The monk muttered prayers in his mind.
[I told you not to set up the worst draw. Everyone ran off, right? Who wants to see that during a lucky draw? But Jin said that without the worst one, the best won't work... I didn't even plan for this thing to have any real effect!]
Saiki Kusuo: ...
This monk is the game master.
[But isn't this the guy who just drew the worst one? Let me check. Huh, on his hand...]
Players all have game rings on their hands!
Saiki Kusuo quickly used an illusion just on the game master, making him think Chrollo had a game ring on his hand.
[Oh, I must have misseen it.]
The game master dropped it and seriously blessed Chrollo.
"You seem to have some bad luck with injuries. I wish you peace, young one..."
Chrollo rarely shut up and accepted the blessing, though his inner voice couldn't help complaining: [Do I need more injuries? I've been crippled for a long time already!]
The blessings continued one by one.
At the same time, down the mountain, the Phantom Troupe had just handed out blessed charms to passersby. Their task sheet turned into various cards.
After the fun of scratching lottery tickets, the troupe gathered at a drink shop, each ordering a drink.
Feitan had his book open and waited. The others drank on their own while killing time.
"They're online," Feitan said.
The next moment, magnetism brought Phinks down from the sky. Everyone exchanged looks, and Phinks grinned.
"Start the notice soon. The money's already sent, and the rest is ready."
"That was fast. What did you sell?"
"The full royal outfit from the boss's bedroom. The last piece just came together from that Yorknew City event, right?"
"...The boss hasn't even enjoyed that yet. He was waiting to get the whole set before displaying it."
"I took photos of it all together. What can I do? The whole set sold really well. We need more money later, don't we?"
"How much did you get?"
"Two hundred and fifty billion."
"...Ah."
"Ah."
"...Yeah."
"What are you all doing? What's with the reactions!"
"You sold it cheap."
"No way the full set goes for that price."
"I rushed it to the black market auction as fast as I could, no promo at all, and it still went for that much. That's pretty good!"
"That guy can resell it to the royals and make a huge profit."
"We can rob it back from the royals later."
...
The troupe called Milluki, who contacted his nen teacher to check in the real world.
At that time, Saiki Kusuo was coming down the mountain from another direction, avoiding the troupe, but he ran right into a market at the foot of the mountain formed by people with their own nen.
The market was surprisingly focused on food and games. Some players who had stayed in the game for days or months already treated it like part of their life. In this nen game world, everyone felt more normal, so they picked up normal jobs and held normal festival gatherings, missing those things.
"A gathering? That brings back memories." Knowing the nen removal was about to start, Chrollo wasn't in a rush. He walked in easily. For the task, Saiki Kusuo followed as usual.
Neither had money, so they just window-shopped. After a bit, Saiki Kusuo suddenly noticed a balloon stall.
Since coming to the Hunter world, some folk customs were very different from his original world. It was rare to see something similar here, and this balloon stall was one of them. It even had a big bear doll like the ones back home.
For once, he remembered the past. He felt a slight longing for the familiar things from his original world, for those normal people, for... his original family.
Even that guy Kuusuke.
"What's up? Want to play this game?"
[I don't. If I play, the stall owner loses money.]
"Really? But the sign says it's throwing tacks by hand to pop the balloons. There's some difficulty, right?"
What kind of superhuman rule is this?
Oh, these are all nen users here. They're stronger than normal people.
[With that rule, I can't do it. Flipping the whole stall would be easier.]
"Are you an enhancer...? But we have no money." Chrollo looked back. "How did we lose the kids?"
From the numbers, we're the ones lost.
They quickly left that balloon game stall, which wasn't a normal one at all. As they walked on, they ran into another problem that tied up two people at once.
How is there tanghulu for sale? It's so tempting.
The two exchanged looks, both thinking the same first thing: get money.
Saiki Kusuo thought of going back to find his siblings.
But Chrollo was already moving.
"Sorry, I bumped into you! Need any help?" Chrollo deliberately bumped into a beautiful woman on the roadside and steadied her shoulder.
