With everything prepared, he greets Gon and later Killua at the entrance of the game.

Raphael had prepared his book in advance. He has his Detection Rat set up, the creature scurrying along the open grass fields, moving randomly so it seems like it's in its natural habitat.

At the moment, he's currently resting in a hotel, spinning a single card at his fingertips. Origin. With this card, he can go straight back to the entry point to meet whoever gets in first. If it's someone he doesn't care about, he'll just wait it out until one of them comes on.

If another new player tries to ask him questions, he'll just direct them to the two newbie cities where one of the other players will come to introduce them to the mechanics of the game and annoy them.

Any minute now, new players should be joining the game… Hopefully, there are some useful players in this batch to help clear this game. It's bad enough the game is already filled with mediocre players.

Still, even if ten new powerful players join the game, he's waiting for only two.

Gon and Killua…

If things went well, they'll be joining as too or at least one of them.

It took a while, the bright early morning sun settling well into the day before he got his first ping.

Flicking his card out, he smirked widely "Origin, on."

With a bright flash, he was sent to greet whoever.

"~"

Gon stepped onto open lush fields, a single building being the only thing besides a couple of trees, a few rocks and a small pond littering the area. The breeze felt real… the light felt real… was he actually in Greed Island right now?

This game felt too realistic, and then he felt a series of eyes on him coming from two specific directions, as his eyes drifted to one location he heard a whistle, a bright light heading straight from him.

As it slammed into the ground near him, the boy moved his arm to block the dust cloud. At first, he thought it was all a part of the game, an introduction right after entering. Hopefully, not one that's designed to overload him with more information.

But the voice that followed was one he instantly recognised, "Yo!"

Gon beamed brightly, removing his arm instantly "Raphael?!" He ran straight in for a hug, gripping the teen tightly in his arms "How did you know I was here? Wait, are you the one that was making it feel like there's eyes on me?"

"Hold on…" The boy chuckled, pushing the slightly younger boy away from him.

As he whistled loudly, something in the grass moved towards them. Gon wasn't sure what it was at first, but then a rat ran towards Raphael, climbing up his leg before perching itself on the guy's shoulder.

It had some kind of vest on, a contraption protruding from its back, "Oh, is this your Nen ability?"

Raphael shook his head, "Nope, it's an in-game obtainable card. They're called Detection Rats. They're not the best method when it comes to getting detailed observations. However, they're great if you want to survey a general location." He stroked the creature's head, it barely reacted. Maybe the Game Masters didn't think anyone would think of petting them.

"Anyways, glad you could make it." Raphael found himself smiling at his new friend "Although, I'm surprised you're the first to enter. I would have expected people to fight over who gets to enter first…"

"We played rock-paper-scissors, I was the one with the most wins. However," Gon smiled apologetically, "Killua came in seventieth."

"Oof…" Raphael frowned. Looks like we're going to be waiting a while. Sighing briefly, he directed the boy away from the main entry point as a tall man entered the game, looking at the two boys in silence before picking a direction.

Raphael eyed the man's chosen path. Antokiba, huh… "Follow me Gon, it's better if we move further from the entry point. Not too far though. We still need to be able to see Killua coming in."

"I wouldn't start playing this game without him."

"I don't plan to leave anyone out." As they turned around, another person entered, Raphael watched the man pick his choice. So, you're going to Rubicuta… He wonders which town will be the one resulting with the most players by the end of the day.

His hedging a bet on Antokiba since it's one of the more friendly starters for Greed Island players. You have multiple ways to make Jenny without having to worry about how you're going to pay for said meal.

There are also a few nice cards that people wouldn't normally target you for that you can sell for a couple of Jenny. It helps in the short term so new players can get started on the game. You just had to know what you're looking for to find these nifty tips and tricks "Lay it on me. What exactly does your memory card have? Super rare items? A different colour? Unique features?"

"A message."

"Just a message…?" Raphael quirked an eyebrow.

"Yup, but I'm not telling you until Killua arrives."

"Fair enough. Well, when Killua arrives, I'll tell the both of you a few things then we can start enjoying the game."

