Angie suddenly walked over to Diancie and effortlessly lifted a nearby table with a smug look on his face as he asked, "Diancie, have you noticed anything different about me?"
Diancie tilted her head in confusion. "Really? What's different?"
Hearing this, Angie carried the table a couple of steps forward. "Take a guess! Come on, guess again!"
Diancie couldn't help but laugh at Angie's playful behavior and nudged him to put the table back in place. "Alright, alright, I get it. You've gotten stronger, haven't you?"
"You already knew? Ugh, then why were you teasing me?" Angie pouted in dissatisfaction.
It turned out that Angie's latest task reward was a +1 boost to his physique.
When the system notified him that the task was complete, Angie didn't hesitate to claim his reward. Shortly afterward, a message popped up in the task panel:
[ Congratulations, Host. Physique +1. ]
Not only that, but after this notification disappeared, another message appeared in the task panel.
[ Congratulations, Host, for entertaining 10 guests. Achievement reward: Intelligence +1. ]
Now, Angie's personal status screen looked like this.
...
[ Angie ]
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 16 (+500)
Physique: 2
Intelligence: 2
Cooking Skill Rating: Novice who can make edible food.
...
Angie didn't feel any noticeable change in his intelligence—he didn't suddenly feel smarter. However, the change in his physique was much more apparent.
For the first sixteen years of his life, Angie had been frail and weak, with terrible physical endurance. Although his health had since been restored thanks to his shared life force with Diancie, allowing him to run and jump, he was still relatively weaker than the average person.
But now, with that additional point in physique, Angie could clearly feel a significant transformation from the inside out. Before, there was no way he could have lifted the table so easily.
Though the tables and chairs in Angie's shop appeared ordinary, they were actually quite heavy. This was because most of the shop's guests were Pokémon, whose strength typically surpassed that of humans. If the furniture were too light, the Pokémon would have easily flipped it over.
Seeing Angie's happy expression, Diancie couldn't help but break into a radiant smile.
Angie's health was improving, and he was certainly happier than anyone else about it.
"If I complete a few more tasks, won't I become a superhuman?" Angie couldn't help but fantasize.
Diancie quickly shattered his daydream. "Do you think physique and intelligence points are that easy to come by? Right now, it's just a beginner phase, which is why there are physique points as rewards. Once the beginner phase ends, you probably won't see such rare rewards in regular tasks again."
"Ah?" Angie's face fell in disappointment at her words. "Why is it like this?"
Diancie shook her head helplessly.
Since the task was complete, Diancie didn't go out to attract customers anymore. The pair of them—one human and one Pokémon—spent the day at home leisurely, doing nothing, and before they knew it, the day had passed.
"Yah~yah~"
The next morning, Angie woke up to the cheerful chirping of a Fletchling. The warm sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the end of his bed in warmth, leaving him with no desire to get up.
"This feels great!"
He kicked off half the blanket, stretched out his arms and legs, and let out a big yawn. This kind of relaxed life was truly wonderful.
Click!
At that moment, he heard the sound of the door lock turning. Diancie poked her head in and asked, "The sun's already up, and you're still not getting up?"
Reluctantly, Angie turned over and pulled the blanket close, complaining, "Are you my mom? There's nothing to do anyway, so why rush me to get up!"
"Hmph!" Diancie pouted, "You're dreaming! Who wants to be your mom? A new task has come in. Do you want to accept it?"
At her words, Angie immediately shook off his sleepiness and sat up in bed, asking, "A new task already?"
"Yeah, it's quick, but if you fail, there's no punishment," Diancie replied.
"Then let's take it! Hurry up!" Angie waved his hand at Diancie and sat at the edge of the bed.
Diancie walked into Angie's room, and a pop-up window appeared in front of her, showing.
[ New Task! ]
[ Entertain 50 Pokémon. Deadline: 10 days. Do you want to accept? ]
[ Yes ]
[ No ]
So it was an advanced task following the previous one! Angie suddenly realized.
Without hesitation, he selected "Yes," and a new line appeared in his task panel.
[ Entertain 50 Pokémon. Deadline: 10 days. (0/50) ]
As for the previous task, it was no longer displayed since it had already been completed.