An old-fashioned pickup line. The woman shook off his hand right away.
"Huh, a player? I thought you were a meet-cute NPC. Sorry! But it's rare to see a female player dressed so beautifully."
The woman heard the compliment, and her mild annoyance faded a bit: "Smooth talker. For meet-cute NPCs, they bump into you. You bumped into me, right? Warning you, I'm not as easy to win over as an NPC."
"Hahaha, I don't mean to win you over. But I did run into a little trouble. I just ran out of money, and I want to buy two sticks of tanghulu. Can you lend me some?"
"A grown man asking a stranger for money on the street?"
"Just 500 jenny. Um, I'm broke today, and it's my birthday too! Please, happy birthday to you!"
"You're... fine! 500 jenny isn't much. Buy two tanghulu sticks—you're not getting one for me, are you?" The woman handed over a 500 jenny small card.
Chrollo clapped his hands together and took the jenny card: "No, my friend's over there. We're both out of money." He stuck out his tongue a little and bowed to the woman. "Thanks, sis! Happy birthday!"
A 27-year-old calling her sis like that.
Is this the baby face advantage? Chrollo and Saiki Kusuo walked side by side, and no one would doubt they weren't the same age.
Chrollo turned and waved the jenny card in his hand, showing off his victory to Saiki Kusuo.
It took 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Faster than teleporting back and forth once.
A stick of tanghulu was handed to him. Saiki Kusuo complained in his mind but took it.
The market organized by players wasn't big. Saiki Kusuo looked around and soon spotted Alluka alone in a corner.
"Ah, brother!" Alluka saw him and waved wildly, inviting him over. "I was just looking for you!"
[You're totally playing the game. So, what game is it?]
Warm tip: Can't find the book title? Try searching the author. It might just be renamed!
Saiki Kusuo saw the game sign.
Scooping goldfish.
Oh, an old classic. Didn't expect to see it here, but the right name should be scooping goldfish, right?
"Boom!" An explosion came from nearby.
Saiki Kusuo silently looked toward the sound, which was from a game area. The game was set in a corner of the market. Outside the market was a ring of woods. Following the path deeper led to a wide cleared field.
A huge sign in front of the field explained the rules, more like the public conditions needed for these nen users' restrictions.
Must-know for participants
Rule one: The bubble horse spits out two-colored balls. Red ones explode on objects without aura. White ones explode on objects with aura. Red and white balls touching each other also explode.
Rule two: Use a Ren-shaped bubble net to catch the balls into the reward zone to get one goldfish.
Rule three: Bubble explosions from the bubble horse in the field get boosted power.
Saiki Kusuo: Whoever wrote this rule wants to blow up the world with explosions. What kind of game is this?
And in the field, Kort carefully guiding a white ball to the reward zone with a paper fan proved it was indeed a game.
One suited for these nen users.
"Brother Kusuo, Brother Chrollo, want to try? I'll pay for you!" Alluka invited.
[Sorry, no thanks.] Who wants to play this? What's wrong with this world?
"No way." Chrollo was still just a normal human.
"Oh..." But the goldfish are so cute! I want one.
Chrollo reached to his shoulder, and the chameleon cat jumped down. Chrollo caught it in time.
Without warning, the chameleon cat's puffed-up aura body twisted and rolled, suddenly turning into a goldfish flopping in Chrollo's hand.
The chameleon cat's inner voice: [Heh heh heh, there's no animal this little lord can't become... I'm thirsty, so thirsty I'm dying!]
It actually worked.
Alluka soon stepped back into the field to challenge it. Since the bubble dragon's explosions were really dangerous, Saiki Kusuo squatted nearby to wait.
Fail, fail, fail.
Alluka failed three times in a row, and her hair tips got slightly singed.
"It's really weak," Chrollo said, watching idly from the side.
You got a problem with my sibling's skills?
"It's Alluka, right?"
Yeah. Our family doll boy.
"Alluka! Can you use In? In is the state of hiding your aura. The white ball shouldn't explode if it touches you!"
