18 Chapter 18: On Track

The most joyous moment for Rex happened yesterday afternoon when Bellsprout finally learned Grassy Terrain. Finally, it didn't waste Rex's life energy invested during this time.

Bellsprout was completely different now from when it was first captured. Its size had increased by a full circle, from its original height of about 0.6m to now 1m, emitting the aura of life from its entire body.

Now the farm had its own Pokémon doctor. In the future, if any Pokémon got injured, they could let Bellsprout use Grassy Terrain for treatment.

For Tailow and Heracross, it was also a joyful moment because today they finally enjoyed Rex's life energy healing again, curing the accumulated injuries from this week's training.

As for the other Pokémon, they could only enjoy Bellsprout's Grassy Terrain treatment. However, they were just a bit tired from training, so using Grassy Terrain for treatment was sufficient.

The exhaustion from this week's training seemed to have dissipated during today's treatment.

Of course, Rex didn't devote all his time to training during this week. He went to Fallabor Town once to purchase enough food and fruit and vegetable seeds. He also bought some fruit trees that had been growing for a year and transplanted them into the farm.

Rex planted these one-year-old fruit trees with Sandshrew, who could dig holes, but because they had just been transplanted, they looked a bit wilted.

Rex planned to use his ability on each fruit tree in the coming days. He believed that this would greatly improve their growth.

Furthermore, Rex also opened up a plot of land for fruits and vegetables, planting all the purchased seeds. After a few months, when these vegetables matured, Rex Farm would probably achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency.

Of course, energy cubes for Pokémon consumption still needed to be purchased separately unless the fruit trees on the farm matured.

With Rex's considerable spending, the income from selling Fire Stones was about to run out.

Fortunately, all 15 Mareep raised on the farm had passed their infancy and were very healthy under Yuli's care.

The climate in the Hoenn region was warm, almost like spring all year round. Except for a few extremely cold days in winter, the temperature was generally mild.

So, except when the weather was cold in winter, the Mareeps needed wool to keep warm due to the low temperature, and during those times, wool could be harvested.

According to Rex's estimate, in a few days, they could harvest wool from these Mareep for the first time.

After that, as long as there were no accidents, they could harvest wool from the Mareep every week.

However, there was no need to worry about the Mareep. Their wool grew very fast, taking less than two days to grow the same length of wool again.

The reason for harvesting wool once a week was to allow the newly grown wool to absorb enough static electricity, which would improve the quality of the wool.

This wool trade would be the first return on investment for Rex after investing so much in the alliance coins.

However, he didn't know exactly how many alliance coins he would get from selling wool once. This was because the price of wool varied depending on its quality.

"Uncle Takayuki, goodbye!"

Two days later, Rex bid farewell to Morisato Takayuki, who came from town to buy wool.

This wool transaction earned Rex a total of 9,000 alliance coins. On average, each Mareep produced wool that brought in 600 alliance coins, which was 2,000 more than expected, likely due to the average quality of the wool produced by Rex Farm's Mareep.

However, Rex was already satisfied with the quality of the wool from the Mareep because under normal circumstances, the quality of wool produced by Mareep that had just passed infancy was usually poor.

It would take subsequent careful cultivation by the farm owner to gradually improve the quality of the wool.

Rex believed that once the evolved grasses matured, the quality of the wool from the Mareep that consumed these grasses would definitely improve significantly.

Based on the current income situation, Rex could earn 36,000 alliance coins per month by selling Mareep wool. This income was sufficient to support the operation of the farm.

However, it was far from enough for Pokémon cultivation. Now that Rex's Pokémon strength was still low, they could consume basic energy cubes. But once their strength increased, they would need to switch to intermediate or even advanced energy cubes.

Pokémon like Tailow and Heracross were now eating more and more basic energy cubes each meal, indicating that basic energy cubes were no longer providing enough energy for them.

However, everything was developing in a positive direction, which was the most important thing.

