Chapter 61: The Glass Whistle of the Earth

Kuang Tai immediately sent a reply to Steven’s message, and only then did he realize that the gemstone collector who had previously inquired about the Eviolite was Steven himself.

To be honest, talking purely about the profession of a "gemstone collector," there were quite a few of them in the Pokémon world. In the games, their trainer classes were generally "Gentleman" and "Hiker," so Kuang Tai hadn't expected it to be Steven at all!

Steven Stone, the Champion of the Hoenn region, was also an old acquaintance in Kuang Tai's memories. After all, anyone who grew up playing the Hoenn trilogy would inevitably encounter Steven, along with his good buddy Wallace, as the two of them constantly traded the Champion title back and forth.

The reason Steven always swapped the title with Wallace was so he could go out and dig for rocks. In fact, they should have just done it like the Paldea region and established a Champion-rank system, designating the Elite Four as Champion-rank too, which would have let Steven wander about as he pleased.

Right, Steven had a vast collection of rare stones in his possession. Remembering this crucial point, Kuang Tai quickly fired off a reply.

"I do indeed have some rare stones here."

Upon receiving Kuang Tai's reply, Steven on the other end quickly sent back a message and added Kuang Tai as a contact.

"Hello, let me formally introduce myself. I am Steven Stone, a gemstone collector with a passion for gathering precious stones. Through some special channels, I learned about your shop, as well as the unique stone called the Eviolite that you once sold."

"I have already located the previous buyer and confirmed it. You previously informed me that the Eviolite might appear in areas where a large number of Pokémon gather. I've conducted some investigations as well, though I haven't had any harvest just yet."

"So, regarding the rare stones you mentioned... what might they be?"

No harvest... that was to be expected. The Eviolite wasn't something so easily found.

Kuang Tai immediately sent a message:

"A special rock that detached from the Legendary Pokémon Regirock."

"A rock from a Legendary Titan?! That is simply wonderful!"

Steven seemed quite excited. Kuang Tai deduced that this world's Steven had not yet encountered the Hoenn Regi trio, meaning he wasn't the version of Steven from the Pokémon Special manga.

In both the video games and the main-series anime, the Hoenn Regi trio were not mandatory legendary encounters required for the plot, but rather puzzle-based Pokémon. Based on the games, there was a high probability that the Hoenn Regi trio hadn't been captured by anyone yet and were still fast asleep.

After all, the Titans could be found in various places, but across the games, anime, and manga, the only person canonically owning the Hoenn Regi trio was Brandon the Pyramid King, and his set had nothing to do with the original Hoenn trio.

"By the way, I'd also like to ask—do you happen to have a Sun Stone and a Dusk Stone?"

"Evolutionary stones? Both the Sun Stone and Dusk Stone are quite rare. Unfortunately, I don't have a Sun Stone on hand, but I do have a Dusk Stone. It was excavated from Mt. Pyre quite a long time ago. If you need it, I can gift it to you."

Kuang Tai was instantly delighted. "That's wonderful, but I can pay for it..."

"No, this is a private gift, please accept it. To be honest, I do have a selfish motive of my own. If you happen to possess an Eviolite, or if you find a new one... I hope to purchase it."

A new Eviolite, huh... He actually did have one on hand, but... that was something he had entrusted to the Doublade.

As Kuang Tai was deep in thought, the Doublade suddenly made a sound, asking Kuang Tai about the meaning of the words on the computer screen. Kuang Tai had no choice but to explain.

To his surprise, after hearing the explanation, both of the Doublade's eyes spun around.

"Yoo-woo~!"

Since someone wants it, there's no harm in selling it to him!

Besides, once it evolves, it won't need this stone anymore!

Kuang Tai was slightly puzzled. The Doublade used to prize gemstones above all else; to think it would actively propose selling the stone to someone else?

The Doublade's two ribbon-like arms crossed each other, mimicking the gesture of folding its arms across a chest—even though it didn't have one.

"Yo-pu... yoo-woo-woo!"

It had a new plan! After listening to that terrible customer's demagogic speech about founding a nation, it felt that there were definitely some tactics worth borrowing from that guy's playbook!

So, this wasn't just a simple sale—it was an investment in a favor!

With this stone as a foundation, this powerhouse would eventually become your vassal!

If you want to be a king, you have to gather powerful figures from all over the realm to serve under you; this is called winning people over to your cause! It was paving the way for him!

How about that? Its performance as prime minister was still quite qualified, wasn't it?

Plan successful!

Kuang Tai was startled, then let out a sigh.

So that was what it was all about. It still tied back to that chuunibyou nation-founding plan...

However, no matter what, the Doublade was trying to help him out! Kuang Tai gathered his thoughts:

"That's true. Once you evolve, you won't need the Eviolite anymore. Though it's a bit of a pity about the Sun Stone. Otherwise, Petilil could evolve too." Kuang Tai looked toward Petilil, who shook her leaves to indicate it didn't matter!

"Wawa!"

She was plenty strong even without evolving right now!

Kuang Tai pondered for a moment and decided not to reveal the Eviolite just yet, waiting to discuss it in person when Steven arrived. Before that, Petilil could also make use of the Eviolite when she went to reclaim her habitat.

It was better to keep this stone in his own hands a little longer; after all, it still had a major role to play.

Thus, Kuang Tai accepted Steven's request, and the latter immediately sent a reply:

"Then I shall visit around July 5th to 6th. How does that sound? We can discuss the details thoroughly when we meet. Sorry to trouble you so!"

