This was the Republic of Padokea, Kukuroo Mountain, The estate of the Zoldyck family! To come and go as one pleased... such a thing was unacceptable!
*Sizzle—* Ripples suddenly appeared in the void. Maha's shriveled hands suddenly bloomed with a deep, profound light as he tore forward barehanded... The void vibrated, and abruptly, a rift was forcibly torn open by him... Immediately after, he plunged headfirst into it with a stern face... leaving Zeno, Silva, Illumi, and the others with rather unpleasant expressions!
"Roy, I believe you have something to say."
*Buzz—* The rift closed, and the void smoothed over, erasing Maha's figure... Silva's face was dark. He looked over sternly, his gaze lingering for a moment on the wooden box clutched in the boy's hand... Following him, Zeno, Illumi, Milluki, and even... Killua, who was once again held in Tsubone's arms, half-opened his ignorant eyes and looked over curiously...
Feeling a familiar fluctuation emanating from the wooden box, Roy frowned and said, "I've only met the other party once, in an underwater ruin about three hundred nautical miles off the Yorbian continent's western sea..."
Roy briefly explained the sequence of events regarding exploring the underwater ruins with Ging, Razor, and the others, the "capture," and the "reverse conjuration methods"... Whether it was the "life-and-death struggle in the displaced mirror image" or the final moment when the "mysterious skeleton" took the Elephant Baku and dragged the entire church into the void... it left the younger ones, like Illumi and Milluki, somewhat dumbfounded...
The mysterious skeleton's ability to vanish into the void... they had just witnessed it, but...
Fighting Ging... Silva and Zeno exchanged glances, keenly catching the crucial point, looking at each other in dismay...
"Don't misunderstand, the one I killed was... Fake Ging," Roy added at the end, noticing everyone's strange reactions.
But even so... "Fake Ging is still Ging," Illumi glanced at him and said. "I heard that the officials intend to include him in the selection list for the 'Top Five Nen Users in the World'."
"Ho ho ho... Not 'intend to include', it's confirmed," Zeno cast a surprised look at Roy and said leisurely. "The results are already out, just waiting to be announced."
This was what Netero had told him during a casual chat a few days ago.
If that was the case, to be able to fight one of the top five Nen users in the world without losing ground, and even kill him... even if the opponent was a "mirror image" and not as strong as the original, still... Silva's tall figure stood with his back to the window mast, looking deeply at Roy. The child's height had grown wildly, almost reaching the tip of his nose, and involuntarily...
It birthed a sense of... crisis in his heart!
Ridiculous... Too ridiculous... To think that he, Silva, who had killed so many people and experienced so many battles... didn't even know how to spell the word "crisis"... The man's nostrils flared, exhaling a long stream of air, instantly strangling and shattering that trace of "crisis" that had surfaced in his mind!
"A year is neither long nor short... Silva, this old man will be waiting to see when the time comes..."
Maha's words still echoed in his ears. Silva straightened his back again and said, "Now is not the time to talk about that. Figuring out the other party's origins is the most important thing."
And right now, it seemed... "We can only rely on Grandfather." Zeno sighed silently. Both he and Silva were Transmuters; compared to Maha, who could tear the void apart with his bare hands, they were still... far too inexperienced...
Roy remained silent.
He stroked the wooden box given by the Elephant Baku, falling into deep thought.
After a moment, he said, "Perhaps I can try to follow them and take a look..."
As his words fell, several gazes shot toward him in unison... The boy said frankly, "Of course, I don't have Great-Grandfather's strength, so I can only try a trick..."
"What kind of trick?" Illumi asked.
"Like this." Specks of fluorescence bloomed. Roy's entire body suddenly erupted with dazzling golden light, seemingly merging with the myriad rays of the morning glow shooting through the window. In an instant, he underwent [Light Transformation]. Borrowing the rising red sun, he melted into the light, wandering on the edge of space and time. He vanished in the blink of an eye, and when he reappeared, he was already by Illumi's side, grabbing his head with one hand.
The boy smiled brightly at the group and said, "I've mastered an ability that allows me to turn into a beam of light at any time and shuttle through the void. If Great-Grandfather and the other party haven't fled too far or too fast, perhaps... I can still catch up."
The others: "..."
Zeno: "..."
For a moment, they were utterly speechless.
