For the next few hours, Nicholas and I discuss the next steps to take as Blacklist Hunters, including jobs and purchases. In the end we opted for the next 3 facilities as bases:
—Real estate offices in a densely populated city with several companies nearby. It covers a total of 520 square meters, has two floors, and comes fully furnished. The public office is ideal for receiving clients in an area with a high crime rate and projecting an image of professionalism and transparency. Price: 180.000.000.
—A small, four-story building located in a poor suburb, with working water and electricity but hidden from the public eye. It's a perfect location for handling the most shady matters or clients who don't want to make public appearances. We'll use this location as the agency's headquarters for the time being, and we'll move into the offices of the big city when we gain more renown and resources. Price: 30.000.000.
—The last property is a large, secluded home with a garden, a pond, and several available rooms. This space is intended to serve as a secondary retreat to our Heavens Arena floors, and will also serve as lodging for future high-ranking members who join our organization. Price: 65.000.000.
Aside from the facilities and some necessary resources, we also talked about hiring staff. Since we're still a newly founded agency, we don't need a lot of manpower, and the security and physical lab work would be covered for the time being by the three Heavens Arena fighters: Riven, Tetsu, and The Dancer, whose name she revealed to be Natasha.
What we would need for our headquarters would be a couple of individuals to perform maintenance duties and a secretary to handle incoming requests and visits. Since none of us have the time or ability to do so, I ask Nicholas to prepare job postings and post them online after the mission of Yorknew City.
Obviously, after discussing these topics for 2 hours, the cafe staff inevitably had to ask us to leave, so Nicholas drove me to the motel he had been staying at for the last couple of days to continue.
There we finally clear up all the pending issues of the cafe, deciding to buy the 4-story building in the poor suburb first before driving to Glam Gas Land to uncover the cause of the mysterious deaths and sort out some of the minor jobs Nicholas had mentioned to me along the way.
To do this, we each grab one of our disposable phones and then call real estate agencies to arrange a face-to-face purchase appointment, as well as the groups that posted the articles of the mysterious deaths at Glam Gas Land and the other Blacklist Hunter jobs that Nicholas had summarized for me as less relevant, ranging from arresting low-level wanted criminals to analyzing communications and encrypted documents.
After confirming our next professional steps, I leave the motel and under the reddish sky of the sunset I get ready to contact some of my old contacts with whom I currently have unfinished business:
—The first person I call is my fellow Beast Hunter Pokkle, whom I had agreed to meet with to help him improve his growth rate and Nen abilities. When he answers the phone, he becomes excited and quick talking like a madman.
Apparently he had seen my big battle as a Heavens Arena Floor Master against Hisoka, and what he saw had fascinated him. My Nen abilities as an Emitter had made him realize how weak his preconceived ideas about what ability to create were, and now he is more impatient than ever for us to meet in person again so I can help him.
According to him, his Nen master had finally had to temporarily withdraw because he had a pre-planned assignment and would suffer a penalty if he didn't complete it, so now he was waiting for him while he trained in Beeskafmarro, as we had previously agreed.
Given this opportunity, I ask him if it would be okay if we can meet in 3 days so I can prepare and give him my guidance, and he excitedly confirm that it's perfect, and that he looks forward to meeting me so he can become a better Hunter who'll be able achieve results and accomplishments.
So, equally excited to be able to see him again to repay him for all the help he gave me as a Beast Hunter, I say goodbye after agreeing on a time and place: the bookstore at the intersection of Santasar and Vionisia Streets, at 10:00 am.
—After Pokkle, it's the turn to call my favorite bald guy, Hanzo, who has already completed his Nen training. When I start talking to him, his tone is relaxed and friendly, so I suspect that unlike Pokkle, he hasn't used a computer during all this time. Otherwise he'd hear the news from Heavens Arena, and I'd sense some unease or other out-of-character emotion in his talking.
In any case, in keeping with his personality, Hanzo begins to speak nonstop. It seems he has also decided to become an independent Blacklist Hunter, and has begun traveling around Jappon investigating and accepting jobs with the goal of obtaining information on the Hermit's Scroll whereabouts.
He pesters me with descriptions of the exercises and exertions he had to go through in his Nen training, and also tells me about the places he's visited, the jobs he's done, how he's done them, the people he's met, what they've talked about, etc. It's a relief that he's been an official Hunter for less than a month, because otherwise I would have had to listen to his babble until tomorrow.
When he finally finishes his narrative and asks me about my activities, I begin to tell him about the important events of the past 3 months: my career as a fighter in Heavens Arena, my meeting with the other passers of the Hunter Exam, the formation of the Tsukimichi Organization, and of course, my grand final fight against Hisoka.
