"Everyone can only pick one game per day. Does anyone still have questions about the rules?" [Lying through his teeth. You can enter and exit games anytime, and the points record doesn't disappear.]
Pariston finished explaining and put his hands behind his back, waiting for everyone.
Saiki Kusuo: This guy lies way too much. He's full of selfish motives. I absolutely don't want him as a teammate.
"You seem to know a lot. Have you been here for many days?" Chrollo asked. "If all the games are for two players, and there are four of us, you should know that makes it less likely we'll let you join the team. What are you going to do about that?"
"Huh? I've already taken on the role of strategist, but it turns out I'm not accepted as a partner yet?"
The strategist role in the Phantom Troupe belongs to that other blond guy.
"We already have someone for the strategist role. The info you gave probably has your own selfish angle in it too, right? The total points have to be more than 500,000. You can't reach that alone, so sharing is necessary." Chrollo didn't budge. "This area should have supplies too. Where are they?"
"Oh, you can use points to buy supplies from the store after the daily settlement."
"And where are the books?"
"I'm not telling you that." [I'm not telling you that I hid the book in a crack not far behind you. The spot where you landed was way too close. I almost got caught!]
Okay, got it. Not that I need it anyway.
"So our info sharing ends here." Chrollo thanked him and led the way in another direction.
Away from where the books are.
Pariston waved happily: "Get a good night's sleep! The games start at four, so everyone should turn in early."
What kind of weird start time is this? Is it because most games refresh at four in the morning?
And why is settlement always at dusk? Do the settlers get off work or something?
That night, the Phantom Troupe members mostly slept on the ground. Saiki Kusuo leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, finding it really tough.
These guys stay alert even when sleeping. He couldn't teleport home for a proper rest.
The next morning, everyone was up before the sun.
Saiki Kusuo looked tired, but the dim light hid it from notice.
As the leader, Chrollo took on the duty of holding a morning meeting right away.
"We can't rule out that Pariston has a way to get high points. In fact, he's probably found a shortcut already. So we have two choices. One, we go all out today and try to beat his high score. We team up and grab the top prize. Two, we each pick one game to test today, make sure we can get some supplies tonight, and also gauge his strength."
"If he gets 400,000 and we only manage 50,000, it'll suck if we accidentally hand the top spot to someone else. We don't know this place well, so it's hard to guarantee we'll beat his score in one go. As long as he doesn't hit 400,000, option two works." Nobunaga said.
Machi: "My gut says go with one. What do you decide, boss?"
"Gut feeling, huh. I was leaning toward one too. He does seem confident, like he found a game that fits his abilities." Chrollo covered his mouth with one hand, thinking. "Let's compare notes. Miss Gotoh, what do you pick?"
No matter what I choose, it ends with you guys winning or a tie.
"I know the strength of the team members and my own abilities well, but I'm not clear on yours, Miss Gotoh. Your choice matters a lot—it could count for 1.5 shares. Do you have confidence in getting high points in a game?"
If it was a game world I built myself, and the setups can't be easily broken by powers. Yeah, that should work.
Nobunaga: "I don't play games much usually, but I see Feitan and the others do it a lot. The ones mentioned yesterday seem like action types. If we treat them like the real thing, we'll have no issue. Gotoh's from the Zoldycks, so she should be fine too, right? Don't the Zoldycks train butlers and all?" [They recruit from Meteor City every year. I know a bit. The bar is kids with talent or straight-up Nen users.]
If it's that kind of game, Saiki Kusuo isn't too confident.
Aren't there any puzzle games? Like the ones where two people answer questions to get a treasure chest.
Time quietly reached four o'clock.
Suddenly, lots of game options appeared on the mountain wall nearby. Each game name came with a big picture showing it. Five games per row, and the screen scrolled up step by step.
"These are overwhelming to look at."
[How about we go with plan one?] Saiki Kusuo said.
"You decided suddenly. Did you spot a good game?"
[Yeah, that Gold Miner one.]
"Hm?"
This game just needs brute strength and judging angles. It's perfect for him.
"Boss, let me play Double Blade Warrior. The characters have swords—I can definitely rack up high points hacking away."
Chrollo thought for a bit and came up with a plan.
"To play it safe, Nobunaga, you and Machi team up on the warrior game. Listen to Machi and don't go off-script."
"I'll pair with Gotoh, probably on Gold Miner. It looks simple, and with good coordination, it should get high points. Good pick."
As Chrollo spoke, his eyes lingered on the other games.
These game names were all new to him: "Why Gold Miner?"
Because that one looks easy.
"Whatever, time's short. Let's go with this." Chrollo decided. "Nobunaga, you guys... they're already gone."
Your team moves faster than you.
Chrollo looked at Gotoh and made a polite gesture. "Hope we work well together."
Saiki Kusuo silently thought Gold Miner in his mind, then vanished from the spot.
"Guess it's no surprise she's from the Saiki side. That arrogant vibe is spot on." Chrollo muttered to himself and entered the game too.
On yellow sand ground, two machines sat ready. The machines were simple: gripping the handle to reel in or let out the line, like flying a kite or fishing as kids.
Just a bit bigger, since it's for grabbing gold nuggets and gems.
Below each machine was a hole. Looking down it, you could see a rectangular empty space underneath, where the first level's gold and rocks were.
The game rules popped up.
One: Players can't enter the gold digging area.
Two: Any item or creature you grab turns straight into gold coin units.