After accepting the task, Angie got out of bed, put on his slippers, stretched his arms again, and sighed, "Time to get busy again!"
After freshening up, Angie headed downstairs. Diancie reminded him, "Munchlax is downstairs waiting for you to cook!"
Angie looked surprised. "So early?"
Diancie rolled her eyes. "Early? If you sleep a bit longer, it'll be noon."
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Angie scratched his head.
Once he changed into his chef's uniform and quietly snuck into the kitchen, Angie peeked outside and saw that Munchlax was indeed sitting in the lobby. It seemed to have been waiting for a while and had already dozed off, resting its head on the table.
So adorable.
Looking at the peaceful sleeping face of Munchlax, Angie smiled and began preparing the ingredients for breakfast. Soon, a delicious aroma wafted through the kitchen.
Munchlax hadn't woken up yet, but its nose started to involuntarily sniff the air. Following the delightful scent, it hopped down from its chair and began to shuffle towards the kitchen step by step.
Just as it was about to enter the kitchen, Diancie suddenly appeared, tapping Munchlax on the cheek and calling out, "Munchlax? Munchlax?"
Munchlax jolted awake at once, although its nose was still uncontrollably twitching.
"Graa~ graa~~"
It smelled so good!
Diancie asked, "Are you hungry? You can eat soon, but go back to your seat for now."
Munchlax nodded, walking back to its seat while unable to resist craning its neck to look toward the kitchen.
At that moment, Scatterbug, Espurr, and Swirlix also arrived one after another. These three Pokémon didn't come empty-handed; they brought gifts with them.
Scatterbug had woven a small bag from its silk, which contained some flower seeds.
Espurr was holding a nut, a treat it had saved for a long time and couldn't bear to eat, but now it wanted to give it to Diancie.
Swirlix brought a fresh peach fruit.
"Are these all for me?" Diancie asked in surprise.
The three Pokémon nodded eagerly, each trying to present their gifts to Diancie.
Diancie was overjoyed, saying, "Then I'll accept them! You all sit tight; you'll be eating soon." She placed each gift on the table.
"Wait here; I'll get your food right away." Diancie turned and headed for the kitchen.
Once inside, she showed Angie the gifts from the three Pokémon.
Angie said jealously, "They're all for you, not for me."
Seeing Angie's childlike demeanor, Diancie laughed and shoved the nut and peach into his hands. "What are you talking about? They just didn't see you; otherwise, these gifts would definitely be for you! You're the backbone of the two of us!"
"Hmph!"
Angie picked up the peach and rinsed it in the sink before taking a big bite.
To be honest, wild fruits usually taste quite mediocre; they're not very sweet and are often quite sour. Still, Angie managed to finish it bite by bite.
He placed the nut in the kitchen cabinet, then took some steamed buns from the steamer and handed them to Diancie, saying, "Hurry up and deliver these to them."
While laughing, Diancie moved the baskets of buns to the lobby and distributed them to the Pokémon, quickly filling the shop with excitement.
Angie opened his system interface and saw that his happiness points were indeed increasing.
[ Happiness Point +100 ]
[ Happiness Point +100 ]
[ Happiness Point +100 ]
…
After the four Pokémon finished eating, they prepared to leave. Diancie walked them to the door, loudly reminding them, "Come back tomorrow! If you have friends who are hungry, feel free to bring them along!"
"Graa~~"
"Meow~~"
The four Pokémon agreed wholeheartedly.
Once the three Pokémon left, Angie's happiness points increased by another 800, with Munchlax contributing the MVP performance, bringing in 500 points all by itself.
Angie really liked Munchlax.
If only it would let him pet and hug it; that would be perfect.
Angie looked at the task panel again and noticed that the text had changed.
[ Entertain 50 Pokémon. Deadline: 10 days. (4/50) ]
It seemed that as long as the market opened up, this task wasn't too difficult after all! Angie felt a bit proud.
Since this task had a ten-day deadline, Angie wasn't in a hurry to have Diancie go out to attract customers today. Instead, he said to Diancie.
"Just now, didn't Scatterbug give us some flower seeds? Let's plant them at the entrance!"
