The flowerbed was enormous, and a single young leaf appeared as large as a bed to Ging and Pouf.
Numerous insects of various kinds were scattered throughout the flowerbed. Some were nestled in flower stamens, some on leaves, some on stems, some on the ground, and some in the air.
Among these insects, even the smallest, such as aphids, were larger than Ging and Pouf. Furthermore, aphids were the most numerous insects, currently devouring the emerald green leaves.
Pouf spread his wings and took to the air, looking down at Ging from above.
Thanks to Ging demonstrating a scoring technique earlier, Pouf had finally calmed down completely. Otherwise, in his unbalanced state of mind, he might very well have lost his life in this game.
'Creating distance directly. very cautious. But such behavior is meaningless.'
Ging met Pouf's cool gaze from above, then simply turned around, exposing his back to Pouf.
Despite this excellent opportunity, Pouf did not attack. This was because one of the game rules stated that essential damage between players was invalid… only phenomenal damage could reduce an opponent's HP.
In simpler terms, any means of damage inherently possessed by a player would be invalidated. To damage an opponent, one could only utilize the phenomenal substances within the flowerbed to constitute damage.
Pouf had verified this rule while flying into the air.
He had thrown a punch infused with a considerable amount of life energy at Ging. Not only did it fail to cause any damage, it didn't even move Ging's body an inch. Moreover, the released life energy wasn't consumed but returned to his body.
"Do you think I don't know what game this is?"
Watching Ging walk away, Pouf deliberately emphasized the word 'game'.
Hearing Pouf's words, Ging stopped and looked back at Pouf in the air, remaining silent.
Pouf, however, sneered and said, "Your ability is to construct a game space. To win, one must follow the game rules. And this game, although realistically rendered, is just [Insect Cards], isn't it!"
Ging looked somewhat surprised at this and said, "So you know about it. It's an extremely niche game, and it's very hard to find a complete copy on the market these days. I only learned of it by chance from a collector who was a hardcore fan."
"That's because you underestimate me," Pouf snorted coldly. "This was supposed to be your trump card, yet you easily revealed the card-drawing method in front of me, allowing me to glimpse the true nature of this game. This will also be the cause of your defeat!"
He enjoyed thinking and reading books.
These were the strengths of the Royal Guard, Shaiapouf.
He was occasionally grateful for his innate intelligence, which allowed him to become utterly absorbed in thought, effortlessly absorb knowledge from countless books, and easily arrive at solutions when facing difficult problems.
Like now. Because he enjoyed reading, he knew the origin of Insect Cards.
Therefore, he bluntly stated that Ging had chosen the wrong opponent.
This peculiar ability would have been most effective against Youpi, yet Ging had inexplicably chosen him.
"Haha."
Upon hearing this, Ging couldn't help but laugh happily and said seriously, "It seems I didn't choose the wrong opponent after all."
What's interesting about a one-sided curb-stomp match? When playing games, it's only fun when the opponents are evenly matched. Only then can one achieve full spiritual satisfaction upon victory.
Hearing Ging's words, Pouf's eyelids slightly darkened.
"It did surprise me that you know about the Insect Cards game. However, demonstrating card-drawing on the ladybug in front of you earlier was an obligation I needed to fulfill. That could only be considered a small hint."
As Ging spoke, his gaze shifted to a giant bee swiftly darting across the sky, a hint of nostalgia flashing in his eyes.
'Indeed, this Nen Ability was so interesting. Even memories left forgotten in dusty corners could be vividly materialized by Nen at certain moments.'
"I suppose you now have a clearer understanding of the rules in your head, right?"
Ging looked at Pouf and tapped his own temple with his index finger.
Pouf remained silent for a moment, before a fierce, ghastly expression suddenly appeared on his handsome face.
"Do you know the flaw of this ability of yours!"
Ging replied straightforwardly, "No."
"That is, I can use my abilities, but you cannot! Hahaha!"
Pouf laughed wildly, his body suddenly fragmenting, transforming into over a hundred tiny humanoids.
This was Pouf's Nen Ability, which is called the Beelzebub.
The hundreds of clone minions spoke in unison, like a chorus in perfect time, mocking, "And this is another cause of your defeat!"
As soon as the words fell, the hundreds of minions dispersed and flew in all directions. He aimed to quickly gather insect cards with relatively powerful stats and effects.
There was another cause of defeat Pouf hadn't elaborated on: the MP value, which in this space equated to Potential Aura Amount.
Every insect in the flowerbed could be a target for [Card-Drawing], turned into a card and stored within one's body, to be summoned when needed.
However, both drawing cards and using them would consume a corresponding amount of MP (Aura). Furthermore, based on the insect's ability stats, the conditions and difficulty for drawing and using cards would correspondingly increase.
Therefore, to assemble a reasonable and efficient deck, while also considering the MP consumption when using insect cards, required fundamental strategic foresight and long-term vision.
Originally, both players' MP values were supposed to be the same. But this wasn't a true Insect Cards game in the literal sense, so the players weren't on the same starting line from the beginning.
Even without surrendering thirty percent of his Aura before the game started, Ging's Potential Aura was lower than Pouf's. Thus, the very start of this game inherently favored Pouf.
This was the price of the Forced Invitation, and also one of the constraints of this Nen Ability.
And the flaw Pouf pointed out indeed hit the mark.
The players Ging could invite were limited to Nen Users. The creation of this Nen Space itself stemmed from Ging's ability.
In other words, the opposing player could still use their own developed Nen Abilities, but Ging could not, because he was the one who used his Nen Ability to create this duel.
However, there was one point Pouf hadn't yet realized.
Ging had never said he only possessed one ability, and besides...
"Having many cards isn't necessarily the path to victory."
Ging calmly muttered to himself and walked into a cluster of giant-sized grass.
First, he needed to destroy the fly insect card possessing the [Reveal] ability. Doing so would prevent the opponent from recklessly using fly insect cards to ascertain the types and numbers of insect cards he had gathered, all by virtue of having a higher MP value.
Not gathering, but destroying, was also the most crucial step towards victory.
Because both drawing and using cards consumed MP, and given the premise of unequal MP values between the opponents, Ging had limited methods to choose from.
Nonetheless, he would still find a path from these limited options that could lead to step-by-step victory.
Meanwhile, Kite and the others found themselves in a difficult battle.