After my little meeting with the recruiting group, I head straight to the Antokiba Trade Shop. My goal here was to sell the cards I'd collected to make money and gather information about the game. Apparently, the H-Rank rocks, sticks, and bugs I'd picked up along the way are worthless, but a couple of cards from a futon and a table I'd stolen from my assailant on the plains are worth about 1.000 jenny.
When I ask the NPC why the card prices vary, he gives me the answer in a monotone after I pay 3.000 jenny (which, he later tells me, seems to be the lowest price for information in this business).
According to him, all cards that are objects or living beings that can be encountered in daily life have the Rank H. Things that can be picked up along the way and have no practical use (basically garbage) have no selling or buying value, but things that can be used, such as a pillow, food, toys, or gasoline, can be bought and sold, with prices varying between 1.000 and 5.000 jenny.
Starting at Rank G and above, cards were worth more the higher their rank and the more difficult they were to obtain. That's why monster cards were worth more than other higher-ranked cards like "Galgaida". And with the restricted slots, it was a whole new economic level.
Because these cards are required to complete the game and possess unique powers, their price is sky-high compared to the others. The cheapest, the D-Rank "Paladin's Necklace," sells for 10 million jenny. With that in mind, the reality of why there are so many players looking to steal these cards despite being weak and having given up on the game becomes even more apparent to me.
Anyway, aside from the H-Rank cards, I also sell him the Map, the "Doyen's Growth Pills", the "Mood Clock", and the two "Risky Dice" cards, getting a staggering total of 200.040.000 jenny.
Obviously, most of the money has to be deposited into the shop account, while I keep 80.000 jenny in the binder. The strangest thing about the situation was seeing this stoic NPC put on a pleased smile.
After this, I leave the shop and get rid of the useless cards I've been collecting to make room in my binder. With only the necessary cards in my unrestricted slots, I enter the sales section of the shop and find several players browsing through food cards, everyday items, and a couple of restricted cards: They currently seem to have "Golden Guidebook," "Fledgling Politician," and "Mood Clock" in stock.
'They've only put one of the cards I sold them before on sale. And they're selling it for a higher price.' I think to myself as I look at the cards in the display case. "Excuse me, are these all the B Rank cards you have available?"
"No, sir. The store has a wider variety of cards in that rank, but they're sold during specific seasons." The manager, who is a different NPC than the one who buys the cards in the other part of the store, says.
"I see. And could you tell me how the seasons run?" I ask.
"I'm afraid I can't. We only give that information to regular customers of our store." The NPC manager answers.
"And couldn't I pay a generous fee for you to turn a blind eye to that detail?" I ask, not in a persuasive way but to verify the fact.
"I'm afraid I can't. We only give that information to regular customers of our store." The manager repeats, according to his NPC mechanics.
Resigning myself to the answer and the mocking looks of the other players, I buy several cards for food, water, camping and other practical items, and a "Map of the Island 'empty'".
I'd already gotten one with the player who tried to tag me, but he had several areas covered, and I want my map to show my own progress, not someone else's. That's part of the experience of playing a video game.
Restocked with everything I might need while traveling, I leave the Trade Shop, and immediately head north toward Masadora. After running for about 30 minutes, I stop in the middle of the mountain forest, and opening my binder, I take out a few cards.
"Gain." By saying the spell, the cards transform into ingredients, grill equipment, and a Galgaida fish that still flaps and shakes full of life. "Okay. Let's see if this ugly fish lives up to its description."
For the next few minutes, I build a fire with a combination of wood and stones, and prepare the fish by removing the scales, gutting it, and making the necessary arrangements. After rinsing and salting it, I place it on the grill along with a side dish and season it with a little rosemary.
After about 10 minutes, the fish has acquired the yellowish-brown hue and charred smell that marks it's ready, so removing it from the grill along with the vegetables, I plunge my fork into it and bring a bite of its flesh to my mouth.
"Hmmmmm! So good!" I exclaim with my eyes wide and shining. "The description didn't lie! It has a clean flavor and a consistent texture, but it's also very savory, and the salt invigorates it with every bite I take! It's delicious!"