"Sure! Sure!"
Diancie replied happily, as she had long thought the entrance was too monotonous with just a bare patch of ground.
"Let's go."
The two of them walked outside the small building and examined the area, finally settling on a patch of empty land on the right.
However, even though they had chosen the spot, they faced the problem of how to cultivate it. The system had equipped their home with various living tools, but it hadn't provided any shovels or hoes!
Did they really have to buy them from the store?
Angie flipped through the system shop and found that he could indeed buy shovels and hoes, but he was reluctant to spend his hard-earned happiness points on them.
At that moment, Diancie grinned mischievously. "Leave this to me!"
With that, she extended both hands, and a pink glow sparkled in her palms. In the next second, a diamond shovel and hoe appeared.
"Wow!" Angie couldn't help but exclaim. "Diancie, you're… amazing!"
Holding the diamond shovel, Angie couldn't take his eyes off it. "This must be worth a lot, right? If I sold it, wouldn't I never have to worry about food again? Who needs to do system tasks anymore!"
Diancie saw right through Angie's unrealistic fantasy and said, annoyed, "What are you thinking? This will disappear before long! If you try to sell it, do you want to be treated as a fraud and get beaten up?"
"Okay, okay." Angie felt a bit disappointed. Then he said to Diancie, "But the shovel and hoe you made won't be easy to use. The diamond handles are too smooth, and we can't grip them well; it'll be a hassle to use."
"What should we do then?" Diancie asked, puzzled.
Angie gestured as he spoke, "You should remove the handles and leave holes in the shovel head and hoe here and here so we can find two sticks later to use as handles."
"Now I get it!" Diancie exclaimed, enlightened. She lightly tapped the handles of the diamond shovel and hoe, and the handles suddenly transformed into sparkling pink light, disappearing into thin air.
"Awesome!" Angie gave Diancie a thumbs up in admiration.
"Of course," Diancie lifted her small head proudly.
"Let's go find some wood!"
Placing the shovel head and hoe on the steps at the entrance, Angie told Diancie. He then turned around and looked at Komala, resting on the platform. "Komala, keep an eye on things!"
"Zzz~~"
The soft sounds of snoring filled the air.
Angie: …
"Let's go."
Not bothering to see if Komala heard him, Angie took Diancie's hand and left.
"Let's go over there!" Diancie pointed to two giant trees not far from the small building.
The vegetation on the Nebel Plateau consisted mainly of grass and low shrubs, with very few tall plants. Those two giant trees were the most prominent features on the plateau.
"Alright, let's head there." Angie nodded.
However, they had barely walked far when they unexpectedly ran into a group of Pokémon: Gulpin, Pancham, Scrafty, and Helioptile.
These Pokémon were all carrying colorful bouquets of flowers. They had come specifically to thank Diancie for bringing them food but were startled to see a human.
"Yacha~ Yacha!!"
It's a human! Run!
Pancham immediately tossed the flowers it was holding and turned to flee, and the other Pokémon reacted the same way.
Only Gulpin stood there, staring blankly. It looked at Angie, then back at its fleeing companions, unsure of what to do.
After hesitating for a moment, it finally turned around and chased after its friends.
"Hey~~" Angie sighed deeply, then said, "Let's go find some branches!" Since they had been spotted, there was no other choice.
Pancham and the others ran all the way home, quickly alerting all their family members to the presence of Angie.
Everyone instinctively turned around to Gulpin, who could only explain to them that Diancie had a trainer and was following the trainer's orders to bring them food.
Upon hearing Gulpin's words, everyone fell silent.
Gulpin lowered its head, tears welling up in its eyes. It had thought everyone would blame it, but then it heard Litwick say.
"Muhih~ Muhih~"
It's not your fault; you were just trying to help everyone.
Other Pokémon also gathered around to comfort Gulpin.
Meanwhile, after arriving under the big trees, Angie and Diancie were, as expected, met with fear and hostility from the Pokémon residing there. With no other options, they quickly cut down two branches and fled with them.
Back home, Angie used a knife to trim the branches and then inserted them into the diamond shovel head and hoe, completing the tools.
"Let's get to work!"
"Let's get to work!" Diancie echoed.