Wayne carefully examined the messages that the system had just displayed.
"Ding! Feraligatr is satisfied with the skin management treatment. Task objective (100/100). Task completed."
"Ding! Main quest 'Advancing Breeding House' Stage 1 has been completed. Rewards have been issued."
"Obtained random special dish—Mapo Tofu (B-rank)"
"Obtained Pokémon item lottery ticket × 1, random item—Skynet Monitoring System (usable)"
"Ding! Main quest Stage 2 'A Place of Our Own': Gain the approval of 1,000 customers (including Pokémon) for the Breeding Center (37/1,000)"
"Task rewards: Random item × 1, random special dish × 1, Pokémon item lottery ticket × 3"
"Task hint: Make customers genuinely believe that the Breeding Center is the best Breeding House in Jubilife City."
Wayne examined the new special dish's description:
Mapo Tofu (B-rank): Spicy and fragrant. After consumption, Special Attack stat receives a small permanent increase (only once per individual). Subsequent consumption can temporarily increase it.
(Click to view video details)
Daily production attempts (0/6)
Friendly reminder: Based on the host's current cooking level, there is a moderate probability of failure.
By now, Wayne had completely figured out the ranking system of the Special Dish collection.
For example, with Mapo Tofu, B-rank was the minimum threshold for success.
Only by achieving at least B-rank would it be considered a successful dish. However, with excellent cooking skills, achieving A-rank was certainly not impossible.
What made this better than Crab Roe Lion's Head was that Wayne had actually learned how to make Mapo Tofu directly from Professor Oak, so his success rate for replicating it would be significantly higher.
If he wanted to attempt making Mapo Tofu, he would have to wait until tomorrow since he'd already used his attempts for today.
Wayne then looked at the random item rewarded by the quest—the Skynet Monitoring System. Based on its name alone, it sounded like some kind of surveillance system.
As the name clearly implied, it was designed for security monitoring.
Skynet Monitoring System: Can monitor all public areas of the Breeding Center, freely adjust perspective, zoom in or out on any location.
A pop-up notification box appeared on the monitoring system's interface: "Do you want to activate and use it?"
Wayne selected yes without hesitation.
A virtual miniature sandbox model, visible only to Wayne, materialized in the air before him like a three-dimensional holographic image.
From a bird's-eye view, he could see everything from the main gate on the west side leading to Jubilife City, extending all the way east to the fence marking the easternmost boundary of their property.
Wayne's eyes lit up with excitement as he explored the capabilities of the Skynet Monitoring System.
Even from inside his bedroom, Wayne could clearly observe a Luxray sleeping peacefully on a rock nearly a kilometer away.
At this moment, the Electric-type Pokémon was napping in an adorable curled-up posture. A snot bubble formed at its nose, expanding and contracting rhythmically with each breath, making the usually intimidating Pokémon look unexpectedly cute and endearing.
Higher up in the trees, two young Mankey were hanging from branches by their tails, fighting each other fiercely.
This was the Mankey competing to establish their status and hierarchy within the troop.
Around them, a group of other Mankey excitedly waved their fists and claws, clearly enjoying watching the spectacle unfold.
The Miltank grazing diligently in the evening pasture was noticeably the roundest one of the herd.
Wayne shifted his monitoring perspective to the kitchen, where he spotted Leon cooking himself a bowl of seafood ramen instant noodles.
No wonder his father was getting rounder by the day!
Wayne finally understood why Leon worked so diligently every single day but somehow never managed to lose any weight.
The system could only view public spaces. No private rooms or personal areas could be monitored, which showed great respect for everyone's privacy.
"Lucario?" Lucario called out questioningly.
Lucario, who had been meditating cross-legged on the floor in perfect stillness, suddenly looked up with alert eyes.
(How strange. Something feels off,) Lucario communicated through Aura.
"What's wrong?" Wayne asked with concern.
Lucario pressed his palm firmly to the ground, a look of genuine confusion in his eyes. (There's a strange feeling of being watched by something.)
Arcanine raised his head and looked around the room carefully, but soon lay back down when he detected nothing unusual.
Metagross, meanwhile, remained completely immersed in its ocean of knowledge, still diligently studying the comprehensive "Metagross Breeding Manual" that Steven Stone had personally given Wayne.
Wayne hadn't expected Lucario's Aura senses to be quite this sharp and perceptive. "Is there really? I didn't feel anything unusual at all."
