Leo wandered through the streets of Andochibbal, passing through the bustling crowds, and stopped at the entrance of a restaurant.
Through the glass window, he saw three familiar faces.
Kastro, Goreinu, and Nico were sitting at a window seat, with several plates of simple food on the table.
Kastro held a glass of water, his gaze fixed outside the window, seemingly observing the pedestrians on the street.
Goreinu was buried in a plate of roast meat, eating with grease all over his mouth.
Nico was eating a bowl of noodles.
Leo pushed the door open and walked in.
"Master."
Kastro was the first to notice him and stood up.
Goreinu looked up, sauce still clinging to the corner of his mouth, and gave a muffled shout.
"Leo!"
Nico hurriedly put down his bowl and stood up with a nod of greeting.
Leo waved his hand and sat down across from them.
"Sit down, no need to be formal."
A waiter came over, and Leo casually ordered a drink.
He only spoke after the waiter had left.
"So? How have things been going these past few days?"
Kastro nodded.
"This game is truly remarkable. If you hadn't told me this was the real world, I would have thought it was just a simple game world."
Goreinu swallowed the meat in his mouth and nodded along.
"The NPCs are made so realistically. We've talked to many residents in the towns, and they only answer specific questions. Anything outside that range, they just say 'What's that?' or 'I don't understand what you're saying.' At first, I thought I was asking the wrong way, but then I realized it's just a game setting."
Leo smiled, picked up the drink that had just been delivered, and took a sip.
"Those are all classic game settings; you don't need to dwell on them."
He set the cup down, his gaze sweeping over the three of them.
"By the way, I forgot to tell you—all designated pocket cards labeled as B-rank can be bought with money at designated card shops in major towns. This should speed up your collection progress."
The three of them looked at each other, surprise flashing in their eyes.
Goreinu slapped the table.
"Really? Then wasn't all our hard work searching everywhere and fighting monsters to collect them a waste of time?"
"It's not a waste,"
Leo said.
"Collecting them from monsters is free, while buying them in shops costs money. You'll have to weigh the options yourselves."
Kastro nodded thoughtfully.
"Tomorrow we plan to participate in the Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament to win that 'Sword of Truth' card. Master, will you be participating?"
Leo shook his head.
"I'm not interested in that. Good luck to you all."
The four of them chatted for a while longer, and after finishing the meal, Leo stood up.
"I'm heading out first. You guys carry on. If anything comes up, use 'Communication' to reach me."
Kastro and the others also stood up, watching him Leave.
Leo walked out of the restaurant and continued wandering along the street.
It was still early, so he planned to finish exploring the remaining streets of Andochibbal and then find a general store to buy a map.
As he walked near a relatively quiet alley, Leo suddenly stopped.
He didn't turn around, but merely tilted his head slightly and spoke.
"You've been following me the whole way. Come out."
Behind him, there was silence for a few seconds.
Then, a man wearing a crisp short-sleeved shirt stepped out from the corner of the alley.
A smile was plastered on his face as he walked toward Leo with a light step.
"Apologies, I mean no harm."
He raised his hands in a harmless gesture.
"The purpose of my coming here is precisely to..."
"I know what you want to do."
Leo interrupted him.
"Gathering players to cooperate in clearing the game for that 50 billion reward."
The smile on Benni's face froze instantly.
Shock flashed in his eyes, and his mouth hung slightly open, clearly not expecting the other party to see through him so easily.
He thought he had hidden himself well and that his tracking skills were sufficiently clever, but this person had known of his presence from the very beginning and had even guessed his intentions.
He took a deep breath, trying to force his expression back to normal.
"We are very sincere! We possess a lot of game intel that we can share with you new players for free. After hearing our Analysis, it won't be too late for you to decide whether to join..."
"I'm not interested."
Leo's voice was devoid of emotion.
"You can Leave."
He didn't want to waste time explaining things to this person.
He didn't need any shared intel, nor did he need any teamwork.
His purpose for coming to Greed Island was simple—to verify his ideas and collect a few useful cards along the way.
Furthermore, that 50 billion reward was provided by himself.
A terrifying killing intent emanated from Leo. It wasn't heavy, but it was targeted solely at Benni.
However, that pressure caused cold sweat to instantly pour down Benni's forehead. The clothes on his back were soaked, and his legs felt weak, making it almost impossible for him to stand steady.
The killing intent came quickly and vanished just as fast.
Benni gasped for air, his face pale.
He understood that this was a warning; if he continued to pester him, the next time might not be just a warning.
He said nothing, turned around, and left. His pace was several times faster than when he arrived, almost running away.
Leo withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.
A minute later, he pushed open the door of a general store.
The shop wasn't large, and the shelves were filled with various cards—maps, compasses, ropes, water bottles, and dried rations.
The shopkeeper was a round-faced middle-aged woman sitting behind the counter, dozing off.
