I’m the Owner of the Pokémon Day Care In the World of Pokémon

A few days after Yuga received the rewards sent by the Unova League, the Hoenn League announced a major piece of news on television: the retirement of the current Champion, Steven, and the appointment of the new Champion, Wallace.

This sudden announcement shocked the people of Hoenn, especially Trainers, as there hadn't been the slightest hint of this beforehand.

Only Yuga sighed, thinking, Finally, Steven has managed to pass on the burden.

Shortly after receiving the news, Yuga got a call from Steven. Over the phone, Steven cheerfully shared that he was leaving to pursue his dreams (digging for stones). His tone was light and carefree.

To quit his position and run off immediately—this was precisely the kind of thing Steven would do.

Steven had only been Champion for a few years, and given his youth, his early retirement inevitably sparked speculation. People wondered if something had gone wrong.

While he might not have been the shortest-serving League Champion, he was certainly close. The matter was a hot topic for discussion for quite some time.

Regardless of the uproar outside, Yuga continued his life and work as usual.

That morning, Yuga made his routine rounds in the Ecopark, spent some time training with the Pokémon, and then headed to the workshop in the old store to make Pokéblocks with Misaki and Anya.

Ever since the system issued a task to improve his Pokéblock-making skills, Yuga hadn't let up on his practice.

Today, Yuga felt a great sense of flow while making Pokéblocks. The quality was excellent, and his production speed was notably faster than usual. It felt like he had unlocked some hidden potential.

Watching him work, Misaki remarked, "Not bad, boss. Looks like your hard work is paying off—today's batch of Pokéblocks is top-notch."

Misaki's skills in Pokéblock-making far surpassed Yuga's. While she might not yet be at the pinnacle of mastery, she wasn't far off. She could instantly gauge the quality of Pokéblocks at a glance.

Hearing her praise, Yuga responded excitedly, "Really? It's all thanks to your guidance."

At that moment, the system's voice echoed in his mind.

...

[ Congratulations, Host, for completing the side task: Sharpen Your Skills. ]

[ Requirements: Improve your Pokéblock-making skills to Advanced Level. (Completed) ]

[ Reward: A tutorial video on Pokéblock-making. ]

...

As soon as this task was marked complete, the system immediately issued the next side task.

...

[ Side Task: Sharpen Your Skills (Part Two) ]

[ Description: As the owner of YoYo Daycare, the Host should embrace a lifelong learning mindset. As the saying goes, 'A person with many skills will never be disadvantaged.' Keep striving, Host! ]

[ Requirements: ① Improve your Pokéblock-making skills to Master Level. ② Improve your incense-making skills to Intermediate Level. ]

[ Reward: A tutorial video on incense-making. ]

...

Yuga hadn't expected this task to be part of a series. But after seeing the requirements for the second part, he nearly spat out blood.

Wasn't the difficulty gap between Task One and Task Two a bit too much?

Task One only required reaching an Advanced Level in Pokéblock-making, but Task Two demanded achieving Master Level and adding Intermediate Level incense-making to the mix!

The difficulty of advancing from Advanced to Master-level skills was exponentially greater than that of moving from Intermediate to Advanced. Misaki, with far more talent and practice than Yuga, still wasn't quite at Master level.

The new task issued by the system was truly a tall order.

Yuga felt a headache coming on. Sometimes, even with this golden cheat, he still had to put in the effort where it counted.

Yuga was well aware of his own limitations. While he wasn't entirely untalented, he was far from exceptional. Achieving Master-level skill would be no easy feat.

The fact that he'd managed to reach Advanced level so quickly had already surprised him.

And as for incense-making—his skills there weren't even as developed as his Pokéblock-making abilities.

Seeing Yuga pause mid-sentence and zone out, Misaki couldn't help but give him a nudge.

"Boss, what's wrong? What are you spacing out about?"

"Oh… uh, nothing." Snapping out of it, Yuga hastily explained, "I just remembered something. You two keep working; I'm heading out for now."

With that, Yuga darted out of the workshop.