But no matter how thoroughly Lucario used his Aura abilities to probe the surroundings, he found absolutely no abnormalities. Eventually, he dismissed it as merely an illusion or false alarm.
When Wayne was actively monitoring the public outdoor areas, Lucario didn't sense any abnormalities whatsoever.
Only when Wayne had attempted to look directly into his own private bedroom did Lucario immediately sense something was amiss.
To confirm his theory about the system's privacy protections, Wayne deliberately looked at the kitchen again through the monitoring system. This time, Lucario showed no reaction at all.
It seems as long as I don't try to peek into private rooms, the system won't trigger Lucario's Aura detection, Wayne concluded mentally.
He still had one unused Pokémon item lottery ticket remaining in his system inventory, so Wayne decided to use it immediately.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have drawn a Dragon Scale."
Dragon Scales weren't particularly rare or valuable items in general. They would regularly shed naturally from powerful Dragon-type Pokémon like Dragonite, Salamence, and Garchomp as they grew.
However, because this particular Dragon Scale was jet black in color rather than the typical shade, it immediately caught Wayne's full attention.
Dragon Scale: A scale naturally shed by a Shiny Rayquaza. Can be held by Seadra to trigger evolution into Kingdra when traded, or used as premium material for breeding Dragon-type Pokémon.
Wayne immediately retracted his previous dismissive statement. This Dragon Scale could actually be considered extremely valuable and rare.
A Shiny Rayquaza scale!
Wayne vividly recalled the intimidating black Mega Rayquaza that had appeared in the Hoopa movie. That Legendary Pokémon had been incredibly powerful and awe-inspiring.
Wayne didn't currently have any Dragon-type Pokémon on his team yet. His personal favorites had always been Salamence and Dragapult.
Wayne murmured softly to himself with determination, "If I ever get the opportunity, I should definitely try to catch one."
Wayne then checked on his other ongoing quest—"I Really Didn't Want To Be A Content Creator." His follower count had already exceeded eighty thousand subscribers.
Stage 3 currently had two separate task objectives that needed completion:
Account followers (80,259 / 100,000)
Million-view videos (4 / 5)
The goals seemed to be just within reach now.
Wayne, filled with renewed fighting spirit and motivation, immediately began editing his latest video: "Pokémon Trainer Employment Guide 05: Essential Oil Care and Treatment."
Time passed unnoticed. Before he realized it, the clock showed 11:30 PM. After clicking the upload button, Wayne stretched his tired arms above his head.
"Finally finished! Time to get some sleep!" Wayne declared with satisfaction.
Wayne's videos never contained any content that would fail the platform's content review process, so the approval notification appeared within just a few minutes.
"Employment Guide 05 approved. Upload successful."
Just before Wayne prepared to go to sleep, a message notification came back from his friend: "I'll find some time to come visit over the next few days."
Wayne had reached out to ask his friend for assistance, specifically wanting her to bring her beautiful Milotic along for the visit.
Regarding the ongoing Feebas situation, Wayne had decided to follow both his grandfather's and Blue's professional advice by having Feebas communicate directly with either a Milotic or another Feebas.
"Feeling great! Time to sleep now. Lucario, turn off the lights please!" Wayne called out.
"Lucario!" Lucario responded, using his Aura to flip the light switch.
The next day.
While washing his face and brushing his teeth in the morning, Wayne was simultaneously checking the comments and live reactions for his fifth video.
The video began with Wayne's direct narration to the camera:
"What I want to emphasize to everyone in this episode is this: don't rush out and buy a massive collection of essential oils to pile up at home."
"The reason is that essential oil care for Pokémon is genuinely a long, time-consuming process, and it's physically tiring work."
"Also, different Pokémon have vastly different scent preferences, so everyone should purchase very carefully and thoughtfully. That's my main warning."
"If you want to experiment and try it out for yourselves, I recommend buying citrus-based, woody, or floral scents—just small sample bottles to start."
"Everyone can purchase these products from retailers on their own. We're not taking any sponsorship deals or running ads here. Alright, let's get into the main tutorial content."
Wayne then scrolled down through the comment section to see viewer reactions.
"This is exactly what I needed!"
"I'm also an essential oil enthusiast! Everyone absolutely must use sample sizes to test scents when selecting and purchasing products..."
"My Growlithe hated the lavender scent I bought, but loved the cedar wood one!"
This particular episode covered a somewhat niche topic, but the video's view count and engagement were still impressively strong.
"Son! The guest has arrived! Come out here quickly!" Leon's voice suddenly called from outside Wayne's room.