Tselika and Kaname Suou
Money (Game) Master is the world's biggest VR online game. It is an open world financial game in which all sorts of illegal actions like violence and theft are allowed in the pursuit of Snow, the game's currency. Due to the game's massive popularity, Snow has significant and growing influence in the real world, thus making the game's conflicts part of the global economy. Players of the game are known as Dealers. Each Dealer is contracted with a Magistellus, an AI-controlled being modelled after a supernatural creature like a demon, which acts as their guide and partner.Kaname Suou is one such Dealer, and his Magistellus is a demon named Tselika. Though still a high school student, he's an extremely skilled Dealer, capable of earning 1.7 billion Snow in a single risky transaction. Part of his success comes from his Lion's Nose, a sixth sense that warns him of danger.
Magistellus Bad Trip (マギステルス・バッドトリップ) is a dystopian Science Fantasy Web Serial Novel written by Kazuma Kamachi, the author best known for A Certain Magical Index and its related series. The novels were adapted by Dengeki Bunko into a three-volume Light Novel series from 2019 to 2020, and were published in English by Yen Press beginning in 2021.
Tropes found in this series:
- Ambiguous Gender: Frey(ja). He/she freely transforms between a man and a woman (though it's suggested that this might just be an elaborate disguise).
- Artificial Intelligence: All over the place.
- In Money (Game) Master, AIs run corporations, act as mercenaries that protect the corporations, or (in the case of Magisteri) assist Dealers.
- In reality, AIs handle a large and increasing proportion of jobs. Anyone who falls into debt is detected and assisted by the AIs, allowing them to live a relatively comfortable life (but they are seen as second-class citizens).
- Cool Car: All Dealers have one, as it's necessary to log out of the game. Kaname has a mint green coupé, while Lilikiska has an oversized limousine with bulletproof armour and a powerful engine.
- Equipment-Based Progression: Because there is no level system, a character's strength is based purely on their weapons, armours, vehicles and other equipment.
- Fate Worse than Death: Falling, the term used for dying in the game. A Dealer who falls is forcibly logged out for 24 hours and cannot interfere with financial transactions in the game. This means that they can very easily lose all their money and fall into debt. If a top Dealer falls, their enemies will gang up on them and keep forcing them to fall, meaning that they effectively can no longer play.
- Foreign Language Title: The Japanese title is Gratuitous English written in katakana.
- Infinity +1 Sword: The Over Tricks, or Inheritance as they are collectively known. These are pieces of equipment once owned by the legendary Dealer known as Criminal AO. All of them have been customised to the point that they literally break the laws of physics in the game.
- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Money (Game) Master, with a number of players estimated as ranging from 5-200 million. However, it lacks many game conventions such as quests or a level up system. This is because it was never intended to be a game, but is actually a simulation of the real world.
- Ms. Fanservice: Justified: the in-game climate of the city in which Money (Game) Master takes place is quite tropical, so wearing little clothing is fairly routine: Lily-Kiska wears a bikini swimsuit as underwear, which tends to be visible even when she's fully clothed in a business suit due to the humidity causing her white dress shirt to become translucent. Though she's got nothing on Tselika, who wears nothing but a bikini, sarong, and thigh-high boots.
- Reference Overdosed: The novel is filled with references to other series by Kamachi. The main heroine's name, Tselika, has previously been used for two other demons (in The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village and The Weakness of Beatrice the Level Cap Holy Swordswoman). The corporation names are all references as well: Fiamma Securities, Megalodiver Shipping, Toy Dream etc.).
- Serious Business: Despite being a game, Money (Game) Master has considerable influence on the actual economy. Its currency of Snow is valued more than some real currencies.
- Sniper Pistol: Kaname's preferred weapon is the "Short Spear", which is essentially a scoped carbine, selected for its concealability and light weight. It fires .45 caliber pistol rounds but has an extended stock and barrel, allowing for accurate shooting in tight quarters.
- Succubi and Incubi: Tselika is a succubus-themed demon who takes this trope and revels in it. She wears a skimpy outfit and often expresses her desire to visit a strip club or Hooker Island.