At that statement, Gon found himself smiling. At least there are people who are having fun with the game. It's what Ging wanted him to experience. The boy gave a nod in response, happy with the outcome "Yeah!"

As they waited, Gon and Raphael talked among themselves.

Raphael didn't pry for anything private. He was interested in the details he had missed while stuck inside Greed Island. They had an eventful life. While he kind of expected it, Gon's Exam was different to his.

His didn't end on a battle royal where only one person could fail at the end. Nor was he expected to find and hunt down other examinees to steal their tags. The closest he could admit which would come close to that situation was that one examinee, who brutally scarred their examiner. With a single swipe of his card, a bloodied jagged mark was left behind.

That man had a twisted smile, one he was sure to remember for decades.

He hopes to never run into that creepy clown again.

His first phase included running, like Gon and Killua's had to experience but not as long and tedious.

His second was a game of hide and seek, much like a cross between Zevil Island and the Numere Forest, but it was mainly about finding special tags littered across a dangerous forest full of traps, a constant illusion that would warp and change throughout the course of their stay.

For his third phase it was the same as his second but less about finding something hidden and holding onto it, it was more about escaping a booby-trapped labyrinth. Prisoners were tasked to hunt you down like ravenous beasts and it was up to them to survive by either throwing other examinees in the way or losing them in the endless hallways of rooms.

His fourth phase was relatively easy in comparison. It required examinees to retain information and puzzle solving. Around twenty passed in total at the end, but he hadn't developed any lasting friendships with his peers unlike Gon and Killua had.

But what he does know is about twelve of them managed to lose their Hunter's license in their first year, which is pretty damn funny. That fact he had learnt through his father. He doesn't know why his father knows about his peers better than he does, but he's just thankful he wasn't a part of those twelve that did lose their license.

Another thing he did learn besides having to deal with their own creepy clown, was that Gon and Killua were caught by the Phantom Troupe of all groups.

Gon and his friend have a proclivity to be caught in dangerous situations. And now that he's getting himself involved among them, his life may also be spiced with a hint of danger. He would've gotten worried about his involvement, but given how boring his life has been so far since becoming a Hunter, he wouldn't mind a little bit of excitement… maybe less danger though.

He'll see what it's like to travel alongside these two boys for the moment… if they'd even want him to stay for the entire game.

"Gon? Where are you?"

Raphael looked up, seeing the white hair boy with his back turned to them, looking ahead towards Rubicuta.

"Killua, look who's here!"

Killua turned around, spotting the other boy standing beside Gon, "Yo." He lightly jogged up to the two, finding himself smiling at their situation, that was until he saw the rat perched on Raphael's shoulder.

On instinct he was repulsed by the guy's presence, reeling away in disgust.

He hadn't considered Raphael liked to be in the presence of a vermin, "Ugh, is that a rat on your shoulder?"

"It's a Detection Rat…" Gon confirmed, "It's a Nen creature that's naturally found on Greed Island."

The boy grimaced at the news. There could be other rodent style Nen creatures loitering around the area and judging by Raphael's ability to use one as a pet, he dreads to think of other kinds of creatures they'll find along the way "Get it away from me." He hisses at the creature like a cat.

Raphael found himself smirking, "Oh… does someone get queasy over rodents. I guarantee this creature is cleaner than your room."

"No! I have butlers. My room would be cleaner that your whole house." Killua was quick to defend his honour, "Also, that's just disgusting…" He tried to shoo the creature off the boy's shoulder, but it remained there. It hadn't reacted to his presence.

The boy sighed, holding out his hand in front for the rat to jump into. Having moved, Raphael bent down to let it loose into the wilds. It scurried off into the grasslands, continuing to do the task assigned to it even if it wasn't needed anymore, "All right. Now everyone is here, what message did your father leave behind?"

"Ging said that he and his friends made this game. He wants us to enjoy playing it… and I won't be able to leave until I gain a specific item."

"Well, that is true… you do need an item to leave the game. But I wouldn't exactly call it specific. But seeing as you just got here, it's kind of redundant telling you what it is."

Killua hummed at the information, wondering if Ging misspoke or he was hinting at something else. Unless they play the game, he won't be able to piece together all the information, "In that case can we move already? Having this many pairs of eyes on us is weird."