Turning into light... shuttling through the void... Looking at Illumi's stunned expression and Milluki's dumbfounded look, one could tell... it was easier said than done. Clearly... this wasn't something Roy could just brush off as a simple "trick."
"Forget it." Zeno clasped his hands behind his back, forcing himself to remain calm. "That level of combat isn't something we can participate in yet. Your great-grandfather told us not to move, which means he didn't want us dragging him down."
"Understood..." Roy released Illumi, letting the youth sway slightly. He mimicked him by leaning against the wall, melting into the shadows to ponder over the wooden box. Gradually, that inexplicable sense of familiarity welled up in his heart again, growing stronger and stronger. At a certain moment, along with... Killua's loud wail breaking the silence in the corridor...
*Boom—* It was as if something exploded in Roy's mind, driving him to step out of the shadows and walk toward Killua...
Closer.
The boy looked at the infant in the swaddling clothes, finally seeing his full appearance, and spoke up, "Let me hold him."
Tsubone, worried that he didn't know how to hold a baby, quietly glanced at Silva. The unsmiling man nodded. The old butler's two pink pigtails swung behind her head as she carefully handed Killua over, saying, "Young Master, be careful. Support his head with one hand and his bottom with the other..."
Roy gave a soft hum of acknowledgment. The moment his hands touched Killua's tiny body, relying on that strong bloodline connection, he finally understood what that familiar feeling emanating from the wooden box was... It was karma... it was a bond... and it was also... a mark... A Nen ability that could "mark" others through "a certain object," and subsequently "track them," or even... see what the "other person" was doing at that very moment!
That's right, a Nen ability had been imbued into the surface texture of this wooden box!
[Arm Regeneration]!
Two arms suddenly regenerated from under Roy's armpits. While holding Killua, he fiddled with the wooden box, immersing himself in this peculiar Nen ability known as [Marking]. Unknowingly... his status panel unfolded...
Revealing a corner of it...
[Innate Nen Ability: "Targeted Tracking": You reap what you sow. Targeted Grass, as the name suggests, allows for directional tracking by planting karma... The method of planting karma is not limited to a part of the tracked target's body, such as nails, blood, skin tissue, or "any manifestable object"... Revered by others as the "Guiding Angel" and a "Monument in the Tracking World"...]
The panel's notification sound echoed, causing Roy to freeze momentarily... Holding Killua in his arms, he maintained that wondrous bloodline bond, continuously strengthening the karma... His consciousness sank, his eyes lingering on the words "Guiding Angel" for a few extra seconds. In an instant, his memory overlapped with a certain gadget from a blue cat cartoon he had once watched...
*Splash—* On Roy's sea of cognition, waves surged... Faintly, it seemed that following the already opened [Demon Slayer Gate], [Naruto Gate], and the [Bleach Gate] that had once revealed a crack, another door hazily materialized... It overflowed with psychedelic colors of imagination. Branded on it was an iconic cartoon blue cat—chubby, with a bell tied around its neck, and most conspicuously, a pocket sewn onto its belly. It looked ordinary, but upon closer inspection...
It was like an endless abyss, with no end in sight...
"Nobita, Shizuka, it's Doraemon..." A faint, unique accent surfaced...
When Roy regained his senses, the "Gate of Cognition" flickered. He then broke away from the cognitive world and returned to reality, the panel's notification sound immediately ringing in his ears again.
At that moment, a stream of information flooded in... Roy firmly grasped it and stuffed it into his mind.
From ignorance... to slight understanding... to familiarity... to proficiency... and finally... mastery...
Roy let out a soft breath and reached out to hand the Killua in his arms to Illumi, who was walking over.
Retracting the two arms under his ribs, he looked down at his own chest... Threads of karma, some thick, some thin, some a glowing red of intimacy, others a dark black of disgust, originated from his heart and extended boundlessly...
With a thought, Roy casually plucked one—the thickest and reddest thread—and traced it... At the other end, the tip pointed directly toward the butler's mansion, revealing the figure of Gotoh pushing a dining cart forward...
The young butler had already grown a beard just like in the original story. He was more composed and experienced. Compared to the past, his strength had also reached the level of an elite Chimera Ant Squad Leader, not far from a Squadron Leader. Presumably, if he encountered Hisoka again, he wouldn't end up being killed...
*Rumble...* The wheels of the dining cart rolled across the ground, emitting soft sounds...
