Chapter 35: The Prize City of Antokiba

Chapter 35: The Prize City of Antokiba

Chapter 35 The Prize City of Antokiba

As the sun rose on the morning of the next day, the trio finally spotted a city in the distance.

It was very quaint actually. No buildings larger than three or four stories, plenty of space between each, and lush greenery all around. There were neither asphalt roads nor vehicles, so it looked very much like an idyllic countryside town nestled in the base of a green valley.

Once they reached the main street loaded with vendors and shops, they spotted a large banner hanging from one end of the street to the other. [Welcome to the Prize City of Antokiba.]

The bustling vista had numerous people walking around and no one could tell who was a player and who was a local until you spoke with them, saw them bring out their Book, or spotted the Ring on their finger.

Neither Gon nor Killua was aware of the true nature of this place, so the liveliness and 'realism' had the pair in awe.

Along most of the walls of the various buildings were posters, each asking for the completion of a task with the promise of a reward, likely a card. The problem? Each reward sounded weird and none of them had any clue if it was a good card, an imposed slot card, or something worthless.

One poster for example asked the reader to locate a missing dog, and the reward was the Statue of the Cursed Goddess of Fortune.

While aimlessly wandering, Gon spotted a building with the word Tournament Schedule and exclaimed, "Look over there!" Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

The remaining pair glanced over and saw the same billboard over the building. It had a list of twelve different tournaments, one on the 15th of each month, and the prize for each.

Gon's eyes immediately gravitated toward the Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament scheduled for the 15th of September.

When he pointed it out, Killua mentioned, "We don't know if the date is the same here."

Gon walked over to someone looking at the same billboard and politely asked the date, and was answered with today's date of the 11th of September, confirming that the date inside and outside the game was the same.

What was interesting was that their trio was not the only new players gathered around the billboard. Several other familiar faces that passed the audition were standing around, showing the same interest in the billboard and the events listed within.

The Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament's prize was an item called the Sword of Truth, and since it was a safe looking means of acquiring a card, the trio agreed to stay in Antokiba until the 15th and participate.

On Rayleigh's insistence, the first stop of the trio in Antokiba was the Card Shop. After looking at the various spell cards donated from the random encounter, the trio's interest was peaked and they wanted some spell cards too.

On the way to Antokiba, they played with and used the various spells available to figure out how they worked and some of the game's mechanics.

One of the weird things about the game was that just about everything turned into a card. When you acquire an item, it turns into a card. But the process of acquisition was very loose. Gon literally picked up a rock on the ground and it turned into a card. If he did not put it in his Book within a minute, it turned back into a rock.

Rayleigh wondered if Gon had OCD about certain things because he didn't like his Book being so empty and he ended up collecting a lot of rocks.

Upon arriving at the trade shop, their hopes and dreams were shattered by a single sentence from the cashier. "Spell Cards are only sold in the City of Magic, Masadora."

All three started regretting playing with the spell cards earlier, having no idea that they were so hard to acquire.

There were still many aspects of the Spells they did not understand, and when they asked the employee, he didn't have any idea about how Spell Cards worked either.

The player that kindly donated his cards had a bunch of useless ones and only a few imposed slot cards, so Rayleigh sold them all to the trade shop for the local currency. What was the local currency? A card carrying a picture of a Jenny note bill. What was weird about them was that if the card was held by a player without it being inserted into a Free Slot for longer than a minute, the card transformed into a normal Jenny note bill. Why was that weird? Because the currency only had value in its card form, and it only turned into a Jenny note bill once it was in the possession of a player for longer than a minute. The 'NPC's didn't have this problem.

There was a way around filling your Free Slots with Jenny Note bills. The Trade Shop owner stated, "If you don't want your money to be stolen, you can leave it with me."

Gon overheard the offer and said, "Oh, that's a great idea."

Killua seemed more skeptical and asked, "Do we have to come back to you to retrieve the money, or can we pick it up in any city?"

The employee answered, "Only me of course, because I'm the one with your money."

Rayleigh still decided to agree since they would be there for a few days. He kept enough money for food expenses in his Free Slots and the trio headed off for a restaurant. Thankfully, the restaurant was thoughtful of new players. It was called Dopff au Moulin, Caveau de Riquewihr, and within was a contest with a prize. A gigantic plate of spaghetti half their size was brought out. If they could finish the whole thing in half an hour, it was free, and they were awarded a Card called Galgaida

The trio began eating, but Killua looked for more information from the chef and asked, "Sir, do you know how many will participate in the monthly tournament?"

