Chapter 39 The Game Begins

From what Rayleigh gathered from the Hunter Chat, the Hunter Exam lasted five days, and he expected Killua to show up two to three days later.

Gon wanted to wait at the location players arrived, but Rayleigh claimed he'd be able to sense when Killua got there and would pick him up then, so there was no sense waiting. It was a bold claim, but one Rayleigh had complete confidence in. Gon and Killua may not be Force Sensitive, but they had been his friends for the last year, and he'd be able to sense if their circumstances changed, even from a distance.

On the morning of January 15th, Rayleigh sensed Killua's return to Greed Island and said, "Killua's back."

The trio did not stay in the mountainous regions and had in fact taken to exploring the island and going from city to city to expand their map and increase the locations they could arrive at through spell cards.

Gon cried out, "That's great, let's go see him!"

Rayleigh shook his head and took out a card.

[1013 Origin D-65

Make target player fly to the game starting point.]

He continued, "This card will only get one of us there, so I'll use this to get him and an Accompany to meet up with you guys."

[1039 Accompany F-130

Fly the caster and all players within a 20-meter radius of the caster to the location of the target city.]

Biscuit said, "Let's meet up in Antokiba. Today is the monthly tournament and it's about time we start collecting cards.]

Gon jumped for joy at that. The training was good but monotonous, so finally getting to play the game his father made was something to look forward to.

Rayleigh held up the card and said, "Origin On," and a field of energy surrounded him and pulled him into the air in a massive arc over the island. Rayleigh kinda wished the energy field was more see-through and less opaque so he could see everything from high in the sky, but he didn't make the system so he had no right to complain about it. He did wonder though how Ging and the game's other creators handled air traffic and prevented planes and blimpcopters from flying over the island.

The energy field landed softly and dispersed, granting Rayleigh another view of the vast grassy plains that surrounded the starting area. He turned to look at the elevated hut that was the starting room and saw Killua descending the staircase.

"Hey, did you have fun?"

Killua jumped down the stairs and shook his head, "Not gonna ask me if I passed and got my license?"

Rayleigh replied, "Unless Illumi was an Examiner, I can't see a decent reason for you not to pass."

Killua looked thoughtful for a moment before a visible shiver traveled down his spine, "Don't even joke about things like that."

Ray chuckled and continued, "Besides, last year you complained that the exam was too easy and no fun. So I was curious if you had fun this time."

Killua looked around and said, "Well, before I get into that, where are Gon and Biscuit?"

"They are waiting for us in Antokiba."

Killua asked with a bit of guilt, "Wait, were you waiting for me this whole time?"

"Nope. You and Gon are my best friends. That means more to a guy with psionic powers like me, and I could tell the moment you got back. Gon did actually want to wait here this whole time though."

Killua sighed with relief, "Oh, that's cool. I tried finishing the Exam really fast so you would not have to wait for me, but it didn't go as planned."

"That's life. In any case, we got a bunch of spell cards, so open your book and let me give you some defensive ones before we meet up with the others."

"Great, let's see what you got." Against someone with some skill, you could only defend against spells with spells, though someone who could mute an area like Rayleigh was the exception. Rayleigh passed over some cards for movement, defending against attack spells, and defending against regular spells. Killua's book was empty at the moment because they did not know what would happen to the cards in someone's book if they left the game.

As they transferred cards from one book to another, Rayleigh asked, "So what happens to cards in your book when you leave?"

Killua answered, " According to the NPC girl, cards in your Free Slots are deleted, and cards in your Imposed Slots stay for ten days, 240 hours, and are also deleted if you do not return."

After Killua's book was loaded enough to protect him, Rayleigh took out a card and said, "Accompany On. Antokiba," and another field of energy surrounded them and shot them into a short arc over the plains to the City of Prizes.

There were still a few hours to kill until the monthly tournament started and the city would get a lot more crowded at that point. The moment they descended, Gon shouted, "Welcome back Killua! How was it?"

Killua shook his head again, "Not what I was expecting."

Rayleigh stated, "I hear a good story in there, let's head for a good restaurant first."

