Choosing a Spirit Egg

Chengzi saw Qian Bing suddenly growing frantic, and the smile on her face widened as she said:

"Don't rush. I'll take you to see the Charmander Spirit Eggs first. Come with me—we can talk as we walk.

"From what you said, I can roughly guess that you want a Pokemon with a Fighting-type affinity, something that excels in direct combat, but you also don't want one with a single attribute that can easily be countered.

"Little Trainer Bing, your idea is good, but you're being a little greedy."

Hearing this, Qian Bing scratched his head sheepishly. He realized he really was asking for quite a lot.

But on second thought, with such a rare opportunity to choose from so many Spirit Eggs, of course he had to find the best and most suitable one!

Qian Bing knew that a little flattery never hurt when asking someone for help, so his next words carried a hint of greasy charm.

"Haha, Miss Chengzi, you're both beautiful and wise. You completely understood what I was thinking.

"Now that you've put it that way, I realize I really do seem a little greedy.

"But I believe that with your intelligence, you'll definitely be able to give me some useful advice."

The smile on Chengzi's face grew even broader. Just as Qian Bing saw that she was about to speak, they happened to arrive beside a row of shelves marked with flames.

Chengzi paused, seeming to swallow the words that had reached her lips. In the end, she raised a hand and pointed at the shelf before them.

"The Spirit Eggs on this row are all Charmander eggs. Take a look and see whether there's one you want.

"You may observe them up close and touch them lightly, but you absolutely must not knock on the shells or do anything that could damage the Spirit Eggs."

Qian Bing nodded.

He wasn't brain-damaged. Of course he wouldn't do something like that!

"Go ahead and choose. I'll wait nearby, and we can talk later."

After saying that, Chengzi stepped aside to wait, allowing Qian Bing to make his selection at his own pace.

As one of the original Starter Pokémon, Charmander was not only one of the Pokemon officially recognized by the Pokémon Alliance as best suited for novice trainers to raise.

It was also considered the original Starter Pokémon with the highest growth ceiling and fiercest offensive power.

The strongest proof was that Charizard, Charmander's third-stage evolution, had higher base stats than both Venusaur and Blastoise.

As a result, Charmander was even more sought after, with far more people favoring it than the other two.

Therefore, the row of shelves before Qian Bing was much emptier than the surrounding shelves.

Nearly two-thirds of the spaces were vacant, leaving only around thirty Spirit Eggs.

His gaze swept over the thirty-odd Spirit Eggs one by one, and the anticipation in his eyes gradually faded.

There were thirty-one Spirit Eggs in total. Twenty-eight were Elite Grade, while only three were Quasi-King Grade. There wasn't even a single King Grade egg!

Such "high" quality nearly suffocated Qian Bing!

He even began to wonder whether the A-Rank Warehouse truly had Champion-grade Pokemon. Could that just be a promotional gimmick?

Based on his own experience, that really did seem like the sort of thing a Pokémon Care Center would do!

Qian Bing intended to hatch the Pokemon from this Spirit Egg and focus on raising it as the second Soul Ring Spirit of his Spirit Ball Spirit.

So Quasi-King Grade quality, which was inferior even to Pidgeotto, clearly could not meet his expectations.

Left with no choice, he could only painfully give up his first choice. Returning to Chengzi's side, he shook his head and said:

"None of these Spirit Eggs meet my expectations. Let's go look at something else."

Chengzi was not surprised in the slightest.

"Alright, I'll take you to see some others. Actually, based on what you want, I thought of a Pokemon that fits your requirements especially well: Electabuzz.

"Although Electabuzz isn't a Fighting type, it can learn powerful moves of various types, including Hyper Beam. Its offensive power is strong, it's no slouch in head-on combat, and it isn't easily countered. Would you like to take a look?"

Hearing Chengzi say that, Qian Bing instantly recalled that when he played the original Pokémon games in his previous life, his favorite lineup had been Dragonite, Alakazam, Gengar, the Starter Pokémon, and Electabuzz.

Electabuzz was definitely one of the strangest Pokemon around.

As an Electric-type Pokemon, it could actually learn moves of various attributes, including certain Fire, Water, Ice, Fighting, Psychic, and Normal-type moves.

It was simply the ultimate all-rounder. Whatever type of Pokemon his team lacked, he just had Electabuzz learn moves of the corresponding type!

All at once, he had many more Spirit Eggs to choose from!

A trace of excitement appeared in Qian Bing's eyes as he said happily:

"That's exactly right. Miss Chengzi, thank you for reminding me. Let's go look at Electabuzz's Spirit Eggs first.

"If there still isn't a suitable one, then the Psychic-type Abra, the Dragon-type Dratini, and the Ghost-type Gastly can also serve as alternatives."

"Ah, how did you suddenly become so full of ideas?

"But your standards are far too high, aren't they? Charmander, Abra, Dratini... those Pokemon are all among the rarest in the Kanto Region.

"There aren't many of their Spirit Eggs in stock. You should be prepared for the possibility that even after seeing them all, you still might not find one you like."

"Haha, I can't be that unlucky, can I?"

Chengzi was far less optimistic. She had seen too many trainers arrive full of ambition, only to leave feeling worse than dead.

But she didn't want to dampen Qian Bing's enthusiasm, so she could only offer a perfunctory smile and say:

"This way. These two rows are all Spirit Eggs of Elekid, Electabuzz's earliest form."

Qian Bing looked over. The proportion of Spirit Eggs on these shelves was not much different from the Charmander eggs earlier. There were sixty-eight eggs across the two rows.

The Spirit Illustrated Handbook Spirit in his left hand quietly activated as his gaze rapidly swept across every Spirit Egg.

This time, at last, he found a Spirit Egg that made his eyes light up.

It was Near Champion Grade!

He did not dare reveal too much unusual behavior in front of Chengzi. Quietly memorizing the egg's location, he had Chengzi take him to see the other types of Spirit Eggs.

Next, they went to the shelves containing Gastly Spirit Eggs.

Among the Pokemon Qian Bing had chosen, Gastly had the greatest number of Spirit Eggs.

But having a much larger pool was useless. The highest-quality Spirit Egg across five rows of shelves was only King Grade.

With the better Near Champion Grade Elekid Spirit Egg already before him, Qian Bing could not even be bothered to give them another glance and decisively shook his head in rejection.

After that, he went to see Abra. This time, he found another Near Champion Grade Abra Spirit Egg among three rows of shelves.

Although Near Champion Grade had already met Qian Bing's baseline expectations, he still vaguely wanted to find the ultimate option in the A-Rank Warehouse: a Champion-grade Spirit Egg.

So he could only place all his hopes on the final option, Dratini!

Seeing that Qian Bing had browsed for so long without choosing any Spirit Egg he was interested in, Chengzi reminded him regretfully:

"Are you dissatisfied with all the Spirit Eggs on the shelves so far?

"If you aren't a professional appraisal expert, ordinary people like us should just leave choosing Spirit Eggs to fate.

"A lot of the time, even if we look until our eyes are dazzled, we still can't pick out a high-quality Spirit Egg."

Qian Bing deeply agreed with that, but was he an ordinary person?

He was, but he had an extraordinary cheat!

If he clearly had the ability to choose a better Spirit Egg yet did not cherish it or spend time choosing, that would simply be wasting heaven's gift. He would be struck by lightning!