Chapter 410: Type Effectiveness is the Foundation; The Back Mountain and Mountain Delicacies

Three days have passed since the black Rayquaza suddenly descended, attacked Luxray and Dragonite, and engaged in a fierce duel with Calyrex.

After Calyrex used Teleport to send Rayquaza to the other end of the planet, he returned to the farm with Luo Mu and all the injured parties for further examination and treatment.

Fortunately, Luxray and the Dragonite leader only suffered superficial wounds, and even the heavily injured Dragonite, who had directly endured Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent, was back to bounding around energetically within half a day under the joint healing of Calyrex and Comfey.

On the second day after returning to the farm, Luo Mu packed the medicinal liquids prepared by Shuckle Sister—made from her shell using three secret seasonings blended with different medicinal plants—and contacted the international shipping channel specially arranged by Alder in the Unova region to send an international express delivery.

Alder was indeed willing to spend heavily for his starter partner.

The "couriers" who came to collect the package consisted of several Elite Trainers; through chatting with them, Luo Mu learned that they were all trainers from the Unova region who had received varying degrees of guidance from Alder and worshipped him immensely.

After taking the package, these medicinal liquids would be escorted by them throughout the entire journey, traveling directly on a private jet arranged by the Unova region.

Even to protect the package, the safety measures were implemented by several well-trained Ditto transforming into objects with excellent buffering structures.

Since this relied on Peony's generous funding, the three medicinal liquids were made from spicy, bitter, and salty seasonings respectively, corresponding to effects that boost metabolism, immunity, and health.

With these three medicinal liquids, plus the sour seasoning medicinal liquid Luo Mu had sent to Alder not long ago, Volcarona's current listless state should undergo a massive reversal.

Some time had passed since Nemona, Arven, and Penny embarked on their journeys.

Only three students remained under Luo Mu's charge.

Among them, because Penny needed to stay at the Pokémon Center in Cortondo to provide care, whenever Luo Mu went to the Pokémon Center daily to learn medicine from Nurse Joy Rin, he would usually bring Cangyan Cangyan Rengui and Moltres along to teach Flareon how to control its excessively powerful Fire-type energy.

Mesagoza, Naranja Academy.

Luo Mu first looked at Shinji standing before him with Turtwig and Fuecoco, then glanced at Shizuka beside him with Chansey and Porygon, hesitating to speak.

After a moment, he organized his words and said, "Shinji, don't let Turtwig abandon its advantages to actively approach the opponent; compared to seeking tactical variations to find a way out, a steady and sure approach suits it better."

Shinji paused in the motion of applying medicine to Turtwig, nodding seriously.

"I understand, Teacher."

Judging by his appearance, he had clearly taken Luo Mu's words to heart.

It had to be said that Shinji, as a student, was unexpectedly easy to teach.

He basically lacked those flaws seen in the anime; although he was somewhat too cold in interpersonal dealings, Shinji undoubtedly performed best when it came to respecting teachers and valuing ethics.

He was considered the most worry-free student for Luo Mu, aside from Nemona and Penny.

Watching Shinji keep a straight face while picking up Fuecoco, who was trying to secretly nibble on the brown acorn-like nuts growing on the small tree on Turtwig's back, Luo Mu held back a laugh and turned his gaze to Shizuka, the former Miss Joy.

Seemingly noticing Luo Mu's attention, Shizuka's body trembled, and her expression immediately became guilty.

Even though this teacher was a few years younger than herself, Shizuka felt as if she had returned to those days at the nursing school founded by her family.

In her memory, that elderly-looking Nurse Joy teacher emitted the same aura as Luo Mu.

Luo Mu asked, "How well have you memorized the type effectiveness chart?"

Shizuka's body grew even stiffer; nearby, Chansey, who had already memorized everything, couldn't bear to watch and whispered reminders of "Lucky," "Lucky."

Seeing Shizuka's guilty look, Luo Mu asked expressionlessly, "What type do Normal-type moves super effectively hit?"

"Ghost-type?"

Shizuka replied without confidence.

Chansey wore a shocked expression.

Luo Mu helplessly pressed his forehead, "Do you yourself think your answer is reliable?"

Shizuka remained silent.

Hoping Shizuka would remember this time, Luo Mu patiently explained, "Normal-type attack moves have no super-effective relationship against Pokémon of any type; they are only immune against Ghost-types or resisted by Steel-types and Rock-types."

