We had been collecting more cards like Staff of Judgment, Doyen's Growth Pills, and Fledgling CEO. We had collected 50 specified slot cards in over one month. We were currently walking along a path through a forest in silence until Gon spoke up.

"Hey, guys? Something's been bugging me."

"Yeah?" Killua said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There are hundreds of players in this game, right? But isn't it weird that we've been converting every item we obtained into cards?" The hazel-eyed boy pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Bisky asked.

"Even B-rank specified slot cards have a thirty-card limit. You can only convert a card so many times. I would have thought that the players before us should have already collected them." He stated.

"I guess that's true. But you can also look at it this way. Fewer than thirty teams are capable of making real progress, while the rest of them aren't." Killua added.

"Oh, I get it."

"See, most players don't seem to be worried about getting specified slot cards. They're just struggling to find a way out of the game."

"What if you got to Masadora and couldn't find any Leave cards there? That would suck, right?" Lizzy inquired.

"Yeah, that's why."

He let out a gasp of realization, making us stop in our tracks. "That's it."

"What?" I asked.

"If you guys got to Masadora and there weren't any Leave cards, what would you do?"

"Well, I'd save some money and wait until a Leave card showed up." Bisky answered.

"Yeah." Gon, Lizzy, and I agreed with her.

"Okay. What if you acquire a super rare spell card while waiting?" Killua asked.

"Umm...we can sell it?" Gon guessed.

"Yes! We can sell it and buy more spell cards until a Leave arrives!" Lizzy suggested.

"Really?" We turned to Bisky, who doubted the idea. "I would definitely save it. Wouldn't it suck if all the cards you bought ended up being worthless? If you saved it, you might be able to trade for a Leave, but—"

A hint of realization crossed my mind, all of us understanding the point.

I thought we knew what we were gonna do today...

"Need any help getting out? I have a Leave right here, and we'll trade." I pulled out the spell card and showed it to a chubby middle-aged man.

"Yes! Thank you so much!" He gave me a card while I gave a Leave to him.

All of us began trading our Leave cards for different specified slot cards. We met back not long after, and we were happy with our progress.

"Okay. We've gotten four specified slot cards for three Leaves." Gon proudly stated.

"Yeah, that makes a total of fifty-four types in all." Killua added.

"Score!" They cheered, and I just gently laughed.

"Alright. The cards that wouldn't fit in our binders reverted to items." Bisky stated as we looked at the clutter of junk lying in the middle.

"We're running out of free slots pretty quickly. We should probably organize them now." Killua advised us. "We have a total of 225 free slots between the five of us. So we should each leave around 3 slots free, resulting in a total of 15 free slots."

"Killua, you keep the spell cards." Gon told him.

"Bisky should have a few defensive ones, as well as Lizzy and Lynn." He continued.

"We do." I answered.

"Wait a minute! I have to use spell cards? No way! They're way too confusing!" The blonde huffed and turned her head away from him.

"Then you should study their functions! What the hell?" He pointed a finger at her, an irk mark on his head.

We did as Killua told us and organized our spell cards in our binders.

"Okay. Book." The silver-haired male dispelled his binder after finishing the task. "We've been deliberately avoiding other players, but now, we'll have to take some risks to obtain the rarer cards we need."

"Right." Lizzy nodded along with Gon and I.

"Well, let's get what we can ourselves, and then actively negotiate with other players we meet along the way." Bisky suggested. "Sound good to you?"

"Yeah!" Lizzy exclaimed.

"Sounds good to me." I nodded.

"I'm in." Killua replied.

"Alright!" Gon cheered.

The rest of us were hiding behind a tree while Gon traded with another player.

"Wait." I heard him say, and I saw the Paladin's Necklace glow, the card reverting back to its original form.

"This is worthless. It's just a transformed Fake." He pointed out.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Here's the real one." The player apologized and gave Gon the original card.

"Man, you can't trust any of these guys, huh? We better keep our guard up." Killua muttered.

"No kidding. That necklace is quite useful. We're lucky that he has that on." Bisky replied.

"That'll make it easier for us to tell which cards are fake and who is bluffing. Still, that necklace can protect him from any attack spells, making it one of the most useful items in the game." I explained.

