Pokemon: Bounty Hunter

For three years, Zero had never made a single mistake in its evaluations.

And since Zero's analysis was based on Silas's own knowledge system, even if there was an error, this Pidgey still had to be extremely close to the Elite Tier at the very least, it was a pseudo- Elite in potential.

Moreover, this would allow Silas to save more funds for training his Pokémon.

With no hesitation, Silas made the purchase and brought the Pidgey egg home.

And soon after, Pidgey's growth confirmed that Zero's judgment was indeed accurate.

Compared to others of its species, this Pidgey was visibly stronger and larger, proving its exceptional development.

After hatching Pidgey, Silas carefully followed the early-stage training plan provided by Zero, using his personal savings to nurture it.

Thanks to this meticulous training, Pidgey quickly matured past infancy and officially became a beginner-level Pokémon.

At this stage, Pidgey had already mastered Tackle, Growl, Sand Attack, and the inherited move Twister.

On top of that, it also had an exceptional hidden ability—Big Pecks.

This was likely why Zero had rated its potential at the Elite level.

Twister was a Dragon-type move.

Silas speculated that some powerful Dragon-type Pokémon must have bred with a Pidgeotto or Pidgeot, resulting in this Pidgey inheriting both Twister and an enhanced physique.

Most likely, it came from a Pidgeotto, since the black market vendor probably wouldn't have been able to defeat a flock of Pidgeot.

Under Silas's scientific training regimen and Pidgey's extraordinary potential, its size was noticeably larger than that of a normal Pidgey.

Despite this progress, Silas didn't rush into the wilderness for missions.

Although he had already spent over 300,000 Pokédollars, his frugal lifestyle over the past two years had allowed him to save around 550,000 Pokédollars.

With less than 250,000 remaining, he still had enough funds to continue training Pidgey for a while.

The tragedy of his Rattata had taught him a valuable lesson without sufficient strength, caution was key.

Finding another common Pokémon with such high potential was practically impossible, so Silas refused to take any unnecessary risks.

For now, he limited Pidgey's training and battles to the safer outskirts of the forest.

By the time Pidgey reached Level 15, it had officially moved beyond the beginner stage and entered the standard Pokémon tier.

At this point, Silas glanced at his dwindling funds, took a deep breath, and finally made the decision to return to the Bounty Hunter Guild to take on missions once again.

Even so, he remained cautious.

Rather than pursuing high-reward, high-risk missions, he started with the simplest E-rank tasks, planning to wait until Pidgey evolved before tackling higher-ranked missions.

After about a month of training, Pidgey finally evolved into Pidgeotto, reaching Level 18 in the process.

At that point, Silas abandoned E-rank missions, as their rewards were simply too low.

The standard reward for an E-rank mission was less than 3,000 Pokédollars.

However, a D-rank mission ranged from 3,000 to 30,000 Pokédollars, while a C-rank mission offered between 30,000 and 100,000 Pokédollars.

B-rank missions paid between 100,000 and 500,000 Pokédollars, but Silas had no idea about A-rank or S-rank missions, as his Trainer rank and Hunter privileges weren't high enough to access them.

On average, a simple D-rank mission would yield at least 15,000 Pokédollars, which was equivalent to completing seven or eight E-rank missions.

And C-rank missions were even more lucrative.

Thus, Silas and his newly evolved Pidgeotto officially embarked on their journey as bounty hunters.

As he snapped back to reality, Silas reflected on Pidgeotto's Elite level potential.

In the beginning, due to his lack of strength and financial resources, he hadn't been able to provide many high-quality resources for Pidgeotto.

As a result, its power growth had been relatively slow after evolution—though, compared to others of its species, its progress was still considered incredibly fast.

It wasn't until Pidgeotto gradually reached Level 25, allowing it to complete some lower-end C-rank missions, that Silas was finally able to invest heavily in its training.

