"You've gotten old, Isaac Netero."
"The world ultimately belongs to the young."
"The Hunter Association needs fresh blood, and the Dark Continent also needs young people who will advance courageously."
"We old relics can't just cower and refuse to move forward because we're afraid of dying or bringing disaster upon humanity. Otherwise..."
"Wouldn't we be just as those self-proclaimed 'Middle Kingdom' fellows mocked? Saying we're nothing but a bunch of frogs in a well, laughably shallow?"
Squeak... The door, moved by the wind, creaked.
Through the crack in the door, the boy's dashing, departing figure was already gone.
Isaac Netero recalled the words from the heart-to-heart talk he'd had with Linne when visiting her a few days ago. His heart, which had already withered and fallen silent, gradually stirred back to life.
After a long moment, he sighed faintly, "Zigg was right."
People move to thrive; trees move and die. Since we know the "Upper World" (the Dark Continent) is magnificent, we cannot hesitate and refuse to advance just because we are worried and afraid.
"Beanman... pack up. We're leaving."
"Yes, sir."
Following Roy's departure, the wooden cabin was empty once more.
The boy exited the Milsy Wetlands, returned the way he came, passed through the long corridor, and appeared before Gotoh and Kurajing.
"Young Master, where is Xiao Jin?" The girl immediately glanced at the top of Roy's head.
Roy willed it. Gao! The Three-legged Golden Crow spread its wings and drilled out from the crown of Roy's head. It had almost suffocated.
Gotoh shot Kurajing a look. The girl, dreaming of becoming a butler, was clearly unqualified.
'A qualified butler, especially in a great family like the Zoldycks, must prioritize the Young Master's safety at all times. Since when did a 'Nen beast' take precedence over the Young Master?'
The young butler pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, looked Roy up and down, and asked with concern, "Young Master, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Aside from using Zanka no Tachi, which had depleted his aura reserves significantly.
'The minor shockwave from the Ghost-Head Spider's explosion was quickly expelled when I used Zetsu, sealing my aura and purging it completely.'
He then waved his hand. "Let's go."
He got on the elevator, returned to the hotel room where they were staying, and immediately took out his Hunter License, found a computer, and logged onto the official Hunter website.
As the official website heavily invested in by the Hunter Association to be the most private and comprehensive source of news, it also served as an "information trading" hub.
As long as one could pay enough money, one could obtain information of "equal value." Of course, the Hunter website wasn't omnipotent. Most information sources were provided by its Hunters, so it was normal for there to be some "secrets" and "omissions."
In the original story, Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck had used the Hunter website to search for Ging Freecss's whereabouts.
[ID: XXXXXXXXX.. Logged in...]
Roy opened the website and typed a phrase directly into the search bar: "De-materialization."
He had never forgotten his promise to his father, Tanjuro, to cure his illness.
The treatment plan for tuberculosis was already available; what was lacking was how to manifest the medicine into the "cognitive world" through "de-materialization."
Spinning...
The cursor spun, displaying [Loading...]
After about ten seconds, the page popped up... displaying [No records.]
Roy was slightly disappointed.
'Conjurers mostly use "imagination" to transform their Nen ability into "physical objects" to help them fight or provide support... It seems no one has used "reverse thinking" to consider... could "physical objects" be converted into "Nen" to replenish one's own consumption, or to simply eliminate the "physical object" that is the enemy? This world isn't my previous life; there is no "Law of Conservation of Mass." Nen, as a type of "life energy," is not equivalent to "mass." Has really no one thought about this problem?'
Frowning, Roy did not give up. Instead, he posted a thread in the forum on the Hunter website, attaching a "1 Billion Jenny" bounty.
"Large reward offered for a Nen user proficient in 'de-materialization' techniques..."
He paused, then added another line of small text... "Or 'Magical Beasts,' 'Rare Beasts,' or 'Phantom Beasts.'"
"Note: Anyone providing reliable information will be paid 100 Million Jenny immediately upon verification. Time limit: One year."
At most, Tanjuro only had two years left to live. If not for him, then even for Roy himself... it would be good to have one more method to further strengthen his abilities.
Shoo~ Two seconds later, the post was sent.
Roy sent Gotoh to book the plane tickets home. The young butler, worried that Kurajing couldn't serve the Young Master well by herself, simply brought her along.
Leaving Roy alone, he returned to his room with Xiao Jin and began to absorb the "life energy" harvested from the battle with Botobai Gigant.
