Chapter 109: Grandma Ju Zi Academy Classes, Penny's Rise

By the time they returned to the farm, night had completely fallen; Luo Mu hung up the phone and spoke to Nemona, who was immersed among the farm's Pokémon: "Butler Sebastian said he'd come to pick you up shortly. In the meantime, I happen to be making honey crispy cakes. Would you like some?"

"Yes~"

Nemona buried her face entirely in the cotton atop a shy Bom-Bom, replying in a muffled voice.

Seeing this, Luo Mu could only shake his head helplessly; Nemona's love for Pokémon was such that even he felt somewhat inferior by comparison.

In just this short while, she had already roughhoused with Growlithe, Fidough, Bom-Bom, Poliwag, and Milcery; judging by her movements, it wouldn't be long before Luxray and the others suffered the same fate.

Arriving in the kitchen, they found Ceruledge, wearing a little yellow duck apron, had already prepared the ingredients for Luo Mu.

"Flour, eggs, white sugar, lemon... and the honey I brought back. Hmm, all ingredients are present."

After checking everything off, Luo Mu immediately began making the honey crispy cakes.

With Ceruledge assisting beside him, the process flowed smoothly, executed in one seamless motion.

He whipped eggs with white sugar and honey brewed by Combee, added flour and corn oil, stirred it vigorously, then poured the mixture into prepared paper cup molds according to portion, tapping them twice to eliminate air bubbles.

Finally, placing them in an oven precisely temperature-controlled by Moltres's sacred flame and waiting a little over twenty minutes, the paper-cup honey crispy cakes were done.

During the wait, finding it boring, Luo Mu used the remaining ingredients to make some honey caramel puddings as well.

After he and Ceruledge left the kitchen carrying steaming plates, they discovered Nemona carefully approaching the Moltres lying on the carpet.

Nemona's expression was excited as she murmured, "I've never seen a fire bird before that burns with flames and has such a plump body!"

Ignoring that scene, Luo Mu and Ceruledge set the plates on the dining table and immediately called the farm's Pokémon inside to eat.

In an instant, whether it was the Growlithe and others playing outside the small villa or the Moltres lying on the carpet fattening itself up, they all came rumbling toward the dining table as if they hadn't eaten in hundreds of years.

Though Moltres was huge in size, its movements were exceptionally agile; under Nemona's stunned gaze, it rushed to Luo Mu's side first, acting just like a student when the cafeteria opens for service.

Facing Moltres's gesture of extending its wings to beg, Luo Mu scolded it with a laugh: "Just one serving; if you eat more, you truly won't be able to fly. This is a nutritional supplement specially prepared for Comfey!"

Having said that, Luo Mu looked at Milcery.

Milcery nodded gently, producing a small dollop of fragrant fresh cream that dripped onto the honey crispy cake; the combination of sweet with sweet was truly a calorie bomb.

Moltres accepted the petite cake and pudding, its face showing an expression of distress.

Such a tiny amount wasn't even enough to fill the gaps in its teeth.

After Moltres departed with its head hanging in dejection, Luo Mu distributed the cakes and puddings to every Pokémon one by one.

Having accomplished all this, Luo Mu, watching the Pokémon eat with beaming faces, also wore a smile; he carried the portions for Nemona, Pawmi, and Cubchoo over, saying, "Try the taste; I'm quite satisfied with it personally."

Nemona nodded heavily, sending out Pawmi and Cubchoo—the latter looking distinctly unhappy and clearly sulking—and took the cake and pudding from Luo Mu to begin building rapport with them.

A moment later.

After eating the honey crispy cake, Cubchoo's complexion visibly improved; at the very least, it would no longer ignore Nemona.

Seeing it like this, if it stayed at Nemona's home for a few more days, it would likely be completely corrupted by the gourmet food that money could buy.

After boarding the black luxury car driving over from Mesagoza, Nemona finally remembered she hadn't asked Luo Mu what species that fat bird burning with flames actually was.

Sitting beside Pawmi, who looked accustomed to it all, and Cubchoo, who was curiously observing the spacious interior of the car, Nemona asked Sebastian, who was driving: "Uncle Sebastian, do you know what Pokémon that large bird is, with flames burning on its head, body, wings, and tail?"

"Is Miss Two studying Pokémon Legendology recently?" Sebastian kept his eyes fixed forward, driving steadily, but this didn't prevent him from answering Nemona's question: "The Pokémon you described should be the legendary Pokémon of the Kanto region—Moltres, correct?"

"Sebastian, have you ever seen Moltres?"

"How could that be? That is a symbol, or rather a totem, of an entire region; it is not something one can easily encounter, after all, being a 'legendary' existence."

"Oh."

Nemona lowered her head, her expression somewhat conflicted.

Was that Pokémon at Teacher Luo Mu's house really Moltres?

The next day, at Grandma Ju Zi Academy.

For the first class after the holiday, Luo Mu had made ample preparations; after learning about the students' progress from Brother Brother Qingmu, who spoke with a weak and feeble voice, he directly rode Dragonite to Grandma Ju Zi Academy.

Casually returning the few agricultural books he had borrowed previously, Luo Mu, thinking about coming back to borrow a few more after class, went straight to the playground; the students, whom he hadn't seen for a week, were all gathered at their designated spots, and even the arrogant kid Arven looked somewhat more pleasing to the eye.

Considering Arven's decent performance during this period, Luo Mu directly used the permissions granted by Arven's father to unblock Arven's bank card; as long as he didn't cause any more trouble going forward, this permission would likely rarely need to be used again soon.

The Pokémon Battle Studies course naturally focused on teaching how to conduct Pokémon battles; the students at Grandma Ju Zi Academy had long ago learned basic knowledge such as type matchups, so Luo Mu didn't need to worry about that, but there was much he could teach regarding actual combat.

He once again shuffled the students' groupings to have them battle each other, observing their fights one by one to identify flaws and correct them on the spot.

Doing this also exercised his own insight ability, which Luo Mu thought was quite good.

After the battle between Nemona, who couldn't wait to send out Cubchoo, and Arven's subordinate concluded, it was Penny and Ai Li Qi Si's turn to take the field.

Ai Li Qi Si's Sprigatito showed no signs of imminent evolution; in contrast, Penny's progress over this past week was visibly apparent compared to before, at least no longer making any low-level mistakes.

Even though Ai Li Qi Si struggled to coordinate Sprigatito to maneuver against Mabosstiff, under the huge level gap, there was too little a trainer could do; Ai Li Qi Si could only watch helplessly as Sprigatito was defeated by Mabosstiff's Bite move.

Having secured a victory, Penny's expression did not show much joy.

During this week, Penny had begun supplementing his trainer knowledge as if injected with chicken blood, all because of Luo Mu's remark about "being able to help one's parents"; the deeper he delved into the field of being a trainer, the more he realized how unsuited he was to become one.

Just like now, even though Mabosstiff's level far surpassed Sprigatito's, it still took him considerable effort to defeat the opponent.

Penny knew that continuing like this would not work; once his classmates' Pokémon gradually increased in strength, his advantage would become smaller and smaller.

By then, he would likely not even be able to defeat peers his own age, let alone achieve his goal of helping in the Paldea Great Crater, which possessed the highest danger level; for him, that was nothing but a pipe dream.

Penny knew there was only one person who could change his current situation.

After today's class ended, under Nemona's puzzled gaze, Penny chased after Luo Mu, who was preparing to head to the library, and shouted loudly: "Teacher Luo Mu, please train me to become a powerful trainer who loses to no one!"

(End of Chapter)