-005- Choosing a Spirit Egg

“Tong Si!”

At that moment, a voice called out from the direction of the ranch.

“Bui?”

The Eevee in Tong Si’s arms, who had been sleeping soundly and even drooling a little, was startled awake.

“Bui…”

Eevee wiped away the drool, rubbed its eyes, and looked warily at the newcomer.

“Oh, it’s you… Chu Xuanxuan.”

From his memories, Tong Si knew that this girl with twin ponytails was Chu Xuanxuan, the granddaughter of Grandpa Chu.

“Tong Si! You’ve got your first Pokémon too, right? I challenge you to a battle!”

Chu Xuanxuan was quite aggressive. When she saw the Eevee in Tong Si’s arms, she naturally assumed that he had also become a Pokémon Trainer. After all, both of them had already been admitted to Jia Hua University in advance. Normally, high school seniors only choose their first Pokémon after finishing the college entrance exam, but some can’t resist and get theirs ahead of time, registering officially only after the exams. For students like them with guaranteed admission, it was perfectly normal to already own a Pokémon.

“You want to challenge me?” Tong Si glanced at the Eevee in his arms.

Eevee licked its paw, half-closed its eyes, and shot Chu Xuanxuan a sideways glance, as if regarding her as a fool. Then, it turned over and went right back to sleep.

Chu Xuanxuan saw this and a mark of annoyance appeared on her forehead.

“You can see for yourself—my Eevee doesn’t want to battle you.” Tong Si shrugged helplessly. It wasn’t that he wasn’t willing to battle, but rather that Eevee had no interest.

“You…” Chu Xuanxuan was furious. She had always lost to Tong Si in Pokémon knowledge competitions, and now that they both finally had their own Pokémon, she was eager to defeat him in a real battle to prove she was better. Who would have thought that Tong Si was proud, but his Pokémon was even prouder?

“Hahaha, you two, don’t start quarreling the moment you meet.” Grandpa Chu hurried over to smooth things over. “Little Tong Si, aren’t you here to stock up? Come with me, I’ll show you around so you can pick.”

With that, Grandpa Chu led Tong Si toward his Pokémon egg storage.

Tong Si made an apologetic gesture to Chu Xuanxuan and followed Grandpa Chu away. Chu Xuanxuan, still fuming, trailed after them, unwilling to give up on her challenge.

Grandpa Chu’s Pokémon egg storage was vast, and many breeding houses in the countryside came to source from him. Most of them were rural breeders; those in the city preferred better suppliers.

Tong Si saw five racks in total, each shelf holding twenty Pokémon eggs. There were also incubators; Grandpa Chu’s equipment was quite complete.

“Little Tong Si, the eggs on this shelf are Mareep. That one is Oddish, and the one to the left is Hoppip.”

“Over here, these are Rattata eggs, plus Sentret and Caterpie.”

As Grandpa Chu introduced the eggs, Tong Si noted that Mareep, Oddish, and Hoppip made up the bulk, each occupying their own shelf, while Rattata, Sentret, and Caterpie shared one rack. The remaining shelf was labeled ‘For Temporary Custody.’

“Grandpa Chu, what about the eggs on this shelf?” Tong Si was curious. For temporary custody? When did Grandpa Chu add a new rack?

“These belong to my old friend who runs a Magikarp farm. All these eggs are his. If you like, you can take a few—they’re quite cheap.”

Grandpa Chu explained, and Tong Si’s eyes lit up. A Magikarp farm? While Magikarp is known for being the weakest among Pokémon in battle, its scales are quite valuable. Grandpa Chu’s old friend made his living selling those scales. When the pond was teeming with Magikarp, strange things tended to happen—eggs would often appear along the shore, providing an extra source of income.

“Grandpa Chu, if the price is good, I’ll take a few Magikarp eggs!” Tong Si saw a great business opportunity. He’d even set aside a small pond at his breeding house for future Water-types. Now was the perfect chance to buy some Magikarp eggs to raise himself.

“Hahaha, Little Tong Si, you’re one of my best customers. My old friend just wants to sell these eggs off and make a little money. Tell you what, I’ll only charge you five thousand Alliance coins per Magikarp egg.”

“Really? Thank you so much, Grandpa Chu!” Tong Si was thrilled. Grandpa Chu wasn’t making any extra profit at all.

On the market, even a single Magikarp egg started at twenty to thirty thousand. If the egg was of higher potential, it could fetch over a hundred thousand. Since Grandpa Chu lacked the equipment to test egg quality, he sold all eggs at the same price, regardless of their potential.

Tong Si activated his scanning device. After a quick sweep, he was a bit disappointed—most of the Magikarp eggs on this rack were of common-grade quality, with only two of ordinary-grade.

“Grandpa Chu, I’ll take those two Magikarp eggs.” Tong Si pointed out the two ordinary-grade eggs, and Grandpa Chu quickly set them aside for him. Then, Tong Si scanned the other four racks. Most were common-grade, with only a few ordinary-grade eggs and not a single premium-grade egg in sight. Tong Si picked out all the ordinary-grade eggs; Grandpa Chu packed them up one by one, unaware that Tong Si was selecting based on their grade—he assumed Tong Si, like other breeders, was choosing by appearance.

Including the two Magikarp eggs, Tong Si ended up with eleven in total, one more than he’d expected, for a total of 120,000 Alliance coins—around 10,000 per egg on average.

Tong Si felt Grandpa Chu was a truly honest merchant. If he resold these eggs, each would fetch at least 50,000, since they were ordinary-grade. Normally, common-grade eggs only go for two to three times less, and the exact price depends on the Pokémon species. Some unpopular low-grade eggs just sit on the shelves gathering dust.

Looking at his cart full of eggs, Tong Si felt a surge of joy. If he sold them all, he’d make a tidy profit!

… (To be continued)