Chapter 188: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanic Eruptions, and Gamers
Unfortunately, Hayato's idea of "Summoning a full field of Monsters first and then steamrolling everything" was ultimately shattered. The (V-to-Z) had advanced its barrage barely ten meters before the giant robot's form began to gradually dissipate.
"You can only use Cards during the Battle Phase, and Monsters disappear ten seconds after leaving combat. This Setting is a bit too stupid, like a Kamen Rider insisting on running right up to the monster in human form before transforming."
Hayato watched helplessly as the (V-to-Z) he had worked so hard to Summon vanished into thin air, reverting back to the five VWXYZ Cards. He returned them, along with the (Armed Dragon LV3) in his hand, to his Deck.
He had actually wanted to Summon (Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon) to speed up their advance.
"If everyone could just Summon Monsters whenever and wherever they wanted, this Online Game wouldn't have any Players at all!" Mokuba, holding a Card he had picked up from the Graveyard, placed it in Hayato's hand. "Hey, this is your reward for defeating the Monster."
Taking the Card, he saw it depicted several gold coins. The card's name was "15". It seemed to be the currency used in this Game, with a quantity of fifteen.
"If there's currency, that means there must be some way to spend it in this Game to get things, right?" Joey stroked his chin thoughtfully, but he quickly proved he wasn't cut out to be a strategist. "With this kind of world setting, don't tell me you can trade them for a pretty beast-kin maid?"
"What's the point even if you could? Haven't you noticed yet, Joey?" Hayato said, making a motion as if pulling something from his chest. Then, to Joey's astonished expression, Hayato's hand passed right through his clothes. "These clothes we're wearing are just textures created by the game pod after it scanned us sitting inside."
"So you're saying...?" Joey tried it himself and found that his clothes seemed nonexistent. When he tried to grab them, his hand grasped only empty air, clipping right through the model.
"In other words, don't even think about any of that 18+ stuff." As Hayato spoke, he suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed on something in the woods. Following Hayato's line of sight, Yugi also saw what he was looking at.
There, in the bushes, a finger-sized fairy was secretly observing Hayato's group. It had four wings on its back and was dressed in a tiny magic robe. When it noticed Hayato and Yugi looking its way, it seemed to get spooked, trembled all over, and flew off into the distance to escape.
"In games, fairies usually lead to clues and treasure, right?" Joey's face broke into an excited grin, clearly already immersed in the Game. "Alright! Let's go catch it!"
Joey took the lead and ran ahead. The other three had no choice; they couldn't just let him go alone, so they followed him into the jungle.
Thanks to being in a Game, he didn't feel any physical fatigue. Joey jogged along the fairy's flight path for about five or six minutes until the view before him suddenly opened up. Stepping out of the dense jungle, he saw that the sky outside was bright, a stark contrast to the scenery within the jungle.
Hayato, Yugi, and Mokuba soon caught up with Joey, who had stopped.
"Was the forest dark because it was shrouded in mist? No, I remember seeing a starry sky," Yugi analyzed. "In other words, are the areas inside and outside the forest two different worlds? If that fairy hadn't led us, we probably would have never found our way out, would we?"
"Speaking of the fairy." Joey looked around. "I was right behind it the whole time, but the moment I stepped out of the forest, it vanished."
"Maybe that fairy was just an NPC meant to guide us." Mokuba looked into the distance. "Look over there. There's a town."
Nestled in a dense forest surrounded by mountains was a small town. Perhaps because they were in a Game, Hayato could easily see the people moving about in the town, even from a great distance.
"First, an easy-to-beat Zombie Monster, and after finishing the Starter Quest, we arrive at the Starter Village?" Hayato tried to Activate a Card, hoping to Summon some Monsters for transportation. However, because he wasn't in a combat state, although the Card was drawn, the Summon failed.
"This road looks pretty long. We'd better get moving." Resignedly putting the Card away, Hayato led the way and took the opportunity to ask Mokuba, "Mokuba, tell us what you know about this Game. For instance, besides the Battle Phase, are there any other situations where you can't Summon Monsters? And how do you trigger the Battle Phase?"
"Hmm, besides the Battle Phase, there don't seem to be any other restrictions. And you can activate a combat state just by getting into a conflict with any Target. After all, this Game is basically an add-on for Duel Monsters. If you can't let the people playing the Game enjoy Duel Monsters, it won't be appealing enough."
Hayato nodded in understanding and didn't ask anything else. His eyes turned toward the distant town, seeming to be deep in thought.
After a long walk, the four of them finally arrived at the "Starter Village". The town's overall architectural style leaned toward that of Egypt. The pedestrians on the streets wore robes and turbans, and the stalls sold Egyptian-style jewelry and trinkets, as well as some strange-looking food. Joey even saw someone selling snakes and lizards.
What was even more surprising was that while one half of the town was surrounded by dense jungle, on the other side, the forest seemed to be blocked by something, unable to spread further. In its place was a dry, hot desert, from which hot winds carrying sand and grit blew from time to time.
As they walked, Yugi noticed an unusual item for sale at a street stall: "Hayato, Joey, come take a look at this."
"Huh? What is it?" Joey walked away from the stall of a frog-like merchant, refusing the medicine he was peddling. Not only was he uninjured, but he didn't have a single coin on him, so he couldn't buy it even if he wanted to.
The owner of the card stall looked like an ox, with extremely thick fur. "Hey, handsome, come and have a look. If you like something, take it with you?"
Walking up to the stall where Yugi was, Joey's eyes went wide. "Whoa! These... aren't these all Super Rare Cards?!"
Before him was a whole spread of Ritual Monster Cards, from (Demise, King of Armageddon) and (Ruin, Queen of Oblivion) to (Legendary Flame Lord) and (Feral Imp). They were all incredibly powerful and rare Cards. Joey even found the (Relinquished) that Pegasus had used. He wondered if KaibaCorp, who secretly wrote this Card's data into the Game, ever paid Pegasus any royalties.
However, the prices marked below each Card were just as "powerful". The most expensive one, (Relinquished), cost a whopping 10,000, and even the cheapest, (Skull Knight), was priced at 2,000 gold coins.
And in their group, the wealthiest one, Hayato, had only 15 gold coins. These Cards were clearly just put on display to make people drool.
The shopkeeper was still mechanically repeating the same line: "Hey, handsome, come and have a look. If you like something, take it with you?"
But Hayato glanced around, drew several Cards from his Deck in advance, and walked forward with a smile on his face. "Oh, I couldn't possibly..."
With those words, under the astonished gazes of Yugi and the other two, Hayato snatched the cloth from under the Cards, wrapped them all up, and took off running into the distance, shouting, "Nigerundayo~~!!"
Players, commonly known as the Fourth Natural Disaster, will try anything for a benefit; even suicidal acts aren't off the table.
This is also why I've always felt that Spielberg's *Ready Player One* didn't really understand players from the very beginning. Add to that the fact that it's filled with Western movie references, and it's less of a "love letter to gamers" and more fitting to call it a "love letter to Western movie buffs."
(end of chapter)