Boom!
Wave against wave, Nen bullets condensed simultaneously between Ging and the "fake Razor," slamming into each other with a roar!
In this no-man's land, the mist churned. The Nen bullets, initially the size of fingertips, swelled to the size of eggs, then apples... then volleyballs. The hood of Ging's cloak was blown back by the surging Nen, revealing a glimpse of his messy sideburns as he constantly tested his opponent's strength.
Just as Netero had guessed, the person before them looked exactly like Razor, but his pupils were dull and lifeless, resembling a marionette controlled by a mastermind. Whether in terms of Nen capacity or the understanding of Nen itself, this fake possessed roughly 80% of the real Razor's prowess.
According to the theory of Nen categories, being able to exert 80% of a secondary category's power is considered a perfect performance.
Ging narrowed his eyes. He raised his hand to condense a basketball-sized Nen bullet and traded another blow with the fake Razor. His shadow flickered, silently splitting off a silhouette that circled behind the opponent. Abruptly, a fist wrapped in [KO] lunged toward the fake Razor's heart.
It was almost certain that the mastermind's understanding and application of Nen were far beyond that of an average Nen user or even an elite Hunter.
Bang! [EN] erupted. The fake Razor's head twisted eerily to look behind him, and a whip-kick struck the shadow dead center.
With the howl of a wolf, the shadow dissipated and then reconverged. It returned to Ging's side, revealing its true form: a majestic and spirited white wolf!
"What a beautiful wolf!" The Phantom Wolf was massive. Its fluffy tail curled up, almost enough to wrap Ging entirely inside it.
At the Hunter Association, in the volleyball training hall designated by Netero, Wing focused on two things at once. He directed his gaze toward the screens showing Roy and Ging. Both images simultaneously displayed two Phantom Wolves, their fangs bared with a cold, piercing glint.
Beside the young man, Biscuit stood with her arms crossed. Despite her flat, "airstrip-like" chest, she watched the real Ging and the fake Ging with great interest. This was the first time the old woman had seen Ging use his own Nen ability.
A giant turtle... a white wolf... The old woman narrowed her eyes and said, "This guy Ging is more professional than those 'Magical Beast Hunters.'"
And yet... "He ran off to be a 'Ruins Hunter.' Talk about a waste of talent."
Awooo! Relying on the support of the Phantom Wolf, the real Ging and his double worked in perfect harmony, moving in tandem. They lunged toward Roy and the fake Razor respectively.
Netero, his white hair tied into a topknot, gave a hearty "Ho-ho-ho" and asked, "Isn't this good?"
A Ruins Hunter contracting with phantom beasts, a Gem Hunter who loves to teach... In the image, Roy's black hair flew wildly. With "Yukibashiri" in his left hand and "Lunar Wane" in his right, the boy wielded his twin blades, alternating between "Sun Breathing" and "Wind Breathing." One blade blocked the Phantom Wolf, while his other hand unleashed "WIND BREATHING: SECOND FORM - CLAWS-PURIFYING WIND," kicking up several sharp wind blades that tore through the air, aimed at the fake Ging's head.
Despite being a "Conjurer," he performed more like an "Enhancer" than a real "Enhancer." Wasn't this also a form of "not sticking to one's business"?
"Times have changed. People shouldn't be restricted by their Nen categories," Netero said softly.
Biscuit's crystalline earlobes twitched. She clearly knew something. She seemed to recall the old man mentioning that he, as an "Enhancer," had considered leaning toward "Emission." Thinking of herself, despite her martial arts background making her closer to an "Enhancer," her Nen ability was the "Transmuter" type, Magical Esthetician Cookie, which focused on recovery.
Biscuit fell silent, and even Wing, who was as sharp as a needle, noticed a slight shift in the atmosphere.
The young man watched the screen, seeing Roy, who was almost the same age as him. Not only was Roy's swordsmanship divine, but at one point, he even opened his mouth and muttered, "Fall asleep."
As the drowsiness took hold during a gap in the attacks, he unleashed [DREAM: WHISPERS OF FORCED SLUMBER], instantly hypnotizing the Phantom Wolf. Its body suddenly grew heavy, and it crashed violently to the ground.
Wing looked at his master, Biscuit, wanting to say something but hesitating. He was promptly met with a hand-chop to the forehead from the old woman. "If you have something to say, say it. Being so hesitant isn't manly at all."
Wing scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "It's nothing, I was just a bit confused..."
The young man had been working hard. Ever since parting ways with Roy at Heavens Arena, he had spent the last year pushing himself to the limit, trying desperately to catch up to Roy. He looked forward to their next meeting, hoping to have a match so Roy could see his progress.
