Chapter 64: Drayden's Recommendation

Paldea Region, Artazon.

The long-distance international mail finally arrived safely at its destination, and the well-known sculpture artist Brassius could no longer suppress his inner excitement. Beside him was his good friend, the Dragon-type Elite Four of the Paldea region, Drayden.

Both of them have unique attainments and insights into art, but compared to the more optimistic Drayden, Brassius, as a well-known sculpture artist, often falls into a low period due to lack of inspiration. It was also Drayden who suggested he look at more news and information about Pokémon online to find some inspiration. It was during that process that they discovered Xiang Guangtai's shop.

That intense retro style, the antique imitation sculptures that seemed to be reproduced from the ruins—just by taking one look, Brassius was deeply fascinated, intoxicated by it, and instantly erupted with new inspiration.

Although he is an artist who advocates nature, the atmosphere of civilization is also a part of nature. Humans, Pokémon, sky, earth, ocean, rivers... Humans and nature are one body. The towns built, the ancient ruins covered with moss under the erosion of time, telling old stories—this is also a form of artistic expression.

Thus, in the few days while the sculpture was being transported, Brassius also tried to "re-engrave" the antique imitation products in the photos, however...

The result was indescribable.

The technique of sculpture cannot be easily imitated, especially since the other party's sculpture skills have reached a state of perfection. Brassius carved several works, but no matter how he imitated, he could not imitate that ancient charm.

He doesn't know much about ruins. Brassius believes this is one of the important reasons why he cannot imitate the other party's skills. There is another point, that is, the two sides differ greatly in the level of sculpture.

It is that he and the other party differ greatly!

Brassius and Drayden transported the ordered sculpture box into their sculpture room. During this process, Brassius carefully looked at the sculpture works he had imitated before again.

"These works are all no good. Whether it is the carving technique, the sculpture style, or the charm, I haven't carved a single one!"

His mood was a bit low, and the taller Drayden, after placing the box in the designated position, spoke to comfort him:

"Brassius, that's just because your sculpture styles are different. The other party's style can be seen at a glance to have been polished and studied repeatedly. Just like it's hard for you to imitate that shopkeeper's style, maybe that shopkeeper can't imitate your sculpture style either."

Drayden patted Brassius on the shoulder, and Brassius sighed: "No, in terms of carving technique, there is also a big difference."

"There was also a wood carving ordering service in the shop before. You should have seen it, Drayden. Even the wood reveals an ancient atmosphere, an intense retro style. Even across the Pokégear, it seemed to bring me into the distant ancient times, that strange world... What was the world a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago like? One could glimpse it from the sculpture!"

The more Brassius spoke, the more excited he became, while maintaining this excited mood, he opened the transport box.

This time, it was truly an ancient atmosphere, rushing towards them!

The Sudowoodo and Gible sculptures were taken out. Although the movements of these two Pokémon were very ordinary, their charm was perfectly presented, as if living Pokémon had been sculpted. Brassius looked at that Sudowoodo sculpture and felt that its eyes seemed to be able to speak, quietly staring at him.

Brassius even had an illusion that it seemed that in the next instant, this Sudowoodo would come alive from the sculpture state!

Using the word "lifelike" is not enough to explain the exquisite craftsmanship on this antique imitation sculpture! This is the charm of art!

"Truly avant-garde art!"

The life and death of a work depend on the artist; what is seen, what is touched, everything can become a hint for creating art! And the sculptures in front of him are truly like living Pokémon. They seem to be telling Brassius that they were living like this in the past, truly living in an era from a long, long time ago!

"It's really shocking..." Drayden was also stunned. Laymen might only feel that this sculpture is beautiful and has a unique artistic style, but only those insiders like them understand how exquisite and superb the technique revealed on this sculpture is.

"The real thing is more exquisite and ancient than the pictures."

"As for the effect..." Drayden felt at this time that the least important thing in this sculpture was actually the so-called special effect.

The Sudowoodo sculpture can deepen the understanding of imitation.

The Gible sculpture can improve the efficiency of digging and enhance the understanding of the corresponding Pokémon.

"Gible!" Drayden's Gible shook its body, opened its mouth wide, jumped onto the table, looked at the "companion" that seemed to be the same as it but also seemed to be petrified, and made a confused sound.

Why did its companion turn into a stone statue?

Drayden immediately explained with a smile: "Haha, Gible, this is not a real Pokémon; this is just a sculpture. Did it give you an illusion?"

"Gible?" Gible looked at the two of them suspiciously, then looked at the sculpture, and its little claws touched its head to show it didn't understand.

It hadn't seen such a powerful sculpture before; it thought this was its companion!

Gible stared blankly at the sculpture, and just as suddenly, some strange ideas gradually emerged in its mind.

That kind of feeling was like instinct. Following the pull of this instinct, Gible began to move unconsciously.

Shaking its body, pulling the power of its whole body to condense towards its tail, its perception of Dragon-type power became more acute. In the past, it always followed instinct to use moves, but this was the first time it felt that power could move freely.

Thus, it used all its strength, its two little claws clenched tightly, its eyes closed, and it exerted force!

"Gible..."

