Chapter 18: The Flavor Value of the Egg Treasure

Upon entering the testing room, Qin Lang and Danbao were greeted by a woman with wavy hair, dressed in a pristine white testing uniform and wearing a pleasant smile.

"Hello, I am Anna Tang, a tester for the Association."

Looking at Danbao, who was cradled in Qin Lang's arms, Anna's smile deepened. "Is this the little one you're here to test?"

"Yes," Qin Lang nodded. "I would like to trouble you to test Danbao's trait and flavor value, Ms. Tang."

"No problem at all." Anna took Danbao from Qin Lang, placed it into a transparent spherical container, and closed the lid.

"Don't be afraid, Danbao. Just follow the instrument's instructions," she whispered gently before operating the console.

Soon, current-like energy ripples appeared within the container. Danbao closed its eyes, letting the ripples scan its body.

*Ding!*

With an electronic chime, the printer beside the console began to work, quickly producing a test report. Anna opened the container, retrieved Danbao—who had reopened its eyes—and picked up the report. A look of surprise crossed her face as she scanned it.

"Oh?"

"Is something wrong, Ms. Tang?" Qin Lang, having just taken Danbao back into his arms, asked nervously upon hearing her reaction.

"It's nothing," Anna smiled. "It's just that your Spirit's trait and flavor value results are a bit beyond my expectations."

She handed the report to Qin Lang.

[Spirit Trait: Counter-Strike]
[Counter-Strike: When facing an opponent with higher speed, there is a chance equal to the speed difference percentage to land a critical hit, with damage increased by 50%.]
[Spirit Flavor Value: 270]
[Four-Dimensional Analysis:
Stamina: 90
Attack: 60
Defense: 80
Speed: 40]

"This..." After reading the report, Qin Lang raised an eyebrow and looked at Anna. "Ms. Tang, I'm not very familiar with Spirit traits and flavor values."

"Could you tell me if Danbao's stats are strong or weak?"

The pamphlet he had received earlier contained very little information on these points. To understand better, he needed to ask a professional.

"They are definitely strong," Anna smiled. "Let's talk about the trait first. 'Counter-Strike' is a mid-to-high tier trait, but its effectiveness depends heavily on the Spirit's own speed."

"The slower the Spirit, the better it can utilize this trait."

"And Danbao's speed is only 40."

"This speed means that over 95% of other Spirits will be faster, allowing the trait to cover the vast majority of opponents."

"But isn't low speed a disadvantage?" Qin Lang asked. "Does 'speed' in the flavor value refer to movement speed?"

"Not just that," Anna explained. "Speed includes movement, evasion in combat, and the speed at which battle skills are unleashed."

"Generally speaking, being slow isn't an advantage, as it means the Spirit is easily forced into a defensive position," Anna continued. "However, your Spirit has remarkably high resistance." She pointed to the stamina and defense stats.

"Stamina is the deciding factor in battle. Using battle skills consumes stamina, and taking damage reduces it as well."

"Once stamina is exhausted, the Spirit loses its ability to fight. In Spirit battles, this is the definitive factor in victory or defeat."

"Your Spirit has a full 90 points in stamina."

"At the same time, it has 80 points in defense, meaning it will lose less stamina than other Spirits when taking the same amount of damage."

Qin Lang looked at Danbao with newfound fascination. Although he had noticed Danbao flew quite sluggishly, he never imagined that such a cute Spirit was actually a tank. Could it be because its body was outside its head, providing some sort of shock-absorption effect?

"As for attack..." Anna looked at the final dimension. "60 points is standard for a Spirit at the initial stage."

"I'm curious about the attack stat," Qin Lang asked. "Ms. Tang, what is the difference between a Spirit's attack stat and the power of its battle skills?"

"There is certainly a difference," Anna replied. "To give a simple example, if two Spirits of the same level perform a battle skill of the same power, would the damage be identical?"

"No," Qin Lang shook his head.

"Exactly," Anna nodded. "To use humans as an analogy, two people of the same age holding the same weapon won't necessarily have the same combat prowess. One might be stronger, the other weaker."

"Individual differences in Spirits work the same way."

"There are three factors that determine a Spirit's damage: the level gap between the two, the power of the battle skill, and the Spirit's attack stat."

Seeing Qin Lang nod thoughtfully, Anna continued, "Every Spirit has its strengths and weaknesses; it's impossible for one to be superior in every aspect, just as your Danbao is slow."

"Therefore, to compare the individual strength of Spirits, we generally look at the sum of the four dimensions—the flavor value."

"The flavor value of an initial-stage Spirit usually fluctuates around 240, with an average of 60 per dimension."

"Your Spirit's flavor value of 270 is already quite excellent."

"If you can complete a 'Spirit Renewal,' the flavor value will increase further; a renewed Spirit typically fluctuates around 320."

Qin Lang nodded in understanding, immediately noting the term Anna had used. "Spirit Renewal?"

"That is a further transformation that can only be performed after a Spirit's training value reaches 100," Anna smiled. "That's still quite a way off for you."

"So, the transformation after reaching 100 training value is called Spirit Renewal..." Qin Lang made a mental note of this new information. But Anna was right; it was indeed still far off.

***

"Bubu, let's check in at the Association entrance. We can go home to see Grandma and Grandpa soon!" At the entrance of the Spirit Chef Association, a pretty girl with a side ponytail smiled and stroked the Spirit beside her.

"You haven't met them yet, but I'm sure they'll love you."

"Bui~"

The small, fluffy, sheep-like Spirit with crystal-ice horns on its head nodded shyly.

The girl took out her phone and opened the selfie mode to take a beautiful photo with her Spirit. Just as she was about to take a second one, two unexpected guests appeared in the frame, interrupting her.

Turning her head to look at the boy walking out and the Spirit in his arms, the girl instinctively shifted her camera to scan the Spirit.

A moment later, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"Lv 7, and it has both Salt and Fire attributes?"