Chapter 34: Greed Island

Chapter 34: Greed Island

*Author's Note*

Rayleigh didn't ask for Nobunaga's sword because he likely died holding it and Rayleigh indirectly caused that death. Learning from it would have been awkward, and Kurapika would have buried the sword with the swordsman.

Chapter 34 Greed Island

As the most prestigious auction house in Yorknew, the Southenpiece Auction House had multiple stages that were auctioning different items at once. On the 6th, only one copy of Greed Island was being sold, and that auction took place in Hall B.

Using the purchased catalog for access, the trio entered the auction house and made their way to Hall B to wait for the notorious game to be up for sale.

All three wore perfectly tailored suits they purchased on the third, so even though they were quite young, they did not stand out more than any of the other assembled super-rich.

After finding some open seats near the back, they sat down and waited for Battera to reveal himself from among the crowd. After he purchased Greed Island, the trio would follow him out and ask to play.

The hostess for the auction was a beautiful young woman in a black, silk dress. She stood center stage and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. All the items you will find in the hall have special characteristics. And in turn, we can say that those who have gathered here are also special."

A peal of light laughter rolled through the halls at the backhanded compliment.

She continued, "Your presence here is indisputable proof that you are real collectors with a single goal in mind and are proud of it. I encourage you to take part in the auction to acquire the item you have in mind without a thought to the views society holds of you."

The remarks were met with applause. Adding fuel to the wealthy's pride ensured that it would burn brighter than their concern for the state of their bank accounts.

The first round of auctions began, and Rayleigh lost interest the moment a fossilized doodoo was placed on the stage. Was this supposed to be a metaphor that these rich old fools were literally spending their money on crap?

Rayleigh opened the catalog of items to be sold today and perused the selection. According to the page, the current piece of crap being bid on was not for display but contained certain supernutrients useful for certain plants. In other words, if you had a treasured plant, this could be broken open and used as the ultimate fertilizer. Rayleigh still felt it was a metaphor for selling crap, though.

After about half an hour, a joystation was brought out and put on display.

The hostess explained, "This auction continues with the mysterious game, Greed Island. Please watch the central screen." A large video display showed a close up of the gamestation. There was no power cord or any cord at all, but the power light still glowed, showing it was still online. The hostess continued, "Some of you may have noticed, but this console doesn't use electricity, but a mysterious energy." She then snapped, and a heavily muscular man with a massive sledgehammer approached the center stage from the side. To the shock of the audience, he lifted his hammer and smashed it into the pedestal the joystation sat on top of.

The pedestal cracked and crumbled to pieces, but the joystation remained unharmed. Those who had their aura unlocked could see an aura surrounding the game, protecting it from damage.

The hostess continued, "Do you see? Even after that, it suffered no damage! The console is a normal joystation. It should have been smashed to bits, but thanks to the energy used to run it, it is protected against external attacks as long as the player is within the game."

She then brought over some cords and plugged them into the joystation, allowing the monitor to show what the joystation was displaying. The only thing that popped up on the screen was the image of a man and the words, 'Now Playing.'

She continued, "This man is currently playing. He is inside of the game, and the screen shows only this. Only the player who is inside can see what really happens in the game. Now let me explain how these games were acquired by Southernpiece to sell to you today. You see, this man is a Professional Hunter. He owned seven copies of Greed Island. According to his lawyer, he stipulated that if he did not complete the game after a certain period, all the copies in his possession would go up for sale. Now, let's start the bidding at 1 billion Jennies!"

Someone shouted, "One point one billion!"

Rayleigh shouted, "One point five billion!"

The next person called out, "Three billion!"

Gon and Killua looked over at Rayleigh like he was crazy. Ray responded with an innocent, "What? If no one else had bid, we had enough."

Killua rolled his eyes, and Gon started smiling at his friend's silly antics. All their money combined did add up to a teensy bit under 1.6 billion, but there was no way the game would sell for that low, so Rayleigh was just being cheeky.

The price had already gone up to 20 billion.

Battera revealed himself and the only other person bidding was a fat young man Killua gave a weird look too.

Rayleigh asked, "You know him?"

Killua sighed and turned away, "Yeah, that's my older brother, Milluki."

From his tone, Rayleigh and Gon could tell they were not close, and neither brought it up any further.

It seemed that Milluki only brought 25.5 billion, since Battera won with a bid of 26 billion.

This was the only copy of Greed Island being sold today, so after the bid was won, Battera left the hall, and the trio of twelve-year-olds followed him out.

