It wasn’t until the afternoon that Naoki’s wn mowing finally came to an end. Looking over the massive pile of freshly cut green grass in the pasture, whiow resembled a small mountain, he smiled and said to his Gogoats:

  "You’re in for a real treat now!"

  The three Gogoats circled around the pile, occasionally sniffing at the food but refraining from eating just yet.

  Naoki wasn’t worried. He took the towel offered by Koraidon and wiped the sweat from his brow. Then, he grabbed a bundle of grass and soaked it in a basin of water, intending to experiment with making grass dumplings and perhaps even develop new grass-type dishes. He would dry the rest into hay to store for winter when the ground was covered in snow, ensuring there’d be snacks for the Gogoats and Miltank.

  "Just like humans keep dried fish and ba for the winter," he mused as he opehe fridge, took out a bottle of juice, and dow to quench his thirst.

  Realizing there was still plenty of time left in the day, Naoki decided to get creative. He started boiling a pot of water, added the grass o was boiling, and after a few minutes, his first simple dish—boiled grass—was ready.

  Naoki looked down at the bnd creation, and immediately, the familiar information popped into his mind.

  [Boiled Grass (F-): A very bad dish. The grass was boiled in too much water and lost its natural fvor. It was overcooked, leaving it bnd and tasteless. The terrible texture makes it hard to eat.]

  Cooking Effebsp; easily decrease the favorability of Grass-type Pokémon.

  ent: It tastes like chewing wax. Only a Grass-type Pokémon starving for a week might try it.

  Naoki: "..."

  "Wow, debuff dishes exist, huh?" he thought to himself, chug. He had expected something like this, but it still stung to see such a harsh review.

  After p the failed boiled grass into the trash, Naoki pondered over the remaining batch of grass. "If boiling doesn’t work, maybe juig it will," he thought.

  With this in mind, he set up the juicer, added the washed grass along with a suitable amount of water, ahe mae do its work. As it whirred, the water gradually turned a deep green, and soon, several cups of fresh grass juice were ready.

  Naoki poured them into a bowl and immediately, information appeared in his mind:

  [Grass Juice (bsp;A drink squeezed from ripe summer grass, highly favored by Grass-type Pokémoo its strong fvor and rich texture.

  Cooking Effebsp;Funs as a level 1 replenishing potion, slightly rest the grass attribute energy in a Pokémon's body and replenishing the PP value of Grass-type moves.

  ent: Using fresh spring grass may yield better results.]

  "Hmm..." Naoki thought as he stared at the grass juice. A replenishing potion—essentially a PP restore frass-type moves—was a useful result. But the juice’s effects were limited to Grass-types, so it wouldn’t be his other Pokémon much.

  Determio explore more methods, Naoki tried several different cooking approaches. He fried the grass, steamed it, even attempted to make a spicy grass dish.

  Unfortunately, the results were less than stelr:

  [Fried Grass (F): Greatly reduces the favorability of Grass-type Pokémon.]

  [Steamed Grass (E): Slightly restores the physical strength of Grass-type Pokémon.]

  [Spicy Grass (D-): Causes Grass-type Pokémon to "spit fire" due to the heat, increasing favorability with specifion.]

  Naoki sighed, especially at the spicy grass's ued side effect. He couldn’t help but ugh at the image of a Grass-type Pokémon suddenly spitting fire.

  He then imagined a certain dual Grass/Fire-type Pokémon: Scovilin. A strange-looking Pokémon with two heads—one green and one red—each with a very distinct personality. Naoki could vividly picture how spicy grass might trigger Scovilin’s green head, verting the heat into fire energy, and causing the redhead to spew explosive fmes.

  Naoki found the whole process of making a grass cake rather amusing. To be ho, the cept of creating a cake made from grass wasn’t something most would appreciate, but he was determio try.

  After asking Cyclizar to help deliver the edible grass dishes to the Gogoats, Naoki tossed the failed attempts into the trash.

  Now, it was time for the highlight of his ary experiments—grass cake.

  This was no ordinary dish. In the game Naoki had pyed in his previous life, feeding grass cake to the creatures would make them care for the crops on the pyer's farm, leading to slight mutations in the crops themselves.

