Wing tried to imitate Liam's approach—using pure Ko throughout the entire match against President Netero.
Netero had to attack and defend against his Ko. He couldn't use moves with too wide a range, or he'd hit Wing's zero-defense torso, causing death or serious injury.
The old man wasn't annoyed.
At his age and strength level, having juniors bring some challenge and difficulty to his boring invincible life of many years? He was too happy for that.
The result: Wing himself was useless.
His Ko activation speed was a beat slower than Liam's.
Between offensive and defensive exchanges, using Ryu to mobilize aura at different positions on his fists and feet, switching the Ko focus point—not as smooth as Liam.
Wing's total aura exceeded Liam's, so his Ko was naturally higher in intensity.
However, during rapid transitions between offense and defense, his Ko speed became slower and slower, the switching more and more laggy. The overload of concentration and attention aggravated his aura consumption during battle. If Liam only consumed 5 aura per second competing with Netero using the same tactics, then Wing consumed at least 10 aura per second—much higher than the loss when he fought normally with his accustomed style.
Naturally incomparable.
Liam was semi-automated by the Star Mark's Flowing Star Strike. As soon as a thought arose, his aura gathered instinctively without requiring too much conscious attention.
No thought, no mind.
Taking the concept from Dragon Ball Super and substituting it in, it almost had the charm of Ultra Instinct.
Wing was an Enhancer and didn't have this kind of self-operating method. As the battle progressed, he became mentally exhausted. The slightest hesitation created a flaw, and the sharp-eyed Netero seized the opportunity—targeting the moment Wing's aura paused slightly before it could form Ko somewhere in his fists and feet. He immediately struck out, pointing a finger through the air.
The Emission finger strike was very similar to the old Sky Master's technique.
Wing had already missed his chance. Knowing it was too late to complete Ko, he could only raise his aura to defend in front of him. He was still thrown out of the ring by this finger strike.
Wing fell to the ground and looked at his swollen arms. If he didn't have decent training and wasn't a thick-skinned Enhancer, with the President's finger, he might have broken both arms.
Netero announced in good spirits that there would be such competitions for the next three to five days.
Wing was helped up by his junior Hart. He thought to himself: "The President did it for Liam! After all, Liam collapsed from exhaustion on his own. It wasn't because the President found a way to defeat him and beat him head-on..."
The remaining martial artists went into battle one after another, all wanting to repeat Liam's approach, leaving a good impression with Netero and showing off.
The results were all without exception. Drawing tigers ended up as dogs. Netero manipulated them at will.
Being manipulated by Netero was nothing, but as a result, everyone immediately realized the gap between themselves and Liam. Even Wing's performance was far inferior, let alone persisting for a full hour until collapsing from exhaustion like Liam had. And this was very frustrating.
Gel watched the President playing around in the ring, then turned to look at Pyon leaving.
Shizuku helped Liam walk away. Pyon walked beside them, heading to the hotel together...
While resting in the crook of Shizuku's arm, Liam focused his thoughts and projected his consciousness to the Star Mark across the ocean.
When he'd left before, he'd given instructions through Lumos's Star Mark, so he could sense its presence and operate it anytime.
The command operation sensation wasn't strong. With an ocean between them, so far apart, Liam could still successfully connect to Lumos's Star Mark. Even Liam himself had to admit this was outrageous.
Pat pat pat—the sound of footsteps flooded his ears. Ahead was a forest scene flying by like a shuttle, with trees whipping past in peripheral vision on both sides.
Obviously, Lumos was following the Star Mark's instructions, running ten kilometers daily to lose weight.
Liam was so tired he slowed to a walk, then leaned against a tree beside the path. Only then did he notice the pale ghost-like boy riding on the tiger's back—none other than Haku.
Haku had no weight, so having him along didn't interfere with Lumos's weight loss.
"Huff... huff..."
Lumos stuck out his tiger tongue and panted. So tired after just a few kilometers of running. The last time Liam experienced this was a lifetime ago. After practicing Nen in this life, running was basically the same as walking in his eyes. If he wanted, he could run from morning to night. This physical exertion was nothing compared to his body's automatic recovery.
Haku blinked and looked at him.
"Hrrr..." Liam opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a low tiger's roar.