This last thing is what surprises him the most, since like the rest of us, Hanzo had also observed Hisoka during the Hunter Exam phases, and knew very well how dangerous he was. Upon learning that I have defeated and killed him in Heavens Arena, he congratulates me with all possible respect and recognition, and assures me that he will seek that fight as soon as possible.
He also urges me in a louder and more annoying voice to meet as soon as possible to settle our outstanding account, and I then inform him that at the beginning of January, Nicholas and I will go to his home country to carry out a job as security forces.
Of course I don't reveal any more details about the job, but this alone is enough to excite Hanzo, who tells me in a deep voice with an underlying menacing tone that he'll make sure to clear his schedule to welcome us as guests and provide us with the tour he'd promised. With this promise between us, I hang up the phone, wondering internally if everything will be okay when we get there.
—Finally, with the sky already darkened by my long conversation with Hanzo, the last call of the day is for my old acquaintance who is the most tiring to talk to: the Gourmet Hunter Menchi.
To be honest, as the phone rings on hold, a small part of me hopes Menchi won't pick it up, the shame and confusion from our last meeting still weighing on my mind. In the end, Menchi answers.
At first, she is the only one speaking, the complex mix of anger, emotion, excitement, and intelligible phrases about my fight with Hisoka at the Heavens Arena making it very difficult for me to engage in conversation or fully understand her position. After about 7 minutes of this, she seems to calm down, and we are able to resume a proper conversation.
According to her, she's still traveling the world, exploring new flavors and signing various sponsorship and collaboration contracts with restaurants around the world. However, she hasn't signed any work contracts since her last one ended on June, so for now, she has more freedom and free time than she did back then.
That's why she'd been able to take short breaks from her daily routine to research my fighting career at Heavens Arena. She starts telling me that she found my fights very entertaining, especially because of the effort I put into making it look like I struggled, and that the interview I had with Cocco before my Floor Master title fight had really intrigued her.
She tells me I was very entertaining and charming back then, and she seemed to find the idea of me acting like a martial arts master despite being so young and having only been training Nen for six months adorable. But what caught her attention most was the fucking popular intrigue about whether I had a girlfriend.
As she had been one of the Examiners during my Hunter Exam, she had full knowledge of my interactions with Ponzu during its stages, and with that ammunition and Cocco's statements about our interactions she started to tease me by questioning if I was in fact dating her, and if that wasn't the case she was available whenever I decided to open up my heart and become a Gourmet Hunter, claiming that the two of us together could cross new frontiers in the culinary world.
Sighing and massaging my temples in frustration, I ignore her seductive voice and tell her to cut it out with her blatant attempt to convince me to become a Gourmet Hunter, to which she shows some annoyance and complaint until she finally sighs in defeat after several statements on my part.
For my part, I inform her that I have resumed my path as a Blacklist Hunter and that I plan to carry out several jobs with Nicholas, although without revealing the information relevant to those jobs.
I also inform her that I'll be available to offer her the meal I have pending with her between November and December, asking her to clear her schedule for those dates. Although somewhat reluctant, Menchi accepts the proposal, but warns me that she's tried every culinary delight imaginable and has very high expectations of me, so anything on the level of the third phase of the Hunter Exam won't work for me this time.
Despite the weight these words carry, my voice remains firm and confident as I assure her that I will present her with a dish she'll be more than satisfied with. Menchi laughs happily upon hearing this, and warning me not to forget this promise I've made her, she tells me she'll be eagerly waiting for me to contact her again to arrange the meal details before we both say our goodbyes and hang up.
Having already gotten dark, I decide to ask for my own room at this same motel to spend the night, and after the manager gives me the key, I go back up to Nicholas room.
"You're finally back. It's already night out there. Where have you been going for so long?" Nicholas asks as soon as I walk through the door.
"I've been making some calls and making plans with some old friends. Don't worry." I say as I walk beside him, who is sitting in front of his laptop on a table. "Have you decided which car we will buy to go out tomorrow?"
"I've reviewed several options on different sales platforms, and these are the models that best adapt to both comfort and elegance for long trips." He says lending me his laptop to show me several tabs with car offers on the screen.
'The normal car for a mercenary agency would be simple but elegant, with comfortable seats and backrests, and preferably black. However, this is going to be a car for long journeys, in a world full of monsters. So for the moment I need durability, high performance, and functionality.' I think as I click on the pages with the mouse.
After a while reviewing at the offers, I turn the laptop around to show Nicholas the car offer I have chosen. "Boss, are you sure that's the car you want? Don't you think a fancier car with fewer features to give a professional image would be better for our work?" He asks somewhat unconvinced.
