Chapter Eight: Procuring the Spirit Egg
Cheng Cheng put Chime Chime back into its Poké Ball, then placed the three Pokémon eggs on the shelf before shutting the shop’s door and returning upstairs to the second floor.
Once back in his father’s room, Cheng Cheng turned on the computer, intending to look up information about purchasing Psychic-type Pokémon eggs. He opened the official League website and searched for places selling Pokémon eggs. The first result was the research institute in Verdanturf City, which sold a selection of Pokémon. Next were the various large stores, each carrying a limited stock. Finally, there were a few breeding houses with eggs for sale, but Cheng Cheng had no intention of supporting his competitors’ business. It seemed his choices were limited to the research institute or the large stores.
He refined his search, entering “Psychic-type Pokémon” as the keyword, but found that not a single store listed Psychic-type Pokémon eggs for sale—most available eggs were for Flying-types.
“Wait... What’s this?”
Cheng Cheng spotted a kind of Psychic-type Pokémon online—Natu.
Natu was both a Psychic and a Flying-type. In Verdanturf City, a paradise for bird Pokémon, Natu was fairly common.
“That settles it. It’ll be Natu.”
He quickly locked onto a store that sold Flying-type Pokémon eggs, which included Natu. The only problem was that he was currently out of money.
“Ding! New tasks released.
Task One: Officially begin selling Pokémon, and sell three Pokémon eggs or live Pokémon to earn 500 achievement points.
Task Two: Clean up the backyard by driving away or capturing the wild Pokémon that reside there. Captured Pokémon will be bought back at one-tenth the standard price. Completing this task will earn you ten random Berry tree seeds.”
“System, why is the buyback price now only one-tenth of the standard rate?”
“The first time was a newbie promotion, so it was at the standard rate. Now that the host has officially begun growing, Pokémon are bought back at one-tenth the standard price.”
Cheng Cheng pondered for a moment. Since he was short on money for now, he might as well clean up the backyard first.
His family’s breeding house wasn’t just the two-story building—there was also a huge plot of land behind the house, which his father had bought for raising Pokémon. Because this land was connected to the forest behind it, wild Pokémon would sometimes wander onto the property. Cheng Cheng needed to drive them out so he could raise his own Pokémon in peace. Still, he hadn’t considered just shooing them away; each Pokémon was potentially worth money, and right now, he was desperately short of funds.
The next morning, Cheng Cheng brought Chime Chime, Ralts, and Gothita to the backyard. The lawn was overgrown with weeds and wildflowers were in bloom.
Cheng Cheng began patrolling the grounds, searching for Pokémon.
A rustling sound came from his right—likely a Pokémon moving about.
He crept forward and spotted a purple Pokémon.
Pokémon: Rattata
Type: Normal
Level: 12
Grade: Deep Orange
Rarity: Common
“All right, you’re up. Go, Ralts!”
Ralts appeared before the Rattata, startling it. The Rattata immediately tried to flee.
“Don’t let it escape, Ralts! Use Confusion!”
With a chirp, Ralts used Confusion to restrain the Rattata.
“Lift it up and throw it!”
Ralts lifted the Rattata off the ground with psychic power and slammed it down. The Rattata was instantly incapacitated. Cheng Cheng threw a Poké Ball and captured it.
“Good job, Ralts. Let’s keep going!”
“Come on out, Chime Chime, Gothita—let’s all work together.”
With the help of his three Pokémon, Cheng Cheng quickly cleared the backyard of wild Pokémon. Fortunately, he didn’t encounter any particularly strong ones. If he had, given his current strength, he would have been in trouble.
“Ding! Task Two completed. Congratulations, Host, you’ve received ten random Berry tree seeds.”
“Ding! Calculating Pokémon harvest:
- Deep Red, Common: 2
- Orange, Common: 3
- Orange, Rare: 1
- Deep Orange, Common: 12
- Pale Yellow, Common: 8
- Pale Yellow, Rare: 2
- Yellow, Common: 5
- Deep Yellow, Common: 1
Total: 728,000
Host’s earnings: 72,800.”
Seeing the amount he’d earned, Cheng Cheng was delighted—he now had enough to buy Pokémon eggs. The biggest contributors were Rattata and its evolutions; the backyard had practically become their home.
When Cheng Cheng returned upstairs, Aunt Meixuzi had already prepared lunch. He didn’t stand on ceremony and quickly dug in.
“Cheng Cheng, here—take this,” Aunt Meixuzi handed him a card.