Back in his room, Audino and Wigglytuff exchanged puzzled glances as they saw Yuga shut himself inside. They both shook their heads simultaneously, confused.

It wasn't like Yuga to leave the workshop at this time.

Once inside, Yuga shut the door and asked the system, "System, how do I watch the Pokéblock-making tutorial video?"

Even though the reward's name didn't sound particularly impressive, Yuga trusted that if the system offered it as a reward, it had to be something extraordinary.

After years of interacting with the system, he had confidence in its value.

[ The Host can open your computer, and the system will transfer the video file to it. ]

Hearing this, Yuga quickly booted up his computer. Under the system's guidance, he located the video file. After watching a portion of it, Yuga finally understood why Task Two required him to reach Master level in Pokéblock-making.

The tutorial video was astonishing. It detailed every step of the Pokéblock-making process, highlighting every point that required attention with crystal-clear explanations.

In essence, with this video, unless you were hopelessly uncoordinated or unimaginative, you now had a solid foundation to become a Master Pokéblock Maker.

This resource was even better than being taught hands-on by a Master because no Master could possibly point out every single detail with such precision.

With the guidance provided, the difficulty of advancing from Advanced to Master level wouldn't be much greater than the jump from Intermediate to Advanced.

Having a teacher made all the difference.

Because the video was so detailed, its content was immense. By the time Yuga reached lunchtime, he had only finished less than 1% of it.

Moreover, he had to pause frequently to reflect on what he was learning.

While the video laid out all the methods and points of caution, it was up to Yuga's own dedication to absorb the knowledge. It wouldn't simply upload itself into his brain.

After watching the tutorial, Yuga realized how immature his Pokéblock-making skills were compared to the techniques demonstrated in the video.

He even began to suspect that the system had been lenient in rating his skills as Advanced—was it perhaps going easy on him?

The figure demonstrating Pokéblock-making in the video was a featureless white humanoid model. Though it had limbs, it lacked a face. Yet, Yuga could see the fluid grace in its movements.

After reviewing the material, Yuga suddenly started to look forward to the reward for Task Two.

By lunchtime, had Audino not come over to urge him, Yuga would have remained engrossed in studying the video, utterly absorbed to the point of skipping meals and sleep!

In his eagerness to continue delving into the tutorial, Yuga hurriedly wolfed down a few bites of food before returning to his room.

Audino and Wigglytuff, puzzled by his behavior, approached his door and peeked inside through a small crack. They saw Yuga sitting at his desk, intensely focused on his computer screen.

The two Pokémon assumed Yuga was watching some sort of "questionable" video. After all, they knew that human boys often secretly watched content that would make others blush.

"Boys will be boys," they thought, understanding that a little indulgence now and then was normal. But to be doing it in broad daylight—and for such a long time, from morning to afternoon—wasn't that a bit excessive?

Audino and Wigglytuff quietly closed the door and resolved to prepare an especially nourishing dinner for Yuga that evening.

Unaware of their misunderstanding, Yuga suddenly realized that just watching the video might not be as effective as combining it with hands-on practice.

Thankfully, Audino and Wigglytuff had no idea that Yuga planned to "watch while practicing."

Determined to improve, Yuga brought a set of equipment into his room and even enlisted the help of two Meowstic to record his progress.

The study material provided by the system was something Yuga intended to share with Misaki and Anya eventually, but simply giving them access to the video wasn't an option. Not only was the teaching figure in the video just a featureless model, but the content itself was far too advanced.

Such high-level instructional material couldn't be casually shared. If it ever leaked, it would cause a major uproar.

Instead, Yuga decided to record his own Pokéblock-making process and share that with Misaki and Anya. That way, there wouldn't be any issues.

After all, his skill level was worlds apart from the one demonstrated in the video. As long as he conveyed the key points to Misaki and Anya, it would suffice.

Yuga spent the entire afternoon studying and practicing. By the time he snapped out of his focus, it was already dark outside.

Having spent hours making Pokéblocks, Yuga felt his arms ache from overuse. He decided to call it a day.

