August 17th, Monday.
Sunlight streamed in from outside the window.
On the first day after the exhausting move, Natsume had planned to sleep in, lazily letting out a yawn.
But suddenly, a loud boom from the living room jolted him awake.
"What the—?!" Natsume rolled out of bed in a panic.
Pulling back the covers, he saw Eevee still sleeping soundly.
Looking up at the ceiling, Haunter was swaying lazily from the chandelier.
But when he glanced at the fish tank, Squirtle was nowhere to be seen!
In an instant, a cold sweat dripped down Natsume's forehead.
Judging by the sound… it came from the second floor.
Maybe Squirtle just tripped or something…
"Just yesterday, I was praising them," Natsume muttered with an awkward smile.
"There's no way they've already started digging, right?!"
But the loud boom had shaken the entire bed.
Natsume wiped his sweat and cautiously pushed open the bedroom door.
In an instant, his expression changed.
At the top of the stairs, the floor had caved in, revealing a gaping hole with jagged wooden edges, splinters floating in the sunlight…
The two floors had been completely breached!
Natsume froze.
He stumbled toward the hole and peered down.
A turtle shell was lying on the first floor, snoring away!
"What… is going on?"
Natsume's brain short-circuited.
I wake up, and my house is almost dug through?
"This has to be a dream…"
Natsume paused, walked back into the bedroom, and then opened the door again.
In an instant, Natsume-sensei sucked in a sharp breath.
"Squirtle! You'd better explain this to me!!"
Weren't you supposed to wreck the club?
How did you end up digging through both floors in the middle of the night?!
Are you guys pulling a sneaky reversal now?!
"Squirtle?"
Hearing the commotion, Squirtle poked its head out of its shell, looking dazed.
Last night, it had been dreaming about swimming while thinking about the techniques for Dig…
And now, it had somehow mastered Dig in its sleep!
"Squirtle!" Squirtle patted its own shoulder.
Way to go, Squirtle!
But the next moment, Squirtle seemed to snap back to reality.
It looked around in confusion, then up at Natsume, who was wearing a complicated expression…
"Squirtle!"
Squirtle immediately chose to admit its mistake, lying flat on the floor and looking up pitifully.
Natsume took a deep breath.
It seems… this guy didn't do it on purpose…
Plus, learning a new move is definitely something to celebrate.
But Natsume's expression was still conflicted:
"Then why does my heart hurt so much?"
This is what they call playing hard to get!
"I celebrated too soon!"
Natsume smacked his forehead in frustration.
Gritting his teeth, Natsume pulled out his phone and snapped a photo.
When in trouble, don't panic!
First, take a picture and post it in the group chat!
The photo showed Squirtle lying pitifully on the floor, captioned: I don't even dare to speak!
This high-quality meme gave Natsume-sensei a brief moment of relief.
Even though the house was almost destroyed…
At least I got a good meme out of it…
Natsume-sensei: I'm losing my mind here! (╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴
The chat group buzzed with notifications.
Gold: The power of Dig is impressive!
Yellow: [I don't even dare to speak. Squirtle.jpg]
Lorelei: Training Dig at home without damaging the foundation? As expected of Natsume-sensei!
Blue Oak: If possible… try to train outdoors next time, Natsume-sensei.
Natsume was on the verge of tears.
You think I don't want to?
I never even planned to take out the Dig Technical Machine in the first place!
He contacted the Neighborhood Committee Auntie, who helped him get in touch with a renovation company.
The main repair was to patch up the giant hole in the staircase.
Squirtle, knowing it had messed up, was listless, even eating without enthusiasm.
"Eevee!" (You trained secretly at night and didn't even call me!)
Eevee angrily smacked Squirtle on the head.
Natsume grumbled, "If you'd listened to Eevee, you wouldn't have made such a mistake!"
Squirtle nodded obediently, thinking to itself.
The real mistake was not training with Eevee!
"Squirtle!"
Squirtle put its hands on its hips, looking like it had everything figured out.
Natsume's expression turned strange.
Are you sure you're reflecting and not planning a new renovation scheme?!
"Reflect properly, will you?!"
"SquirtleSquirtle!"
Squirtle scratched its head with a goofy smile.
Don't worry, I've got this!
...
The renovation was estimated to cost over 30,000 Pokémon Coins, and it wouldn't be done anytime soon.
Natsume did the math. Including the recent profits from Cynthia's promotion, he was now only 5 million Pokémon Coins in debt.
Even though he still needed to buy a Dawn Stone for Eevee…
With around 200,000 Pokémon Coins in liquid funds, he could still afford to develop a new game.
The renovation crew's Machoke were still sweating away at the house. To prevent the three little ones from causing more trouble, Natsume recalled them into their Poké Balls.
Grabbing his laptop, he headed to a café to work on the project plan for his second game.
"Eevee?"
Eevee lay on the menu, poking at a picture of a tempting Milcery cake.
Natsume paused.
Milcery, besides being sweet, could also produce endless cream…
It was the perfect Pokémon for a café!
"Go ahead, order it. Get one for me too."
Natsume nodded to the waiter, then glanced at the silent Squirtle and smiled.
"Alright, you can order whatever you want too."
Squirtle paused, its eyes turning into wavy lines as it tearfully nodded.
"Squirtle!"
The cake was vibrant, decorated with frosting and cream. The little ones buried their faces in it, devouring it happily.
Natsume smiled and opened his laptop.
He began drafting the project plan for his second game—
"Gold Miners."
This game would be easier to develop.
Once Natsume set up the basic framework, it could be completed in a week.
But Natsume didn't plan to make it a web game.
Instead, he wanted to refine it further to fit the Pokémon world.
In the game, miners could choose their starter Pokémon—Eevee or Pikachu.
These Pokémon would assist in mining, such as blasting rocks or shocking wild Pokémon.
The mining targets included: Nuggets, Fossils, Evolutionary Stones, and even Mega Stones.
Mining various minerals would allow the Pokémon to evolve, becoming even greater assets to the miners.
As the game progressed, the team would grow, unlocking Pokémon like Sandslash, Excadrill, and even Steelix.
Overall, the original Gold Miners was just a simple score-based game.
But the Pokémon version of Gold Miners would have each mining session slightly boost the Pokémon's strength.
It leaned more toward a roguelike style.
More importantly, as a light multiplayer game…
Natsume could even spend an entire night mining with Cynthia!
"Who I play with doesn't matter," Natsume stroked his chin. "I just really want to mine."
Like the first game, it would be a single-purchase title, sold on the ORAS platform.
Natsume nodded with determination.
Paying off the debt and achieving financial freedom was within reach!
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