With significant funding, Pidgeotto's power began increasing at a much faster rate, and it started learning more advanced moves.

Even so, based on his calculations, it would take at least another six months before Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot and reached the pseudo- Elite level.

Silas grinned from ear to ear as he thought about his earnings from this adventure.

Between the mission rewards and additional loot, he had raked in a total of 512,000 Pokédollars.

Even after deducting his expenses, he still had a remaining balance of 500,000 Pokédollars—equivalent to two months' worth of income.

And that wasn't even counting the real treasure in his bag.

A glint of excitement flashed in Silas's eyes.

The Rare Fire Stone

Ascending the stairs to his study, Silas carefully retrieved his biggest gain from the trip—a brilliant, orange-yellow stone with a faint flame symbol on its surface.

A Fire Stone.

A rare Evolution Stone.

Zero's analysis panel revealed that its quality score was an astonishing 89.

For reference, a perfect Fire Stone was rated at 100 points—meaning this one was incredibly valuable.

Silas recalled a thread on the Pokémon Trainer forums, where a standard Fire Stone was being offered for 20 million Pokédollars—and even then, demand far exceeded supply.

His high-quality Fire Stone was undoubtedly worth even more.

Silas estimated that he could sell it for at least 40 million Pokédollars.

Fire-type Pokémon were exceptionally powerful, and absorbing the energy from a Fire Stone could greatly enhance a Pokémon's Fire-type abilities.

Not to mention, Growlithe and Vulpix required a Fire Stone to evolve, making high-quality Fire Stones even more sought after.

After all, Arcanine was majestic and powerful, while Ninetales was elegant and mystical—both were extremely strong and favored by the wealthy.

Silas had no idea why a Fire Stone was inside a Beedrill nest.

But when he found it, he had almost fainted from sheer excitement.

Originally, he had planned to collect some Beedrill honey and leave.

Earlier that day, a reckless rookie trainer had provoked a swarm of Beedrill, significantly weakening the nest's defenses.

Seeing this, Silas followed the typical bounty hunter mindset—grab some honey and get out.

After all, experienced hunters often encountered naive rookie trainers every year and profited from their mistakes.

And this time, it was Silas's turn to capitalize on the situation.

Beedrill honey was a high-end ingredient in luxury cosmetics, known for its skin-whitening and rejuvenating effects.

It was also a high-quality nutritional supplement and highly sought after by wealthy women.

Due to its ever-increasing market price, Silas had expected a nice payday—but instead, he had stumbled upon an Evolution Stone worth a fortune.

This wasn't just a pleasant surprise—it was an astronomical stroke of luck.

Now, Silas had to decide what to do with the Fire Stone.

He was tempted to keep it for himself and save it for a future Fire-type Pokémon.

But based on his ideal team composition, he planned to have either Blaziken or Charizard as his main Fire-type Pokémon—neither of which required a Fire Stone to evolve.

Using it to boost a Fire-type Pokémon's strength was an option, but it felt like a luxury he couldn't afford right now.

Besides, he didn't even have the funds to obtain a Torchic or Charmander egg at the moment.

Unless…

If he sold the Fire Stone, he could use the money to purchase a high-potential Torchic or Charmander egg from the black market.

With Zero's analysis ability, he could ensure he got a top-tier Pokémon.

Of course, Growlithe was another viable option.

However, wild Growlithe were incredibly rare and were considered legendary Pokémon.

Most of them were under the control of the Officer Jenny family.

And for a civilian trainer to obtain a Growlithe, the Jenny family would likely approach them and offer them a chance to join their ranks.

Many trainers dreamed of marrying into the Jenny or Joy families—for obvious reasons.

But for Silas, such ambitions were completely out of reach for now.

For now, Silas was stuck in a dilemma.

Sell the Fire Stone for a Torchic or Charmander egg?

Or keep it for the future?

He wasn't sure which path to take.

But no matter what, this discovery had changed everything.