"Yeah. It's strange though that there's no nearby towns."

"There's actually two."

Killua pointing in one direction, "That way…" He moved his finger in another direction, "and that way?"

"Yeah, that's where everyone went."

Raphael found himself smiling, "So people are using that card, huh…"

"Card…?"

"Let me explain, but first…" Raphael gestured towards the two towns "Which way do you want to go? I'll let you choose."

Gon looked towards Killua, the boy pointing towards one of the towns, "That way."

"Perfect. Antokiba, City of prizes. Come along then, we may get bothered by a rookie hunter. If you get hit by any spell cards, just know nothing in this game is designed to hurt or kill you…" He stopped for a moment, "intentionally. I should clarify by saying no spell cards are designed to kill or hurt you. So, if you do get hit by one, don't freak out."

"What do you mean by the intentional bit?" Killua quizzed the boy.

"Well almost everything here can be brought in card form. So, if I threw a card that held a grand piano up in the air and it timed out. You can bet a grand piano falling on top of you is going to hurt."

"I guess…" Killua hummed, "So, it's safe to assume everything is in card format."

"Everything, even food. Unless you're going to a restaurant or a market. For example…" He reached down to pick up a small rock but a whistling noise made him stop in his tracks.

Gon looked up while Killua glared ahead "What's that?"

"Someone using Origin…" Raphael whispered, head still down, "I'm gonna just stay down for a second just in case they recognise me."

A yellow orb slammed into the ground ahead, a man chuckling to himself.

Raphael found himself frowning. Of course, it'd be Latarza, he and the rest of those drongos pick on the newbie players, hoping that they'll collect cards for them to steal later on. In his opinion, they were wasting their time. It'd be more efficient to do the quest and get the card than to expect the person they're targeting happen to be the one collecting and holding cards they want.

"Look at what I caught-" Latarza froze, taking note of the third boy bent down, "What are you doing?"

"He was tying his shoelaces, now what are you doing?" Killua was quick to make up a lie "How did you get here?"

The man ignored the question, instead focusing on the three boys, none of which had pulled out their book "This must be your first time playing this game."

"What's it to you? Since you're carrying a book, you must be a player."

"I am…" He grinned at the scene before him. Grabbing a card, he placed it in his binder, hitting the names to look at the latest three names in his binder. There were only two new names, "Wait, why is it only Gon and Killua…" He looked down at the boy still on his knees, "You're not new."

Raphael turned slightly, shooting a glare back at the man "Still picking on newbies Latarza?"

"You!" He slipped his finger into the book in front of him, grabbing a different card "Return-"

Raphael however, was quicker. He zipped away from the boys, grabbing onto the man's mouth before he could say anything. Lifting him up, he slammed him into the ground knocking him out cold. The two boys were stunned, Raphael quietly shaking off his hand, "I guess I should start with tips first. Rule of thumb. Book…"

Having grabbed onto the player's book, he searched through their cards "Never leave your book open, unless you're planning to attack with game mechanics." He sighed at the list of cards "Absolutely useless…" Picking up Adhesion, he gestured towards Killua, "Your book please."

Killua stepped forward, "Why?"

"Just going to be a little mean…"

"Book…"

Gon looked at the other, unsure on what he's going to do.

Raphael emptied Latarza's free slots first, leaving only his restricted slots untouched for the moment. A player without spells is completely useless so he wanted to screw over the guy a bit. That was until he saw what cards the man had, "Hold on…" He picked up one of the many cards he still needed "This bastard has managed to pilfer Tax Collector's Gauntlet…"

"I'm assuming that's good?" Killua peeked over, checking to see what else the book held.

"Is it good…?" Raphael scoffed at the idea. Having the ability to rapid fire Levy would be considered a nightmare to other players. Now if you're a solo player like Latarza, it's shit. But if you have allies, dump all the shit cards and copies on them and have them fire of this ability like a shutter shot on a camera "Imagine having the ability to steal from everyone in your vicinity, provided you always have one restricted card in your book. I'm taking-"

"No!" Gon immediately cut in. No matter how useful that card is, that wasn't the type of player he wanted to be. He doesn't want to steal cards… he wants to play the game, to gather the cards through legitimate means.