No one was against this idea and they did have some money left over since they could only buy the amount of Spell Cards as they had empty Free Slots.

Once they found a table at a good barbecue place, Killua told everyone how he passed the Exam, but also about the weirdos who took the exam with him.

"I tried to take everyone out in the first Exam. I figured I could pass right away if I was the only one who made it to the second Exam, but there were a bunch of odd guys our age. One of them could turn into lightning. Thanks to my Hatsu, He couldn't hurt me, but I couldn't hurt him either. There was another guy that was even weirder. All my attacks passed right through him. Both of them could move faster than anything I've ever seen. Then there was this girl. She turned into a diamond statue. There was even this guy I didn't even notice. He turned himself completely invisible. And last, there was someone who didn't even react to any of my attacks. He didn't hit me back or anything, but nothing I did phased him. And then, well, at one point... Never mind."

Gon asked, "Did all those guys know Nen?"

Killua shook his head, "No. I used Gyō and confirmed none of them had their aura nodes opened. Though I couldn't even see that invisible guy using Gyō until he turned visible."

Biscuit seemed to be deep in thought, so Rayleigh asked, "How were the other exams?"

Killua summarized, "Easier than last year. Since the first Exam involved combat, the other exams did not. The second Exam had us eat twenty big meat buns. The diamond girl and invisible guy failed that one. Next, we had to hide from dogs in an abandoned city for three days. I barricaded some stairs and stayed on a roof. The Exam after that one was the last one. Netero showed up with some Hunters and said we each had to challenge one of them to something and win. I picked a Hunter and Challenged him at Darts. The two fast guys challenged two Hunters to a race. And that strong guy challenged one of them to a cooking competition."

Rayleigh asked, "Was he better than me?"

Gon and Biscuit both looked interested in that. Ray's Force Cooking always made a perfect meal and added emotions as savory flavors.

Killua answered, "I don't know, I didn't get to eat any. But the Judges who ate the food said it was delicious."

Rayleigh nodded in understanding. Though they can be considered friends, he and Dragon Chef could also be considered culinary rivals.

Biscuit finally added her two cents, "Those kids were all the same age as you, right? They probably came from the Misty Islands."

Killua asked, "What are those?"

Biscuit elaborated, "West of the main continents, there is a vast area in the sea where the weather is strange and the people are stranger. To enter that region, you have to pass through a large region of mist, so the area itself was named the Misty Islands. People from that area can develop strange powers."

Suddenly, Rayleigh discovered something incredibly weird. The term, Misty Islands, was familiar to him. He'd heard about it before when studying World Geography. But that was only the case for his Hunter Identity. In the room which contained all his knowledge from all his lives, the Misty Islands were a foreign concept. How was that possible?

Gon started explaining the details of the Bomber to Killua and what happened after Killua left, but Rayleigh stayed quiet and asked a question in the Hunter Chat.

[Swordsman: What are the Misty Islands?]

[Dragon Chef: Heard about that already? Lightning Lord, Justice, and I all contributed Mission Points to pay for a backstory that explains Devil Fruit Users.]

[Lightning Lord: Were the Misty Islands already a thing?]

[Swordsman: No. I think it got retconned. My Hunter Identity remembers studying the Misty Islands in the past. But my actual identity does not remember my Hunter Identity learning about the Misty Islands when I first got here.]

[Justice: So memory modifications affect the memories of our Player Characters, but not our actual memories.]

[Lightning Lord: That's good to hear. Those Wizards have Memory Changing Spells, so it's a good thing those won't work on us.]

[Dragon Chef: Of course, they won't work. This entire thing is pretty much a DnD campaign. We are both the Player Characters and the Players. Even if our Player Character gets modified, the Player using that Character obviously won't get affected.]

[Demon Hunter: We are Self-Aware Player Characters.] [Poison King: Did any of you actually play DnD in your old life?]

[Swordsman: Unfortunately, no. Like 99% of my generation, everything I know of DnD, I learned from Memes.]

[Armory: I was a DM once.]

