The setting was white, and all that was there was a bizarre-looking door. The door opened, and I slowly walked through to find myself in a room with lots of radiant lights. A lady with silver hair wearing a helmet was sitting in front of me.

"Welcome to Greed Island. You must be Ms. Lynn Azrelt." She greeted. "I will now explain how the game works. Are you interested in listening?"

"Oh, um...yes please." I stepped forward, now inches from the young lady.

"In this game, two magic spells are available to anyone wearing a ring. They are called Book and Gain. Place the hand wearing the ring in front of you and say, 'Book.'" She instructed.

I held my hand wearing the ring in front of me, just like she told me to.

"Book." I said, and a book suddenly popped up right in front of me, startling me.

"You see, in this game, your task is to seek out and collect certain cards. That book is for storing all the cards you've collected. Please take a look at the first page."

I opened the book and noticed there were numbered slots.

"Each slot is labeled with a number. With these, you can only place cards if the number corresponds with the ones on the slots. These are your 'specified slots.' Please flip ahead a few pages."

I did so and noticed there weren't any numbers on these slots. "These slots aren't numbered." I pointed out.

"That's right. You may place any card you choose in these slots. These are your 'free slots.' There are 100 specified slots, numbered 0-99. Then, you have another 45 free slots. To clear the game, you must fill in all 100 specified slots. More specifically, you must obtain 100 cards and put them in your book after you have transformed them." She explained.

"Transform?" I asked.

"That's right. If you obtain a sword for example, it will instantly become a card. If you wish to use the card as the item, you must use the spell, 'Gain.' However, once you've returned a card to its item form, you can never transform it into a card again. If you want the card version of the item again, you must reacquire it. Do you understand everything so far?"

"Yeah." I nodded my head.

"There are two other cases where an item can't become a card. The first is when you reach the item's maximum card conversion limit." She continued explaining.

"Card conversion limit?" I asked.

"Yes, every item in this game has a limit to the number of times it can be converted. For instance, if an item has a conversion limit of three, and there are three players who have already converted the item into a card, the fourth player will be unable to convert it into a card. Secondly, a card will automatically revert to an item unless it's in your book within one minute."

"Oh..." I muttered.

"In this case, as well, you can never convert that item into a card again. Do you get it?"

"Uh-huh." I nodded in understanding.

"Finally, the most important word of caution." She began, and I listened up to hear it. "In this game, if a player dies, their book and ring will be destroyed, and the contents will cease to exist. In other words, it's game over."

Oh gosh, this game really is dangerous. If we're planning to clear it fast, we must know how everything works and ensure that we focus on the objective. Who knows what will be in our way once we start the game?

"That concludes my explanation. You'll need to learn everything else about the game by playing it for yourself."

"I understand. Thank you very much." I bowed down, and a stairway opened from beneath the floor. I looked down in awe.

"I wish you the very best of luck. Now, please walk down those stairs." She said, and I started to go down, exiting the room with everything saved in my head.

When I reached the bottom, a beam of light shone down on me, and I covered my face with my arm. I lowered it and widened my eyes at the vivid scenery around me.

"Whoa..." I breathed in wonder. "Am I...in the world of Greed Island?"

"Hey!" Gon's voice shouted, and I turned around to find him standing up from his spot.

"Oh, hey there, Gon." I greeted.

He giggled and smiled at me. "Let's wait for Lizzy and Killua to get here."

I nodded. I took a moment to admire the grassy plain stretching so far, then I felt a presence.

"Did you feel that?" I asked.

"Someone must be watching us." Gon whispered.

People passed by to start playing the game while both of us were waiting for our friends to arrive, as well as being wary of our surroundings. They also noticed that someone was watching them, but decided to ignore it.

"We're being watched." A voice spoke up from behind us. I grinned seeing who it was.

"Killua!" Gon cheerfully called out.

"What's up?" The ex-assassin walked over to us with a small smirk on his face. "There aren't any towns around here."

"Yeah, but everyone is heading in the same way." Gon pointed out.

