Chapter 39: New Carving Items

New items added.

After Charizard left, Guang Tai’s work here was essentially finished.

He made extra carvings—more stone carvings, fewer wooden ones—but marked the new wooden carvings as customizable.

He then took photos, uploaded them to the shop, and added the new products.

Guang Tai designed them based on the Pokémon he encountered or worked with, though some were new designs.

The Pokémon he had encountered—or represented by his clients—were Charizard, Charmander, Dragonite, Scyther, Gengar, and Natu.

The new additions were Lava Worm, Klinklang, and Dratini.

Combined with the earlier-made Snorlax, these were the products for sale.

Guang Tai planned to see which models sold well, make more of the popular ones, and pause production on the poor sellers while developing new sculptures.

Of course, don’t forget to list the Arceus sculpture for sale, though no one probably recognizes this Pokémon. He made three stone carvings total, plus four wooden ones.

Whether evolved or unevolved, Pokémon sculptures made with the same materials, carving techniques, and styles showed similar effects.

This was discovered from the Charmander and Charizard statues.

'Craft: Small [Ancient Stone Statue]—Shendu Ruins style.'

'Description: A stone statue carved in ancient style; the Charmander design is sought after by collectors at high prices.'

'Craft effect: Hot Air—The surrounding air grows warmer.'

Charizard’s effect was:

'Craft effect: Burning—Flames burn more fiercely.'

Guang Tai also didn’t forget Doublade. Though the patterns on its blades were tricky, the finished product turned out quite beautiful.

First, the stone carving—he placed it beside the Lilligant sculpture.

He deliberately crafted it in the 'Stone Sword' style, adding a removable stone base; since there were two blades, they were inserted diagonally into the base, forming an X.

'Craft: Small [Ancient Stone Statue]—Shendu Ruins style.'

'Description: A stone statue carved in ancient style; the Doublade design is sought after by collectors at high prices.'

'Craft effect: Harvest—Cutting, chopping, and gathering efficiency +10% near the statue.'

'Oh, a statue for chopping wood? Use it with the Lilligant statue for a fast-growing forest?'

'It can also cut stone or fabric—this is an excellent work-enhancing statue.'

Now it seemed the ancient bracelets were meant to teach moves, while ancient statues were small-benefit items.

As for the Ancient Urn and Ancient Crown, Guang Tai still didn’t know their abilities—and in the game, what was related to crown and urn? The King’s Proof and the Punishment Urn?

But many King’s Proofs were natural stones, not forged, though some were artificially made.

As for the Silver Crown and Gold Crown, they looked more like bottle caps with crown patterns.

'Ha, maybe the forged Ancient Crown is actually Lei Jiaisi’s head.'

Second, the wooden carving.

'Craft: Small [Ancient Wooden Carving]—Shendu Ruins style.'

'Description: A stone statue carved in ancient style; the Doublade design is sought after by collectors at high prices.'

'Craft effect: Prayer.'

'By repeatedly completing tasks, knowledge was gained.'

'Carving Expert: Carving efficiency and skill +20%.'

Guang Tai handed the Ancient Wooden Carving to Doublade.

'Pray to the wooden carving—let it reveal its power to you. But don’t pray for speed. Even in its final form, speed alone still isn’t enough.'

'Whether for attack speed or movement speed, from a priority standpoint, speed isn’t important yet.'

Doublade looked puzzled.

Isn’t a sword supposed to be as fast as possible? One swing, and the opponent is already down before seeing the attack!

Plus, he could use Body Lightening to greatly boost speed—now he had two blades. If he maximized speed power...

'Yopu? Yowu? (⊙╰X╯⊙)~?'

So why not choose speed?

Hearing Doublade’s protest, Guang Tai’s thoughts drifted to Ash’s Torterra.

Hmm, nicknamed 'Cannon Fodder Torterra,' but Guang Tai himself really wanted to catch one.

Ash’s Torterra had been extremely fast before evolution, so it focused entirely on speed—but after evolving, its heavy body forced it to expend extra energy just to move at full speed.

