This Trainer Has No Sportsmanship Chapter 43

Prompted by the receptionist, You Zhi immediately remembered that Pokémon games did indeed have such a setting. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, National Park held a Bug-Catching Contest. Participants had to catch an Insect-Type Pokémon with the highest total score.

Before the competition began, every participant received twenty Park Balls. During the contest, they could only use the first Pokémon traveling with them. Any Pokémon caught during the Bug-Catching Contest would be recorded in the Pokédex, but only one could be kept for judging. The Pokémon submitted for judging would belong to the participant after the contest ended, while all the others would automatically be released.

You Zhi could no longer remember the exact details. He only recalled two things: Scyther could be caught during the Bug-Catching Contest, and the champion's prize was a Sun Stone.

Scyther was undoubtedly a powerful Pokémon, but You Zhi still had no intention of entering the Bug-Catching Contest. After all, as far as he remembered, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Insects did not have many powerful monsters.

Besides, judging by his luck since crossing over, even if he encountered a particularly gifted spirit in the Bug-Catching Contest, there was an eighty-to-ninety-percent chance it would be a girl.

Traptrix would have been fine. Their appearance was barely acceptable. But what if he ran into the Insect Queen?

Rather than agonize over it later, he might as well not touch it from the start.

Come to think of it, the Insect Queen seemed like she could be used as a mount too. That made it even more troublesome.

Forcefully suppressing the urge to catch himself a mount, You Zhi took out two metal rods—the Spiritual Power Fluctuation Detectors Morty had given him before—and began exploring the park.

This was not a whim. He had remembered that National Park contained a hidden item, apparently even a Technical Machine.

Since this world had spirits that corresponded to game settings, it seemed perfectly reasonable for it to have a hidden item corresponding to those settings as well.

There was no rush to continue his journey anyway. With the mentality of taking a few swings whether there were dates on the tree or not, he came to National Park to search around and try his luck.

And he really found it.

"Skill Stone: Dig. It was mixed into the soil of the flowerbed and completely inconspicuous. If I hadn't known there was a hidden item here, I really might not have found it."

You Zhi was overjoyed. The practical value of Dig had been mentioned before. The key was that this move was basically difficult for spirits to master through training alone.

Other than Ground-type spirits, most spirits disliked burrowing underground. One careless mistake and they could bury themselves alive, so they naturally resisted it.

You Zhi did not hurry to choose who would learn it. He stored the Skill Stone safely in his backpack, then rode his bicycle away from National Park and continued toward Goldenrod City.

Goldenrod City was the largest city in the Johto Region. In the games, it had special locations such as a bicycle shop, department store, Game Corner, radio tower, and train station. In reality, it was even more prosperous. Skyscrapers stood everywhere in neat rows, displaying the grandeur of a metropolis.

You Zhi did not investigate whether the game's special buildings truly existed. He rode straight to Goldenrod Gym, booked a challenge, then bought a spectator ticket, intending to ask the veteran audience members for information.

"Gym Leader Whitney specializes in Normal-type spirits. If you're a rookie trainer, I wouldn't recommend challenging this gym."

"Why?"

"Because the Gym Leader isn't very polite to trainers and rarely goes easy on them. On top of that, Goldenrod City has lots of people and lots of trainers. Gradually, Gym Leader Whitney earned the nickname 'Rookie Killer,' while her ace spirit gained the prefix 'most vicious and evil.'"

You Zhi was startled when he heard that. Normal-type and most vicious and evil—he really could not think of any spirit that fit the description.

"May I ask which spirit is Gym Leader Whitney's ace?"

"See for yourself. Whitney is about to summon it."

As soon as the words fell, a gigantic figure appeared on the battlefield, blotting out the sky and making the spacious arena feel exceptionally cramped.

You Zhi focused his gaze and saw that it was actually... a block of tofu?

Chapter 90: Scavenging Bargains Was the Cheat's True Purpose

After watching the Gym Duel, You Zhi had to admit that "most vicious and evil" was an entirely fitting assessment.