The chef politely stated, "Haha, instead of wasting time talking, you'd better hurry up and finish. As for the tournament, I think this month is special. Most tournaments only have about ten participants, but September's Tournament is when anyone can win and sometimes has over a thousand participants. I'll be taking part as well."

Rayleigh found that interesting. The NPCs also took part in tournaments.

Gon and Killua tried asking a few more questions, but for a majority of them, the NPC replied to the question with, "What's that?"

Even with the ongoing conversation, Gon finished in 10 minutes, Rayleigh in 11, and Killua came last by finishing in 12 minutes.

The NPC took the empty plates and returned with three identical cards in hand.

[1217 Galgaida: F-185

This fish when cooked, tastes delicious.]

The card had a picture of a very ugly fish, but the card's subtext had Rayleigh's inner chef interested.

Rayleigh asked, "What does the F-185 mean?" The Trade Shop Employee refused to answer without getting paid to do so.

This NPC was nicer. He replied, "Ah, you're foreigners. The Letter on the right is the card's acquisition difficulty. From lowest to highest it goes from H to A to S to highest, SS. The number next to that letter is the limit to how many of that item can exist in Card form. And the Number on the left is the card Number."

Since they finished the spaghetti, they intended to leave as it would have been free, but as they headed for the exit, the chef said, "Wait, the pasta was free, but the drinks were not. Five glasses of sodas are 1700 Jennies please."

Rayleigh turned to the Free Slots in his Book and handed the Chef the card form of a 2000 Jenny note and said, "Keep the change." Since every bit of currency took up a place in the Free Slots, it wasn't worth it to accept change back.

The trio wandered around the city, looking for more information and possible Quests to pass the time until the Tournament in four days. Their exploration was interrupted by the sound of an explosion a few streets down.

On instinct, Gon and Rayleigh turned to head toward the source of the explosion, with Killua only being a half step slower. A small crowd had quickly gathered around what appeared to be the corpse of a somewhat familiar adult male. The trio had seen him earlier. He was one of the players who entered the game with them and observed the tournament billboard at their side with a few others. It was difficult not to tense up at this realization. They had come from the same starting point and arrived at the same destination, but with only a slight deviation between them, one had encountered something that killed him while they took only a slightly different path. How close had they come to death?

Killua asked someone who had already been there, "What happened?"

The local explained, "His body just exploded. There was a bang from the inside, and then he was like this."

Rayleigh frowned at the lack of detail. He was about to step forward and use Psychometry on the corpse, but it started glowing and a moment later, it vanished. Ray sighed at that. He supposed it didn't matter.

"Hey, you three are newbies, right?"

From behind, a man with a ring on his index finger called out to them. He looked scruffy and would fit right in among a group of homeless vagrants.

Rayleigh answered honestly, "Yep. What of it?" He didn't think being a newbie was a big deal.

The man looked a bit surprised at the straightforward declaration, but he continued his line of questioning, "Then I guess this is the first time you've seen someone get killed. Don't worry about it being a spell card, what killed that guy was definitely a Nen ability.

Gon asked, "Who killed him and why?"

The man explained, "The guy who killed him is a notorious player killer called the Bomb Devil. Every one of his victims is killed just like that guy. As for why, it's because of the Card Limit. You know about that, right?"

Killua nodded, causing the man to continue, "Plenty of cards have already reached their maximum conversion limit, preventing others from getting them and completing the game. If a Player dies, you can't get their cards, but if they have a card that reached the limit and it gets destroyed when they die, then others can get that card again. For Player killers, the fewer Players are in the game, the better their own chances of winning."

Rayleigh saw about a hundred and one holes in that theory for why the Bomber killed him. The man had just gotten here, so he had no experience and no cards and probably wasn't a threat. Why kill him?

The scruffy man continued, "The best way to play safely is to have strength in numbers. Ours is the largest group in the game, and we never kill. Why don't you join us? We know a sure way to clear the game."

Rayleigh and Killua asked skeptically, "A sure way to clear the game?"