When he went downstairs, he found Audino and Wigglytuff just finishing preparing dinner. They were debating whether to head upstairs to call him, having second thoughts about knocking on his door earlier that day.

"What if we saw something we weren't supposed to see…"

Oblivious to the chaotic thoughts running through their minds, Yuga was surprised to see a table full of dishes. "What's the occasion? Why is dinner so lavish tonight? I can't finish all this by myself!"

"Audino~ Audino~!"

You must be really tired lately. You need to eat well, or your body won't hold up.

Wigglytuff chimed in, nodding vigorously in agreement.

Yuga looked bewildered. "Am I really that tired lately? How come I didn't notice? Nothing much has been going on recently. Is it really different from usual?"

Ignoring Yuga's puzzled expression, Audino and Wigglytuff busied themselves piling food onto his plate.

Wigglytuff, while adding more food, spoke earnestly and tactfully, "Yuga, while we don't oppose you watching study materials, moderation is key, right? Watching from morning until night might not be the best idea."

Yuga didn't realize that Wigglytuff's "study materials" referred to something completely different. He thought it was criticizing him for being too absorbed in work and losing track of time. Reflecting seriously, he replied, "I understand. I'll be more mindful next time."

Since Wigglytuff was like an elder, Yuga felt obligated to heed its advice.

Hearing his response, both Wigglytuff and Audino nodded in satisfaction.

Although their conversation seemed to be on completely different wavelengths, it miraculously resulted in mutual understanding.

In the end, Yuga ate so much that he had to go out for a walk to digest.

The next day, Yuga continued his study of making Pokéblocks with the video. Finding it difficult to manage everything alone, he enlisted Audino and Wigglytuff to help. It was then that they realized they had misunderstood Yuga the previous day and were utterly mortified.

Noticing the fluctuating expressions on their faces, Yuga asked, "What's wrong with you two? Were you even listening to what I just said?"

Under Yuga's persistent questioning, Audino reluctantly confessed their misunderstanding from the previous day. Upon hearing this, Yuga was dumbfounded, as if struck by lightning.

"You… How do you even know about such things? Where did you learn that?!"

At that moment, Yuga felt like he was truly discovering a new side of his Pokémon for the first time.

Thus, Yuga spent a week learning how to make Pokéblocks on his own. Afterward, he shared the videos he recorded of his process with Misaki and Lain in segments.

During that week, Yuga felt that his skills in making Pokéblocks had improved by leaps and bounds, far surpassing the progress he had made over the past year.

Though the system didn't provide any evaluation, Yuga was thoroughly satisfied with his results.

Misaki was delighted after watching the videos Yuga had sent her, immediately asking if he had secretly apprenticed under some master. Yuga, however, left her with nothing but a cryptic smile.

Inspired by the videos, Misaki felt that it wouldn't be long before she became a top-tier Pokéblock technician.

Being so young, if she truly achieved that level of mastery, her future would be limitless!

Misaki had never been so grateful for applying to work at YoYo Daycare.

In contrast, Lain reacted more casually. In her eyes, Yuga was already the most amazing person, and there was nothing surprising about anything he produced.

In the days that followed, Yuga often discussed the videos with Misaki and Lain, and their progress quickened even more.

However, from that point onward, Yuga added another task to his daily routine: practicing the art of making incense.

Compared to making Pokéblocks, Yuga's skill in making incense was rather mediocre. Ever since learning the craft, he had hardly practiced it seriously. Now, getting back into it felt especially rusty.

Several times, Lain couldn't help but bluntly say, "Maybe you should just stop helping. You don't make much of a difference being here, and things might actually go smoother without you."

Yuga felt deeply hurt by this remark.

It seemed even having a cheat-like system didn't make being a daycare owner any easier. Having skilled employees wasn't enough—he needed to have solid technical skills himself.

Yuga began to suspect that the system intended to mold him into an all-around capable daycare owner.

Although the system didn't force its host to complete tasks, Yuga couldn't stand seeing the glaring red "Incomplete" mark in the task column. It was like he had developed an obsession—he wouldn't rest until it turned into a green "Completed."