Chapter 255: Meditation Aromatherapy

Back at the hotel.

Baimu cleaned his hands thoroughly. Rather than rushing to start making anything, he picked up the bottle of handcrafted fragrance he'd bought.

As he'd expected, pure fragrance was expensive, and "handcrafted" fragrance was even more so. Even though the shop lady had very kindly given him a discount on account of him being a newbie, it still stung his wallet.

But for the sake of comparison, this money had to be spent.

"Hmm… this scent…"

He recalled the scent from his dream, then dabbed a bit on a cotton swab and tasted it.

One major advantage of dreaming in the Simulator was that the dream's contents wouldn't fade upon waking — they were even recorded clearly in his mind.

If his memory wasn't muddled, judging by this bottle's color, scent, and certain details, it should count as high quality.

Baimu certainly didn't think fragrance hadn't developed at all over the past few decades, but it was genuinely surprising that a random shop could produce such good fragrance.

Missed chance to show off.

Well, actually, even if the fragrance made using Perfume Lady's techniques was so high-quality that bringing it to a shop would make people cry out in shock, Baimu still had no intention of making a fuss.

Just be grateful for the predecessors' gift and quietly enjoy it — making a big show of it would be unseemly.

Besides, those instruments might well be connected to Perfume Lady. The old lady had only passed away a couple of years ago; during those years she couldn't possibly have given up continuing to research fragrance. Who knew how much effort she'd put in to mass-produce or simplify high-quality fragrance.

Speaking of which, quality was one thing.

On the other hand, just as the shop lady had said, "ancient-method" fragrance could be blended without any instruments at all — which was also why Perfume Lady could keep developing fragrance while traveling.

This was very friendly to Baimu, who was likewise on the road.

Not only that, fragrance-making techniques were actually all interconnected — meaning that although the Simulator had only given him the Awakening-and-Clearing-Dryness chapter, as long as he put in some effort to learn, fragrances with other effects could be made too.

Fragrance and fragrance weren't two completely separate fields.

"Blending!"

Baimu rubbed his hands together like a fly, laid all the raw materials out on a piece of Bai Bu, ground what needed grinding, juiced what needed juicing. Then he picked up various pre-purchased test tubes of different sizes for sampling, and according to ratio — blended, heated, stirred, filtered, hand-centrifuged…

Devour

The whole operation took a full twenty minutes.

He successfully harvested one tube of liquid fragrance.

But…

"Sure enough, I still need more practice." Baimu had to admit that just watching the memory without practice meant he couldn't perfectly replicate what he'd seen in the dream.

The one he'd made himself wasn't even as good as what the shop lady had sold him!

"Chee?"

Loudred stared longingly at the liquid fragrance, very curious whether it could be used to make perfume.

"Of course — fragrance has a very wide range of uses: perfume, aromatherapy, body wash… lots of everyday products use fragrance, and even Pokémon egg-hatching makes use of it." Baimu said with a smile.

Loudred's eyes lit up, and tugging on the trainer's trouser leg, it wanted him to make a bottle.

"You have to let me do some research. Normal perfume has a lot of other stuff in it too, not just fragrance alone." Baimu waved his hand.

What he most wanted to try right now was making aromatherapy — that was also the simplest.

Aromatherapy came in different types. For instance, the disc-shaped dried aromatherapy sold on the market, placed in a humidifier and slowly releasing its scent along with the water vapor.

This kind of aromatherapy's advantage was easy storage, with a shelf life measured in months. The drawback was that quality would diminish over time. There was also a kind lit with fire — not much different.

Liquid aromatherapy wasn't easy to store, but once diluted in water and sprayed out by a professional diffuser, the effect was immediate.

Baimu had bought a "diffuser," palm-sized, looking a bit like an incense burner from his previous life. But incense burners generally burned incense — this thing could gurgle liquid.

Dilute with water, then pour into the diffuser.

Before long.

From the Kong Dong at the top of the diffuser, a wisp of water vapor slowly rose.

Loudred froze for a moment, its little nose twitching slightly, then its expression turned peaceful and blissfully content. "Chee~"

"It really is good…"

Baimu dropped onto the sofa, his whole body seeming to melt, an expression of utter comfort on his face. "Homemade feels way better than what the hotel provides."

The hotel's aromatherapy only had a scent — it didn't have such a miraculous effect.

The other Pokémon crowded over. Diligent as she was, even Chansey couldn't help sitting down on the sofa, quietly enjoying the scent that relaxed the mind, as if sinking into a state of "void."

Baimu glanced toward the bedroom — Galarian Corsola had indeed been lured out too, drifting unsteadily and slowly flying outward.

He was just about to go catch the little thing when he heard a sudden "ding" beside him.

Like the sound of a water droplet falling, amplified dozens of times.

He turned his head — Chansey had changed from a pink egg to a glowing blue egg, her entire body wrapped in psychic power. Combined with her serene face, there was actually a hint of holiness to it.

Achieved enlightenment?

No.

It was Meditate!

This one had grasped a new move.

Baimu was startled — he hadn't expected that just smelling aromatherapy could lead to learning a new move. Could this be the result of a long time coming to a head?

He looked at the other Pokémon, hoping for some pleasant change to appear on them, but unfortunately Chansey's Meditate was a one-of-a-kind occurrence.

What a pity.

"Sang…"

Galarian Corsola's cry pulled Baimu back. The little thing seemed to have seen that the trainer was coming to catch it, but since he still hadn't arrived, it couldn't help calling out to remind him.

"Coming, coming."

Baimu stepped around Boldore, who had sprawled right on the floor, scooped it up, and moved it onto the sofa.

Galarian Corsola tremblingly extended its smoke-like tentacles, felt the water mist in the air, and its expression — rare for it — shifted from melancholy to a touch of pleasant surprise. Its downturned mouth curved upward too.

All Baimu precisely caught this scene, but unfortunately his phone wasn't on hand to capture it.

Aromatherapy can actually make Galarian Sun Coral laugh?

For some reason, it felt totally worth it.

He lay back down on the sofa. Though it was still far from noon, he couldn't help but yawn. Glancing to the side, he saw Happiny completely immersed in the aromatherapy, so he picked it up into his arms, closed his eyes, and dozed off.

It's clearly an awakening effect—why does it make a person so drowsy instead…

—

"As expected, the dilution still isn't enough."

All Baimu, who had slept straight through to early afternoon, scratched his head. Now fully awake, he finally figured out the reason he'd gotten drowsy.

Modern aroma diffusers release aromatherapy faster, because modern aromatherapy uses a lot of water; the released mist needs to be dense to take effect.

He had used the amount his Aromatherapy Lady sister was accustomed to, and ended up making it way too concentrated all at once.

One of the raw ingredients of the Awakening & Dryness-Dispelling Aromatherapy is the nectar secreted by a Kingler-Dracozolt after it uses sleep powder—much like how indole smells foul when concentrated but fragrant when diluted.

Controlling the amount is very important.

Still not enough water added.

"A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit—but it's not entirely without reward, wouldn't you say?" He turned his head to look at the somewhat shy Chansey.

"Lucky~"

Chansey was also surprised at having suddenly learned meditation, and what embarrassed it even more was that it had fallen asleep so casually. Having interned at a hospital, it should have noticed at once that the situation didn't match expectations and taken the necessary measures.