The man nodded confidently, "Come with me if you're interested, my buddies are over there."

Gon smiled back as they continued their exploration of the city.

The young woman observing them had an evil smile, like a trickster finding the target of their next prank.

The next four days passed with a small competition between the three. Each would try one of the random quests available and get the prize. If it wasn't an Imposed Slot Card, they would sell it and see which one was worth the most.

To their dismay, everything was weird crap. The quests at least showed the names of the prizes so you at least had an idea what you were getting, but interesting names did not always mean a good prize. A Three Eyed Mask sounds cool, but its effect prevents the wearer from successfully asking a girl out on a date. The Ruby Wrist-guard sounds exotic, but the effect increases your chance of getting lost while wearing it. And Rayleigh would never speak of the Legendary Brown Pants. Why someone would award such a thing he would never know. He could not think of a single use for an item with that effect except for giving it to someone he didn't like.

Rayleigh figured some items might be linked to Chain Quests like the one to get Goron's Big Sword in Ocarina of Time, but he couldn't find a single quest that required the prize of another quest to start.

In the end, he figured the only prizes worth anything were probably just the ones from the monthly tournaments. After selling the cards they got, Gon had the most money, and they used it to buy a blank map of the island and the directions to the Magic City of Masadora.

Ray had no idea how Gon won. The items he got consisted of an Antique Clock, a Non-Beckoning Cat, and Someone's Colored Paper.

Rayleigh spent most of his money on food items and cooking utensils, all of which were conveniently in card form. That made it useful to carry before setting up camp, but none of the items would be able to return to card forms after he set up camp. Still, it was better than carrying a backpack to the place they intended to setup camp at.

On the fifteenth, Gon, Rayleigh, and Killua participated in the Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament. Rayleigh actually defeated Gon and faced Killua in the finals. Killua rose an unclenched fist to make it look like he'd be using paper or scissors, so Rayleigh used scissors to win or tie, but the hand that met Rayleigh's was Killua's other hand in the form of rock.

Killua was announced the winner and Killua gave a double piece sign. Guessing if the opponent would use paper and scissors or rock by checking if the fist was clenched or not clenched was a trick Gon taught them both. If the opponent's fist was clenched while being thrown down, it was probably rock or paper, so you should choose paper. If it was not clenched, it was probably paper or scissors, so you should choose scissors. You'd either win or draw every time.

Killua faked this out by throwing an unclenched right hand down before pulling it back and showing his clenched fist in his left hand.

The ref handed Killua a sword with some writing on it. The moment he took it, the sword turned into a card. Killua said, "Ray, Gon, look at this."

[083 Sword of Truth: B-22

Splits in two anything and anyone deceitful. In trials, it's a criminal's worst nightmare. The sword will shatter when used to cut something true, but will regenerate if stored in its scabbard for one day.]

The card's number was less than 100, so it was their first imposed slot card.

The moment they walked out of the tournament ground, they easily felt the eyes of dozens of Players.

Killua asked Rayleigh, "You gonna do your psychic thing?"

Rayleigh shook his head. "No point in showing off until we have more cards."

Gon said, "But I don't want them to just take it without a fight."

Killua nodded, "It's okay. I have an idea."

The trio discussed their plan for a few minutes before continuing on to see how it would work.

The first player to show up made the word dork appear in the mind of anyone who saw him. Rayleigh unconsciously felt that the guy seemed a bit pitiful. He pulled out his book and the trio did the same and opened it.

The loser said, "Thief On. Attack Killua, take the Sword of Truth from his imposed slots!"

The card didn't vanish or turn into a beam of light, it just stayed in his hand.

The man panicked, understanding what this meant.

Although they didn't want to waste spell cards, the trio eventually decided to play around a bit more and learned a few interesting facts about the spells. First, if a player has their book open and it contains at least 1 defensive spell, then attack spells will not strike automatically. The spell will actually wait fifteen seconds before going off, giving the defending player time to use the defensive spell against the attacker. Because of this, Rayleigh gave Gon and Killua a copy of 1019 Drawbridge, a single use spell that defended against regular spells. The guy who donated his cards to Rayleigh actually had five of them. Unfortunately, he didn't have any spells that defended against Attack Spells.

Attack spells also only worked if the target was within 20 meters of the caster.

