Late at night, after instructing Munchlax and Sobble to watch the house, Ange rode on Honchkrow and landed on the ancient city walls of the Azoth Royal Capital under the cover of night.
After stopping on the wall, Ange summoned Diancie.
"Can such a behemoth really fit into the System Backpack?" Ange asked, a little disbelievingly.
"It should be able to," Diancie replied, also uncertain.
"Let us try it first," Ange said.
Saying this, Ange placed his hand on the city wall and softly commanded, "Collect!"
Ange used System Backpack through verbal commands, "Collect" or "Retrieve," instead of relying on psychic or soul power, as in other novels.
As soon as he spoke, the several dozen meters high city wall suddenly disappeared.
Ange and Diancie, who had been standing on the wall, uncontrollably plummeted downward.
Fortunately, Honchkrow was quick-witted. The moment the city wall vanished, it flew into the air, then swooped down, catching Ange and Diancie in time.
Ange recovered and hugged Honchkrow's neck. "It is truly thanks to you. Otherwise, I would have definitely fallen to my death."
"Hon hon~"
Honchkrow cried out and disappeared into the night, carrying Ange and Diancie.
Returning to their home on the Nebel Plateau, Ange and Diancie sent Honchkrow off. He then asked, "How should we handle this Sky Fortress? Should we take it out directly, or keep it stored in the System Backpack?"
Just then, a pop-up window appeared in front of Diancie.
[Would you like to spend 1,000,000 Happiness Points to merge Diancie's Grand Cafeteria with the Sky Fortress?]
[Yes/No]
Ange was stunned. How many Happiness Points? 1, 2, 3... He did not count wrong. There were definitely six zeros, right? 1 million?
"Diancie, the system is joking with me, right?" Ange asked Diancie. He currently had less than 2 million Happiness Points in total!
"No." Diancie shook her head regretfully. "You can actually choose not to merge."
Ange thought for a moment, then finally gritted his teeth. "Merge! It is only 1 million. It is not like I cannot afford it. If it is gone, I will just earn it back."
The system certainly would not ask him to merge it for no reason.
"Generous!" Diancie said to Ange with a smile.
"How do we merge this?" Ange asked.
"You just select yes, and then wait. The system should merge it automatically," Diancie replied.
"Alright then."
At this moment, Munchlax was already sound asleep on the bed, hugging Sobble. Ange and Diancie exchanged a smile, then carried the two Pokémon back to their room.
After coming out of Munchlax's room, Ange took a deep breath. "Munchlax is getting fatter and fatter!"
Diancie covered her mouth and laughed incessantly upon hearing this.
"Alright, let us go to sleep too," Ange said to Diancie.
"Mhm, good night, Ange."
"Good night, Diancie."
The two returned to their respective rooms. Ange washed up and lay down on the bed, then opened the System Mission List. It showed:
[Daily Mission 1] Train for 1 hour in the Cooking Training Room—Completed, Reward pending collection.
[Daily Mission 2] Host 10 Pokémon—Completed, Reward pending collection.
[Temporary Mission] Obtain the Sky Fortress—Completed, Reward pending collection.
Ange, as usual, first collected the rewards for the two daily missions.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: Nectar 4.]
Nectar?
Ange took out the reward and saw four small, differently colored jars: cinnabar red, golden yellow, peach pink, and orchid purple. Each jar was only the size of a fist and shaped like a flower.
Could these be the Cinnabar Red Nectar, Golden Yellow Nectar, Peach Pink Nectar, and Orchid Purple Nectar that can change Oricorio's form?
Ange opened one of the jars. A sweet scent immediately wafted out, incredibly rich. His eyes lit up: Good stuff!
He smelled the fragrant nectar and subconsciously swallowed.
"Never mind, I will not eat it yet. I will eat it with everyone tomorrow. Besides, it is not a good time for sweets right now." Saying this, he placed the four small jars on the table beside the bed.
Next, Ange collected the reward for the second daily mission.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: 1 pack of Nectar Seeds (Cutiefly and Ribombee can collect pollen to brew Cinnabar Red Nectar, Golden Yellow Nectar, Peach Pink Nectar, and Orchid Purple Nectar).]