During this period, the farm was not without its challenges. After all, it was in the wild, and at the most dangerous moment, an Arbok broke into the hut where the Mareep lived during the night.

Fortunately, the Mareep liked to sleep together with their companions at night, perhaps a habit of their species!

During this time, under Rex's guidance, the Shiny Mareep trained very rigorously, and their strength far surpassed other Mareep. So, at the first sign of Arbok's intrusion, it was discovered by them.

In order to protect their companions' safety, the Shiny Mareep overcame their fear of Arbok and bravely confronted it. Although they were seriously injured in the end, they did manage to protect the other Mareep.

Of course, Arbok was ultimately defeated by Rex and Tailow after hearing the commotion. But it couldn't be denied that without the delay caused by the Shiny Mareep, Arbok might have already succeeded.

After that incident, the Shiny Mareep gained the support of the other Mareep and became the leader of the group.

Moreover, since then, the Shiny Mareep trained even harder.

It was estimated that it also wanted to improve its strength to ensure that it could protect its tribe with its own power in the event of danger again.

As for Arbok, according to the regulations issued by Fallabor Town on "Management Measures for Wild Pokémon Intruding into Farms," after being captured, it was handed over to Officer Jenny the next day and received a reward of 20,000 alliance coins.

This regulation was mainly to protect wild Pokémon intruding into farms. After all, many wild Pokémon that intruded into farms would cause damage to the farms. Without this reward mechanism, many farm owners would probably just kill these Pokémon.

As for what Officer Jenny would do after receiving it, that was not Rex's concern.

However, after that day, Rex arranged for Pokémon patrols. Generally, Tailow and Heracross took turns, as their strength was the only one that could reassure him in the farm.

The days passed by peacefully and fulfilling. In the blink of an eye, it had been a month since Yuli arrived at the farm.

"Yuli, I've transferred your salary for this month. Please check it!"

Rex was very satisfied with Yuli's work this month, so he gave her a salary of 5,000 alliance coins.

"Ah, Boss, did you make a mistake? You gave me too much!"

After checking her phone, Yuli found that Rex had given her a salary of 5,000 alliance coins, which was 2,000 more than the agreed-upon 3,000. She thought Rex must have made a mistake.

"No mistake. You've worked hard this month, and you also worked as a chef on the farm. Considering these, this amount isn't too much."

Rex indeed felt that Yuli's salary was too low. Her presence allowed him to have more free time to train Pokémon.

"Then I'll accept it. Thank you, Boss!"

Seeing Rex say so, Yuli happily accepted. Because she was really short of money, with this alliance coins, she could buy more gifts for the orphanage.

Yes, Yuli had already planned to use her first month's salary to buy gifts for the orphanage.

"By the way, Boss, I'd like to take a day off tomorrow to go back to the orphanage. Is that okay?"

After saying this, Yuli felt a bit embarrassed. Rex had just raised her salary, and now she was asking for a day off. She felt like she was being too much!

"Of course, that's fine. I didn't consider it properly. From now on, you'll have one day off every week!"

After thinking about it, Rex realized he had been too harsh. He hadn't given Yuli a single day off in a month, almost like a heartless boss from his previous life.

"When our farm expands in the future, I'll recruit more employees. By then, you'll have two days off every week."

Rex continued.

"It's not necessary. I'm already very satisfied with my current job. There's no need for so many days off every month."

Yuli was genuinely happy working on Rex Farm. The farm not only provided food and accommodation but also helped her capture starter Pokémon. Moreover, her daily work wasn't too busy.

Everything was wonderful, and she still had time to continue studying as a Pokémon Breeder.

"Alright, that's settled then."

Rex didn't give Yuli a chance to refuse and made the decision directly.

Although this meant that he would be busier for a few days each month, it was actually the holiday Yuli deserved. After all, he wasn't a heartless boss.

Your support is my motivation for creating!

(End of this chapter)