Chapter 73 73: Controllable Energy Block Fusion Technology!
Under Goddess Xue Tong's hand-holding guidance, Lorze quickly mastered the various detection instruments in the lab.
After spending most of the day scanning, he and Xue Tong finally finished analyzing an entire crate of Berries, successfully avoiding the fate of ruining his taste buds.
This made Lorze sincerely feel that the power of science was truly magnificent!
However, amidst the excitement, there was a lingering disappointment. After analyzing the entire crate, Lorze still hadn't found even a trace of Fairy-type energy, though he discovered plenty of energy from the other 17 types.
This was proof enough that even in the chaotic, energy-mixed wild fruits, it was incredibly difficult to find the Fairy-type.
It also highlighted just how scarce Fairy energy was on Earth right now—even the wild Berries seemed to reject it.
Although Lorze had anticipated this result, he couldn't help but feel a bit dejected.
If Fairy energy was this rare, God only knows how long it would take to collect enough for Ralts to awaken her secondary typing.
It was undeniably a massive pain in the ass, but to give Ralts her new elemental advantage, he had to grit his teeth and keep hunting.
He could only hope the remaining four crates would offer a surprise, though a disappointment was much more likely.
"Goddess Xue Tong, let's wrap it up for today. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again tomorrow." Lorze said, feeling a wave of exhaustion hit him.
The volume of Berries in a single crate was actually quite large; the only reason he finished in a day was because of Xue Tong's help.
With her Gardevoir's telekinesis, the Berries were processed in seconds. Whether it was slicing them into thin strips or... cutting them into heart shapes, she handled it with ease, saving Lorze hours of labor.
The only thing he couldn't figure out was... why the fuck were they cut into hearts?
Did Goddess Xue Tong actually have a hidden "shoujo" side?
"I'm happy to keep helping you, but what do you plan to do with the Berries we've already scanned?" Xue Tong didn't mind spending more time with him; she even pulled the exhausted boy into a gentle embrace to soothe him.
However, looking at the scanned Berries tossed aside, she felt it was a waste.
To facilitate scanning, these fruits were either sliced open or riddled with holes, destroying their structural integrity.
Once a Berry's integrity is compromised, the energy stored within begins to slowly bleed out, eventually leaving behind a "dead" fruit with zero nutritional or elemental value.
At that point, the only difference between them and normal fruit would be their terrible taste...
"That is a problem. For now, let's put them in cold storage. To utilize these 'waste' fruits perfectly, I need to do some more specific research." Lorze unceremoniously buried his face between Xue Tong's D-cups, greedily inhaling her soft, intoxicating fragrance.
Regarding the waste Berries, Lorze's solution was to turn them into Pokéblocks, which would stabilize and preserve the energy indefinitely.
But the current problem was that he didn't actually know how to manufacture Pokéblocks. It certainly wasn't as simple as just cutting a Berry into a cube.
The secret of the Pokéblock wasn't the "block" shape; it was the method of storing energy.
He had a few ideas, such as using freeze-drying technology to make Berry-jerky.
Or perhaps using sugar purification and crystallization to extract the essence.
But would those simple methods actually prevent energy leakage?
If it were that easy, the major Berry corporations would have patented the technology decades ago.
Energy leakage was the single greatest obstacle limiting the growth of the Berry industry.
Many businesses that produced Berry juice had to sell their entire stock the same day; otherwise, by the next morning, half the energy was gone, and they'd have to sell it at a loss, losing their shirts in the process.
For ordinary Trainers, energy leakage was also a soul-crushing problem.
Berries were obscenely expensive. If a Pokémon ate a whole Berry, they couldn't absorb all the energy at once, meaning most of that expensive power was wasted.
This involved the "Berry Absorption Rate," but the details were a headache. Simply put, poor Trainers usually cut a single Berry into multiple pieces to save money.
But if you cut it, the energy started leaking immediately.
Lorze, coming from a commoner background, knew the pain of being forced to slice Berries. He had often dreamed of a way to split one Berry's energy into ten portions—eating only what the Pokémon could absorb and saving the rest for months.
Pokéblocks could achieve exactly that. For the average Trainer, it would be a literal godsend.
Moreover, the economic value behind such a breakthrough was astronomical. Lorze had every reason to pursue it.
"Goddess Xue Tong, to make use of these waste Berries, I have a small favor to ask of you~." Lorze rubbed his face against her cleavage, trying to trigger the Cute Charm effect to make her more agreeable.
But honestly, he was mostly just enjoying the physical contact~.
"Just say it. If it's within my power, I'll help you." Xue Tong had fully entered "Doting Big Sister" mode, already referring to herself as his sister.
(Then give me your hand in marriage and let's make some babies!)
Lorze screamed internally, but to avoid getting slapped, he kept it professional: "Have you ever heard of a Tokamak device?"
"You mean the technology used for controlled nuclear fusion?" Xue Tong arched an eyebrow. Did the boy seriously expect her to source a nuclear reactor for him?
"Exactly. I need a miniature version of that. It doesn't need high power, but it must have high-speed centrifugal rotation and electromagnetic confinement capabilities. Do you think we can build one?" Lorze proposed the requirements based on his memory of the Pokéblock Blender from the games.
Every Pokémon player remembered that machine. It didn't look complex; the most iconic feature was the high-speed spinning, like a vertical washing machine.
So Lorze started with that logic.
As for the electromagnetic confinement? That was his own addition based on his analysis.
Spinning alone wouldn't stop energy from leaking. So he thought of the Tokamak, which used magnetic fields to trap high-energy plasma.
If it could trap temperatures of a hundred million degrees, surely it could trap Berry energy?
A Pokéblock machine didn't need nuclear temperatures—just a few hundred degrees. It was essentially a spinning, magnetically shielded oven. It shouldn't be hard to manufacture.
Ideally, the magnetic confinement module would be swappable, so if it failed, he could try other types of containment fields.
Lorze grabbed a pen and paper, using his "soul-painter" level drawing skills to sketch out the device. After his explanation, Xue Tong nodded thoughtfully, though it was unclear if she actually grasped the physics. Regardless, she promised to help.
"I'll leave this in your capable hands, Xue Tong. If possible, please keep this project a secret~." Lorze rubbed against her one last time as a plea.
"Don't worry. I'll handle it personally." Xue Tong nodded. Despite him rubbing against her most private areas, she found she didn't mind at all; in fact, she wanted him to do it more.
Perhaps she really was becoming a "Little Brother" fanatic.
She would definitely keep the device a secret; she didn't want anyone stealing her "brother's" research results.
She figured the best person to build this would be someone she trusted—Anna Lee. Anna was Elena's daughter and a top research student; building a fancy oven shouldn't be difficult for her.
It would also stop Anna from complaining about moving back to Shanghai for school and being "marginalized" from the group.
Don't worry, Anna. None of you can escape. You'll all belong to my brother eventually~.