Part 33: A X New X Trainer

After an hour playing the game, I could say I want a bed right away. I'm already exhausted and annoyed by other players stealing our cards.

There was one time Gon and Killua were battling for a #83 card, or the Sword of Truth, on a rock paper scissors competition and after that, a cowardly player tried to steal it from us by threatening with his spell cards.

Of course, that didn't scare Gon and Killua since he looked more scared than any of us, but I became cautious when the time he said he had many spell cards on him.

Gon thankfully defended our card, but then, a group of players taught us a lesson, saying that only fools participate in tournaments without readied spell cards and stole our only card. I became frustrated after that.

Killua suggested we should go to Masadora City, the City of Magic, to buy some spell cards. After selling our Galgaida cards, we were just afforded to buy a map without any labels being put on. What's the point of the map?

So, we didn't have a choice but to ask the NPC in the Trade Shop about the route on the way to Masadora. He also helped us but, of course, it's not for free. He said the direction towards Masadora.

"But be careful, there are many bandits and monsters lurking there," the NPC said.

"Bandits?" Gon asked in an excited manner.

"Monsters?" Killua also said excitedly. "Gon, this is becoming more like an RPG game!"

When you think about it, monsters' flesh can be delicious and bandits might have spare food for their survival. And that flesh can be cooked, deep-fried or boiled, even grilled and roasted, which means there...

After that seconds of watering and imagining savories, I came to a realization.

"Yay! Food!~" I shouted with excitement, thinking I could finally eat.

"Hey!" Killua shouted. "You just ate that pasta just about an hour ago and you're already hungry?"

"But I'm not the only one who's also hungry, you know!" I shouted back and pointed at Gon's rumbling stomach, which can be heard from a far distance.

"Ehehehe. Sorry," Gon apologized with a rub on the back of his head.

After receiving that useful information, we went out and stretched ourselves.

"Let's go!" Gon yelled and Killua and I did the same after, with rising up our hands.

"Wait!"

A voice of a little girl can be heard from afar, shouting at us. I turned around to see who is it, and it's actually the blonde girl with a purple dress, running at us. Finally, she caught upon us.

"I-I want to join your group!~" She said in her cheering manner, like what I used to greet other people on my first days of departure. But the time she said those words, let me know she was just faking it and what's behind that big eyes is not what she seems.

"No, you can't," Killua said coolly like he didn't care a cute girl was asking him for a date and just straightforwardly reject her. I wonder if he's still a human.

"W-Why?~," the girl said with her sparkly eyes which I knew, attempted to deceive Gon and Killua. I was going to stop her from doing that to my friends earlier but I knew they wouldn't fell on that trick.

"Because..." Killua said with a pause. "you will be a nuisance."

I can feel the anger on the girl's aura rushing through her veins, which I feel troubled because it contained more anger than Killua's threat to me.

"Let's go, Secco," Killua said in his coolish manner again but this time, he took my hand gently and walked with me.

After realizing he was holding my hand, I can feel suddenly became red and warm. Why did he do that, I wonder?

Killua also realized it and blushed. "S-Sorry!" he shouted and let go of me immediately.

"T-That's fine," I said.

And now, we're in an awkward situation with no one dared to speak first. Why, every time he said my name, am I always feeling like being electrocuted?

"Hey! I said—Wait!~ I-I will do my best not to be a nuisance!~" the girl slipped her tongue and I already confirmed she was acting, like she was trying to achieve something an innocent looking girl like her wouldn't have.

***

We run through the forest towards Masadora, of course, without any protective gear on.

"Damn it!" Killua said while running and sprinting in the mountain, while Gon and I are following him, "Those bandits took a lot from us."

Earlier, we started to run in the woods, trying to find the bandits and monsters to fight, and well, with a girl in our tail too.

We encountered some bandits along the way but instead of attacking us like how they typically do in movies and games, they were begging for our help instead.

Their village was actually suffering a fever outbreak which each of the villagers, especially the only kid in the village, had it. They were requesting for clothes and other protective gears against cold from us.

In exchange for nothing, expecting for information, we all gave our belongings with empty hands.

And now, we're running with nothing.

They even stole my precious vest even though it didn't look good on them.

"Miss, your vest looks like a really precious material," the old man said with his sorry eyes, "If we can sell it to a high price, we might save this child from the fever!*cough* *cough*"

I knew it. Those are just settings inside this game. They were NPCs that were tasked to steal all of the players' belongings by growing sympathy for them. I knew that but... it's still heartbreaking seeing them like that. I hope they can still find a treatment, even though they're just settings in the game.

Other than that, the girl in purple dress also followed us up even we're in the bandits' hideout and tried to help us with our problem. But Killua immediately rejected her with harsh words, so the girl got really irritated.

And up until now, she's still following us down to the mountain. But we all decided to ignore her for now.

We ended up into a canyon part of the game with no plants that can be seen using our eyes. We went deeper into the canyon and encountered a group of Cyclops along the way.

"Woah! Cyclops!~" I shouted with amazement. I just watched them on TV when I was a kid, and other monsters, too. I couldn't believe I'll be seeing one personally. This is so fantastic!

I watched it in awe. Gon started to attack one of them using his punches, but no damage can be done to them.

I also tried to do it using my Nen. I sprinted back to avoid their attack and prepared my fist filled with energy coming from my bandages. After that, I released the strong force and directed it towards their skin.

It's not the maximum blow yet, but it can damage a wall, and yet, there's still no damage seen.

