Ange ran to Diancie's side and effortlessly lifted a nearby table, proudly asking, "Diancie, do you notice anything different about me?"
Diancie tilted its head in confusion. "Do I? What's different?"
Hearing that, Ange took a few more steps while carrying the table. "Guess again, come on, just guess!"
Diancie was immediately amused. It pushed Ange to put the table back in place. "Alright, I get it. Your strength increased, right?"
"You already knew? Seriously, then why tease me like that?" Ange grumbled.
It turned out that this time, the mission reward Ange received was +1 Constitution.
When the System notified that the mission was complete, Ange immediately claimed the reward without hesitation. Then, the Mission List popped up a new message:
[Congratulations, Master's Constitution +1.]
Not only that, after this message faded away, another one appeared right after.
[Congratulations, Master, on completing the achievement of serving 10 customers. Achievement reward: Intelligence +1.]
Now Ange's personal status screen looked like this:
Ange
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 16 (+500)
Constitution: 2
Intelligence: 2
Cooking Rating: Edible Rookie.
Ange didn't really feel the Intelligence increase. He didn't think his IQ had gone up. But the change in Constitution was very noticeable.
For the first sixteen years of his life, Ange had been weak and frail. Although sharing life with Diancie had restored his health and allowed him to run and jump again, he still felt weaker than an average person.
But after adding that single point of Constitution, he could clearly feel the change throughout his body. Before, he could never have lifted a table so easily.
Though the tables and chairs in Ange's restaurant looked ordinary, they were actually very heavy. After all, most of his customers were Pokémon, and their strength far exceeded humans. If the furniture were too light, they could flip it over without effort.
Seeing Ange's delighted face, Diancie couldn't help but smile brightly.
The healthier Ange became, the happier it felt.
"If I complete a few more missions, won't I turn into a superhuman?" Ange said, unable to stop imagining it.
Diancie immediately shattered his fantasy. "Do you think Constitution and Intelligence points are that easy to earn? You're in the beginner stage right now, so mission rewards still include those attributes. Once that phase ends, regular missions won't offer such rare rewards."
"Huh?" Ange's face fell. "That's not fair!"
Diancie shook its head helplessly.
Since the mission was complete, Diancie didn't go out again to attract customers. Instead, human and Pokémon spent the day lazily at home, relaxing until the day passed in peace.
Munch~ Munch~
The next morning, Ange woke up to the crisp chirping of Fletchling. The warm sunlight poured through the window, shining on the foot of his bed, making his whole body feel cozy and unwilling to move.
"This is great!"
He kicked off half the blanket, stretched his arms and legs, and let out a long yawn. Life like this was truly wonderful.
Click~
Just then, the sound of the door lock turning echoed. Diancie poked its head inside. "The sun's already up. You're still not awake?"
Ange groaned, rolled over, and pulled the blanket back into his arms. "Are you my mom now? It's not like there's anything urgent to do. Why wake me up?"
"Hmph!" Diancie pouted. "You wish! Who'd want to be your mom? There's a new mission. Do you want to accept it or not?"
At that, Ange instantly woke up. He jumped upright. "Another mission already?"
"So what? There's no penalty for failure anyway," Diancie said.
"Then I'll take it! Come on, show me!" Ange waved it over and sat on the edge of the bed.
Diancie walked into his room, and a system window appeared in front of it:
[Mission] Serve 50 Pokémon within 10 days. Accept?
Yes / No
It was the next-tier version of the previous mission! Ange realized immediately.
Of course, he chose "Yes" without hesitation. Instantly, a new line appeared in his Mission List:
[Serve 50 Pokémon within 10 days. (0/50)]
As for the previous mission, since it was completed, it no longer appeared.
After accepting, Ange got out of bed, put on his slippers, stretched again, and sighed. "Time to get busy again."
After washing up, Ange went downstairs. Diancie reminded him, "Munchlax is already here, waiting for you to cook."
Ange looked surprised. "This early?"
"Early? If you'd slept any longer, it'd be noon," Diancie replied flatly.
Ange scratched his head in embarrassment.
After changing into his chef uniform, he tiptoed into the kitchen and peeked outside. Sure enough, Munchlax was sitting in the dining hall. It must have waited a while, as it had already fallen asleep on the table.
So cute.
Smiling at Munchlax's peaceful sleeping face, Ange began preparing breakfast. Soon, the aroma of food filled the air.
Even before waking up fully, Munchlax's nose twitched instinctively. Following the scent, it climbed down from the chair and waddled toward the kitchen.
Just as it was about to step inside, Diancie appeared and gently patted its cheek. "Munchlax? Munchlax?"
Munchlax jolted awake, but its nose still twitched uncontrollably.
Munch~ Munch~~So good… smells so good!
"Hungry? The food's almost ready. Go sit back down first," Diancie said.
Munchlax nodded and returned to its seat, though it couldn't stop craning its neck toward the kitchen.
Around then, Scatterbug, Skitty, and Spritzee arrived one after another. They didn't come empty-handed either.
Scatterbug had woven a little pouch out of its silk, filled with flower seeds.
Skitty carried a nut it had treasured for a long time, one it normally wouldn't eat, but now it wanted to gift to Diancie.
Spritzee brought a fresh Pecha Berry.
"Are these all for me?" Diancie asked in delight.
The three Pokémon nodded eagerly, each pushing its gift toward Diancie.
