Merit Plan

Chapter 92: Merit Plan

Upon returning from the Ecopark to the store, Suzuki was attending to a customer, so Yuga sat down behind the cash register and opened his computer.

When Yuga had tricked Gligar leader earlier, he had promised it two conditions: one was to let it use the Guardian Orb, and the other was to help it evolve into Gliscor.

He had already fulfilled the first promise, leaving only the second one pending.

Yuga opened the official League website and navigated to the section about the League store.

The League store on the official website offered common items for most Pokémon, including Evolution Stones, Evolutionary Items, medicines, Poké Balls, special Poké Balls, and more. These were benefits provided to trainers by the League.

Of course, only law-abiding citizens of the League were eligible to enjoy this benefit. Once you committed a crime, your name would be added to the blacklist, and you would lose the privilege to access the League store.

Registering and logging into the League website required real-name authentication with accurate personal information.

The special section of the League store also contained precious items like rare held items for Pokémon, move tutors, advanced potions, and more. However, these items could only be purchased with League merit points.

As long as you were a legitimate citizen of the League and contributed to the League, your profile would be marked with a certain amount of merit points based on the size of your contribution. These points determined your access to the special section of the League store.

These merit points had more than one purpose; they also indicated your status within the League.

Although the Pokémon League propagated a society of equality, there was no absolute equality anywhere, and the establishment of merit points was an example of this. They discreetly divided citizens of the League into different ranks.

Of course, to some extent, merit points were also a form of fairness, as this system applied to all legitimate citizens of the League.

This was similar to the philosophy of Yuga's previous world, "more work, more rewards; less work, fewer rewards." If you wanted a higher status and power, you had to work hard and strive for it yourself.

The identity of League-recognized trainers was also related to the merit points system.

There were two types of League trainers: solo trainers who chose not to join the League's system and registered League trainers.

Both types of trainers could earn League merit points, and both could improve their status within the League based on their merit points.

However, the latter could hold positions within the League, gain access to League resources and training, and these benefits could even extend to their descendants. For instance, receiving one of the starter Pokémon from the local Pokémon Professor was one such benefit.

In other words, no matter how many merit points a solo trainer earned or how much they contributed to the League, their benefits only affected themselves, not their families.

On the other hand, League-registered trainers not only reaped personal benefits from their merit points, but their families also benefited. Moreover, if their merit points reached a certain level, even if something happened to them, their families would still be protected by the League.

This could be considered a strategy by the Pokémon League to win over a large number of trainers. Consequently, the majority of trainers in the Pokémon world were League-registered trainers.

However, merit points weren't easy to accumulate. As the League had developed steadily and society was stable, even though most trainers were registered with the League, they were still regular trainers.

Currently, Yuga was just a solo trainer because he had never registered his trainer identity. Naturally, he had zero merit points.

Yuga's purpose in opening the League store this time was to buy a Razor Fang for Gligar leader. The Razor Fang was a common Evolutionary Item, and although it was pricey, it was purchasable with money.

Yuga was also making his first purchase from the League store, but fortunately, the process wasn't too complicated. After a short while, he found the image of the Razor Fang.

He clicked on the purchase option, entered the delivery address, and made the payment through his account. All that was left was to wait for the delivery.

At this point, Suzuki had finished attending to the previous customer and approached Yuga.

Seeing her coming over, Yuga said, "Did you know that our Day Care has its own website?"

This website had been set up by Yuga himself earlier. It was quite simple, containing basic information about the Day Care and details about the Pokémon eggs available for sale.

Suzuki shook her head and replied, "I had no idea. You never told me before."

Yuga opened the Day Care's website and signaled Suzuki to come closer.

Once she walked over, Yuga continued, "Take a look. The way we're operating the Day Care right now is just too ordinary. There are countless Day Cares like ours in Hoenn Region. If we keep going like this, we won't stand out."

Listening to Yuga's words, Suzuki nodded and asked, "You're right, but what do you have in mind?"

Yuga thought for a moment and said, "After we sell this batch of regular Pokémon eggs in the store, we'll stop dealing with these ordinary ones. Instead, we'll sell baby Pokémon and only high-aptitude ones."

Hearing Yuga's idea, Suzuki voiced her concerns, "There might be a lot of problems with that approach. First, there's the issue of sourcing baby Pokémon. It's not easy to find high-aptitude baby Pokémon, and regular breeders won't supply them. Secondly, the prices of high-aptitude Pokémon eggs are much higher than regular ones, let alone baby Pokémon. Even the market price for a basic green-aptitude baby Pokémon is well over 100,000 Poké Dollars. Many people won't be able to afford that."

"Moreover, these are just the two main issues. There are many more things we need to consider," Suzuki added.

Yuga smiled and responded, "I've already thought of solutions for the points you raised. I've already acquired high-aptitude baby Pokémon; I went out for that purpose this time, so you don't need to worry about that."

He continued, "Secondly, high-aptitude Pokémon are always in demand, so you don't need to worry about losing customers. Even if we lose those regular customers, we'll have high-end customers coming to us. Plus, when we sell a high-aptitude Pokémon, it's equivalent to selling several regular Pokémon eggs. By focusing on quality, we might actually have an easier time."

He reassured Suzuki, "With so many people in Hoenn Region and countless trainers in the Pokémon world, not to mention trainers from other regions, we won't run out of potential customers."

However, Suzuki wasn't fully convinced by Yuga's optimistic perspective. "There might be many people in Hoenn Region and the Pokémon world, but that doesn't mean they'll necessarily come to us."

Mystically, Yuga said, "This is where our uniqueness will come into play. And I've also come up with a 'Poverty Alleviation Plan.'"

Confused, Suzuki asked, "Uniqueness? Poverty Alleviation Plan? What do you mean?"