“Are you sure?” the exchange clerk asked purely out of formality, looking at Aoki as if he were an idiot.
Aoki nodded without answering.
In the wild, Pokémon Eggs were uncommon, but far from unheard of.
So why did so many people choose to ignore them rather than bring them back to turn in for points?
Everyone knew that if a Pokémon was with its Trainer right from the moment it hatched, their rapport and affection would grow exceptionally strong.
Because of this, a Pokémon Egg was often worth far more than an already hatched Pokémon of the same potential.
However, when an egg was found in the wild, its potential could not be determined on the spot.
Only after putting in the hard work of incubating and hatching it would a Trainer find out how talented the Pokémon actually was.
Scientists in the Alliance had long since developed portable devices capable of measuring a Pokémon’s potential.
Although expensive, such devices were nothing to those who were wealthy and strove for absolute perfection.
However, assessing a Pokémon’s potential required not only catching the Pokémon but also consuming a valuable material—something ordinary people simply couldn’t afford.
As for devices capable of checking the potential inside a Pokémon Egg, current technology was still unable to make them easily portable, and operating them likewise required significant resources.
Unless someone knew for certain that an egg’s parents possessed exceptional talent, no one was bored or foolish enough to test an unhatched egg’s potential.
Even if a one-in-a-million egg turned out to have yellow potential, would someone with the means to use such testing equipment even care for a yellow-potential Pokémon?
And the even rarer green-potential Pokémon Eggs were virtually impossible to encounter.
That was why the exchange clerk looked at Aoki like he was a fool when Aoki said he wanted to exchange the egg for points.
Aoki had no intention of explaining himself.
Was he supposed to say that his Microchip could tell this egg had green potential?
If he said that, even Instructor Viper at the base would be alarmed.
“Have you really thought this through?
Testing an egg’s potential costs one hundred points.
Even if it turns out to be an egg with novice potential, it’s only worth a hundred points.
If you don’t have enough points…” The clerk trailed off.
Not enough points?
In Team Rocket, that meant paying with your life.
There was no such thing as store credit here.
Aoki nodded again, feeling helpless.
He couldn’t just exchange it without testing.
Otherwise, the base would default to classifying it as red potential and buy it back for a paltry single point per egg.
Seeing Aoki confirm a second time, the clerk said no more.
Although he didn’t know why this kid was so insistent, if the egg failed to reach novice potential, unless the boy could produce one hundred points, it would be goodbye forever.
Novice potential was a rating system used by Team Rocket—and indeed throughout the entire Pokémon world—to classify a Pokémon’s latent talent.
It was divided into categories: No Potential, Novice Potential, Intermediate Potential, Advanced Potential, and Top Potential.
These corresponded to Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and any higher tiers, which were all classified under Top Potential.
The clerk placed the egg into the groove of the testing machine, closed the transparent airtight lid, took down a test tube from the shelf, and poured the liquid inside into the machine’s intake funnel.
This liquid was the analytical fluid synthesized by scientists, and its exorbitant production cost was precisely why every test came at such a heavy price.
After pressing the start button, the entire apparatus began to hum and operate.
*Ding!* In the row of indicator lights, the lamp representing No Potential lit up instantly.
As long as it was a Pokémon Egg, this light was guaranteed to turn on, since the lowest possible potential for any Pokémon was Red.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the second light illuminated.
This meant the Pokémon inside the egg possessed Novice Potential—which translated to Orange Potential under Aoki’s Microchip assessment.
“Not bad luck,” the clerk remarked with a slight smile.
“At least it has Novice Potential, so you don’t have to worry about being unable to afford the testing fee.” Aoki shrugged indifferently.
It was only Orange Potential; the test wasn’t over yet.
As the light representing Novice Potential grew steadily brighter, after ten seconds, the light for Intermediate Potential began to flicker.
The way the clerk looked at Aoki began to change.
He had assumed this was just a clueless fool, but it was actually an egg with Intermediate Potential.
Once a Pokémon Egg reached Intermediate Potential, its exchange value started in the thousands of points.
That meant this young boy before him was about to obtain over a thousand points.
In the context of this entire trial, this was already an immense advantage.
Aside from those few trialists who already had powerful backings, this youth would rely on these resources to leave everyone else far behind.
Brightening little by little from a faint candle-like glow, the testing apparatus showed no signs of stopping.
Low Intermediate…
Mid Intermediate…
High Intermediate…
Under the clerk’s disbelieving gaze, after thirty seconds, the light representing Intermediate Potential reached its maximum brightness.
Then, faint specks of light began to emerge from the lamp representing Advanced Potential.
“A-A-Advanced Potential!
It actually reached Advanced Potential!” the clerk cried out in shock.
He quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, but the horror and astonishment in his eyes could not be concealed.
Having worked for Team Rocket for so long, he naturally knew the value of an Advanced Potential Pokémon Egg.
That was a sum measured in tens of thousands of points!
Even after working all these years, he had never amassed that many points.
This was Advanced Potential—and it was an egg, making its value equal to or higher than a wild Pokémon of the same Advanced Potential that had already grown for a while.
Once this entered Team Rocket’s exchange system, Captain-level Team Rocket members would fight tooth and nail over it, and even Executives might feel a trace of interest.
Aoki frowned, thoroughly displeased with the clerk’s outcry.
This was in the middle of a trial; if word got out that he had suddenly gained so many points, he was certain the other trialists wouldn’t hesitate to join forces, eliminate him, and divide the points among themselves.
Furthermore, for those aspiring to take first place, Aoki—with so many points—would break the balance of power and become their single biggest obstacle.
The exchange clerk also realized his loss of composure.
Fortunately, it was late at night and there were no other people in the exchange hall, or else he might have caused disastrous trouble for the youth in front of him.
When he looked at Aoki again, his eyes held only shock and a well-hidden trace of greed.
Though well-hidden, Aoki still noticed it.
Over ten thousand points.
Knowing the value of points so clearly, Aoki naturally understood their irresistible allure.
Although the clerk was a staff member who did not participate in this trial, as a Team Rocket member himself, he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of greed.
When the testing machine finally came to a halt, the light for Advanced Potential matched the steady glow of the preceding lights.
Mid-tier Advanced Potential!
That was Mid Green potential—nearly on par with Murkrow’s talent.
On the screen, the text displayed: [Advanced Mid-Tier Potential: Weedle].
Seeing the testing machine stop, the clerk hesitated before speaking: “My apologies.
I don’t have the authorization to process an Advanced Potential Pokémon Egg.
Please wait a moment.” With that, he hurriedly left the counter, opened a secret door, and stepped inside.
A moment later, the secret door opened again.
The staff member who had gone inside was bowing deferentially, holding the door open with utmost respect.
A figure entirely wrapped in a black robe walked out at an unhurried pace.
The mysterious person moved slowly, stepping forward like an old man as he approached the counter.