Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ Two rounds of offense and defense.
Kieran lost completely.
“No chance at all.” While resting, he reviewed and simulated the fight in his head.
His conclusion was that he had not had even the slightest chance.
Physical ability could be improved through steady training, but combat experience and practical fighting skill could only be tempered through battle.
Kieran slowly closed his eyes and closed his aura nodes, trapping the aura that should have been leaking out slightly inside his body in order to speed up recovery.
Right now, all he wanted was to recover quickly enough to fight again and continue practical training.
About an hour later, his latent aura reserve finally recovered to ninety percent.
Believing that was enough to support another fight, he immediately had Wright begin sparring again.
A few minutes later…
Kieran was lying down again.
It was still a complete and unsurprising loss, but he was not discouraged.
He understood very clearly that even if he were given one hundred days, he still would not be able to defeat Wright in martial combat.
His physical ability could not be built in a single leap, and combat experience and practical technique required long-term tempering and accumulation.
Within the ten days of sparring, what Kieran could do was absorb as much “experience” as possible from countless failures.
“Again.” After recovering once more, Kieran got up without stopping and called for Wright to begin sparring.
Wright smiled.
Then, in a few quick moves, he knocked Kieran down again.
Under the condition of equal aura output, Wright did not abuse Nen techniques against a weaker opponent.
He relied purely on martial skill and experience to overwhelm Kieran.
They continued until noon, when the sparring was forced to stop.
The reason was that the gold Wright had purchased arrived.
Thirty million Jenny had been exchanged for about twenty pounds of gold.
In addition to the gold, Wright also bought Kieran a computer, a phone, and a large amount of meat.
Considering the temple’s limited food storage conditions, Wright waved his hand and added several large commercial freezers for storing meat.
As for the electrical wiring and network, those were not problems either.
Wright only had to show his Hunter License, and full-service arrangements followed.
Uniformed workers moved back and forth between the foot of the mountain and the temple.
In half an hour, they met every requirement Wright had made.
Kieran, who had been hurrying to recover his latent aura reserve off to the side, was stunned.
He truly had not expected Wright to be this thorough.
Originally, he had planned to buy a computer and phone after the sparring period ended.
Wright had quietly handled it for him.
He had even considered the network and the electrical load.
Were Enhancers normally this meticulous?
Kieran could not help beginning to suspect Wright’s true Nen affinity.
“Wright.” Holding the fully equipped and expensive latest-model phone in his hand, Kieran looked at Wright and said sincerely, “You went to a lot of trouble.
How about this?
The favor I mentioned earlier can…” “It was only a little money.” Wright interrupted him and stared at him.
“What, is my favor that cheap?” “That is not what I meant.” Kieran shook his head.
He did not feel very strongly about the twenty pounds of gold bought with thirty million Jenny.
What Wright had done for him, however, had genuinely touched his heart.
That made him feel from the bottom of his heart that letting Wright still carry a favor on top of all this was improper.
“Heh.
I do not care what you meant.” Wright grinned, showing a neat row of teeth, and said in his distinctive low voice, “A favor owed by me, Wright Bulwer, cannot be worth something this cheap.” “Understood.” Kieran did not insist further.
Trying to persuade an Enhancer would be less meaningful than doing a few hundred push-ups under the sun.
After that, Wright went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Pork, beef, lamb, chicken.
Basically, meat.
According to him, eating more meat made it easier to grow muscle.
Kieran felt that explanation was nonsense.
But again…
Do not try to change a belief an Enhancer has accepted.
It would only waste time.
After a while, Wright carried out bowl after bowl of meat.
As usual, everything was boiled.
The two of them sat down.
Wright gathered aura around his mouth, then picked up a large chunk of meat and stuffed it in.
His teeth clacked like a meat grinder, and within seconds, he had chewed the meat apart and swallowed it.
“Kieran, have you tested your Nen affinity?” After swallowing a large chunk of meat, Wright suddenly remembered this and asked.
“Not yet.” Kieran picked up a chicken leg and bit into it.
After stepping over the threshold into Nen, he had awakened a half-formed Nen ability in a single thought.
Even so, he had never thought about using Water Divination to test his affinity.
His foundation was not stable yet.
Storing too much unnecessary information in his head would only backfire.
Just because he had memories from another life, was he supposed to rush into an affinity test the moment he started the four major principles?
Kieran did not think there was any need to hurry.
Focusing on the four major principles was the first priority.
Now that Wright asked, he did not deliberately hide anything.
If this had been earlier, Kieran definitely would have used a line like “What is an affinity test?” to conceal some information about himself.
Wright paused, then casually asked, “Want to test it after we eat?” He had considered the possibility that Hawk, Kieran’s father, was also a Nen user.
But right now, all Wright wanted was to show as much value as possible as Kieran’s “future teacher.” Anything else was outside his list of concerns.
“Sure.” Kieran agreed naturally.
Nen affinities were divided into six categories.
Enhancer, Transmuter, Conjurer, Emitter, Manipulator, and Specialist.
