Pokemon: Bounty Hunter

A high-quality Fire Stone was an absolute hot commodity.

Silas had barely spent a minute browsing the Pokémon forum when his PokeGear started buzzing non-stop, notifying him of incoming offers through the trading platform.

Even though he had expected some attention, he was still surprised.

Looking at the "99+" message notification on his trading panel, Silas was momentarily stunned.

Frowning, he felt something was off.

Even though high-quality Fire Stones were rare, it shouldn't have caused this kind of frenzy—there simply weren't that many rich people out there.

Silas clicked into the trading panel, and his face darkened immediately.

"10 million plus a Charcoal with a 10% boost, deal?" (Attached offer)

"20 million, can't go any higher, bro." (Attached offer)

Taking a deep breath, Silas decisively edited his listing title to include "Clowns, Back Off!!!"

At the same time, he set a minimum price of 28 million to avoid getting lowballed. Still, he felt like he had been a bit too inexperienced.

Rubbing his temples, Silas moved to a trading terminal to properly browse offers.

The system had automatically filtered out bids below his set minimum. After refreshing, 12 offers remained—this was more reasonable.

"30 million cash"

"35 million cash"

"32 million + a 3-million-worth Choco Berry"

"33 million + a 2-million-worth Candlewood Berry"

Silas systematically eliminated the lower bids, narrowing it down to the top three:

45 million cash

42 million cash + a 3-million-worth Choco Berry

43 million + a 2-million-worth Candlewood Berry

The Choco Berry was a special berry that enhanced Fire-type energy within Pokémon, while the Candlewood Berry did the same for Electric-types.

There were similar berries for other types, such as the Aqua Scent Berry for Water-types and the Verdant Berry for Grass-types. These were common resources among elite trainers, collectively known as Energy Berries widely used but always in demand.

Then there were even rarer berries, like the Sand Scale Berry or the Dragonflame Berry, which could directly improve a Pokémon's abilities. However, those were almost exclusively found in the wild, and as far as Silas knew, no one had successfully cultivated them.

All three offers were effectively worth the same 45 million, so it was just a matter of what to choose.

After thinking for a moment, Silas decided to go with 45 million in cash.

He wasn't sure what his second Pokémon would be yet, and he still needed to explore the black market for high-potential candidates.

If he exchanged for training materials now, he might end up with the wrong attribute match and have to trade again later. Keeping it in League Credits would be more flexible—he could always purchase the materials he needed later, even if the League Store prices were slightly higher.

For large purchases, the Trading Center was still the better option.

Silas confirmed the transaction and handed the Fire Stone over to the League's trading staff.

After a brief processing period, 44.55 million was transferred to his account, with the 1% security fee deducted.

Normally, transactions took longer since the buyer needed to confirm receipt of the item.

Luckily, this buyer was in Cerulean City, just next door. They even paid an extra 10,000 credits for express delivery, so the whole process was completed in two hours.

As Silas stepped out of the Trading Center, his Pokéwatch displayed the updated balance—a number with eight digits that didn't start with a 1.

A grin spread across his face, unable to contain his excitement.

This was on a whole different level from yesterday's 2.2 million—the rush was unreal.

For the first time in both his lives, he had a bank balance exceeding 10 million.

…Unfortunately, he was about to spend more than half of it.

Silas made his way toward the black market.

After finding a discreet location, he put on a standard-issue black robe and began his search.

The black market was divided into two main sections: the Stall Area and the Black Market Shop.

The distinction was simple

The Stall Area was for independent trainers looking to sell random items they had acquired, much like when Silas had sold Butterfree. These trainers just had to pay a stall fee to set up shop.

The Black Market Shop, on the other hand, was where organizations sold large quantities of Pokémon and materials.

Essentially, it was a massive Pokémon egg market, with different areas and salespeople specializing in different types.

Suppliers for the shop were either major families, poacher groups, or criminal organizations like Team Rocket—selling off captured Pokémon and eggs in bulk for money and resources.

You might ask: Why doesn't the League shut it down?

Honestly, Silas had the same question.

But after thinking about it, he suspected that the people behind the black market were probably powerful figures within the League itself.

If the League tried to destroy it, the resulting chaos might be worse than just letting it operate under controlled conditions.

Plus, it gave ordinary people a slim chance at breaking into the upper ranks—even if that chance was largely an illusion.

Silas took a quick look through the Stall Area.

There were only about four or five vendors selling Torchic or Elekid eggs.

Between the two species, only eight eggs were available.

Six were Torchic eggs, and two were Elekid eggs—both of which were of Normal and Advanced potential.

Silas wasn't too disappointed. After all, the Stall Area rarely had Pokémon of truly high potential.

The vendors here were just random trainers who had found Pokémon eggs during their adventures. There was no quality control.

But the Black Market Shop was a different story.

Silas made his way to the right side of the market, where a large door was stationed with guards verifying assets.

To enter the Black Market Shop, you had to show proof of having at least 5 million League Credits in savings.

It was a way to screen out unqualified buyers and prevent reckless individuals from damaging the Pokémon eggs.

Of course, if someone did break an egg, the black market would make sure they understood what "fair compensation" meant.

Still, it was easier to verify assets first and avoid unnecessary trouble.

For Silas, this was his first time entering the Black Market Shop, so he was curious about what lay inside.

He approached the guards and handed over an anonymous savings card he had prepared in advance.

With 10 million credits on it, the verification was no problem at all.