Upon receiving the incense-making manual from his mentor, Yuga immediately settled down in his room to study it.
The production of incense is a highly intricate craft, with all the processes relying on pure handwork. It's not that industrial methods can't be used, but doing so undoubtedly results in significantly lower quality incense products.
The art of incense-making has always been passed down orally, and many precious methods have been lost to time. This is why authentic incense is scarce and expensive in the market.
Seeing the detailed procedures for incense-making recorded in the manual, Yuga felt like his head was spinning.
Yuga himself was not someone particularly skilled in hands-on work. While he wasn't terrible at it, he certainly wasn't exceptional either.
Among those capable of making Pokéblocks at the YoYo Day Care – which included Misaki, Audino, Anya, and Yuga himself – Yuga's skills were the weakest.
Apart from the fact that Yuga practiced hands-on activities less frequently than the others, the main reason was that he had the lowest dexterity among them.
Looking at the dense text in the manual, Yuga doubted whether he could successfully produce incense.
However, he eventually concluded that whether he personally could do it didn't matter all that much.
If the YoYo Day Care were to sell incense in the future, relying solely on him would be impossible.
To sell incense to the outside world, he needed a sufficient quantity, and that quantity was something Yuga alone couldn't produce.
Incense production is different from Pokéblock production; its intricate steps mean it can't be mass-produced quickly.
Moreover, as the owner of a Day Care, he couldn't spend every day at home making incense!
It seemed like he needed to train someone specifically for incense production.
In the end, Yuga made a special call to inquire whether he could share the method of making incense with others, including his master.
The incense-making manual was something Mr. Kuni'o had acquired unintentionally, not a closely guarded secret from his teaching. So when Yuga inquired, Mr. Kuni'o simply said it was up to him.
With his master's permission, Yuga breathed a sigh of relief and decided it would be better to train a dedicated incense-making employee who would be completely loyal to YoYo Day Care.
However, he didn't have a suitable candidate at the moment. Also, since he needed to expand the scale of the herb fields in the Ecopark, he decided to put this matter aside for now.
Expanding the herb field was a time-sensitive matter because herbs don't grow overnight. So, the next day, Yuga brought a group of Trapinchs with digging skills and a batch of Grass-type Pokémon with absorption skills to the Grassland Sub-Ecopark.
The Grass-type Pokémon were responsible for using their absorption skills to clear the part of the Grassland that was to be expanded into herb fields. The Trapinchs assisted by digging holes, and, finally, Linoone used its Rototiller skill to prepare the tilled land.
The Rototiller skill was not common, and few Pokémon had learned it. Throughout the Ecopark, only Linoone possessed this skill. Therefore, after clearing a large area, Linoone was indeed quite exhausted.
Fortunately, Yuga wasn't idle. He brought a bunch of Pokémon who could use shovels, spades, and hoes, and they helped Linoone break up the soil, making the Linoone's job much easier.
As they say, many hands make light work. With the assistance of numerous Pokémon, the expansion of the herb fields progressed smoothly and was completed in no time.
Yuga left the remaining tasks such as planting and fertilizing to the Grass-type Pokémon; they had innate talents for this work.
In addition to the original herb varieties in the Ecopark, Yuga also purchased many common herb seeds from outside. After all, the materials for making incense were quite complex, and the Ecopark's existing herb varieties wouldn't suffice.
Upon learning of Yuga's plans for large-scale herb cultivation, Mr. Kuni'o directly had Ryuichi send him a considerable number of valuable herb seeds.
The cultivation methods for these herbs were all detailed in the "Comprehensive Guide to Medical Herb Cultivation" that Mr. Kuni'o had sent to Yuga before, so Yuga wasn't worried about not being able to grow them.
In this manner, Yuga gradually collected most of the materials needed for making incense. Now, all he had to do was wait for the herbs to mature and find a suitable employee.
It wasn't just a worker for incense production that Yuga needed to find; he also had to prepare for hiring someone to make Razor Fangs.
The method for making Razor Fangs, carrying items that enhanced a Pokémon's critical-hit ratio, was not simpler than incense-making; in fact, it might be even more complex. Yuga couldn't take on this task himself either. Similar to incense-making, he needed to find a reliable employee.
However, Yuga hadn't started recruiting yet when Ryuichi gave him a call.
It turned out that, upon learning that Yuga intended to make incense a product for YoYo Day Care, Mr. Kuni'o had Ryuichi find a skilled incense-making employee for Yuga.
According to Ryuichi, this person had been like a daughter to him since childhood, and Yuga could fully entrust the task of incense-making to her.
She, like Ryuichi, was an orphan but had risen through elementary and high school with excellent grades thanks to Ryuichi's support. She had displayed a natural talent for incense-making from a young age and had even majored in it during her high school years.
However, high schools, being public educational institutions, couldn't teach advanced incense-making techniques. So, when she learned that she could study top-notch incense-making at Yuga's place, she enthusiastically accepted Ryuichi's recommendation.
Yuga didn't expect that his mentor and Ryuichi had quietly solved a problem for him. He couldn't have been happier. Now, all he needed to do was find someone to help with the production of Razor Fangs.
Ryuichi informed Yuga that the person he recommended had already set out for Verdanturf Town. She should arrive in about three days, so Yuga needed to get prepared. Ryuichi also sent Yuga the person's name and photo, so he wouldn't have trouble recognizing her when she arrived.
To welcome the new employee at YoYo Day Care, Yuga had already informed the others in advance and arranged accommodation.
Initially, there wouldn't be enough materials for incense production, so the incense couldn't be put on the shelves at YoYo Day Care yet. There was also no need for the new employee to arrive so early.
However, incense-making required practice and refinement over time. Her early arrival was meant to give her the opportunity to familiarize herself with the production methods. By the time all preparations were completed, her production skills should be reasonably proficient.