Each category had its own advantages, with Specialist being the rarest and most unusual.
Everyone possessed their own specific affinity.
By following that affinity and choosing the correct direction for Nen ability training, one could achieve twice the effect with half the effort.
Conversely, Nen abilities outside one’s own category were harder to master.
For that reason, Nen users generally used Water Divination to test their affinity before deciding the direction of ability development.
After that, Kieran and Wright buried their heads and ate.
The two of them seemed to maintain an unspoken understanding.
Before long, once both were full, they began preparing for the affinity test.
There was not much to prepare.
A cup filled with water, with a leaf placed on the surface.
After that, one only needed to activate Nen with both hands surrounding the cup and judge one’s affinity based on the phenomenon that occurred inside.
For Enhancers, the amount of water increased and overflowed.
For Transmuters, the water’s taste changed, with the flavor differing from person to person.
For Conjurers, crystal-like matter appeared in the water.
For Emitters, the water’s color changed.
For Manipulators, the leaf on the surface moved or swayed.
Specialists were different.
Any phenomenon that differed from the other five categories belonged to Specialist.
Wright signaled for Kieran to stand in front of the cup and directed him.
“Place both hands around the cup, then activate Nen.” Before the test began, he explained the knowledge of Nen affinities on the spot, regardless of whether Kieran already knew it.
That was the awareness needed to show his value as a “future teacher.” He would not give up any opportunity to show off just because Kieran might already know the information.
Kieran did not find Wright long-winded.
He simply followed along.
He stretched his hands around the cup and activated Nen.
In an instant, energy emerged from his palms and wrapped around the cup.
Bzz…
Under the influence of aura, the cup abruptly began vibrating at a low frequency, producing a faint hum.
At the same time, an unknown black mist spread through the water, like ink spilled onto paper, or like a living mass of shadow.
Seeing this, surprise flashed through Wright’s eyes.
“Specialist…” This was the first time he had seen a Specialist phenomenon through Water Divination.
Or rather, the overwhelming majority of Nen users had never seen a Specialist result through Water Divination.
Because Specialist was the rarest and most unusual of the six categories.
“Kieran, you can…” Now that the affinity had been tested, Wright opened his mouth to tell Kieran to stop.
But halfway through, his words cut off abruptly.
The cup wrapped in Kieran’s aura suddenly burst into fragments.
The sudden force carried liquid and shards through the gaps between Kieran’s fingers, and the leaf that had been floating on the water split into dozens of pieces in an instant.
Kieran’s eyelid twitched slightly.
Thanks to the protection of aura, he was not injured.
However, the Specialist phenomenon in front of him made him a little curious about other Specialist phenomena.
He wondered what happened when other Specialists tested their affinity.
“Kieran, you are a Specialist.” Wright suppressed the waves in his heart, glanced at the glass fragments and water all over the ground, and said, “Unfortunately, I do not understand Specialists and cannot give you useful advice.
But there is one thing I must remind you of.
Before deciding the direction of your ability development, it is best to master the four major principles first.” “Mm.
I know.” Kieran nodded.
He did not even glance at the shards on the ground.
Instead, he walked to the courtyard.
“Wright, begin.” He said it as if the rarest and most unusual category, Specialist, could not shake his will to absorb experience from sparring as quickly as possible.
Wright froze slightly, then smiled for no reason.
This guy…
Really was impressive.
The blazing sun hung overhead.
In the courtyard, two streams of aura collided again and again.
From morning to night, from today to tomorrow.
Day by day, time passed.
The ten-day sparring period began counting down toward its end.
Although Kieran still found it difficult to gain any advantage over Wright, through one practical training match after another, he was like a newborn sponge, crazily absorbing experience and Nen techniques.
As his sparring partner, Wright felt this deeply.
‘It is like watching an uncut stone slowly shed its rough surface and begin revealing a moving luster.’ In his heart, Wright sincerely marveled at Kieran’s speed of improvement in combat experience and the four major principles.
‘Tomorrow is the last day.
I might as well find a chance tonight to bring it up.
With how I have performed during this period, Kieran should not refuse.
Heh.’ Seeing the sparring period nearing its end, Wright began thinking about taking Kieran as his disciple.
Confident in his teaching ability, he had never considered the possibility that Kieran might refuse.
He had already decided: If Kieran agreed to become his disciple, Wright would continue staying at the temple to teach him, protecting him like a young seedling until Kieran passed the Hunter Exam, obtained a license, and officially became a licensed Hunter.
That night.
The practical sparring ended, and Kieran collapsed on the ground, unable to move.
Wright went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
By the time Kieran had almost recovered, the table was piled full of meat dishes.
“Kieran, there is something…” Wright placed the bowl and chopsticks in front of Kieran and was just about to mention taking him as a disciple when a phone suddenly rang.
The sound came from Wright’s pocket.
Kieran glanced at him and began eating on his own.
Wright took out his phone, answered, and held it to his cheek.
“There is news about the Phantom Troupe.” The voice from the phone made Wright’s gaze sharpen.
✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.