New story!
Please support by adding to your collection!
Thank you 🙂 ——————– Quickly scanning the quest content, Chase’s immediate mental reaction was a resounding “What the fuck!”, thinking to himself: System, bro, you’ve got to be messing with me!
The effect of the Junior Restoration Potion given as the quest reward was straightforward and brutal: it repaired the adverse symptoms in Pokemon caused by congenital genetic defects.
The effect description didn’t mention any level restrictions, likely because Pokemon with genetic defects generally had a very hard time growing and leveling up in the first place.
Taking the three on Chase’s side as an example, Aipom and Starly were basically going to be stuck like this for the rest of their lives.
Kricketot, on the other hand, was only blind, so it still had the potential for improvement, though its growth rate was still far lower than that of a normal Bug-type Pokemon.
Otherwise, with its Green-tier potential, it should have evolved into a Kricketune a long time ago.
“Woof?” Seeing Chase suddenly become unresponsive and dull-eyed, Blaze thought something was wrong with him.
“Huh?
Oh, I’m fine.” Snapping out of his daze, Chase gave Blaze a grin, then carefully carried the sleeping Starly back to its heated room.
Having taken its medicine, Starly had basically returned to normal.
Moreover, since it was only October, the overall environment hadn’t dropped to a temperature it couldn’t withstand yet.
However, according to records from previous years, by early December at the latest, the temperature in the forest would drop below freezing.
That would be the most dangerous time for Starly.
“Aipom, Kricketot, you two must keep a close eye on Starly during this time,” Chase instructed the other two Pokemon, handing over the special medicine for them to manage.
Returning to his quarters, Chase didn’t rest for a moment and immediately began analyzing this random quest.
“The system suddenly issuing this quest is obviously because of Starly,” Chase took out a pen and paper, unconsciously scribbling as he thought.
“Based on previous patterns, the rewards given by the system always come with a quest of corresponding difficulty.” This potion could actually repair and perfect a Pokemon’s genetic defects, so its rarity went without saying.
In Chase’s knowledge, the only thing that could achieve a similar effect was the Sacred Ash from the Legendary, Ho-Oh.
Although the two definitely couldn’t be compared on the same level, it was equally obvious that the system wouldn’t just let Chase get his hands on it easily.
At first glance, this quest didn’t seem difficult.
After all, it was just planting trees.
Even with the survival rate requirement, theoretically, as long as he hired a few Grass-type Pokemon in the forest, he could achieve the goal through sheer volume.
Maintaining the tree population in the forest was also a very important duty of a Forest Ranger.
It was just that tree planting typically started in the spring and summer, so Chase, who only reported for duty in the autumn, had naturally missed the season.
But the biggest problem right now was the timing!
The issue of saplings was relatively easy to solve.
Whether Chase cultivated them himself or went to the town over a hundred kilometers away to purchase them, he couldn’t guarantee much, but getting a few hundred or even a thousand wouldn’t be difficult.
Of course, this number was also the absolute limit.
After all, the quest had a time constraint; any more than that would simply be impossible to manage in time.
But it was already the end of October, and the outdoor temperature was dropping day by day.
Under these conditions, even if the saplings were planted, it would be very difficult to guarantee their survival rate.
If it were any other season, he might have been able to rely on the power of Grass-type Pokemon to complete the quest.
But with the current temperatures, even if they managed to keep the saplings alive during the day, chances were that not many would survive the night.
“Let me recall the Grass-type Pokemon around the station…
There are two Vileplume and their tribe living to the east of the station; a group of Lombre and Lotad recently moved to Clear Heart Lake; and near Zangoose’s territory, there’s a Breloom and a bunch of Shroomish…” “Breloom is out.
Around this time, its family should already be hibernating in some cave.” “Vileplume should be fine, but I don’t know if they’d be willing to help.
As for Lombre, their strength might not be quite enough, but it’s worth a try…” After scribbling and brainstorming for ages, Chase still felt it wasn’t secure enough, so he started wondering if there were other avenues.
“What if I borrow from someone?
Officer Lina hasn’t left yet.
Through her connections, borrowing a couple of powerful Grass-type Pokemon shouldn’t be too hard, right…” However, the moment this idea popped into his head, Chase snuffed it out.
Because he had no idea how to explain it to her.
Given his current needs, the borrowed Pokemon would have to be at least Level 50 or above, and just one definitely wouldn’t be enough.
But if she found out that the reason he was borrowing her high-level Pokemon was to plant Berry trees in the forest right before winter, Chase felt he would definitely get a beating, and conveniently earn himself the title of a lunatic.
Asking the League for help was even more out of the question.
By the time all the approval processes were completed, the opportunity would have long passed.
The more he thought about it, the bigger his headache grew.
Chase had no choice but to force himself to calm down.
“System, you might as well not have issued the quest at all.
But damn, I can’t just give up the chance to save Starly without even trying, can I?” Although the Restoration Potion rewarded this time was incredibly precious, the most important thing was the unlocked purchasing permission, which would allow Chase to save even more Pokemon suffering from genetic defects.
Let alone the future, just being able to cure Aipom and Kricketot would make it more than worth it.
If he missed this opportunity, heaven knew when a similar reward would pop up again?
Furthermore, the quest difficulty at that time might be even greater.
By the end, Chase felt his head was about to explode.
He thought to himself that he would rather go fight against a vastly stronger Pokemon than face this seemingly unsolvable puzzle.
“Sigh, if Grey were still around, with his connections, he might have been able to borrow Pokemon with sufficient strength…” Chase was, after all, just a rookie who had left his hometown to work here.
His current network of connections only amounted to the two Officer Jennys and Andy, the uncle who came by once a month to deliver supplies.
And even those were relationships that weren’t particularly deep.
Wait, connections?!
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Chase’s mind: If humans had networks, then Pokemon, as intelligent creatures, should have them too!
Even if the Pokemon he knew couldn’t directly contact any powerful Grass-type Pokemon, what about the Pokemon they knew?
The Six Degrees of Separation!
Between two strangers, there was a high probability that a connection could be made through six people.
Wild Pokemon had clearly defined territories, but it wasn’t like they never interacted with one another.
Especially loners like Zangoose, visiting other Pokemon’s territories for a fight was as routine as eating a meal.
At this point, a rough outline of a plan had formed in Chase’s mind: First, send a message to Andy asking him to help prepare and deliver some Berry tree saplings.
Then, he would take Zangoose and Blaze to ask the nearby Pokemon if their networks included any powerful Grass-type Pokemon.