I looked at Killua, who was calmly serious and tried to study the enemy. He jumped to the arms of the Cyclops and went towards its eye. After that, he released a kick to the eye with a strong force.

The monster roared in pain as he covered his eye and turned into a card similar to what we always collected.

"Guys, aim for their eyes!" Killua yelled at both Gon and me, and we nodded in agreement.

I jumped higher to reach for a Cyclops' shoulder and kicked its eye using the Nen ability of my bandages. Like Killua, the monster cried and turned into a card. And so is Gon.

"I'm sure every monster here has their own weaknesses," Killua said in his confident manner while Gon and I agreed.

"If we think of it carefully, then this is gonna be easy!" Gon yelled and we all followed after.

So we continued walking towards Masadora, and encountered some amazing but scary beasts in the way. One time, we faced a giant lizard with its gigantic tongue.

At first, I was amazed, I don't want to move, but then, Killua grabbed by my shirt and dragged me along with them to hide from the monster.

"You are really an idiot! A hundred percent idiot!" He shouted at me, pointing my forehead with his pointy finger. I just laughed it off and didn't bother the finger on my forehead.

"Haha! But you still saved me, did you? Thank you for that," I said with a warm smile, tried to stare in his eyes.

"W-What are you saying?! I-It's really embarrassing!" He yelled at me with his cheeks as red as cherries.

I didn't get what he was saying at first but then, I realized the things I said earlier. I felt my cheeks also became warm. How can I say something like that so easily?! My cheeks became redder because of embarrassment.

"N-Never mind what I just said!!" I yelled, trying to release a fake smile as I felt my cold sweats and warm cheeks. Then, I turned my head away and averted my eyes from him.

After that awkward conversation, we saw a little black puffball bouncing everywhere around us. Then all of a sudden, the little guy attacked Gon in his chin.

"Gon!" Killua and I shouted in worry.

"I-I'm fine," he replied, "We must catch this thing."

We all participated in catching the little puffball but every time we tried to catch it, it always hit us with his speed, making its force much stronger and more painful.

After minutes of dealing with the little monster, we gave up and just walked forward. When we tried to walk, a weird-looking horse showed up in front of us and started releasing white and red bubbles towards us.

We tested each color of the bubble on what will be their effects towards us, but when we tested it out, there's not too much damage it can do.

Our analysis had already finished, and the horse was already gone after that, not giving us a chance to catch it.

We never minded it and just jogged our way, trying to reach the end of the canyon. We encountered many monsters along the way which really amazed us. But then, another encounter surprised us.

This time, it was a lifeless armored guy. He looked more like a puppet knight than the real knights I see in the movies.

"This might be definitely the strongest among monsters," Killua said with the combination of seriousness and excitement in his voice.

I also readied myself for any upcoming attack coming from the walking armor.

We were about to attack the lifeless for when all of a sudden...

"Gyo!"

A familiar voice shouted from out of nowhere. I turned my head around to find the source of the voice and as I looked at one of the canyon tops, I saw the girl with the purple dress standing.

Her eyes are different from before, now looked like a serious instructor trying to teach us a lesson. Gon and Killua glanced in the same direction.

"Use Gyo! Do you even know how to activate it?" She shouted again and we all started to activate our Gyo.

I used it to my eyes and suddenly, a string showed up coming from the armor which leads to the rocks behind it.

Killua and Gon saw it too and the latter decided to follow the traces of it while the former and I tried to deal with the enemy in front of us.

After defending and dodging his attacks, he suddenly stopped and the armor parts fell into the ground. We came to the conclusion that it was just an armor controlled by a monster.

Gon went back, holding a card and explained to us that it was just a small monster trying to scare us using the puppet armor.

The purple girl assembled with us with both of her hands on her waist.

"You actually know how to use Gyo. Why didn't you three activate it earlier?" she scolded, trying to look like a teacher to us like we did something wrong in school.

"W-Well, we kinda..." I said with embarrassment trying to come up with an answer, cold sweats dropping in my cheeks. I looked at Gon and Killua to ask for help as we just smiled for our mistakes.

"...forgot about it." Gon finished my sentence, still with a smile.

The girl raised her right hand in the air and showed up her pointy finger. We didn't have any idea what she meant by her actions so we just waited for her to order us.

"What are you staring for?! Gyo!" She instructed us, feeling Killua more irritated as well as Gon and I, but not that really upset. We followed her orders and activated our Gyo.

After using the Gyo, we finally see an Aura appearing on the top of her finger. From what I see, it looks like the number 1.

"What do you see?" She asked us like a trainer.

"Number 1." We all said in unison, still activating our Gyo.

"Correct."

"Hey! Why are you starting ordering us?!" Killua shouted at the purple girl as he pointed his finger to her with his angry face.

The girl raised his hand again, triggered me to activate my Gyo, and see what number is she showing again. I found this an enjoyable game, actually. I love exercising my reaction time right now.

"Number 5!" Gon and I shouted at the same time as we both pointed our fingers to the number.

"Very good. You there!" She complimented us and turned around to see the irritated Killua. "Do 200 push-ups!"

"Huh?! Why would I even do that?! Who are you to order us like that?!" Killua shouted with anger.

"Oh my. Sorry. I forgot to introduce myself," she said, back in her cheerful manner. She corrected her posture and finally started to introduce herself.

"My name is Biscuit Krueger. I'm an experienced hunter who trained Nen for 40 years and I'll be starting to train you three right now. You should be thankful." She said with a wide smirk in her face.

I think this is gonna be a long but worthwhile time in completing this game.