Confirming the accuracy of the card description, I continue enjoying my meal, isolated in the depths of the unknown forest. My enthusiasm makes me finish the meal in less than a minute, satisfying my curiosity but leaving me wanting more.
"Ahh. And people keep selling this menu as if it were worthless. It's clear that those who come to this island have no idea about everyday life skills and the true potential of the menus. A fish like this would be coveted by chefs everywhere. Don't you agree with that?"
In the middle of the place full of unevenness and trees, my question fades in the wind without anyone answering it.
"There's no point in hiding. I noticed your presence while I was preparing my little lunch. Don't complicate the situation and come out of your hiding places at once. Unless you want me to come and get you out by force."
At my action of getting up and smiling in a rather malicious way, from among the trees my visitors appear: The mountain ninja bandits. The NPCs who grant you card number 75, "Wild Luck Alexandrite," if you meet the necessary conditions.
The subsequent events were the same as those seen in the canon story; the bandits kneel down begging for help, take me to their village, tell me the story of the endemic disease, and beg me for money (80,000 jenny, just like in the series).
The only difference from Gon and Killua's experience is that the villagers weren't in need of clothing for warmth. Instead, their stomachs rumbled and they spouted off the rhetoric that because they were sick and had spent their money on medicine, they hadn't been able to eat properly, and that if they didn't get something to fill their empty stomachs, some of them would die tonight.
Given this occurrence, I not only gave them the food I had, but also cooked them a delicious bowl of stew to give a further impression of a generous and kind individual. Besides, it's fun to do this kind of thing from time to time.
After feeding the villagers and receiving their tearful thankings, I leave the village to return to my previous route, and after a few minutes I stop and take a H-Rank card out of my binder.
"Gain." I say and the card turns into the object "Universal Survey". "Okay, time to test for bugs to exploit."
I then take a letter from my unrestricted page and, using my Wormhole Orb, open a portal leading directly to the underground chamber of Battera Castle. As I cross the threshold, the binder disappears into thin air, but the clipboard and the card remain in my hands.
"Gain." I say, but the card does not transform. "I see. Okay, let's move on to the next thing."
With my first test confirmed, I activate my En in a 50 meter radius, and I detect several people outside the dungeon, so leaving the room I start walking carefully through the big estate until I find a soldier patrolling the corridor.
"Stop it, trespasser! This is private property and you shouldn't be here! Kneel down and put your hands up!" The soldier says pointing a gun at me.
"Wow, wow, wow. Lower your weapons, soldier. I'm not a trespasser. I work for Mr. Battera in direct collaboration with his commanding officer, Tsezguerra. The two of us are in a partnership to beat the game Greed Island." I say raising my hands pretending to be nervous and alarmed.
"Greed Island? "Are you a contracted player? If so, tell me your name." The man requests.
"Kai Ikeda. I just arrived at the mansion today with Battera and Tsezguerra. Look at the ring on my hand if you don't believe me." I say showing it off in my hand.
The man then takes out a card with a screen and searches through it until he sees my profile. "Kai Ikeda. Greed Island player signed two weeks ago and arrived this afternoon from the airport. Okay, you're telling the truth about that." The man says, putting away his gun.
Battera had been obsessing over the Greed Island game for a while now, and everyone who knew him or worked for him knows this. Even the entire castle had become a fortress filled with Tsezguerra's soldiers guarding the underground room with the consoles, so even if the soldier doesn't recognize Kai, he still must prioritize the situation if the Greed Island issue is brought up.
"Even so, it's not safe for you to wander around the castle alone at this hour. There are several security systems to prevent intruders, and the soldiers in charge have orders to subdue any individual we haven't been notified about."
"If you want to leave for something or abandon the contract, please use the landline in the computer room to inform one of the numbers listed on the board."
"I'll make a note of that for the future. Anyway, the reason I'm out is to do an important check on the game, and I need the help of a volunteer. If you're willing, could you call someone who has time? It's essential for Mr. Battera's interests." I ask.
"A game check? What's it about?" The man asks curiously.
"I've written a series of clear questions about myself in this questionnaire, and I need someone to answer them all with lies. I know. I know it sounds like a meaningless thing, but I assure you it's very important to unraveling the secrets of the game." I say under the soldier's distrustful gaze.
