After spending several quiet days on the ranch, Ronan finally remembered the Hoppip he had captured.
Due to their physical structure, Hoppip are easily carried away by the wind.
Even a slight breeze is enough to lift them into the air.
When Ronan arrived at the meadow where the Hoppip were being kept, he saw the little pink creatures drifting slowly above the grass.
On the lawn, an Audino had brought out food for them.
Eating delicious Pokémon food, having no fear of attacks from wild Pokémon, and no longer needing to worry about survival—for the Hoppip, this life was pure paradise.
The yellow eyes on their pink cheeks comfortably narrowed into thin slits.
Their entire spirits seemed to soar in this wonderful new life.
Seeing the condition of the Hoppip, Ronan breathed a sigh of relief.
For a timid species like Hoppip, a change in environment often left them feeling tense and high-strung.
He had come prepared to soothe them, even bringing along incense with a calming effect, but it seemed unnecessary now.
This confirmed Ronan’s suspicion that while these Hoppip had decent aptitude and could be used for breeding after some training, they were also quite carefree and simple-minded.
Adapting to the ranch environment in just a few days showed how easygoing these Hoppip were.
On second thought, after enduring the wind and rain in the wild, being brought to a safe and comfortable environment with plenty of food naturally left these poor Pokémon overjoyed.
Ronan had brought back forty-one Hoppip this time.
Among them, one had Green aptitude, twenty-three had Yellow aptitude, and the rest were all of Orange aptitude.
The ones with Yellow aptitude were selected by Ronan as breeding stock.
With his specialized medicines and training methods, he was confident he could raise their aptitude to Green before they evolved into Jumpluff.
After all, raising a Pokémon’s aptitude from Yellow to Green was much easier than raising it from Green to Cyan.
It had taken Ronan five years of training his Venusaur to elevate its aptitude from a standard Green aura to a Cyan aura with Blue edges.
With sufficient resources, it was now set in stone that his Venusaur would reach the Elite Four level.
Moreover, bordering on a Blue aptitude aura gave Venusaur the potential to challenge for the Champion level.
If there were a special opportunity to push its aptitude to Blue, Ronan even felt confident he could train Venusaur to become a Master-level Pokémon.
Although it would take a lot of time, the return on investment would be massive.
Looking at the Venusaur Ronan had trained for five years, a typical Green aptitude Pokémon with sufficient resources would reach the Semi-Elite level in three years at most.
The reason Ronan’s Venusaur took five years to reach the same level as other Pokémon did in three was largely because Ronan focused more on improving its aptitude and developmental potential.
He had poured massive resources into Venusaur to raise its floor to the Elite Four level, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for it to advance even further.
Through his experience training Venusaur, Ronan had figured out a method to improve a Pokémon’s aptitude.
If the subject was a Grass-type, Ronan could elevate its aptitude to something nearing Cyan.
For Pokémon of other types, he could not guarantee the same results; the limit would likely be Green.
Even so, this achievement was already astounding.
However, Ronan’s method was not suitable for the general public, as average trainers simply could not afford the cost.
It was only because of his family’s secret soil formula and the assistance of many well-trained Grass-type Pokémon that Ronan could save on costs, allowing him to improve the Hoppip’s aptitude without breaking the bank.
Otherwise, Ronan would not have been able to elevate Venusaur to near-Blue aptitude either.
Ronan carefully observed the twenty-three Yellow aptitude Hoppip and identified five with the brightest aptitude auras.
The others had mediocre aptitude, and some even had dull yellow auras.
Compared to these five with bright yellow auras, the physical appearance of the other Hoppip was virtually indistinguishable.
Without machine testing, very few people could directly judge a Pokémon’s aptitude.
Even typical Breeders could only make rough assessments based on the Pokémon’s development.
Ronan brought the Yellow aptitude Hoppip to the spot where Venusaur had previously evolved.
The energy in the soil, used up by Venusaur, was not as dense as before, which showed just how much energy this training method consumed.
However, the residual energy was very gentle.
This energy was perfect for the Hoppip at their current stage.
While providing them with a favorable environment, the faint energy was absorbed into their bodies, subtly improving their aptitude over time.
After Ronan made some further modifications to the land, the Hoppip breeding area would be complete.
Next came Ronan’s work: using his medicines and Poke-blocks to further improve the Hoppip’s energy absorption and crafting specialized training plans for them.
He aimed to enhance the Hoppip’s energy control, ensuring they expended stored energy during training and then absorbed the energy from his specially prepared medicines to improve their constitutions.
As for the remaining Hoppip, Ronan planned to place them in the Day Care’s ecological park once it opened, using them as a way to promote the shop.