Seeing this reward, Ange's eyes lit up, but then he thought that there were no Cutiefly or Ribombee at his house or on the Nebel Plateau!
Never mind, he would plant them later as ornamental flowers. He wondered if the flowers were beautiful.
Finally, only the reward for the [Temporary Mission] remained. Ange excitedly clicked to collect it.
A pop-up window immediately appeared.
[Congratulations to the host for completing the [Temporary Mission] to obtain the Sky Fortress. Reward received: Max out one Individual Value for a designated Pokémon.]
"Holy crap!"
Seeing this, Ange almost jumped out of bed. Was the reward this generous? It was comparable to the achievement reward he received when he obtained the Nebel Plateau!
With trembling hands, Ange checked the Individual Values of Munchlax and Sobble. In the end, he decided to use the reward on Munchlax.
First, using it on Munchlax was the most cost-effective because its Special Attack was only a pitiful 6 points. The lower the Individual Value, the more cost-effective it was to use.
Although Special Attack was not very useful for Munchlax, Ange was determined to max out all of Munchlax's Individual Values.
Admittedly, in the games, not all Pokémon's Individual Values were better if they were higher. This depended on the situation.
For example, for a Pokémon like Munchlax, whose Speed base stat was incredibly low, the Speed Individual Value did not actually need to be stacked. Even if it was stacked, it would not be much faster, and it was likely to suffer when trapped in Trick Room (in Trick Room, the slower Pokémon moves first).
Another example, for a Special Attacking Pokémon like Gardevoir, the Attack Individual Value should naturally be as low as possible. Attack was not only useless but also harmful to it. If it became confused, if its Attack was high, beating itself up would hurt badly and might even knock it out directly.
But games were games, and reality was reality.
According to Diancie, the system had hinted to her that if a regular Pokémon wanted a chance to be as strong as a Legendary Pokémon, the prerequisite was maxed-out Individual Values.
(Note: This is a private setting by the author, which can also be described as a modified setting, because the author has OCD; if the protagonist's Pokémon's Individual Values are not all maxed out, the author feels uncomfortable.)
Ange suspected that his Carbink's sudden evolution into Diancie was related to its maxed-out Individual Values.
As Ange applied the reward to Munchlax, its stats changed. The Special Attack Individual Value, which had originally been a single digit, was instantly maximized.
Munchlax
[Type] Normal
[Ability] Thick Fat
[Gender] Male
[Level] 34
[Moves] Tackle, Lick, Defense Curl, Recycle, Covet, Bite, Stockpile, Swallow, Body Slam, Fling, Headbutt, Charm, Seed Bomb, Brick Break, Counter.
[Individual Values]
HP: 29
Attack: 25
Defense: 20
Special Attack: 31
Special Defense: 10
Speed: 31
With this, Munchlax had two maxed Individual Values: Speed and Special Attack. Although they were the two less important stats, it was already huge progress.
Only the Special Defense Individual Value looked ugly.
During this time, Munchlax's level had also increased significantly. Ange found that wearing the Experience Charm definitely had an effect, as Munchlax's and Diancie's leveling speed had both increased.
Closing the system, Ange slept soundly.
The next day, while Ange was in a deep sleep, Diancie's knocking came from outside the door.
"Ange, wake up! Wake up!"
"Ange, something big happened!"
...
Ange groggily opened the door, rubbing his blurry eyes as he asked, "What happened?"
Diancie pulled Ange out without a word. Ange had not even put on his shoes, and he was dragged to the doorway by Diancie.
The sun had just peeked over the horizon, and the first ray of golden light shone on the Nebel Plateau, allowing Ange to clearly see the sight before him. His sleepiness vanished instantly.
"This... this is..."
The grassy area in front of Ange's house had turned into a wide square. The square was made up of huge stone slabs, and the cracks were filled with green moss. It looked exactly like the old city walls of the original Azoth Royal Capital!
The square was surrounded by a low wall that reached Ange's waist. The wall was not tall but very thick, making it safe to sleep on without fear of rolling off.
The wall was also covered in moss, and Ange's small building sat in the center of the square.
Actually, the style had a unique beauty to it.