The soldier then approaches me to take the clipboard, and when he sees the questions, he raises one of his eyebrows weirded out. "Seriously, are these questions important for completing Greed Island?"
"I can assure you that they are essential to fulfill Tsezguerra and Battera's ambitions." I answer, circumventing his question.
The soldier lets out an exasperated sigh, but accepts my statement and begins writing on the sheet of paper. After about a minute, he hands me back the clipboard with all the questions answered.
'That was quick. Well, that's what you'd expect from yes-or-no questions. Let's check it out.' I think, looking at the sheet.
- Do you think I'm a dangerous madman?
- Do you think I'm an obese man?
- My hair is blonde?
- Do I look like an attractive man?
- Am I a trustworthy friend?
- Are my teeth sharp and pointy?
- Is my skin white?
These were the seven questions I chose to fill out for the survey. I know they're very obvious and silly, but that's precisely why I can verify whether the answers are honest or not with complete certainty. And from what I can see with my own eyes, they aren't.
'Just as I suspected. It didn't work.' I think before giving a military salute to the soldier. "Okay, I've confirmed what I needed. Thanks for your cooperation, soldier. I'll now log back into the game, so you can continue your work protecting the property."
"Okay. I don't understand why you wanted me to fill that out, but whatever. I'll call for one of the mansion's assistants to guide you safely back to the basement." The soldier says, preparing to call on the radio.
After a short while, a maid appears before us with a polite and elegant demeanor, and as she leads me through the corridors back to the basement, I go over the facts at hand.
Despite what the general public has been led to believe, Greed Island doesn't take place in a virtual world created through programming, but on a real-world island. Because of this, an idea occurred to me: If an Emitter were to use a translocation ability, could they leave the island and steal its powerful magical items?
That's one of the many reasons I decided to create the Wormhole Orb, and now that I've tried it with my little experiment, I finally have the answer to my questions. Apparently, the game's programming doesn't prevent abilities that allow spatial movement, not even from inside the game to outside. And even though the binder is programmed to disappear if the threshold between the two locations is crossed, this isn't the case for items and cards.
However, it seems that items and cards that cross this way lose all their special abilities, rendering them useless and preventing people from taking advantage of them. I assume the Game Masters designed it this way to prevent smuggling of these items without affecting players' Nen abilities. It makes sense if you consider the infinite versatility of Nen.
Still, I've found that I can leave the game without needing to acquire the valuable and coveted "Leave" spell card, and even though items lose their powers when they pass through my portals, I can still benefit from being able to bring them out to the "real world" for free.
While I ponder my future plans now that I have this information confirmed, the maid and I arrive at the basement, and after I enter the computer room, the maid says goodbye to me and goes upstairs to leave.
Once again alone in the room filled with screens showing players inside their consoles, I take out my cell phone and prepare to call Nicholas to find out how he's doing.
'Cell phones didn't work in the game, not even on the island itself. Even if I tried, knowing he'd logged in after me, I couldn't contact Tsezguerra using my cell phone. At least they were able to take that into account.' I think listening to the phone ring on hold.
After a few seconds, the phone stops ringing, indicating that someone has finally picked it up. "Hi, Nicholas?"
"What the hell is that screaming about?! My eardrums almost burst!" I ask yelling quite angry by his action (which is strange in our dynamics).
"Hey, hey, take a deep breath and calm down, man. I think you have a lot to tell me, I don't think this is a conversation for phone calls. Tell me where you are right now." I request him, trying to calm his mood.
"Pesker City. Okay, head to the Comfort in the Heaven Inn tomorrow, between the Colisia and the Ricolite Avenues in the southwest part of the city. I'll meet at the entrance before lunch, and then we'll head to a nearby cafe so you can update me on how things are going." I instruct him.
"Okay, until then, try to calm your nerves and regain your composure. See you." I say finally hanging up.
'He was pretty upset. I know I asked him to take charge of advancing the Tsukimichi Organization's projects, but I hadn't predicted it would have this effect on him. Anyway, I'll try to figure out how to help him tomorrow when he gives me all the details. For now, let's get back to the game to continue testing.'