"In other words, Normal-type Pokémon are only super-effectively hit by Fighting-type moves, Ghost-type moves cannot affect Normal-type Pokémon, but Normal-type Pokémon can hit Ghost-type Pokémon through these three methods."

"After using the moves 'Foresight' or 'Odor Sleuth,' Normal-type or Fighting-type moves can hit intangible Ghost-type Pokémon, and Pokémon with the 'Scrappy' Ability can also use Normal-type or Fighting-type moves to hit Ghost-type Pokémon."

A long passage of text was spoken.

Luo Mu felt nothing unusual saying this, but Shizuka was completely stunned, while Chansey and Shinji displayed thoughtful expressions.

They had only remembered the type effectiveness chart, never expecting there were so many intricacies within it.

They really needed to accelerate their studies.

Under Luo Mu's scrutinizing gaze, Shizuka could only make a self-justification with a bitter expression, "I can easily identify a Pokémon's type, but quickly memorizing the complex type effectiveness chart is still somewhat difficult."

As someone who had already entered society as a former physician, Shizuka was at least not so much of a dull gourd that she would say nothing and silently accept criticism; the subtext of these words was also to tell Luo Mu that, having changed careers halfway, she truly couldn't achieve perfection immediately.

Luo Mu also understood this principle, so he comfortingly patted Shizuka on the shoulder, saying, "To link tactics together like I do, this knowledge is necessary; learn slowly, there's no rush."

Shinji chimed in, "The type effectiveness chart is the foundation of foundations; it must be memorized firmly."

Understanding this point, Shizuka could only nod, preparing to return to her dormitory after class and burn the midnight oil with the same drive she once had when obtaining her physician's license.

Seeing her good attitude, Luo Mu gave one final reminder, "For your Porygon to form excellent combat power and an independent system in the future, you must memorize type effectiveness by heart so that you can make accurate judgments amidst the ever-changing situations of battle."

"Whether to use Conversion, Conversion 2, or choices like Magnet Rise, Sharpen, and so on."

After finishing the theoretical knowledge, Luo Mu began training the two in their practical combat abilities.

First, he watched Shinji and Shizuka have Fuecoco and Porygon peck at each other like clumsy chicks, then watched them have Turtwig and Chansey spar for quite a while.

Ultimately, this war of attrition only ended because Turtwig really couldn't stay awake any longer.

Before leaving, Luo Mu recommended a move to Shinji—"Leech Seed." This Grass-type status move would ensure Turtwig's sustainability while eliminating the need for it to temporarily lose its ability to act due to sleeping.

As a move that causes one side to wax while the other wanes, Leech Seed was considered one of the crucial puzzle pieces for the artillery-style strategy Shinji envisioned for Turtwig's final evolution, Torterra.

In Luo Mu's expectation, by the time Turtwig learned Leech Seed, it should be very close to completing its final evolution.

As for Shizuka's side, Luo Mu felt it was more reliable to directly teach the knowledge to the exceptionally quick-learning Chansey, who could then feed it back to Shizuka, while also teaching Porygon some more reliable Normal-type moves along the way.

After class, Luo Mu did not leave Naranja Academy immediately but went to the Director's Office to chat with Geeta about how, although this week should have been rainy throughout Paldea, the rain clouds across the entire region had vanished completely.

"You mean the legendary Sky High Pokémon of the Hoenn region, Rayquaza, regarded as a spiritual belief and totem by the Meteorites there, recently engaged in an encounter battle with you?"

Geeta crossed her legs, her emotions temporarily showing no major fluctuations... yeah, right.

Her expression instantly became distorted, and even her usually unflappable demeanor developed a slight crack.

"The researchers and staff at the Weather Research Institute and observation stations are going crazy!"

"Just imagine: before the super-large screen monitoring the climate across the entire Paldea region, you, as a monitoring officer, witness with your own eyes how rain clouds, thunderclouds, the stratocumulus over Glaseado Mountain, and even a small typhoon forming in the South Paldea Sea..."

"... everything, within a few seconds, vanished from the map as if erased by a rubber; at that moment, how utterly broken must their psyches have been!"

Geeta, who had always maintained an air of effortless composure, was revealing her "broken defenses" before Luo Mu for the first time; it was foreseeable that she too had been thoroughly worn down by the mountain of reports related to this series of events.

"But after Rayquaza departed, the climate eventually returned to normal, didn't it?"

Luo Mu looked at Geeta in a soothing manner.