He hadn't expected that by today, the boy would have grown to the point where he could hold his own against "Ging," the man both his master and his grand-master had praised.
Wing's heart wavered. He began to wonder if he had been moving in the wrong direction.
He shared his doubts with Biscuit, saying, "Master often teaches me that specializing in one thing is better than being a 'jack of all trades, master of none,' but..."
The young man's gaze fixed on Roy and Ging. "It doesn't look like they are just specializing. It looks like they have developed... many different methods."
"And?" Biscuit glanced at him. "What are you trying to say?"
"Do you want to stop practicing 'Enhancement' and switch to another category?"
With his thoughts exposed and seeing Biscuit's gaze turn stern, Wing wisely shut his mouth.
"Ho-ho-ho... No need to be so hard on the boy."
"Letting him face reality early isn't necessarily a bad thing."
The volleyball at Netero's fingertips suddenly vanished, flicked accurately into a nearby basket.
The old man took the black tea handed to him by Beanman, took a comfortable sip, and picked up the conversation. He then smiled at Wing and said, "Child, geniuses are geniuses, and ordinary people are, in the end, ordinary people."
After a mouthful of tea, Netero watched Roy hypnotize the Phantom Wolf and then counter with [DIVINE SPEAR]. Using [LUNAR WANE] and the extensibility of [SPACE], the blade instantly lengthened, piercing toward the fake Ging. It even punched a small hole through the shell of the Deep Water Softshell Turtle covering the fake Ging's body.
Yet another move he hadn't seen during the Hunter Exam...
Netero couldn't help but sigh. "If an ordinary person can do one thing well in their entire life, that life isn't lived in vain."
"But geniuses... they often blossom in many areas. Once they understand one thing, they understand a hundred. They do things that an ordinary person might not achieve in ten lifetimes, or rather..."
"They achieve greatness!"
So... geniuses simply cannot be measured by common logic.
Beanman took the teacup from Netero and refilled it. His gaze swept around. Whether it was Ging and Roy on the screen or the man standing beside him, they were all the same.
The bespectacled youth wanted to emulate them. In Beanman's years of observing people, those who tried to learn from geniuses usually fell into a state of confusion, damaging their own identity as a "person." In the end... they often finished their lives in mediocrity.
'Is that so... why does this feeling of frustration taste so bitter?'
The battle between Roy and the fake Ging continued before his eyes. His master Biscuit's eyes were on him, and his grand-master's well-intentioned advice rang in his ears. Wing lowered his head, hiding the unwillingness in his eyes. He quietly clenched his fists and remained silent.
Netero spared a glance at the young man but said nothing. Looking back at Roy, who was gradually becoming inseparable from the fake Ging in combat, he could only sigh. Recognizing reality and trying to make peace with oneself is also an extremely difficult task in life.
Perhaps only in death... when time smooths everything over, can true liberation be found.
The face of Beyond involuntarily flashed in his mind. Wasn't that unfilial son also someone who couldn't recognize reality?
Silence... fell over the Hunter Association today.
In the Western Sea of the Yorubian Continent, ten thousand meters under the sea, inside that ruined church.
After several strikes, Roy's battle with Ging grew more intense and exhilarating. Having consumed nearly a tenth of his Nen, he finally found an opening while the fake Ging used the [DEEP WATER SOFTSHELL TURTLE] to block [DIVINE SPEAR].
A faint glow appeared in his mouth as he conjured a third blade... [SOLAR ECLIPSE].
Roy grit his teeth and used [KO: ZANKA NO TACHI], lightly brushing it against the slumbering [PHANTOM WOLF]. The ferocious Phantom Wolf, with its giant white tail, didn't even have time to scream before it was instantly vaporized by the sudden surge of high temperature.
It was like a chalk drawing being wiped away by an eraser.
The panel prompted:
["NEN ABILITY" +10...]
[REMINDER: "GATE OF COGNITION" ENHANCED, REMAINING TO OPEN THE SECOND DOOR... 5 POINTS...]
Whoosh! The black Zanka no Tachi blew a gust of starlit wind flecked with fire.
Roy was startled. The prompt was different from before; it no longer mentioned the Phantom Wolf's innate Nen ability. Clamping [SOLAR ECLIPSE] in his teeth, he swung his other two blades to deflect two consecutive Nen bullets fired by the fake Ging using Razor's ability. His thoughts raced... and he suddenly realized.
He had been mistaken!
The [MONSTER ENCYCLOPEDIA] identified "objects" it saw, but these "objects"—whether it was the Phantom Wolf, the Deep Water Softshell Turtle, or even the Ging before him—were all fakes. They were merely illusions condensed by the mastermind using their own "Nen ability."
