Vast power, as boundless as the sea, bloomed from the boy's body. Waves of Nen spread outward in all directions with the boy at the center.
With a loud "bang", the back of a hand slammed viciously into the tabletop, accompanied by the sound of the wooden table shattering completely.
The boy gasped for breath again and again, his eyes sharp as blades.
His right arm had been torn open from the inside by this still-uncontrolled power. Fresh blood poured down, gathering into a pool of dark red liquid, then flowing along the shattered wooden boards and dripping onto the floor.
But no one in the room paid attention to his injuries, including the boy himself.
The spiders all stared at the hand pressing Chrollo down against the tabletop.
"...The boss actually lost?!"
Phinks, standing behind Chrollo, showed a rare look of shock.
Uvogin widened his eyes, raised a hand to scratch his head, and said in disbelief,
"You've got to be kidding! How could this brat possibly beat the boss!"
Chrollo merely smiled faintly, utterly unconcerned with victory or defeat.
"Do you understand now?"
He withdrew his hand from beneath Kisho's arm, glanced at the wound on the back of his hand, then indifferently looked away and refocused his attention on Kisho.
"After you regained your Nen abilities, your category became Enhancement—more precisely, you yourself have always belonged to the 'Enhancement' type."
"This kind of ability, however, needs to be materialized through a 'badge' before it can be used by you or by others."
He paused slightly, then continued.
"In other words, without wearing a badge, your level is about the same as that of an ordinary person who has just learned Nen and hasn't been strengthened by 'Ten'."
His gaze shifted to Kisho's arm.
"Power like this—you can't use it skillfully yet, can you?"
Kisho: "..."
He felt an overwhelming sense of fear and pressure.
That feeling of being seen through completely…
Just from watching a single spar and a playful arm-wrestling match, so much had been seen.
Chrollo had even found what was hidden inside his body… Noah Barton.
Kisho met Chrollo's gaze, but within those pitch-black, bottomless pupils, he could read no emotion at all, nor could he tell whether this man already knew everything.
So this is… the leader of the Troupe?
Chrollo smiled, withdrew his gaze from Kisho, stood up, and spoke slowly.
"Machi, help him treat his injuries."
Chrollo walked toward the second floor.
"Come find me after it's taken care of. There are some things I want to ask you."
...
After thanking Machi, Kisho slowly went up the stairs. Standing in front of Chrollo's room, although the door wasn't closed, he still knocked with his knuckles before stepping inside.
His gaze swept past the corner where he had holed up months ago, then he turned to look at someone lazily seated on the sofa, white candles lit around him.
"Let's first verify whether my conclusion is correct."
Chrollo pointed to the cup in front of him, filled with water, with a leaf floating on the surface.
Kisho frowned slightly and said slowly,
"Water divination for testing Nen."
Chrollo smiled.
"It seems you've learned quite a bit while you were out."
Kisho shrugged.
"Not that much. There's still a lot I don't know."
He steadied himself, walked over, sat down in front of the cup, raised both hands to either side of it, and activated his Nen.
The water in the cup rose at a visible speed, then overflowed from the rim.
Kisho stared at the overflowing water, surprise and helplessness showing in his eyes.
This phenomenon that completely violated the law of conservation of energy… no matter how many times he saw it, his worldview was refreshed every time.
"It's just as I thought."
Chrollo's gaze slowly lifted to meet the boy's eyes.
"You should also be able to use 'Transmutation' abilities. Try again."
"So many demands…"
Kisho rolled his eyes. While grumbling inwardly, he still obediently complied.
As a silver-blue light slowly gathered in one of his eyes, the water in the cup appeared unchanged on the surface, but Kisho was certain that it had already been infused with flavor.
"It seems you can already use 'his' Nen ability quite skillfully."
While Kisho was still releasing Nen, Chrollo's voice drifted over quietly, causing Kisho to snap his eyes open.
"About 'him', how much do you know?"
Chrollo raised a hand to support his chin, his pitch-black eyes fixed on the boy before him, waiting confidently for an answer.
Under such a gaze, Kisho inevitably felt fear. After a long silence, he still spoke firmly.
"...I don't want to say."
Hearing this, Chrollo remained completely calm.
He stared into the boy's eyes until the boy tensed up as if facing a great enemy, then slowly spoke.
"Then forget it."
Kisho had thought a fight (or a beating) was inevitable, but Chrollo's reaction left him stunned.
"...Eh?"
Chrollo smiled gently.
"It's not so much that you don't want to say. In reality, you probably don't know much yourself—otherwise you wouldn't have gone to the library to look things up."
Black lines crossed Kisho's face as he snapped angrily,
"If you know everything already, why are you even asking me?!"
Anger rose in his heart, emboldening his courage. Kisho stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and couldn't be bothered to deal with this annoying leader who was clearly stirring trouble for no reason.
"...If there's nothing else, can I go?"
"Don't rush."
Chrollo's words froze Kisho, who had already been planning to slip away.
"Show me the Nen abilities you've developed."
He smiled as he made this slightly unreasonable request, then explained matter-of-factly.
"Just show whatever you think can be shown. It'll be easier to coordinate during missions once I understand them."
Very reasonable—and impossible to refute.
Kisho fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.
He demonstrated Nen fire, wind blades, and rock spikes in sequence, then took out the triangular spike hidden in his sleeve.
"These Transmutation abilities can be used on their own, or applied to weapons."
"With a weapon like this, combined with your Nen, you can indeed catch opponents off guard."
Chrollo covered his mouth and pondered. After a short while, he lowered his hand and said slowly,
"But once your strength and speed increase, weapons like this won't be very suitable for you anymore."
He smiled.
"Perhaps you could consider switching to another type—of course, this is just my personal suggestion."
After a brief moment of thought, Kisho agreed.
When his strength was insufficient, a triangular spike could indeed concentrate limited power to cause damage, but its attack methods were too simple and easy to guard against.
"I remember you can also convert Nen into 'water', right? What effect does this 'water' created from Nen have?"
Kisho froze, thought for a moment, then raised his still-aching right arm and pressed the fingers of his left hand against it.
Streams of water flowed from his fingertips, seeping into the marks stitched together by Nen threads. Within seconds, the wounds disappeared completely, and even the skin returned to its original fair tone.
"Oh?"
Chrollo watched Kisho's movements, interest appearing on his face.
"A recovery-type ability?"
Kisho's eyes also lit up, which Chrollo noticed.
"What is it?"
Kisho's pupils darted around, then narrowed, like a little mouse that had stolen some oil.
"...This ability… can be used to charge fees, right? Boss."
Chrollo: "..."
Should this be called becoming like those you associate with, or being influenced by bad company? The little spider who had just joined hadn't learned much else yet, but had already picked up someone's knack for making money.
A miscalculation. He really shouldn't have tacitly allowed the little spider to act freely.
"Starting tomorrow, train your physical abilities. And you should also properly practice how to use Nen in combat."
Chrollo seamlessly changed the topic, speaking with slight seriousness.
"If you want to push Nen to its extreme, you should understand what you're most lacking right now."
Kisho fell silent, then slowly nodded.
"I understand."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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