Chapter 287: Infinite Energy Cultivation Plan, Feng Su Gou's Magma Form

Having decided to build a glass greenhouse with temperature-control capabilities, Luo Mu immediately contacted the Haoli Construction Team to ask if they could construct it according to his requirements.

For the Haoli Construction Team, Luo Mu was a major client, so they naturally treated this as their top priority; within just an hour, the foreman drove over from Pingdie Town to discuss the detailed specifics of the glass greenhouse with Luo Mu.

Taking into consideration lighting, ventilation, temperature regulation, and a certain degree of aesthetic appeal, the plan for the glass greenhouse was quickly drafted.

Since it was a glass greenhouse, most of the building materials naturally consisted of glass with excellent light transmission; on top of this, structural strength had to be considered, as it could not be so fragile that a typhoon would shatter and collapse it, which would be far too dangerous for the Pokémon living inside.

Fortunately, the foreman proposed a solution using reinforced metal for the framework and installing reinforced glass with excellent light transmission, which made Luo Mu breathe a sigh of relief.

They also needed to install shading equipment to adjust light intensity during the summer when sunlight was strongest, along with a temperature and humidity control system to ensure the glass greenhouse remained like spring all year round even in winter.

As for the automatic irrigation system mentioned by the foreman, that was unnecessary; letting Politoed and Poliwhirl handle it would suffice.

After the discussion concluded, Luo Mu looked at the quote provided by the foreman, then shifted his gaze to Mr. Mime; upon receiving the signal that it was "reasonable," he immediately prepared to sign the contract, with construction scheduled to begin in two days.

There was no need to worry about finances; aside from the substantial sum earned from selling the farm's now high-yield crops, many byproducts from the Pokémon could also be sold for considerable amounts of money.

Luo Mu had left all these financial matters to Mr. Mime to handle; although saying this felt somewhat shameful, Mr. Mime was truly far superior to Luo Mu himself when it came to financial management and maintaining stable capital flow.

Possessing every professional skill from procurement to accounting, hiring such an all-around butler for merely a butler's salary made Luo Mu feel he had struck an incredible bargain.

Not to mention that Luo Mu didn't even have to pay this salary out of his own pocket.

After finalizing the construction plan for the glass greenhouse, Luo Mu did not remain idle; besides maintaining the farm's operations and planning its development, he could not afford the slightest slack in training his Pokémon.

The six main Pokémon usually trained conscientiously on their own and even coordinated with each other to cultivate together, so Luo Mu only needed to oversee the general direction; his primary focus remained on the few Pokémon of the "second team."

Currently, very few Pokémon on the farm were considered by him to have the potential to enter the second team: Moltres counted as one, Arcanine counted as one, and Politoed counted as one.

Iron Thorns counted as half, since Luo Mu did not know when it would return to its own era.

As for Victini, its role was mostly just to act cute; after all, Luo Mu could tell at a glance that this child had no interest in Pokémon battles, so he might as well let it serve peacefully as support.

It would be even better if there were an opportunity for Cangyan Cangyan Rengui, Feng Su Gou, and Moltres to learn moves like V-Create, Flame Charge, Fusion Flare, and Blue Flare.

Luo Mu remembered that in the game, the move set of the Victini distributed as a Mystery Gift included not only the signature moves of the two legendary dragons Zekrom and Reshiram—Bolt Strike, Fusion Bolt, Blue Flare, and Fusion Flare.

Even more outrageously, it also included Kyurem's Frozen World, which perhaps meant Victini had the chance to learn their moves.

However, once a Victini that received these moves via game distribution forgot them, it could never relearn them; regarding the question of whether it could actually learn the signature moves of the three legendary dragons, a question mark still remained for now.

Looking at his own silly, sweet, yet voracious Victini, Luo Mu felt that rather than expecting it to learn the signature moves of those three legendary dragons, it would be more reliable to let it first master its own signature move.

Today's special training targets were Moltres and Arcanine; although this "mother and son" pair hadn't acted alongside Luo Mu for some time, he had not forgotten to monitor their training progress.

Luo Mu had a clear understanding of Moltres's and Arcanine's current strength; if the Moltres that had just arrived at the farm faced an Elite Four's main Pokémon whose type it did not counter, it would most likely lose, even with its naturally bottomless stamina.

Back then, the rash Moltres could probably only bully ordinary Gym Leaders.

But now, not only was Moltres fed well and treated generously by Luo Mu every day, but it was also frequently subjected to repeated beatings by Swampert and Luxray and others, resulting in extremely significant improvements in both combat power and battle experience.

