After i said my goodbyes to the group, i flew back home and partied with my parents at becoming a hunter, and i told my parents to enjoy the rest of their lives as we are now rich.
Soon the next week i said goodbye to my parents as i took a plane to the one place i know, i will get nen form, a place even the great Bekky learned nen form, as i spent the night walking there.
It was early morning when I first stood outside the low‑rise timber structure marked by a simple wooden plaque entombed in aged kanji: 信玄流道場 – Shingen‑ryū Dōjō. The air smelled faintly of incense and old tatami. Sunlight streamed through paper screens, giving everything a soft golden hue. I bowed low at the entrance, knees bent, back straight, just as I'd seen in the anime. The ancient traditions demanded respect.
Inside awaited a handful of practitioners in crisp white gi and black belts. Their posture was straight, motion calm. At the front, the Sōke, the dojo's head master, an elderly figure with keen eyes and a calm countenance, descended from behind a shoji screen. I bowed again, lower. The room was silent.
"I am Bob," I said, voice steady. "I seek permission to join Shingen‑ryū and learn aura and how to control Nen. I understand this is only dojo was founded by the 12th Hunter Chairman, Isaac Netero. I wish to learn Nen, from the lineage."
The master studied me silently for a long moment. Then he nodded curtly.
"You may begin. But know this, the method of Shingen‑ryū is not merely technique. It is posture, etiquette, breathing, and a will stronger than steel. You must prove yourself worthy."
That was the beginning.
The next morning, the training started at dawn. Their daily routine was rigorous, morning meditation in zazen posture, followed by physical conditioning, push‑ups, sit‑ups, kata forms that emphasized balance, flowing weight shift, precise hand strikes. But central to their method was Ten, the first stage of Nen training, as you stop your aura form leaking out.
The instructors explained:
Aura nodes sit at critical junctures, back of the neck, shoulder blades, base of the spine, wrists, groin, ankles.
Gehō (external aura injection) was taboo, they never sympathized with shortcuts. Real practitioners would naturally open all their aura nodes one by one through willpower.
I found myself at the bottom of the class, Pessoa, the veteran students observed me quietly. I had zero innate aura talent.
Every day ended with cold baths to close the aura nodes, followed by quiet sitting, focusing on breathing and self–observation.
Weeks passed. Others seemed to make steady progress: subtle shifts in breathing, faint tingles at their wrists or shoulders. Meanwhile, I struggled.
Physical training was punishing: 250 push-ups every morning before first light, sprints with weighted vest, grappling drills showing pain I'd never felt before.
Aura exercises: standing still in zazen, breathing in–out slowly, humming mental energy into the base of neck, yet nothing happen, again.
But I refused to give in. Every night, my fingers stumbled over diagrams of aura flow lines, nodal points, Yin–Yang balance, the Shingen‑ryū code of heart-angle and opening. I meditated by torchlight until midnight. I ignored the pain form daily training.
The master occasionally granted personal corrections:
"Your shoulders are hunched. Let the line of energy pass through the neck freely, and relax your arms as your're clamping the nodes shut."
"Don't rush the node at the groin. Keep your Hara (stomach core) relaxed. Let aura rise from the feet upward, slowly."
The instructions were subtle, and I replayed them in my mind hundreds of times. I recorded each lesson in my own notebook diagrams, time, date, sensations.
Most students started Ten around week four or five. I was still struggling at week eight trying to open my aura nodes. I fell into doubts. But the master said, quietly, during a Tai-sabaki class:
"Bob, the Willow bends but does not break. So Continue."
I took it as encouragement as i had no idea what he talking about.
At the end of week eight, I experienced the breakthrough, though I didn't know it at the time. It was during zazen, just after dawn. I sat cross-legged on tatami cushion. My mind drifted into counting breaths. Past breath 278, I felt, suddenly, a faint electric pulse at the base of my neck. A subtle tingle climbing to the skull. My spine felt hollow. A pressure zones at the back of my head, as if space opened between shoulders.
I sat motionless, eyes closed. The tingle grew warmer. I inhaled deeply and felt it disperse outward, like heat off hot metal. A soft buzzing. For the first time, I realized something real had opened.
When I exhaled, the tingle faded slightly, but never fully vanished. I opened my eyes, looked at the instructor. I said nothing. He watched, frowning, then nodded slowly.
"Your neck aura node is open. Now move to wrists and shoulder blades."
I spent the next days focusing on those nodes. Wrist tingles. Shoulders loosened. Tiny shifts in circulation. My aura, i noticed a slight haze that vanished when I moved. I was slowly registering in the subtle senses of others.
Months stretched. Months of performing physical drills till exhaustion; meditation for hours; chanting breathing patterns; running drills blindfolded. The other students gradually opened their nodes fully, all still ahead of me. Some times i see a flaunted small aura glow at night.