[Swordsman: We should get together and play a game.]

[Armory: No. If none of you know how to play, I'd have to explain everything. I will only DM a game if you agree to use premade characters instead of trying to make your own. It's from an original session I made for new players.]

[Poison King: That takes all the fun out of it.]

[Armory: What if all of those Characters are awakened House Cats raised by a Crazy Cat Lady Druid that lives in a mysterious city filled with secrets? She fed them magic cat food to awaken them, but the Crazy Cat Lady was killed under mysterious circumstances and the session starts with the party of felines wanting to investigate what happened and avenge her?]

[Demon Hunter: You have my attention.]

[Lightning Lord: Are one of those builds a Wizard Cat wearing a small Wizard Hat?]

[Armory: Of course. He gets Mage Hand right to make up for a lack of thumbs.]

[Justice: Do you have a Paladin House Cat?]

[Armory: Yes. The build includes a blessing that compensates for the fact that cats can't wear heavy armor.]

[Swordsman: Is there a Barbarian Cat?]

[Armory: Yes. That one is based on Dex-Starr from DC's Red Lantern Corps. He wears a cursed collar of rage that causes every roll based on Strength to use Charisma instead, but every roll that directly needs Charisma uses Strength and has a negative 10 due to the blood that constantly drips from his mouth.]

[Demon Hunter: That would get around the STR requirement for Barbarians.]

The conversation quickly devolved into random tidbits and memes about Dungeons and Dragons from their past lives.

The Antokiba tournament this month was ping pong and you needed a partner. Rayleigh had never played Ping Pong before while Killua and Gon seemed far more interested, so he stepped back and let them compete and destroy the competition. How easily they won did not surprise him. What did surprise him was the award. It seemed that the Prize for each Monthly competition was a specific Imposed Slot Card of A Rank or lower. The card they won this month was actually a D Rank card, but it was a very special D Ranked card.

[084 Paladin's Necklace D-60

A player wearing this will reflect curses cast upon him, and be able to undo curses placed on cards he touches.]

Gon asked, "What does this mean?"

Killua suggested, "Let's ask in the shop."

The group agreed and headed over to a card while Rayleigh looked around. Rayleigh spotted a few familiar faces from the time they got the Sword of Truth, but this time none of them stepped forward to steal their prize. It was obvious that their group would not make the same mistake twice and taking the card from them just using spell cards would not be possible without a lot of luck.

The card shop worker asked for a payment of 30,000 Jennies before answering, but they were not poor like they had once been and easily handed it over.

The card shop employee then explained, "Curses refer to attack spells. For example, if a player uses a Pickpocket Spell on you, then a random card in that player's free slot will be placed in your own free slot. If you touch a card that has been converted into another card with Clone, Mimic, or Fake, then touching it while wearing this Necklace will revert the card back into what it originally was."

At the shop employee's simple explanation, both Killua and Gon were excited, since this meant that if they used it, they would be safe from attack spells.

They wanted to use Gain on the card, but then they would lose the ability to count it toward their own Imposed Slot cards.

Rayleigh brought up two points. "Nope, we can definitely use it. First, let's put the card into Killua's book."

Rayleigh then took out a spell from his own book and said, "Clone On. Target Killua."

[1011 Clone D-70

Change into one random card from target player's imposed slots.]

After waiting fifteen seconds for the spell to go off, the card in Rayleigh's hand changed into a copy of Paladin's Necklace.

He then said, "Gain," turning it into an actual necklace.

And last, he passed over a spell card to Gon.

[1037 Recycle F-170

Allows an item converted from a card to be changed into card form once more. (Limited to cards of rank below C. If the applicable card limit is already at MAX, "Recycle" disappears without converting the target item.)]

Ray continued, "Although it's an imposed slot card, it's a D ranked card, so we can use Recycle on it. This way we can both wear one."

Gon looked excited. He put the Recycle card into his book and took the card back from Killua and used Gain on it.

Killua asked, "Should I get one as well?"

Biscuit shook her head, "No, we should save Clone cards for better items, and between Rayleigh and Gon, they can hold all the cards we need."