[SYSTEM ALERT: "Constitution" +31]
[CURRENT "Constitution": 172.8→203.8 (Note: Average person is 1)]
Huu... The familiar sharp pain assaulted him. Roy ducked into the bathroom. Next to the man-high mirror, having gone through a new round of transformation, he looked at his new self in the reflection and tilted his head to glance at the back of his hand.
The "curse" froze at "9 years, 9 months, 8 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes, 13 seconds." It paused for "5" seconds... and then resumed counting down.
In other words, his "Constitution" increasing by 31 points had allowed him to live for another "5" seconds.
Roy didn't know whether to laugh or cry. For a moment, he didn't know if he should be "happy" or "sad." He calmed his emotions, turned on the shower, and began to wash off the "dead skin" and "grime" adhering to his body.
Hunter Calendar 1987, Spring.
Less than three months after the successive births of Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck.
On a certain unnamed island southeast of the Yorbian Continent, a ship had appeared a few months prior.
The ship anchored and lowered its gangplank.
A young man, supporting a heavily pregnant woman, was the first to disembark, followed by several companions, landing on this little-known island.
The moment the young man stepped ashore, he immediately named this place "Greed Island"!
He excitedly said to his pregnant wife, "In the future, I'm going to turn this entire island into a giant 'playground' as a gift for my child."
The woman nodded, expressionless, like a string puppet. She went along with the man's arrangements, unable to muster interest in anything.
'When did this start?'
'Perhaps it started when I awoke in the ruins and learned that this place was merely an island trapped in the center of Lake Mobius!'
"Ithan, please accompany Vivian for a while."
"List, Elena, Dwun, with me."
The young man temporarily entrusted his pregnant wife to a female companion and began to build Greed Island with his other partners. He soon faced two practical problems.
One: How to convert the "cards" in the card book into "Nen abilities," and how to store the "card book."
Two: After Greed Island is completed, a powerful "Nen user" is needed to "hold the fort" after he leaves.
For the latter, the young man already had a "candidate in mind," having previously favored a powerful "criminal."
As for the former... it mainly involved how to exchange "physical cards" for "Nen" using "de-materialization," and he currently had no concrete ideas or direction.
One day, one of the young man's companions, Elena, approached him. "Ging, I just tried logging into the Hunter website. I found that besides us, someone else is also searching for this 'de-materialization' method..."
The young man was sitting cross-legged on a reef, fishing. He cast an unexpected glance. "Who?"
"The other party didn't leave a name, just posted a one-billion bounty."
"I just used my Nen ability [Total Control] to capture his ID." An azure, transparent light screen appeared in front of Elena as she detailed, "He's the only rookie Hunter who passed the Hunter Exam this term. His name is... Roy Zoldyck!"
"The Zoldycks?"
"The Zoldycks!"
The young man smiled. He pulled up his line, hooking a large yellow croaker fully three meters long, just right for nourishing Vivian.
"Interesting. If you get any news, remember to let him know."
He didn't care about the 1 Billion Jenny bounty, but... the world's number one family of assassins. Ging Freecss tossed the large yellow croaker ashore. He was curious and very much wanted to see for himself.
"Okay." Elena silently committed this to memory and turned to leave.
It was evening. The setting sun cast down brilliant sunset rays, stretching the girl's shadow long, long.
Under the same sky, the same sunset... on Dory Island, many nautical miles away from Greed Island, Gotoh returned to the hotel with Kurajing after booking the tickets. Knocking on the door, he immediately noticed...
The boy, bare-chested and with his hands behind his back, was standing straight in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, admiring the gradually lighting neon displays of Zaban City.
"Young Master, 8 AM tomorrow morning, direct flight to Padokea. No transfers. We estimate we'll be home in a day and a half."
'Home.' Unfortunately, it wasn't Kurajing's home. The girl's expression was somewhat apprehensive. Although she often referred to herself as a Zoldyck butler, now that it was actually time to "go back," it was still uncertain if she could even pass the Zoldyck family's butler test.
But for the sake of the Kurta Clan, Kurajing couldn't worry about that much. The anxiety of returning "home" was different for everyone.
Roy hummed lightly in acknowledgment and told Gotoh and Kurajing to go rest.
By the faint evening light, he turned on the bedside lamp.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he spread open Zigg's notebook and turned to the page on [En], beginning to read carefully.
'The advanced applications of Nen ability... Gyo, In, En, Shu, Ko, and Ryu. I have already mastered [Gyo], Shu, and [Ken]. What remains are...'