Luo Mu felt that under his command nowadays, Moltres could already go toe-to-toe with Brother Brother Qingmu's Staraptor, with victory not being out of the question.

As for Arcanine, this child was born with endless energy and had destroyed the house countless times, so when Luo Mu's slipper went missing, his first reaction wasn't that Mew had stolen it from a great distance, but that Growlithe had dug a hole and buried it.

Perhaps because it was once a Pokémon that roamed the ancient Hisui region, Arcanine's constitution was naturally excellent; now grown tall and mighty, it could probably dent a car if it collided head-on with one.

With Fire and Rock typing and the Ability "Rock Head," Luo Mu had always built Arcanine's battle style around its physical durability.

Flare Blitz, Double-Edge, and Wild Charge gave Arcanine extremely powerful close-combat capabilities, Morning Sun ensured its endurance to a certain extent, and Extreme Speed guaranteed Arcanine maintained an advantage in speed throughout the battle.

Coupled with a few coverage moves, Arcanine's overall combat strength nowadays was undoubtedly terrifying.

Even Clemont's father, Clemont's father Limone's Mega Ampharos, failed to force Arcanine into its strongest form during their battle, which left Luo Mu very regretful.

Today's training was specifically prepared to resolve this issue.

In the farm's open area, Luo Mu fixed his gaze on Moltres and Arcanine; holding the very restless Victini, he slowly said, "Today's training content, um, will mainly be a battle between the two of you, to see if we can force out that mode of Arcanine's."

Moltres spread its wings, its gaze falling upon its good big son, revealing an expression eager to give it a try.

Affection aside, when it came to beating up Arcanine, Moltres would show no mercy; in fact, it seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.

Arcanine, who looked very imposing to outsiders, shrank its neck, its face looking as bitter as if it had eaten a bitter melon.

Getting beaten up was one thing, but ever since leaving the volcano, it had not activated that form even once; even when Moltres and others held back their strength while fighting Arcanine, gradually squeezing its limits, it still hadn't happened.

On the contrary, during its battle against Mega Ampharos, as its emotions rose and its body temperature gradually skyrocketed, it seemed on the verge of success, yet Mega Ampharos collapsed first.

Afterwards, Luo Mu analyzed that the conditions required for Arcanine to activate that form might not be being forced into a desperate situation, but rather related to a surge in emotions and energy.

Arcanine moved to one side of the open area, while Moltres spread its flame-wreathed wings and took flight.

To ensure the non-flying Arcanine wouldn't be completely unable to fight, Moltres did not fly too high, maintaining an altitude that Arcanine could reach with a single powerful jump.

Without Luo Mu needing to speak, the two Pokémon skillfully began their practical combat training.

For Fire-type Pokémon, opening with a blast of Flamethrower is the most romantic way to say hello.

As two streams of fire converged in mid-air, a loud boom echoed, and heat waves rippled outward; having learned its lesson, Arcanine cloaked itself in golden Lei Ting battle intent and pounced straight at Moltres!

Moltres did not indulge its foolish good big son; it flapped its wings heavily several times, instantly summoning a howling gale that not only carried immense wind force but also radiated scorching heat so intense that even Arcanine felt it was burning.

"Timi!"

Victini watched Moltres and Arcanine locked in combat with sparkling eyes; although it had little interest in battling, there was a prerequisite to that statement!

Victini had no interest in battles where it had to participate itself, but it was brimming with enthusiasm for spectating.

If one couldn't find it in the play area, one could definitely find Victini among the Pokémon engaged in practical sparring on the farm.

Regardless of who won or lost, Victini could taste the delicious waves of victory from the winning side, something that could not be provided in Eindoak Town, a place where even Trainers were extremely rare and battles seldom occurred outside of the Harvest Festival's battle celebration.

Luo Mu likewise observed the battle between Moltres and Arcanine; watching Arcanine's majestic yet incredibly agile movements, his pupils gradually unfocused, commonly known as zoning out.

Luo Mu recalled that fleeting glimpse of crimson he saw on Arcanine as it sprinted down the mountain after successfully absorbing magma energy and completing its evolution on Moltres's island.

Within the gaps of its rock-like gray-black fur, crimson patterns resembling flowing magma slowly circulated.

If Luo Mu had to make a comparison, it was just like the molten orange-yellow color flowing within the crevices of Groudon's body during its Primal Reversion.

The hot wind that rushed toward him along with Arcanine at that time, the lingering scent of sulfur in his nose, and the skin that felt scorching hot merely from coexisting in the same space as Arcanine—all of this left a profound impression on Luo Mu.

