Chapter 45 The Visit of Celebi

Carrying the timber back to the workshop, Guangtai noticed upon his return that a dozen new orders had been placed on the computer, with some customers even clearing out the entire stock of sculptures. A wave of immediate joy washed over him.

Not only that, but several people were also requesting custom-made sculptures, and there was more than one such client.

[Avant-Garde Art], [Gible Senior], [Snow Doll], [Pokémon Observer].

"These IDs are quite distinctive. They want carvings of Sudowoodo, Gible, and... Lapras, Cloyster, Dewgong, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle?"

"At this rate, the remaining ruin stones won't be enough. I'll have to go out and look for other ruins."

"Everything is moving in a good direction. Thank you, Bugsy! It must be you who helped promote my work!"

"As expected, having a Gym Leader as a client makes things much easier."

Whether through active or passive promotion, the merchandise had finally started selling, and the sales volume was steadily climbing!

However, sculptures were fragile items. Even if his own sculptures were damaged, it wouldn't be a problem; they would still function normally unless completely smashed to dust or if their heads were snapped off to the point where the original Pokémon shape was unrecognizable. A missing hand or a broken tail—mere fatal wounds—were not a big deal.

They would just look a little uglier, that's all.

Guangtai had already tested this hypothesis. He had ruined one sculpture in the process, but fortunately, the ruin stone portion of the sculpture could be reused, so the only actual loss was a piece of ordinary stone material.

Still, before the shipping process, Guangtai would naturally take protective measures. Some stone carvings were carved in separate pieces and then assembled, which made transportation much more convenient and reduced the damage rate.

When transporting stone carvings, it was also best to fill the shipping crates with plenty of foam sponge and cotton, and to keep the transit as smooth as possible.

That was why Guangtai had applied for large cargo shipping this time.

A single stone carving figurine was indeed a small item, but put together, they constituted a large cargo.

However, he didn't have foam sponge and cotton on hand, so before shipping, he needed to purchase a batch from elsewhere to use as packaging material for the stone carvings, which would also make his future shipping processes more convenient.

That Charizard of his was going to have its hands full soon!

"The delivery locations are... New Bark Town, Sandgem Town, Sinnoh Battle Frontier, Sevii Islands, Violet City... Oh, and Donkoro, are these orders from the Paldea region?"

"Wild clients have spawned!"

After contacting the Pokémon Center in Blackthorn City, Guangtai and Doublade went to process the timber they had brought back.

Doublade once again utilized double Slash, delivering continuous cuts to a portion of the timber and splitting them into neat firewood. They carried the firewood into the small cabin, stacking it in the corners of the rooms and the warehouse. Petilil came over to help during this process, and to Guangtai's surprise, her tiny body seemed to contain immense strength.

She easily carried the firewood with her head pressed against it. Although the leaves on her head were flattened under the weight, they sprang right back to shape as soon as she put the firewood down.

"Petil~" Petilil rolled up her small skirt, signaling that ever since the last prayer, she had felt filled with strength.

The enhancement of her attack individual values had also increased her physical power.

After processing a portion of the firewood, evening arrived unnoticeably. Seeing that there was still plenty of wood left on the cart, Guangtai decided to turn the remaining batch into charcoal.

The charcoal-making process was quite simple; however, the simpler something was, the harder it was to do it to perfection. The gap between high-quality charcoal and inferior charcoal was obvious at a glance, so Guangtai still needed to make adequate preparations.

While he could probably find charcoal by going to the village, it might not be what he wanted, and ordinary charcoal was not a rare material—it was just a common fuel.

The day was already growing late, so with no other choice, he would have to save the work for tomorrow.

***

Meanwhile, inside the house, Guangtai changed the word on the slate to "Celebi."

A strange sensation permeated the interior and exterior of the house. The workshop seemed to come alive, and this vibrant, flourishing energy caused the surrounding grass and trees to undergo visible changes!

Guangtai stepped outside and found that the ones changing the most weren't even the herbs and crops, but the fruit trees!

Those fruit trees had originally only sprouted tiny buds, but simply by changing the word to Celebi, those buds had visibly grown significantly taller!

Following the steps in the game, fruit trees generally went through seven stages: "planting," "sprouting," "growing," "growing taller," "buds," "blooming," and "fruiting." In the warm and humid Hoenn region, the entire process from planting to fruiting only required five stages!

"They skipped straight from the sprouting stage to the growing stage!"

"I see. The effect produced by Celebi's word is 'growth stage skipping'...... is that roughly it?"

Guangtai was pleasantly surprised. He checked the other herbs and crops as well, and they had all grown to varying degrees, basically skipping an entire growth stage.

