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Chapter 70: A True Heretical Cultivator
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Suyan reached out and aggressively pinched Shizuka's soft, squishy cheeks, pulling them outward. "Do I look that desperate to you?"
"Wuuh wuhh!" Shizuka let out muffled whines from the back of her throat, shooting Suyan a highly skeptical, thoroughly disdainful look.
So, who exactly was it? Who was it that, mere days after I brought him home, completely devoured me?
And who was it that conquered Rika on the very first day they met?
Such a mystery~ Shizuka thought sarcastically.
Suyan completely ignored her accusing glare. He replayed his own phrasing in his head and had to admit—it really did sound like a double entendre.
But he genuinely hadn't meant it that way.
He was thinking of a highly unorthodox, alternative method of awakening Nen from the Hunter x Hunter universe.
Before the Yorknew City arc, when Gon and Killua were trying to scrape together billions of Jenny to buy the Greed Island console, Gon discovered something interesting at a flea market. By using Gyo (focusing aura into his eyes), he noticed a faint, lingering aura clinging to a specific wooden knife.
This revealed a fascinating phenomenon: when absolute masters of their craft—the elites of the elites—pour their absolute heart, soul, and unwavering concentration into their work, they can subconsciously leak aura, infusing it into the objects they create. Such objects often become priceless masterpieces.
Gon and Killua had used this trick to scan flea markets for Nen-infused artifacts, buying them cheap and selling them high.
This was exactly the principle Suyan was trying to convey to Rika.
However, even if a genius managed to subconsciously use Nen, they still needed a proper Nen user to guide them across the finish line.
Why? Look at Komugi. The blind girl awakened an incredibly complex Nen ability solely through the life-or-death pressure of playing Gungi against the Ant King. But if no one ever explained the concept of Nen to her, she would live the rest of her life believing she simply had a sudden "epiphany" or "level-up" in her Gungi skills.
First, the act requires absolute, unbreakable concentration. If you are entirely focused on the task, you lack the spare mental capacity to realize you are leaking magical energy. Second, without another Nen user actively using Gyo to observe your aura flow, the phenomenon remains completely invisible.
In summary, for someone like Rika, this was by far the most viable path.
She needed to find a task she was deeply, passionately obsessed with, enter a state of absolute hyper-focus, and perform it. Meanwhile, Shizuka would stand by and continuously use Gyo to monitor her. If Shizuka spotted a moment where Rika subconsciously flared her aura, she would document exactly when and how it happened.
Afterward, Rika would carefully analyze those specific timestamps, deconstruct her exact mental and emotional state at those exact moments, and train herself to artificially trigger that state on command.
If she could do that, she would successfully awaken her Nen.
The only problem was that this method was the absolute definition of a "heretical path." Compared to this convoluted mess, forcefully blasting open someone's Aura Nodes with raw energy was practically orthodox traditionalism.
It was tedious, time-consuming, and the success rate was abysmally low. It also hinged entirely on whether the target actually possessed the latent talent to awaken Nen naturally.
But Suyan had nothing but free time right now. If Rika wanted to stubbornly bash her head against the wall, he was more than happy to let her try.
It just meant Shizuka would have to suffer a little more. But as Rika's best friend, surely she would gladly endure it... right?
Suyan laid out the entire theory and methodology to Rika.
Realizing she had completely misunderstood his intentions, a flash of genuine embarrassment crossed Rika's face. She quickly swallowed her pride, thought over his words, and said, "If we're talking about hobbies that I can pour my absolute heart and soul into without ever getting distracted…"
"It has to be guns."
"Yes! Yes, exactly!" Shizuka, having finally freed herself from Suyan's pinching, nodded vigorously. "Rika is an absolute master with firearms! She's ranked in the top five shooters in the entire Island Nation!"
To emphasize her point, Shizuka struck a dramatic pose, forming a finger-gun and aiming it at Suyan.
"Bang!" she mimicked a gunshot, then brought her index finger to her lips and delicately blew the imaginary smoke away.
"Did I ask you? I already know all of that. You don't need to give me a recap," Suyan deadpanned, rolling his eyes at the perpetually childish doctor. He turned back to Rika. "When it comes to guns, do you prefer the mechanical aspect of stripping and assembling them, or the actual act of shooting?"
"Shooting. Absolutely," Rika answered without a second of hesitation. "I love the thrill of the trigger pull—the absolute uncertainty in the split second before the bullet finds its mark."
"Hmm." Suyan rubbed his chin, formulating a plan. "Alright. I have a mission for you, then."
"A mission?"
"Yeah." Suyan nodded. "You have a massive stash of illegal firearms hidden in this house, right? Grab your favorites, grab Shizuka, and go out to—"
Before he could finish, Suyan noticed out of the corner of his eye that Shizuka was attempting to stealthily tiptoe out the door.
"Shizuka. Exactly where do you think you're going?" Suyan called out sharply.
"Busted…" Shizuka flinched, freezing in place. She slowly turned around, rubbing her perfectly flat stomach, and lied through her teeth. "I, um… I'm suddenly feeling a bit peckish. I was just going to look for some snacks."
"Is that so?" Suyan stared at her, his face radiating pure skepticism.
"Zzz…" Shizuka lowered her head, absolutely refusing to make eye contact. For some inexplicable reason, whenever Suyan looked at her with that deadpan stare, she felt entirely powerless against him.
After several long seconds of awkward silence, she finally mumbled, "I've been working so hard all day… What's wrong with taking a little break?"
"You absolute slacker. What exactly have you worked hard on? Haven't you been slacking off and resting this entire time?" Suyan scoffed.
"I— I…" Shizuka stammered, completely unable to defend herself.
Then, as if struck by a sudden bolt of inspiration, she slammed her hands onto her hips, puffed out her chest, and declared with supreme, unearned confidence, "I successfully cultivated Suyan into an outstanding Nen user! That was hard work!"
Suyan sweatdropped.
Why did that sound so incredibly familiar?
Is that you, Wing? 'I successfully awakened a true monster?!' Suyan delivered a swift, merciless karate chop to the top of Shizuka's head, refusing to indulge her nonsense. "Anyway, majority rules! You are going to be a good girl and accompany Rika!"
Ignoring Shizuka's whining, Suyan turned back to Rika and finished explaining the plan.
It was straightforward: Rika would go outside and use the roaming zombies as live target practice. Meanwhile, Shizuka would act as her bodyguard while constantly maintaining Gyo on her eyes to monitor Rika's aura flow.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Shizuka looked thoroughly deflated. Just hearing the plan made her feel exhausted.
And she actually had to do it?
Shizuka thought about it for a moment, then, entirely out of character, she raised her hand high into the air.
Noticing the bizarre behavior, Suyan asked, "Miss Marikawa, do you have something to add?"
With shocking seriousness, Shizuka stated, "I don't have any objections to your plan, Suyan. But I have one small condition."
"Let's hear it."
"I'll help Rika, but in exchange, during this training period, you have to personally satisfy my needs." Shizuka delivered the demand without batting an eye.
"Satisfy you?" Suyan paused, stunned for a second, before bursting into realization.
He stared at the well-endowed, natural airhead in disbelief.
Good lord. The truly desperate, sex-crazed one isn't Yuriko. It's you, isn't it?! Wait. If she wanted him to 'satisfy' her tonight...
Wouldn't that directly crash into Yuriko's planned night attack?
Suyan shot Shizuka a look of pure bewilderment.
This woman... is she Takagi Yuriko's natural hard counter?!
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