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Chapter 699
🕑 Added 2025-07-29 15:07:04 +0000 UTCChapter 699
Sally glanced around and said, “Let’s head inside first and talk there.”
“Yes, yes—inside,” someone echoed.
The group entered the dojo’s inner courtyard.
Ruco looked at Elita with a puzzled expression. Something about her seemed familiar.
“Elita, have we met somewhere before?”
“The Hunter Exam,” Elita replied, meeting Ruco’s eyes. “I remember you.”
Recognition dawned on Ruco’s face. “Ah… that’s right.”
Ponzu spoke up. “The captain has already entered Greed Island. Nina, Misty, and Machi went in too, though not with him. The captain said that for now, we’re free to act as we like. Shizuku and I plan to train here in this dojo.”
Elita hesitated, then nodded. “Then I’ll join you two.”
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On Greed Island, in the city of Antokiba.
Ron sat in a café, studying a card.
It had been two days since he entered the game. During that time, several players had tried to tail him when he first arrived in Antokiba, but the overwhelming gap in strength meant he had nothing to worry about.
Antokiba was a bounty city, flooded with missions of every kind. Completing them brought money. Money could buy goods, but also cards.
Ron had already collected quite a few, mostly spell cards.
“The card binder is a classic Conjuration-based nen ability. Many spell cards, like Peeping and Clairvoyance, are derivatives of it. None of them contain divine characters, though. This must have been a member of the Greed Island production team’s ability—but the aura doesn’t come entirely from that person. It draws partly from the players aura as well. For me, the only feature worth noting is Communication.”
With a thought, Ron summoned a card into his hand.
It wasn’t from Greed Island but from the Ark.
“Return to the Ark.”
In the next instant, his figure vanished.
A nearby player rubbed his eyes furiously, stunned. “That guy… he just disappeared? But even with spells like Accompany or Magnetic Force, it doesn’t look like that.”
When Ron reappeared, he was on the Ark’s second floor.
Thanks to Sumas dismantling the Ark, the second floor had become a semi-independent space. The previous nen entity had disappeared, and several new nen spirits had been born. But unlike Sumas, these new ones were mechanical, almost like programs. They couldn’t interpret Ron’s commands unless he gave them precise input.
Ron extended his aura, enveloping one of the Ark’s nen spirits. He imprinted his understanding of “Communication” into it.
After some time, he opened his eyes. A brand-new blank card appeared in his hand. Its only function: communication.
He had already altered the structure of the twelve Zodiac cards earlier, removing their number limit. The Zodiac cards still existed, but now cards were divided into two types: the powerful Zodiac cards and these blank white cards.
Ron created another blank card. With input, words appeared on both cards.
“Transforming words into aura, then back into words, with the Ark’s nen spirit as an intermediary. But a nen spirit alone isn’t enough—it also needs computer assistance.”
He turned toward the laptop beside him. A machine he had purchased from the outside world. Usable now with the Ark’s nen, but still inadequate.
“Too weak. It’ll hold back the Ark’s nen spirit. Chii, design a new computer. Use liquid ore.”
At his thought, Chii materialized.
Ron then pushed open the Ark’s door and returned to Greed Island.
The same player who had earlier seen him vanish now watched him reappear and panicked, running off in fear.
Ron barely spared him a glance before focusing again.
“Next, Accompany and Magnetic Force. Those spell cards aren’t derivatives of the binder. They’re separate—and they contain divine characters.”
He murmured softly.
The card binder appeared before him. He drew out a card.
“Use Accompany—Masadora!”
Aura surged from the card, enveloping him, and suddenly he was high in the sky, speeding toward Masadora.
As he neared the city, his descent slowed.
Bang! He landed firmly on the ground.
Ron closed his eyes, replaying the process.
“It consumed part of my aura—mainly to trigger the divine character. The flying, descent, and movement came from aura that had already been infused into the card beforehand. No wonder they’re single-use. The stored aura is exhausted at once.”
He noted carefully.
“After use, the card destroys itself. The divine character vanishes. The character only appears in the instant I infuse my aura. If I repeat this process enough times, I should be able to record and identify it properly.”
He pulled out another transportation card.
“Use Drift.”
Over and over, he tested various movement spell cards.
Divine characters were rare and precious. Ging Freecss must have designed many decoy mechanisms when creating these cards. But despite surface differences, the core of these movement cards was the same. Ron’s plan was simple: test many cards, strip away the misleading features, and isolate the true divine characters.
“Use Return.”
“Use Escape.”
“Use Initiate.”
“Use Magnetic Force.”
He had long since lost count of how many cards he had burned through. When funds ran low, he simply took missions in Antokiba. Monsters posed no challenge at all.
The camouflage features were falling away, piece by piece.
“Not far now. Give me three more days and I should be able to fully decode the divine characters on these cards.”
With a single punch, Ron dropped a monster in front of him.
Bang!
It burst into white smoke, leaving behind a card. Ron reached out and claimed it.
Just then—
Whoosh!
A piercing sound split the air, something hurtling straight toward him.
