Chapter 39: The New Carved Creations

Page (1/3)

"New arrivals..."

After Charizard departed, the work on Koutai’s side was essentially complete. She had crafted more sculptures—mostly stone carvings, with fewer wooden ones—but labeled the new wooden sculptures as customizable.

Then she took photographs and uploaded them to the shop, adding new products to the inventory.

Koutai’s designs were inspired by the Pokémon she encountered through customers or work, though there were also new creations.

The Pokémon she had met, or that represented her clients, included Charizard, Charmander, Dragonite, Scyther, Gengar, and Articuno.

The new additions were Magcargo, Boldore, and Dratini.

Along with the previously made Snorlax, these were the items she intended to sell.

Koutai planned to see which models sold well; if popular, she would produce more, and if not, she would pause production to develop new sculptures.

Of course, she didn’t forget to list the Arceus sculpture for sale, though she doubted anyone would recognize this Pokémon. The stone carving included three pieces, with one wooden piece, totaling four.

Moreover, whether the Pokémon was an evolved form or not, as long as the materials, carving techniques, and style remained unchanged, the finished sculptures bore some resemblance.

She noticed this from the statues of Charmander and Charizard.

“Craft: Small [Ancient Statue] — Style of the Sinnoh Ruins.”

“Description: Stone statue carved in an ancient style, shaped like Charmander... some enthusiasts pay a high price for it.”

“Effect: Warm Air — the surrounding air becomes warmer.”

For Charizard, the effect was:

“Effect: Burning — the flames burn more fiercely.”

She also hadn’t forgotten about Doublade. Although the patterns on its scabbards were somewhat complicated, the finished work was quite beautiful.

First, the stone carving; Koutai placed it beside the sculpted Bounsweet.

She deliberately styled it after the “Sword in the Stone,” adding a stone base into which the two swords could be inserted diagonally, forming an X.

“Craft: Small [Ancient Statue] — Style of the Sinnoh Ruins.”

“Description: Stone statue carved in an ancient style, shaped like Doublade... some enthusiasts pay a high price for it.”

“Effect: Gathering — nearby chopping, cutting, and gathering efficiency +10%.”

“Oh, a statue for chopping wood? If used with the Bounsweet statue... a fast-growing forest?”

“It can also be used for cutting stone and tailoring cloth. This is a great work-related buff statue.”

It seemed the ancient bracelet was for teaching moves, while ancient statues functioned as small buff items.

As for the ancient urn and crown, Koutai still didn’t know their abilities. In the game, items related to crowns and urns included the King’s Proof and the Punishment Urn.

But many King’s Proofs were natural stones, not forged, though artificial ones did exist.

Silver and gold crowns were more like bottle caps stamped with crown emblems.

Page (2/3)

“Haha, maybe the forged ancient crown is actually the head of the Crown King.”

Next was the wooden carving.

“Craft: Small [Ancient Woodcarving] — Style of the Sinnoh Ruins.”

“Description: Wooden statue carved in ancient style, shaped like Doublade... some enthusiasts pay a high price for it.”

“Effect: Prayer...”

“Due to repeatedly completing certain tasks, knowledge has been gained.”

“Carving Expert: Carving efficiency and skill +20%.”

Koutai handed the ancient woodcarving to Doublade.

“Come, pray to the woodcarving and let it show you power. But it’s best not to pray for increased speed. Even at your final form, your speed isn’t fast enough.”

“Whether it’s attack speed or movement speed... from a priority standpoint, speed isn’t important right now.”

Doublade looked puzzled.

Isn’t speed everything for a sword? The faster the slash, the sooner the opponent is cut down before they can even react!

Besides, Doublade could “lighten its body,” greatly increasing speed, and with two swords now, if the speed stat reached its maximum...

“Yoop? Yo-oo? (⊙╰X╯⊙)~?”

So why not choose speed?

Listening to Doublade’s protest, Koutai’s thoughts drifted to Ash’s Torterra.

Known as a “cannon fodder turtle,” Koutai herself had wanted to catch a Torterra.

Ash’s Torterra focused on speed before evolving; it maximized speed stats. But after evolving into its final form, its body became heavy, forcing it to exert extra strength for full-speed movement, which drained stamina.

