Writing It Down

The new Pokémon Cottage Xiang Shi had designed was truly ingenious, combining beauty with practicality.

From a distance, it looked like a windmill tower standing on a vast grassland.

Its white outer walls gleamed softly in the sunlight, but the most eye-catching features were the observation deck extending from the roof and the wooden windmill.

The turning windmill powered the ventilation system inside, and the building could even be converted into a mill later. It was a fairly common design around Windring Town.

As a Pokémon Cottage, it also had plenty of interior space, enough to accommodate at least a dozen ordinarily sized Pokémon like Miltank.

Besides the usual resting spaces, there was an area for recreation.

Hanging nets, climbing frames, and even a large slide connected to the second-floor observation deck.

Combined with the special effect called [Comfort Boost], bestowed by Tong Hua crafting it himself, the new Pokémon Cottage was as comfortable and irresistible to Pokémon as catnip was to cats.

"Milu~" "Game~"

"Li-li~" "Labi~"

The sight of the Pokémon having the time of their lives made it clear just how much they loved the cottage.

There was almost always someone playing on the slide, while little Pokémon scrambled all over the climbing frames and hanging nets.

Tong Hua leaned against a wooden porch post, his lips curling upward without him noticing. He held a notebook containing a handwritten record of the Pokémon Cottage's stats.

[Deluxe Pokémon Cottage: Quality B. A building constructed entirely from wood. A luxurious Pokémon habitat that provides Pokémon with a first-class resting experience.]

[Effect: Comfort Boost. Pokémon living inside recover twice as quickly, and their affection increases twice as quickly.]

[Evaluation: That is no giant. It is a windmill.]

[Recommended processing method: Alchemy.]

Tong Hua had gotten the idea after reading Jessica's Planting Notes and Nagi's fishing notes. He named his notebook Exploration Notes and prepared it specifically to compile information about the items he produced into a Pokédex.

After all, his golden finger had no Pokédex recording function. Tong Hua had come up with the Exploration Notes so he could recreate dishes with particular effects whenever he needed them.

To make it more useful, Tong Hua had also divided its contents by profession, manually recording the various materials and quality information associated with each profession's processing methods.

So far, Tong Hua had unlocked four professions: Gardener, Fisher, Cook, and Woodcarver.

Of the four, Cook naturally had the highest level. At level 14, it was well ahead of the others.

Among the remaining three, Gardener and Woodcarver had both reached level 12 because he had been using them constantly lately. Fisher, however, had not even reached level 10, since Tong Hua had not touched a fishing rod these past two days.

Just like in the game, higher levels required more experience to advance.

If those numerical levels were compared to professional proficiency in reality, Tong Hua was currently about equivalent to a beginner who had studied for a few months and barely learned the basics.

According to the game's system, all crafting professions below level 20 were classified as Hand and Mind.

Levels 20 through 40 were Skilled, and afterward, the rank rose every 20 levels.

"Hand and Mind, Skilled, Self-Reliant, Masterful, Professional Master."

Tong Hua wrote those terms from the game on the notebook's opening page. For now, those were roughly all the clues he had about his golden finger. Just as the name "Exploration Notes" suggested, there were still plenty of unknowns to explore.

Still, the process of exploration and discovery was interesting in its own right.

This golden finger always feels like a half-finished product. Where are the all-important levequests from my Baboon Fourteen? Where are the class quests?

Do I have to unlock every profession before new features become available?

That might actually be possible. After all, the profession panel only became available after I unlocked my first profession, Woodcarver. Besides, the professions can interact with one another in the game.

For example, metal forged by an Armorer can be made into jewelry by a Goldsmith, not to mention that almost any material can be used in alchemy.

But even if I want to unlock every profession right now, I can't find any way to perform the most crucial processing method, alchemy... For now, I can only take things one step at a time.

The most important thing now is finding a way to make money. The second batch of crops still needs a few days to ripen, so I need to find another source of income in the meantime.

