Aptitude testing

Jiang Cheng had pulled off an impressive maneuver. By combining the impact of Geodude's Take Down with the thrust from Poliwag's own Water Gun, he had achieved a speed far beyond what Poliwag could normally manage and escaped the spot where Take Down would land. Even the Instructor overseeing Jiang Cheng's assessment had to nod in approval.

"Very good. Congratulations, you've been accepted!" The Instructor recalled Geodude and handed its Poké Ball to a student nearby to take for treatment, then addressed Jiang Cheng.

"Thank you, sir! Thank you!" Jiang Cheng shouted excitedly, then flashed a victory sign at Xiao Ran and the others in the stands.

After they left the assessment area, an upperclassman led them to choose Jiang Cheng's starter Pokémon. Unlike Xiao Ran and the others, Jiang Cheng came from a merchant family and had no opportunity to choose one of the traditional starters, so he could only select his starter Pokémon at the university.

"Hey, what kind of Pokémon do you think I should pick?" Jiang Cheng asked excitedly as they walked.

Naturally, Xiao Ran and the others accompanied him. Although they did not have to take the entrance assessment, they still needed to complete their enrollment paperwork. They could do that together once Jiang Cheng had chosen his starter Pokémon, since both facilities were in the same area.

"That depends on your preferences. With your sturdy build, I think a Fighting-type Machop or a Rock-type Geodude would suit you pretty well!" said the upperclassman walking ahead of them. The newcomers' excitement reminded him of his own first days, and his spirits rose along with theirs.

The starter Pokémon the university provided were not particularly rare. Although Machop and Geodude were both very common species, their three-stage evolution lines made them excellent choices among the available starters. If Jiang Cheng had not passed his assessment so early, he might not even have had the chance to choose either one.

"Hmm, no, no. Your family's construction sites are full of Machoke. People would think you were there to haul bricks! As for Geodude, it looks pretty dim-witted, so that's out too." Before Jiang Cheng could speak, Shen Yue cut in.

"Uh, let's try something else!" Jiang Cheng had been about to nod in agreement, but after hearing Shen Yue's remarks, he thought she had a point and immediately abandoned both choices. Behind him, Xiao Ran wore a knowing expression.

Shen Yue might have been right about Machop, but her excuse for rejecting Geodude was clearly made up. Its type had an advantage over her Fire-type Pokémon, which would make it harder for her to keep Jiang Cheng in line later. Still, that was the young couple's business, so he merely smiled.

"Well, aside from those two, the better choices are Pidgey and Poliwag. Most of the others only have two-stage evolution lines, so their growth potential isn't as high." The upperclassman smiled wryly. As they spoke, they entered the university's Pokémon Breeding Center.

Their attention was immediately drawn to the many Pokémon inside: Geodude hopping around, Poliwag playing in the water beside a stream, and Pidgey flying back and forth. Before Jiang Cheng had even finished registering, the others were already playing with the Pokémon.

"All the Pokémon here are starters provided for you new students. You can choose any one to take with you," the upperclassman said as he brought Jiang Cheng over after completing his registration.

"Ah! Yueyue, Yueyue, help me pick one! What am I supposed to do when I want them all?" Now that he was actually choosing his starter Pokémon, Jiang Cheng was so excited he could barely speak coherently.

"Look at you. Just have Xiao Ran pick one for you!" Shen Yue said casually, holding a Pidgey. But when she turned her head, she gave Xiao Ran a discreet wink.

"Right, right! Xiao Ran, you know so much about Pokémon. Help me pick one!" As though he had found a lifeline, Jiang Cheng grabbed Xiao Ran's arm.

"Ouch... I think you should let go of me first!" Xiao Ran sucked in a sharp breath and raised an eyebrow at Jiang Cheng.

"Uh, sorry, sorry! I got too excited!" Jiang Cheng paused, then released him with an embarrassed look, though the anticipation in his eyes did not fade at all.

"Honestly!" Xiao Ran rubbed his arm, glanced at a Magnemite floating overhead, and asked, "Can he choose that Pokémon?"

"Magnemite? Of course, but are you sure you want him to choose that one?" the upperclassman asked in surprise. Magnemite were currently used mainly for generating electricity and proctoring exams. Their combat ability was not particularly strong, and they only had two evolutionary stages. Among starter Pokémon, they were one of the worst choices, only slightly better than species such as Caterpie and Weedle.

"Seriously, Xiao Ran? Magnemite?" Jiang Cheng looked at Xiao Ran awkwardly. Clearly, he also knew how weak Magnemite were.

"What Pokémon does she have?" Rather than explain, Xiao Ran raised an eyebrow toward Shen Yue, who was engrossed in playing with the Pokémon, and asked quietly.

"Charmander!" Jiang Cheng replied. As the daughter of a Fire-type Gym Leader, Shen Yue naturally specialized in Fire-type Pokémon too.

"And its type?"

"Fire-type?"

"Which is weak against Water-type, right?" Xiao Ran continued. Jiang Cheng nodded blankly.

"But would she let you choose a Water-type or a Rock-type?" Xiao Ran's next question left Jiang Cheng completely stunned.