It was clearly just a tofu-like spirit and even looked rather cute, yet it fought with such brutality that his heart turned cold.

"The psychic's warning was right. Goldenrod City really isn't suitable for rookies to challenge."

Fortunately, You Zhi was no longer a rookie. The opponent's performance only made him feel somewhat troubled; it had not reached the point of being impossible to handle.

His Gym challenge had been scheduled for four days later. In other cities, You Zhi would probably have spent the intervening three days sweeping through wild spirits to raise their levels as much as possible. But as the largest city in the Johto Region, Goldenrod City had quite a few game plot points worth exploring.

Among them, there were three places where LIGHT attribute spirits could be obtained.

"The first is the Goldenrod Department Store. Someone there wants to trade for a Machop."

You Zhi could no longer remember which floor of the department store it was on. Even if he did remember, it would have been useless. Living people were not NPCs who stayed in one spot forever, doing nothing and waiting for players to talk to them.

It would have been fine if the location were a residence. As long as he visited before the end of working hours, he might have had a chance of meeting the person. But since the location was a public place, even if they worked at the department store, they could not remain there all the time.

You Zhi had already prepared himself to return empty-handed, treating the trip as an opportunity to browse the department store. After all, it sold plenty of items related to spirits.

But after looking around, he discovered that the fifth floor of the department store was a place specifically for trainers to exchange Pokémon Cards. It was essentially an upgraded version of a park matchmaking corner. Trainers only needed to pay a certain fee to entrust their Pokémon Cards to the mall, which would act as an intermediary and help them find trainers willing to trade. Of course, direct sales were also allowed.

After browsing for a while, You Zhi quickly found the spirit corresponding to "Machop," because it was the only Fighting-type spirit with strong talent here. The others either had mediocre talent or were not Fighting-type.

[Monk Fighter (3-Star) EARTH]

[Lineage: Fighting-type]

[Level: 15]

[Talent: Strong]

[Attack: 1300 (1300)]

[Defense: 1000 (1000)]

[Rock-Type, Effect: When this card battles, battle damage received by its controller becomes 0]

To be honest, You Zhi wanted to balance the male-to-female ratio in his team. He especially wanted to break the curse of only being able to catch female spirits since crossing over. But he truly could not think of any reason to acquire this spirit.

His team did not lack Fighting-type spirits. Monk Fighter could not serve as a mount, and its talent was not high enough to tempt him, so he could only give it up.

You Zhi also looked over the other spirits, but the vast majority had calm or weak talent. Including Monk Fighter, only three had strong talent. The other two were the Psychic-type Skilled Dark Magician and the Water-type Sea Dragon God.

Leaving aside the fact that his team already had Psychic-type and Water-type spirits, these two were unacceptable based on appearance alone. It was not that You Zhi only liked cool and handsome types, but these two simply looked utterly generic.

It could only be said that if a spirit had outstanding talent or an exceptional appearance, it would have been traded away long ago. It would not be waiting for him to pick up as a bargain.

"The second place is Bill's Eevee. I'll skip that for now."

Eevee was undoubtedly a famous and powerful Pokémon, but just like the situation with Onix, You Zhi had no idea where Bill lived. In the game, a town map only had a few rooms, and he could find him by searching them one by one. But in reality, accurately locating a particular household in a bustling metropolis was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

Besides, You Zhi could not remember the exact plot, but he at least remembered that Bill was not looking to trade spirits. He gave Eevee to the player. So in reality, why would Bill give such a valuable spirit to him?

"I'll ask Morty to help with divination in the future. Next is the third place."

You Zhi looked up and saw a dazzling, constantly flashing sign above the wide storefront entrance. It read "Game Corner." Even standing at the door, he could hear the noisy clatter of buttons and the sound of shouting and cursing inside.

The so-called Game Corner was actually an entertainment casino. It had slot machines, pool tables, and other facilities. People could spend money to buy game tokens, then exchange the tokens for prizes. The prizes included gold, Skill Stones, and spirits.

You Zhi had no interest in gambling games, so he went straight to the prize counter and asked what spirits could be exchanged.