I studied the Nen of the Flame, a set of mental exercises taught at Shingen‑ryū. Visualizations of flame in the Hara, controlled breathing timed to flares, imagining burning through blocks, pain resistance; mental affirmations: "I stand, I endure, the flame inside me does not go out."
I practiced holding painful positions while chanting counts, leaving bruises and bunions. Then meditated through them. The goal, build a will that sees pain as just a signal, and nothing more.
Occasionally, Gehō was whispered about, but strictly prohibited. A student tried it once. The instructor discovered him with aura injector lines taped across his neck. He was expelled immediately. A clear warning, shortcuts are for the weak willed and it dishonors the art.
Slowly, my aura control expanded. First back of neck. Then arms. Then crest of shoulders. But the big nodes, hips, groin, ankles resisted. They demanded hours, days of focus.
I logged every session: time in zazen, pulse, pain level, mental clarity, crossings between aura concentration and physical strain. That logbook was my proof of progress, proof that I was not giving up.
Physical drills intensified, again. By month three:
Kihon (base drills): stance transitions in run-of-kata sequences lasting 30 minutes non-stop, each movement flowing without break.
Ten training: ten minutes of aura-holding breathing, repeated for five sets.
Stamina runs: uphill, with weighted sandbags strapped to torso and arms, breathing synchronized to rune steps.
At the end of week twelve, the Sōke and senior instructors gathered for an internal test: stand still in T‑stance (feet shoulder‑width, fists at waist) for one hour without collapse form exspelling aura for an hour.
I stood. My vision blurred. The tatami ground pressed into my bones. Sweat dripped. Yet my fists stayed firm. My head cleared. My breathing consistent.
After 58 minutes, my aura collapsed involuntarily. I fell face first to the ground. I collapsed, heart pounding. But the master helped me up.
"Indeed, Bob, you sustained the aura longer than any student before you. A sign of strong will. You may not have talent in aura, but you have an unmoveable will, and that in it self is a talent."
That was recognition. I had passed a key internal test. But i was not complete until all eight major aura nodes opened at once,and remained open under strain.
In week sixteen, the instructors would place heavy training sacks on our backs, 125 kg each, and we would run a twenty-minute sprint around the dojo courtyard in sequence, maintain posture, maintain breathing, and keep the aura intact until the sacks were dropped. Meanwhile, they'd lightly test nodes, with palm pressure to ankles, wrists, groin, hips, shoulders, to see if aura flowed away.
I strapped the weight, heart pounding. The circle was small but uneven, narrow paths, stone steps, grassy patches. I synchronized breathing and footsteps: in–two–three–four–step motion. I let aura pulse outward at each foot fall: shifted pressure, but aura stayed intact. I could feel all nodes open, each pressure test did nothing but goose faint heat.
At ten minutes, pain redlined. My aura flickered. My vision dipped. My mind echoed: 'Never gonna give you up, Never let you down'.
At fifteen minutes I'd lost count. My legs burned. My wrists stung. Then the instructors dropped counts.
At nineteen minutes, one hand grabbed my ankle as i feel like i was dieing, but aura remained. I looked at the Sōke from the corner of my eye. Silent nod.
At exactly twenty minutes, the weight sacks were removed. I staggered forward and collapsed, hyperventilating. But aura hung in me, slim and battered, but present.
The Sōke knelt, placed his hand on my shoulder.
"Bob. You have fully awakened Nen. All your aura nodes are open. You have passed through the gates, not by talent, but by will, congrats on your hard work."
Tears stung my eyes.
The next day, the entire dojo gathered in the large training hall. Sunlight poured through paper panels. The Sōke spoke:
"In the proud hundred-year history of Shingen‑ryū, only a handful learn the true way of Nen every year. Some in one month. Others never. And yet I see in Bob a candle lit through darkness, not with flair, but with unwavering determination."
"You have earned your place among legitimate practitioners of aura control. You may now be taught further: Ren, Zetsu, Hatsu."
In the afternoons, I commenced the Nen of the Flame series, mental-physical exercises combining visualization with physical resistance.
Sit cross-legged. Build Hara flame: breathe in–seven–count out–ignite a mental flame at solar plexus.
Physical resistance: holding plank positions while visualizing flame extending from hands to wrists to fingertips.
Controlled burns: tense biceps and wrists one at a time, pairing the flame image with sensation.
These exercises further strengthened my Nen control. Slowly, aura flow became second-nature. I could summon aura calmly even during intense physical drills.
Over weeks, it became effortless. Aura bubble formed. Small mental nudges could close node slightly or expand it. I learned to adjust aura pressure to reduce fatigue.
At the end of seven months, I can controll my aura nodes with little to no problem.
Author: i going to roll a dice to randomly pick his aura type, 1 being Enhancer and 6 being Emitter....let's roll.....and it rolled a 3 so it's Conjurer, which means he can make objects form nen and as for his nen ability i will let the comments pick and the comment with the most likes will be picked, as i like the fact i can't pick the Mc's nen ability myself, it makes things more interesting, i check the top comment in 24 hours.