The final card in the game had to be obtained through a quiz.
It was a card with only one copy in existence, and only by obtaining that card could Ronin truly gather all one hundred cards and complete the clearing condition.
Ronin had known the contents of the final quiz step for a long time, so during the time he spent collecting cards, familiarizing himself with his own condition, and expanding his active aura output inside the game, he had also done plenty of preparation.
As the in-game announcement rang out, everyone still struggling inside the game—or those who had already fallen into a do-nothing mode—looked up in astonishment.
None of them had expected that, without the slightest rumor beforehand, someone had already reached the point of nearly clearing the game.
So strong!
That was everyone's first thought at that moment.
But soon after, they became excited.
If they could get their hands on the final card, card number 000, did that mean they would also have a chance to squeeze a fortune out of the person who had it?
In that mix of tension and anticipation, the NPC's voice rang out again, reading out question after question about the designated-slot cards.
Ronin moved quickly.
He couldn't claim to know every single card inside and out, but he had mastered more than seventy percent of the information.
After the final question was answered, the game NPC immediately announced the results.
"Now we will announce the player with the highest score. The highest score is 88 out of 100, achieved by contestant Ronin!"
"I lost?" Shizuku sounded a little unwilling.
She had also gathered a huge amount of information, and she was actually quite interested in this sort of challenge-type mission.
She hadn't expected to still lose to Ronin in the end.
She just didn't know how many points she herself had gotten.
"Looks like you didn't study hard enough," Ronin said smugly.
"Here's the card." Shizuku voluntarily transferred the card from her binder to Ronin.
The two of them had made a bet at the time: whoever won the final quiz would be the one to attend the meeting with the game creators and decide which cards they wanted to take out.
Now that Shizuku had lost, the card naturally had to be handed over to Ronin.
And once the transfer was complete, Ronin's binder finally contained all one hundred cards.
At that moment, an owl appeared in the sky, clutching a letter in its talons.
After flying closer, it delivered the letter directly to Ronin.
The instant Ronin touched it, the letter turned into a card.
The card number was 110.
Its name was Ruler's Invitation.
Its acquisition difficulty was SS-rank, and there was only one copy.
After using it, one could obtain a letter containing an invitation, a map, and a badge.
Ronin memorized the location of the "Ruler," and just as he was about to take Accompany out of his binder and transfer together with Shizuku and the others, he suddenly raised his head and looked toward the sky.
Several clusters of aura were shooting toward their location at high speed.
It was the effect of spell cards.
When the aura dispersed, several players stepped out, each of them having already opened their binders.
They looked greedily at Ronin's group, clearly intending to seize the card from Ronin and become the player who cleared the game themselves.
But Ronin merely swept his gaze over them and immediately lost interest.
Because they were too weak.
He didn't even need to act himself.
Neon was already showing the results of her recent training.
She moved like a gust of wind, rushing straight to their side. With one swing of her pale fist, she easily knocked one player unconscious.
The player beside him, who had still been wearing a vicious grin and preparing to activate a spell card while saying some dramatic line, nearly had his eyes pop out from fright.
The offensive spell card in his hand was directly pressed back into his binder.
But when he tried to pull out a transfer-type spell card, he saw Ronin standing not far away, wearing a wicked grin as he raised the shield in his hand high.
It was Shield of Faith.
"It's over!"
"The town of Rimiro beneath the castle should be a newly opened area. I didn't go there before when I was collecting cards," Ronin said, casually pulling out a Drift card. "I should have visited everywhere else in the game, so using Drift should send me straight there. After that, I'll come back for you."
"Okay," Shizuku agreed.
Beside her, Neon was still looting the cards from the players. Judging from the disgusted look on her face, those people were probably all poor.
"There's no need to keep collecting cards. Once we clear the game, we'll be leaving anyway," Ronin reminded her before activating Drift.
Watching Ronin fly away, Neon kicked one of the approaching players in dissatisfaction.
"By the way, what happens to this game after we clear it?" Neon asked curiously.
"I don't know. But Ronin will probably ask the game creators," Shizuku said.
"Then are we really going to give Battera the cards?" Abachi asked curiously.
"Yeah. That's what Ronin plans to do. But he probably won't give Battera all of the Witch's Rejuvenation Potion. Ronin said he still has a use for it," Shizuku said. She knew a little more about that.
"Is he planning to give it to Chairman Netero?" Neon guessed.
Only, that wasn't something she had figured out herself. It was Kurapika's guess from before they separated.
According to Kurapika, Ronin was someone who pursued battle.
And simply facing an elderly Netero might not satisfy Ronin.
"Would Chairman Netero really accept it?" Shizuku wasn't very optimistic.
She had never met Netero, but just from hearing other people talk about him, she felt Chairman Netero was probably a very stubborn man.
Besides, if Chairman Netero really cared about age and lifespan, then shouldn't he have been able to obtain Greed Island's rejuvenation potion easily?
And according to Ronin, there was also Batolomi, which could extend a person's lifespan, on the Dark Continent.
With Netero's ability to return safely from the Dark Continent, if he truly wanted to keep living, wouldn't it be better for him to go straight to the Dark Continent and look for Batolomi?
Probably no one could stop him.
After all, Chairman Netero was still publicly recognized as the strongest Nen user.
While the others were talking, Ronin had already flown back.
Without saying anything unnecessary, he landed and directly activated Accompany.
The group appeared in a hurry near the town where the castle was located.
Shizuku and the other two stayed in town, while Ronin, who held the invitation, walked toward the castle.
He pushed open the castle gates.
Waiting for him inside the magnificent hall was a boy who had already been there for some time.
The boy wore clothes that resembled a servant's uniform and stood with perfect posture. When he saw Ronin enter, he extended a hand in welcome.
"Welcome to G.I Castle."
Ronin knew his name.
List.
He also knew that the other party only looked like a boy. His true age definitely wasn't young, because more than ten years ago, he had helped Ging create Greed Island.
~~~
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