"No. She'll definitely make you choose a type she's strong against, so she can lay down the law as your wife later."

"So neither of those types is an option. If you want to escape her clutches, you'll have to think further ahead."

"Charmander's final evolution, Charizard, gains the Flying type in addition to its Fire type. I don't need to tell you what Flying-types are weak against, do I?"

"Electric-type!" Jiang Cheng exclaimed before Xiao Ran had even finished. Startled by his own outburst, he hurriedly covered his mouth, afraid Shen Yue might have heard. He glanced toward her. Thank goodness! She had not noticed.

"Exactly. Electric is a rare type. Among the starters here, what other Electric-type is there besides Magnemite?" Xiao Ran continued. Jiang Cheng looked around, and sure enough, aside from those few Magnemite, there were no other Electric-type Pokémon among the starters.

"But isn't Magnemite a little..." Jiang Cheng did not finish saying too weak? Yet Xiao Ran knew what he was thinking. With a deliberately mysterious air, he leaned close and whispered a few words into Jiang Cheng's ear, immediately making his eyes light up.

"I'll choose Magnemite!" Jiang Cheng told the upperclassman excitedly, shooting Xiao Ran a grateful look.

"Huh? Are you sure?" The upperclassman looked incredulous. He was choosing Magnemite just to avoid being henpecked? Even if Electric-types did have an advantage over Flying-types, could a Magnemite really beat a Charizard?

"I'm sure. Magnemite it is!" Jiang Cheng nodded without hesitation, his gaze burning with enthusiasm as he looked at Magnemite.

Seeing Jiang Cheng's reaction, Shen Yue turned back, a trace of surprise in her eyes. Ye Ling merely gave Xiao Ran a quiet glance before turning away again.

"Uh, Cheng, don't you want to look around a little more? Isn't Magnemite a bit too weak?" Shen Yue put down the Pokémon she was holding and came over to Jiang Cheng, asking with concern. Teasing him was one thing, but this was a choice that would affect his entire life.

"Nope. I'm choosing Magnemite!" Jiang Cheng smiled at Xiao Ran. Shen Yue looked puzzled and was about to say more when Ye Ling tugged at her.

"Trust him!"

Shen Yue nodded somewhat blankly, then quickly understood. That "him" obviously did not mean Jiang Cheng. And Jiang Cheng was not the only one who trusted Xiao Ran completely; she did too. If he had a plan, all she needed to do was trust him.

Naturally, there was no picking and choosing among the Pokémon the university distributed. The quality of the Magnemite Jiang Cheng received was entirely down to luck. Fortunately, Pokémon raised by the university were generally not too bad, though they were not especially good either.

Among new students, this way of obtaining a starter Pokémon was known as the Choice of Destiny. You chose a species, then fate arranged for you to meet a Pokémon of that species and become partners, continuing down the road together.

Of course, all that was merely youthful fantasy. In reality, very few starter Pokémon accompanied their Pokémon Trainers all the way to the end. Most were gradually phased out because of insufficient talent or improper training, killed in battles in the wild, or even abandoned for being too weak or having certain defects... Such cases were everywhere.

Still, obtaining a starter Pokémon remained one of the most important events in anyone's life. This was your first partner, the one who determined whether you could embark on the path of a Pokémon Trainer and even influenced your future achievements.

Once Jiang Cheng received his starter Pokémon, he could barely contain his excitement. Xiao Ran checked it for him with the latest Pokédex. It was a newborn Magnemite with a starting level of just 4 and only two basic moves, Tackle and Thunder Shock. Its aptitude, however, was rated excellent.

Like Energy Level measurement, aptitude testing was one of the greatest inventions of recent years. Vast amounts of data on newborn Pokémon of the same species were compiled and analyzed to establish average values for each species. A newborn Pokémon's physical condition at its starting level was then compared against those values to determine its development relative to its species as a whole. It was somewhat similar to the individual values of Pokémon in Xiao Ran's previous life, but not quite the same.

This testing method was generally only used on Pokémon at level 5 or below. At higher levels, the influence of acquired factors became too great. Using this method, the League divided Pokémon aptitude into seven grades: deficient, weak, ordinary, excellent, elite, epic, and legendary. Ordinary represented the standard level for the species, while weak generally referred to relatively feeble individuals within it. Deficient meant having an innate defect, just as some humans had congenital illnesses.

Weak and ordinary were the most common aptitude grades, accounting for roughly ninety percent of a species. Just like ordinary humans, not everyone could or wanted to become a powerful warrior. That required a certain amount of talent and persistent effort. Of course, almost all Pokémon possessed that talent; it was simply a question of whether they were willing to bring it out. Generally, those that were active as newborns or willing to train on their own could rise beyond ordinary and reach excellent.

Relatively speaking, an excellent Pokémon was already a fairly powerful individual. As for elite, that was the highest grade an ordinary newborn Pokémon could achieve under normal circumstances. At the very least, its parents had to be exceptionally powerful for one to be born.

As for epic and Legendary, those were almost never seen. Like Awakened humans, only one epic individual might appear among hundreds of thousands or even tens of millions, while a Legendary individual required countless years of accumulation to emerge. They were simply not something a novice Pokémon Trainer could expect to encounter.