Rayleigh replied, "Gon can hold the imposed slot cards and defense spells. I'll take the attack spells and Zenny cards."

Rayleigh then asked a question in the Hunter Chat.

[Swordsman: Hey Greed Island Players, do you still need Paladin's Necklace?]

[Green Lantern: Nope. I gave you a list of all the good cards, but we already have some of them already. Paladin's Necklace is easy to get. There are two spell cards that can change any A rank Card into any D Rank card of your choice, so no one needs to get it from the source.]

[Swordsman: So what cards do you actually need?]

[Demon Hunter: Recycling Room, Floating Stone, and Staff of Judgement.]

[Poison King: If you have a Paladin's Necklace, save some points to convert it into an item to take with you.]

[Swordsman: Why?]

[Green Lantern: Because it doesn't only work on Greed Island Spells. The Wizards have a Curse that can instantly kill you right? What happens if you wear the Paladin's Necklace and get hit with that spell?]

[Swordsman: There is no way that would be true.]

[Demon Hunter: It is. Imposed Card Slot number 024 is called Hypothetical T.V. It is basically that 'What If' Machine from Futurama. The only catch is that, outside of Greed island, the Paladin's Necklace will degrade every time it reflects a spell, and it will definitely break after reflection of that instant kill spell and won't reflect it if the necklace is heavily damaged before someone uses the spell on you. But as long as we have the recycling room, we can fix it if it is broken or damaged.]

[Swordsman: Cool.]

[Lightning Lord: So how can we play this game?]

[Poison King: Learn the basics of the Hunter Power System, then get a copy of Greed Island or find someone who has a copy.]

[Swordsman: I'm playing using a copy owned by a rich guy named Battera. What about you?]

[Demon Hunter: Personal connections. I didn't have to sign a contract to play and I've never met Battera, if that's what you're asking.]

[Green Lantern: Poison King and I are using Demon's copy.]

Rather than get back to training, Biscuit informed the trio that it was time to start collecting cards.

"We'll split into two groups. Gon and Killua are in the first group, while Rayleigh and I are in the second. Every day, I'll give you two a pair of rumors I've heard on a way to get an Imposed Slot Card and you'll each do one. Rayleigh and I will try to find more rumors on imposed slot cards and try a few ourselves." With that, Gon and Killua headed off, leaving only Biscuit and Rayleigh. Being the observant one, Rayleigh of course asked, "And the real reason you asked me to help?"

Biscuit confirmed, "If you have psychic powers, you can make people more agreeable to certain requests, right?"

Rayleigh didn't deny it, "That's right."

Biscuit asked, "What are the limitations?"

Rayleigh considered it before answering, "It's easy to affect someone who is on autopilot and difficult to affect someone who consciously makes every decision."

"What does that mean?"

Rayleigh elaborated, "You know how when a person is in a routine, they enter a state where everything becomes automatic, and they can even lack a memory of what happened?" It was like a person who drives to work every day along the same route for ten years suddenly finding himself at work without actually remembering the drive there.

Biscuit nodded in understanding, as any adult would fall into autopilot more often than not.

Rayleigh continued, "When a person is on autopilot, they aren't consciously at the wheel, so I can steer the direction of their thought without them even noticing. However, I cannot make someone do something that is impossible for them to consider." If someone is driving to work, he could make them take a detour or maybe turn around, but he could not make them drive to the other side of the country.

Biscuit considered the ramifications and nodded, "So the person's actual strength doesn't matter, just their mindset when you approach them? Good enough. Can you give a demonstration?"

Rayleigh nodded. He knew that Biscuit liked to use the helpless little girl act to get info from others, so he walked around for a bit before spotting a strong-looking guy walking in their direction on the street. He said, "Do your thing on him first."

Biscuit clasped her hands together and made her eyes watery. She lowered her posture and stepped into the target's path before asking, "Please sir, do you know how I can get an imposed slot card I can trade to get back home?"

