"There's nothing to look forward to."
The so-called training was just getting beaten up.
It wasn't Bisky herself who did the beating, but her apprentice—bespectacled Mori—who sparred with Kevin.
In Bisky's words: "Based purely on their familiarity with their own Nen, you and Mori are on comparable footing. The only area where he vastly surpasses you is combat skill and awareness."
Therefore, in her professional opinion, although Kevin was being thrashed in these spars, he could at least manage to dodge and block, rather than being completely defenseless.
"Stop!"
By the stream in the wilderness, Kevin raised a trembling hand and shouted.
Mori, his fist poised to strike, instantly froze. Kevin immediately collapsed onto the grass in a spreadeagle, gasping for air, his stamina and aura completely drained from the relentless exchange.
"You're improving very quickly," Mori said, walking over and offering him a towel.
Kevin took it and draped it directly over his face. "No, I know my own situation. I'm just reacquainting myself with this body. The so-called rapid improvement is just me retrieving its muscle memory."
"Is that so? I haven't experienced that feeling," Mori said, his tone thoughtful. He then tapped his own cheek with a finger. "But it's true your rate of learning new combat skills is very slow."
"Don't try to soften it. You can say there's been no improvement at all," Kevin muttered from under the towel, not moving.
A week had passed since they'd come to this remote spot for intensive training. In that week, the only "improvement" Kevin felt was in recovering the body's ingrained reflexes. He could feel a certain fluidity returning. But anything new—anything that required his conscious mind to learn and his body to assimilate—progressed at a glacial pace.
Focus. Combat techniques. How to make a punch more efficient and destructive. How to properly deflect and absorb force. In his mind, the concepts weren't difficult, but his body stubbornly refused to translate that understanding into action. It was a profound and frustrating disconnect.
"It seems you have a good sense of self-awareness."
Bisky had returned at some point and now stood over Kevin, hands on her hips. Her expression showed clear displeasure, but her eyes held a deeper, more personal frustration. Her expectations for Kevin had formed a steep arc, and worse, her normally unerring professional judgment had been proven wrong.
Initially, when she accepted Jin's commission, she had harbored some expectations for Kevin. This was partly due to Jin's involvement, and partly due to the dossier she had compiled before arriving. By all accounts, the original Kevin was a scholar-type—a top student obsessively dedicated to potions, who spent his fortune hunting rare materials. To fund his obsession, he had repeatedly turned to crime. A figure very much in the mold of a certain kind of Hunter. Bisky neither particularly liked nor disliked that profile. The intelligence painted a picture of a dark, driven individual, despite his handsome features.
But from the first day of contact, the reality didn't match the file. This Kevin's personality couldn't be further from a hardened criminal; he even seemed to have reservations about killing. As she learned more about his unique constitution, his dual Nen affinities, and the post-mortem Nen fused to his very being, her expectations had soared again. All these factors pointed to a potential far beyond any ordinary Nen user.
Then the training began, and those expectations plummeted.
Learning ability and focus—the two qualities most critical for a Nen user's growth—were, in Kevin, either absent or exceedingly weak. It created a maddening paradox: he was both supremely talented and utterly untalented. He was like a priceless piece of jade, but one encased in a mountain of crude, impenetrable stone. To make it shine, you first had to find it, then identify it, then painstakingly chip away the immense, worthless shell just to extract the raw gem within. The process was proving far more arduous than she had anticipated.
Then, this raw jade still needed meticulous, long-term grinding and polishing before it could truly shine.
A challenge.
Hmph!
"Bring it on! I will definitely make you sparkle!" Bisky declared, pointing dramatically at the prone Kevin, her voice booming with renewed determination.
Kevin could only blink in bewilderment from the grass. Mori, standing beside him, offered a small, knowing smile.
"Had enough rest? It's physical training time now!" Without ceremony, Bisky hauled Kevin to his feet. The most grueling part of the day had arrived. The truth was, were it not for his latent Nen ability, this body might struggle to defeat even an ordinary person. Since parting ways with Jin, Kevin had maintained a basic exercise routine, but compared to Bisky's regimen, his previous efforts were a mere warm-up.
***
Another week flowed by with the stream.
Kevin and Mori settled into a stark rhythm by the water: train, spar, sleep, repeat. Bisky appeared only occasionally, vanishing for long stretches in between. In her own words, "How can you expect a beautiful girl to stay in the wilderness every day?"
"Hoo…"
On the makeshift training ground, Kevin collapsed once more, his arm thrown over his eyes as he lay sprawled on the earth.
"Don't be discouraged. I learn things slowly too," Mori offered from beside him, a habitual comfort.
Kevin just waved a tired hand, signaling he was fine.
Bisky, who had been observing their spar from a nearby rock, hopped down. "Your learning ability truly is abysmal. I originally thought Mori's pace was the slowest I'd ever have to tolerate."
Hearing this, Mori let out an awkward chuckle, shooting a glance of mingled pity and gratitude toward Kevin. In past training, he had always been the one on the receiving end of Bisky's barbs about his speed. Now, thanks to Kevin's presence, that particular spotlight had shifted.
"However," Bisky continued, her tone shifting, "that might be your only glaring flaw."
Kevin looked at her, perplexed.
In her eyes, Kevin was indeed a top-grade raw jade—precious, but with a significant imperfection. Her job was to either carve that flaw away entirely or transform it into an integral part of the final masterpiece's beauty.
A sly smile touched Bisky's lips. "You seem to possess an innate, instinctive understanding of aura and its application. More importantly, you harbor a passion for Nen itself that borders on obsession—a drive that keeps you from ever truly giving up in despair."
This was a rare and invaluable form of willpower, a talent not visible to the naked eye.
As she finished speaking, Bisky suddenly snapped her fingers in the air.
Thwump!
Kevin instantly rolled half a turn to the side. The spot where he had been lying was now a fresh, smoldering pit.
"Ah!" Mori yelped, tumbling backward in surprise.
"You see?" Bisky said, utterly unfazed. "From our very first meeting, you instinctively used Gyo. You've practically made it a subconscious life habit."
Mori, picking himself up, stared at Kevin with newfound astonishment. He hadn't realized this. Maintaining Gyo required conscious, sustained control of one's aura—it was an advanced combat technique. Who could possibly keep it active in daily life?
Bisky sauntered over to Mori and bopped him lightly on the head with a finger, her expression one of mild disappointment. "Because your fighting style is so straightforward, and you're an Enhancer, his advantage wasn't obvious in your spars. If you were a Transmuter or an Emitter, the fights wouldn't be nearly as one-sided as they are now."
In short, in Bisky's professional estimation, both Mori and Kevin were still in the "chickens pecking at each other" stage of combat.
As she spoke, Bisky flicked her finger again.
Thwack!
"Ow!" Mori yelped again, going from sitting to flat on his back.
"See? You should become alert the moment I raise my hand! Two hundred push-ups. Now!"
"Yes, Master!" Mori replied, resigned, and flipped over to begin his punishment.
Nearby, Kevin, who had been about to smirk at Mori's misfortune, suddenly dodged again—another instinctive, aura-aided movement.
Regarding the use of Gyo, Kevin required no training at all. It was as natural to him as breathing.
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