The four red ten-percent figures remained suspended before Tonpa until he closed the Nen Stats section.
The unease did not disappear with them, but there was little point in staring at a problem whose meaning he did not understand and for which he had no solution.
Perhaps his conclusion was wrong.
Perhaps it was not.
Either way, neither the table nor Leorio’s vigilant glances would tell him how to raise his Talent.
‘I’ll worry about my future after I survive today.’
He filed the problem under Later, where he had already placed most of the troubles he had accumulated since arriving in this world.
The list was becoming crowded, but it was still preferable to the Dark Continent.
Before closing the interface completely, Tonpa shifted his attention to his physical Stats.
[Strength: D] [Upgrade: 1,000 Nen]
[Speed: D] [Upgrade: 1,000 Nen]
[Flexibility: E] [Upgrade: 100 Nen]
[Endurance: E] [Upgrade: 100 Nen]
[Intelligence: E] [Upgrade: 100 Nen]
[Nen Points: 5]
He could not learn Nen by himself, but that did not mean he had to wait for a teacher while walking around with a half-finished body.
The coming phases of the Hunter Exam would demand more than running or cooking.
There would be direct confrontations, the Trick Tower, and Zevil Island, where every applicant would become both hunter and prey.
With his new Strength and Speed, Tonpa was no longer completely helpless.
But his Flexibility, Endurance, and Intelligence remained at E, and the five Nen Points he possessed were not enough to improve so much as a finger.
He needed another two hundred and ninety-five points to raise all three remaining Stats to D.
‘So I need one more successful con—preferably one believed by a large number of idiots.’
The speech before the crowd had been an exceptional opportunity.
He could not deliver an impassioned address about justice every time he needed points.
If he tried it again tomorrow, the applicants would probably tell him to shut up before he reached his second sentence.
The main characters, however, had already proven more valuable to deceive than ordinary applicants.
Earning their trust would also advance his Side Quest.
Two profits from a single lie.
Tonpa considered targeting Gon first, then discarded the idea.
The boy’s Trust Level had already risen slightly, and one poorly judged move might erase everything he had gained.
Killua examined details for his own amusement and would notice the line before Tonpa brought the bait anywhere near him.
Kurapika had taken apart Tonpa’s previous attempt within minutes.
That left the person who announced his suspicions aloud before he had even finished examining them.
Tonpa’s gaze moved across the four people seated with him and settled on Leorio.
The man still glanced at him every so often, as though expecting Tonpa to pull another bottle of juice from his bag and finish what he had started in the tunnel.
The speech about justice had not changed Leorio’s judgment of him, nor had it made him forget the juice.
Even helping Gon had not been enough to earn Tonpa a chance.
On the other hand, Leorio was direct, quick to anger, and the easiest among them to push into action whenever he believed someone was in danger.
‘Not the easiest to deceive…
but the easiest to steer toward the reaction I want.’
Tonpa did not need to convince him face-to-face.
He had already tried that, and the result had been a threat to force every last bottle in his bag down his throat.
What he needed was for Leorio to hear something he had never been meant to hear.
Words spoken directly to you could be lies.
Words you believed you had stolen were much harder to question.
The idea formed gradually, its details settling into place one after another.
Tonpa needed people who knew the old Tonpa, a place secluded enough to appear private, and a reason for Leorio to follow him of his own accord. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
He rose from the table.
Leorio immediately looked up.
“Where are you going?”
Tonpa gave him a look of feigned surprise.
“Do I need to submit a written request?”
“I don’t care where you go.”
“Then this has been a productive conversation.”
Tonpa walked away before Leorio could answer.
He heard the man mutter something behind him while Killua laughed quietly.
Tonpa did not turn around.
Leorio’s irritation was even better than he had expected.
An angry person watched you more closely than a calm one.
He wandered between the tables, allowing the body’s memories to guide him.
The old Tonpa’s memories were neither complete nor orderly.
Sometimes they surfaced as a sense of familiarity, a name that entered his mind when he saw a particular face, or a sudden dislike whose cause he could not immediately recall.