The man sneered, obviously uncaring about Biscuit's plight. Rayleigh connected to the man using empathy and the Force, allowing him to feel what the man felt. Rayleigh felt the man thought Biscuit was lying since this guy was wiser than the usual fools Biscuit targeted. Rayleigh said from the side, "You believe she needs help, a few words won't cost you anything."

The man's feelings changed. Rayleigh made himself feel that Biscuit was telling the truth, and that he should help her. Then he used the empathic connection to swap the man's feelings for what Rayleigh felt. The man didn't even consciously hear Rayleigh's words.

The man's expression changed to something a bit dull as he repeated back, "It won't cost me anything." Then his expression returned to normal and he said, "Well, I heard there is a treasure hidden at the bottom of the lake near Masadora. The richest guy in the city will reward you with an Imposed Slot Card if you give it to him. Good luck."

With those words, he walked around the pair, not caring about the exchange in the slightest.

Biscuit nodded, "That was interesting. How does it work?"

"Connect to the target using Empathy to feel what they feel and think what they think. Change your own feelings to something else and impart a statement. Then use the empathic link to alter their feelings to match your own while imprinting that statement into the person and cementing the statement using the new feeling."

Biscuit replied, "That's surprisingly gentle for what amounts to mind control."

Rayleigh shrugged, "It's not really control though. It's closer to guidance through forced empathy. I can't make someone feel something I can't make myself feel, and I can't make someone do something I would not do." At least he couldn't with Mind Trick and he had no intention of using the other forms of mental domination he learned about in the Temple of Force Skills.

"Well, then, do you want to check out the rumor?"

Rayleigh nodded and used an Accompany card to take them to Masadora. In addition to buying some more spell cards, the pair ran over to the massive lake.

Biscuit asked, "How long can you hold your breath?"

"If I'm not doing anything intensive? Several hours. Swimming? An hour."

"Is that another psychic thing?"

"Yep, breath control. Allows me to force my organs to work using minimal oxygen

Rayleigh removed his shoes once they reached the lake and dived in. This was a game, so the bottom of the lake would not be a difficult place to find. It only took a few minutes of swimming to actually locate the area where the ground went deep, and Rayleigh didn't even have to come up for air before swimming to the lowest point and finding an ornate vase on the bottom of the lake. Ray picked it up, but this turned it into a card which forced Rayleigh to book it to the surface. He made it in half a minute and called out for "Book," in time to place the card in his free slot before it permanently turned back into a vase. If the Quest was like all the others in this game, the Vase would not be accepted if it was not in card form.

Rayleigh swam quickly back to the shore where Biscuit was waiting for him.

"That was quick. Find it already?"

Rayleigh opened up his book and together they peeked at the card.

[231 Magnate's Vase C-90

This vase belongs to the shipping magnate Biscotti. Return it to him for a reward.]

Biscuit nodded, "That simplifies things. Let's ask who Biscotti is and get the reward."

The first Masadora city guard they asked knew exactly who Biscotti was and where to find him. The pair found the city's financial district and got a meeting with Biscotti where Rayleigh presented the card.

The old balding man in a striped suit laughed when he saw the card and said, "This is great. It fell off my yacht when I was partying last week. To find this, I think you have what it takes to be a successful businessman. Here. Take this."

He passed a card to the pair which Rayleigh examined for a moment before placing it into an imposed slot.

[045 Fledgling CEO B-30

Warm this magic egg in your hand for three hours a day for one to ten years, and you will become a top CEO when it hatches. The stronger your desire during incubation, the sooner it will hatch.]

The pair left and used Contact to hear from Gon and Killua. Both had gotten their assigned cards, so the pair used Accompany to head to Masadora. Gon got number 90 Memory Helmet, by helping someone find something they lost while Killua and Gon were both able to do the second task and each got a copy of Number 25, Risky Dice.

Since they were finished, Biscuit led them back into the Monster area where they could hunt for more monsters to sell to use the money to collect more spell cards. They also spend some time on Ken and Ryū sparring and Gon and Rayleigh showed off the fruits of their training over the week Killua was gone.

