Conrad rose from his bed as morning light filtered through the narrow window.
He ordered himself a breakfast and then ate with a calm mind.
Yesterday's battle was not affecting him as much as he thought.
Which was a great thing.
After finishing his breakfast, he made himself a coffee and then sat down at his desk and nodded.
Now that the battle was over, he needed to think about something.
The fourth ability.
Teleportation, a movement ability that is instantaneous and powerful.
Conrad leaned back slightly, fingers steepled.
After some planning, a few conclusions surfaced quickly.
"Combining teleportation with a marking process makes sense," he muttered.
Most abilities did.
Marking was the most common method that came to his mind when it came to teleportation.
It was a strong condition and easy to understand.
And that was exactly why he disliked them.
Marks pre-placement.
If a mark were removed, which could be if the creator put such a condition to increase the power of the ability, such as increasing its distance and other things, then the ability would render itself useless.
He was not fool enough to put a condition on his "mark" that could be removed, but still, he preferred not to use "marking" in the first place.
Conrad had no intention of relying on external anchors.
"I don't want to mark places," he said quietly.
He needed something simpler.
He closed his eyes and activated En.
Aura expanded outward in a perfect circle, twenty meters in diameter for the time being; the size and range were great for a nen user like him.
He will increase it with more training, but right now it is just as it is.
The boundary was clean.
Conrad nodded.
"First condition."
"My teleportation only functions inside my En."
The moment the words settled, his Nen reacted.
As if something internal had accepted the constraint and begun adjusting itself around it.
Conrad felt it immediately.
"Yes," he murmured.
That response mattered.
Restricting teleportation to En meant his range would never exceed twenty meters unless he expanded his "En."
"That's good," he said. "Not too much of a complex condition, but enough of a limitation as well as a condition that would increase the probability of the ability in the fullest."
He opened his eyes and studied the room.
Then closed them again.
"I can only teleport to locations inside my EN, and the destination must be seen with my own eyes."
This time, the reaction was stronger.
Vision itself had become part of the technique's structure.
Which was another type of NEN condition that would do wonders in terms of understanding and creating the ability in the first place.
Conrad breathed out slowly.
"If I am going to put such an ability that would make the ability strong enough, give me even more power and capability; if it is teleportation, the speed of it would increase leaps and bounds."
Feeling something with En would not be enough.
Even if he could sense a person, a wall, a weapon, or a presence, none of it mattered unless his eyes confirmed it.
"Good," he said quietly.
This condition did several things at once.
It prevented teleportation through physical barriers.
If he stood in Room A and Room B was sealed, even if his EN encompassed both, he could not teleport unless he visually confirmed the destination.
This meant no blind jumps.
He cannot teleport between structures and other types of blockage that would render instant teleportation, in terms of danger, not possible.
It also meant something else.
"I can't teleport behind someone unless I see behind them."
That reduced lethality, which reduced the power of the ability by putting a limitation on it, also increased other areas of the power of the ability in terms of use and understanding of it.
Conrad let the ennui fade and sat in silence.
He frowned slightly.
Conditions alone didn't define cost.
Teleportation violates inertia.
"What do I lose?" he asked the room.
Aura expenditure alone wasn't enough.
That was almost the case for any other Nen ability; all abilities, as long as they use "Nen," had the condition of expenditure of a pool of aura, which was not a condition by itself alone. Even simple "Gyo" costs aura to keep using, not to mention a powerful Nen ability.
He thought for a long moment.
Then nodded.
"It seems like I need to add one more risk to this new ability of mine to keep using it without any problem."
In terms of "nen," he believed that most of the powerful nen abilities and the conditions, as well as limitations, were the ones that involved real risk.
As he deactivated En, Conrad felt something else settle into place.
This teleportation wasn't his core ability.
Just like the orbs weren't.
Just like flight wasn't.
They were instruments.
Tools built around something far more final.
He exhaled slowly.