The attendant had seen plenty of visitors who came specifically for spirits, so she immediately introduced them enthusiastically. While pretending to listen, You Zhi used Cheat Appraisal.

It had to be said that the average quality of the spirits here was two levels higher than those in the department store. At a glance, most had strong talent. Of course, their prices were equally tear-inducing.

"This is our store's treasure, Dark Knight Gaia King. As a Seven-Star spirit, its base attack of 2300 isn't particularly high. However, it has the trait of becoming stronger against stronger opponents. When battling a spirit with higher attack than itself, it can gain 700 attack points. Beyond that, it has many supporting Spell Cards that can push its power beyond its limits. Champion Red has a spirit from the same series."

You Zhi looked at its appearance. Whoa, it hit every one of his preferences. Handsome, powerful, and a dragon rider. If he squeezed a little, it could solve his mount problem as well.

Then he looked at its talent. Ferocious Rank. That was enough. And its level was only 25, so there was a possibility that it could improve further after evolving in the future.

Finally, he looked at the price. Right, goodbye!

This spirit required 1.5 million tokens to exchange, and one token was worth ten yuan. In other words, without gambling for game currency, buying it directly with money would cost a full fifteen million.

No wonder that Cyber Dragon's trainer had said ordinary rich people could only bear to buy one spirit for their child. After all, even most wealthy people with assets over a hundred million could not produce fifteen million in cash.

After thinking for a moment, You Zhi asked, "If I pay directly in cash, can I get a discount?"

The attendant had clearly encountered this question before. Keeping her smile, she said, "I'm sorry, but we are a company focused on gaming entertainment, not a spirit shop. These spirits are exchange prizes and cannot be sold externally, much less discounted. Otherwise, we would receive complaints from visitors."

Then she lowered her voice. "Personally, I also wouldn't recommend buying them directly with money. In fact, all prize prices are higher than market averages. Paying cash is not cost-effective. Please don't tell anyone I said that."

She acted as though she had revealed something extremely important, but in truth, everyone knew it.

The Game Corner set up prize exchanges to attract customers, not to make money by selling them. If they sold at market price, they would essentially be stealing business from spirit shops. The result would inevitably be that rare spirits were bought out, leaving only unpopular ones behind. Then they would have to find rare spirits all over again. For the owner, it was simply not worth it.

In short, Game Corner prizes were carrots dangling before a donkey's eyes. Their purpose was to lure the donkey forward, not to actually feed it.

You Zhi considered the amount in his bank account and decisively began looking from the bottom of the prize list. Then he pointed at the second-to-last spirit and asked, "This two-star spirit has decent base stats. Why is its exchange price so low? It only costs fifty thousand tokens?"

The attendant looked at it and explained, "On one hand, it's because of her trait. She randomly creates three Spell Cards, then enters a cooldown state. It's difficult to say whether that's good or bad. It seems rather meaningless. On the other hand, her talent isn't high. Of course, even the worst spirits used as prizes by our store are above average. And although she doesn't look like a dragon, she's actually an authentic Dragon-type spirit with great potential."

She had to provide reasonable explanations while also praising the product, just like a salesperson working hard to sell an unpopular item to a customer.

"I see..."

You Zhi nodded slightly, looking as though he accepted her explanation, but his attention was entirely on the Cheat Appraisal description.

[Dragonmaid · Laundry Dragonmaid (2-Star) Water-type]

[Lineage: Dragon-type]

[Level: 10]

[Talent: Ferocious]

[Attack: 500 (500)]

[Defense: 1600 (1600)]

[Dragon-Type, Effect: ① Can only be activated when this card is successfully summoned or special summoned: Send the top 3 cards of your deck to the graveyard; ②: Can only be activated at the start of your or your opponent's Battle Phase: Return this card to its owner's hand, then special summon 1 Level 7 "Dragonmaid" monster from your hand or graveyard.]

It was not difficult to see from the effect description that this spirit's first trait was milling cards. It might have some use in Card Duels, but in Spirit Duels, it was clearly a negative trait.