Down the hall, there was something resembling an executive lounge, and Battera made his way there with his bodyguard, a man with imposingly sharp features and a well-trimmed goatee who the trio suspected was a skilled Hunter.

Rayleigh made the approach with Gon and Killua behind him. "Hello there. We are Hunters and would like to participate in the completion of the game."

Several weaker bodyguards got up to stand between Rayleigh's trio and Battera. One of them harshly stated, "Brats! Mr. Battera is a very busy man and has no time to play around with children."

Rayleigh pulled out his Hunter License, and Gon followed, doing the same. Killua felt a bit awkward that he could not do so as well, but he stood confidently next to them, which gave the false impression he was a Hunter too.

The guard who spoke up examined the License and seemed dumbfounded.

Battera motioned for the formidible facial-haired bodyguard to accompany him as he made his way over to the trio of kids. Said bodyguard glanced at the Hunter Licenses before turning to Battera and giving a nod.

Battera stated, "Getting a License at your age is impressive, and the fact that you managed to come here means you are not ordinary. But that's not enough. It's true that I employ Hunters to complete the game, but I'm very strict on selection, and at the moment, we're just selecting those who may be able to enter. The number of Players is limited, so I cannot employ you."

The trio exchanged concerned looks. Rayleigh had no idea what to do since he only saw an image of Gon and Killua speaking with Battera and did not see what they said.

Gon spoke up, "Why is the number of players limited? The catalog said that the number of players is unlimited."

Battera explained, "The number of participants is unlimited; that's true, but you need to save your game data, correct? For that, a memory card is needed. On that card, only one person can be saved. If a multi-piece adaptor is used, each game can hold a maximum of eight memory cards, allowing only eight players per game."

Gon looked shocked and turned to Ray and Killua, "That's right, the memory card's 30 game files were all Greed Island!"

When they checked out the memory card Ging left Gon, it showed 30 different files, all labeled as Greed Island. They did not think that 30 different saved files were actually only a single save file, meaning one memory card only meant a save file for a single person.

Gon wasn't exactly whispering, so when Battera heard this, he asked, "Say, how do you know about that?"

Gon honestly answered, "Actually, we own a saved file of Greed Island."

Rayleigh was tempted to add that it was left by the game's creator, but he'd only do so if necessary, so he kept quiet to see how this played out.

Battera was rather astounded at that, so he asked for clarification, "You've already played Greed Island?!"

Gon replied, "No, we only have the saved data."

Battera looked thoughtful for a moment before stating, "You saw it too, right? When the console is on, it is protected by something. It is possible to insert a memory card, but it is impossible to remove one unless the Player is dead. There is one exception: if you have a certain item, you can remove the memory card associated with your save file from the joystation. If your memory card is authentic, you should also have this item."

Rayleigh nodded, "You mean the ring? Yeah. We have that."

Battera nodded, seemingly convinced. He said, "It seems they have met the required qualifications to take part in the test." He motioned for his goateed bodyguard to step forward.

The man gave the trio a look before stating, "Age is just a number if you are a Hunter. I've seen kids your age who got their own License years ago, and they are making progress in the game. They are exceptions, because those who are too weak will die in that game. Let me see if you are also exceptions. Show me your Ren."

Rayleigh asked, "Does Hatsu work?" He saw Gon and Killua passing by showing Hatsu, not Ren.

The man looked surprised for a moment before nodding. "You are new Hunters right? The expression, show me your Ren, just means show me your strength. Hatsu is fine of course."

Gon stepped forward first and made a fist. He formed a strong Ren and then quickly condensed it to his fist, forming a K that felt stronger than a wrecking ball.

The man nodded before turning to Killua.

Killua spread his arms out, and a powerful current of electricity was channeled from one hand to the other. He then turned his palms away from each other, and dozens of shining currents of electricity flowed from his fingertips around him and into the ground.

The man nodded again, which signaled Killua to stop before he turned to Rayleigh.

Ray used his Ren and then enabled the projection his Lightsaber from his Inventory, causing it to appear in front of him and making it look like he used materialization Nen. He then ignited the Lightsaber.

The bodyguard examined the glowing blade and asked, "How strong is that?"

Rayleigh answered, "Pick up that lamp and use Sh on it."

Seeing where this was going, the man unplugged a desk lamp and used Sh, covering the lamp with his Ten to multiply its defense. Rayleigh then chopped through it with his Lightsaber. This man was strong, but he was nowhere close to Netero, so his Sh could not stop a Lightsaber.