  With the recipe in mind, Naoki began the process. First, he used a juicer to crush the grass into a fine paste. Then, he measured out an appropriate amount of low-gluten flour, added some vegetable oil, the grass paste, and three fresh egg yolks.

  He stirred the mixture thhly before p in half a bottle of Moo Moo Milk. The result was a dark green, flowing batter.

  , he whipped up the egg whites, added sugar to make a light cream, and carefully folded it into the green batter. Ohe two mixtures were fully bined, he poured everything into a cake mold and popped it into the oven to bake for 55 minutes.

  Sitting in anticipation, Naoki waited until the oven gave a cheerful "ding" and took the cake out.

  However, when he looked down at the cake, the information that appeared was:

  [Inplete Grass Cake, effeknown.]

  "Inplete?" Naoki muttered. He quickly recalled that, in the game, the cake also needed a yer of cream to be fully finished.

  So, he went outside and called Alcremie, asking for a rge bucket of whipped cream.

  But there roblem—the cream was white, and he wa to match the grass theme.

  After a moment of thought, Naoki decided to blend some of the crushed grass into the whipped cream, stirring it until it turned a pale green.

  , it was time for the final step.

  Naoki pced the baked cake oable and began evenly spreading the green, grass-sted cream across the top until it was smooth and uniform. Finally, he carefully pced a small piece of fresh green grass on top as a garnish.

  With that, the cake was officially plete.

  From its appeara looked almost identical to the grass cake he had seen in his past game experiences.

  This truly felt like a success!

  Naoki looked at the cake with excitement and was surprised to see that the description had ged from [Inplete Grass Cake] to [Grass Cake].

  [Grass Cake (A): A cake made with ripe summer grass, flour, Moo Moo Milk, and Alcremie’s whipped cream.]

  Cooking Effect: Thousand ges. Wheo a Grass-type Pokémon, crops grown with Grass-type energy have a small ce of experieng slight mutations.

  ent: This cake perfectly blends the fvors of various ingredients and is a favorite among Grass-type Pokémon. The Grass-type Pokémon that eats it may surprise you with gratitude.

  "It's perfect! A prrass cake!" Naoki thought, beaming with pride. "Maybe I have a real talent for making cakes after all!"

  Uo tain his excitement, Naoki carried the cake over to the goatpen, where the three Gogoats were grazing peacefully.

  The Gogoats immediately noticed something special in the air. They she air curiously, their noses drawn to the irresistible st of the cake Naoki was holding.

  "Baa..." one of the Gogoat murmured, intrigued.

  Even Smoliv, who was nearby, couldn't resist ing over to iigate.

  Naoki smiled at them and said, "This is grass cake. I made it with grass and a few redients. I think you'll like it."

  He took out a small fruit knife and quickly sliced the cake into several pieces, carefully distributing them to the Pokémon gathered around him.

  The Gogoat lowered its head and licked the cake, then quickly devoured it. Soon enough, it fihe piece, and before Naoki k, the goats had eateire cake and were looking at him with expet eyes.

  Seeing how much they ehe grass cake, Naoki grinned and said, "If you liked it that much, I'll make it for you more often!"

  There just so happeo be plenty of green grass nearby, perfect for future cakes.

  "Meaa..." The Gogoats bleated in delight, clearly pleased with the idea.

  But just then, a bright light suddenly radiated from Smoliv's body, drawing everyone's attention. Naoki and the Gogoats immediately turo watch as Smoliv's form began to ge.

  In the glow, Smoliv's small body started growing rger. Tiny hands a formed, and the olive on its head split into two, while green leaves ed around its entire body like a dress. By the time the light dimmed, standing before them was not Smoliv anymore, but Dolliv, evolved and full of energy.

  "gratutions, Smoliv—wait, I mean Dolliv!" Naoki said, beaming with pride at the newly evolved Pokémon.

  "Oll~!" Dolliv cheered joyfully, and then, as if to celebrate its transformation, two streams rant oil burst from the olives on its head, spraying Naoki and the Gogoat.

  The Gogoat, unfazed, simply licked the delicious oil from its fur, enjoying the treat.

  Naoki, meanwhile, wiped some of the oil off his hand, bringing it to his he st was fresh and mouth-watering, much richer and more aromatic than any oil he had entered in town.

