After Rex arrived at the artificial lake, he first determined the direction of expansion and planned to continue expanding towards the deeper side.
Although this expansion of the artificial lake was similar in length and width to the previous one, Rex intended to make the newly expanded area into a deep-water zone, with a depth of at least 3 meters, significantly increasing the lake's capacity.
With this depth, the Poliwhirl tribe would undoubtedly be able to live more comfortably and sustain their survival and reproduction for a longer period.
After Rex delineated the excavation range, Sandslash couldn't wait to use its sharp claws to start digging. In no time, Sandslash had already excavated a small mound of soil.
Subsequently, Heracross, Poliwhirl, and Machop started filling soil into baskets using shovels.
These three Pokémon were all strong, finding shoveling easy, although for Machop, with only one arm remaining, using only one hand with a shovel undoubtedly consumed more of its energy and wasn't ideal for leveraging strength.
However, Machop didn't complain. It viewed this as excellent exercise, allowing its arm to receive more thorough training and enabling its left arm to control power more precisely.
Under the command of Swellow, the Taillow, they orderly used their claws to lift baskets and fly them off into the distance.
In fact, if one were to speak seriously, their workload was the most significant. Fortunately, there were many Taillow, allowing them to take breaks in shifts and avoid exhaustion.
Because today was the first day of excavation, Rex participated throughout.
Apart from occasionally helping with soil filling, his primary task was to direct Sandslash to outline the excavation range, so that he could entrust this side of the work to them in the future.
As darkness fell, Rex announced that today's work was completed. The Pokémon, exhausted from a day's labor, cheered in unison. Today had indeed worn them out.
"Victreebel, I'll trouble you"
Rex addressed the eager Victreebel.
With the Grassy Terrain skill in effect, the Pokémon, feeling heavy and unusually tired, suddenly became revitalized, immersed in the joy of life energy washing over their bodies.
After their treatment, due to the fatigue accumulated from the day's work, the Pokémon had already recovered most of their vitality. All they needed now was sufficient energy replenishment and a good night's rest to fully recover.
With the enhancement of the Pokémon's physique, as long as they received sufficient energy replenishment, Rex believed that after the expansion of the artificial lake was completed, the strength of these Pokémon participating in the expansion work would also significantly improve.
Time flew by, and it was already the third morning.
After Rex got up, he observed the development of the three plant seedlings as usual. He found that these seedlings had grown to the point where they needed to be transplanted. They needed to be transplanted quickly to soil in the backyard that had been cleared for cultivation; otherwise, the seedling trays were beginning to struggle to support healthy growth.
Rex had completely let go of the expansion work at the artificial lake, leaving it to Swellow to take over the overall coordination and scheduling. Whether it was his illusion or not, Rex felt that Swellow was more efficient in handling tasks than himself.
After a simple breakfast, Rex took these seedlings to the backyard. Not only that, he had also called in two Gloom and Poliwhirl in advance.
Rex attached great importance to these three types of plants, not daring to be the slightest bit careless. Therefore, he had made all necessary preparations in advance, striving to avoid any mistakes.
Subsequently, Rex used a small hoe to dig three appropriately sized and deep holes in the central position of this planting area.
Afterward, he placed the three Revival Herb seedlings into the holes and covered them with soil, completing the transplanting.
Then, it was the Energy Root seedlings and the Glacidea Flower seedlings, until all the seedlings had been planted on this newly cultivated land.
Rex could feel that the Revival Herb seedlings, once removed from their trays, were speeding up the consumption of life energy to maintain their vitality.
At this rate of consumption, if there were no other supplements, the Revival Herb seedlings would deplete their life energy in a few days, leading to withering.
"Gloom, use the Grassy Terrain!"
"Poliwhirl, use Rain Dance!"
Since the seedlings had just been transplanted and were at their most fragile, Rex immediately instructed the three Gloom to release the Grassy Terrain skill simultaneously.
Instantly, this newly cultivated land was enveloped in emerald green light. The seedlings, which were originally consuming their own life energy, began to absorb life energy from the surrounding environment.
At this moment, drizzling rain began to fall, moisturizing the fertile soil.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Rex felt that these seedlings were becoming more and more vibrant, no longer showing the sense of impending decay they had when first transplanted.
"Alright, Poliwhirl, the rainwater is sufficient now. You can stop using Rain Dance."
Rex, seeing that the soil was sufficiently moist, immediately instructed Poliwhirl to cease using the Rain Dance skill.
Upon hearing the trainer's command, Poliwhirl also ceased its weather control, and suddenly the dark clouds in the sky dispersed. A ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, casting warmth onto the ground.
Now that the most critical step was completed, Rex only needed to calculate the total amount of life energy these seedlings would need in a day.
Currently, one Grassy Terrain release from Gloom could sustain about 10 minutes.
During this time, the energy of the Grassy Terrain would not dissipate and could be spontaneously absorbed by Pokémon or plants, restoring their vitality or promoting plant growth.
Over the next few days, Rex focused all his energy on the backyard seedlings. As he watched the seedlings stabilize and begin to grow, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Through several days of tracking and research, Rex found that only needing Gloom to release Grassy Terrain every 8 hours could sustain the healthy growth of Revival Herb seedlings.
Of course, if he wanted the Revival Herb seedlings to grow faster, he could release the Grassy Terrain skill more times to allow the seedlings to absorb more life energy.
As for the Energy Root, it only needed one Grassy Terrain release per day to meet its survival needs. Therefore, three Grassy Terrain skills per day could greatly accelerate the growth of Energy Root seedlings.
The Glacidea Flower could be said to have the best growth among the three types of seedlings. Its growth only required normal planting, at most requiring more careful care.
Planted by Rex in the backyard, they could absorb a lot of life energy every day, greatly promoting their growth and development.
Regarding this, Rex planned to separate them for planting later when he obtained enough seeds, instead of planting them together as he was doing now.
This plot of land in the backyard actually served as an experimental field, allowing him to explore the planting methods of these several types of plants.
"Boss, it's time for lunch!"
Yuli came to the backyard to call him.
"Okay, I'll be right there."
Rex checked the sky and found that it was already noon. After tidying up the dirt on
him, he then headed to the hall.
"How's it going? Are the Miltanks accustomed to using the milking machine?"
After sipping some soup, Rex inquired.
The day before yesterday, the department store in the town had delivered the milking machine used by the Miltanks to the farm. These past two days, Yuli had been teaching the Miltanks how to use this machine.
"The milking machine is handy. Yesterday, I still needed to guide the Miltanks in using it, but today, they can already use the machine by themselves, and I also found that they are quite satisfied with this machine."
Upon hearing Rex's inquiry about the milking machine, Yuli replied somewhat happily.
With this Miltank milking machine, she indeed saved a lot of time, allowing her to spend more time making energy cubes and also to focus on her studies. After all, she had recently acquired several precious books on breeding.
(End of this chapter)