"Then I'll gladly accept them. Sit tight, lunch will be ready soon." Diancie smiled and placed each of them gently on the table.
"Wait here, I'll go bring your food." Diancie turned toward the kitchen.
Once inside, it showed the gifts to Ange.
Ange said jealously, "They're all for you, not for me."
Seeing his childish pout, Diancie laughed and handed him the nut and the berry. "What are you talking about? They just didn't see you. Of course, these gifts are for you too! You're the pillar of this place."
"Hmph!"
Ange washed the Pecha Berry at the sink and took a big bite.
To be honest, wild berries weren't particularly tasty. They lacked sweetness and were quite sour. But Ange still ate it all.
He put the nut into a cupboard and handed Diancie a basket of Mantou. "Here, take these to them."
Smiling, Diancie carried trays of Mantou out to the hall, distributing them to the Pokémon. The restaurant quickly filled with cheerful noise.
Opening his System interface, Ange saw his Happiness Points rising.
+100
+100
+100
…
The four Pokémon finished eating and were about to leave. Diancie walked them to the door and called out loudly, "Come again tomorrow! If any of your friends are hungry, bring them along too!"
Munch~
Rii~
The four Pokémon all replied in agreement.
After the three Pokémon left, Ange's Happiness Points increased by 800, with Munchlax being the MVP, adding 500 points by itself.
Ange loved Munchlax so much.
If it would let him pet it or hug it, that would be even better.
Ange looked at the Mission List again and saw the text had changed:
[Serve 50 Pokémon within 10 days. (4/50)]
It seemed that as long as the market opened, this mission wouldn't be difficult! Ange felt proud.
Since this mission had a ten-day limit, Ange didn't rush Diancie to go out and attract customers today. Instead, he said, "Scatterbug just gave us some flower seeds, right? Let's plant them at the entrance."
"Okay, okay!"
Diancie said happily. It had long thought that the entrance was too plain.
"Let's go."
One human and one Pokémon went outside the small building, carefully selecting a spot. They finally chose an empty patch on the right.
But even though the plot was chosen, how to cultivate it became a problem.
The System had supplied household tools, but no shovels or hoes!
Should they buy some from the store?
Ange checked the System Store. Shovels and hoes were indeed available, but he had just earned a few Happiness Points and didn't want to spend them on tools.
At that moment, Diancie smiled mischievously. "Leave this to me!"
It stretched out both hands. Pink light shimmered in its palms, and in the next moment, a diamond-crafted shovel and hoe appeared.
"Wow!" Ange exclaimed. "Diancie, this… is amazing!"
Holding the diamond shovel in his hands, he said with delight, "This must be valuable, right? If I sold it, I wouldn't have to worry about food or clothing anymore! Why even do System missions?"
Diancie immediately saw through Ange's fantasy and said, "What are you imagining? This won't last long. If you sold it, do you want people to call you a liar and beat you up?"
"Okay." Ange felt a little disappointed. Then he said, "The shovel and hoe you made aren't easy to use. The diamond handles are too smooth. We can't grip them properly. It's hard work."
"Then what do we do?" Diancie asked.
Ange gestured as he explained, "Remove the handles. Leave holes here and here for wooden sticks. We'll find two sticks to use as handles later."
"I see!" Diancie realized. It tapped the handles of the diamond shovel and hoe lightly. The handles immediately dissolved into tiny pink sparks and vanished into the air.
"Awesome!" Ange gave Diancie a thumbs-up.
"Of course." Diancie raised its small head, looking proud.
"Let's go find some wood!"
Placing the shovel and hoe on the steps outside, Ange said to Diancie, then turned to Komala on the platform, "Komala, guard the house!"
"Huru~ huru~~"
A soft snore followed.
Ange: ...
"Let's go."
Ignoring whether Komala heard him, Ange pulled Diancie along.
"Let's go there!" Diancie pointed to two giant trees not far from the small building.
The vegetation on Nebel Plateau consisted mostly of grass and low shrubs. Tall plants were rare. These two giant trees were the most prominent.
"Okay, let's go there." Ange nodded.
But just a short distance from the building, they ran into Gulpin, Pancham, Scrafty and Helioptile.
Each Pokémon held a bouquet of colorful flowers. They had come to thank Diancie for giving them food, but were surprised to see a human.
"Yacha~~ It's a human! Run!"
Pancham immediately threw its flowers on the ground and bolted, with the others reacting the same way.
Only Gulpin stood frozen, looking at Ange and then at its fleeing friends, unsure what to do.
After a moment of hesitation, it turned and chased after its companions.
"Sigh~~" Ange sighed deeply. "Let's go get some branches!" Since they had been seen, there was no helping it.
Pancham and the others ran back home. Soon, all their family members knew about the human Ange.
Everyone looked at Gulpin, who eventually had to explain the truth: Diancie had a trainer, and it had only brought them food under his orders.
After hearing Gulpin's explanation, everyone fell silent.
Gulpin lowered its head, tears welling in its eyes. It had expected blame, but Litwick said:
Muhihi~ Muhihi~ It's not your fault. You were only trying to help everyone.
Other Pokémon gathered around to comfort Gulpin.
Ange, meanwhile, finally reached the tree. As expected, the resident Pokémon were wary and hostile. With no other choice, he and Diancie quickly cut two branches and ran off carrying them.
Back home, Ange trimmed the branches with a knife, then inserted them into the diamond shovel and hoe. The tools were complete.
"Time to work!"
"Time to work!" Diancie echoed.