Rayleigh then disabled the projection of his Lightsaber, returning it to his Inventory to complete the illusion that it was a materialized item.

The confused looks of Gon and Killua were not noticed by the assembled guards.

Battera looked over at his bodyguard and asked, "Well, Tsezguerra?"

Tsezguerra nodded, "Yes. They are certainly exceptional. They are not strong enough to beat the game, but they won't die a dog's death and have the potential to become stronger. It's safe to let them play."

Battera smiled, "Good." He turned to another guard and said, "Get three copies of the contract," before stating to the trio, "Read and sign the Contract if you wish to play. On September 10th, I will be holding an audition for more Players. As you have already passed, you just need to show up with the contracts signed at Tarsetol Station at 5 PM on the 10th."

The guard from before returned with three stacks of freshly printed paper and handed them to the trio.

Gon and the rest thanked Battera and Tsezguerra before heading out, contracts in hand. Once they were out of ear-shot, Gon and Killua turned to Rayleigh and complained, "Hey! That wasn't your Hatsu!" and "You cheated!"

Looking at the grassy plains, Killua seemed surprised. "A prairie huh? I can't even see the shadow of a town from here."

Gon pointed out, "But everyone is heading in the same direction."

Rayleigh stated, "Yeah, but that's just where we're being watched from."

Killua pointed and said, "Yeah, that way and that way, right," eliciting a nod from Gon and Ray.

Gon asked, "So where should we go?"

Killua suggested, "Let's decide on three."

On three, Gon and Ray pointed in one direction, while Killua pointed in the other. With the decision of the majority, they headed in the direction Gon and Rayleigh chose.

Killua asked if Gon obtained any cards to start with but received the same answer: that Ging just said to have fun. He looked over to Rayleigh and asked, "Any suggestions on how to win?"

Rayleigh shook his head, "Ging told the other GMs how to make it, but wasn't too involved in the process of making it himself. Plus, any information I get using Psychometry has a problem."

Killua asked, "What's that?"

Rayleigh shrugged, "It fades really fast unless I use it, practice it, repeat it, or write it down." If Rayleigh held a sword, he would know how the person to whom it belonged used it, but if he didn't practice that with his body, the feeling of how the person used it would fade away and be forgotten when he released the sword.

Gon asked, "Wait, so the stuff you saw about Ging is mostly forgotten?"

Rayleigh nodded, "Yeah, but that's fine with me. I used to use Psychometry all the time. If the unused stuff didn't fade on its own, my head would have exploded by now."

Killua said, "That's fine. Figuring it out ourselves is more fun anyway."

Gon nodded back, "Right!"

After walking for about an hour, the sound of something piercing through the sky, like a jet fighter passing overhead, could be heard. The trio looked up, and instead of a jet, they saw a mass of light streaking toward them. A moment later, it reached the ground in front of them and landed safely, revealing a young man with a book floating in front of him.

The new arrival looked around, as if he didn't know where he was before speaking up, "The prairie near the starting point. So, this is your first time in the game."

Killua asked, "How'd you know, we could be returning players."

The man smirked and said, "Perhaps." He turned the pages in his book to the back and picked up a card before placing it in a slot in the back of the book without saying a word. He smiled and said, "Swordsman, Killua, and Gon, eh?"

Gon asked, "Hey, how did you know our names?" Though he did turn to Rayleigh and wonder why he used the name, Swordsman, instead of his real name.

The man snickered, "How indeed." The card he seemed to have placed in the back of his book vanished in a puff of smoke. He seemed to ponder his next move before picking up a card from the back page and saying, "Trace On. Attack On Swordsman."

A beam of light shot out from the card and aimed itself at Rayleigh. Although Rayleigh didn't remember the details of the cards, he did recall that there were no harmful cards, so he didn't bother to dodge.

The light struck Rayleigh, causing him to glow for a moment before the light vanished.

The man looked pleased with himself before he found that he was unable to move a muscle. He was completely frozen in place.

Rayleigh walked up to the man and said, "Well, that wasn't very nice at all."

Killua demanded, "What did you do to him?"

Rayleigh stated, "He can't move or answer. Let's check out his book."

The man used Ren but the Force Stasis applied to him was a lot stronger than what Ray once used on Guido. He trusted the Force a lot more now and used multiple Wills to apply a few stacks of Force Stasis.

Seeing the situation, Gon and Killua walked over, took the frozen man's floating book from him, and started rifling through it. Rayleigh took out his own book and, page by page, took every card from the man's book and placed it in his own.

Gon said, "That feels like cheating."