"Hmm...there or there, right?" Killua pointed to two different directions where everyone else could have gone.

"Wait. How did you know that?" I asked.

"Because that's where we're being watched from. Unfortunately, we still don't know why they're watching us for."

"Good point." Gon noted.

"Whoever it is, we'll need to start gathering information." Killua advised.

"We'll have to wait for Lizzy to get here first." I added.

"Right. I don't wanna leave her behind!" Gon said, determination evident in his voice. I smiled at the boy's stubborn, but caring attitude.

We stood from where we were to wait for my orange-haired sister to arrive so we could start playing the game together. After a couple of minutes, she appeared walking down the stairs and running to us with a slight smile on her face.

"Hey guys!" She greeted in her cheerful voice. "So, shall we go now?"

"Yeah!" Gon exclaimed innocently.

We stepped out into the sunlight and walked on the grass. The air here felt nice, and the sun's rays were warm. I breathed in through my nose and exhaled through my mouth, enjoying the comfortable atmosphere.

"So, how did it go?" Killua spoke up, breaking the brief silence.

"Hm?" Gon turned to him, confused.

"Your save data." He summoned his book and played around with it. "How many cards were in there?"

"There weren't any inside." Gon answered, and the ex-assassin widened his eyes.

"Wait. Really?" He exclaimed.

"But...there was a message from Ging." The dark-haired boy stated.

"What is it? What did he say?" Lizzy asked.

"He told me to enjoy the game."

"Hm? Enjoy the game?" I asked.

"But this doesn't feel like a game to me. Book." Killua dispeled the book in front of him.

"What do you think of the rules that the girl explained to us?" He asked.

"I understood most of them. We just have to play the game to learn about everything else." I stated, remembering the girl's words.

"It's kinda too much for my brain to handle." Lizzy replied with a dazed look.

"I don't know enough yet." Killua shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

A light appeared in the sky, making us tense up. It came crashing down in front of us, and then a man with purple hair gathered in a number of uptight bunches appeared.

What the heck was that? Is that some sort of Nen ability in the game?

"Let me guess, you kids must be newbies, right?" The man had a haughty smirk peering at us.

"Meh, who knows? Since you are carrying a book, you must be a player." Killua casually stated.

"You think?" He jeered, then opened his book. We kept watching him, the tension rising every second.

"Huh, so you two boys are Killua and Gon, and you girls are Lizzy and Lynn." He said, referring to us.

"Wait. How do you know our names?" Gon asked.

"That is indeed an excellent question." He snickered in a stuck-up way. "You don't have a chance if you don't know about spell cards."

I heard his book beep as he did something with it. I didn't know exactly what he was doing, but I had a feeling it would be bad.

"Trace on! Attack Killua!" He commanded, pulling out a card and a beam of light was heading toward us. We all dodged, but it started to chase Killua. The man bursted in laughter at the scene.

"You can't run away from any spells in this game!" He taunted.

The spell hit the ex-assassin, and he grunted. I was taken aback by this sort of technique. "Are you okay, Killua?" I asked, getting worried about the boy.

"Oh, yeah! My attack worked!" The man exclaimed. He turned to the rest of us, and we all tensed. A smirk was plastered on his face as he took out another card. His eyes darted to my emerald-eyed sister.

"Trace on! Attack Lizzy!" He casted the spell, and the light was directed at her. She yelped as she got hit by the spell.

"Lizzy, no!" Gon yelled.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Yeah." She replied in a normal voice.

Killua glared at the man with a hostile aura around him. "What...was that?" His tone sounded dark and filled with ill intent.

The man started to sweat, and he took out another card. "Return on! Masadora!"

The light took him away in the air and disappeared. I was pissed for what he did to my sister and Killua. What kind of spell was that?

"So, how are you guys holding up?" Gon asked the two who had been affected by the Trace spell earlier.

"Hm? I don't feel any different." Killua replied casually, sounding fine.

"Me neither." Lizzy added.

"Yeah, but I'm still worried. That guy definitely did something to you two."

"He could've tried to kill you in any way." I added, worry evident in my voice.

