In the caretakers' shed, everyone stares at Auren.
"Now..." Auren says, looking towards the two caretakers. "Thank you for your assistance. I'd like some privacy. We need a quiet environment. Please make sure we're completely undisturbed for at least a good hour or so."
"Of course," Zebro, the older man, says, while the slightly younger one, Sequant, who is also a Hunter, just nods wordlessly.
They quickly leave, both looking a little relieved, apparently intimidated by Auren.
"Amane," Auren says. "Can you give us some privacy as well?"
"Discussing secret things?" she asks, before smiling towards Killua. "Of course, I'll leave you alone. Master Killua, it's a pleasure to welcome you back home. When you return to the mansion, I'll gladly serve you again; of course, I'll leave most jobs to Canary. I would feel bad otherwise. She's so cute when you're around."
"Just go away!" Killua says, raising his voice, appearing slightly embarrassed.
"Since it's still raining outside, I'll be teaching you a certain breathing technique to pass the time," Auren explains. "After I've done so, we'll head for the mansion, Killua. Take care of your issues... then you can return here. At least for a while."
"Okay," Killua says, satisfied with Auren's offer.
"What a coincidence..." Kurapika says quietly, a slight smile on his face as he crosses his arms. "It was sunny until you arrived."
"A what? Breathing technique? I can breathe on my own just fine!" Leorio says, his eyebrows raised.
"You want to be a doctor, right?" Auren asks. "Surely you know about breathing techniques."
"A scientific doctor! Not some sort of scammer who uses these outdated voodoo things," Leorio clarifies. "Science!"
"Leorio... these outdated things have been used for centuries... the kind of doctor you want to become has only existed for a very short time. Disregarding thousands of years of medical history is quite offensive. In any case, shut up and listen; I want to hear this!" Kurapika snaps at him, his expression dead serious.
He knows what it is; I'll eventually teach them... if they want to. Leroute spelled it out... only people like Leorio wouldn't get the relevance and the connection.
If they master the breathing technique, they can open their Aura Nodes really quickly... but for now, I'm just teaching them the technique itself.
"I'm teaching you a special breathing technique because it's an essential requirement... for learning Nen. At least regarding the way that I learned Nen, you can even argue it's the very first step," Auren says, which immediately grabs Kurapika's and Killua's attention. "There are other ways; I believe we talked about that already. This is the best way to approach the issue; as far as I know, that much is widely accepted by anyone knowledgeable about the topic. Especially since you are currently under a lot of stress and physical exhaustion, this breathing technique, along with a few meditation exercises, will be quite beneficial for your training and, best of all, you can learn them at the same time as you're training. They work together, and you might get even better results in both areas if you combine them."
"Leroute, while I'll teach them the basics, I expect you to answer their questions as well. After all, we've taught you for almost two weeks now," Auren adds. "At least... concerning the breathing and meditation techniques."
"Of course," Leroute says with a haughty smile. "I understand."
"I'm still not sure all this Nen crap is worth it..." Leorio says.
"Want to see a little demonstration?" Auren asks with an exaggerated smile. "I can show you something that might be of interest to someone like you who wants to become a doctor. You can view it as... inspiration."
"Sure, sure," Leorio says, waving his right hand forward dismissively.
Within a split second, Auren takes a step forward and grabs Leorio's hand, then switches his grip so he is holding only his middle finger.
"Wha—" Leorio mutters, not understanding, before he finally notices that Auren has crossed the gap between them in a flash.
However, before he can ask a question, Auren transforms his right hand into a claw, uses Ren, focuses a good amount of Aura into his hand, and cuts off Leorio's middle finger at the base using his sharpened, knife-like fingers- more specifically, his nails.
"Huh?" Leorio asks, not realizing what happened, his eyes widening as he sees Auren step back, holding a severed middle finger, which he places on the table right in front of him.
"Leorio!" Gon yells in worry, standing up.
