On the system screen, the player count once again hit one thousand.
Xiang Nan merely glanced at the information on the system panel and closed it.
Before this, he had already used the First‑Kill reward to obtain a Magical Armband and put a team together.
With it, he could bring Orban, Pigeon, Beishi, and a few others through two more Reincarnation Dimensions.
It's worth noting that within the current squad, Beishi, Xiang Nan, and Manman are players who keep the exact same rhythm.
The three of them unlocked their mission stages at precisely the same moment.
Orban and Pigeon, however, are a bit higher‑level. While Xiang Nan left the Hunter Association to help the Zatobi family become confidants of the Ten Dons, those two had already cleared the eighth round of the Extinction Game and are now Extinction level 8.
They'd been lucky in that eighth round—the system matched them into a large party.
Twelve players in total.
Only seven returned alive.
Even then, they completed only the basic task objectives.
There was no fighting against players from other worlds; their sole aim was stability—level up first, everything else later.
That is, without question, also Xiang Nan's current stance.
For most Multiverse players, the gains and growth you get by fighting in alien realms come with far greater danger than anything you can do in the main world. Hence the shared consensus: survive until you clear all ten rounds of the Extinction Game.
Power progression? Find ways to do that in the main world whenever possible.
Outside a sidewalk café the five gathered again.
As they recounted their eighth‑round experience, both Pigeon and Orban still felt lingering dread.
The world they entered had been terrifying.
What was terrifying wasn't other players, but the setting itself and its story characters.
Fortunately, the natives of that world didn't care about their sudden "appearance."
Only player‑versus‑player conflict existed.
Had any story character made a move, Orban believed every intruder—Hunter x Hunter players and all outsiders alike—would have died outright.
Total wipe.
The world they entered is called Bayonetta—both an anime and a game.
It is a trinity: Heaven, Hell, and the Human realm.
Top‑tier characters there can summon demons or gods that wage war across galaxies and shatter celestial bodies.
Although Xiang Nan wasn't familiar with the title, just hearing the brief description struck him as bizarre.
Still, to the powerhouses of that realm, intruders are ants… The backdrop is lethal, yet for intruders it is oddly safe:
So long as they don't provoke a story character, the world's power will most likely ignore them.
Since this is only Round 8 of the Extinction Game, system balance dictates the difficulty can't rise too far.
Yet among the myriad dimensions, there truly are countless worlds with terrifying combat power.
That puts extra pressure on players hailing from low‑power universes; by comparison, Hunter x Hunter is already a lenient start.
"Things across several continents are unstable of late. Mafia activity keeps flaring up. During public addresses, many national leaders have stressed the need to safeguard public security." At the table, Beishi looked at Xiang Nan. "My guess? Players are the cause. The Yorknew arc is about to start. Once the Ten Dons die, the underworld will plunge into brief chaos. Players have foreknowledge of the plot—an innate edge. They can seize this chance to carve out turf in the underworld. If they manage to become a Don themselves, or ally with a strong mafia family or syndicate, their main‑world background grows stronger and more legitimate."
"Pretty normal… Plenty of people have likely been scheming since long ago," Orban said. "I just don't have the bandwidth. Getting through the Game left me mentally exhausted, let alone running some power base in the main world—political infighting gives me a headache just thinking about it."
Manman, sitting nearby, sipped her coffee and stuck out her tongue—clearly not a fan.
While Xiang Nan was training abroad and staying at the Ten Dons' compound, he had Manman return to the military district.
She was allowed to go back.
The point was partly to keep an eye on that shady guy Omokage, making sure he wasn't secretly messing with the Pandora's Box members or sabotaging Garo's training schedule—
And partly to let Manman train under him. Learning from someone stronger is always a good thing.
In short, Xiang Nan can't let Manman idle around; left alone she might slack off.
Omokage's disposition is nasty, but his combat experience and Nen technique can indeed help Manman a lot.
Most important: Omokage won't coddle her.
"This situation will only snowball—watch. Any player capable of meddling at the Ten Dons' level won't stay quiet. Still, they need to set the board early while avoiding the Dons' notice. All gang infighting must look like normal turf wars. If the Dons catch on, those players are toast. Worse, they could derail the main plot. If the Yorknew auction doesn't run as planned, they get nothing," Beishi warned.
Pigeon gave a creepy grin. "Hunter x Hunter is an on‑hiatus manga, right? Lazy‑bones Togashi is always playing mah‑jong. Whenever he claims an update, it's just two drops of pee—no real progress. The canon storyline is the only leverage players have in the main world. Even if someone unlocks a plot point, they try hard not to disturb the backbone. If the plot goes off the rails, nobody even gets soup. That's the unspoken pact."
"Agreed," Beishi nodded.
"How's your side coming along?" he asked Xiang Nan.
"Nothing major—The family I control should be able to replace one seat among the Ten Dons," Xiang Nan answered with a grin.
"Great news! We're clinging to your thigh, buddy. Since you're working both the official scene and the underworld, we just have to lie low and ride your coattails—saves us the effort," Beishi jokes.
What Xiang Nan achieved was built entirely on his own ability and tact.
He can do it; that doesn't mean others can easily replicate it.
There are indeed gaps between players.
"You're already one of the Shadow Beasts. When the Ten Dons die… ever thought of roping them in? As story characters, they should be pretty strong, right?" Orban asked.
"The Shadow Beasts, huh…"
Xiang Nan shook his head. "Raw strength, sure—they're above you guys. But their personalities and bottom lines are awful. Also, unlike the Ten Dons' Nen‑armed bodyguards, the Shadow Beasts' loyalty to the Dons is absolute. They simply won't bow to outsiders. Their style is flashy and arrogant, making them worthless to groom. Temperament is the hardest to change; I don't have time to waste on them."
The three nodded; after mulling it over they agreed.
"However… Owl is an exception. He's smart. If the Ten Dons die, it might be worth approaching him," Xiang Nan added.
"If I remember right, Owl's Nen ability was stolen by Chrollo…" Beishi implied that recruiting Owl might mean getting tangled with the Spiders.
As they chatted idly, all five suddenly froze—their expressions changed.
The system had issued a notification:
Based on the squad leader Xiang Nan, the seventh round of the Extinction Game officially begins!
A heartbeat later, all five vanished from their seats, turning into streaks of white light.
Left on the table were only a few steaming cups of coffee—and a large‑denomination Jenny bill.