Seeing the Nacli's as, Naoki was slightly taken aback. "What are you doing?" he asked.

  "Nacli~" They chirped happily.

  Because they adored Naoki, they wao share their precious rock salt with him. That's what the Nacli thought in their hearts.

  Naoki could guess what the Nacli meant. He remembered that this was one of the ecological habits of Nacli Pokémon – they willingly shared their precious salt with those they liked, which was why they were highly valued in the past.

  So, these five Nacli saw him colleg salt crystals and assumed he liked them very much, so they came over to share?

  Naoki was touched. He smiled and said, "Enough, enough! Just a little bit is enough!"

  The Nacli would wear down if they kept shedding salt. Although there was no official record, Naoki figured that if they shed too much at o would likely strain their bodies.

  The Nacli blinked in fusion. "Nacli, nacli?" 'Was that enough'?

  Naoki crouched down, patted each of their little heads, and said, "I uand what you mean, but it's okay. Take your time. You're still young. You o take care of yourselves so you grow up healthy and evolve int Naclstack."

  "Nacli, nacli." The Nacli seemed to uand but irely.

  Naclstack. They khat every Nacli would evolve into a Naclstack when it grew up. At that time, the Naclstack would be able to produce rock salt far exceeding what they could in their current state.

  They uood! A light bulb went off in each of the Nacli's little heads. Evolve into Naclstack to create more aer salt for their beloved Naoki!

  "Go ahead!" Naoki, unaware of the Nacli's thoughts, enced them.

  He picked them up and pced them ba Koraidon's arms, then tinued colleg the rock salt on the membrah Cyclizar.

  Soon, a bag of rock salt was collected.

  Naoki id down a new colleembrane, fed the Nacli, filled their water trough, auro the .

  He pced the cloth bag on the scale to weigh it, and a series of numbers appeared on the s. The bag of rock salt weighed: 3250 grams.

  "3,250 grams." Naoki calcuted silently. "Rock salt sells for 3,000 Pokédolrs per 500 grams, so this bag bring in 19,500 in profit. Wow, this is eveer than I expected!"

  "If we keep this up, we'll soon be able to expand our home and buy a refrigerator and a TV. We'll also o build a celr where we grow berries and fruit in the summer and brew beer."

  The brewed beer and cider could also gee siderable ine.

  Naoki was delighted and carefully put the rock salt anning to sell it to Zack when he came to collect the goods that evening.

  However, before that, he had to set some aside for his own use. pared tur salt, Nacli rock salt was better for health. ing it long-term would make not only him but all the Pokémon on the ranch healthier and stronger.

  After st the rock salt, Naoki went back to the goat pen. It was milking time again.

  The three Skiddo were already waiting and immediately lined up obediently when they saw Naoki approag with the milking bucket.

  "Have you learned any new moves?" Naoki asked casually.

  "Maa!" One of the Skiddo in the middle nodded. It was the ohat had battled Koraidon.

  "Really?" Naoki was surprised and crouched down to milk it while asking, "What move is it?"

  The Skiddo immediately demonstrated. A faint light glowed on its body, and then nothing happened.

  "That's it?" Naoki uzzled.

  "Maa~" The Skiddo nodded happily.

  It had discovered that this pce was wonderful. Not only did it have plenty of Green Grass Dumplings to eat, but it was also safe. And eveer, it could learn new moves just by rexing!

  " you use it again for me?" Naoki hadn't seen it clearly the first time.

  The Skiddo happily agreed and used the move again.

  This time, Na. "It's Synthesis!"

  Synthesis: A Grass-type move that restores the user's HP. The amount of recovery varies depending on the weather.

  "That's a useful move," Naoki ented.

  Skiddo: "Maa!"

  "That's great!" Naoki casually praised, not intending to send his Skiddo into battle.

  However, the desire to bee stronger is ingrained in Pokémon, and for this Skiddo, the idea of growing stronger just by lying around seemed like a dream e true.

  Soon, the milking bucket was full, and Naoki carried it back to the . As he g it, information about the goat milk appeared in his mind.

  [Milk (Top Quality): Milk of the highest quality and nutritional value, extremely beneficial to the body when ed. It also be made into top-quality cheese, butter, and other food products.]

  Naoki decided not to sell this first batch of goat milk, instead keeping it for himself and the Pokémon on the ranch.

  It wasn't until the sed batch that he began deliveries. The effect of the Bck Truffle Milk Pe was remarkable. When Zack came to collect the fish a few days ago, he excimed "Amazing milk!" upon seeing the goat milk.

  Typically, buyers set prices based on the quality and nutritional value of fresh milk. After a series of tests, Zack offered a high price of 600 Pokédolrs for this top-grade goat milk.

  Naoki was naturally very satisfied with this oute.

  In the gentle warmth of spring, after finishing his daily chores, Naoki carried a small stool to the fields to che the crops and pull some weeds.

  In a month, fast-growing crops like turnips, potatoes, garlid radishes would be almost ready for harvest. Their roots would be den with plump, heavy produce.

  Of course, this was Naoki's imagination, as the fruits of these crops were buried in the soil and couldn't be seen. As for the cabbages, cucumbers, and tomatoes, they would need more time to mature.

  The fruit trees p the edge of the farmnd had also grown, but they grew slowly. It would take until autumn for them to bee rge trees and bear fruit.

  At that moment, Dragonite, who had goo deliver milk, returned. Its face was beaming with excitement. After nding, it looked around and finally spotted Naoki in the field.

  Dragonite came running over, its eyes sparkling with excitement. It stretched out its rge, chubby paws and, before Naoki could react, embraced him tightly.

  "Roar~"

  Perhaps due to its obsession with being stronger, Dragonite hadn't been as affeate towards Naoki as the Nacli and Alcremie had been since joining the ranch. Therefore, Naoki was surprised by Dragonite's sudden dispy of affe.

  "What's happening?" he asked.

  Dragonite looked incredibly happy. "Roar!"

  Naoki sensed something. "Did you learn Dragon Tail?"

  "Roar!" Dragonite nodded enthusiastically.

  It had been practig Dragon Tail these past few days, following Naoki's instrus, even while delivering milk. It had finally succeeded in using the move, which further strengthes belief in Naoki's guidance.

  Overwhelmed with joy, it rushed bad hugged Naoki, who had helped it learn a new move.

  "gratutions!" Naoki was genuinely happy fonite. Maybe this was what it meant to be a trainer, he thought.

  He took the opportunity to give Dragonite's big belly a few pats.

  So soft! It feels so good! Naoki grinned.

  The boween the man and the dragoronger.