In desperation, he raised his tiger paw and pointed toward the amusement park outside the woods. Haku understood and led him deeper into the forest.
Liam couldn't help feeling curious.
Haku and Lumos had appeared in the tower office of the amusement park before. They probably didn't enter through the main entrance. So was it the secret passage from the underground tomb?
But then Lumos would need to enter the underground tomb of the True Martial King first. As for the tomb entrance, you needed to activate Nen to pass through...
Arriving in front of the stone with divine script on it, Haku suddenly transformed into a four-winged bone dragon. He picked up the big fat tiger in his mouth—like a fat white house cat—bumped against the divine script, and disappeared on the spot together.
"Pretty slick!"
Lumos shook off his tiger-skin fat and walked through the empty tomb of the True Martial King, which hadn't changed much. He entered the secret passage with Haku and soon arrived at Alain's tower office.
In the office, various toys Alain had prepared for Haku's daily entertainment were scattered about. Looking at them now, many toys bore marks from being torn by tiger claws. It seemed Lumos had wreaked quite a bit of havoc over the past six months.
Haku rode on a round plush ball, curiously watching Lumos, whose temperament had changed. A vivid look of contemplation appeared on the fat tiger's face.
"Although I asked Wing to relay the message and use the fake orbs sold at the amusement park here to lure Biscuit... but even if everything goes smoothly and Biscuit really gets hooked to the island, what happens next?"
Biscuit was a Double-Star Gem Hunter. With such status, she was rarer and more valuable than an endangered animal like the Misery Moon Tiger. Getting Lumos's adoption rights definitely wouldn't be a big problem.
The big question was: if Biscuit came to Ghost Island, how could he trick her into adopting Lumos and bringing the tiger to him?
Liam had to think deeply. The fat tiger crossed his front legs and lay down comfortably.
"If it really comes to the point where there's no other choice, then I can only use the last resort."
Liam thought it through a few times. It seemed the only trump card he could use to trade with Biscuit was—Greed Island.
There was a gem called the Blue Planet on Greed Island!
Liam didn't know how rare this thing was, but judging from the manga plot, at least Biscuit herself really wanted it. Otherwise she wouldn't have gone to Greed Island.
Getting Biscuit's help based on just information was obviously unrealistic. As a Double-Star Gem Hunter, Biscuit might not even know the Blue Planet's whereabouts at this moment.
The difficulty lay in the Blue Planet's location: Greed Island.
Greed Island could only be entered through a special game of the same name. Besides the result of landing on the island—Liam and Shizuku had experienced it personally a few months ago.
A total of one hundred sets were issued that year. Now they were extremely rare and hard to find, worth hundreds of millions.
After reading the manga, he knew that rich guy named Battera had collected many sets of Greed Island...
Greed Island in the left hand and Blue Planet in the right hand—that would ensure nothing went wrong. Biscuit could definitely be successfully hooked to help.
It's just that the process was a bit troublesome...
How great would it have been if he'd met Biscuit instead of Ginta at the beginning of transmigration? With his "natural talent," Biscuit wouldn't have been able to resist seeing such potential on the spot. He wouldn't even have to ask—she couldn't help but train him. She wouldn't give up until she carved this rough jade into a brilliant gem...
Liam couldn't help but smile.
After wandering around the office, he found a stack of white paper and a bottle of pen and ink, which he wrapped around his tiger tail.
He extended his sharp tiger claws and quietly flicked off the ink bottle cap with a swipe.
Dipped claw into the ink.
Liam tried using Flowing Star Strike on Lumos. After trying for a long time, he could barely draw a picture of what Biscuit looked like in his memory.
Of course, the little girl in a princess dress version.
He'd only seen the two-dimensional version of Biscuit in the manga. To prevent Lumos from making a mistake, Liam drew pictures of Biscuit with a single ponytail, double ponytails, and different hairstyles with bunted hair.
"That's probably what she looks like, Lumos. Remember well." Liam reminded through the vague consciousness connection. "In the future, when you have nothing to do, walk around the amusement park more. If you see a girl like this, scratch your skin to activate the Star Mark's self-healing function to alert me."
"Roar..." A tiger's rumble came from the back of his mind.
"Remember, the stronger this girl feels, the more real she is." Liam added, lest Lumos notify him if he caught a girl who just looked similar.