"There's no point in worrying about it now." Killua reassured.

"Hey, did you see if he was using Nen when he said, 'Trace on?'" Gon asked.

"No. It's probably magic that only works in the game." He claimed.

"Magic? What kind of magic?" I asked, curious about one of the aspects of the game.

"Beats me. Well, we'll find out eventually."

"Yeah. I hope nothing bad will happen to me and Killua from this mysterious spell." Lizzy trembled, feeling apprehensive about the outcome.

"Look. There's a town over there!" Gon exclaimed, pointing at a large town ahead of us. We all smiled at the sight of it.

We were in Antokiba, the Town of Prizes. We took a look at the posters on the bulletin board and were surprised at how many prizes there were.

"Oh, wow, so many prizes!" Lizzy squealed, her eyes glimmering as they scanned all the posters and flyers.

"So that's why Antokiba is known as the Town of Prizes." I mentioned.

"Hey guys, look!" Gon gestured to the billboard most people were looking at.

"Antokiba Monthly Tournaments Schedule." Killua read.

"This month, there's a rock-paper-scissors tournament." Gon stated.

"The prize is the Sword of Truth." I pointed out, reading more information.

"Is that an important item or what?"

"Probably. Look over there." Killua gestured to a muscular man among the crowd, and he smirked.

"And over there too." We turned to a man with dark skin and hair.

"They all look like they would do anything to get it." I observed everyone's behavior by their looks.

"You guys wanna play?" The dark-haired boy asked.

"Yeah!" Lizzy cheered.

"Sure." I replied.

"Of course." Killua grinned.

"Then since we're here already, let's enter in many contests and try to win lots of prizes!" Gon suggested.

"And we should try to gather information as well." Killua added.

"We'll get as much items as we can!" Lizzy smiled and put a hand on each of their shoulders.

We all heard our stomachs grumble, and we sweatdropped. Oh, man, I hadn't eaten in like forever!

"Welcome! If you can finish this within thirty minutes, it's free! Also, you will receive a Gargaider as your prize. Ready, begin!" The cat chef announced.

I gaped at my huge portion of spaghetti served in front of me on the table. That chef really knew we were hungry...

"Gimme the salt!" Lizzy reached for the salt shaker across the table and sprinkled a lot on her spaghetti. She began scooping up mouthfuls and chowing down the delicious noodles.

"Mmm, this is so good!" Gon said with a lot of food in his mouth.

"I know, right?" Killua replied, stuffing some more food in his mouth.

"Hey, take it easy, you guys..." I sweatdropped at the amount of food I have to eat.

"C'mon, Lynn! Hurry up or you'll have to pay for this good stuff!" My sister urged me, and I reluctantly started eating my spaghetti.

"Excuse me, Mister. Do you know how to use any magic?" Killua asked the cat chef.

"What is that?" He questioned.

"Who is the wisest person in this city?" Gon asked.

"Wisest? What is that?" The cat chef turned to him, confused.

"This guy doesn't know anything." He said.

"He's probably just an NPC or something." Killua stated.

"What's an NPC?" Lizzy asked.

"Non-player character. He's basically a robot who just sticks to the program." He briefly explained.

"Oh..." She continued eating her spaghetti.

We managed to finish our spaghetti dishes within thirty minutes, which was an exceptional record.

"Wow! You did it! You kids have earned your Gargaider." The cat chef handed us our cards. We took a look at the description and other features.

"1217. F-185." Killua read.

"Wait. What does that mean?" Gon asked.

"Oh, is this your first time seeing a card? The number on the left is the item's card number, and the sequence on the right ranks how difficult it is to obtain. There are ten ranks in all, from SS to H. F would be the third easiest. And the number right next to the rank is the card's maximum conversion limit." The cat chef explained.

"So, that means that this item card..." Gon began.

"Is nothing but junk." Killua finished.

"Aww, man. This doesn't look valuable." Lizzy complained.

Suddenly, we heard a loud boom coming from outside. We dashed out the restaurant and pushed our way through the crowd of onlookers to find one of the players dead. I gasped, chills running to my spine at the bloody incident.

