Very quickly, Killua and Gon learned a great deal from the curly-haired guy about the rules of this game and how the cards were used.
"So the condition for clearing the game is collecting all the Specified Slot cards numbered 1 through 100?" Gon fell into thought.
"Maybe the real purpose of BOOK and GAIN is to stop players from slaughtering each other~"
From the curly-haired guy's explanation, Gon learned that even with all the restrictions in place, some players still found loopholes to exploit. Instead of seriously playing through the game, they preferred robbing other players of their cards to speed up their own progress.
That made Gon pretty unhappy.
After they had gathered enough information, the group decided to head for the nearest city, the prize town of Antokiba.
"Hey! You can't just leave me here and walk away! Help me put my arms and legs back on!!" Seeing Roy and the others about to leave, the curly-haired guy immediately panicked.
"You can stay here and take it easy. If you were able to enter and play this game, that means you know Nen. You should be able to put them back on yourself."
That might have been true, but doing it himself would take quite a bit of time. And if some vicious-looking players showed up in the meantime...
The curly-haired guy was on the verge of tears. After this lesson, he probably would never bully newcomers again~
Roy had already been merciful enough with how he handled him. Compared to the original outcome, where Feitan and Phinks killed him, this ending was much better—at least he was still alive.
It had to be said, Ging's talent for game design really was impressive.
Antokiba, the town of prizes, had bounty posters plastered all over the city. By accepting bounties, players could earn money and all sorts of items. If they got lucky, they might even obtain a Specified Slot card.
And every month there was a regular tournament. In the original version, Gon and Killua entered the September rock-paper-scissors tournament here and won the Sword of Truth, then entered again later and got the Paladin's Necklace.
This place was clearly meant to help beginner players understand the rules of the game, learn how cards worked, and get the money and items they needed to survive in the game.
And if they got lucky, they could even obtain Specified Slot cards and experience the game's true fun.
You could say Antokiba really was a proper starter town built to help players get used to the game.
As soon as they entered the city, Gon and Killua were amazed by the many different bounty posters lining the streets.
"All of these come with rewards!" The group stopped in front of a bulletin wall covered in posters. "And there are so many of them!"
Killua clicked his tongue in amazement.
"If we complete bounty requests, we can get reward items, right?" Gon scanned the wall, then suddenly froze and pointed at one of the posters. "Look at this!"
Written on that poster was:
"Lost dog. Whoever finds it will receive the 'Cursed Statue of Lady Luck.'"
"This is the same dog we ran into on the plain!"
The photo on the poster was exactly the same as the Lost Black-Eyed Dog they had gotten.
P.S.: In the older version, this poster even had a vertical photo of Yoshihiro Togashi himself on it.
"So there really was an easter egg!"
Gon and Killua sighed in admiration.
"Since we can trade it for an item, let's go already!" Gon said excitedly.
He was still a kid, after all. A playful streak like that was only natural~
"Oh my, thank you so much for helping me find my lost dog. I'm ever so grateful. I have a very lovely statue here, so if you don't mind, please take it~"
The person who had posted the bounty and handed out the reward was a kind old woman wearing glasses.
Then she took out an ancient bronze statue. Gon accepted it, and the statue immediately turned into a card.
"Number 900, Cursed Statue of Lady Luck, A-50."
"Even though it's an A-rank card, its number is 900, not one of the Specified Slot cards from 1 to 100." Killua glanced at it, then immediately lost interest.
After all, he had just taken quite a few Specified Slot cards from the curly-haired guy's binder.
They were all B-rank cards, and there were only a little over ten of them. Some were even duplicates.
It had to be said, that curly-haired guy had really been doing pretty badly for himself~
"Even if it isn't a Specified Slot card, it's still an A-rank card, so it should sell for a good price. Then you can use that money to buy some spell cards and utility cards, like maps."
Roy gave them the explanation.
"So cards like this easter egg card are basically there just to provide players with funds. After all, once you come into this game, you still need to eat and sleep."
The moment he mentioned eating and sleeping, Gon and Killua rubbed their stomachs, and beside them their second brother's stomach started growling too.
"So you still get hungry after coming into the game. Does that mean the sensations of the real world get carried over too?" Killua guessed.
Roy just smiled slightly.
"You still haven't noticed? This place is reality."
"Reality?" Killua, Gon, and Milluki all stared blankly.
"Yeah. Once you enter the game, your body can still feel heat and cold, and you still have normal physical needs. On top of that, if you die in the game, you really die. It's pretty obvious from all that that this place is still reality."
"But we clearly came in through the ring and the Memory Card!"
"But the condition for entering was activating Nen, right? Then what if this game simply uses Nen to teleport anyone wearing the ring directly to the place where the game is actually being held?"
At that moment, under Gon's, Killua's, and Milluki's almost fanatical looks of admiration, Roy's eyes seemed to shine with something called wisdom.
"And on top of that, once a player enters the game, even if someone pulls the plug on the console, the game keeps going. The console itself can't be destroyed. And if the player dies, the game stops too. If you put all those conditions together and think it through, the answer becomes obvious: this place is most likely a real island somewhere in the real world."
"A real island..." Gon murmured, clearly shaken by the news.
(End of Chapter)
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