This weakened state was also strengthening him spiritually. While his body weakened under the effects of his own nen ability, his nen itself grew stronger because the risk and conditions were increasing.
If he used this increase in power correctly during that period, he could use the additional strength generated by his nen to injure his opponent, and when he did, the weaknesses appearing within his own body would be transferred onto the enemy.
After thinking for a while, Conrad realized he truly disliked and disapproved of abilities like this.
If Valian still remained too weak to injure his opponent even after strengthening his nen, then his own ability would end up causing his death.
Valian attacked once more, continuing to strike as quickly and powerfully as he could, trying to inflict even the slightest damage.
"He can constantly react quickly, his movements are extremely precise, and he can see exactly where all my attacks are coming from..." he thought.
He leaped into the air and, while momentarily suspended there, looked down at Conrad, who was calmly waiting for him. Then he shot forward like a bullet, as if he had become one with the needle itself.
"!!!"
Conrad examined Valian with a smile on his face.
"His speed really increased all at once..."
"He's most likely unconsciously using the enhancement category to increase his speed in techniques he developed this way."
"If I asked him how he was doing it, he'd probably stare at me like an idiot..." he thought.
With a simple sidestep, Conrad avoided Valian's attack.
At that moment, Valian glanced toward Conrad from the corner of his eye.
The scene resembled Neferpitou attacking Adult Gon, while Adult Gon calmly observed the airborne Neferpitou as if time itself had frozen.
Conrad smiled at Valian and, with a casual flick of his wrist and without putting much force into it, struck toward the area near Valian's kidneys using his cane.
"Boom!"
Valian crashed sharply into the ground.
Even though Conrad had struck slowly, it didn't matter, because Valian's initial speed had been extremely high. The speed and force behind Valian's own attack combined with Conrad's simple strike and created more than enough power.
Valian took a deep breath and pushed himself off the ground with his hands. He spat lightly, and with the spit came several drops of blood that fell onto the floor.
"Seriously..." he said.
Conrad clapped.
"That's enough."
"I've gathered enough information," he said.
Valian actually wanted to continue trying again, but when he held his stomach with one hand, he realized he had taken far more damage than he initially thought.
"Was I too slow while defending..."
"But my Ten was active the whole time. It shouldn't have been possible for me to take this much damage," he thought.
Even though he racked his brain, he couldn't come up with an explanation convincing enough to satisfy himself.
Conrad raised a finger.
"I can tell you why you're weak and why your ability was created this way," he said.
"First reason: you genuinely have almost no real life-and-death combat experience except for maybe a few fights!" he added.
Valian let out a slight breath and slowly but clearly nodded.
He was aware of this himself. Just as Conrad had said, he had fought other nen users in life-or-death situations only a handful of times. But those occasions were extremely rare, and there had usually been a large gap between him and his opponents in terms of nen mastery and combat exposure.
Without needing tactics or strategy, he could normally overwhelm his opponents in under a minute.
Conrad allowed Valian five to ten seconds to think and process the situation.
Then he raised two fingers and continued speaking.
"Your abilities are generally unnecessarily risky and not suited for real combat, and even if they were, you lack the basic combat skills required to make them viable."
"That's extremely obvious."
After hearing Conrad's words, Valian swallowed hard.
"I wasn't expecting that criticism," he said with an embarrassed smile.
Conrad shook his head.
"This second criticism is a much bigger problem than the first. If you can't seriously surpass your opponent in nen usage, physical strength and speed, or tactical thinking, then weakening yourself to gain extra nen power has absolutely no meaning for you..."
"Worse, the moment you encounter a slightly stronger and more experienced nen user, you'll die!"
Valian took a deep breath mixed with fear.
"Whether you apply it to yourself or your opponent, your ability works over time. If someone knows you'll suffer negative effects when using it on yourself, then the only thing they need to do is wait for time to pass and avoid your attacks."
"At a certain point, you'll die because you weakened yourself too much."
-
Even though Valian had not expected such harsh and unexpected words, he still understood that Conrad was generally trying to help him and expose his weaknesses for his own benefit.
"Did I think too simply?" Valian said.
Conrad smiled.
"Saying you thought too simply wouldn't be accurate. You just created your nen ability without much real combat experience..."
"At the same time, your personal character isn't built around killing or harming people. More than anything, you just want to protect yourself..."
"Other than the revenge you mentioned, I don't think there's anyone you truly want to kill," Conrad added.
Valian smiled at Conrad's words. He knew that he was not truly a vengeful person by nature, but he also knew that revenge had to be taken, and somehow, no matter what, he had to accomplish it.
Conrad noticed the conflict inside Valian, smiled, and spoke.
"There's no need to worry. Even if you don't enjoy cruelty, you'll see that it can be enjoyable when it's directed at someone who deserves it."
Valian nodded and smiled as he closed his eyes to think about how he should get his revenge for real !