Raphael looked confused at Gon "No?"

"He's out cold. That wouldn't be fair stealing from him when he has no way of defending himself."

Killua crossed his arms, now looking at his friend is disbelief. He couldn't believe he was about to defend Raphael, rather than agreeing with Gon "He just told us to never leave your book open. He left his book open and now he's reaping what he sowed." Killua turned back to Raphael excited to see if there was anything else good in that man's binder, "Any other good cards? What else can we steal?"

"Killua! Raphael! Leave his book alone."

"Would you rather I steal his cards using the game's mechanics? It'll take longer…"

"Well…" Gon thought about it. While it'll be better since it's a game's feature and not a loophole, it's still not the way he wanted to go about playing the game "no."

"So, you're just opposed to me stealing from the guy who was planning to set you up so he can steal from you later?"

"You don't know that…"

"Actually, I do." Raphael put the card back down, "I know what kind of player he is because I've unfortunately had to deal with him. He's a creature of habit. If I wasn't here, he'd make sure you are new players. He'd try to steal something from one of you first, probably Killua since he was being antagonistic, no offense."

"None taken…"

"Then, he'd use…" He flicked through Killua's new spells "Trace, so he can watch Killua's movements and see where he goes, visits. If he suspects he's collecting cards, he would've of come and tried to nuke your Books clean."

"Then, it's our fault for falling victim to his attack. It still doesn't make it right; I want to play this game through legitimate means."

"Thief is a legitimate way to obtain cards…"

"No, it isn't…"

Raphael felt frustrated "Actually, it is. Many of the cards are time gated to either once a year, or only occurring through a specific month."

"Then…" Gon through about it, "Trade with the person who has it. Can't you copy cards?"

The teens eye twitched. While it was an option, not everyone would be willing to trade cards… especially the more useful ones designed to screw over others. Plus, someone might have used Fake, rather than Mimic, resulting in a useless copy. He'll need to cover this aspect of the game but for now he'd take the loss as a technicality "Fine…" Raphael slammed the man's book shut, "But I'm not letting Killua put his spell cards back." He turned to the white hair boy "As we're walking, dump the cards in random locations. I want him to be forced to pick them up." Turning back to Gon, he confirmed if that cruelty was okay "Better?"

"Yes!"

Killua shook his head. His friend amazes him sometimes, but at least they're still going to be allowed to dump his cards along the way "Any other rules we should be concerned about?" Killua tossed the first card, the object landing far from the player.

"Everyone comes through the same entrance. So, never pick a fight you're unsure of… just because they enter at the start of the game, doesn't mean they're noobs. Third, don't bother trying to gather cards at the start." The boy pulled out one of the cards, showing it off to Killua and Gon. It was a Steal card "there's too many spell cards designed to steal from binders that do not have sufficient protection."

He then gestured to his necklace, "This is one such method to protect yourself. Paladin's Necklace. More on that later, since it doesn't drop for a few months…"

Raphael then pointed back towards the town, "I'll offer you tips and tricks about the game, cheats, even the loopholes littering the game mechanics as we go along. But for the moment, those are the three main rules you need to know about this game."

Killua looked down at the unconscious man, still a little shocked. Raphael was definitely stronger than them. The question is why was he continuing to help them? "Why do you want to help us?"

"Call it… a little bit of intrigue. Gon told me what shenanigans the two of you got up to, and I want in. But if at any point if the both of you want me to go away, I'll accept the request. But think of me as your… tour guide. Did both of you understand the rules of the game?"

"Yeah, easy enough." Killua acted uninterested, that was until he saw his friend steaming up.

Raphael sighed, "Okay… sounds like it was a lot to take in. I'll go over the basics at least…" Picking up a rock, he threw it up into the air, catching it as it came back down. He continued to repeat the process as he walked towards the town "Follow me."

"So, each type of card has a few things to worry about. The number, the rank, and the number next to the rank. There's also the description and if it's a spell card, what type it is. For instance… we'll go with Peek. It allows you to watch the current location of the target. It can be viewed from two places, your Book, and a map. The card's ID is 1027, meaning it's attached to that single ID and no other card will match it, unless it's the same type. Two Trace cards will have the same ID, for an example gain." The rock in his hand turned into a card.