Actually, there was already a viable option right in front of him: selling fish.

Ever since he had caught a bucketful of Magikarp a few days earlier and put them in the pond, Tong Hua had been surprised to discover that some grass carp appeared in it every day.

He guessed the Bibarel had caught them for their own meals, and he did not dare ask too many questions.

Still, remembering how a single red seabream had earned him a fishing rig worth 3,500 League Coins, Tong Hua felt that fishing had plenty of money-making potential!

With that thought, Tong Hua took out the fishing notes he carried with him.

The fishing notes Nagi had written were packed with useful information.

Ever since receiving the notebook that day, Tong Hua had made sure to read it for a while every night before bed. He even flipped through it to study whenever he had free time during the day.

Even Jessica's Planting Notes had only received a few readings before being left on his bedside table to gather dust.

But these fishing notes were genuinely hard for him to put down.

The fishing spots recorded inside, in particular, were a treasure that could set any angler's heart racing!

Tong Hua turned to a page he had marked. It read as follows.

"Southwest of Windring Town, Wind-Famous Beach. Fish King sighted."

The information was extremely brief. It did not even say what kind of fish the Fish King was, but anything called a Fish King had to be worth a considerable amount.

Tong Hua wanted to give it a try. It would also be a good chance to train his Fisher profession.

As he was thinking, the Pokémon playing nearby suddenly crowded around him.

"What is it?" Tong Hua snapped out of his thoughts and returned to his usual smiling expression.

"Li-li!" Minccino jumped onto Tong Hua's shoulder and rubbed his cheek.

"Game!" Turtwig and the other Pokémon gathered around as well. For some reason, they all seemed especially fond of Tong Hua's face.

"Milu!" "Wom!" "Ama!"

One by one, the Pokémon pressed against Tong Hua's face, as though touching it would earn them some sort of reward.

The only two who had not come over

were the Celebi. They hovered in the air, watching curiously as everyone played the cheek-rubbing game with Tong Hua.

Taken aback, Tong Hua stepped backward twice, leaving the Pokémon Cottage's area. Only then did the Pokémon calm down.

"Li-li?"

Everything that had just happened felt like a dream. Coming to its senses, Minccino slowly withdrew its little paws.

"Game?" "Ama?"

The other Pokémon gradually came to their senses as well. Watching their reactions, Tong Hua's mouth began to twitch.

"Could this... be the doubled affection gain mentioned in Comfort Boost?"

To test it, Tong Hua took two steps forward again, entering the Pokémon Cottage's area.

And then...

"Li-li!"

The Pokémon started rubbing against his face again...

"This..."

Tong Hua stood there, unsure whether to laugh or cry, and let the Pokémon rub against his face. As he felt their fluffy fur, he considered how the effect worked.

The earlier Visual Illusion Effect felt similar to hypnosis, stopping people from correctly perceiving the size of a space.

This affection-boosting effect probably works much the same way, using hypnosis to alter perception.

Judging by the fact that the Celebi weren't affected, its effectiveness might vary between Pokémon.

All in all, it was another double-edged effect with a slight drawback. From now on, Tong Hua would not dare enter the Pokémon Cottage casually. The moment he stepped inside, the Pokémon would inevitably surround him and nuzzle his cheeks...

No, perhaps something even more intense might happen...

That evening, Tong Hua made Fresh Fish Rice, giving his fishing ability another boost.

Although the effect gradually weakened with repeated consumption, something was better than nothing.

"The construction work is more or less finished. Next, I need to focus on making money. Tomorrow, I'll try catching the Fish King first. Once the second batch of crops is harvested, I should have a pretty good idea of which crops are the most profitable. After that, I can bring in some new animals and Pokémon.

"Savings target: 20 million. Current progress: 170,000."

And so, Tong Hua wrote the entry in his diary.

Tomorrow would be a brand-new day.