Killua, Gon, and Rayleigh shrugged and started walking away again. The man did panic when he thought that Killua had a defensive card, but then he thought that maybe Killua didn't know how to use it or had one that wasn't useful against Thief. His anticipation came to nothing however when the fifteen seconds came to an end and his card popped without attacking Killua.

The man collapsed to his knees, "No! You just won the tournament! I know you have that card!"

Killua didn't turn around but said, "Just because it's an Imposed Slot card, doesn't mean I have to put it in my imposed slots."

Seeing this, someone else came out and said, "Better for me, this card targets the Free Slots. Pickpocket On. Attack Killua."

The trio shook their head and kept walking. Once the fifteen seconds were up, loser number two's Pickpocket card shined brightly and a light shot from Killua's book into the man's hand. He laughed and looked at the card before freezing up. "A Rock?!"

Killua said, "Gon, Ray, and I all have forty rock cards in our free slots." That was an outright lie, but unless they had a large number of Pickpocket cards to randomly take each one, they'd never be able to confirm it.

Another loser showed up and said, "Rob on. Attack Killua, take the Sword of Truth from his Free Slots!"

After another 15 seconds, the card popped, failing to work.

Gon turned and smiled back, "No one said we had to put the card in Killua's Book."

The last loser looked broken, but another group of players showed up. This time, none appeared to be losers.

One said, "From using Peek and Fluoroscopy, I know that Sword of Truth is in Swordsman's Free Slots. He also has five stones, lots of cookwear, several food items, a few normal spells, and two Drawbridge Spell Cards, but those only protect from normal spells, not attack spells."

Another said, "Don't even think about escaping." He turned to the rest and said, "Let's decide who goes first with rock-paper-scissors."

Ironically, the actual Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament to decide who got the Sword of Truth had just begun.

Rayleigh was tempted to remove the card and use Gain on it or secretly pass it to Gon or Killua, but several Hunters seemed to be waiting for him to do just that so they could attack or fight him. One-on-one, Ray had some confidence against guys at that level, but there were eight Hunters, and none of them seemed like they would go down easily.

Rayleigh accepted the situation for what it was and didn't fight back. Sometimes if you get robbed, the best thing to do is to give them your wallet. He wasn't Martha Wayne. Besides, if he destroyed the card, even if he could get away with it, the assembled Players would not appreciate it and he doubted they would let bygones be bygones.

Gon seemed pissed and Killua was annoyed, but neither decided to fight.

The one who won the game used Rob on Rayleigh and since he didn't have a spell card to defend himself, the Sword of Truth left his Book and made its way to a Pro with a fuzzy hat.

Deciding not to mind it, the trio decided to leave the city and find Masadora. Of course, first, they had to head to the trade shop to withdraw their money.

The Employee they paid for directions to had also informed them that along the route from this city to Masadora, they would encounter bandits and monsters. Both of which had the trio very excited.

The moment they left the city, a voice called out from behind, "Wait for me!"

The pig-tailed girl in the dress ran daintily from behind. She'd been following them for a few days now and Rayleigh had snuck a peak at her using Gy at one and came to a startling conclusion. She was too strong.

Rayleigh could not accurately measure someone using Gy, but he could see Shatterpoints, the cracks where lines of weakness and fragility met. The larger and the more numerous the Shatterpoints, the weaker the person. This girl's Shatterpoints were tiny and the lines connecting them showing how fragile she was were thinner than hair. Rayleigh had never seen such tiny Shatterpoints and thin lines of weakness. He was confident she could kick their asses.

Still, although she had a mischievous vibe, it wasn't malicious. She intended to mess with them, not hurt them. Probably a hobby or something.

She spoke softly, "Please let me accompany you."

Killua directly rejected, "Ah, sorry. The answer is no."

She looked frantic and asked, "But why?"

Killua answered straightforwardly, "Because you'd be a hindrance," before returning to the road and starting to run along the route to Masadora.

Rayleigh could feel the woman's irritation, but it was her fault for trying to look weak.

Rather than punch Killua's face in, she decided to continue her charade and ran after them, "Wait for me! I promise I'll make myself as inconspicuous as possible!"

Rayleigh smirked. He wondered how much he could annoy her before she decided to give up on pranking them.