"Now shoot!" (Ging)
I raised my right hand like a pistol and grabbed my wrist with my left.
"Spirit Gun!"
Ging hid behind a barricade of cardboard boxes while I fired off to the side.
The moment the projectile reached Ging's position, it burst with a small pop.
Its outer shell scattered into countless petals, and only about a third of them flew toward him through boxes.
A few moments later, I felt them touch the aura covering Ging, and after enhancing my eyes with Ren, I could make out the outline of his body.
"It worked!"
"Yeah, not bad for a first attempt." (Ging)
He examined the Nen particles, which looked like pink cherry blossom petals, then brushed them away with his own Nen.
"Of course it worked. I've already finished the concept and even gave it a name. Senbonzakura."
"Wow, that's an awesome name!" (Ging)
I wasn't particularly secretive with Ging.
Of course, I didn't tell him everything, but I shared the key factors and my thoughts, and he would give feedback and ideas in return.
From the story, I remembered that Ging was a man with his own principles and sense of honor, and that the people he called friends were genuinely his friends.
He had quite a lot of them, but even so, I doubted any of the Zodiacs were among them.
One of Ging's friends could be a Professional Hunter, while another could be an ordinary office worker with an interesting hobby.
"I've already told you my opinion. And now..." (Ging)
"I think we should both get out of here." (Ging)
"Alright."
"...You're not even going to ask why?" (Ging)
"Well, I'm curious, but I'm sure you have a reason for saying that."
"Sigh... where does all that trust come from? Well, it's just my intuition. Anyway, grab the edge of this card." (Ging)
I recognized the card immediately.
It was a card from Greed Island.
"Drift?"×
"Hm? Wait a sec—!" (Ging)
In an instant, we vanished in a flash of light that shot toward the horizon at incredible speed.
At that same moment, two people approaching the Association sensed it.
One of them was a fit bald old man with a ponytail, whose powerful physique couldn't be hidden by his loose robes.
He merely snorted with interest, not worried in the slightest.
Meanwhile, a blue-haired woman nearby puffed up her cheeks in annoyance.
"He disappeared again! Just let him try remembering me at the end of the year and then vanishing once more!"
(*)
Suddenly, a beam of light struck a nondescript alleyway in a medium-sized city.
"Ging, where are we?"
He was already reaching into his pocket for his fancy-stuffed high-tech phone.
"Let's see... Oh, we're in the Republic of Padokea, almost at the border with Minvo and Toria." (Ging)
"Oh, a member of the V5 and the place with Heaven's Arena!"
"Yeah. To be fair, everyone in the world basically calls Toria 'that country with Heaven's Arena.'" (Ging)
"So what are we going to do now?"
"What do you mean 'we'? That's it, we're splitting up. You've got a Hunter License and Nen. You'll be fine." (Ging)
With those words and a half-serious expression, he disappeared using his movement technique.
Yeah... his attitude toward friends is pretty unique, and he doesn't like babysitting people.
Still, it's time to become independent. He and the others have already helped me more than enough.
And I've got my Hunter License. I can take out a small bank loan or just hop onto a luxury-class flight and eat there... Huh...?
After checking my pockets, I sat down against a wall as realization washed over me.
Right... I gave it to Ponzu for safekeeping along with my phone after my recent sparring match...
On the bright side, at least I'm wearing clothes and shoes...
Unfortunately, that was all I had.
No ID. No passport. No phone.
I need money, which means I should visit Heaven's Arena... but now the question is how do I get there?
If I'm on the border between both countries, then half a continent is between me and my destination.
"Sigh... just my luck."
Begging for money is embarrassing, and mugging hooligans in back alleys is illegal – Mizaistom will reprimand me for that. What am I supposed to do?
I never asked Ponzu or Bodoro for their numbers, which was honestly kind of stupid.
And according to Ging's intuition, contacting them and Zodiacs, which numbers i didn't take too, probably wouldn't be a good idea...
Though to be fair, I didn't even know latter's contact information. I'd been too absorbed in training.
Everything happened so suddenly that I couldn't think of many options.
Though I did have two right now.
The first: go to Kukuroo Mountain and take a look at the Zoldyck family.
The second: head straight for Heaven's Arena.
Apparently, this is how my Nen affinity affects me.
According to my mentors, while I was technically a Specialist, among the five basic affinities I was most inclined toward Enhancement.
That statement alone left me stunned, because it revealed even more facets of Nen that I hadn't known existed.
"Whew, get it together."
"Checking out a family of assassins might sound interesting, but if something goes wrong, I'm not sure I'd get away with just a few scratches."
"Decision made. Heaven's Arena it is."
After stretching in the alleyway, I jumped, releasing a small burst of aura into my legs and effortlessly landing atop a five-story building.
Looking around, I materialized a compass since I didn't have a real one with me, then poured even more aura into it, causing the needle to spin wildly.
Once it reached a critical amount, the needle stopped, and both it and the casing turned gold as they absorbed all the aura.
[ Thales' Gaze ]
...
The name still doesn't really fit. I'll have to come up with a different one later.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, I began feeding the compass information from my surroundings, the sky, the sun's position, and the map image of my location that I'd glimpsed on Ging's phone.
Since I'd already decided to go straight there, then I'd go straight through any obstacle: mountains, forests, rivers, and lakes.
Before leaving, I glanced at my left hand, specifically my middle finger, which occasionally throbbed with a dull ache.
After clenching and unclenching my fingers a dozen times, the discomfort vanished.
When I saw the compass needle settle firmly in one direction after calibration, I vanished, moving at tremendous speed under a Ten shroud in that same direction.
I need to come up with an optimal way to fly...
———
× Drift (Spell Card) — allows the caster to travel to a random city or town that they have never visited before.
(Author's Note: This chapter was difficult to write and went through huge breaks, which led to many sections being rewritten or continued with completely different ideas.
Anyway, sorry for the wait. But not sincerely.)"