In real-time battles, a Pokémon’s stamina is crucial—even if HP remains, low stamina weakens both attack and defense significantly.

This Torterra had trained speed since Bulbasaur, neglecting defense, so its weak defense showed after evolution—it couldn’t withstand enemy attacks.

But during Ash’s time, there was no 'Dice of Change' item.

In later eras, Torterra learned Shell Smash, enabling Speed-Attack Torterra: Shell Smash + Dice of Change + Seed Bomb + Rapid Spin could let it abandon defense entirely and defeat opponents with reckless speed.

Doublade’s final evolution, Doublade, typically performs best as a counter—using its high-defense form to tank one hit, then switching to attack form to deal damage. If it attacks first, it switches to blade form and takes direct hits.

Though real-time battles have no turn limits, the stat changes from the ability 'Battle Switch' still exist—meaning the blade form of Doublade remains extremely fragile. But no worry: the +4 priority of King’s Shield handles defense.

When I get more rare wood, I can improve its Speed IV later.

'In real life, it’s like abandoning your natural talent to do something you’re bad at—it leads to half the results for double the effort.'

'We must fully leverage our strengths, then use remaining time and effort to fix our weaknesses.'

Guang Tai explained and guided Doublade and Lilligant, then shifted tone slightly:

'And after strengthening your weaknesses, you’ll mislead opponents—a Pokémon that shouldn’t be fast becomes unnaturally swift; one with weak power gains extraordinary strength. Combining these fixed weaknesses with your natural talents—that’s the secret to becoming strong.'

Like in the earliest Pokémon games, Gen 1 and Gen 2, the maximum EV for a single stat wasn’t 252—it was 65,000.

In the real world, Pokémon’s efforts always yield returns, not locked by some 252 cap, because that cap doesn’t exist—just like the 'IV maxed out' message from the wooden carving: it gave no number.

In game terms, maybe 31—but in the real Pokémon world? Who knows! After all, in the earliest gens, max IV was only 15!

IV is talent, EV is sweat—and true genius is talent plus sweat plus a bit of luck.

'Yowu!'

'Bai!'

Doublade and Lilligant understood Guang Tai’s meaning and stared intently at the wooden carving. Doublade floated forward, closed its eyes, and faint memories surfaced in its mind.

Doublade, once from an ancient kingdom, seemed to hold special feelings for the word 'ideal.' Seeing Lilligant fight so hard, it immediately recognized her—perhaps this was knightly spirit. Though back then, 'Single Blade' wasn’t a knight.

The wooden carving began glowing brilliantly—once again radiant like a miniature sun!

'The Ancient Wooden Carving answered the Pokémon’s prayer and revealed its power.'

'Power revealed: Doublade’s Attack IV has reached maximum!'

'Yopu! Yowu!'

Doublade felt its blades grow sharper!

'And the Arceus stone statue,' Guang Tai thought of the Arceus statue.

Stone statues can teach Pokémon moves only learnable after evolution, and the second use is for breeding—but since this isn’t a nursery, it’s useless here.

Perhaps wait a while longer—let Doublade and Lilligant grow stronger before letting them touch the Arceus statue.

Speaking of which, if Doublade learned King’s Shield... no, that small shield seems unusable—the Pokédex says it’s incomplete and can’t withstand attacks.

Inside the house, Doublade had already seen the statue and tried touching it, but Guang Tai stopped it.

He’d also carved a new Arceus wooden statue from a large piece of wood—but sadly, the stone statue upgraded to premium while the wooden one showed no change.

Perhaps the wooden statue needs extra materials and entirely new craftsmanship to improve, like how ancient stone statues required Ruin Stone and Ancient Rock.

That wooden statue was essentially useless now.

The wooden statue would reveal power for Arceus—but where is Arceus? And does it even need this carving to strengthen itself?

'If I put this online for sale, people will find it has no effect and think I’m faking it.'

'Maybe sell it to Luo De—rip him off?'

'Tomorrow... head into the forest to collect wood and Hardstone.'

(End of chapter)