The incident with Rayquaza was indeed extremely sudden; even now, Luxray and Dragonite were still keeping their heads down and training extra hard because of it, so Luo Mu could deeply empathize with Geeta's complaints.

But just like Rayquaza, Groudon and Kyogre from Hoenn also possess powers that extremely affect the climate of the Hoenn region; aside from prevention, there truly is no good solution for such matters.

After all, they are essentially incarnations of natural disasters, full of the unknown and randomness.

Geeta pinched the space between her eyebrows, her voice filled with helplessness, "You are right, but the most important reason Rayquaza departed was thanks to you and Lei Guan Wang; it seems Paldea must find a way to strengthen its defensive measures in this regard in the future."

Luo Mu nodded slightly, neither affirming nor denying.

After all, matters of this sort were what Geeta, as both the Chairwoman and the Champion of the Paldea League, needed to consider.

He was merely an ordinary farm owner; every profession has its specialty, so let Geeta handle the great affairs of worrying about the country and its people.

Before Luo Mu stood up to leave, Geeta, as if suddenly remembering something, casually added, "By the way, the procedures for the farm expansion application you submitted earlier are nearly complete; in a few days, the official documents should be issued to the mayor of Cortondo, and finally, a commissioner will be assigned to notify you."

Luo Mu paused in his movements, his eyes shining slightly, "It's ready that quickly?"

Geeta nodded slightly, "I had Brother Brother Qingmu follow this matter the entire way; the relevant departments were also willing to give you this face, so the speed was naturally fast."

"How is the designated area?" Luo Mu asked again.

The corner of Geeta's mouth lifted, "Besides the overall expansion of the farm's scope, the rear mountain you wanted most has also been included."

"That's wonderful!"

Luo Mu's face showed joy.

Currently, most areas of the farm are unremarkable plains; the highest area is merely the uphill slope where Meng Lei Gu often practices Electric-type moves.

Walking a bit further from that uphill slope leads to a small hill that Luo Mu calls the "rear mountain."

Although the natural resources inside are not exactly abundant, Luo Mu is confident he can develop it into a rear mountain filled with treasures! Filled with "mountain delicacies" from among the finest foods: lion's mane mushrooms, morels, bamboo fungus, black wood ear, black truffles, matsutake, and more! Even though these mountain delicacies each require specific growing environments, Luo Mu is confident that through the power of his Pokémon, he can turn the impossible into the possible.

Geeta lowered her crossed right leg and rose slightly, "You haven't forgotten your promise, have you?"

Luo Mu was startled, then realized what Geeta was asking, and nodded lightly, saying, "I will take responsibility for the wild Pokémon living in the rear mountain, either adopting and incorporating them, finding them suitable new homes, or entrusting them to trustworthy Trainers."

"That's good."

With this, Geeta's last concern vanished; she walked straight to her desk and asked the final question.

"After the expansion, how do you plan to construct it?"

"Build a larger villa first!"

Luo Mu answered without hesitation.

League Year 798, August 26th.

Luo Mu received a letter from the distant Unova region.

【To my esteemed friend Luo Mu: I have successfully received the three medicinal liquids; following your suggestion, Volcarona consumed them in sequence, and after ingesting appropriate amounts of nutrients and energy, its condition improved dramatically.

Now it has been able to leave the medical chamber and briefly fly again using its own wings; seeing this scene, the expressions of those researchers at the medical research institute were truly spectacular—what a pity you didn't see it, hahaha! I am truly overjoyed, and I don't know how to convey my gratitude to you; if there is anything you need me to do, please do not hesitate, just leave it to me.

—By your most loyal friend, Dai Ke】

After holding his phone and browsing all the messages completely, Luo Mu raised an eyebrow.

Although it was an electronic letter, Dai Ke's tone was as if he were still using paper correspondence.

Luo Mu always felt this letter was probably not sent by Dai Ke himself—at the very least, the typing and sending were definitely not done by him.

After a brief thought, Luo Mu simply edited a message, replying to invite Dai Ke to bring Volcarona to the farm as a guest.

His reason for wanting to invite Dai Ke was very simple.

Currently, Volcarona had already consumed the medicinal liquids made from sour, bitter, spicy, and salty ingredients in sequence; only the medicinal liquid made from sweet ingredients remained.

Luo Mu simply wished to witness with his own eyes that moment when Volcarona spreads its wings again, radiating a fiery red brilliance like the sun.

(End of Chapter)