With this thought and some residual concern for my friend, I use my Wormhole Orb again and, as expected, open a portal back to Greed Island, right at the same spot in the forest from where I left. With this confirmed I cross the portal, and once I'm back in the forest I say the keyword "Book" to make the binder appear so I can check if my cards are still inside.
'Yes! My cards are still stored in their place. The experiment is a complete success. I can go in and out of Greed Island without going through the checkpoints and still conserve my cards. Not only does this eliminate the need for the "Leave" card, but it means I can also use it as a bargaining chip with players who have valuable cards and want to leave the game.'
Excited by the process that this discovery entails, I take out of my pocket the card I had taken to the castle and I prepare to check the last detail of my experiment.
"Gain."
By saying the spell, the card transforms into an apple, and this confirms another point: While cards taken out of the game through illegal means can't be used, their programming remains inactive instead of being erased, so they can be used when you return to the game instead of being completely unusable. Although seeming meaningless, this fact may prove important later on.
With that out of the way, I pack up the apple and clipboard and head to Masadora. After a few minutes, I reach the famous Badlands, where players can encounter monsters to hunt for money, and the first monsters I encounter upon entering the perimeter are, of course, Cyclops.
Despite knowing their weaknesses, I spar with them for a while to test their abilities. Apparently, their physical strength is quite high, more or less on par with Riven and Tetsu, and their bodies are durable enough to withstand several of my attacks with Ryu.
However, in the end, it seems that it isn't necessary to hit their eyes to defeat them, since after several attacks with Ryu and Ko, I am able to defeat them despite the handicaps I impose on myself. They are the second weakest monsters in the game, so I can't ask for more.
Still, hitting their bodies and resisting their blows is quite satisfying as training, so I make up my mind to train by defeating them in this way, as well as to impose this training on my new "disciples", since I know that they would be able to resist them even if they end up injured.
After finishing off the herd of cyclops and collecting their cards, I continue sailing through the dry, vegetation-free lands and testing the monsters I encounter. It seems that the soldier controlled by the Radio Rat would have the strength of a low-level Nen user, and that the Melanin Lizard is stronger and more durable than the Cyclops, but has less movement capacity.
Also, apart from the known monsters, I discover several secrets of the monsters that appeared in the arc but that didn't receive names or explanations on how to defeat them:
- Unnamed Worm Monster. True Name: Underground Lurker. D-Rank monster. It's found only in the dark caves of the area. It attacks quickly and with a wiggle motion, but always uses direct tackles and bites. After a series of 5 to 10 attacks, it burrows underground and prepares to attack you from below. The key to defeating it is to sense where it's coming from to attack you and to strike at the weak spot it normally protects by crawling, but which it leaves exposed when it emerges from the ground.
- Unnamed One-eyed Monster. True Name: Possessed Box. E-Rank. This monster is invulnerable to attacks, and when you come into contact with it, it responds with a tackle. To defeat it, you must use Gyo on the roots emerging from its bottom, and once you see which ones have an aura, you must use Manipulation to undo the monster's internal entanglement, thus emptying it.
- Swarm of Mosquitoes. True Name: Itch Battalion. G-Rank Monster. The swarm chases players to bite them until their bodies are covered in incredibly itchy ampoules. The key to defeating it is to develop enough speed and precision to take them all out before they bite you, or to find and finish off the unit commander mosquito, but this second one is very difficult because its action pattern is only slightly different from the rest.
- Unnamed Slime Monster True Name: Stretchy Slime. F-Rank Monster. Its elastic body protects its core from attacks, which is its weak point. To defeat it, you must emit the aura outside your body and pass through the elastic exterior slime to connect with the core.
After several hours running around the terrain searching for and facing the game's monsters, I finally reach an abandoned campsite, so satisfied with the results of today's testing, I head to one of the huts to spend the night.
"Hmm. It's messy and run-down, but it's better than spending the night outside." I say as I settle down on the floor of one of the huts.
After this, I concentrate my aura between my hands to generate a new Wormhole Orb to replace the one I spent today testing for bugs in the game, and once I finish infusing it with almost all of my aura, I relax my body and close my eyes while I recap in my mind the events of today, including Nicholas's unexpected behavior during our call.
'I hope nothing serious happened.' It's my last thought before I collapse like a log.