Leo tapped on the counter.
"Do you have maps?"
The shopkeeper jolted awake and rubbed her eyes.
"Yes, yes, yes. Which kind do you want? A blank map? A map of the whole island?"
"A map of the whole island."
The shopkeeper took out a card from the counter.
"This one, 650,000 jenny."
Leo paid the money and took the card.
Leaving the general store, he stood by the roadside.
"GAIN."
The card in his hand instantly transformed into a map, and Leo examined it.
The full view of Greed Island unfolded before his eyes—mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, lakes, and towns were all clearly marked.
His gaze fell on a location toward the northwest of the map.
Mashadora, the Magic City.
One could buy all sorts of spell cards there, and there was even a certain chance of obtaining the spell card to Leave the game. It was a must-visit place.
Having made up his mind, Leo put away the map and left Andochibbal.
Once out of town, Leo's traveling speed was very fast.
After walking for about two hours and passing through a forest, he arrived at a rocky area.
Several roaring Cyclopes charged out from behind the rocks.
They were over three meters tall, with bulging muscles and a single giant eye in the middle of their foreheads.
Leo didn't even stop his pace.
He casually threw a punch, and the pressure from it whistled out, forming a visible ripple in the air.
The heads of those Cyclopes exploded simultaneously, and their massive bodies crashed to the ground before turning into several cards that drifted down.
[Cyclops G-333] x6
He bent down to pick up the cards, tucked them into his binder, and continued forward.
After walking a bit further, several large rocks were scattered by the roadside, their shadows stretched long by the sun.
A few Melanin Lizards were lurking in the shadows of the rocks, staying perfectly still, waiting for prey to approach.
As Leo walked past them, they all lunged at once, opening their tooth-filled mouths to bite at his calves.
Leo didn't even look as he delivered a kick.
One lizard flew backward, crashing into the second and third—all three lizards were killed almost instantly, turning into cards.
[Melanin Lizard E-100] x3
He continued walking.
An armored man with a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right walked toward him.
Leo ignored the armored man and circled around to the rocks behind it.
A mouse was crouching behind a rock; its body was small, only the size of a fist.
When Leo walked up to it, it fainted from fright and turned into a card.
[Remote Control Mouse H-800]
Leo tucked the card away and glanced at the map.
Mashadora was not far ahead.
When a large cluster of floating, colorful, giant balloons appeared on the distant horizon, the silhouette of Mashadora, the Magic City, finally came into view.
Those balloons rose from above the city, trailing long ribbons that drifted slowly in the wind.
The architectural style of the city was completely different from Andochibbal—every building looked like it had been taken out of a fairy tale.
By the time Leo entered Mashadora, it was already completely dark.
The streets were brightly lit, and the shop signs glittered under the lights.
There were fewer pedestrians than in Andochibbal, but it was still lively.
Leo didn't wander much and went straight to an inn.
Early the next morning, sunlight spilled into the room through the gaps in the curtains. Leo opened his eyes, performed a simple wash, and headed out.
Following the map's guidance, he found a large card shop.
The shop was very big, with a grand storefront and various cards displayed in the windows.
The clerk was a young girl with a ponytail and a sweet smile.
"Welcome! How can I help you?"
Leo pulled a stack of monster cards from his pocket and placed them on the counter.
"Selling."
The clerk skillfully counted the cards.
"That's a total of 280,000 jenny."
Leo nodded.
The clerk handed him the money cards, which he took before walking to the shelves.
His gaze swept over the card packs.
Spell Card Packs, five cards per pack, priced at 100,000 jenny.
He had heard from the clerk that the spell cards inside were random, but the overall probabilities were about the same.
"Give me five packs."
The clerk took five Spell Card Packs from the shelf and handed them to him.
Leo took them and tore open the first pack.
Rip—
Five cards slid out of the pack and into his palm.
[Accompany] x1, [Communication] x2, [Analysis] x1, [List] x1.
He nodded and tucked the cards away. The second pack.
[Drift] x1, [Return] x1, [Peeping] x2, [Collision] x1.
The third pack.
[Accompany] x1, [Communication] x2, [Insight] x1, [Pickpocket] x1.
The fourth pack.
[Magnetic Force] x1, [Leave] x1, [List] x3.
Leo's hand paused slightly.
He picked up that [Leave] card; this card would allow him to Leave the game at any time.
But he didn't plan on using it now.
The fifth pack.
[Come Again] x1, [Drift] x2, [Analysis] x2, [Communication] x2.
Leo organized all the spell cards and put them into his binder.
Now that he had the card to Leave, only two things remained.
He unfolded the map, his gaze falling on a location to the east of Mashadora.
A place name was marked there—Wenqian.
The cards he needed were there.
Leo walked out of the card shop and headed toward the outskirts of the city.