Gon showed off the progress on his Rock Paper Scissors attacks. Rock was his Kō. Scissors was an Aura blade. And Paper was a projectile attack.

Rayleigh primarily worked on making an aura blade and his was longer, stronger, and more reliable than Gon's. Gon's aura blade could slice a twig three out of ten times. Rayleigh's could cut a branch, ten out of ten times. Though Gon could shoot a ping pong-sized aura ball using Emitter Hatsu, and Rayleigh was unable to launch flying Nen slashes at the moment.

While observing Gon's techniques, Killua asked, "Why do you have to shout Rock Paper Scissors? You are completely giving the attack away."

Rayleigh answered for him. "No, he should keep it that way. First of all, he can use it as a bluff. Second, calling the name uses the Zetsu aspect of Nen of Flame, meaning Language. If he says the word or attack name aloud, it strengthens the image and makes the attack stronger than when not doing so. If he mixes in some feints, switches, and bluffs, he can make it work pretty well."

Biscuit nodded, "He's right. Wing taught you guys Nen of Flame right? Every aspect of that should be considered when making a Hatsu. Calling out the technique's name every time you use it may sound like something from a cartoon, but if you can get away with doing it, then go for it since that will definitely make the technique stronger."

Gon asked, "Ray, do you have a name for your techniques yet?"

Rayleigh shook his head. "I call my Speed Enhancement Technique Overdrive, but I have not named my aura blade or flying aura slash. Once I get the hang of it, those will be basic techniques. I will only name my super moves, otherwise, I'd have to shout, "Flying Aura Slash," with every swing of my blade when fighting long range."

Biscuit asked, "What about you Killua? Did you think of any techniques yet?"

Killua got out a pair of metallic yo-yos and said, "I have a lot of techniques I want to try, but I was thinking about incorporating these."

Seeming to guess what he was thinking, Biscuit said, "I see. These combined with electricity. That's a very good idea. It's a very good weapon too."

Killua seemed to glance at Rayleigh for a moment before stating, "I needed a long-distance weapon."

Biscuit smiled at the rivalry before getting them to return to the basics. No matter what they did, she always had them devote time to the basics since they were the foundation and source of strength of everything.

The next day, Killua and Gon went off on their own again and Biscuit had Rayleigh try for a card she heard about. A crazy witch was looking for a research assistant to help concoct something, so Rayleigh had to read through dozens of books for specific references to help her out. Or at least that's how it would have been for others. The books were real items that other players used to do the exact same mission, so he easily used Psychometry on them to look up the same page the others found and wrote everything down.

He returned with all the relevant information which the old witch referenced heavily while concocting her pills. The pill creation was a success, and the crazy witch gave a bottle of the pills to Rayleigh as thanks for his assistance. Like everything, of course, the pill bottle turned into a card.

[064 Witch's Love Potion B-30

Kiss a pill and have your intended drink it, and he or she will fall in love with you. One pill lasts one week; one vial contains 500 pills.]

Rayleigh did ask if the woman needed further assistance, but she said, "I don't have the main ingredient for the Rejuvenation Potion or Diet Pills I wish to concoct. Find them and you can help me further." The Rejuvenation Potion required some kind of alchemic gold and the Diet Pills needed a grass he had no idea about. He'd ask the store clerks or other NPCs for the information later.

Rayleigh met up with Biscuit who got more information on other cards and Rayleigh even gave her the info he found from the old woman. They met up with Gon who got a Beetle card from punching a big tree and Killua who got a Gold Dust-producing girl card he got by sneaking into a heavily trapped mansion and breaking her out.

In two days they'd gotten six cards, not including the Paladin's Necklace two of them wore. It was a good start and a way to show that it was finally time to start playing this game for real.

*Author's Note*

I doubt anyone wants a heavily summarized adventure of how they get 55 cards, and most readers probably don't want a heavily detailed adventure for the acquisition of every card when they really want to get off the Island to the Chimera Ant Arc and later to One Piece. So I'll do a few card adventures next chapter and get right into Razor's Fourteen Devils and try to have that chapter out by the weekend.