Roy withdrew his gaze. With a wave of his hand, he released Gotoh's karmic thread and shifted to touch another one that was just as thick and dazzlingly red. Looking up... his eyes fell upon the figure of Illumi holding Killua...
His foolish little brother had no reaction, unlike with [Heart Bugs], which could be detected. From this, it was evident... the [Targeted Tracking] belonging to an [A-Class] monster was on a higher tier than [Heart Bugs]!
It made sense... He was just a mere B- rank; how could he compete with a monster whose potential was even in the S-Class tier?
*Boom—* In [re: In the Game of the Dead]... the image of the A-Class monster, the towering killer worm, casually sweeping its tail with world-destroying might was still fresh in his mind... Roy chuckled self-deprecatingly, and in the next instant, he switched to another "thread of karma" to track...
There was his father Silva... his grandfather Zeno... Wing, who was always dressed gently and wore gold-rimmed glasses, and his master, the old woman Biscuit, as well as Netero, Beanman, and other men and women he had met before. Of course,
There were also those displaying "malicious black"... such as Hisoka... Pariston... the Pig-headed General... Thunder Archbishop Benjamin, and others.
The myriad of forms, some clear and some hazy, were too numerous to count.
While presenting Roy's past, it also allowed him to see clearly and even touch upon... some thoughts and directions regarding the future...
'Where there is light, there will be darkness... The sun won't always have a bright side; it will also... have a dark side... It will cast shadows, illuminating the filth and squalor of things...'
*Tick... tock...* Time flew by in the blink of an eye, unknowingly slipping through their fingers like flowing water...
One minute... two minutes... five minutes... ten minutes... Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since Maha's departure. The atmosphere in the corridor had visibly shifted from initial calmness to worry, and now to anxiety, gradually making everyone restless...
"What time is it?" Silva asked again.
"Master, it has been fifteen minutes since the Ancestor chased after them..."
"Fifteen minutes." Zeno glanced at Tsubone, furrowing his brows, and began pacing back and forth in the mottled corridor of the ancient castle, which was thick with the aura of time...
*Waa—* At this moment, Killua let out a cry. Not knowing if he was hungry or had soiled himself, Tsubone took him back from Illumi's hands and carried him into the bedroom...
*Creak—* The door opened, and then heavily closed...
Feeling the anxiety in Silva and Zeno's hearts, as well as Illumi's unease, Roy raised his hand to touch the karmic thread belonging to Maha. As his Nen surged, he followed the thread's end...
Amidst a turbulent spatial storm...
A skeleton, an Elephant Baku, and an old man stood with their hands at their sides. They weren't fighting; instead, it was surprisingly peaceful, which was astonishing!
"I didn't expect you to be able to follow." The skeleton, leading the Elephant Baku, tilted its head to look at Maha. With a wave of its hand, it dispersed an incoming cluster of void turbulence.
"I also didn't expect to meet a fellow traveler here." Maha's entire body emitted a deep purple glow. As his Nen Shroud appeared, he forcefully resisted the void turbulence without budging, similarly tilting his head to look at the skeleton...
The two then... fell silent...
As the saying goes... amateurs watch the spectacle, while experts see the technique... When masters clash, often just a single glance is enough to figure out the other party's background. And "fellow traveler," as the name implies... refers to someone who has walked the same "path"!
What kind of path? Seeing the sky full of maple leaves dyed in blood, and a surging river choked with corpses and floating shields—it was nothing short of that!
The skeleton gently stroked the Elephant Baku beside it, lowering its head as if lost in reminiscence. After a long while, it said, "Yes, so... you know, being able to see a new fellow traveler again, it's inevitable for us old folks to get excited and thrilled..."
"I couldn't help but give a little gift. I hope you understand."
"Things that are unclear will always make people worry," Maha said lightly, his hands clasped behind his back. "After all, it concerns my great-grandson. I came looking for you, and I hope Your Excellency can understand..."
A faint, ancient sigh broke through the void turbulence via telepathy and spread out...
The skeleton understood Maha's meaning and explained, "It's just the 'remains' of a friend. Seeing that the little friend had an affinity for it, I simply gave it to him in passing..."
"If he calms his mind and ponders over it, in three to five years, perhaps... he will reap some rewards..."
'Remains? Are they talking about... the innate Nen ability of the "Targeted Grass"?' Just as this thought crossed Roy's mind, he suddenly heard a sharp shout: "Who is peeking?!"