"Ah, I get it." Lizzy nodded in understanding.

"Question. The necklace can be able to remove curses, right?" Gon asked as we were walking through a forest.

"Only from spell cards and nothing else." Killua answered.

"Oh, so it won't work." He mumbled.

"Did you have an idea or something?"

"I was wondering if a curse was behind the disease those villagers were suffering from."

"Oh? You mean the villagers who took our money and clothes a while ago?" Lizzy mentioned the time when we first encountered the sick villagers and offered to help them.

"I doubt that would work because they're not cards." Bisky questioned.

"We can try. It'll be worth it if that works." I grinned.

We went to the sick villagers' place to test our idea. They were coughing a lot. I felt pretty bad for them.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but will you trust us with your lives?" Gon asked them.

We waited patiently for an answer, until the elder spoke up. "You gave us everything you had without any hesitation. We will trust you!"

All of the sick villagers here turned into cards. Gon grabbed one and used his Paladin's Necklace to remove the curse from it. The Sick Villagers card became a Healthy Villagers card.

"It worked!" He exclaimed.

"Alright!" Lizzy closed her eyes and smiled innocently.

The Healthy Villagers were summoned, and they were no longer in a coughing fit.

"Thank you very much. This treasure has been passed down for generations. Please accept it." The elder handed us a ring, and Gon took it, turning it into a card.

"It worked! We scored a Wild Luck Alexandrite!" He held up the card, smiling widely.

"Yeah!" Lizzy cheered.

He put it in its designated slot in his binder, then the binder beeped.

"Attention. Another player has cast Contact on you." A feminine voice spoke.

"Hey, this is Kazsule! Could we meet in person? I'd like to talk to you."

"About what?" Gon asked.

"A team is close to completing the game." His statement had us all in shock.

"A three-man team led by someone named Genthru."

"Genthru." Gon repeated, a hint of anger in his voice.

"That bastard." I gritted my teeth in frustration.

We met up with the guy named Kazsule as well as many other players in a rocky area. The five of us sat down together on a rock as we waited for the meeting to start.

"Thank you for coming, everyone." Kazsule announced. "As I mentioned via Contact, Team Genthru is getting very close to completing the game. I just checked the ranking, and they're currently at ninety-six types. We have to figure out a way to stop them."

Killua raised a hand. "I have a question."

"What is it?"

"How do you check the ranking?"

"Well—" Kazsule was about to answer, but someone else interrupted him.

"Oh, great, you don't even know how to do that? Just cut to the chase, alright? We'll be here until dawn if we explain everything about the game." A woman with short orange hair complained, pissing us off.

"There's no need to be so mean. We're all here to exchange information." Kazsule assured her.

"He's right, Asta. They could have information you don't." A person with silver hair replied.

"Ha, that's impossible. These kids are amateurs who don't even know how to use the Trade Shop. Don't fool me." She crossed her arms, smiling in a haughty way.

"In the Trade Shop, you can look at the official rankings of who has the most total specified slot cards. And if you pay a fee, then you'll learn what specific cards they have." Kazsule explained how the Trade Shop works.

"But even so, getting a player's name from the ranking still won't let you use Contact or Fluoroscopy on them. Not until you actually meet them. Do you feel smarter now, little boy?" The woman named Asta showed us a superior look, us shooting a glare back at her.

"In other words, if we know all members of a team, we can determine how many cards they have between them." The silver-haired man stated.

"And Team Genthru is only missing numbers zero, two, nine, and 75." Kazsule added, making us realize something.

75? That's the card we just earned!

"There's a solid theory that number zero only appears in an event after the other ninety-nine are collected, so they only need three. What we're proposing is this: we find one of the three types and monopolize it to prevent them from clearing the game."

"Really? There's gotta be something else. We could at least deluge them with spell cards." Asta simply suggested.

"We've learned that they already have a Paladin's Necklace, so Levy is the only spell that might work. And they can block it if certain conditions are met."

"It's safe to assume that Genthru is willing to reveal the fact that they have ninety-six types because they have all their pages protected by Fortress." The silver-haired man surmised.

"That's possible?" Gon muttered, and Bisky nodded.