"A rock as you can see has an ID of 21449. If I transform a second rock, it'll have the same ID, no matter if they were different from each other."

"So, the ID depends on the type of item or spell it is, not that specific card…"

"Exactly!" The boy found himself smiling at Killua, "You catch on pretty quick. For Peek, the rank is E-90 whereas Rock is set to H-∞. The number next to the rank is how many can be in the game across all books. Most of the H ranked cards tend to have an infinite amount. At least the common house hold items, like maps, rocks, even food. Monsters however, have a limited number of slots. For Peek, only 90 can exist at a time. If you try to make a copy while there's a maximum amount that has already been collected, the extra copy will disappear. Understood?"

Killua gave a nod, "That was already explained at the start…"

"I know, just going over the general information in a way that isn't dumped all at once for poor Gon."

"Of course you would unravel from the explanation…"

"She went over a lot." Gon pouted for having been picked on.

"Well, I already explained a description but the symbols on the bottom [SR] and [ATK]. Can you guess what they mean?"

"Short ranged and attack, pretty basic if you ask me."

"Gamer?"

"Gamer…" Killua confirmed.

"Awesome. You also have [LR], long range… and a couple of others like-" The boy saw steam coming out of Gon's ears, making him pause, "Alright. Too much information I see. Anyways, some spells block other's attack spells while others are designed to attack players. You can use attack spells through two methods You can call it. Rock, on."

The card in his had reverted back to a rock, "Like so. Otherwise, the other method is through the book. Book." He flipped several pages across before flicking the book behind himself, allowing Killua and Gon to have a look, "Insert the card, pick the target and it'll fire off without a hitch unless they have a defence up. Also, there's a third method. Pull a card out and wait about a minute. The card will revert back into the original object. This method doesn't work with spell cards because it's required for you to target something… like a town or person."

"Other than that," Flicking his finger back, the book returned to his side "You can remove the card, and proceed to cast the spell while still retaining the card. It's a loophole others have figured out. Now that method works only with spell cards and not restricted card slots. So, you can't cheat through that method. Nor can you use this method to clone multiple copies of the same card since it requires you to not only target cards and not people, but it requires you to give up another card to use as the clone's base."

"You don't get into trouble for it?"

"There are no Game Masters that are proactively checking for this. Most spell card battles tend to be call outs so it's hard to do it through that method anyways. You have to search through your list of player characters you've encountered and pick their name out for that method to work."

"Oh, is that why the man knew our name?"

"Well, he didn't know it was your name per se. The name you chose for this game is the name that shows up."

Killua thumbed at his chin "So that's why he realised you're not new… because he's encountered you before."

"Yup. The book lists the names as you encounter them, not when you last saw them."

"So how do you know the person's name? It's not like everyone can always remember everyone's names."

Closing the book, he flicked it back to Killua, "It's on the front of your Book. You got to be quick though and recite their name to the best of your ability. If you're off by a syllable, it's not going to return with a cannot find target… unless you're really far off the annunciation. Long ranged spells are different. You must be specific. Because another player can have a similar name and you do not want to use a Return spell on, we'll say Raphial when you want to be targeting Raphael."

"Understood…" Killua found himself smiling, even though Gon was having a little bit of a hard time. Looks like it was a bit of an information dump at that time. The rules and extra information were easy to understand, it was just implementing them.

"What cards do you have?"

"Some rare… some basic… some unimportant. Depends on how you want to view them."

Killua moved to flick a page across like he saw Raphael did.

Raphael yanked the book away from Killua having already sensed his intention. He doesn't feel like the boy was going to do to him, what he did to Latrez. But that doesn't mean he's going to allow the boy to peruse his cards "No looking through my book. You could become an enemy later and I don't want you knowing what cards I have."

"That's not fair…" Killua pouted.

"Life ain't fair. So, let's get some food in your stomach because I have a great way to make easy Jenny quickly and efficiently, but you're going to need energy to do so."

A/N: Leave a review, it helps inspire me.