"So, since we're not teaming up with them, we'll just gather cards on our own," Milluki said as he caught up.
"Sorry, Milluki," Gon said apologetically.
"You don't need to apologize to me. I didn't want to team up with those guys anyway. Whenever I play games, I always clear them solo."
Milluki patted his belly, showing he did not care.
"Then I think we should first get a Specified Slot card. Based on its difficulty rank and copy limit, we can infer what the upper and lower difficulty ranges of those cards are like."
Killua placed both hands behind his head as he spoke.
"Antokiba has a monthly tournament every month. I've heard the reward can be a pretty good item card, and there's even a chance of getting a card for the restricted slots."
His second older brother took out his little game guide booklet again.
"Based on the information I recorded in the plaza before, and the intelligence I gathered during the bounty hunts, this month's Antokiba tournament on the fifteenth will be holding a rock-paper-scissors competition. The winner gets an item prize, Sword of Truth. Supposedly, it's a restricted-slot card."
"Oh?! A restricted-slot card?!" Gon's eyes widened, and his fighting spirit flared up again. "All right, it's decided! We're getting Sword of Truth first!"
"When we entered, it was September 8. If time here matches the real world, then it should still be September 8 now. That means we still have one week to prepare."
With a snap, Milluki closed his booklet.
Roy had accepted Battera's request to treat his lover and received the Greed Island game on September 1. Gon then spent a week adjusting his condition before entering the game today, which made it exactly September 8.
"Who would've guessed? For someone usually that shut-in, you're surprisingly reliable right now," Killua said, giving Milluki rare praise.
"Hmph. There's plenty you don't know about me," Milluki replied haughtily, then tucked the booklet back into his pocket.
"Great! Then for the next week, we'll make Sword of Truth our goal. While taking care of bounty quests, we'll also carry out a full week of rock-paper-scissors special training!"
"I agree. We can't rely on Roy for everything. That's what we're here for!"
"Hey! Killua, you idiot. And don't forget money. In this game, having no money is absolutely not an option!"
In the distance, Roy watched the group chatting noisily, and a faint smile rose on his lips.
Looks like he would not need to worry about them for the time being. Let them play around for a while first. Judging from Gon and Killua's fortunes, they would probably run into Bisky sooner or later.
And when that happened—while Gon and Killua trained under Bisky—it would also be time for him to start training Milluki. After all, all the knowledge in his head could not just sit there doing nothing. He needed to find a suitable successor for it.
Then again...
Roy rested his chin on his hand. He had also been tired for the past two days. It was about time he relaxed and played the game a little himself. Still, Milluki was right: in this game, having no money was absolutely impossible.
Roy gazed into the distance, his eyes deep and thoughtful.
…
Three days later, on September 11, after being screened by Tsezguerra, quite a few capable players had been recruited.
Everyone entered the game one after another. Among them was a lady in a princess-style outfit, blonde and blue-eyed, like some little noble girl, as well as a dark-skinned Nen Exorcist dressed in black.
At that moment, back in Antokiba, the card binder Genthru used to stay in touch with his companions suddenly rang.
It was the Contact card. In this game, communication devices like telephones could not be used.
"I see. So another batch has arrived?"
The sunlight reflected off Genthru's small glasses, making it impossible to read the look in his eyes.
"The more people there are, the faster the cards can be gathered. But with how arrogant that bunch is, if we don't give them a little demonstration first, it'll probably be hard to get them to cooperate with us. Looks like the Bomber will have to make another appearance."
Meanwhile, after several days of trial and error, Gon's group had made some real progress in figuring out how the game worked.
At the very least, they now knew how to trigger quest events, which NPCs to look for, and how to go about certain tasks. After several bounty jobs, they had also obtained quite a few item cards.
But while Gon and the others were busy completing bounty quests, rumors gradually began to spread through Antokiba.
It was said that, in the dangerous grand canyon between Antokiba and Masadora, many terrifying creatures—towering cyclopes, empty suits of armor that moved on their own, and mad lizards that charged around aimlessly—had all suddenly vanished over the past three days.
So some weaker players cautiously began entering the canyon, and discovered that the rumors were true: it really had become much safer inside.
As a result, a wave of players rushed toward Masadora.
But it seemed Greed Island's self-regulating system soon reset those monsters back to their original positions.
Some of the people who reached Masadora in time could hardly contain their delight, while those who had hesitated and failed to decide beat their chests in regret.
All the varied faces of life could be seen there.
In the blink of an eye, two more days passed. At last, September 15 arrived—the day of Antokiba's once-a-month tournament.
The chubby second brother sat in the audience, stuffing potato chips into his mouth as he quietly watched Gon and Killua utterly dominate the stage.
After Milluki's meticulous calculations and analysis, with Gon and Killua's eyesight and their unusual way of playing rock-paper-scissors, there was basically no way they could lose a tournament like this, where no real experts were participating.
However...
Popping a lollipop into his mouth, the second brother cast a slightly more serious glance at one of the contestants on the left. She looked like a soft, delicate little girl—cute as a finely crafted porcelain doll.
But her true identity was that of a muscular old witch with an art style straight out of Fist of the North Star.
Sometimes, Roy seriously wondered whether Bisky's design had been inspired by Fist of the North Star.
At that moment, this senior master of Shingen-ryu Kung Fu was earnestly playing rock-paper-scissors with someone.
Milluki took one look at the fake little girl's rock-paper-scissors style, then withdrew his gaze.
(End of Chapter)
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