In Locke, beast taming begins with a black pot.

Without daring to stop along the way, Chen Xun went straight home.

Chen Xun locked the door behind him and drew the curtains.

He then opened the canvas bag, carefully took out the black elf egg, and placed it on the table.

The text reappeared:

【Elf Egg: Dudu Pot】

[Attribute: Poison]

[Quality: Green]

【Activity: 5】

[Current incubation environment: safe, temperature 24℃, humidity 32%, meeting basic incubation standards]

[Incubation Countdown: 9 days, 23 hours, and 59 minutes]

……

Chen Xun breathed a sigh of relief.

Now all we need to do is wait.

Chen Xun turned on his phone.

A bunch of messages popped up on the screen as soon as I turned it on.

The messages were all from Class 1, Grade 12.

With only thirty days left until the awakening ceremony next month, this group has already entered a carnival mode.

[Class Monitor Zhao Yuxuan]: My dad got a blue-quality aquamarine egg from the provincial research institute through someone. It just had its activity tested and it has a perfect score of 10. It's sure to awaken next month.

[Zhang Lei]: Holy crap! A blue-quality elf egg! Brother Xuan is awesome! This egg must be worth at least a million, right?

[Li Mengmeng]: There are only a handful of blue-quality eggs in the entire Jiangcheng. Brother Xuan's egg will cost at least 3 spirit slots. He's a future elf researcher!

[Wang Hao]: I'm so envious! My dad only got me a green-quality Sparkling Egg, which is nothing compared to Brother Xuan's.

[Class Monitor Zhao Yuxuan]: It's alright. The main thing is to play it safe. Blue quality eggs have a natural skill pool bonus, and the awakening rate of the spirit gauge is also high when awakening.

[Class Monitor Zhao Yuxuan]: @Where's Chen Xunren? Why haven't you said anything? What egg are you planning to use to awaken it?

……

Chen Xun wasn't surprised to see Zhao Yuxuan tag him.

He consistently ranked first in his senior year of high school in theoretical classes.

Even though Zhao Yuxuan comes from a good family and has collected a lot of information about Pokémon, he is still far inferior to Chen Xun's parents.

Chen Xun's parents were both child prodigies and extremely radical.

The two had Chen Xun before they even graduated from university.

He left Chen Xun right after graduating from university to explore a dark and mysterious realm.

Chen Xun also received preferential treatment at Jiangcheng School because of his parents' reputation.

When Zhao Yuxuan saw him, he kept calling him Brother Xun.

Ever since the news of his parents' disappearance in the Dark Realm came, Zhao Yuxuan has been finding ways to make things difficult for him every day, completely changing his former servile attitude.

Tagging him in the group now is clearly an attempt to embarrass him in public so they can kick him while he's down.

[Li Mengmeng]: Where's Chen Xun? The awakening ceremony is next month, and you haven't even prepared a white-quality egg?

[Zhang Lei]: LOL, his parents have been missing for three years, what good egg could they possibly produce? They can't exactly bring a dead egg to awaken, can they?

[Wang Hao]: Don't say that. He used to be the son of a high-level professional beast tamer. Maybe he's hiding some good stuff? [doge]

……

A group of people were being sarcastic and unpleasant.

A few years ago, Zhao Yuxuan was his lackey; now these people are Zhao Yuxuan's lackeys.

Chen Xun didn't reply to the message and simply set the group chat to Do Not Disturb mode.

He then opened the internal forum of Jiangcheng Beastmaster Academy.

The forum homepage is full of posts about the Awakening Ceremony next month.

The pinned posts are all from rich kids showing off their Pokémon eggs, followed by a bunch of sycophantic comments, just like in the class group chat.

Occasionally there are a few technical posts, but they all focus on the incubation techniques for the seven orthodox attributes.

For example, fire-type eggs need to be kept at a constant temperature of 30℃, water-type eggs need to be soaked in pure water, and grass-type eggs need to be exposed to the sun for two hours every day.

Chen Xun flipped through more than a dozen pages but didn't see the word "poison" at all.

The world's research on Pokémon is still in its infancy, let alone the research on Poison-type Pokémon hidden deep within secret realms.

He closed the forum, tossed his phone on the table, and refocused his attention on the black elf egg.

The optional auxiliary materials for hatching are listed: Poison Energy Crystals.

This thing is not only unavailable on the market, but even if it were, he couldn't afford it with his current financial situation.

Even the most ordinary fire-type energy crystal in Jiangcheng sells for tens of thousands of yuan, let alone this poison-type crystal whose attributes are unknown to anyone.

Even if you have the money, you probably won't be able to buy it.

He turned to look at the study.

It was filled with my parents' research notes and experimental equipment.

The parents were among the first group of elven scholars to enter the Dark Realm.

Since the notes mention unknown type Pokémon deep within the secret realm, there might be research on Poison-type Pokémon, and perhaps related materials were even left behind.

He took out his key as if he knew exactly where he was going and opened the door.

After his parents went missing, he often came to the study to look for clues, and he found the method for testing the activity of Pokémon eggs in his notebook.

My gaze swept across the bookshelf and finally landed on the locked metal box on the bottom shelf.

He had searched through almost the entire bookshelf, but because he didn't have the key to this box and didn't want to ruin the keepsake his parents had left behind, he just left it there.

Now it's time to open it!

Snapped!

Chen Xun smashed the lock with a hammer.

Inside was a stack of handwritten notes, with the words "Research Record of Unknown Attribute Spirits in the Secret Realm" written on the cover.

Chen Xun opened the notebook; the handwriting inside was his father's.

The records are all about research on unknown attribute spirits in the Dark Realm, and half of them are records about poison-type spirits.

[Poison-type Pokémon dwells deep within dark realms. Its attributes are mysterious; it can corrode the bodies of enemy Pokémon with its poison, inhibiting their skill usage. It has varying degrees of effectiveness against all seven major types.]

Poison-type Pokémon have a complete evolutionary path, a rich innate skill pool, and far greater combat potential than orthodox type Pokémon of the same quality.

Existing research indicates that Poison-type Primal Spirit Shards can optimize the innate bloodline of Poison-type Pokémon, improve the quality of Pokémon eggs, and significantly increase the hatching success rate.

Chen Xun's heart skipped a beat.

Poisonous Primal Spirit Shattered?

He quickly flipped the box to the very bottom.

Below the notebook was a sealed glass bottle containing a dozen or so dark green crystals, like crushed emeralds, shimmering with a faint light.

He focused his attention on the glass bottle.

A few lines of text appeared beside it:

[Item: Poisonous Spirit Shard]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: Improves the quality of Poison-type Pokémon eggs, optimizes the Pokémon's innate bloodline, greatly increases the hatching success rate, and unlocks the Pokémon's hidden skill pool]

[Compatibility: 100% compatible with Dudu Pot Elf Egg]

……

He took the glass bottle back to the living room, carefully opened it, poured out a fragment of poison-type primordial spirit, and placed it on the eggshell.

The moment it touched the eggshell, the dark green crystal melted instantly, turning into a wisp of dark green mist that seeped into the dark gold patterns on the eggshell.

The originally matte black eggshell instantly shone with golden light, and the patterns on it seemed to come alive, flowing in concentric circles.

The eggshell, which was originally cold, gradually warmed up.

There seems to be something awakening inside.

[Poison-type elemental spirit fragment detected; optimizing the innate bloodline of the spirit egg.]

[Egg activity increased: 5 → 12]

[Egg quality upgrade: Green → Blue]

[Incubation period shortened: 10 days → 7 days]

……