Emerging from the shadows, this was clearly an Emission-type Nen ability with spatial properties.
However, the middleman knew nothing of Nen, so until his dying breath, he never understood how his opponent had accomplished this.
Only in his final moments did his limited experience allow him to recognize the man's origin through his attire...
A ninja!
Yet something felt off, a sense of dissonance.
A ninja… wielding a samurai sword?
The middleman's confusion was buried along with his death in the darkness.
Seeing their boss suddenly killed, his underlings froze for a moment before drawing their guns in fury.
But against a Nen user, even armed with pistols, they stood no chance of avenging their leader.
Minutes later, the slaughter ended. Over a dozen corpses littered the ground, scattered with spent bullet casings.
From start to finish, the scarred man remained seated, coldly watching his subordinates exterminate every person the middleman had brought.
Throughout, bullets had struck his body, only to be deflected by his Enhancement-type defense.
Amid the sea of corpses, the heavily concealed ninja flicked his wrist, shaking the blood off his blade.
He glanced at Senro in the scarred man's hand and asked, "Leader, the 'Nen intent' on Senro has vanished. Does that mean…?"
"Yes."
As if anticipating the question, the scarred man cut him off. "Without Nen intent, we can't use it for spirit summoning. However..."
Here, he paused, recalling the Onmyoji who possessed the power of spirit communication.
Even knowing the man's abilities were unfathomably mysterious, one couldn't make bricks without straw.
The prerequisite for spirit summoning was Nen intent attached to an object. Without it, there was no starting point.
The scarred man shook his head, rising with Senro in hand as he stepped over the corpses.
"No need for concern. The 'keys' we can find… aren't limited to just this one."
Stopping before the ninja, his gaze was as unyielding as stone.
Under that stare, the ninja lowered his head in shame. "I've shown weakness."
The scarred man slowly withdrew his gaze before turning it back to Senro.
His original plan had been to take the blade back to their homeland, but he couldn't help but wonder how its Nen intent had dissipated.
It would be best to uncover the truth...
Perhaps there was still a way to restore the Nen intent. Failing that, if they could obtain the method to dispel it, they could use it to weaken the ninjas of the Cloud Shadow Style.
And then there was Jappon's still-missing national treasure, the Dream Scroll…
That damned inheritance mechanism had kept it out of their reach.
If so, perhaps they could destroy it in the future.
But first, they needed to understand how the Nen intent had vanished...
"Luyuan."
His thoughts returning, the scarred man suddenly turned to his subordinate.
Luyuan immediately met his leader's gaze.
The scarred man spoke gravely, "You won't be returning home. I have a task for you..."
At this, fervor flashed in Luyuan's eyes.
Missions were his life, his irreplaceable purpose.
—--
A case of home invasion, murder, and robbery had brought the wealthy man's many collections to light, gradually filtering into the market.
The legendary sword Senro was merely one of them. To say it was special, aside from the conspicuous aura clinging to it, the next notable aspect was the inherent risk that came with Senro passing through one's hands.
Morrow remembered it clearly...
The colleague who had mentioned Senro to him had said it might carry some kind of curse.
When bringing it up, the colleague's tone had been half-joking, or perhaps envious of the exorbitant selling price.
Now...
Morrow largely agreed with that assessment.
Except it wasn't a curse, but rather the risk intrinsic to Senro itself.
Morrow had been mentally prepared from the start.
But the reason he wanted to offload Senro as quickly as possible was to avoid becoming a target.
For that, he didn't mind reduced profits; even if the price were slashed in half, he'd agree.
Ironically, this attitude of his shifted the risk onto the middleman instead.
—
Such a shame...
Upon hearing that the middleman had fallen victim to a double-cross, Morrow silently mourned.
He'd planned to entrust future acquisitions to the middleman, but life was unpredictable.
Still, in this world, or at least within the business sphere of Yorknew City, double-crossing wasn't exactly rare.
Before learning Nen, Morrow had nearly died in one such betrayal.
It was only after mastering Nen that such incidents became less frequent.
Experiences like these not only deepened Morrow's understanding of this world but also made it clear that Nen was an indispensable asset for survival here.
After mourning the middleman, Morrow resumed his daily training.
With his ability to level up as a safety net, he focused on reinforcing his foundations.
The top priority was mastering Hatsu.
This directly correlated with the overall effectiveness of his Nen.
Deceptive Shooting Star.
Morrow raised his palm, bright aura gathering within it before condensing into a glowing green Nen bullet the size of a shot put.
A trail cut through the air.
At its end, an upright target shattered into pieces.
Morrow exhaled slowly as he watched the fragments scatter.
Too slow...
Power and speed still can't coexist.
Maybe once Hatsu reaches a higher level, it'll improve.
For now... better to solidify the basics. Once that's done, I can consider learning In.
—--
During his break, Morrow pondered his next steps in training.
Deceptive Shooting Star wasn't purely an offensive ability; it had a degree of mechanics to it.
Theoretically, the essence of the Shooting Star leaned more toward mechanics.
As its name suggested, it carried an element of deception.
So rather than obsessing over power, it'd be better to refine its application.
For instance, by increasing the stable, controllable number of Shooting Stars while maintaining speed, then using In to conceal their trajectories.
But these ideas were still far beyond Morrow's current reach.
Yet with a sword hanging over his head, he had no choice but to dedicate himself more earnestly to this path.
—--
After the break, Morrow resumed training.
Without a solid foundation, mastering advanced Nen techniques in a short time was nearly impossible.
Still, there was one ability he absolutely had to grasp in terms of application.
With a thought, Morrow extended his palm and fired a Shooting Star into the air ahead, setting a one-second delay before detonation. Then, without looking at the trajectory of the Shooting Star, he immediately closed his eyes.
Midair, the fluorescent green Shooting Star reached the limit of its range and, like a stretched rubber band snapping back, shot back toward Morrow at an even faster speed.
At this moment.
Morrow kept his eyes shut, the Shooting Star aimed straight at his face.
Just as the Shooting Star was about to hit his face...
Morrow, relying on his keen sense of timing for the Shooting Star, suddenly tilted his head to the side.
Whoosh!
The Shooting Star grazed past his eyelashes.
Morrow slowly opened his eyes.
Without seeing the Shooting Star, he could still accurately grasp its trajectory.
This was one of his training directions.
In the end, would it be based on instinct or timing?
Either way was fine.
As long as he could reduce the error rate to an extremely low level...
By then, this skill would become a crucial part of his 'tactics'.