He found the men he was looking for near the rear wall.
They were three veteran applicants who had participated in previous Hunter Exams alongside Tonpa.
He remembered that one of them had spent an entire night playing cards with him, another had once helped him switch road signs, and the third had lent him money before spending the next two years trying to get it back.
Friends, by the flexible standards the original Tonpa had lived by.
Tonpa stopped before them.
The man with the hooked nose looked at him and gave a short laugh.
“Here comes the champion of justice.”
The man beside him added, “Are you going to give us a speech too?”
Their mockery did not disturb Tonpa.
He placed both hands on the table and leaned slightly toward them.
“I have something important to tell you, but not here.”
The three exchanged glances.
The hooked-nosed man asked, “What kind of something?”
“The kind I don’t want half the applicants to hear.”
Their mockery gave way to interest.
A terrible reputation was not entirely useless.
Whenever Tonpa told men like these that he had a secret, they naturally assumed it was profitable or illegal.
Usually both.
He gestured toward a small table on the far side of the hall, partially concealed from the rest of the room by several pillars.
“Wait for me over there.
I’ll join you in a minute.”
The third man—the one whose missing money still lingered in the body’s memories—frowned.
“Why don’t you tell us now?”
“Because I’m getting the juice first.”
All three pairs of eyes dropped toward the bag hanging at his side.
The hooked-nosed man smiled.
“So you’re finally back to normal.
I was beginning to think you really had hit your head.”
“Just sit down and wait for me.”
Tonpa left before they could ask more questions.
Curiosity and their memories of the old Tonpa would keep them at the table.
Now he needed a witness.
He headed back toward Gon and the others, but did not approach their table directly.
Instead, he stopped beside one of the nearby tables and began studying the surrounding faces.
He looked behind a pillar, then toward the passage leading to the rear of the building, behaving like someone searching for a person while trying not to attract attention.
He deliberately avoided looking at Leorio.
Tonpa passed their table a second time, now carrying three bottles of juice.
As he drew close, he slipped them into his bag with a motion obvious enough for someone watching him to notice, yet casual enough to make that person believe they had spotted it by accident.
“What is he doing?” Leorio’s voice came from behind him.
Tonpa slowed slightly, pretending to examine one of the nearby tables.
Gon answered, “Maybe he’s looking for someone.”
“He has passed us twice,” Kurapika said quietly.
“And he hid those bottles as soon as he came near.
That did not look accidental.”
“Maybe he found a new group to test the juice on,” Killua suggested.
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Leorio said.
“Or maybe he’s planning something against us.
Every attempt he’s made to get close to us since the tunnel could have been a way to lure us somewhere or make us lower our guard.”
“But he saved me and Killua,” Gon objected.
“That’s the part I don’t understand.
Tonpa doesn’t risk himself without a reason.
Maybe he wants us to trust him now so he can trick us with something worse later.”
“That is possible,” Kurapika said.
“But following him alone may be exactly what he wants.”
A chair scraped against the floor.
“I’m not going to confront him.
I’ll only watch,” Leorio said.
“Stay here.
If he is trying to lure us into something, I’m not letting him drag all of you into the trap.”
“I’ll come with you,” Gon said.
“I said stay here.
I’ll be back in a minute.”
Tonpa continued toward the distant table without changing his pace.
Part of the hall was reflected in the glass of a window near the wall, allowing him to observe the group without turning his head.
Gon remained seated reluctantly, with Kurapika beside him.
Killua’s eyes stayed fixed on Tonpa’s back, a faint smile resting on his lips.
Tonpa could not tell whether the boy was simply not curious enough to follow or whether he had already noticed more than he should have.
Leorio rose and moved after him, leaving what he believed was enough distance to avoid being noticed.
Tonpa’s steps did not change, and he never looked back.
But once he passed beyond the group’s line of sight, a small smile appeared on his face.
‘The fish swallowed the bait.’ Stay Ahead of the Public Release.]
[Reward:
Want to discover what Tonpa will lie about, steal, or accidentally ruin next?
“a”)
Can’t join?
Tonpa would call it a strategic investment.
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