He started giving advice now.
"Ah! Like that!" Alluka paused and reacted. Near her, a white ball and red ball were about to collide.
The power of both exploding together would be bad. Saiki Kusuo reached out, planning to give Alluka a remote barrier.
Alluka's long hair moved on its own without wind. A pale hand like a doll's placed itself between the two balls.
It was a bad choice, but the white and red balls bounced off each other separately.
The back of the hand had no aura, but the palm did. The back and palm each met the no-explosion condition for the red and white balls.
How did she do that?
Chrollo saw the hand too but only caught a shadow of half of it before it vanished in a blink.
With a bit of doubt, he felt a slight urge to investigate. Was this the kid's ability? But In usually requires the whole body to be in In state. How could only half be In?
"Beep beep beep, beep beep beep."
A comm invite interrupted the game and Chrollo's thoughts. Kort called out his book and after a few words, looked up toward Saiki Kusuo and Chrollo.
They all knew the time had come.
Chrollo was going to meet the nen remover.
[What's the address?]
"Aiai."
Aiai is Love City, a city with pink as its main color, with a giant heart above it.
The city was full of romantic vibes, with roads packed with male and female NPCs for meet-cute tasks.
Saiki Kusuo brought Chrollo to Aiai, where many familiar faces were already waiting. Of course, the troupe members hid in the shadows.
Illumi pointed the way for them. In a forest outside Aiai, the nen remover was setting up inside.
This was a nen remover who needed natural forces to handle nen. Because of the remover's caution, Chrollo had to go alone. Saiki Kusuo waited far away on the forest edge.
The nen removal method he used mixed many old rituals from his homeland.
With the nen remover's devout spirit as the guide, and many precious spiritual herbs and items as sacrifices, the nen remover chanted prayers from his mouth.
Chrollo sat in the center. Flames rose around him from the fire the nen remover lit. He accepted it all, sitting still like a mountain in the fire's center, waiting.
Saiki Kusuo, slacking off in the distance, could only cover himself in In and quietly approach the site.
If Chrollo got burned to death, he'd have to save a full body for him.
Why does this nen remover look so unreliable? Did they find the right guy?
The nen remover finished chanting and started dancing around the fire like a shaman jumping gods.
Even more suspicious. No wonder it had to be alone in the forest.
Suddenly, Saiki Kusuo saw many green light spots appear around him.
These were life energies, very faint, coming from every plant and tree. They drifted and gathered into shape, heading to the center where the fire was dying down.
The forest's power was really being drawn out!
Saiki Kusuo was surprised.
The forest's power gathered on Chrollo. He sat in the center and seemed to sense it, pressing his slightly heavy chest.
What he couldn't see: there, a dark red chunk of meat had been pushed out of his body. The chunk was irregular, with several chains attached, the other ends linked to Chrollo's body.
The chunk gradually took shape, like a reptile lizard, with little volcano-like bumps on its back, and silver chains clamped between the volcanoes.
I wonder if anyone remembers the chameleon cat.
The little thing was already scared stiff.
A smart choice. If it ran around wildly, it'd just get burned.
The volcano lizard dragged its long chains and crawled step by step onto Chrollo's shoulder. Its belly pressed on his head, and its back sprayed flames now and then.
After a long time, the nen removal ritual ended. The nen remover put out the flames and looked at Chrollo, pinned down by the nen beast.
Chrollo: "Is it over? What's this thing on me?"
"This is... a very powerful nen." The nen remover hesitated for a long time. Facing such a terrifying binding vow seal, what hateful things had this person done? "My removal method turns the seal on your nen into a nen beast that leaves the body. Now you can use nen again, and your ability can recover partly, but not fully, because the nen beast still limits you."
"So how do we deal with the nen beast?" Chrollo stood up, then used Gyo and finally saw the nen beast on him. "It looks... pretty grand."
Flames—does it relate to setting fires and hurting people back then?
Warm tip: Can't find the book title? Try searching the author. It might just be renamed!
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