'[In] is the advanced application of Zetsu... [Ko] is a combined application of [Ten], Zetsu, [Ren], Hatsu, and [Gyo]. It is relatively complex to learn, and its difficulty is a steep increase compared to Shu and [Ken]... As for Ryu, that is the "masterwork" that combines all advanced Nen applications. Its difficulty is even higher than [Ko].'
Roy naturally wouldn't aim too high, trying to run before he could walk. He planned to use the momentum from just learning [Ken] to first learn [En], which was also formed by combining [Ten] and [Ren].
[En]: Defined as a technique of extending Nen outward from oneself as the center, reaching a radius of at least 2 meters, and maintaining it for more than 1 minute.
Its range varies depending on the individual's skill level.
It is worth noting that "En" itself does not represent the level of an individual's Nen ability. Rather, subtle differences arise because of each person's understanding and requirements for [En].
For example, Nobunaga's [En] has a radius of only four meters, which is incomparable to Zeno's [En] coverage of 300 meters.
However, Nobunaga's [En] has a unique characteristic that Zeno, Neferpitou, and Shaiapouf cannot match—he can maintain a combat state while simultaneously maintaining [En]. Therefore... the reason his [En] is only four meters is that his arm plus his sword totals four meters.
Within four meters, "nothing escapes his cut" is his characteristic!
[Release [Ren], and infuse [Ten] into the diffused aura...]
[If you only want to expand your [monitoring] range, then increase your aura amount....]
[If you want to add some "traits" to the [En], you must sacrifice some "range," using a "visualization object" as the base to construct your own unique "characteristic"...]
'How to choose? Range, or a characteristic based on sacrificing range?'
Roy thought of Neferpitou's [En], which, once released, could not only be maintained for several months but could also manipulate puppets to fight Morel. He then thought of Shaiapouf, who could use [En] as a basis to spread scales to hypnotize opponents, and even capture opponents' "emotional states" through [En] to analyze their abilities. An idea gradually formed.
He wanted "range," and he wanted "characteristics" too!
'Aura amount determines "range." Setting aside the boost my Constitution gets from "life energy," just the bit of Constitution provided daily by the Sun Breathing... whether I like it or not, it will push me to become stronger.'
'So, "aura amount" isn't a problem at all. The only thing left is the "characteristic." How to "extract the characteristic of [En] using a 'visualization object' as the base?"'
Roy flipped through the notebook. Zigg hadn't specified. Obviously... because everyone's understanding of "Nen" was different, their "visualization objects" were also different. He could only feel his way across the river and think for himself.
The boy closed the notebook and turned his head to look out the window. The night view of Zaban City was beautiful.
The streets were bustling with traffic, neon lights flashing. Every fifty meters stood a streetlight, its light emitting a spherical halo, like a sun, casting down soft rays... "gentle, fine, and silent."
'Gentle, fine, and silent... Gentle, fine, and silent...' Roy suddenly froze, repeating it in his mouth several times. In his ink-black pupils, Pffft—two suns ignited!
'Gentle, fine, and silent... Nourishing things silently... Silent spring rain can permeate all things. Sunlight is finer than spring rain; it should logically permeate "deeper" and "more thoroughly" than spring rain...'
'To what "depth"?'
"'Deep' into the other person's heart!"
Om...
A smile touched Roy's lips. He opened his arms, allowing his Nen aura to spread out silently in a sphere...
In the blink of an eye, it enveloped the entire hotel.
And then... he "heard" many "different" kinds of sounds...
The receptionist handling check-in was clearly being given a hard time by a guest. She was forcing a smile and apologizing, but inwardly she was cursing the other person as an idiot.
On the first floor, a young couple was in the heat of passion. The man was willing, but his body was weak. It clearly wasn't working, and he was inwardly wondering if he should pop a couple of little pills.
Next door, Gotoh was packing luggage, inwardly wondering if he should call home.
A little further away, the girl was burning the midnight oil, cramming knowledge about Nen. She was also inwardly hesitating about whether to call her younger brother, Kurapika, to report in before boarding the plane...
One by one, these "heart voices" entered Roy's ears, clear as day.
At a certain moment, the boy's gaze hardened...
In the heart of an otouto with empty eyes, he saw... 'himself.'
"Who?!" Illumi was fixing his appearance in the mirror, having disguised himself as Roy again. As he was admiring his work, his mind suddenly shook, and he shot to his feet!
He immediately pulled out his Nen needles, scanning his surroundings... However... the prying gaze had come quickly, and it left just as quickly.
Like spring rain, falling silently to the ground and vanishing.