What surprised Ryker wasn't just that Eta had Gold-tier traits. It was her first trait.
[Game Master]
She had actual, system-level administrative privileges in the real world's largest Nen construct. And her specific permission granted her access to the entire map.
Absolute perfection, Ryker thought, licking his lips.
As for her other Gold traits—like [Absolute Affinity] and [Photographic Memory]—they were non-combat utility skills, but still incredibly valuable.
"Excuse me, player, are you listening to me?" Eta asked politely, her robotic, professional tone completely ignoring his intense stare. "In this game, anyone wearing the ring can use two base spells. The first is 'Book'..."
She was fulfilling her programming. As the starting guide, she was obligated to explain the game's basic mechanics to every new player.
But she quickly realized that the player standing in front of her wasn't listening to a single word she was saying. Instead, he was staring at her with a bizarre, almost predatory gaze that sent an unnatural chill down her spine.
Before her eyes, the player slowly began walking directly toward her.
"Player... you cannot attack me," Eta warned, sighing internally. "If you attempt to do so, you will violate the game's fundamental rules and be subjected to a period of confinement."
She was used to this. As a beautiful woman essentially trapped in an NPC role, she frequently encountered arrogant, lecherous players who thought they could do whatever they wanted. But as a Game Master, she was protected by the absolute, underlying Nen vows of Greed Island. Any player who tried to harm her would trigger the system's defenses and be severely punished.
But before she could finish her warning, Ryker was already standing right in front of her.
He raised his hand and reached for her.
BZZZT!
Suddenly, a massive, transparent barrier of concentrated Nen flared into existence between them, completely halting Ryker's hand. The entire starting room began to flash with blinding red warning lights.
[WARNING! WARNING!]
[PLAYER IS ATTEMPTING TO ASSAULT A GAME MASTER! CEASE ILLEGAL ACTIVITY IMMEDIATELY OR FACE SYSTEM PUNISHMENT! WARNING!]
The automated sirens blared deafeningly throughout the hall.
Eta simply smiled her polite, professional smile. She knew the player couldn't touch her. This was the irrefutable law established by Ging and the other creators decades ago.
Ryker, however, was genuinely intrigued.
He could feel the immense, crushing pressure radiating from the transparent barrier. It wasn't just a physical wall; it was a conceptual reflection of the game's creators. To break it meant clashing directly with the combined Nen vows of Ging Freecss and the other Game Masters.
Not only did the barrier block his hand, but it also generated a massive, repelling force designed to launch him backward.
This was the part that surprised Eta.
Usually, when a player struck the barrier, the sheer kinetic rebound would send them flying across the room before teleporting them to the penalty zone.
But this player? He was just standing there.
The barrier was violently trying to push him away, but his feet were planted as if they were bolted to the core of the earth.
Is the defense mechanism glitching? Eta wondered, her polite smile faltering. Why isn't he being repelled? Is the barrier only blocking him now?
Her confusion lasted for exactly one second.
Then, her wide, azure eyes filled with absolute, mind-shattering terror.
Because as a non-combatant Game Master who spent her life managing the logistics of the entrance portal, she was not prepared for what happened next.
CRACK.
Under Ryker's casual, forward pressure, the absolute, invincible, system-level barrier of Greed Island—a vow reinforced by Ging Freecss himself—shattered like a fragile soap bubble.
The barrier collapsed into a shower of light.
Ryker's hand reached right through the fading energy and moved directly toward Eta's head.
Eta's mind went entirely blank.
"..."
She didn't know what to do. The impossibility of the situation completely short-circuited her brain. How could a player break the fundamental rules of the world?!
Ryker knew exactly why.
Because in the world of Hunter x Hunter, Nen rules were not omnipotent. They were governed by aura output and willpower. And right now, Ryker's base aura reserves and destructive power simply eclipsed the passive defense mechanism Ging had left behind.
Am I going to die?! Eta realized, pure horror gripping her heart.
As a Game Master, she had never once considered her own mortality. She was supposed to be an untouchable god in this world. But right now, the sheer, suffocating malice radiating from the player made her feel like a helpless insect.
Terrified, Eta squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for her head to be crushed.
But the explosion of pain and death never came.
Instead, the deafening alarms seemed to fade into the background. The room went completely still.
Trembling, Eta slowly peeled one eye open.
The player's hand was hovering just inches from her face. The terrifying, murderous intent was gone, replaced by a faint, amused smirk.
Ryker pulled his fingers back, forming a flicking motion, and aimed directly at her forehead.
FLICK.
"O-OWWWWW!"
Eta was knocked completely off her feet, landing flat on her bottom with her legs splayed out in an incredibly undignified manner. She clutched her rapidly swelling, bright red forehead, tears instantly streaming down her face.
She looked exactly like a bullied child throwing a tantrum.
[DING! You successfully engaged and defeated Game Master: Eta!]
[10% Auto-Plunder activated...]
[Success! Acquired: {Photographic Memory} (Gold)!]
[DING! {Continuous Lucky Star} activated. Forced Drop Target: {Game Master: Global Map Surveillance} (Gold)!]
A mechanical symphony rang out in Ryker's head.
A massive influx of data flooded his brain. The [Photographic Memory] trait was essentially a passive lifestyle buff, perfectly complimenting his existing memory skills. It was nice, but it wasn't the prize.
The real treasure was the administrative access.