"Oh oh, Gible, what's wrong with you!" Drayden looked at Gible's changes and immediately checked the manual. At this time, Gible's tail gradually became larger, and a swelling Dragon-type energy was concentrated by it to its tail!

Shining Dragon-type energy overflowed from its tail, turning into a powerful whip tail!

Gible learned "Dragon Tail"!

"Gible!" Gible shouted, shaking the tail formed by the gathering of energy. Its own tail was very short, so it couldn't sweep enemies with a huge tail like other powerful Dragon Pokémon, but now, it also had an extra tail!

Gible was very happy!

"It really comprehended the move... enhancing the corresponding Pokémon's understanding... So that's how it is! What exactly did Gible feel just now, why did it suddenly exert force?"

Drayden and Brassius were both surprised, circling around Gible to look left and right, and Brassius saw the scene just now completely. In his mind, inspiration surged out suddenly!

New sculpture work, new artwork—"Gible that learned Dragon Tail"!

"Inspiration... inspiration is surging out!"

Brassius looked at the stone carving of Gible excitedly. He already knew what he should carve next, and at the same time looked at the Sudowoodo sculpture. His heart gradually surged with a lot of inspiration again, and it was endless!

He immediately found wood and arranged the carving tools. Drayden was taken aback, and Brassius said: "This time, this time I will definitely be able to re-engrave this style of sculpture. The real thing and the photo are completely different! This aesthetic that transcends time and space, I will perfectly reproduce this carving technique!"

"And apply this carving art to new works! Oh oh, avant-garde art!"

Brassius fell into an artistic frenzy. As an artist, he has a perfect obsession with works, so he often falls into a bottleneck period, and even closes the gym he is responsible for. And at this time, seeing Brassius who fell into an artistic frenzy, Drayden knew that Brassius now had no intention of communicating with others and only wanted to complete a new sculpture as soon as possible, so he could only sigh helplessly, but then smiled immediately.

In short, that shopkeeper's work can let Brassius break through his bottleneck period; this result is the best!

And Drayden himself also gained a lot of inspiration from those carvings. How to reflect the ancient style in paintings and music is a very difficult thing, but trying to turn this feeling into a physical entity and present it to others is exactly the charm of painting and music.

Drayden opened the Pokégear, looked at Xiang Guangtai's shop, pondered for a while, and then sent a message.

"Shopkeeper, have you considered making some musical instruments? Or customization is also fine..."

"And some cultivation items... The new product is a glass whistle, and there is also Fierce Earth Food..."

"By the way, among the Elite Four members of the Alliance, isn't Ms. Rika a Ground-type expert? These things should be helpful to her, recommend them to her!"

Beep-beep—

Suddenly, just at this time, Drayden's Pokégear rang. Seeing the caller ID, Drayden opened it with a helpless face:

"It's me, Drayden. I am in Artazon... Chief, you want to come to inspect the gym? But now... actually, it's not that I'm slacking off. Brassius is currently in an artistic frenzy and won't pay attention to others for the time being. Because there were no good works for the Art Exhibition in Artazon in the second half of the year, he was having a headache about this matter before."

"The reason it became like this now is because we saw a shop recently... By the way, besides some artworks, there are also some battle and cultivation items in the shop. Chief, you should be interested, right?"

————

"Ground-type cultivation item, Earth Glass Whistle and Fierce Earth Food..."

"These descriptions look very powerful, especially Fierce Earth Food, but are there such things in reality? It's almost like the legendary Mystic Spices..."

The woman in men's clothing with green hair and a capable professional suit flipped through the products. She had just completed a new interview work, defeating a star Trainer who tried to challenge the Paldea Alliance.

However, as a Paldea Elite Four member with shallow qualifications, although she was valued by Geeta and appointed as an interviewer and assistant, the more she battled with others, the more she could feel her own shortcomings, especially in the process of fighting with star Trainers, this feeling was very obvious.

Perhaps she should increase the intensity of her training... Sometimes Rika would feel that she might not reach the standard of the Elite Four level.

Speaking of which, the Alliance is currently implementing a long-term plan, intending to temper the students in the Paldea Academy through various tests, so as to improve the overall strength of Paldea. This is a plan jointly launched with the Paldea Academy, and a new level "Champion level" has been formulated, and the focus of the academy's learning has also shifted to the goal of "cultivating Champion-level Trainers".

Although no one has passed this Champion test so far, the pressure from the teenagers in the academy is not small. This should have been a good thing, but it made Rika have some self-doubt.

Just when she was a bit troubled, that Dragon-type expert, Drayden, who is also an Elite Four member, seemed to have noticed her low mood hidden under the optimistic appearance and recommended this shop to her.

As an old-qualified member of the Alliance, although Drayden has strange speech habits and the habit of preaching, he is a very reliable person. Perhaps because he is also an artist, his mind is also quite delicate.

"There is really nothing that can be hidden from Drayden's eyes... Even the fact that I have doubts about my own strength has been discovered..."

Experts who specialize in Ground-types are very few, and they are very rare in every region, so cultivation items related to Ground-type are even rarer.

"Since it is recommended by Drayden, then I will buy it and try it. At least I know items like Soft Sand; this can't be a lie."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 65 =====