"They would be the most viable options for customer-facing work, and I also plan to purchase those types of cars when our agency becomes more well-known. But right now, what we're looking for is a practical car for long trips, and I think this is the best option." I respond.
The car I've chosen is a brownish-yellow 4x4 off-roader with low fuel consumption, 290 horsepower, advanced climate control and infotainment systems, and a construction durable enough to withstand the severe weather changes and attacks from ferocious monsters of this world, with minimal damage and keeping passengers safe. Prize:
Its interior is spacious enough to sleep comfortably lying down in the back, and in case several people have to travel in it, it includes comfortable reclining seats and pedestals to elevate the lower extremities and prevent neck pain and circulation problems, as well as a high-speed internet connection and removable trays, allowing us to check our laptops even while traveling.
And it also has a spacious trunk that can be made even more spacious by folding down the rear seats, so the car could also be used for transporting goods (or even people, depending on the case), so we could also use it for cargo transport missions.
The downside would be that it's a bit large, so it's harder to park, but that won't be a problem for us. There's also what Nicholas said about not giving the impression of professional Blacklist Hunters, but it's utility over image in this case.
After spending some time convincing Nicholas that this car has the best features for the purpose of long trips, he finally gives in and agrees that we will go to the dealership to buy the car after purchasing the 4-story building to set up our agency, and that afterward we will begin our road trip to increase our activity rate as Blacklist Hunters along the way.
With our future plans in place, I finally say goodbye to Nicholas for the night, head to the room I've rented, sit on the bed, and begin to ponder the pending matters that I can't discuss with him amidst the solitude and silence of the dark room.
'The first thing we'll do tomorrow is use my portals to go to the location of our future office, and after purchasing it, I'll have to leave one of the Heavens Arena trio to furnish it and protect it from "unwanted guests". After that, we'll have to go to the dealership where the car is located, and then return here and begin our journey to Glam Gas Land.'
'Buff, with so many things and places, I'll need 4 portals. No, wait... 3. I don't need to open a new portal to get here. Still, that's too many orbs for so few things.' I think rubbing my temples.
'I'm not skilled enough yet. I need to train even more. My aura and Nen proficiency aren't high enough yet to increase the Wormhole Orb's usage limit or the number of orbs I can have at once, so it's going to be very troublesome if I have to keep creating a new orb every time I go to and from Greed Island, or if I use it to get to other places like I am now. Plus, I need to gain even more power.'
'At first, I thought carefully about what I could do and what I needed to have, not only to defeat Hisoka, but also for my needs in this world. I know perfectly well that I haven't made a mistake in choosing my abilities, and I'm very close to increase the Wormhole Orb usage limit to 3. But that's not enough.'
'Even though I'm already a high combat pro, I still need to get even stronger. As I'm now, if I were to face the Phantom Troupe, it would be a difficult situation. I can handle them one on one, and if several of them come at me at once, I can always use my portals. But if I find myself in a situation where I can't escape while I confront them, even if I take out one of them, the others will end up killing me.'
'Leave the Troop out. Singularly, I won't be able to do anything against Meruem, a Royal Guard, or Netero. Hell, I don't even know if I could win against a member of the Zoldyck Family, and that includes Killua at his full potential. I might not be able to defeat Meruem and Netero because they have "system-breaking powers", but I'd at least want to be able to confront them and walk away alive.' While thinking this, I lay on the bed with my hands behind my head.
'And it's not just about combat. There are also many circumstances that couldn't be handled with my abilities, and many powers that could cause problems for my jobs, such as a curse or one of the abilities shown in the Succession Contest arc.'
'I can't cover everything, but I at least want to create abilities that help me in some circunstances. Based on my estimates of my growth and my ability to tune my Hatsu to the wavelength of my mind and aura, I'd say I could eventually have enough capacity to reach 7 orbs in total.'
'However, using all my capacity on the characteristics and use of orbs for everything wouldn't be wise, so the appropriate thing would be to invent 2 more orbs and 1 special Hatsu separated from the Orbital Orbs.'
'Taking that into account... What abilities should I create? What kind of complicated future situation do I want to be able to solve? There are so many possibilities. It's not just Nen; humans themselves have infinite versatility too.'
'Aaahhh, this is a very difficult matter. I'll have to think carefully about it over the next few days of travel with Nicholas. For today, I'll finish by getting everything ready for tomorrow's business.
With this last thought, I activate my Orbital Orbs ability, which currently consists of 1 Development Orb, 1 Barrier Orb, 1 Barrage Orb, and the Wormhole Orb, which has one use left. I then banish the Development Orb from the group and, using most of my remaining aura, I create a second, fully charged Wormhole Orb before closing my eyes and falling asleep on the bed from exhaustion.