Back in his room, Conrad took a long shower, letting the warm water wash away the lingering tension from Kakin.
When he stepped out, he dried himself, put on clean clothes, and sat at the desk. His posture was relaxed, but his thoughts were sharp.
He nodded once.
"I need a direct combat ability."
"An ability that increases my offensive capability."
Until now, he had relied on his Nen mastery and use of advanced Nen applications.
That was enough against weaker opponents and even some Nen users, but it left a gap.
When a fight reached a critical moment, he lacked a method to end it quickly.
If an enemy has strong defensive capabilities or great movement speed, he would have no way to end the enemy.
Which could prove fatal in a real battle where his life is on the line.
"If I want to be versatile, I need to work on multiple fronts."
He began listing them in his mind.
"Offense."
"Defense."
"Utility."
Movement, sensing, and control could come later.
Right now, offense mattered most.
Conrad leaned back slightly and closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes.
"As a manipulator," he thought, "there are rules I can't ignore."
First come, first served.
Control, once established, is absolute, but establishing that control requires activating a harsh condition.
Such as a needle inserted into an enemy, or the enemy or the target needs to complete three or four basic conditions.
His mind drifted to notable examples.
"Shalnark,"
"Illumi.
"Morel.
Conrad tapped the desk lightly.
"I want to be a sorcerer," he said. "A mage-type Nen user."
That image still felt right.
A mage chose when and how to attack.
"So what if," Conrad continued, "I use controlled objects?"
He leaned forward slightly.
"Objects that act like prepared spell slots."
Items infused in advance with Nen, each holding a single, defined effect.
They would not be activated by emotion or instinct but by command.
He imagined it clearly.
"Orbs."
"Three Orbs that can store nen effects..."
One could release a focused Nen blast.
Another could detonate on contact.
A third could emit a burst of light to disrupt vision and Gyo.
"I prepare them beforehand, Store Nen inside them. Activate them when needed."
"Preparation would be a condition in itself."
That solved several problems at once.
"These would not replace direct combat," Conrad thought.
"But it would increase my destructive capability at the limit."
"Each would need help from some of the different categories, but I don't need overpowered abilities right now."
He nodded slowly.
"This fits my style."
And unlike the Staff of Germanis, this was something he could create with his own hands.
Conrad picked up a pen and opened a notebook.
He did not rush and started working on the theory and what he would need to create the ability in his mind.
Three hours passed without Conrad noticing.
Finally, he leaned back.
"It's done," he said quietly.
He looked down at the final page, where the name was written clearly.
Trinity – Spell Archive
Conrad closed his eyes and reviewed it one more time from the beginning.
Trinity Archive was not a single ability but a framework for him to keep on working on at a later time.
At its core were three fist-sized orbs, each designed to act as a Nen vessel.
They carried no power on their own.
The power came only after preparation during downtime, when he could sit, focus, and deliberately inject Nen into them.
Each orb stored pre-programmed Nen effects.
Each orb was bound to a single "spell," fixed at the time of creation.
He could not change their function on the fly.
That rigidity was a restriction; he also chose the "spell" in the "orb" to be more powerful.
He also thought of three types of "neon effect spells" he wanted to put on these orbs.
"Aura Blast"
An emission-based technique designed for close-range encounters.
When activated, the orb released a short-range burst of condensed aura, spreading outward in a wide cone.
The effect resembled a shotgun blast.
"If I get to hit an enemy at close range with this type of attack, even if they are protected by 'Ken,' as long as they are not like Uvogin or Youpi, they would be gravely injured if not outright dead from the blast."
The second orb.
"White Death."
Pure emission, refined to a single purpose.
"This spell fired a narrow bullet of Nen at extreme velocity, sacrificing spread for penetration."
"The aura will be released in a perfectly straight line."
Conrad thought and nodded, grinning as he chose the name from a real sniper, who is called "Simo Hayha" and also has the name "White Death."
If it hit, it would pierce through flesh, bone, and most Nen defenses.
At least, he believed it would.
"That's the cost," Conrad thought.
A weapon meant for still targets or assassinations and ambushes.
The third orb.
Sensing Pulse
This one took longer to conceptualize.
It was not purely offensive, but Conrad knew it was just as dangerous.
When activated, the orb detonated not in force, but in aura.
A spherical wave expanded outward to a radius of one hundred meters, filling the space with finely tuned Nen.
For five seconds, Conrad's perception synchronized with that aura completely.
Everything within the sphere was visible to him as if outlined by instinct itself.
"This is En."
"For adding this to one of my 'orbs,' I need 'En' training, I guess. This one would be the hardest to create, as it also involves 'emission' in terms of transmitting knowledge of 'nen sensing' and 'en' to me too."
Three spells.
Three roles.
Trinity – Spell Archive
He flipped the page to the section marked Vows & Limitations; looking at his writing, he wanted to laugh a little. "
"These are what make it work."
First, he decided on the capacity.
Each orb held exactly three charges.
Once the third charge was expended, the orb became inert, nothing more than fragile glass.
To restore it, Conrad would need to sit down and manually refill it through sustained Ren and imagination of the "spell" "effect" he wanted; he believed it would take "thirty minutes" of pure focus to fill one orb and ninety minutes to fill all the orbs.
The belief came to him from instinct; it was not like a rule at all. He did not need to think about "how much time I should waste to put nen into these orbs." He knew it instinctively and did not think much about it.
If he felt thirty minutes was the right time, there must be a reason for it.
Nen had these sides of things; not everything was logical and reasonable.
Conrad knew that if he burned through his charges too quickly, the fight would turn against him.
But, in the end, this is his second ability and his first offensive-versatile ability that includes one "utility" type of small "improved en" application.
"The orbs will be fragile, it will increase the risk of losing them without using the spells inside of them..."
"But, it will increase the power of the effects, the spells by a lot."
The orbs could not be reinforced with Ryu or Ken.
Because they acted as vessels for high-density emission, reinforcing them would destabilize the internal structure.
If an enemy struck an orb directly, it would shatter.
All remaining charges would be lost instantly.
"Glass cannons, literally."
This forced careful positioning of the orbs; it would be better if the enemies did not see them until it was too late.
He could not let enemies target them freely.
Protection through awareness, not brute defense.
Third, manual reload.
Trinity – Spell Archive did not regenerate during combat.
Once the stored Nen was gone, it was gone.
"If I enter a fight unprepared, I deserve to lose."
That was the unspoken vow beneath it all.
Conrad closed the notebook and sat letting out a deep breath.
"I am tired..." he said to himself and smirked.
"This won't make me invincible," he said. "But it gives me a lot of freedom and a more versatile combat style."