Lucas wasn't so reckless as to say out loud that Moltres looked like a brooding hen. He crouched, reached under Moltres, and carefully took out the incubator—taking the opportunity to sneakily stroke the warm, fiery feathers.
Feeling a hand moving under its belly, Moltres's anger surged, but it was forced to suppress it under Luxray's indifferent gaze.
Moltres could only feel sad. How could a legendary Pokémon like itself be groped by a human and not dare to resist?
How would it keep its dignity after this?
While Moltres brooded, Lucas inspected the incubator and frowned. "It's only the fourth day, but all the nutrients are gone already. Is this thanks to Moltres?"
The originally green nutrient solution in the incubator had turned completely clear, meaning all the energy had been absorbed.
He remembered the manual said that normal Pokémon eggs took about seven days to absorb most of the nutrients—fast ones might finish a day or two early, but for an egg to absorb everything in four days, there were no cases like that in the manual.
It was absurd.
Lucas sighed, refilled the incubator with a second bottle of nutrients, and muttered, "At this rate, it won't even last half a month."
He slipped the incubator back under Moltres, hoping that its legendary flames would help the egg hatch quickly.
Otherwise, he'd soon be bankrupt from feeding it.
With Serperior and the others watching the farm, Moltres behaving, and Mimikyu secretly monitoring Moltres in case it tried anything with the egg, Lucas could leave without worry.
Following the system's prompts, Lucas and Luxray searched the wild for materials and items they could sell as they headed toward their destination.
...
Time passed quickly while scavenging. Lucas had set out at noon, and now dusk was falling.
He checked his haul—besides herbs, he wanted to keep, the most valuable was a Hard Stone, which Rock-type Pokémon could hold.
Hard Stones sold for about 3,000 league coins and, though not rare (they often dropped from Rock-types), were still worth something.
With some miscellaneous finds, Lucas figured he could make about 5,000 league coins when he sold everything at Los Platos.
At the foot of a densely wooded mountain, Lucas stopped to consider what to eat tonight.
He had some rations in his backpack, but those were for emergencies. Since the vegetation here was so lush, there should be some wild delicacies to be found.
While he pondered, Luxray, who had been on alert, suddenly sniffed the air and seemed to catch an interesting scent.
After discerning it, Luxray's eyes brightened and it called to Lucas, "Lux!"
"What is it, Luxray?"
Lucas looked at Luxray in puzzlement. Luxray didn't explain, but signaled with its eyes for Lucas to follow and dashed into the forest.
Lucas blinked, feeling a sense of déjà vu as if this had happened before.
There was no time to dwell on it. With Luxray already disappearing into the woods, Lucas hurried after it.
The mountain path was rough, with barely any signs of humans—hardly a path at all.
But Lucas was used to this, following Luxray's pauses and movements like a monkey.
As they climbed, even Lucas could smell the faint, delicious aroma in the air.
His memory stirred. He remembered the early days after he transmigrated.
Penniless at the time, he and then-Luxio had relied on its keen eyes and nose to earn their first money in the mountains.
What stood out most from those days was the same delicious aroma in the air.
After climbing halfway up, Lucas was out of breath from the weight of his backpack—thankfully, Luxray stopped just then.
Luxray silently indicated a spot not far away.
Lucas could still smell the rich aroma and looked over in surprise.
There, he saw a male Oinkologne.
Oinkologne had black skin, with pink eyelashes, tail tip, and hooves.
Immediately, Lucas' mouth began to water.
Don't get the wrong idea—he wasn't after Oinkologne itself, but what it could find with its abilities.
Oinkologne and its pre-evolution, Lechonk, were famous for their sense of smell, able to sniff out rare delicacies buried deep underground.
Because their sense of smell was so focused on finding food, even as Lucas and Luxray (two unfamiliar scents) approached, Oinkologne didn't react at all.
It kept sniffing around, sometimes rooting up and eating delicious mushrooms it found underground.
Only at night, when its nearly black body was less visible to predators, could it safely wander and hide its fragrant aroma.
As it ate and rooted, Oinkologne didn't notice it was being followed by two—Lucas and Luxray, who were also picking up the leftovers.
Until Oinkologne caught a very sweet scent in the air. Its eyes lit up, and with its muscular legs, it dashed off towards the smell.
Lucas and Luxray exchanged glances, then immediately gave chase.
Given Oinkologne's reaction, there was something good ahead!
Oinkologne ran for ten minutes, with strange cries echoing through the dark mountain. While most people would find this creepy, Lucas and Luxray only got more excited.
Not far from where Oinkologne stopped, a pair of huge claws were left on the ground!
Jackpot!
Lucas tried to suppress his excitement, eyes fixed on the claws.
These were Crabominable's naturally-shed claws!
Their meat was tender and sweet—considered a dream ingredient that even high-end restaurants paid huge sums to acquire!
They were also Lucas' first source of travel funds as a Champion-level trainer!