Ray replied, "I just want to play with them and figure out how they work. I'll sell the rest once we reach a city."

Killua added, "Besides, this guy only has a few cards in his imposed slots anyways, he's really weak."

After every card was taken, Killua asked, "What should we do with this guy?"

Rayleigh shrugged, "Let's ask."

The man's Ren only lasted a minute or so before petering out. He was really too weak.

Rayleigh released Force Stasis, allowing the man to move once again. The now cardless man immediately fell backward and started scooting away from the trio like a retarded crab. He turned to get up and ran as fast as he could while screaming.

Gon asked, "Didn't you want to know what he did?"

Rayleigh looked through the cards the man donated to him and said, "I think I already figured it out. Check out these three cards."

He pointed at three cards the man had a few copies of. These were not item cards, they had symbols in the bottom right corner which item cards did not. That, and they were each numbered over 1000.

[1017 Collision: F-200

Fly to the location of a random player the caster has not met.]

[1001 Peek: G-200

View contents of target player's free slots]

[1027 Trace: E:90

Current location of one target player will be available at all times. (Effect lasts until player leaves the game.)]

Rayleigh explained, "This is the one he used to find us. It was just a random encounter. This is the one he used to figure out our names. I saw him insert a copy of this into the back of his book. And this is the one he used on me."

The man had a few other spells in his possession as well.

[1009 Return: G-380

Allows caster to fly back to a previously visited location.]

[1015 Clairvoyance: D-70

See all card data of the target player.]

[1019 Drawbridge F-200

Protect once against a short range regular spell from another player.]

[1033 Cling: C-50

Complete data of one player's restricted slots will be available at all times. (Effect lasts until player leaves the game.)]

[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.)]

[1021 Mug B-30

Take one card at will from target player.]

The sun was setting, but none of the trio felt tired. They'd continue walking and discussing the 'donated cards' until they reached a city and began their new adventures in the game.

*Author's Note*

It begins.

For those wondering if Rayleigh's Dark Transfer can destroy indestructible items made by Nen, the answer is, "If the item's conditions for indestructibility does not automatically refresh, then yes." Dark Transfer is the ability to see cracks within an object or person and oversaturate those cracks with the Force, causing them to expand and destroy the object or person. It can destroy anything that does not automatically fix itself.

So within the game, the Book and Ring are indestructible, since their existence condition in the game is, 'the player is alive.'

Another example is Knuckles' Hakoware Potclean. That thing's indestructibility is based off, 'the target is being lent Knuckle's aura.' As long as the target possesses the aura lent to him by Knuckle, Potclean's indestructible condition constantly refreshes itself. When Potclean has lent more aura than the target possesses, Potclean turns into a little demon that forces the target into Zetsu for a month. While in Zetsu, Knuckle's aura is still within the target. 30 days is probably just how long it takes for Knuckles' aura to naturally disperse. So the little demon's invincibility condition is still, 'Knuckle's lent aura is inside the target.' If Rayleigh got hit with Potclean, he could use Zetsu to prevent himself from being lent more and push Knuckle's aura out using the Force. Then he could destroy Potclean. Even if Potclean turned into the demon, Rayleigh could do the same and just force all of Knuckle's aura from his body using the Force, then he could use Dark Transfer to destroy the little demon.

So destroying items made indestructible by Nen depends on how the item was made indestructible. If someone made a robot bodyguard that becomes indestructible if the person was attacked, Rayleigh could destroy it as long as the man was not getting attacked constantly. Any form of indestructibility that is initiated by a single, non-consistent action, can be destroyed by Dark Transfer.

It won't matter too much. In order to make something unable to be destroyed, it usually needs the limit, 'unable to harm others.' With the exception of Kurapika's Chain Jail, which isn't truly indestructible, every Nen ability that involves actual indestructibility in the series was unable to physically harm others. Other extreme limits are also usually required. Potclean's requirement of freely giving the opponent the user's aura is completely ridiculous if you think about it, and it only works on those who can't kill Knuckle before Potclean lends more aura than the person's current amount.

Only bringing this up because games have lots of indestructible things. There are monsters on Greed island with the indestructibility condition, 'has not been struck in obvious weak point.' Basically, "Achilles' Heel indestructibility". Those cannot be killed by a Lightsaber, but Shatterpoint will reveal their weak spot. Most indestructible things won't have constantly refreshing conditions, so Rayleigh will be able to break unbreakable walls and such, but likely won't need to during Gameplay.

Reviews and Stones = Motivation to write more chapters really fast.