Ever since he had robbed that veteran player, the number of prying eyes on him had significantly decreased.
Of course, there were still a few who probably thought they were skilled enough not to be noticed, so they continued staring from the shadows.
"Fine, keep watching. Hopefully, you'll be dumb enough to walk right into my hands soon."
"Jennies can be turned into cards too…?" Cyr muttered as he walked, analyzing the cards he had obtained.
If Jennies were cardified, did that mean normal Jennies couldn't be used in this world? Did players have to use cardified currency instead?
And also…
"Was that guy a professional thief or something?"
He glanced at his new collection of cards—[Peeping], [X-Ray Vision], [Pickpocket], [Theft], [Tracking], [Throwing Stones], and [Colleague].
Everything about them screamed "grab and run."
Not to mention, the cards had two sets of numbers. For example, in the top-left corner of the [Peeping] card, the number 1001 was printed, while in the top-right, it said G-200.
What did the two numbers represent? The game guide NPC hadn't mentioned them.
One side was clearly the card's designated number. Then was the other number its difficulty rating? And the digits after it the total number available?
After all, the Angel's Breath card was labeled SS-rank.
"Yeah, that makes sense."
So the two numbers meant—
1001: The card's index number.
G: The difficulty rank of obtaining it.
200: The total copies available in the game.
As Cyr continued analyzing, they finally arrived at a town.
A town where the walls were covered in bounty posters?
All the mission rewards were cards, but the descriptions didn't indicate their rarity.
Some sounded impressive, but in reality… they were totally useless filler.
One building had a massive scoreboard listing an event—
"Antokiba's Prizes."
This month's prize was [True Sword], but the tournament was only held on the 15th of each month.
And today was… September 17th.
The event had already ended two days ago.
A bit too late for that.
But there would be another tournament on October 15th.
"If I haven't cleared the game by then, I'll give it a shot."
"Let's pick up some bounties first."
After scanning the mission board, Cyr went back to his old job—bounty hunting.
---
Two days later, a street in Antokiba.
"As expected, the rewards are mostly useless cards." Cyr sighed.
If the missions had good loot, the veteran players would have already taken care of them.
Still, unwanted cards could be sold to shops in exchange for currency cards, so at least they didn't waste space in his inventory.
"Those two brats up ahead seem to be in trouble…" the silent Sora suddenly spoke.
"You're not even two years old, and you're calling them brats?" Cyr shot a side glance at his oversized white tiger.
"But they are small," Sora muttered, then sneezed.
Humans. Brats! They were all brats!
Suddenly, his fur stood on end, and he jumped onto two legs, panicked eyes darting around before finally locking onto his contract holder.
…Oh.
His contract holder was also human. Only 1.7 meters tall. Not very big either.
"Aside from you, Master!" The big white tiger immediately flopped onto Cyr, rolling around and rubbing against him nonstop.
"You damn—!" Maro had been holding back, but in the end, he couldn't resist and punched the tiger square on the head.
"Rooaaar—!" The white tiger covered its head with its front paws, letting out a miserable wail.
This scheming tiger! Maro's gaze turned sharp as blades, practically slicing through the air as he glared at it.
"You really are just a big cat..." Cyr chuckled as he patted Chou's head, his gaze shifting toward the open area ahead.
Two figures stood out—Killua and Gon, but they were currently surrounded by a group of players.
And these weren't your average weaklings.
From their composed expressions and the way they held their Books, they seemed like high-level players—probably professionals.
"Did they get their hands on some rare card?" Cyr observed with mild interest.
Because if they did… he wanted it too.
Now, how should he get it?
---
Ten players had completely encircled Gon and Killua.
Men and women alike, all gripping their Books with determined expressions.
"Use [Bandit] on Gon..."
"Use [Pickpocket] on Gon..."
"Use..."
One by one, they took turns activating cards.
And since they weren't weak, neither Killua nor Gon could interrupt them in time.
Even though Gon had stuffed his inventory with useless cards to confuse the attackers and lower the chance of them grabbing the right one, it still wasn't enough to protect it.
Finally, another skill card was used—
And just like that, the card inside Gon's Book vanished.
Reappearing in the hand of the man who had just activated the skill.
A smirk of triumph spread across the man's face as another player pulled out yet another card—
"Use..." [Colleague].
Before the words had even fully left his mouth, the first man's arm suddenly dropped to the ground, as if it had been sliced off by thin air.
And the card he had just stolen?
It shot straight toward a certain direction.
---
A white-haired teenager stood not far away, hand outstretched—
And just like it had found its rightful owner, the card flew directly into his palm.
"Who the hell are you?!"
The one-armed man picked up his severed limb, his voice a mix of horror and rage.
At least he hadn't screamed like some low-level grunt—that was admirable.
"Huh? How strange… I keep randomly picking up cards just by walking around."
Cyr studied the card in his hand, his tone lighthearted and casual—
"This card just had to fly into my hand… What a headache~"
His carefree voice had an unmistakable hint of mockery.
But…
Even though he looked young, there was something about him—something that made people instinctively hesitant to provoke him.
This wasn't just luck.
They knew that for a fact.
It was his ability—his strength.
They had no intel on him.
They couldn't figure out his skill.
And worst of all, they didn't even see how he had activated it.
Right now, a direct confrontation would put them at a disadvantage.
"Use [Colleague]!" One of them immediately shouted—
And in an instant, the entire group vanished from the scene.
"Cyr! Thank goodness! You're here too! We almost lost our card!"
The green-clad boy cheerfully ran over, looking relieved as if he had just dodged a disaster.
"It was stolen, huh..."
Cyr spoke casually, slipping the card into the pocket of his Book.
"Stolen by me."
His tone was completely righteous—as if this was the most natural thing in the world.
"Eh?? But… that's not fair…" Gon squatted on the ground, looking dejected.
"When they stole the card from you, it wasn't yours anymore, right?"
Cyr stated matter-of-factly.
"Then I stole it from them, which makes it rightfully mine. Perfectly fair, don't you think?"
His voice was so calm and serious that it actually sounded logical.
"Hmm… That… actually makes sense?"
Gon nodded thoughtfully, completely convinced.
After all, they failed to protect the card with their own strength.
And Cyr didn't steal from them—he stole from their enemies.
It was reasonable!
"Wait… you…" Killua turned to look at Gon, opened his mouth to say something, then sighed in defeat.
Forget it.
Gon was just this kind of idiot—there was no helping it.
"By the way, this card… you guys won it from that tournament a few days ago?"
Cyr closed his Book and asked.
Card No. 083 – [Sword of Truth]
Difficulty: B
Max Card Count: 22
It was the prize from Antokiba's September tournament.
"Yeah! Killua and I entered the Rock-Paper-Scissors contest, and he won it!" Gon grinned, then asked curiously, "When did you enter the game?"
"The 17th."
Cyr replied casually, "I actually thought about entering the tournament but realized I was too late. I was wondering who won."
Gon's smile stiffened.
"Ah… haha…"
Killua leaned over to Gon and whispered,
"He's totally saying that just to find out who won so he could steal the card."
Absolutely.
No doubt about it.
°°°
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