Especially the rolling beans, which were already growing close to half a meter tall and needed to be trellised.

This was indeed very convenient! It could drastically shorten the growth time of plants!

"Petil~" Petilil looked at the unfolding scene in disbelief as well. She didn't know what Guangtai had done, but the surrounding vegetation seemed to have skipped an entire growth stage in an instant. Her tiny mind completely failed to comprehend the current situation!

Doublade floated out and proudly declared:

Look at that, this is the power of a special item, and it even helped process that strange slate!

This wasn't just bragging, either; it was a solid, undeniable achievement!

Petilil wore a look of utter astonishment, then happily shook the leaves on her head. But suddenly, as if recalling something, her joyful mood gradually faded and turned somewhat wistful.

With such formidable power, there wasn't really any need for her to help tend the land anymore.

In that case, what would happen to the promised job and the reward for completing it.....

"Yo!"

Doublade noticed her melancholy, gently patting her leaves with both of its ribbons while looking over at Guangtai.

"The power of the item is only temporary. If the word on the slate changes, that power will be lost. A true master cultivator can grow lush and strong plants without any items at all."

Guangtai also squatted down and stroked Petilil's leaves:

"You don't need to worry; just focus on doing your normal job. Like I said, the slate can't stay the same forever. It's only meant to assist in cultivating the land, not serve as the core of the work."

"Knowledge gained through labor is the correct path to becoming stronger. Even if this first planting ends right now, there will still be a second and a third planting, won't there? No power can be used without limit."

Guangtai's words of comfort cheered Petilil right up. She bounced in place, hugged Guangtai's palm, and her mood turned bright once more.

"These next few days are going to be very busy! Let's all do our best."

Guangtai entered the workshop in high spirits, and after exchanging greetings with Petilil, Doublade also returned indoors.

Petilil still loved lingering in the soil. Over the past two days, as the surrounding herbs, crops, and even berries continuously sprouted and grew, the vitality of this land had grown even richer, especially after the events that had just transpired....

When the land finally grew completely quiet, all the humans and Pokémon drifted off to sleep.

***

A peculiar Pokémon flew down from the roof and landed amidst the medicinal herb field. She waved toward the direction of the forest, and a Turtwig cautiously made its way out of the woods and onto the land.

"Na!"

Turtwig marvelled at the rich vitality permeating the land, and upon seeing Petilil sleeping not far away, its expression became quite delighted.

This really is a wonderful place!

The grass-green Pokémon patted its chest with a proud look!

"Cele!"

See, I didn't lie to you, the soil here is really great!

I am the Guardian of the Forest; I wouldn't lie to Pokémon!

If you're still worried about getting caught, you can just come here every night and rub against the soil!

"Na."

Turtwig felt a little sheepish, thinking that this habit of rubbing against the soil wasn't entirely proper. However, considering that if it were discovered, the plants growing on its back would surely be plucked clean, its moral hesitation instantly vanished.

Just arriving a bit later at night and leaving a bit earlier in the morning would do the trick, so it wouldn't be found out.

If Guangtai were awake at this moment, he would realize that the Pokémon guiding Turtwig and suddenly appearing in the herb field was none other than Celebi, the mythical Pokémon exclusive to the Johto region, revered as the Guardian of the Forest!

Celebi's upper body was light green, and its lower body was grass green. Its head was round, curving backward with a grass-green tip, making it look somewhat like an elongated onion bulb.

It had a pair of wings on its back and green antennae with blue tips on its forehead, along with light blue eyes and thick black circles around them.

"Bii...!"

Celebi looked at the surrounding herbs, comforted Turtwig, and watched as Turtwig hid near a patch of soil. Then, using psychic power, it flew into Guangtai's house. Inside, it observed the various strange materials and the batch of sculptures displayed around the workbench and on the floor.

The sculpture of Arceus stared back at Celebi, as if playing some ancient music in the echoes of its mind.

"Bi?"

Some wondrous scenes surfaced in Celebi's eyes—vistas that seemed to have existed on this land a very long time ago. Celebi gazed at those sculptures.

The feeling these sculptures gave it was just like the stone statues people used to carve for it in times past.

In the Ilex Forest, there was also a shrine, and the sculpture inside was left over from long ago. In even more distant forests where it had once lingered, many people had carved statues in its likeness.

They possessed a unique power, just like that stone statue in the forest, capable of making trees thrive.

Ah, wait—was the prototype for that stone statue actually the Petilil outside?

I see. If it's this human, perhaps they can help repair the damaged shrine!

Left behind by the ancient People of Sinnoh...... the shrine deep in the forest that had long since fallen into ruin.....