately left his warm bedding and looked at Xiao Du with a serious expression.

Though he did not know why they had to get up so early, Xiao Du was a senior, so there had to be a reason for it. As long as he followed him, he could not go wrong!

"Whoa!"

Seeing Namikaze's sincere and serious attitude, Xiao Du nodded in satisfaction.

He was a little dumb, but at least he was obedient and had a good attitude. Xiao Du's special trip here to guide him down the path of becoming a mature Pokémon had not been in vain.

Before long, under Xiao Du's lead, Namikaze quietly left the bedroom.

"Whoa! Whoa!"

(The first step to becoming a mature Pokémon is learning to eat breakfast independently!)

Xiao Du lectured while walking and bobbing his head, looking rather like the old men downstairs teaching their grandsons.

Pidgey pondered this for a while before speaking up.

"Pip?"

(Do we need to make breakfast for Mu Yun?)

"!!"

At those words, Xiao Du's wriggling body suddenly froze.

A moment later...

"Whoa!"

(Of course!)

"Bo, ku, ga~~ xi, no, o, dou~~ o, mo, ta, no, wa~~"

In the bedroom.

A soothing, gentle ringtone slowly played from the phone on the bedside table.

It was a song Mu Yun had greatly loved in his previous life. Coincidentally, a few days ago, he had unexpectedly spotted that old song, "I Once Thought I'd End It All," on the Piplup Music App.

Delighted, he had immediately set it as his wake-up alarm.

The facts proved that no matter how much one liked a song, using it as a wake-up alarm would not put anyone in a good mood. Fortunately, Mu Yun did not have morning grumpiness.

After turning off the alarm, Mu Yun left the bedroom as usual.

Then...

Mu Yun was stunned. What greeted his eyes was a somewhat chaotic scene.

The kitchen table and refrigerator were covered in String Shot. Slices of bread and egg mixture were scattered over the counter. An opened pack of bacon had been casually tossed beside the stove, and bottles and jars of seasoning lay tipped over everywhere...

Meanwhile, the Weedle and Pidgey seemed to be arguing about something and had not noticed Mu Yun's arrival at all.

Until Mu Yun spoke.

"So, what are you two doing up so early in the morning?" he asked helplessly, folding his arms across his chest.

Mu Yun did not get angry. His life as an orphan in both this life and his previous one had taught him that anger could not solve problems. Getting mad served no purpose beyond venting.

"Whoa!!"

"Pip!!"

Only then did the bug and bird snap back to their senses. They looked at the mess around them, then at Mu Yun standing in the bedroom doorway, and immediately lowered their heads in embarrassment.

They had wanted to make Mu Yun a sandwich, but when they started preparing it, they found that between the two of them, they could not even scrape together one hand. In the end, they had accomplished nothing.

Even without them explaining, Mu Yun had already guessed most of it just by looking at the ingredients outside.

Bread, eggs, bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes were the ingredients he usually used for sandwiches.

"Forget it. I'll prepare sandwiches in the fridge ahead of time from now on. If you want some in the morning, just take one."

Having formed a rough guess, Mu Yun stepped forward, rubbed the two little ones' heads, and gently comforted them.

Making mistakes was inevitable while growing up. As long as they sincerely admitted their mistakes and corrected them, it was fine.

"Whoa~~"

"Pip~~"

Seeing that Mu Yun was not angry and was even comforting them instead, the two little ones were immensely touched.

After a pause, Xiao Du gave Namikaze a look. Namikaze understood at once, broke free from Mu Yun's hand, and moved half his body aside.

Behind him was a snow-white ceramic plate holding something that resembled a sandwich.

A large uncut slice of bread was smeared with blood-red egg mixture. Uncooked bacon, still waiting to be fried or baked, was tucked inside, with a small leaf of lettuce spread along the bottom.

"Whoa!!"

Wriggling his body, Weedle pushed the plate in front of Mu Yun.

"You made this for me?"

Mu Yun froze.

"Whoa!!"

"Pip pip!!"

Xiao Du and Namikaze nodded together.

Mu Yun had thought the two little guys had merely been greedy for food. He had not expected them to be preparing breakfast for him. It really was...

A little heartwarming.

It was just that the presentation, with tomatoes mixed together with raw egg mixture, was truly rather dark cuisine.

For the sake of his stomach, Mu Yun felt it was necessary to discourage the two little ones from continuing to cook.

After thinking it over, he said, "You did a great job, but professional matters should be left to professionals. Just like how you train moves, cooking is a skill that I, a Professional Level Trainer, practice every day! If you take it away from me, how am I supposed to improve?"

"So, leave cooking to me from now on. That way, we can improve together!"

So cooking was a Trainer's exclusive move! No wonder the two of them could not do it!

Xiao Du and Namikaze, whose combined ages did not even add up to two months, were immediately persuaded by Mu Yun's words. They nodded hard, declaring that they would not hinder their Trainer's progress!

Seeing that he had successfully dispelled the two little ones' desire to cook again in the future, Mu Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He had snuffed out the potential of two Top Level masters of dark cuisine. The future history of Yanhuang's culinary world would surely include a glorious entry for him!

"Come on, let's clean this up together. Then I'll make breakfast for you two!"

"Whoa!!"

"Pip pip!!"

After breakfast, Mu Yun took a Poké Ball from his desk drawer and lightly tapped it against Namikaze's head.

Though their bond did not need a Poké Ball as a restraint, the Yanhuang Alliance's Pokémon registration certificate did.

[Ding! Detected that the host has captured a second Pokémon—Pidgey. Permanent Mission 5/6: Goal—Normal/Flying-Type Master I has been loaded. Please check it yourself!]

Almost the instant Pidgey entered the Poké Ball, the system's electronic notification sounded as well.

Clearly, the system also needed a Poké Ball as proof before it could trigger a mission.

[Permanent Mission 5/6: Goal—Normal/Flying-Type Master I: Only children are greedy without end. Adults know to act within their means. Young man, only by specializing in one path can you go straight to mastery!]

[Mission Requirements: Raise any three Normal/Flying-type Pokémon to Professional Level.]

[Time Limit: None]

[Mission Reward: Three Normal/Flying-type Move Learning Memories, three Basic Normal/Flying-type Energy Cube Recipes, one Intermediate Normal/Flying-type Energy Cube Recipe, a Normal/Flying-type Pokémon Affinity Aura (increases the attraction of Pokémon of those types), Points*10000.]

Like the earlier Bug/Poison Master mission, Namikaze's arrival had triggered a Normal/Flying Master mission. The rewards were more or less the same, with only the types changed.

"Three Professional-level Pokémon... There's a long road ahead."

After sighing, Mu Yun let Namikaze out.

As he had said before, Poké Balls were too small. He did not like having Pokémon stay inside them for long periods.

But considering that he would need to carry Pokémon with him once school started, the two little ones would probably spend plenty of time stored in Poké Balls.

He could only raise three Professional-level Pokémon as soon as possible and complete the mission "Permanent Mission 2: Goal—All-Attribute Master I," then obtain Portable Pokémon Space so the Pokémon could be more comfortable.

Before then, he could only consider buying a few Luxury Balls with larger interior spaces as a temporary measure.

It was just that the price of ten thousand each made Mu Yun's heart ache a little.

He might as well wait a few days, save up more Points, and directly exchange 200 Points for two of them from the Points Exchange Shop.