Getting Started as a Woodcarver

The three of them walked out of the woodworking shop, one behind another. The sun shone brightly, and a gentle breeze brushed their faces, bringing a touch of coolness.

Minccino bounced excitedly on Tong Hua's shoulder, while Turtwig lazily yawned.

As they walked, Xiang Shi explained to Tong Hua, "The first lesson in becoming a Woodcarver is learning how to maintain your hand saw."

Xiang Shi took a gleaming hand saw from the tool cart, its teeth glinting coldly in the sunlight. He suddenly handed it to Tong Hua. "Here, this one's yours. Try it out and see how it feels."

Tong Hua accepted the saw. The moment his hand touched the grip, a strange feeling welled up inside him.

It was as though he had long been accustomed to using these tools. Perhaps this, too, was an effect of his Golden Finger.

"Not bad."

Tong Hua turned the hand saw over, inspecting it, when a notification suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Maple Hand Saw: Equipped]

[Achievement unlocked: Getting Started as a Woodcarver]

A panel visible only to Tong Hua suddenly appeared. No one else noticed anything, and Xiang Shi continued his explanation.

"When you hold the saw, your index finger should run along its spine..."

Tong Hua was no longer really listening to what Xiang Shi was saying. All his attention was focused on the information panel before him.

This was his Golden Finger. It was supposed to display information about the materials he personally gathered and the products he personally crafted. Now, however, it had taken on an entirely different form.

An achievement... I see. I have to become an apprentice and then equip a beginner's tool to unlock the profession.

How did I not realize that before? Isn't that exactly how it worked in the game?

The information panel displayed Tong Hua's current profession, level, status, and experience bar.

[Woodcarver: Level 3]

[Status: None]

[Experience: 50/630]

[Profession skill: Craft]

My level didn't start at 1? Is that because I earned experience repairing the fences yesterday?

In that case, I've probably already earned experience and leveled up in some other professions, too.

Cooking should correspond to the Cook profession. That one's probably already pretty high. Looks like I'll have to find a few more masters later and unlock all the professions first.

Having uncovered more of his Golden Finger's secrets, Tong Hua could barely contain his excitement. He was itching to get home and experiment.

For now, though, he still needed to stay with Xiang Shi. He could hardly forget the main purpose of this trip: getting their help repairing the ranch's fences and Pokémon cottages.

Judging by the game I played in my previous life, the level cap should be 100. And this Craft skill was the starting skill provided by the game.

In Baboon Fourteen, every crafting profession shared the same crafting system. More specifically, its rules followed the same basic principle as combat professions fighting monsters: it all came down to comparing numerical values.

As a crafter, a player had two important attributes: crafting power and craftsmanship. By using various Crafting Skills, they had to maximize both the recipe's crafting progress and its quality before their stamina bar ran out.

That would allow them to successfully complete the craft.

Tong Hua had personally leveled every crafting and gathering profession to the cap in the game, so he understood these mechanics inside and out.

In this Pokémon world, however, crafting things did not seem so easy. He still had to use various techniques to make things by hand, just as in real life. It was completely different from the game, where a few clicks on skills got the job done.

Of course, that might also have been because Tong Hua had not unlocked any professions before, leaving him to craft without skills.

In any case, he definitely had to give it a proper try later.

While Tong Hua was engrossed in the excitement his Golden Finger had brought him, he suddenly heard Xiang Shi raise his voice. "Well? Did you remember everything I just said?"

Only then did Tong Hua snap back to his senses. He quickly nodded. "Yes. I should hold it like this, right?"

Tong Hua instinctively adjusted his grip on the saw. It was like muscle memory: he did not need to think at all before his hand moved on its own.

"Yes, exactly! Mu Mu, take a good look. Why do you think he picked it up so quickly?"

Mu Mu curled his lip and muttered resentfully, "He must've secretly practiced before..."

Xiang Shi thumped Mu Mu on the head in exasperation. "Don't blame the road just because you can't walk straight."

As they talked, they reached the vicinity of the Miltank ranch.

Unlike the Fairy Tale Ranch, which kept a variety of Pokémon, this Miltank ranch lived up to its name perfectly. It was a Pokémon ranch that raised only Miltank.