It was different from his grandfather Zigg's [RE: THE GAME OF THE DEAD], which used the actual Dark Continent as a blueprint to create a game. The ultimate source here... was still the mastermind's Nen itself.
And that person understood "reality and illusion," clearly making them a Conjurer—either the Elephant Baku itself or a Conjurer with an extremely close relationship to it!
Step... step... As the Phantom Wolf was erased from existence...
The fake Ging, controlled like a puppet, took two consecutive leaps backward. A rare trace of wariness appeared in those dull, lifeless eyes.
At the Hunter Association, the old man's eyes flickered. Following the unusual movement of the fake Ging, Netero looked around at the "fake Razor" fighting Ging, the "fake Gotoh" who was being battered by Razor, and the elephant-type Baku monster that was dodging the "Buttons" controlled by Elena like a ghost.
Aside from that Baku beast, only the "fake Ging" fighting Roy showed signs of wariness, as evidenced by him creating more distance from the boy.
Netero keenly smelled something unusual.
"It's afraid..."
"Of whom?"
"Roy."
Netero noticed it, Biscuit noticed it, and even Wing, having finally composed himself, looked over.
The old woman explained to Wing with a deep gaze, "The boy killing that wolf must have triggered its wariness, or rather..."
"No," Wing pushed up the glasses on his nose, his sharp eyes noticing something. "Doesn't that guy who looks exactly like Ging look a bit smaller?"
"Not just smaller, his figure looks fainter too." Biscuit's eyes were covered with a thin layer of Nen as she immediately used [GYO]. Looking at the fake Ging now, the amount of aura surrounding him had clearly decreased.
[REN] is the best way to reflect a Nen user's "numerical" strength.
The body becoming smaller and fainter was just the surface. What truly made the opponent wary was the loss of their own aura... or rather...
"Being devoured." Netero simply sat cross-legged in front of the television, watching Roy and the fake Ging with great interest, his eyes flashing!
There are no summons without cause. Whether it's an illusion or a mirror image, they cannot escape the observation of the Nen ability itself, supplemented by imagination.
"That boy Roy is devouring the opponent's Nen. Wing... in the future, if you encounter a Nen user, remember to use [GYO] immediately..."
The old man glanced at Biscuit and gave Wing a subtle reminder.
It was as if he were saying... 'How are you teaching your apprentice? Not even telling him this?'
Biscuit's face turned red with anger, her twin ponytails twitching. She swung a fist and knocked Wing on the head. "How many times have I told you? You just can't remember!"
The old woman raised her voice, pretending not to see Netero's gaze, and defended herself. "He probably thought it was just a screen and not a real person, so he didn't notice."
Wing winced in pain and didn't dare to talk back. But just as Biscuit said, it was his own carelessness.
For a moment, he was so embarrassed he wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
Fortunately, a "Ho-ho" laugh covered the young man's shame.
Netero stroked his beard, pretending not to see the "jesting" between the master and apprentice. He looked up again, his gaze fixed on the "fake Ging."
Having just lost the Phantom Wolf and shrunk in size, the fake Ging's dull eyes moved, locking onto Roy. This time, without hesitation, he summoned [FEICHUO'S PARROT]!
"Sakura..."
The Feichuo's Parrot, which [COPIES OTHERS' ACTIONS INSTANTLY UPON TAKING A HIT], let out a soft chirp and emerged from the fake Ging's shoulder.
The fake Ging glanced at Roy, who held a blade in each hand and one in his mouth. He was clearly focused on all of Roy's movements, intending to use the broken mechanism of the Feichuo's Parrot to instantly replicate Roy's swordsmanship and counter-attack.
Seeing this, Roy gave a strange look to the illusory parrot standing on the fake Ging's shoulder, staring intently at him.
With a thought, at that same moment, he summoned the Golden Crow.
"Xiao Jin..."
The Golden Crow spread its wings and suddenly emerged from above Roy's head. The moment its plump body appeared, the Feichuo's Parrot tilted its head, its tiny green-bean eyes widening as it looked over. Then, under the stunned gazes of the fake Ging, Netero, Biscuit, and Wing...
With a flap of its wings, it left the fake Ging and flew toward Roy. It snuggled affectionately against the Golden Crow and landed on Roy's head.
Roy casually sheathed a blade, reached out with one hand, grabbed the parrot, and crushed it into ashes.
The panel prompted:
[NEN ABILITY +20]
["GATE OF COGNITION" HAS MET THE "OPENING CONDITION"...]
[NOTICE: "SECOND DOOR" OPEN!]
[CHARACTER GENERATING...]
[JIN UCHIHA... ELDER BROTHER OF ITACHI UCHIHA... GENERATION COMPLETE!]