  "This smells amazing!" Naoki excimed, eyes wide with excitement. The quality of oil was far superior to anything he could buy locally.

  Seeing Naoki’s enthusiasm for the oil, Dolliv happily excimed, "Dolliv!" and, uo tain its excitement, sprayed more oil into the air.

  Naoki sighed, though amused. "Alright, alright, we shouldn't waste such delicious oil on the ground."

  He khat Dolliv's oil-spraying was simply its way of expressing joy, and he couldn’t be upset about that.

  Just then, Naoki notibsp; Alcremie hopping by with G and the Salt Pokémon following closely behind.

  He called out, "Alcremie! e over and see who this is!"

  “Alcremie?” Alcremie turs head curiously. The moment it saw Dolliv, its eyes widened in disbelief.

  “Alcremie!” it excimed excitedly, hopping over to greet the newly evolved Pokémon.

  "Oll~" Dolliv responded shyly, its demeanor remi of a timid little girl.

  Alcremie circled around Dolliv in awe, marveling at how Smoliv had transformed into such a graceful figure after evolving.

  Naoki, standing with his Gogoats, watched the iion with a smile. It was heartwarming to see how well the Pokémon got along.

  Then, he remembered something important. "ht!" he said suddenly.

  The Gogoats turheir heads toward him, "Baa?" they bleated curiously.

  Naoki grinned and addressed them, "From today on, I have a ask for you. I'd like you to use yrass-type energy to help me take care of the crops in the field. What do you think?"

  "Mea." The Gogoats bleated enthusiastically. Grass-type energy? Of course, they were more than willing to help!

  Naoki gently patted their heads, smiling. "Thank you! I know I t on you."

  Naoki, however, was curious about what kinds of magical transformations the crops would experiender the care of his grass-type Pokémon. Unfortunately, the crops were newly pnted and would take a long time to mature. There was even a possibility that nothing would ge at all.

  The odds of somethiraordinary happening—like the utating due to the grass cake—were very slim. He khat only one crop in a rge field might show any ge.

  But Naoki didn't mind. He wao enjoy the simple, peaceful life on the ranch, and anything beyond that was just a bonus.

  As dusk approached, the setting sun cast a golden glow over the nd, and the birds in the back mountains begaurning to their s.

  Naoki stretched zily, then noticed G nearby. Without warning, he walked over and scooped it up in his arms. G, caught off guard, froze in Naoki's embrace, pletely fetting tle.

  Naoki grinned, looking into its wide eyes. "You're so cute!" he said, teasingly.

  “Buee.!” G finally reacted, wriggling free and hopping down to the ground. It quickly darted off toward its igloo, clearly flustered.

  Naoki ughed at its hasty retreat, but just then, one of the Salt Pokémon—Nacli—looked up at him and gave a couple of excited hops. "Nacli, Nacli!"

  "Okay, I'll hug you too!" Naoki bent down and lifted Nacli into the air. As he held it up, Nacli let out aed "Nacli, Nacli!"

  The other Pokémon gathered around, and Naoki took the time to hug eae. But when he reached the st one—Naclstack—he paused.

  Naclstack looked up at him expetly.

  Naoki stared at the massive Naclstack for a moment before sighing. “There’s no way I lift you. You’re too heavy!”

  Indeed, after its evolution, Naclstack weighed 105 kilograms—far beyond what Naoki could handle.

  Naclstack seemed disappoi first, but soon perked up with an idea. It bent down and y ft on the ground, turning its head to Naoki with a rumbling sound. "Stack!"

  Naoki blinked in surprise, then asked, "Do you wao ride on you?"

  "Stack!" Naclstaodded enthusiastically.

  "Well… I am kind of heavy," Naoki cautioned, but Naclstasisted it was no problem.

  Seeing its determination, Naoki carefully climbed onto Naclstack’s broad back. The Naclstack was rge and sturdy enough to support his weight easily.

  Onaoki was seated, Naclstack stood up triumphantly, letting out a joyful "Stack~!"

  Naoki chuckled as he ehe ued ride. "When you evolve into a Garganacl, I'll definitely be riding on your shoulders!"