“Aunt Meixuzi, it’s all right. I have money.”
“Nonsense. Do you think I don’t know how much your father left behind? Setting up a breeding house costs a lot. There’s two hundred thousand in this card. It’s all I can offer.”
“All right, then. Thank you, Aunt Meixuzi. Treat it as a loan—I’ll pay you back once I start making money.”
Cheng Cheng didn’t refuse her kindness. He really didn’t have much cash, and Natu eggs weren’t cheap. With her help, he could get the breeding house up and running quickly.
After lunch, Cheng Cheng took his Pokémon to the store he’d found earlier.
He stopped in front of the store, reading the sign: The Aviary. Two Chatot perched on a rack outside.
Inside, a few Hoothoot and Noctowl hung on display racks.
“Hello, is there anything I can help you with?” a middle-aged man approached.
“Hi, I’d like to buy some Pokémon eggs.”
“Pokémon eggs? Certainly. Which kind are you after?”
“I’m looking for Natu eggs.”
“Natu? That’s a rare Pokémon—the price isn’t low.”
“I understand. I’d like some good-quality Natu eggs.”
“All right, follow me.”
The man led Cheng Cheng down a long hallway with several rooms. He stopped in front of one.
“Come in. These are the Natu eggs.”
Cheng Cheng saw eight eggs arranged on a shelf. The system’s information confirmed all eight were Natu eggs: two orange, one deep orange, three pale yellow, one yellow, and one deep yellow.
The prices climbed along with the eggs’ grades, indicating the shop had a way to assess Pokémon quality. So much for scoring a bargain, Cheng Cheng thought.
He didn’t buy the orange-grade eggs; instead, he bought the five yellow-grade ones. By the system’s standard prices, these eggs would total 380,000, but those prices were for level 30 Pokémon, not eggs. After some haggling, he got them all for 100,000.
“By the way, what are those eggs over there?” Cheng Cheng noticed some eggs piled haphazardly on another rack.
“Oh, those are defective eggs—either unidentifiable, too low-grade, or unlikely to hatch. They’re sold cheap.”
“How much?”
“One thousand each.”
“Mind if I pick a few?”
“Go ahead.”
Checking the system’s data, Cheng Cheng found that among them, besides Natu eggs, there were eggs for other Flying-types. He picked out all the Natu eggs that could still hatch.
He also discovered a particularly special egg:
Pokémon Egg
Pokémon: Natu (Mutant, Abnormal Condition)
Type: Normal
Grade: Light Blue
Rarity: Epic
Cheng Cheng was thrilled. A mutant egg might mean a shiny Pokémon, and its grade was light blue, with epic rarity. However, its “abnormal condition” likely explained why it had ended up here.
“Huh? What’s this?” Cheng Cheng noticed an egg that looked like a stone.
Pokémon Egg
Pokémon: Unknown
Type: Unknown
Grade: Unknown
Rarity: Unknown
(Covered by a mysterious power; system unable to identify.)
The system’s data left Cheng Cheng dumbfounded; he’d never encountered this before.
“System, what’s the story with this egg?”
“It’s shrouded by an unknown power and cannot be identified.”
“Can I take it?”
“For now, yes. If it hatches into a non-Psychic-type Pokémon, the system will disassemble it.”
“I see. I’ll buy it anyway.”
Cheng Cheng picked out ten eggs in all, paid another ten thousand League credits, and left his address so the shopkeeper could deliver them to his breeding house.
Next, he visited another store and bought five more yellow-grade Natu eggs, though this time he didn’t find any bargains.
Returning to the breeding house, he placed the ten yellow-grade Natu eggs on a shelf and set their prices:
Natu, Pale Yellow, 20,000.
Natu, Yellow, 30,000.
Natu, Deep Yellow, 50,000.
He matched the store prices; if he set them higher, no one would buy from him.
He also priced the three Ralts eggs he’d obtained earlier:
Ralts, Yellow, 2,500.
Since Natu was rarer than Ralts, he priced the Ralts eggs a bit lower.
The eight defective Natu eggs he’d bought couldn’t be hatched for now, and even if they could, they might not survive—these eggs suffered from congenital defects. However, Cheng Cheng had spotted a gene repair potion in the system shop, which was why he dared to buy these eggs in the first place.
Unfortunately, the potion required achievement points, and Cheng Cheng had none at the moment. For now, he had no choice but to store the defective eggs in the large cabinet in the inner room.
With these tasks done, Cheng Cheng returned to the second floor.