The Flower Garden where Ange grew Gracidea Flowers was still in front of the door, but it had been moved to the left. On the right, symmetrical to the left, there was an identical but empty Flower Garden.
Ange did not care that he was still barefoot and ran directly out the door and around to the back of the house.
Fortunately, the vegetable garden was still there, and the pond was still there.
However, the Barboach and Whiscash brothers in the pond and the Dugtrio brothers in the vegetable garden were curiously observing the surrounding changes, not understanding why their surroundings had suddenly changed overnight.
Ange's vegetable garden and pond were surrounded by cracked stone slabs.
Ange comforted the four Pokémon. "It is okay. Nothing bad happened. I just casually remodeled the house a little bit last night."
Barboach, Whiscash, and the two Dugtrio looked confused. You call this remodeling? Is it not a miracle?
Ange opened the System Backpack to check. Sure enough, the Sky Fortress was gone.
"Ange, come quick!"
Diancie's shout came from the right side of the square. Ange quickly ran over. When he arrived, he found a huge circular cover on the ground in front of Diancie. Its color was the same as the square's stone slabs, and it was also covered in moss.
The diameter of this cover was at least a dozen meters.
Next to the cover stood a statue. Ange looked closely and saw that it was actually a statue of himself and Diancie.
"Ange, look!"
Diancie held the hand of Ange's statue, and the huge circular cover split in the middle, slowly retracting to both sides. An underground space with a long spiral staircase appeared.
"Let us go down and see," Ange said to Diancie.
Following the spiral staircase down, Ange and Diancie soon reached the first floor. Sensing their arrival, the heavy door on the first floor automatically opened.
"Quite advanced," Ange said with a smile.
Passing through the door, Ange and Diancie saw a space flashing with colorful lights. The space was furnished with many long sofas and tables. There was a bar counter in the front, and rows of cabinets stood behind the counter.
This was... a bar?
Ange was stunned. Was the system telling him to open a bar on the Nebel Plateau? Was this a joke? Who would travel all the way to the Nebel Plateau just to drink?
There were not many Pokémon who liked to drink either!
Ange walked around the bar and found that the space was large and comfortably furnished. The sofas were not only for resting but also for casually lying down and sleeping.
It was just that the colorful lights were very dazzling, so Ange directly found the switch and turned them off.
His eyes instantly felt more comfortable.
The human and the Pokémon also toured the back of the bar. There was a kitchen and a warehouse, fully equipped.
After touring the bar, Ange and Diancie went down to the next level. To their surprise, this area was filled with rooms, somewhat resembling... a collective dormitory? The rooms varied in size, totaling several hundred.
This was a staff dormitory for a black-hearted factory.
Moreover, the space above the dormitory was very open, so even large flying Pokémon like Talonflame or Honchkrow flying around would not cause any issues.
There were ventilation and lighting facilities on the surrounding walls, ensuring that even underground, the area remained bright and not damp.
After a tour, Ange and Diancie discovered that there were facilities leading outside, specifically a large elevator.
They tried it out and took the elevator directly back to the surface.
Only then did Ange realize that not far from the circular cover, there were several stone houses built with white stone slabs. These were the elevator entrances. Ange and the others could take the elevator to any floor below, including the dormitory and the bar, without having to use the long spiral staircase.
The essential purpose of the circular cover, which could be opened at will, was to allow ventilation and sunlight into the entire underground space.
Next, they toured the third floor, which was a huge warehouse. The temperature inside was low, and it could be used to store large amounts of supplies like grain and vegetables.
Ange liked this warehouse a lot. Although he had the System Backpack, he could not carry everything in it!
This warehouse came at the perfect time!
Although this warehouse did not have the ability to permanently preserve food, like Ange's System Backpack and the kitchen's refrigerator, its preservation ability was sufficient, and, more importantly, it had a massive storage capacity!
Next, Ange and Diancie took the elevator to the fourth floor, which was actually a giant winery!
Now Ange finally had a place for the extremely expensive brewing equipment he had previously acquired.
Since Ange did not know how to brew, he and Diancie only casually toured the area. Afterward, they arrived at the fifth floor, the last level of the underground space.