Chapter 10: Crafting Energy Cubes

With the dark crow resting on the side, Haru Takashi began to contemplate his plans for the upcoming days.

First and foremost, he intended to keep feeding the dark crow yellow fruit energy cubes. Based on the observations from the past few days, the results had been quite promising.

Just by looking at its appearance, it was astonishing to see that in these four days, the dark crow had transformed from a clearly malnourished state to a size comparable to a normal dark crow Pokémon, standing close to fifty centimeters tall.

However, in Haru's eyes, the changes in the dark crow extended beyond mere size. The growth in its physique was the most noticeable, but daily scans from his chip revealed that the Pokémon's power and speed had also improved significantly. Even its innate qualities had seen an uptick. While it still showed a green status, the shade of green was noticeably deeper than just a few days ago, indicating that even among green-status Pokémon, the dark crow possessed top-tier potential.

Particularly after the intense battles that afternoon, the dark crow had absorbed the yellow fruit energy cubes even more efficiently.

With three days left, Haru believed that if the dark crow continued to consume energy cubes, its original potential would be fully restored, marking the beginning of its rapid growth.

Therefore, training could not cease during these days. It would be best to engage in battles with various Pokémon, familiarizing the dark crow with the rhythm of combat while also enhancing its absorption of the energy cubes' effects for better recovery.

As for the direction of the dark crow's training, speed remained the priority. The duration of its Tailwind ability needed consistent practice. Additionally, Haru aimed to have the dark crow master some essential skills. The techniques it had already learned required time for familiarity and mastery to be released more efficiently during battles.

As a dual-type Pokémon with Dark and Flying attributes, the dark crow had excellent resistance. Without taking quadruple damage, it wouldn't be overly constrained by any one type of Pokémon.

Even against skills that had a double disadvantage, like Electric, Ice, and Fairy types, which were quite rare on Trial Island, Haru felt confident. Therefore, while battling on this island, the primary concern was to be wary of Rock-type moves.

Possessing the Prankster ability gave the dark crow an advantage in skill usage, especially when combined with the Tailwind ability.

Now, the goal was to engage in more battles to improve the synergy between trainer and Pokémon and to master existing combat techniques.

Once the yellow fruit energy cubes were exhausted, the dark crow would need a different type of energy cube to accelerate its growth and enhance its development.

Haru had already devised a plan for this new energy cube before the first ranking.

The black speed energy cube, a mid-level energy cube featuring a black-and-white design, was made primarily from the Evil Fruit and the Speed Fruit, along with various other fruits and herbs. It was specifically designed for Dark and Flying-type Pokémon, making it perfect for the dark crow's types.

Therefore, all the points earned from the first ranking were used to exchange for fruits, with the Evil Fruit and Speed Fruit being the most frequently exchanged items. Haru nearly depleted the stock available from Team Rocket on the island. He believed that once he crafted these cubes, the dark crow would soon enter a phase of rapid enhancement.

After a brief period of contemplation, Haru felt fatigued from a long day of work. He rested his hands behind his head and gazed at the moonlight streaming through the cave's cracks. With the dark crow's steady breathing lulling him, he gradually fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, the sun rose slowly over the eastern horizon. As the night faded, the forest gradually returned to its serene state, with the sounds of insects and traces of wild animals dissipating.

A ray of sunlight pierced through the cave's fissures, warming Haru's face and stirring him awake.

Since it was summer, the sun rose quite early. After a long day of battles yesterday, Haru had the rare opportunity to sleep in, possibly due to the increasingly favorable circumstances, lifting a weight off his mind.

Stretching, he noticed the dark crow waking up as well, prompting a smile from him. In his previous life, after reaching the level of an Elite Trainer, he had gradually relaxed his guard and began to enjoy life. Now, after starting anew, this was the first time he had woken up fully rested.

"Dark crow, your task today is simple: flap your wings continuously until all the scents in the cave are gone," Haru instructed.

During the previous battles, the dark crow had nearly summoned a gust of wind using its Tailwind ability. Haru believed that with a little more practice, it would master the skill and possibly advance to higher-level damage abilities like Hurricane.

This exercise would not only enhance its capabilities but also eliminate any foul odors, effectively cleaning the cave—two birds with one stone.

"Caw!" The dark crow nodded vigorously, always attentive to Haru's commands. Since its birth, it had never seen its parents, lived in poor conditions, lacked nutritious food, and often faced bullying from other Pokémon.

Meeting Haru had been a turning point; he was the first and only person to treat it well. Consequently, the dark crow's feelings for Haru went beyond mere admiration—it was akin to a child's reliance on a parent. Its sole thought was to never disappoint Haru.

Seeing the dark crow's enthusiasm brought an involuntary smile to Haru's face as he retrieved today's portion of yellow fruit energy cubes from his storage. Tossing them into the air, the dark crow quickly devoured them, its eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"Burp…" Satisfied, the dark crow flew to the cave's entrance and began flapping its wings, generating a gust of wind inside the cave.

Standing behind the dark crow, Haru was unharmed by the howling winds that filled the cave.

After a quick wash and a light meal, Haru began to extract fruits and herbs from his storage, placing them on a stone in order. He took a clean cloth, carefully wiping each fruit before placing it down gently.

He then cleaned the tools he would use to crush the fruits with fresh water.

Perhaps it was because the cave was adjacent to a lake, or maybe there were underground springs, but the original inhabitants had chosen this location to build their cave. Now, Haru and the dark crow benefitted from the crystal-clear, sweet water that was superior to the lake water that every Pokémon drank.

Due to limited resources, Haru's tools were quite primitive: wooden bowls and pestles, a hand-cranked impurity separator, a manual compressor, and a hand-operated condenser.

All these tools were basic wooden implements, making the energy cube production process somewhat tedious and slow. However, the quality still met the necessary standards. As for more advanced energy cubes, those could not be produced with such simple tools.

Haru carefully peeled and pitted all the fruits with a small knife. He then measured them on the cutting board to ensure uniform sizes, removing any excess from the herbs before crushing them to eliminate impurities.

First, he placed the fruit flesh from the Evil Fruit and Speed Fruit into a mixer, blending it. Following the chip's instructions, he added the remaining fruits and herbs, needing to precisely control the quantities and timing for each step, ensuring that every ingredient was added in the correct order.

Because the process of making energy cubes had such strict requirements, there were very few people in the Alliance capable of producing them efficiently. Fortunately, with the chip assisting him, Haru could easily follow the recipe.

He poured the resulting juice into pre-prepared containers. After compressing and condensing the mixture, all it needed was to be set aside in a cool place for a while, and it would be complete.

After finishing a batch of energy cubes, Haru set the containers aside, then took out another set of ingredients to continue crafting the next batch.

*(End of Chapter)*