Unfortunately, as the turbulent energy within Arcanine's body gradually calmed after its evolution, that form vanished like a flower reflected in a mirror or a dream within a bubble, fading away as if it had merely been Luo Mu's illusion.

Subsequently, he tried many methods, but unfortunately, he could never again draw out that hidden potential of Arcanine's.

Luo Mu had also asked Moltres about it; its response was that it merely wanted to use higher-quality magma energy to replace the Fire Stone, ensuring Growlithe's evolution got off to a winning start.

Thinking of this, Luo Mu came to his senses, his arms holding Victini tightening slightly as his gaze fell upon the excited Victini.

With Victini's addition this time, would the situation take a turn for the better?

However, after pondering for but a moment—in the blink of an eye—Moltres and Arcanine had already been clashing for nearly five minutes.

Flare Blitz colliding with Flare Blitz, jagged rocks suddenly erupting from the ground to clash against razor-sharp Steel Wing.

Moltres had been holding back its strength, its profound stamina more than enough to sustain a fight fought with ease.

In contrast, Arcanine was not only suffering severe energy depletion but had also lost considerable stamina; panting heavily with its tongue lolling out, a surge of unwillingness suddenly rose in its heart.

In front of Moltres, would it never be able to turn the tables?

If Moltres knew Arcanine's current thoughts, it would surely curse loudly, calling it an unfilial son; unaware of everything, Moltres gathered wind between its wings, clearly intending to unleash another Heat Wave—a move Arcanine resisted at four times the power yet whose potency was still halved—to pressure it.

At this moment, Luo Mu raised his hand to stop Moltres's action, then carried Victini directly to the center of the battlefield.

Moltres knew what Luo Mu intended to do; it had to admit that on that small, cute Fire-type Pokémon, it had sensed a terrifying reserve of energy that made its bird heart tremble.

Although Moltres had never been strengthened by Victini, according to the recollections of Pokémon previously charged by Victini, they had seemed to enter some wondrous state back then; not only did they possess endless strength, but a strange, all-purpose energy also surged their own energy to new heights, unleashing attacks far beyond their current level.

As Victini's small hand pressed against Arcanine, a brilliant golden aura soared upward; Victini's infinite energy flowed into Arcanine's body, driving its emotions, stamina, and energy to rise together.

The temperature around them, already elevated by the battle, began to climb even further; in an instant, Luo Mu, drenched in sweat and holding Victini, retreated repeatedly until he was far away from the battlefield before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Luo Mu finally looked at Arcanine, and then, he froze.

Within the black patterns of Arcanine's mane and body fur, crimson veins streaked with bright gold seemed to come alive, flowing slowly just like magma coursing through a volcano.

The air surrounding Arcanine distorted slightly; feeling the seemingly endless energy and stamina within its body, Arcanine's eyes sparkled, and its already high spirits became even more agitated.

Watching its own 'good big son' in that peculiar stance, Moltres's brain short-circuited for an instant.

Wait, what Luo Mu said was actually true; he hadn't been bluffing!?

"Awooo—"

Letting out an excited roar, flames on Arcanine's surface expanded wildly before compressing crazily; within just a few breaths, Arcanine resembled a small sun burning with fire, radiating terrifying light and heat.

As a legendary Fire-type Pokémon, Moltres knew very well the explosive power hidden beneath Arcanine's flames.

A trace of seriousness and solemnity coloring its expression, Moltres likewise covered its body in flames, intending to meet Flare Blitz with Flare Blitz.

Arcanine began to run; both wind and resistance were easily torn apart by its current self. As Arcanine leaped high into the air, it collided squarely with Moltres like a bomb about to detonate!

Boom—!

A terrifying explosive roar rang out; smoke, dust, and shockwaves battered outward in all directions, while the pillar of fire reaching the sky was visible even from the center of Pingdie Town.

The next instant, a figure burst through the smoke and dust, crashing to the ground with a thud like a kite with its string cut.

Both Luo Mu and Victini could see clearly that the falling Pokémon was not Arcanine, but Moltres!

Immediately after, Arcanine also landed; at this moment, its condition was very stable, yet those flowing patterns on its surface faded away along with it.

Arcanine felt that the infinite energy Victini had transmitted to it had been exhausted.

At this moment, lying in the crater and aching all over until it wanted to die, Moltres already wanted to curse at the dog.

Luo Mu fell silent for a moment, then murmured as if talking to himself: "A stance like flowing magma—Magma Mode!"

(End of Chapter)