"What are you doing, Auren?!" Killua yells angrily.
Only Leroute and Kurapika remain silent.
"It... it hurts!" Leorio finally realizes as he clenches his fist, only for his fingers to move, blood only now slowly beginning to form on the stump.
Not quite there yet... still a little bleeding. I guess I lack practice, not skills.
"Don't cry, I cut it so cleanly, it should barely hurt," Auren says, before stepping forward again, grabbing the same hand, and activating Azure Restoration, the familiar Azure hue, only recognizable by Auren himself.
In a brief moment, the panicked and furious Leorio calms down, sighing in relief and confusion as the pain in his hand fades away.
Within just two minutes, new flesh forms where his finger had been, until a brand-new finger slowly emerges, now looking just like the old one, only with purer, fairer skin and a slightly lighter tone.
"There," Auren says. "Good as new. You can keep the old one as a souvenir."
"Any more questions about the usefulness of Nen?" Auren asks, as all five of them stare at him with their mouths wide open in shock, unable to comprehend what just happened.
"I... I..." Leorio stammers, his mind not fully processing what just happened.
"I... I have so many questions now, I don't even know where to start," Kurapika admits. "Until recently, I wouldn't have believed this to be possible. It's breaking so many laws of nature."
"For now," Auren says, "the question is whether you can obey my instructions and do what I tell you, without questioning or looking down on the things I'm willing to teach you."
"I can," Kurapika instantly replies.
"Me too!" Gon says, his good mood restored now that Leorio is safe. "Also... thank you for taking care of my arm a few days ago, Auren."
He then bows and grins at Auren.
"No problem," Auren replies. "Keep it to yourselves... though at this point... I don't see who the hell can threaten me, but still. I've already built up a certain reputation among the elites and important Hunters anyway. Still, there is no need to spread it around. This is a show of my trust; I hope you won't make me regret it."
It feels good to finally be able to go all out... though I should still be a little careful.
Auren then moves to a more spacious part of the shack, sits down on the wooden floor, and motions for the others to sit down as well.
"As a special exception... you can take off your weights for an hour or so while I teach you." Auren says, surprising the group. "I need you to pay full attention and relax. I can't have you distracted when you don't even know the basics yet. That is just a special exception for right now, though, and I expect you to put them right back on afterwards."
As the five of them begin to move, Auren raises his finger. "Except for you." He then points at Leroute, causing her to bite her lip in displeasure.
"Just bear with it... your frail body really needs the workout," Auren chastises her. "You know it's for your own good."
Nodding at him, she sits down.
Without the rice she ate and the training in the airship's gym... she couldn't stand wearing those weights for even a single minute. She's quite lucky.
Despite her haughty attitude, I know she's grateful. She only appears strong because she's built up a tough outer shell. It's quite obvious to me.
The five of them then sit down in a circle.
Then Auren closes his eyes and begins to breathe, doing so in an exaggerated fashion so the others can hear him clearly. He does not speak and merely demonstrates. Because of the suspicious cloud hanging exactly over Auren's position, blocking the sun's intensity, there is not much light inside the wooden cabin. The only audible sounds are Auren's breathing and the soft rain outside, creating ideal conditions for training.
Understanding what he wants, the five begin to copy him, with Leroute doing so without any issues, as expected, since she is already far past this point.
While Killua picks it up almost immediately, Gon and Kurapika need a few minutes, while Leorio is even slower. However, after twenty minutes or so, all of them understand the very basics, which is not all too impressive, considering Auren is starting with just a small part of the technique, the very foundation.
Auren then stands up and starts with Leorio, standing behind him, paying close attention.
"You are putting in too much conscious effort. Just breathe in a way that feels comfortable. I'm doing it loudly and with strong breaths so you can listen to me properly. That doesn't mean you have to copy me. Do it in whatever way feels best to you. It's about the principle, the timing, and the general technique. Just search for an intensity that works, then keep it even... you must feel perfectly comfortable doing it until you learn to do it automatically."
