"Brother System is really stingy… fine, fine—long life to Brother System."
Ethan Vale muttered to himself, though he didn't actually feel much disappointment.
Thinking about it, it made sense. A run-of-the-mill regional tournament handing out a Prismatic Orb would be absurd.
Still, no matter how small a mosquito's leg was, it was still meat. Anything produced by the system was either extremely hard to obtain in the real world—or didn't exist at all.
So every round had to be seized properly!
With that in mind, Ethan Vale pulled out his phone and searched for information on the Shanghai Pokémon Cup.
As the name implied, the Shanghai Pokémon Cup was an annual Pokémon tournament held in Shanghai for rookie Trainers, taking place in mid-December.
Any Trainer under the age of eighteen could participate.
That said, while it was called a rookie tournament, for a considerable number of participants, eighteen years old already meant one to two—or even two and a half—years of Trainer experience.
Coupled with Shanghai's unique "crouching tigers, hidden dragons" attribute—
"This Shanghai Pokémon Cup really won't be easy to win…"
Ethan Vale propped his chin with one hand and muttered softly.
"Seriously? Brother Chi, you're thinking about competing in the Shanghai Pokémon Cup too?"
Catching the keyword, Aaron Cole immediately leaned over, his face full of gossip.
Ethan Vale jumped in surprise. "What, do you have dog ears or something?"
Aaron Cole chuckled. "Forget that for now—Brother Chi, are you really planning to enter the Shanghai Pokémon Cup?"
Ethan Vale nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I heard the champion gets ten points toward comprehensive evaluation. Might as well grab some credits."
Aaron Cole fell silent for a moment.
Competing in the Shanghai Pokémon Cup not for prizes worth hundreds of thousands, but for credits—this reason really took the cake…
He said helplessly, "Brother Chi, do you know how generous the Shanghai Pokémon Cup rewards are? Advanced training machines, breeding items—and the top three can even go to the Shanghai Breeding Base to choose a Pokémon with excellent lineage!"
Ethan Vale's eyes lit up. "Does that include Dragonair?"
"How could it!"
Aaron Cole explained, "Pseudo-legendaries are always priceless and scarce. How could a small rookie cup possibly offer something like that?"
Ethan Vale's interest instantly plummeted.
To be honest, these rewards were indeed generous for rookie Trainers.
But with the Prismatic Orb from Brother System as a shining jewel in front of him, the Shanghai Pokémon Cup's rewards naturally seemed far less dazzling.
Seeing Ethan Vale's calm expression, Aaron Cole felt speechless and complained, "Brother Chi, why are you acting like the championship is already in the bag? I admit your game skills are insane, but this is real Pokémon battling—not a game, okay?"
Ethan Vale just smiled and said nothing.
Do you really have the right to question Brother System's strength?
Seeing Ethan Vale unmoved, Aaron Cole grew anxious. "Brother Chi, don't underestimate it. Just take your Sprigatito's former Trainer, Rowan Black—her main Pokémon is already a second-stage Servine. You're not going to tell me you don't know how big the gap is between first-stage and second-stage starters, right?"
Ethan Vale thought to himself: That's not necessarily true.
Ash's Litten had once gone completely against the odds and defeated its own fully evolved Incineroar, after all.
Though the writers themselves thought it was a bit too outrageous, so they had Litten evolve into Torracat mid-battle to pull it off.
"And besides, the battle-specialization crowd trains every single day. Their Pokémon are all fierce as hell—honestly, what's the difference between them and street brawlers?"
"Ding-ling-ling-ling—"
The ringing of the class bell cut Aaron Cole's chatter short.
Ethan Vale finally got some peace to plan his grand conquest of the Shanghai Pokémon Cup.
Although he now had the transmigrator-standard system, he was still just starting out—everything was hardest at the beginning.
Whether the middle and end would be hard or not was another matter, but trying to sweep the Shanghai Pokémon Cup relying solely on Brother System's newbie gift pack was pure wishful thinking.
So what resources did he currently have at his disposal?
Not many—but not none either—
The system's Bond mechanics, and the Artifact Anvil plus two Basic Item Anvils from the Prismatic Orb.
Right now, relying on the Chosen Emblem, he had barely assembled a two-piece Dark-type bond.
But there was still about a month before the Shanghai Pokémon Cup—plenty of time to capture another Pokémon.
By then, forming a two-Grass or two-Speed bond would be a substantial boost to Sprigatito's strength.
As for the Artifact Anvil and the two Basic Item Anvils—
Ethan Vale called out to the system in his mind. "Use the Artifact Anvil."
[After use, the host may choose one of three artifacts. Confirm usage?]
"Confirm."
[Forging complete. Please choose!]
[Ascension Amulet: +10% HP, +33% Physical Attack and Special Attack. After 200 seconds of battle, gain 100% maximum HP and deal 100% increased damage!]
[Trinity Force: +33% Physical Attack, Special Attack, Physical Defense, Special Defense, Speed, HP, and skill release speed!]
[Blazing Embrace: +30% Special Attack. After special moves hit, burn the target, dealing 30% of their maximum HP as true damage over 5 seconds!]
Looking at the three blue panels before him, Ethan Vale wore a conflicted expression.
He wanted all of them…
Ascension Amulet had a harsh time requirement, but once activated, its effect was unquestionably insane.
Trinity Force didn't need explanation—pure, simple stat beauty. Numbers never lied!
Blazing Embrace wasn't a great fit for Sprigatito, but on any special attacker, it was an absolute top-tier artifact.
"Can I just grab all three if I'm fast enough?"
The answer was obvious.
[No.]
Ethan Vale pouted. "Alright then—Trinity Force."
It wasn't that Trinity Force was strictly better than the other two, but it was absolutely the most suitable for his current situation and for Sprigatito.
Blazing Embrace was unsuitable due to poor synergy with Sprigatito.
As for Ascension Amulet—come on, dragging a rookie-level battle past three minutes?
By then the outcome would've been decided long ago; the daylilies would be cold already.
[Artifact Trinity Force forged successfully!]
Ethan Vale continued, "Equip Trinity Force to Sprigatito."
A flash of light—Trinity Force vanished from the blue equipment panel.
[Equipped successfully!]
Since he'd already opened an artifact, he might as well open the two remaining Basic Item Anvils too—easy enough.
Ethan Vale silently said, "Open a Basic Item Anvil."
[Forging complete. Please choose the first basic item!]
[B. F. Sword: +10% Physical Attack]
[Recurve Bow: +10% move release speed]
[Giant's Belt: +10% HP]
Looking at the three item icons, Ethan Vale fell into thought.
First, Giant's Belt was immediately out—stacking HP wasn't the priority.
Both Recurve Bow and B. F. Sword were useful for Sprigatito.
But B. F. Sword had a better upgrade path.
After all, core physical items like Infinity Edge or Deathblade required a B. F. Sword to combine.
After weighing the pros and cons, Ethan Vale said, "Choose B. F. Sword."
The B. F. Sword icon lit up, and the system's voice rang out again.
[B. F. Sword forged successfully. Please choose the second basic item!]
[Sparring Gloves: +10% critical hit rate]
[Recurve Bow: +10% move release speed]
[Negatron Cloak: +10% Special Defense]