Pokémon: Start with an Admiral Crab!

"My parents took the boat to the fruit forest on the third island to buy goods this morning, so I have to stay here to help look after the store today."

Xinzi mentioned this to Wang Yao in a low voice.

"Grandpa Yamada, I brought here the person who discovered the agate mine!"

Nobuko shouted loudly to Grandpa Yamada who was nearby.

"What—who are you writing to?"

Old man Yamada tilted his ear and asked with narrowed eyes.

"It's agate! He is the one who discovered the agate mine!"

Xinzi's voice became a little louder.

"I heard it clearly...I heard it clearly!"

Old man Yamada put the magnifying glass back into his chest pocket.

Then he looked at Wang Yao carefully.

"You can find agate ore in a volcano. It seems that you are a young man who likes adventure."

Old man Yamada smiled at Wang Yao, obviously having a good impression of him.

The Light Island has stood in the northern waters of the First Island for so many years, and no one has ever thought of going into the volcano to mine.

In his opinion, Wang Yao must be a young man with a strong spirit of adventure.

"Just luck."

Wang Yao said modestly.

"Well... sometimes I just lack a little bit of luck. When I was young, I also liked to explore and discover ruins..."

Old man Yamada seemed to be thinking about things in the past.

"Hehe... But I'm old now and can't do it anymore."

After a pause of only a few seconds, Mr. Yamada brought his thoughts back to the present.

"Is this Sandshrew the Pokémon that accompanied you on your adventure?"

Wang Yao pointed at the mole rat that was carving agate into mud.

"It—it's not, its parents are."

"I once had two sandalwood kings. After I decided to return to my hometown to retire, I released them into the 'fruit forest' on the third island."

Elder Yamada explained.

"But I also visit them from time to time. This baby was just hatched half a year ago."

"Its parents entrusted it to me again, and I asked it to pick up my old stonemasonry skills again."

When Mr. Yamada was young, he was a stonemason, and the two sandalwoods were his work partners.

After becoming obsessed with exploring the ruins, Sandslash became his good helper on his travels.

"I see."

Wang Yao actually also has a sandrat.

It's just still lying in the mother's pouch...

But the mole in front of us, which is also half a year old, has already started working to support his family.

As for his mole, it would not even open its mouth to eat a fruit unless its mother, the marsupial dragon, fed it to it.

"It seems that after returning, I have to deal with the chaos of the marsupial dragons who rely on their parents for support..."

Wang Yao thought secretly.

"I brought a new batch of agate this time. It should be enough for the store for now."

Wang Yao put down his backpack and took out a pile of agate ores of various sizes.

This is the result of two days of digging by eight rock crabs, a total of about two tons.

Because the magma under the volcano hindered the progress of excavation, although the number of miners increased a lot, the increase in output was still limited.

"So many... did you dig them all by yourself?"

Xinzi picked up a piece of agate with beautiful patterns curiously and asked.

"Of course, I also used the power of Pokémon... But next time you go to pick up the goods, you will have to climb the mountain and carry the goods yourself."

Most of Wang Yao's agate mine was handed over to the Rockets' shops for transportation and sales.

However, the output of agate mines on a small island is ultimately limited.

Therefore, the cargo ships of these large shops only come to restock goods once every two months.

But that would be too boring for the stone crabs, so Wang Yao organized some retail channels and handed them over to private shops of the same size as Xinzi's.

Even if it can boost the local tourism economy of the Seven Islands.

"Climbing the mountain... Denghuoshan Mountain takes a whole day and night to climb!"

Nobuko's tone was full of resistance.

As a native of the Seven Islands, she had naturally visited the Light Island with her parents.

"I'd better ask the black-billed gulls for help...at worst, we can just carry less at a time."

Xinzi suddenly had an idea and decided to purchase the goods by air transport.

"You are such a little genius..."

Wang Yao was speechless.

"Girl, why are you still standing there? Don't you like to go to the mountains and move rocks for fun?"

"…Why don't you move all these agate ores to the warehouse?"

Old man Yamada took a quick look at the quality of the agates and asked Nobuko to start moving the agates.

So much raw ore was piled up in front of the stall that it blocked the road.

"I told you I was practicing! It was practicing!"

Nobuko defended herself by stamping her feet.

Unfortunately, old man Yamada had already turned around and continued to teach Mole how to carve agate.

"Really... Kuai Quan Lang, come here quickly!"

Xinzi had no choice but to call the fast boxer who was cleaning outside the market.

"——It's not too late to sweep up those fallen leaves in the afternoon."

Because it is an open-air market, there will be some fallen leaves piled up around.

Basically, the stalls need to be cleaned twice a day. Although there is no rotation schedule, there are only a few islanders running the stalls.

So everyone will take the initiative to take time to clean.

"Abby~"

Kuai Quanlang put down his broom and trotted over to carry the agate ore.

The warehouse of Nobuko's stall was actually a utility room of a house outside the market.

Only a few dozen meters away, there is a wooden wheelbarrow in the corner that can be used to transport goods.

Kuai Quanlang held the handle of the wheelbarrow, and Xinzi moved the pieces of agate onto the frame.

Then we pushed the goods to the utility room to unload them.

Wang Yao would naturally not interfere with matters such as sorting and moving things.

He chose to stay at the stall and watch the sandshrew carving the agate stone.

This little guy looks chubby and his little paws are quite useful!

"What is this carving? It looks very special..."

Wang Yao watched as a square box-shaped object was gradually carved into shape.

"This is a scaled-down restoration model of the temple."

Seeing that Wang Yao was interested in the statue, old man Yamada began to explain.

"There is a long-standing treasure legend in the Seven Islands Sea - the core location is in this temple."

"However, the current temple has long been destroyed, but the murals still record the appearance of the ancient temple."

Mr. Yamada is very keen on exploring various ancient relics, so most of his designs are based on ancient landscapes.

"A temple? It doesn't look like one..."

Wang Yao frowned as he looked at the two-story agate stone carving that was beginning to take shape.

It had a square shape and he initially thought it was a stone box.

If it were a temple, it would be more magnificent, right? "Perhaps in the period when it existed, this kind of square building was the most fashionable shape..."

Elder Yamada said this in a joking tone, but soon became serious again.

"This temple is a landmark of the 'Askana' culture..."

"Today, in the north of the Seventh Island, there is a long-abandoned stone building complex. That is the site of the Askana civilization."

Old man Yamada explained to Wang Yao.

As a local civilization site in the Sept. Islands, most islanders have heard of it.

"Ruins... I guess they've been searched all over by people who came here to look for treasures, right?"

Wang Yao asked, stroking his chin.

"Can there be treasure in a place like this?"

If one person discovers it, it is called a site; if a group of people discover it, it becomes just a tourist attraction.

"I'm not sure about that, but according to the legend of the Seven Islands...if you can unlock the secret of the ruins, you will be able to obtain unimaginable treasures."

Elder Yamada recalled.

"I also explored there for five years, but unfortunately I only found some ancient stone carvings and murals in the end."