"Genthru was hoarding a bunch of spell cards, with him and the others who tried to recruit us. So, it makes a lot of sense." Killua stated.

"We could always take their cards by force." Asta suggested.

"Would you like to lead the attack?" An old man wearing a hoodie questioned. "Who knows what other abilities they have in their three-man team?"

"The most practical option is to find a card to monopolize. No objections, I assume?" Kazsule asked, and no one spoke. "Then let's get down to business. We're going to need everyone to cooperate."

"I'm fine with everything, but these new members are a problem." The orange-haired woman began to protest.

"Hold on, Asta. All teams here satisfy the prerequisite, that they hold more than 50 cards, just like you insisted at the beginning." Kazsule told her.

"But I also insisted that they had to be people who could contribute. I don't see how these little kids are gonna contribute anything." She shot a scowl at us, thinking that we were not good enough to do anything.

"The only one who's not contributing is you." Killua countered, and Asta smirked.

"At least you're a big talker. Let's see some proof that you can be useful."

"We know Team Genthru's abilities!" Gon claimed.

"There are three cards they're missing." Killua added.

"And we have one of the three cards they are missing!" Lizzy stated, shocking the woman.

"They were hoarding spell cards so that they can prevent other players from knowing about the cards they have, thus giving them the upper hand." I concluded.

"Still got a problem?" Killua grumbled.

"No, that's good enough for me. So tell us exactly what their abilities are." Asta demanded.

"Hold on. Show us some proof that you can be useful to us. Because I doubt it." Killua threw the same command back at her.

"We have seventy-one specified slot cards. That's a hell of a lot more than you have! I'll give you an A-rank in return for the little information." She offered. "Is that good enough?"

"It isn't. We can obtain those types ourselves. In order for us to give you information, you can give us two S-rank cards or equally valuable information. Otherwise, we won't tell you anything." The silver-haired boy ordered.

"Don't push your luck, you damn little brat! Did you hear that everyone? These kids won't be any help. They want two S-rank cards from each team! That's ten cards in all!"

"Don't be stupid. I only meant your team." He scoffed.

"Huh?" Asta only stared at him all stunned.

"I'm fine with giving information to the others. They can decide what they want to give to us in return. But you..." He turned to the woman, glaring at her. "You guys don't get anything unless you give me what I ask for!"

"Tch. You really are a stupid brat who would dwell on a silly argument, huh?" She looked away from him in displeasure.

"Would both of you knock it off? We don't have time to fight amongst ourselves!" Kazsule tried to break it up between them.

"Well, I haven't agreed to team up with them yet!" They shouted and pointed fingers at each other.

"Oh my God." I sighed, not wanting to listen to their pointless argument any longer.

"It's fine, Asta. Just give them two cards." One of her teammates convinced her.

"He's right. We need to move on." The other one replied.

"What?! I don't have a problem with giving them cards! He's trying to pick a fight!" Asta yelled, pointing accusingly at Killua.

"No, you're the one trying to pick a fight!" He yelled back, pointing at Asta. Then he turned to us, looking super pissed. "Hey, let's get out of here! No way in hell am I gonna team up with these losers!"

I stood up and tried to ease him. "Hey. Calm down and let's just get this over with, alright? It's futile to argue and we need to give them all the information we have about Genthru's abilities."

"She's right. I know how you feel, it's frustrating." Bisky replied.

"But given the circumstances?" Gon started.

"We just have to team up with them anyway!" Lizzy concluded, holding up a finger and smiling innocently. The ex-assassin groaned in defeat.

Gon then proceeded to explain everything we knew about Genthru's abilities.

"What we know so far is that Genthru's abilities are Countdown and Little Flower, so it's best to keep a safe distance from him." He stated.

"Dammit. He got me." Asta slowly facepalmed.

"Same here. He touched me when we were making a deal." Someone else replied.

"Me too." Another guy added.

"Seems like a bunch of them might be victims." Bisky whispered.

"Hm." I nodded.

"Isn't there any way to disable his technique?" Asta asked.

"Yes, there is. You have to touch Genthru and say, 'I caught the Bomber.'" Gon replied.

