Chapter 32: Fragrant Pig

Luo Mu did not like self-detonation; without courting death by remarking that Moltres's current posture resembled a brooding hen, he squatted down, reached directly beneath Moltres to retrieve the incubator, and casually let his wandering hands stroke Moltres's feathers, which radiated a warm heat.

Clearly feeling a pair of hands wreaking havoc on its abdomen, Moltres's fury surged upward, yet under Luxray's casual gaze from beside Luo Mu, Moltres forcibly suppressed it.

Moltres felt nothing but sorrow; it, a legendary Pokémon of great stature, was actually being groped by a human yet dared not resist.

If word got out, how would it ever hold its head high again?

Just as Moltres sat fuming alone, Luo Mu picked up the incubator, held it close to his eyes to observe for a moment, frowned, and murmured, "It's only the fourth day; the absorption is far too fast. Is this Moltres's doing?"

The emerald-green nutrient solution originally inside the incubator had now completely turned transparent, indicating that the energy contained within the solution had been fully absorbed.

He remembered the manual mentioning that ordinary Pokémon eggs would absorb most of the nutrient solution in seven days; even fast cases usually only finished one or two days early, but a case like this Pokémon egg, which had absorbed the nutrient solution completely clean in just four days, had no precedent whatsoever in the manual.

It was simply outrageous.

Luo Mu sighed, returned to the house to pour the second bottle of nutrient solution into the incubator, and said with a furrowed brow, "At this rate, it won't even last half a month."

Silently stuffing the incubator back beneath Moltres, Luo Mu could only hope that the Flame Body ability of this legendary beast was potent enough to hatch this Pokémon egg as soon as possible.

Otherwise, he would be eaten into poverty.

With Serperior and the others watching over the farm, and Moltres appearing quite well-behaved, plus the fact that Luo Mu had entrusted Mimikyu to watch Moltres from the shadows to prevent it from suddenly having a brain fart and attacking the Pokémon egg,

Luo Mu left with considerable peace of mind.

While searching the wilderness for sellable materials and items based on the system's prompts, Luo Mu and Luxray made their way toward their destination.

Time spent searching always passed quickly; Luo Mu had set out at noon, yet now the sky had already turned dim yellow, and nightfall was imminent.

Luo Mu tallied the harvest from the half-day; aside from the medicinal herbs he wanted to keep for personal use, the most valuable item was a Hard Stone, a held item suitable for Rock-type Pokémon.

The market price for a single Hard Stone was around three thousand League Dollars; this item could drop from many Rock-type Pokémon and was not considered expensive.

Adding in various miscellaneous items, selling everything as a bundle in Pingdie Town later should easily net a small profit of five thousand League Dollars.

Upon reaching the foot of a mountain covered in dense trees, Luo Mu halted his steps, instructed Luxray to stand by, and began pondering what to eat for dinner.

Although his backpack contained some dried rations, those were for emergencies when no food could be found; since the plants on this small mountain were growing so vigorously, there should logically be some mountain delicacies inside.

As Luo Mu was contemplating, Luxray, who had been lying prone and alert, suddenly stood up and sniffed the air with its nose, as if it had detected some scent.

After distinguishing the odor, a look of delight flashed in Luxray's eyes, and it cried out to Luo Mu, "Meow-ao!"

"What is it, Luxray?"

Luo Mu looked at Luxray with a puzzled gaze; Luxray did not explain with wild gestures, but instead used its eyes to signal Luo Mu to follow before breaking into a run toward the mountain.

Luo Mu blinked, feeling that this scene was somewhat familiar, as if such a moment had occurred before.

With no time to overthink, seeing that Luxray was already about to dive into the mountain, Luo Mu could only temporarily cut off his reminiscence and quicken his pace to follow Luxray's tracks.

The path on the mountain was difficult to traverse, bearing almost no traces of human footfalls; indeed, it could hardly even be called a path.

Luo Mu, however, was quite familiar with the route; keeping his eyes on Luxray's figure as it occasionally paused, he climbed rapidly like a monkey.

During the advance, even Luo Mu's nose could detect that faint, lingering fragrance in the air.

Memories awakened at this moment; Luo Mu recalled the period shortly after he had transmigrated.

Back then, penniless and destitute, he and Luxray, who was still a Luxio at the time, had earned their first pot of gold in the mountain forests relying on Luxio's extremely sharp eyesight and sense of smell.

The event from those days that left the deepest impression on him also began with a fragrance like this one in the air.

Having climbed nearly two-thirds of the mountain, even Luo Mu was now panting slightly due to the weight of the large backpack on his back; fortunately, Luxray chose this moment to halt its advance.

Luxray made no sound, merely using its eyes to signal Luo Mu to look toward a spot not far away.

Luo Mu felt a rich fragrance lingering persistently at the tip of his nose, but this did not prevent him from looking toward the distance with an expression of delight.

There, stood a male Oinkologne.

Oinkologne's entire body was covered in black skin, while its eyelashes, tail tip, and hooves were peach-pink.

In an instant, fluid began to secrete within Luo Mu's oral cavity.

Do not misunderstand; Luo Mu had no designs on the Oinkologne itself; he was merely interested in the things brought about by Oinkologne's own abilities.

Both Oinkologne and its previous stage, Lechonk, were Pokémon famous for their sense of smell; their olfactory power was incredibly strong, capable even of sniffing out various mountain delicacies buried deep underground.

Because their super-enhanced sense of smell served only the purpose of finding food, even with Luo Mu and Luxray, two sources of unfamiliar scents, approaching so closely, Oinkologne remained completely unresponsive.

Oinkologne constantly sniffed and smelled at the soil, occasionally rooting through the dirt to send delicious fungi growing within into its mouth.

Only at night, when its nearly black body was less likely to be discovered by predators, could it conceal its body that emitted such a rich fragrance.

Eating while rooting, Oinkologne did not notice the two little tails following behind it, constantly picking up the food it had rejected.

Until Oinkologne caught a whiff of an extremely fresh and sweet scent in the air; its eyes lit up, and its limbs, which appeared to be all fat but were actually all muscle, exerted force as it sprinted frantically toward the source of the odor.

Luo Mu and Luxray, trailing far behind, exchanged a glance and then chased after without hesitation.

Judging by Oinkologne's reaction, there was something there!

Oinkologne's run lasted a full ten minutes; in the dim mountain, shrieks and strange cries rang out occasionally, but while ordinary people would find such a place hair-raising, Luo Mu and Luxray only grew more excited the further they ran.

Because, not far from where Oinkologne had stopped running, lay a pair of massive pincers on the ground!

Jackpot!

Luo Mu suppressed his excited voice, his gaze fixed straight on that pair of pincers.

Pincers naturally shed by a Klawf!

Their flesh was smooth, tender, fresh, and sweet, a dream ingredient that countless high-end restaurants would spend huge sums yet might still fail to acquire!

At the same time, this was also the source of the first travel fund for Luo Mu as a Champion-level Trainer!