Helping each of them just a little, a good hour passes, everyone making good progress, even Leorio, who's surprisingly talented, about equal to the others.
"That's enough," Auren says, signalling the end of the training. "I'll try to visit you every day. Work on it on your own, try to do it for at least three hours every day. Don't neglect sleep, though. It will get a little more complicated with more variations and longer breathing chains tomorrow. Try to get completely used to this first step by then."
"Now... Killua," Auren says. "Let's go."
"Fine. I'll see you guys later," Killua says, trying his best to sound casual.
"Uhm, Auren, I have a question," Leorio says. "What do I do with... this..." He then walks to the table and grabs his old finger, his face changing between disgust and total confusion.
"Maybe feed it to the dogs outside?" Auren suggests, shrugging.
"..."
Leaving the shed and walking back, Killua looks at the cloud above them. While it's not that large, it is very noticeable that it's following them specifically.
"This is a little... annoying," Killua says, the rain hitting his body, which seemingly annoys him, while Auren embraces it, showing no reaction at all. "These things are outright insane, even to someone like me. You can also regrow fingers. I can't even comprehend something like that."
I can do much more....
"Soon you will; your family can do similar things, as you know by now, right?" Auren says, pointing at Killua's forehead, causing him to instinctively touch it with his right hand.
"Still, this rain, you really like it, huh?" Killua wonders, looking into the sky. "That's really quite strange."
"You don't like rain?" Auren asks, and Killua shakes his head.
"How about this?" Auren says, raising his hands.
By now... I can do these small things. Just a simple use of Conjuration. These tiny... tricks are important for me as well. It's never too late to learn. I need to constantly train and turn anything, every single situation I encounter, into a game. Nen must become as natural as breathing... no... even more natural.
Didn't a certain magician call this a magic trick? Come to think of it, I'll need to contact him. Might as well ask Illumi for his number.
On his left hand, nearby water gathers from the air, the ground, the trees, the grass, and the rain that is falling, magically arcing towards his palm. On his right hand, water is seemingly generated out of nothingness, magically appearing around his hand.
While it is slow, it does not take long until Auren has gathered two large balls of water, surrounding both of his hands.
Manipulation... manipulating nearby water.
Conjuration... creating water outright....
The latter is clearly more difficult and requires more Aura. Despite me not being particularly skilled at either of them, my constant training paid off. Thanks to my special affinity, I'm also a little more skilled at both categories than a regular Enhancer. Perhaps... it's around 70% efficiency?
Also, due to my oath, the numbers don't even matter too much at this point, especially for small applications like this. Categories are slowly but surely starting to matter less and less; that's the level I always wanted to reach and which I am slowly approaching, thanks to my training in every aspect of Nen.
Though I'm still a good distance away, that's the first sign of complete Nen mastery.
I need to stop thinking about Nen in restrictive systems. I need to make it my own and surpass the prison of common logic. I need to go beyond logic, and the best way to do that is to continue what I've been doing.
Challenges with real stakes, games, creativity, constant use of Nen.
Auren then shapes the water into umbrellas, a long stick with a curved handle and a wide six-sided canopy forming slowly but surely in each hand.
Using Biting Cold, he quickly freezes the water, investing a generous amount of Aura to make the umbrella as sturdy as possible.
Then he hands one of them to Killua.
"Thanks..." he says, staring at the umbrella in his hand, which indeed shields him from the rain. "But my hand is cold now."
"Pick your poison," Auren says, smiling, finishing his own and then playing around with it by spinning it rapidly before throwing it into the sky and firing a strong Nen blast through Emission, of course created with Limitless Waters, shattering it into frozen particles, which look like a tiny snowstorm.
"Nen is a lot of fun. It's important to pick whatever you personally like," Auren says, while Killua stares at the crystal dust slowly getting carried away by the wind, the rain gently falling onto his face.
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