Manor Lord of the Elf World

Chapter 66 Molting
On an ordinary day, a light rain began to fall.

Many Pokémon in the territory dislike rainy days.

The five foam squirrels, who had planned to go out to bask in the sun and check on the growth of the tree fruits, could only stay obediently in the wooden house. They huddled in front of the wooden window, gazing at the gentle spring rain outside.

"Chicken..." the foam squirrel cried pitifully.

Rainwater would wet their fur, which would make the mice very uncomfortable.

"Alright, this rain should stop soon, then you guys can go out and have fun!" Raven said with a smile.

However, upon hearing this, the foam squirrels' expressions immediately became even more sorrowful.

“Chicken…” One of the foam squirrels looked utterly dejected.

After it rains, the roads become muddy and slippery, and if you run on them, you'll get covered in mud.

This is undoubtedly very difficult for a clean-loving squirrel to accept.

Raven: "..."

He was also very helpless about this.

Raven sighed and said, "You'd better stay inside until the rain stops. If you feel damp and cold, I'll have someone light the fireplace for you."

"Lili!" Raven is the best!

The foam squirrels cheered in unison.

"Snivy, Dratini and I are going out for special training. Do you want to come?" Raven stood up and asked.

"Snivy." Snivy proudly crossed its arms; it didn't have the same fastidiousness as the foam squirrel.

Raven understood what it meant and nodded, "Okay, if you're worried about getting dirty, come stand on my shoulder!"

"No way!" the Snivy thought proudly.

It jumped off the bed, raised its little head, and walked gracefully toward the door.

However, as soon as its feet touched the ground, dirty water mixed with mud immediately climbed up its legs.

Snivy: "!!!"

Raven walked over from behind, carrying a Dratini. Seeing Snivy's appearance, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Come on up. Your special training will be paused for today. This weather is more suitable for Dratini to practice a special move, so I plan to take it out to try it out. You can also take a look and maybe you can get some inspiration from it."

As he spoke, Raven squatted down and used a handkerchief to wipe the mud off Snivy's little feet.

Snivy supported Raven with its paws, though the feeling was somewhat unsettling to it...

"Alright, it's all clean now, you can come up here too!" Raven gestured with his eyes to his shoulder.

Seeing this, Snivy raised its head arrogantly, crossed its arms, and sat down on it.

Since that's the case, it will reluctantly agree!
Raven went out with an umbrella. On rainy days, people stayed at home, and there were hardly any people in the territory.

They arrived at the riverbank, where Raven was preparing to teach Dratini a rather unusual move.

It's not an offensive move, but a move that can change the weather.

[Rain Prayer: A water-attribute move that summons rain clouds for a limited time, causing rain to fall. It also increases the power of water-attribute moves and decreases the power of fire-attribute moves.]

If they had this ability, the Dratini could use it to bring rain if the territory encountered natural disasters such as drought.

"Dragonite, today I'm going to teach you the move Rain Dance." Raven thought for a moment about how Pokémon used this move in the anime, and then explained the effect of the move to Dragonite in detail.

"Huh?" The Mini Dragon seemed to understand but not quite.

“Actually, I’m not entirely sure either, but I think I can guess how it works,” Raven said thoughtfully.

Pokémon use their Water-type energy to sense water molecules in the air, resonate with them, and cause rain to fall from the sky.

“No rush, let’s first feel the traces of raindrops falling and flowing in the air,” Raven said.

The dwarf dragon poked its head out of the river, looked up at the sky, and felt the rain falling on its body...

Raven and Snivy stood together on the shore, watching this scene under their umbrellas.

Before it evolved, Dratini didn't have much to do with forces like weather or meteorology.

But once it evolves into Dragonair, it gradually gains the power to manipulate the weather. During this period, even though Dragonair has no wings, it can still fly.

In that distant future, some scholars discovered through research that Hakron was able to fly because it could manipulate the power of the weather to ride the wind and rise into the sky.

For this reason, since ancient times, Dragonair has been worshipped by people engaged in agriculture as the weather god.

Ancient people believed that Hakkar could control the weather, and they would continuously send offerings to the lake where Hakkar lived.

As for whether Hakron actually possesses such power, Raven is unsure, since he has never seen a real Hakron.

We'll only know for sure once Dratini evolves.

The gentle spring rain kept falling on Dratini. At first, Dratini couldn't calm down and feel it, because its gaze was always drawn to Raven and Snivy on the shore.

Raven keenly sensed the Dratini's condition and spoke up at the right moment: "Focus, concentrate, don't let anything else distract you, we'll stay here with you."

"Ugh...!"

The dwarf dragon tried to concentrate, attempting to sense the abundant moisture in the air.

Water...so much water!
The Dratini sensed a surge of blue energy surrounding it.

It tried to make contact and connect with it, but the energy seemed to be deliberately avoiding it.

The next second, the Dratini opened its eyes.

"How is it?" Raven asked with concern.

"Ugh..." The Dratini looked dejected; it had failed.

"Don't rush. Nothing can be accomplished overnight. Take it slow. If you fail this time, you might succeed next time," Raven encouraged.

The mini dragon quickly cheered up: "Woo!"

In order not to disappoint Raven's expectations, it closed its eyes again and tried its best to sense things.

An hour later, the rain stopped.

The Mini Dragon was forced to interrupt its special training.

Raven glanced up at the gloomy sky, then held out his hand to the Dratini: "Let's continue next time. Come on, let's go back first!"

The Dratini obediently returned to Raven's arms.

They returned home, and Raven had the maid light the fireplace, then let the dwarf dragons go over to warm up and dry off.

Meanwhile, Raven pondered the various affairs within the territory.

For example, with the help of the Explosive Ape, a large number of bricks have been fired in the territory so far, and it is time for them to officially start building more sturdy houses.

However, at that moment, Raven suddenly heard the Dratini make a sound as if it was enduring something.

He turned his head and saw the miniature dragon in front of the fireplace crawl to the table and keep rubbing its body against the table leg.

The next second, a light suddenly shone from the Dratini's body.

That's... evolution? Raven was slightly taken aback.

No, it's not evolution!

Watching the dragon skin slowly peel off the body of the miniature dragon.

Raven immediately understood what was going on.

These days of special training have caused the life energy in the Dratini's body to expand to a whole new level. The Dratini is unable to suppress this life energy, so it has begun to molt!

In other words, the dwarf dragons are growing and becoming stronger.

While Raven was still in a daze, the Dratini had completely shed its skin that radiated a mysterious glow.

The light on Dratini's body slowly faded, and it straightened up again, opening its big, dark, bright eyes to look at Raven.

Seeing that the mini-dragon was slightly larger than before, Raven was genuinely happy for it.

Congratulations, Dratini!

"Woo~!"

(End of this chapter)