As for why the attendant had not introduced the second trait, that was not hard to understand either. From the effect description, You Zhi guessed it was similar to a Gladiator Beast trait, requiring the spirit to obtain an evolved form before it could take effect.

Others had neither a cheat nor a Pokédex, so they would inevitably assume that Laundry Dragonmaid only had one trait.

As for the attendant saying Laundry Dragonmaid's talent was low, You Zhi thought it over and decided there was only one reason—this spirit was simply not very smart.

Using a spirit's intelligence to judge the level of its talent was actually not a particularly accurate method.

When You Zhi had first crossed into this world, he had read a theory in a book: spirits in the present world were projections of their true bodies in the Spirit Realm. The stronger a spirit's talent, the greater its overlap with its true body.

According to this theory, most spirits were indeed smarter the higher their talent, because they inherited the wisdom of their true body. But if the spirit's true body was not very smart to begin with, this method would fail.

"I want to buy fifty thousand tokens to exchange for this spirit. Should I do it directly, or do I need to go through another step?"

"Eh? Are you sure, sir?"

"Of course. I can pay by card right now."

Although the attendant was still somewhat surprised, she did not ask further questions. Nodding, she said, "All right, I'll handle it for you immediately. According to the rules, we cannot sell spirits to you directly. You must first exchange for tokens, but we will complete that step for you, so you only need to pay by card."

If the seller had been some unregulated street vendor, You Zhi might have used a few tricks. For example, he could pretend to buy another, more expensive product, point out several flaws, then have the merchant include the item he truly wanted as an extra to make up the price difference.

But the Game Corner was a legitimate large entertainment company, so there was no need to do anything so unnecessary. If a shop suddenly raised prices just because someone showed unusual interest in its products, who would be willing to come play there in the future? The damage to its reputation would be far beyond what that little money could make up for.

Sure enough, events unfolded exactly as You Zhi had expected. After hearing the attendant's report, the Game Corner's lobby manager merely confirmed it with him once more and did not interfere afterward. There was no scene of stalling for time while ordering an urgent talent evaluation of the spirit.

After all, even if this spirit were a hidden gem with unusual abilities, it was the owner who would suffer the loss. What did that have to do with employees like them?

As long as every step followed procedure, any problems that arose later could not be blamed on them.

"Please take your Pokémon Card and apply your imprint promptly to prevent it from being stolen."

In less than two minutes, You Zhi obtained the Pokémon Card. He casually infused it with spiritual power, leaving his imprint, then departed the Game Corner under the attendant's courteous farewell.

He looked back at the still-lively shop and sighed. "This should count as picking up a bargain, right? It doesn't seem to have much to do with game settings... Maybe this is the cheat's proper use."

Come to think of it, there was no instrument in the world capable of accurately detecting a spirit's talent. Only his cheat could identify it at a glance. The profession best suited to him was not a trainer at all, but an appraiser of treasures.

With this ability, he could pick up bargains everywhere while searching the wilderness for extraordinarily gifted wild spirits. Then he could open a high-end shop. Within a year, he would become a famous spirit merchant known throughout the world.

Every spirit that passed through his hands would be pursued by all of society. Those with money and power would desperately try to curry favor with him. Even Spirit Masters would have to watch their attitudes around him, scarcely daring to offend him.

It was a road that was guaranteed to succeed, broad and smooth, with hardly any obstacles. No one else could compete with him.

But...

"Too boring. Such an ordinary life isn't what I want."

You Zhi cast the thought aside in an instant, without the slightest attachment.

He was about to return to his hotel room and have his first conversation with his new spirit when, suddenly, a green dragon flapped its wings and descended from the sky. Accompanied by scattered gusts of wind, it blocked his path.

"No way. Is the Game Corner's owner really this shameless? At least wait until I'm farther away before making a move."

Sensing the other party's hostile intentions, You Zhi instinctively assumed that he had misjudged the situation and encountered an unscrupulous merchant who did not follow the rules.

To his surprise, a blond young man leaped down from the green dragon's back. He landed on one knee with a thud, then declared arrogantly, "I finally found you, you scumbag who deceived my sister's feelings!"