Awakening Nen comes in only two ways.
One, through meditation, sensing the existence of aura and opening it yourself; two, by force, opening the aura nodes so you can feel aura directly.
Since the household had Silva, a top-tier Nen user, Roy was spared the work of meditating.
He sensed the anomaly at once, discovering a milky-white energy constantly welling up from within him, quickly wrapping around his whole body.
The scene was both new and familiar—just like when Wing helped Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck forcibly awaken Nen in Heavens Arena. Roy hurriedly closed his eyes and, in a posture easiest for him to visualize, slowly gathered the escaping aura back inside.
Long before Silva decided to open his Nen, Wutong had prepared him, sharing everything he knew about Nen without holding back and patiently explaining what to watch for before and after opening the aura nodes.
But ''knowing'' isn't ''mastering.'' For Roy to be able to draw the aura leaking across his skin back into his body right after the nodes opened—that speed still made Silva, watching from the side, take a second look.
Only a second, though.
"Hss... hu..."
Within a few breaths, the aura diffusing over Roy's surface was entirely recalled.
The boy opened his eyes again. With a soft "whoof," two tiny "Nen flames" seemed to kindle in his pupils, completing his transformation from an ordinary person into a Nen user.
It felt uncanny, as if his life had jumped a tier. Looking back at himself three seconds ago, he now carried a higher-order confidence and composure.
"This is Nen, a presence that fuses multiple vector elements like stamina, will, emotion, and soul."
Roy silently felt the changes within, thoughts churning, and his panel chimed in at the same time.
[Detected: Host's aura nodes have been opened....]
[Nen ability: "Gate of Cognition," awakened....]
[Host may, via deep sleep, enter the cerebral cortex and push open one's own "Gate of Cognition," drawing nutrients from the world of "cognition" and manifesting them back into reality....]
So—
''I'm not Enhancement, but Conjuration?''
Roy was a little surprised.
He had thought that with his overwhelming ''wish'' to strengthen his physique, he would awaken an Enhancement ability most suited to him, yet the result was this instead.
Thinking back now, he had completely ignored one issue—he was a transmigrator reborn in this world.
"Transmigration" itself was his deepest secret, and his greatest external plugin.
Interesting... Was fate hinting, 'seek inward rather than outward'?
Roy savored the four characters "Gate of Cognition," and an urge surged up—to lie down and sleep right now and explore it.
Too bad. First, he had just awakened Nen and was still excited; sleep might not come. Second, Silva was watching. He couldn't very well nap in a training room dedicated to sweat and effort, or that cracked wall behind him would mirror his fate.
A father, seeing his son not yet dead, would pull out a Seven Wolves...
Roy had already learned that beyond killing, Silva was talented at torment too.
So he pressed down the excitement and offered a respectful good night. "Father, I'll head back."
Silva answered with a noncommittal grunt, said nothing, and didn't ask about testing Roy's category or what Hatsu he planned to develop. He turned back to his stretching, as if he had done something trivial.
Perhaps, to a father, a child's nature is obvious from the start.
The reason to open "Roy's" Nen early was because Silva had already seen through the child: his ceiling was limited.
Forget accompanying him on missions in the future—whether he could protect himself from being killed was already a question.
So what difference would knowing or not knowing make?
Night. A midsummer wind stirred the wall lamps, throwing out a bewitching dance of shadows.
As the training-room door opened and closed again, it separated father and son into two worlds.
On one side, Silva remained in a black training uniform, muscles knotted, face indifferent; on the other, Roy's steps grew light, the excitement at his lips no longer contained, as he hurried back toward his bedroom.
Passing a dim room, he gave a simple bow.
Inside, an old man slept in a rocking chair, an anime playing. He turned over, mumbling something, then settled into an even deeper snore.
Yes, a night like a painting is perfect for sleep. Even if it wasn't Roy's usual bedtime, he had to sleep now.
Back in his room, Roy locked the door.
He flopped onto the bed, pulled out his phone, switched on "white-noise sleep," and forced his eyes to close.
"Jee-jee~" cicadas called outside the window. "Shaa-shaa~" the night wind rustled the leaves.
After about ten minutes, he finally caught a thread of drowsiness and stepped alone into his dream.
Dazed, he felt himself float. Ahead stretched a prismatic corridor.
From its far end came the faint sound of waves against rocks, drawing Roy onward.
One step, two steps. Curiosity mixed with a trace of ease. Soon Roy exited the corridor and saw an open sea.
It was endless at a glance, blue as its base color. Strangely, on the sea's surface stood door after wooden door. Some mottled, some new, some dark, some polished bright—as if they had been here since time immemorial. Every one of them was locked.
Except—
Closest to Roy on the right, a wooden door with a "demon-head" charm hanging over its lintel was ajar, a sliver of light peeking through.
Roy understood. It was waiting for him.
He didn't hesitate. He pushed it and strode in.
"Hiss—"
"So cold—"
The opposite of the sweltering Republic of Padokea, this sky in the cognitive world was snowing.
Roy opened his eyes again to find himself lying in an old forest thick with deep snow.
On his left lay a hoe. On his right a bamboo basket filled with coal.
So—
In ''his'' cognitive world, was he a coal digger?
Roy looked himself over in curiosity. A heavy Japanese-style cloak wrapped his body. Thick socks and wooden clogs on his feet. Deep red hair hanging to his lashes. He looked exactly like an anime character he'd known from his previous life, yet with differences.
He wasn't left to wonder long. The panel popped up with the answer.
[Generating role...]
[Kamado Eiichiro... eldest brother to Tanjiro Kamado....]
Roy finally reacted. ''So this place is the world of Demon Slayer!''