Steven seemed extremely enthusiastic. Whenever the topic turned to stones, he always displayed an extremely proactive side.

For the sake of collecting stones, he was even willing to step down from the position of Champion—truly a rock fanatic.

"Whew... Steven, huh? Devon Corporation is extremely wealthy; he's a huge client. In terms of financial power, perhaps only Monsieur Pierre could compare to him? No, Monsieur Pierre probably couldn't even match him. After all, in the games, that family seemed to have gone bankrupt due to collecting antiques, didn't they?"

"Petil~"

"Yoo-woo~"

Petilil and the Doublade were also cheering up on the side.

At any rate, they had secured many new orders today!

"Alright, let's go smelt some glass!"

Finishing off the orders in front of the computer in one breath, Kuang Tai brought the two Pokémon back to the forging room and hauled over a wooden barrel filled with Soft Sand.

There was plenty of Soft Sand in the Rocky Ruins, and Kuang Tai had carried back a little less than half a pack, along with various mineral ores.

Although there was no telepathy from Celebi to help on the way back and the backpack had been heavy, relying on the robust physique of a human in the Pokémon world, he had managed to transport these materials back completely.

The unique knowledge and technique for glass-smelting surfaced in his mind.

Preparation: Sand, limestone, soda ash, and plant ash.

Melting: Place the sand into the furnace and heat it to a high temperature of over 1800°C; the quartz begins to melt.

Shaping: Use a hollow iron rod to blow and shape the molten glass into various forms.

Cooling: Glass needs to cool rapidly after melting to form a uniform and transparent structure.

These were the general steps.

What the unique glass-smelting technique provided were the skills and tricks of the craft. As for the temperature of the flames, a small sculpture of Charizard had already been placed in this room, combined with the high heat of the furnace, so temperature was not something to worry about.

Suddenly thinking of something, Kuang Tai looked at Petilil, who was curiously observing the forging room, and asked, "Right, wanna try this out?"

"Petilil!"

"Wawa?" Petilil turned around in puzzlement!

"Use Sunny Day!"

Hearing Kuang Tai's strange command, Petilil was confused, but she still executed Sunny Day right inside the room!

Intense sunlight instantly appeared on the ceiling, making lightbulbs feel completely unnecessary. Using Sunny Day indoors could actually double as a light source.

Then Kuang Tai pointed toward the furnace:

"Adjust your power and use Weather Ball."

"Wawa?"

Weather Ball... Petilil remembered. It was a move she had previously acquired through her work!

"Wawa..." Petilil closed her eyes and began to gather energy. Soon, three bubbly orbs condensed in front of her!

"Wawa!"

Flames ignited upon the weather orbs gathered by Petilil, and as she tossed them into the furnace, the fire roared to life with a booming sound!

"Great, Petilil can participate in the forging now! Her control over Weather Ball is fantastic!"

Letting a Grass-type Pokémon participate in fiery forging?

That was simply because the Grass-type Pokémon in his household knew how to use fire-type moves!

"Wawa!"

Petilil never expected that this move could be used in such a way, allowing her to take part in another kind of work. It made her immensely happy!

Normally, small glass pieces took about 2 to 3 hours to smelt, while larger glass pieces extended up to 8 hours. Soon, the Soft Sand obtained from the ruins was rendered into molten glass.

Kuang Tai, wearing his forging gear and heavy heat-insulating gloves, gently scooped up a ball of orange-yellow molten glass with a blowpipe. Afterward, he began to blow the molten glass into a bulb-shaped sphere, proceeding to the shaping stage.

Scissors, pliers, and files—these were all tools needed for shaping glass.

After a short while, a "small glass whistle" made from Soft Sand was successfully completed.

"Yoo-woo..."

Watching Kuang Tai and Petilil at work, the Doublade suddenly felt a sense of loss.

Before the forging room was reopened, it had always accompanied Kuang Tai through every piece of work. Yet this was the one place where forging work was impossible for it!

Steel-types were vulnerable to fire, so it couldn't step up to shape things either. The glowing red, molten glass products emitted a scorching high heat that made it dare not even approach!

"It's fine. Every Pokémon has things they excel at, and things they don't. You just need to do well in the things you're good at."

Kuang Tai comforted the Doublade while examining the glass whistle he had just crafted.

[Crafting task completed!]

[Crafted Item: Earth Glass Whistle.]

[Description: An item crafted using Soft Sand and common materials through a unique glass-smelting process. Using materials from Pokémon of different types might yield glass products of corresponding types.]

[Crafted Item Effect 1: When blown by a Trainer or Pokémon, the power of Ground-type moves increases by 25%.]

[Crafted Item Effect 2: When blown by a Trainer or Pokémon, the user can perceive the energy of the earth, fostering Ground-type Pokémon more effectively. In the Earth-Perception state, the user will not be hit by critical hits from opponent moves.]

[Acquired Lore: 1.]

[Glass Artisan: Glassware smelting efficiency +15%.]

Following this, a random material clue was obtained:

[Material: Mirror Armor.]

[Acquisition Source: A Corviknight possessing the "Mirror Armor" Ability.]

[Corresponding Craft: Unique Mirror Casting Craft / Unique Mimicry Forging Craft.]

[Through crafting, mirrors with various abilities can be created.]

[Through crafting, the traits and abilities of Steel-type Pokémon can be retained within the crafted item.]