"You idiot! Why did you tell them? We could've gotten a lot more cards out of them!" Killua scolded the boy.

"Because that would have started another fight." He sheepishly smiled before turning back to everyone. "The bombs can't be armed until Genthru explains how his ability works, so, as long as you stay away from him, you should be fine."

Asta processed everything that Gon just explained, believing the information to be true.

"Did you guys know that there are two ways to cast spells?" She asked.

"Yes, I did." He nodded.

"A spell card is used up the moment you speak the spell. But there is a way to keep reusing it." She stated, and we grew a lot more curious. We listened as she continued explaining.

"You know how a list of players you've met appears as soon as you put Peek in your binder? If you remove the card without pressing the enter button, you'll notice that the spell card isn't used up, so you can keep reusing it."

"I never tried that. Have you?" Killua asked.

"Nope." Gon replied.

"I didn't know we could do that. That is probably going to be useful." I inferred.

"If you buy from the same Trade Shop over 50 times, then you can buy all B-rank specified slot cards there. If you become a frequent customer, they'll start bringing it up." The orange-haired woman stated. "Do you have a duplicate X-ray Goggles card? Or maybe Beauty Magnet Emerald or Wonder Pond?"

After Asta revealed all the information about the game, we understood and kept everything in mind.

"What do you think? Is that enough information to satisfy you? If it doesn't, I'll give you another card." She asked.

"No, it's fine. Thank you." Gon refused her offer.

"Guess I'm up next then." Someone with spiky black hair stood up. "I'm Goreinu. It's very nice to meet you guys."

"Thanks, everyone! We learned a lot from you guys." Gon smiled with gratitude.

"The question now is which card we should try to monopolize." Kazsule proposed.

"It is probably impossible to monopolize the number 75 that we have. Each team can only obtain one of them, and the limit is 20, which is way too high." Killua stated.

"You guys have number 75?" A dark-toned man asked.

"That's impressive." Another one replied.

"List on! Number 75!" Kazsule cast a spell and checked his binder.

"Five other teams each have one. Monopolizing this one will be impossible." He pointed out.

"What about the other two?" Asta asked.

"List on! Number 9!" Someone else cast the spell, as well as another person. "List on! Number 2!"

"No good. There are three teams that already have number 9." The person who cast List on number 9 stated.

"Nobody has number 2, Strip of Beach, yet. We can make it work!" Someone else said.

"Guidepost on! Number 2!" A woman cast a different spell and viewed her binder for any useful information. "I know where to find it! Soufrabi."

"Hey, I've been there!" A random person shouted out.

"I have an Accompany card." Someone else replied.

"Okay, let's go!" Kazsule proclaimed. "Accompany on! Soufrabi!"

The light took us away from the badlands and into a beach. We saw a city ahead, its lights illuminating the night.

"Wow." Lizzy breathed.

"So this is Soufrabi." Gon muttered.

"It's a pretty big city. Let's head in and snoop around." Kazsule ordered.

We took a stroll around the city, looking for information on number 2, Strip of Beach. The scene was lively and crowded.

"We'll start at the edge and work inward. Some characters may not give you information, unless you visit them multiple times. Got it?" Killua asserted.

"Okay!" Lizzy, Bisky, and Gon cheered, all pumping up a fist.

"Let's go." I firmly stated.

"Hey!" The guy called Goreinu called out to us. "Seems like they found someone with information."

"Really? That fast?" We all exclaimed.

Goreinu led us to where the others were, a stand where a female NPC was sitting down on a crate, a light flickering above her.

"The pirates run this entire town, every last inch of it." She stated.

"Pirates?" Lizzy tilted her head in confusion.

"There's a local legend about an underwater cave called 'Poseidon's Cavern,' located somewhere around this area. Strip of Beach is the entrance to it. Several years ago, fifteen pirates came to this town after hearing about the legend. The cave also holds vast treasures inside. Razor and his Fourteen Devils."

"Razor and his...Fourteen Devils?" I repeated.

"The poor fishermen were all tortured and killed." She smoked a cigarette, blowing out the smoke. "The pirates murdered anyone who knew about the Strip of Beach. If you can get rid of them, I promise to tell you everything I know."