"I've never seen him before." Someone murmured.

"Man, that's brutal." Another person commented.

He must be one of the players who entered with us.

"Hey, what happened here?" Killua asked the person next to him.

"His body suddenly exploded. It blew up from the inside." He stated.

The corpse glowed and suddenly disappeared, surprising us.

"It's game over for him." I spoke bitterly, and Lizzy gulped.

"Killua. Lizzy. Do you think that the magic used on you guys earlier...?" Gon paused.

"I don't know." The silver-haired boy replied, his voice shaking. Lizzy whimpered.

"Don't worry." A male voice spoke from behind, and we turned to see a tall man with scruffy hair peering down at us. "There are no such spells in this game."

"Spells?" Gon questioned.

"Like you said, it's something like magic."

We all stared at him like we had nothing to say.

"One thing's for certain, he died from another player's Nen." The man stated firmly.

"Nen?" Lizzy questioned.

"Does that mean...that players are trying to kill each other?" Killua asked.

"Why would they do that?" Gon inquired.

"Player hunting." The man responded.

"Player hunting?" I repeated.

"I can explain everything later. Anyway, you guys wanna team up? There's a sure fire way for us to clear this game. If you're interested, follow me. The rest are waiting up ahead."

We looked at each other to discuss whether we could trust him or not.

"What do we do, now?" Gon asked.

"It looks like he can be trusted." I whispered.

"He does sound suspicious though." Killua replied. "And we're off to a pretty bad start."

"Not to be rude, but didn't another player used an attack spell on two of you earlier?" The man asked.

"Have you been watching us? Tell me." Killua demanded.

"Yeah. And I wasn't the only one. Lots of people keep an eye on the starting point for new players. If you come with me, I'll explain why. I can tell you all about the spell cast on two of you." He explained.

"You're being rather generous. There must be a catch in there somewhere." Killua remarked.

"We don't have a choice. Once you realized how hard, frightening, and foul this game is, you'll be more willing to accept our offer. And, you're newbies, so you guys can definitely use the information. On your first time, you'll need all the help you can get."

"What makes you think it's our first time? We could be returning players, or even veterans."

"Book." The man summoned his book, and we all jumped back in high alert.

"That jump proves that you four are beginners. An experienced player would've reacted much differently, by summoning their own binder. Because you need spell cards to defend yourself."

"Wait, so that means that the spell cast on me and Killua..." Lizzy started.

"Can only be stopped by using another card." Killua concluded.

"Even when you're not carrying any cards, you should still summon your binder. It's an important bluff. Book." He dispeled his binder.

"So, how do we obtain spell cards?" Gon asked.

"Well, the easiest way would be to travel to Masadora, the City of Magic."

"Masadora? I heard the guy from earlier say, 'Return on, Masadora.'" Lizzy mentioned the time when the man escaped from Killua's bloodlust by going to Masadora.

"Oh, he used the Return card, which allows him to go back to a previously visited location. There are 40 different spell cards you can get only from the Spell Card Shop in Masadora. They can be purchased in packs with random spell cards. There are two ways to use them. One, you say the name of the card followed up with the keyword, 'On,' and then say the name of the player or place you want it to be used. Two, you insert the card into the slot at the end of your binder and pick your target." He explained.

"Oh, I see." She understood everything on how to use the spell cards.

"So, wanna go, you guys? I'm a bit worried about the spell cast on you. Come on!" Gon's radiant smile got Killua lost in his thoughts and Lizzy to blush and stare into his eyes filled with excitement.

"Umm, yeah." She said, looking down to hide her red face.

"Okay." Killua agreed.

"What about you, Lynn?" He turned to me.

"If that's alright with you, we can go with him. We'll definitely need all the information we can get." I crossed my arms, concurring with his idea.

We had already been in the game for a few hours, and things were starting to get intense. This game required us to risk our lives, and there would be no second chance if we died in here. We had to be extra careful, otherwise we were going to be the ones suffering a fatality next.