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Chapter 20: Declaring Battle
The registration desk on the 200th floor seemed to have a magical attraction for cripples.
A few fighters with missing limbs or severe injuries lingered there like hyenas. When Ronin arrived, their greedy green eyes locked onto him.
However, seeing the stable Ten around Ronin's body, two of them turned their wheelchairs around and left.
These failures only preyed on rookies who hadn't mastered Nen yet. They didn't have the courage to challenge a newcomer who knew the basics.
Ronin thought they should just leave the arena and find a real job.
But the remaining two, after sizing Ronin up, actually wheeled themselves over. They clearly marked him as a soft target.
The receptionist handed Ronin a form.
It had detailed scheduling options. Milia had agreed not to interfere with who he fought, but Ronin had to give her enough lead time to hype the match.
The two men approaching him were in Milia's dossier. Ronin didn't think he would lose to either of them.
So, he wrote down a date: April 25th.
Five days from now.
He handed in the form openly, letting the malicious observers see the date.
When he turned around, sure enough, the two men were filling out their forms for April 25th.
One man wore a cloak, but his movements revealed he was missing an arm.
The other had a horrific tearing scar across his mouth and half his head looked caved in—it was a miracle he was alive.
Ronin knew how they got those injuries.
They rushed to the 200th floor and got "baptized" by a malicious veteran using Nen. They survived and awakened their Nen, but their bodies were permanently ruined.
"What are you looking at, kid?" Galleg, the man with only a quarter of his face intact, barked when he caught Ronin staring. His one good eye was full of rage.
"Have you considered wearing a mask? You're really ugly. And you smell," Ronin retorted.
Since they showed malice, Ronin wouldn't be polite.
Galleg's anger flared. His calm Ten exploded into Ren. The burly man stepped forward, reaching for Ronin's collar like a street thug.
Ronin looked disgusted. He stepped back, dodging the grab, and waved his hand in front of his nose as if shooing away a bad smell.
"Save your energy for the ring. I don't want my first win to die before the match starts."
Dropping that insult, Ronin walked past the stunned Galleg without looking back.
Galleg didn't pursue.
His provocation had been a probe.
He wanted to test Ronin's reaction speed. Since Ronin dodged, he had a rough estimate of the boy's strength.
Attacking further would only get him disqualified.
He noticed the flicker of panic in Ronin's eyes when he dodged.
Galleg grinned cruelly. I got him.
He would make this sharp-tongued brat pay in the ring. Rookies needed to learn their place. They needed to be baptized.
Just because you learned Nen early didn't mean you could strut around here!
Galleg handed in his form.
His companion, the one-armed Jared, did the same.
In the elevator, Ronin reviewed his acting performance.
Not great.
The "panic" was fake, but dodging Galleg's slow grab was pure instinct. It was hard to suppress his reaction speed.
If that guy hadn't submitted the form, Ronin would have felt like he wasted his time.
Leaving the desk, Ronin received a key card. Room 2333.
It was a luxurious suite with a view of the entire city.
Shortly after he settled in, a notification popped up on the TV screen.
"Match Confirmed:
Floor 227 Arena
April 25th, 3:00 PM!"
Opponent: Galleg.
He took the bait.
Ronin wasn't complacent. Even though Galleg seemed weak, Ronin would fight with full force. However, he didn't plan to reveal the Sharingan.
Instead, he wanted to try using Uvogin's Big Bang Impact.
He had copied the mechanics of the punch with his Sharingan during their brief fights.
The problem wasn't the technique; it was the energy source.
When Ronin activated the Sharingan, his Nen converted to Chakra.
Chakra circulates internally; Nen projects externally.
If his Nen became Chakra, he couldn't use the external projection required for the Big Bang Impact (Ko).
But was there a way to maintain the Sharingan and keep some Nen?
Could he combine Nen and Ninjutsu?
He imagined using Big Bang Impact (External Nen Blast) reinforced internally by Cherry Blossom Impact (Internal Chakra Burst).
Internal and external force combined. 1 + 1 > 2.
Since his Ninjutsu was capped at C-Rank, he needed to improve his Nen to get stronger.
Using Nen to amplify his Jutsu—or vice versa—fit his Enhancer nature perfectly.
After notifying Milia, Ronin began his experiments.
The simplest method was to constantly toggle the Sharingan, trying to control the energy conversion process to "sequester" a portion of his Nen before it turned into Chakra.
It was difficult, but Ronin could feel it was possible.
He just needed to find the balance point.
.....
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