Although it was called a ranch, it was not particularly large. It consisted of a three-story wooden house, a barn, and a few Pokémon cottages, with a patch of land enclosed by fences.

The Miltank lived on that grassy patch, which was about the size of a school playground.

Mr. Da had been waiting at his front door for quite some time. When he saw Xiang Shi and the other two, he looked as though his saviors had arrived.

"You're finally here!"

He seemed on the verge of tears, his tall, thin body resembling a tree trunk about to snap in the wind.

"My wife went out to deliver milk first thing this morning, and she still hasn't come back!

"Please help me! Two more Miltank just escaped through the broken part of the ranch fence!"

Mr. Da was well known in the village for being afraid of Pokémon. Even touching one terrified him.

Xiang Shi hurried to reassure him, and the group pushed the tool cart around to the damaged section behind the ranch for a look.

Good grief! Calling it damaged did not even begin to cover it. A full meter-long section of what had once been an intact wooden fence had simply vanished!

Judging by the broken ends, some force seemed to have smashed through it from the inside. The missing stretch of fence had probably been carried away by that same force.

"This..." After examining it for a moment, Xiang Shi reached a conclusion.

"A Miltank must've smashed through it. Just how angry was it to break the fence to pieces...?"

The heartache in Xiang Shi's eyes was almost overflowing. After all, he had built every fence on this ranch himself! Each piece was a work he had painstakingly crafted!

"Anyway, could you please help me find the Miltank first? If my wife finds out, I'll..."

Terror covered Mr. Da's face. His voice grew quieter toward the end until it was little more than a mosquito's whine.

"Eek! Anyway, you have to save me!"

Xiang Shi comforted Mr. Da, then turned and told Mu Mu and Tong Hua to search nearby for the escaped Miltank. He

would stay here and patch up the fence first.

"Okay." Tong Hua and Mu Mu exchanged a glance and answered together.

Three Miltank had escaped, so the two split up to search the village.

Tong Hua, Turtwig, and Minccino searched along the village road, asking everyone they passed. Before long, they found a trail.

It was a track left by something rolling over the ground. A few tufts of pink fur remained on the grass, unmistakably belonging to a Miltank.

Following the trail, Tong Hua reached the stream at the edge of the village. Water burbled past, and two Miltank were leisurely soaking in it, looking perfectly content.

"So this is where you are!" Tong Hua sighed in relief. He was about to approach when he noticed a familiar figure crouching beside the stream.

It was Mu Mu!

He was furtively tossing something into the water. The Miltank seemed to have taken an interest and were slowly swimming toward him.

"Mu Mu?" Tong Hua called.

Mu Mu whipped his head around. His hand shook, and the entire packet fell into the stream. A moment later, the Miltank let out excited cries and plunged into the water, each trying to get there first, sending up huge splashes.

"Oh no!" Mu Mu's expression changed drastically. "That's concentrated Sweet Honey Powder! If you put in too much at once, they'll..."

Before he could finish, one of the Miltank's eyes suddenly turned red, and the Pokémon began rolling wildly. The rapidly spinning body churned up the water, forming a small whirlpool that dragged the other Miltank into its spin.

Before either of them could react, the two rolling Miltank had burst out of the stream and gone tumbling off in different directions.

Tong Hua quickly sent his two Pokémon after them separately, then went down to the water's edge and pulled Mu Mu up.

Mu Mu clambered onto the bank in a sorry state, looking utterly miserable. "I-I was so close to succeeding..."

"Sorry..." Tong Hua said, looking embarrassed. "I didn't mean to..."

Mu Mu shook his soaking-wet hair and kicked a pebble in frustration. "Forget it. There's no point talking about that now. We have to catch them quickly, or they might hurt someone!"

The two hurried after the marks Turtwig and Minccino had left behind. Before long, they heard a commotion up ahead.

Minccino was nimbly hopping around one of the Miltank, trying to soothe the Pokémon with Charm.

But that Miltank was clearly still overstimulated, lashing out with that tail every so often and pounding the ground with loud thuds.