Three: Each level has a pass amount required. If you don't meet it, you go to settlement, and settlement points equal the money total.
Four: Each level has a 10-minute limit. You can quit anytime or move to the next level early.
Five: After each level, the store boss sells limited items. Note: Don't ask the store boss if his wife is doing well.
What's with the second half of rule five?
I definitely wouldn't ask normally, but now it's got me curious.
Chrollo scanned it quick and started checking the machine, even touching the hole below. He found something: "Your hand can't reach into the space below."
Well, the rules say that—do you really need to test it?
"Don't waste time. Let's start right away."
[Didn't you notice the timer started when you touched the machine?]
"Huh? Where?"
[On the front of the machine.]
The front had a small screen with two numbers. The top zero was personal earnings. The bottom was remaining time for this round.
8 minutes 52 seconds, 51 seconds...
They quickly sat at the machines and started figuring it out. Soon, Chrollo released the first hook. Even on his first try, he accurately grabbed a small gold nugget off to the side.
Saiki Kusuo followed right after. With his x-ray vision, he didn't need to peer through the tiny hole. He shot his hook out fast, precise, and hard, snagging a big gold nugget and pulling it up.
Right, the pulling speed.
Saiki Kusuo remembered to act like Gotoh. What speed should Gotoh pull this at? Did he need to adjust his power limiter?
For an answer, there was someone else in the field to compare.
Saiki Kusuo glanced at Chrollo's progress. One look, and Chrollo was... frozen stiff.
He wasn't sitting comfortably reeling in the line. He stood there, face strained like it hurt.
What happened?
Saiki Kusuo looked down the rope and saw the claw gripping a huge rock.
Saiki Kusuo: ...
Forget skill—what's with this? Can't he pull the rock? How do I fake it? Can we even play this? Better quit now while we can.
Finally, Chrollo stopped and started examining the device.
Stop checking. Your method is fine; you just can't pull that rock plain and simple.
Chrollo was surprised too. He even used Nen to boost his strength, but the rock stayed heavy: [Just a rock—how am I...]
Saiki Kusuo figured it was about 20 tons, like three doors back home.
The size wasn't that big, but this rock's density was no joke.
Saiki Kusuo started calculating gold weight.
Gold was light; he could pull it up at normal speed slowly.
The first level needed 5,000 to pass.
One gold came up and vanished with a prompt: "Ding! 1,200 gold."
Only 6 minutes left. Grabbing one gold took 3 minutes, and passing needed at least three more. Plus Chrollo's initial small nugget worth 400.
They had to do it clean and quick. Why am I the only one working here?
Looking over, Chrollo was out of options and pulling out a thief's special skill.
Chrollo: [Boost strength ability... I remember one...]
Call it mining mode now.
Chrollo: [No! Enhancement types are too basic, not flexible. They all just amp power the same way, and I collected the fewest of them!]
Apologize to enhancement users.
5 minutes passed.
Saiki Kusuo: 3,600 gold.
Chrollo: 400 gold.
Even Saiki Kusuo couldn't approve of this guy's slacking.
And he's the one who wants to slack more.
As he lowered his hook again, a moving skeleton suddenly swam past it.
How come creatures show up in level one?
Saiki Kusuo remembered creatures were worth little. In the game, pigs were only two coins, right?
The thing looked like a fish, swimming and swaying below. Saiki Kusuo blinked a few times, but it stayed bony, still a skeleton.
He thought he knew what this was.
"Ding! 500 gold."
The sound wasn't from Saiki Kusuo's side. Chrollo got it. That 20-ton rock was half-eaten and fell off. His hook was free to grab other stuff.
"It's a bit dangerous. We need to move fast." Chrollo said. "Gotoh? You tired already? This is just level one."
Don't act like you worked hard to cheer on the rest who actually tried. How did the Phantom Troupe boss only get 900 after half a day?
"Ding! 500 gold." Chrollo snagged more gold in a short time.
Normally, Saiki Kusuo had x-ray vision to see the whole setup below, so hooking was easy.
Without it like Chrollo, you had to observe through the tiny hole's limited view, making it hard to see everything.
Regular people really have it rough.
But Chrollo found a way. Secret chamber fish bit passing rocks full of holes. They swam through stone, opening views behind. Chrollo could have the fish clear paths to gold or remove blocking rocks.
It was a very elegant ability. Many people remembered the secret chamber fish well.
But the fish's thoughts: [Hahaha! Freedom! Fresh outside air! I want to eat people, drink blood! Devour everything I see! Ah, except the gold master likes.]
Don't think he's forgotten he's a people-eating monster just because he's munching rocks now.
"Ding! 1,200 gold."
"Ding! 1,000 gold."
"Time's up. Saiki Kusuo: 4,800 gold. Chrollo: 2,400 gold. Settlement!"
The store boss appeared in front, face gloomy with a mustache like an eight. His sales table was small, with five items laid out.
Strength upgrade aid: Mysterious craftsman hammers your device once, randomly boosts strength by one point. Product note: Take it or leave it.
Speed upgrade aid: Mysterious craftsman hammers your device once, randomly boosts speed by one point. Product note: Take it or leave it.
Lucky clover: Rare four-leaf clover. Guaranteed to raise luck. Believe it or not.
Negotiation expert: Boss teaches one secret trick, randomly boosts sell amount by some percent. Product note: Listen or don't.
Bomb: Blows up what you grab.
From the item notes alone, you could tell the boss was pretty grumpy.
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