In real-time battles, a Pokémon’s stamina must be monitored. Even if HP remains sufficient, decreased stamina weakens both offense and defense.

That Torterra had emphasized speed since its Turtwig stage, neglecting defense training. After evolving, its weak defense was exposed, often unable to withstand attacks.

Back then, there were no “Adaptability Dice” items.

In later eras, Torterra could learn Shell Smash, enabling a speed-focused build: Shell Smash + Adaptability Dice + Seed Machine Gun + Close Combat. This allowed Torterra to forgo defense entirely, attacking recklessly and swiftly defeating opponents.

Doublade’s final form, Aegislash, typically benefits from acting second, relying on its defensive stance’s high durability to absorb attacks before switching to offensive stance to deal damage. Attacking first would prematurely switch it to sword form and leave it vulnerable.

Although real-time battles have no turn limits, the “Battle Switch” ability still changes base stats accordingly. This means sword form Aegislash remains fragile. But no worries—defense can be handled by the priority +4 King’s Shield.

When Koutai acquired more rare wood, she could enhance speed individual values later.

“In reality, it’s like abandoning one’s natural talents to pursue something you’re not good at, resulting in inefficiency.”

“We must fully leverage our strengths first. After maximizing those, use the remaining time and effort to address weaknesses.”

Koutai explained this to Doublade and Bounsweet, then shifted tone slightly:

“Once you’ve trained your weaknesses, it may cause opponents to misjudge you. A Pokémon not expected to be fast suddenly moves unusually quickly; one lacking strength suddenly wields extraordinary power. Combining these supplemented weaknesses with your natural talents—that’s the secret to becoming strong.”

Page (3/3)

Just like in the earliest generations of the Pokémon games, the maximum effort value per stat wasn’t 252, but 65,000.

In the real world, the effort Pokémon put in must yield returns; they aren’t capped at an arbitrary 252 limit because that limit doesn’t actually exist. As seen earlier, when the woodcarving indicated “maximum individual values,” it only conveyed this information without specifying numbers.

If we apply the game’s logic, maybe 31 is the maximum, but in the real Pokémon world... who knows? After all, in the first generations, the maximum individual value was only 15!

Individual values represent talent, effort values represent hard work, and true genius is the product of talent plus effort plus some luck.

“Yo-oo!”

“Bai!”

Doublade and Bounsweet understood Koutai’s meaning and focused intently on the woodcarving. Doublade floated forward, closing its eyes, recalling fragmented memories.

Having lived in the ancient kingdom, Doublade seemed to hold the concept of ideals close to its heart. Seeing Bounsweet’s earnest battle, it immediately accepted her—perhaps this was the knightly spirit, though Doublade’s earlier form was not a knight.

The woodcarving began to emit dazzling light, shining as brightly as a small sun.

“The ancient woodcarving responded to the Pokémon’s wish and displayed its power.”

“Displayed power: Doublade’s attack individual value has been raised to the maximum!”

“Yoop! Yo-oo!”

Doublade felt its blades grow sharper.

“And Arceus’s stone statue...” Koutai thought of Arceus’s stone carving.

The stone carving could teach a move usable only after evolution; its second use was for breeding, but since this wasn’t a nursery, that was irrelevant.

Perhaps she should wait until Doublade and Bounsweet grew stronger before letting them interact with Arceus’s stone carving.

Speaking of which, if Doublade learned King’s Shield... no, that small shield behind it couldn’t be used yet. The Pokédex said that shield was incomplete and couldn’t withstand attacks.

While indoors, Doublade had seen the stone carving and tried to touch it but was stopped.

Meanwhile, Koutai had carved a new Arceus wooden sculpture from a large block of wood, but unfortunately, while the stone carving upgraded to a masterpiece, the woodcarving showed no change.

Maybe the woodcarving needed extra materials and new techniques to improve, just like the ancient stone carving required relic stones and ancient rock.

That wooden sculpture was basically useless.

A wooden carving could manifest power for Arceus—but where was Arceus? And did it even need this woodcarving to strengthen itself?

“If I list this online for sale and others find no effect, they’ll think I’m a fraud.”

“Maybe I should just sell it to Wang Luo and make some money off him?”

“Tomorrow... time to enter the forest to collect wood and Boldore ore.”

Page (3/3)