Chapter 39: First Entry into the Secret Realm
Viewed from above, Zevil Island was shaped like a pair of glasses — or a pair of goggles, depending on your perspective.
Not large in total area, but densely vegetated, heavy with trees, and broken up by hills of varying heights. More than sufficient to swallow thirty-two candidates and lose them completely in the undergrowth.
"Please disembark in the order you cleared the third phase."
"Each candidate must wait two full minutes before the next may land."
"Your time on the island is one week. Collect your six points and return to this location at noon on the seventh day."
"First candidate, please disembark!"
After two hours of an atmosphere so tense it had been physically difficult to breathe, the moment the ship touched land the staff member in her Association uniform returned to perfect professional form and picked up exactly where she had left off.
At her word, Illumi — still the most immediately distinctive-looking candidate among those remaining — jogged off the ship and disappeared into the tree line.
"Second candidate, please disembark!"
Two minutes later, Hisoka stepped off humming something tuneless and strolled into the forest without any particular urgency.
"Third candidate—"
Ross exchanged a glance with each of the two delinquents, then took off in a straight line toward the deeper interior, his right hand hidden around the 1P controller.
Being among the first to land came with natural advantages — earlier orientation, earlier scouting, more time to observe potential targets before anyone else was in position. Ross wasn't planning to go directly at Shaolin, though. Seven days was a long time, and taking an injury from a reckless early engagement would only create openings for other hunters. The non-target problem was also real: six non-target badges added up to six points as cleanly as the main objective did, which meant anyone could theoretically pursue him for the math alone.
First priority: find a position with reliable water access and good concealment.
His approach was as direct as usual. He headed for the tree line at the diagonally opposite end of the island from the landing point — maximum distance from the disembarkation zone, enough that anyone following wheel-rut footprints would take a while to close the gap.
The previous three phases had all run with some form of rules providing a structural floor. What was coming now was something different: open combat, no regulations, no format, no protections. Any method was valid.
He turned it over briefly in his head, and his body trembled slightly — excitement and something else mixed together, both in equal measure.
He had grown up in a country that was, relative to most of human history, genuinely peaceful. Violence was something he approached with a natural discomfort. At the same time, he now had real capability at his disposal, and in this world — where legal frameworks barely touched individual fighting strength — something in him was stirring that hadn't existed before. He was, at this moment, a fairly contradictory person.
The fourth phase count had gone from the original twenty-four up to thirty-two, inflated by the YYH transplants. Which meant the hunting assignments had shifted significantly from their original distribution. There was no guarantee that the two candidates who had landed ahead of him hadn't drawn his badge.
...Which made a case for playing it cautiously at first.
Moving through grass that came up to his chin, Ross was already scanning the terrain ahead.
Eventually, near the tree line at almost the exact opposite end of the island, he found an abandoned bird's nest. He cleared out the shell fragments and debris, smoothed the base with the focused expression of someone conducting a small ceremony, and produced the Little Tyrant's Endless Amusement — running through the familiar assembly with the ease of someone who had done it too many times to count. He set it carefully down in the nest.
Old game hardware was interesting that way. Even without a proper video and audio output, the console could still run. If you weren't bothered by not seeing anything, you could play blind without a screen. Which, in practical terms, meant—
Entertainment Mode could run single-sided without a television.
And if Entertainment Mode could run without a television, then the conditions for activating Secret Realm Mode were met.
Which meant—
"Hff."
With all the ceremony the moment deserved, Ross blew on the black cartridge that had appeared in his hand and seated it cleanly into the slot.
Then he picked up the power cable, ran it once around his body, and tucked the end firmly under his armpit.
All conditions met.
He took a slow breath, pressed the power button with measured force, and activated Ren through both hands around the 1P controller.
Secret Realm Mode — activated.
A very particular quality of Nen wrapped itself around every part of him at once. He was sitting cross-legged in the nest, and then he was not there at all.
In the bird's nest, the Little Tyrant's power light stayed on.
...
His respiratory system registered the feedback first: excessive moisture in the air, well before his eyes adjusted.
When his vision cleared, the surroundings came into focus all at once.
Flat green meadow. Dense, layered vegetation. Hills rising and dipping with irregular frequency. And through the gaps between the peaks, streams running down in enough volume to fill the air with the particular warmth and humidity of a bathhouse.
The Angel Island Zone.
Ah~ ha~ Little Tyrant's Endless Amusement!!!
By running the Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Angel Island Zone cartridge and using your Secret Realm Key, you have successfully entered the Secret Realm Stage.
Completion Vow generating...
You have received two Completion Vows: Full Hidden Item Collection and No-Damage Clear.
At final completion, each fulfilled Vow increases your Secret Realm Stage access by one tier. (Starting tier: Intermediate.)
The basic conditions for leaving the Secret Realm Stage are: locate a Save Point within the Secret Realm, or complete a major zone.
Because the game cartridge is still incomplete, this Secret Realm currently opens the Angel Island area only. Completing the first major zone immediately grants the corresponding access.
No game, no life.
Wishing the player an enjoyable game~~
Ross stood there taking in everything around him. He took a long, slow breath.
Then:
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
He tilted his head back, and with every bit of air his lungs had in them, released a roar that didn't stop.
In the previously quiet Angel Island Zone, every bird in range launched skyward simultaneously. Every animal that had been sitting still bolted.
The fact that he had transmigrated into the Hunter x Hunter universe had been something. Actually, officially, physically stepping into a Sonic the Hedgehog game was something else entirely. It wasn't a close comparison.
The question that now occurred to him was:
Would the devoted Sega fanboy uncle — the one who had crossed into another world and kept a torch burning for little fox Tails all this time — be jealous?
***
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