Wild animals had strong intuition and were much sharper than humans at judging whether a target was threatening. And Biscuit definitely wouldn't enter Zetsu when shopping.
As for Biscuit's true appearance—the tall muscular figure in JOJO style—Liam didn't draw it at all.
No matter how you thought about it, Aunt Bisky, who loved beauty, couldn't walk around the streets with that appearance when shopping. In that case, how could she pretend to be cute and adorable to others...
Over at Sensui Mountain, on the sofa in the hotel room, Liam rested his head on Shizuku's lap and asked, "Ready?"
Handling things with split attention wasn't difficult for him.
On his other side sat Pyon. The bunny girl said casually, "Hold on." She crossed one hand over Liam's face and pressed it on his chest. She put the laptop on her lap and typed on the keyboard with her other hand.
Green code-like aura flowed down her arm, followed the fingertips pressing on Liam's chest, and entered his heart. Like a bag woven from code, it covered Liam's heart.
Limited edition, shrink-type En.
"Ready?" Liam asked again. Looking up, he could see Pyon's slender white arm. Beyond the white arm, Shizuku was looking down at him.
"No." Pyon was like an old traditional medicine doctor, pressing her palm back and forth on Liam's chest, frowning from time to time. "Why are you rushing me? Careful, I'll charge you!"
Shizuku rubbed Liam's temples on both sides. Liam simply closed his eyes to rest.
In the end, Pyon, the old doctor, made her diagnosis: "The only thing certain is that what's in your heart is indeed something similar to Nen."
"Isn't that the same as saying nothing?" Liam opened his eyes.
Smack—Pyon slapped him on the face. "It's aura. That's the only way I can describe it. I've never seen such chaotic aura. There are at least three or four different components entangled together..."
The bunny girl pinched the cheeks on both sides of Liam's mouth with one hand as he tried to speak, and supported his chin with the other, frowning as she observed the partly confusing and partly clear analysis results on screen.
"Life and death... resentment..."
She muttered to herself. "Why is there both a healing feature and a part that's similar to post-mortem Nen? The healing part can explain your unusual recovery speed... What about the post-mortem Nen part? Hey, Liam, has your heart been haunted by some dead person's Nen, or has it been modified?"
Liam's mouth was pinched. Unable to speak, he couldn't help rolling his eyes.
Liam said, "Sort of. My heart became like this after my mother passed away."
Pyon looked over.
"But I hadn't awakened Nen at that time." Liam said. "I don't know if she had Nen ability. Can ordinary people leave post-mortem Nen?"
"Of course." Pyon said, looking at him like an idiot. "Aren't Nen users just evolved from ordinary people?"
"Same goes the other way around," the bunny girl said. "Even if you have Nen ability, can you leave post-mortem Nen? Among Nen users, those whose mind, perseverance, courage, obsession... aren't as abundant as certain ordinary people—the vast majority of ordinary people remain ordinary throughout their lives, perhaps just because they haven't encountered the right opportunity or the right guide to open their aura nodes."
Shizuku said curiously, "I heard ordinary people can also awaken Nen on their own."
Pyon said, "People like that—even if they don't have to awaken on their own but accept guidance and learn Nen step by step—can still be among the best."
"Those who can awaken Nen on their own, even if they just discover the existence of aura by themselves, are all rare talents." She looked at Liam. "I think in your case, after the change in your heart, you're already considered this kind of person."
Liam sat up, rubbed his cheeks, and said with a smile, "Even so, I can still be considered enlightened by others. How can I be self-awakened?"
"Unless you already knew about Nen at that time."
Pyon said, "Otherwise, even if someone's punched open your aura nodes, if you can control the dispersing aura independently without knowing anything, it can still be considered self-awakening."
She pointed to her head. "In the field of Nen, consciousness, subconsciousness, cognition... any difference makes a huge difference. Knowing and not knowing are two completely different situations. Don't forget—in the word concept, there's the character for thought."
"Then I'm definitely not someone who awakened on his own. Who told me I'd read Hunter manga in my previous life?" Liam thought to himself. But then he reconsidered. When he'd first transmigrated, he didn't even know this was the Hunter World. Without knowing anything, he'd used Nen abilities to control the wild wolf for his own use...
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