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Chapter 142: Method of Finding People
Two days after entering the game, Ronin reappeared inside Battera's castle.
When Battera saw the other three players he had hired to enter the game, and witnessed Ronin managing to control all three of them single-handedly, he was utterly awestruck by Ronin. Although he had previously gotten a rough idea of Ronin's power through Sabazushi, actually seeing this might in person still left him invariably shocked.
If Ronin fully devoted himself to clearing the game, he'd probably have a much higher chance of success than anyone else I've hired!
Yet, Battera could also tell that Ronin didn't hold him, his employer, in much regard at all. Battera even began to wonder—if the person who cleared the game really was Ronin, would Ronin actually bring the two items he wanted back to him?
Ronin had no idea what Battera was thinking. Regardless, he fully intended to act according to their agreement. After all, they had entered the game under the pretense of accepting his quest. Battera had been impeccable in his end of the deal, so Ronin naturally planned to honor the spirit of the contract.
Moreover, to be completely honest, Ronin didn't have much interest in either [Breath of Archangel] or the [Witch's Rejuvenation Potion]. First off, his self-healing capabilities were incredibly strong. Second, he was still young. Plus, that kind of rejuvenation came with certain drawbacks—although it would make him physically younger, it wouldn't bring back the Nen he had painstakingly cultivated over the past year.
In other words, if Ronin downed a rejuvenation potion, his entire aura reserves would very likely revert to the state before he had even mastered Nen. It could be said that while the rejuvenation potion was practically a divine elixir to Battera, to Ronin, it was akin to arsenic. It perfectly echoed the old saying: One man's treasure is another man's trash. Though, usually, Ronin had only seen that phrase used in web novels.
"It's going to take ten days. Only after they are unbound can you guys enter the game," Ronin instructed. Following that, he immediately returned to the game. This was exactly why he had been worried about Neon.
Meanwhile, the three players left behind exchanged glances and breathed a faint sigh of relief. Truthfully, their greatest fear had been whether Ronin would choose to kill them all just so his companions could enter the game a bit faster. Now that Ronin had left—and had stated right to their faces that they would be unbound in ten days—they felt much more at ease. As for Kurapika's trio, they certainly didn't mind waiting a few extra days.
After Ronin re-entered the game, he descended the stairs and left the Starting Point just like before. The moment he spawned, that familiar sensation of being watched wrapped around him once again.
He immediately summoned his Binder. Book! He used [Magnetic Force], targeting Neon. Ronin was instantly enveloped in aura and rocketed away from the Starting Point like a meteor, vanishing from the spot in the blink of an eye.
The effect of [Magnetic Force] allowed Ronin to fly accurately to a targeted player—in this case, exactly where Neon was. It was an extremely useful long-distance spell card. Its acquisition difficulty was C-rank, and there were only 50 copies in the entire game. Ronin only had one in his possession.
When the effect of [Magnetic Force] faded and the aura encasing his body dissipated, Ronin found himself in a coastal city. He hadn't expected Neon to choose a place like Soufrabi. Aside from the beautiful scenery, it didn't have many distinguishing features; it was considered an exceedingly ordinary little city within the game.
However, this was also where Razor's pirate crew was stationed. To acquire [Strip of Beach], one had to head to the pirates' base and win their gambits. Of course, anyone with a discerning eye knew that those minor pirates were just a warm-up. Only by defeating Razor in a match could one truly earn the right to clear the stage.
Ronin had no intention of challenging Razor for the time being. Furthermore, triggering Razor's quest required a prerequisite: 15 players had to activate [Accompany] and arrive in Soufrabi together to initiate the "Razor and the 14 Devils" storyline. Shadow clones and the like obviously wouldn't work, because shadow clones wouldn't have real game rings on their hands.
"That was fast," Neon marveled. She had arrived in Soufrabi by activating the spell card [Drift], which was a card that flew the user to a location they had never visited before.
Neon had four copies of [Drift] in her possession. She had been fully prepared to instantly activate [Drift] again if she had landed in Masadora. To her surprise, a single use of [Drift] had directly brought her to this picturesque coastal city, Soufrabi.
When she wasn't obsessing over macabre body parts, Neon much preferred to indulge in gourmet food. So, when Ronin found her, she was leisurely sitting by the sea, enjoying a lavish seafood feast prepared by a waiter. Ronin didn't stand on ceremony and sat down directly across from her.
He was feeling a little regretful now. He should have let Kurapika enter the game first. That way, Kurapika could be taking Neon out into the wilds to fight monsters right now, rather than her leisurely enjoying the ocean breeze and listening to music. But it was too late for regrets.
It wasn't that he couldn't stand seeing Neon relaxing comfortably, it was just that they weren't going to stay in Greed Island for very long this time. He had previously promised Muhuell that he would go explore the Mahavi Ruins in the Ateli Kingdom. Calculating the timeframe, things were getting pretty tight. After all, he still had to participate in this year's Hunter Exam in January.
Pondering over all these matters, Ronin pushed those concerns to the back of his mind once the waiter brought out his food. Over the next few days, Ronin first enjoyed some downtime with Neon, and then, following Kurapika's instructions, began searching for traces of the Phantom Troupe members within the game.
As long as a player had interacted with a Troupe member in the game, the Troupe member's name would inevitably be recorded in their Binder. By finding someone who had encountered the Troupe and using them as a stepping stone, he could track down the Troupe members themselves. This was exactly how Greed Island was meant to be played!
However, this method had one major flaw: if the target chose not to use their real name, this tracking method wouldn't work at all. But according to currently known intel, the only person playing the game under a hidden name was Ging, the game's developer. Furthermore, given the sheer arrogance of the Phantom Troupe members, they probably wouldn't choose to hide their names either.
Sure enough, on the eighth day of waiting for Kurapika to enter the game, Ronin defeated a challenger and spotted familiar names in the player's Binder roster—three of them in a row. Bonolenov, Feitan, and Phinks!
Their names were still lit up in the Binder's roster, which meant the trio was currently still in the game. Seeing that Shalnark's name wasn't there, Ronin could roughly guess why these three were still stuck here. Missing their brains and relying entirely on brawn, they were more than capable of crushing any enemies they met, but solving the game's various puzzles and mechanics? That was far from easy.
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