"Alright." Ron nodded, then asked, "Do you have a lot of empty rooms here?"
"Quite a few."
"Then I'll stay here for a while," Ron said. "As for Heaven's Arena, it doesn't really matter whether I go there now or not."
It wasn't just Ron—Nina felt the same way. Their reputations had already spread throughout Heaven's Arena. Ron's match with Hisoka had extinguished any desire the other contenders had to challenge the Floor Master. And after seeing Nina's performance, most knew better than to try their luck with her either. The remaining challengers who held qualification to fight Floor Masters had far safer, more appealing options.
This was the usual treatment top-ranked Floor Masters received.
Sally quickly arranged to have a room cleaned up.
The next day, Ron went to the training ground. Angel was already there, practicing.
"Ron-sama," she greeted.
Ron gave a slight nod. "Continue."
"Yes, Ron-sama."
Sally and Ruco had already taught Angel the basics of Nen—Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Gyo. She had learned the Four Principles, but hadn't yet awakened her own Hatsu ability.
Ron activated a thought. "Chii."
Chii quickly completed an analysis and, at the same time, generated a personalized training plan for Angel. Compared to what Chii had designed for Nina and the others earlier, this one was more refined and more effective—Chii's capabilities had grown alongside Ron's power.
"It can already calculate upper A-rank thresholds now? Not bad."
Before long, Angel finished the first stage of her training.
"Angel, what's your Nen category?"
"Enhancement."
"Do you have any ideas about what kind of ability you want to develop?"
"Not yet."
"That's fine. When you have time, play some games, read manga, novels—that kind of thing. You might find inspiration in things you're genuinely interested in. Abilities born from that tend to be more effective."
"Alright, thank you, Ron-sama."
Ron handed the training plan over to Sally, then went to the study.
He pulled out the JoyStation Console, connected the power, and inserted the Greed Island cartridge. Instantly, nen enveloped his body. He could feel a spatial tunnel opening next to him. When he stabilized himself, he had already arrived in a completely different place—far from Sally's dojo.
He had entered Greed Island.
A figure appeared before him. It was one of the game's administrators and developers: Eta.
As soon as Ron entered, Eta began explaining the rules and systems of the game. Ron observed the figure. Eta wasn't a real person, more like a projection—something akin to a nen beast. But unlike standard nen beasts, this projection perfectly mirrored the original body's appearance, and in some cases, could even replicate thought processes and memory synchronization. This was entirely different from how Ron's own nen beast functioned.
Just from this projection alone, Ron could tell that Eta's nen level wasn't low. And that made sense—Ging Freecss's team wasn't composed of weaklings. Anyone trusted to manage a project like Greed Island had to have high-level nen control. Their combat ability might vary, but their nen mastery would be elite.
Soon, the briefing was over.
"Player, would you like to begin the game now?"
"Let's begin."
Eta nodded, and a nearby door opened. Ron stepped through and descended a staircase. At the bottom, he turned and looked back.
He stood on a wide plain. Scattered across it were many spherical structures—not too large, but not small either. They looked solid, clearly not easy to break.
"Observer's Intention."
Ron turned to the crystal ball in front of him. Faint starlight gathered from the surroundings, drawn toward the crystal and slowly flowing into it.
Ron had two goals on Greed Island. First, to absorb the island's properties and use them to craft a new nen beast. Second, to study Greed Island's systems (Divine characters) in order to upgrade the ark.
"No one lying in wait at the starting point?"
Ron remembered that in the original story, whether it was Gon and Killua or Feitan and Phinks, they were all ambushed by players as soon as they entered the game—players who used cards to mark newcomers and rob them of rare finds. He'd been hoping to run into someone like that. It would save him the trouble of collecting certain cards himself.
.........................
Outside, Nina finished her shower and walked into the study, where she saw the cartridge already inserted into the JoyStation console. She instantly realized that Ron had entered the game.
He had already told Nina and the others that his purpose in entering Greed Island was research. But the game console was available to all of them—they could log in too.
Nina walked out into the living room and looked at everyone.
"Captain's already inside Greed Island. Anyone else interested in playing?"
"Me! Me!" Misty raised her hand immediately.
She was young, energetic, and curious—she had been eager to try Greed Island for a while now.
Nina turned to Ponzu, Shizuku, and Machi.
Shizuku shook her head. "I'm probably not suited for this kind of game. It's too complicated."
Her short-term memory loss made her wary of Greed Island.
Ponzu also declined. "I'm still not strong enough. I'd rather focus on training for now."
That left only Machi.
"Machi?" Nina asked.
Machi hesitated slightly.
"Come on," Nina urged. "We're not doing anything important outside anyway. It'll be more fun with three of us in there."
"…Alright."
The three girls entered the study, each picked up a memory card, and inserted them into the game console.
The next moment, all three vanished from the study—just like Ron had earlier.
When they regained their balance, they found themselves at Greed Island's starting point.
......................
.........
.
Elsewhere, Gon and Killua had already found Tsezguerra—the head of Battera's Greed Island strategy team.
"You two want to help us play the game?" Tsezguerra asked.
Killua, hands in his pockets, replied, "You guys collected way more cartridges than you need. There's no way you're planning to play them all yourselves. And I saw people going in with you who clearly aren't part of your group."