[Trait: Game Master (Global Map Surveillance) (Gold)]
[Effect: This trait is exclusively active within the Greed Island Nen space. You acquire partial Game Master privileges, allowing you to monitor nearly all zones on the map, including restricted and unreleased areas. You can also perfectly track the locations of all players who do not possess specialized anti-tracking abilities.]
Perfect!
Ryker's grin widened. He had just effectively downloaded a maphack for Greed Island. With this, finding specific cards, avoiding tedious quests, and hunting down players would be effortlessly easy.
The System truly overrides the fundamental laws of this world, Ryker marveled.
He smiled and reached his hand out to help the crying girl up.
"Ah—?!"
Eta scrambled backward like a frightened crab, her nose running and her eyes red from crying. She stared at him in absolute bewilderment.
"Sorry about that. My hand slipped," Ryker chuckled.
Before Eta could even process his absurd apology, the system alarms, which had momentarily stalled out from the shock of the barrier breaking, violently re-engaged.
[CRITICAL VIOLATION DETECTED! PLAYER HAS ASSAULTED A GAME MASTER! INITIATING 24-HOUR MAXIMUM CONFINEMENT PROTOCOL!]
A bizarre, swirling vortex of spatial Nen enveloped Ryker, attempting to forcefully rip him from the starting room and teleport him to the game's prison zone.
But once again, the system struggled.
Ryker stood perfectly still. The teleportation spell pulled and pulled, but it was like trying to suck a mountain through a straw. The system was expending massive amounts of energy just trying to move his base mass.
After letting the spell struggle for a few seconds, Ryker finally understood the mechanics of the game's teleportation magic.
"Ah, I see how it works now," Ryker smiled.
He intentionally deactivated his passive aura defenses, allowing the spell to finally grab him. In a flash of light, Ryker vanished, willingly letting himself be transported to the penalty box.
Leaving Eta alone in the starting room.
It took her a full minute of sitting on the floor, rubbing her bruised forehead, before her brain rebooted.
"W-Waah... he apologized... maybe he really didn't mean it... maybe it was an accident..." Eta mumbled to herself, her naive nature taking over. "I... I need to tell the others..."
She scrambled to her feet, pulled out her Game Master communication device, and connected to the private admin channel.
"Is anyone there?! I need help! Please respond!" Eta cried out over the radio.
"Oh? Is that Eta? Did you run into a problem today?" a lazy voice replied.
"Don't tell me you're just calling because you want me to send you sweets. If you interrupt my research for snacks, I'll be very angry," another voice chimed in.
"Hey, be nice to Eta! What's wrong, sweetie? Tell big sister Elena."
The voices of the other Game Masters filled the channel, their tones relaxed and cheerful.
"I... I just processed a player, and he got sent to the penalty box! But I don't think he meant to do anything wrong! Can you guys let him out early?" Eta pleaded. She genuinely believed that if Ryker had wanted to hurt her, he would have done worse than a finger-flick. She assumed the barrier breaking was a system glitch.
"Hahahaha! Did someone bully our little Eta again? I told Ging from the start that I should have been the receptionist! Cute girls always attract the creeps," a boisterous voice laughed.
"Eta, did he try to touch you? If so, leave him in there to rot. The people playing this game are ruthless mercenaries. Don't waste your pity on them."
"Relax, Elena. No one in this game can actually hurt us anyway. The worst they can do is look. Want me to code you a helmet that hides your face, Eta?"
The Game Masters were completely unconcerned. To them, players were just rats in a maze they had designed.
"N-No... he didn't try to creep on me..." Eta sniffled, her voice trembling. "He... he flicked me on the forehead. And it really hurt. But he got sent to prison for it, so please let him out..."
A dead silence fell over the radio channel.
"Hahaha! He flicked you on the forehead? Sounds like a schoolboy crush!"
"Wait. Hold on. Eta, what did you just say? He flicked you?"
"That's impossible! We are the Game Masters! The core rules of the island prevent players from making physical contact with us! List, check the intrusion logs immediately!"
"There's no intrusion... wait. I have a massive system error log here. The primary defense barrier in the starting room was completely shattered!"
"Eta? How the hell did a player touch you?!"
The relaxed atmosphere in the admin channel evaporated instantly.
For the creators of Greed Island, this was equivalent to the sky falling. For over a decade, their system had been absolute. The idea that a player could physically bypass their divine admin-protections shattered their entire worldview.
Because Eta was a non-combatant, Ging had given her the strongest absolute defense in the game. If someone broke through it... they broke the game itself.
"W-Waaah... I don't know! But it's true! Look at my camera!"
Eta switched her radio to video mode, showing the other Game Masters her tear-stained face and the massive, angry red welt swelling on her forehead.
GASP!
In control rooms across the island, several Game Masters violently sucked in a breath of cold air.
The joking was over. The situation was incredibly, terrifyingly real.
A player had entered the game, shattered Ging's absolute defense barrier in seconds, injured a Game Master, and walked away.
"This is bad. This is very, very bad," a deep, booming voice finally spoke up in the chat. The avatar was of a heavily muscled man.
Razor. The Ultimate Enforcer of Greed Island.
"Ging warned me that a disaster might come to the island one day," Razor said, his voice cold and deadly serious. "It seems that day has arrived. I will take care of this personally. I am going to find this bug and permanently delete him from our game."
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