Gotoh had a dream, a very, very long dream.
In the dream, he seemed to have returned to his embryonic stage. From a fertilized egg, he continuously divided and developed into a morula, then a blastocyst, before landing with a soft splash as if falling into water, beginning to implant...
Even though it was just an embryo that hadn't even begun to develop, let alone grow organs or a brain, Gotoh could tell at a glance that the tiny, round little thing landing on the uterine wall was himself!
'Have I been reborn?'
'Or is this a recreation?'
Gotoh drifted outside the embryo, watching everything from a god's-eye view. The image of Roy, with his silver hair and a bright smile, involuntarily surfaced in his mind... The butler remained silent, watching quietly... The blastocyst, which should have begun further development, was suddenly infused with a warm, gentle, and hazy sunlight radiating a solar halo...
*Crack.* Gotoh immediately felt as though something had snapped in the deepest part of his body... A vague sense of enlightenment welled up in his heart.
As the "sunlight" poured in,
Gotoh took another look and could clearly feel that his blastocyst self was much more active and slightly larger than before.
The butler's heart stirred, and that vague enlightenment gradually began to become clear—
That was the sound of his [Genetic Shackles] breaking, being pulled and reforged by someone.
'It's the young master...'
'It's that drop of blood he gave me...'
'That drop of lifeblood that looked ordinary, but actually contained the [Power of the Sun]...'
Gotoh's heart warmed. Amidst a myriad of thoughts, he continued to silently watch his tiny self as time flowed on. As expected, following the blastocyst stage, he quickly grew organs and developed limbs. Full of vitality, he rolled over and swam freely, treating the amniotic fluid like a swimming pool. His movements displayed an inexhaustible amount of energy... completely different from an ordinary infant...
And this was the uniqueness bestowed upon him by his innate genes... starting right from the womb!
Soon, ten months passed, and Gotoh found himself finally born into the world... Swaddled in cloth, he was discarded like trash in an inconspicuous garbage pile in Meteor City, just as he had been in the past. As his consciousness swirled, he couldn't even clearly see what his mother looked like, nor how she could harden her heart to ruthlessly abandon her newborn child...
But thinking about how that place was Meteor City—a hell where most children wouldn't even survive to adulthood—Gotoh paused to watch that frail silhouette slowly disappear into the night after abandoning him, and gradually... he felt at peace with it.
After that, he was picked up by Tsubone and entered the Zoldyck estate... He began learning butler skills and Nen as an apprentice butler... Years later, the day came when he was assigned to take care of the young eldest master.
For the first time in his life, Gotoh saw someone whose smile could be so warm, so radiant...
"Hello." On that day, the young master, who still had black hair back then, took the initiative to reach out his right hand to him.
On that day, filled with awe and trepidation, he placed his right hand over his chest and knelt on one knee to swear his allegiance, confirming the one and only master of his life!
*Buzz...* For some unknown reason, the originally peaceful dreamscape suddenly began to tremble... Everything he saw and heard was instantly interrupted. Gotoh was still kneeling before Roy, swearing his allegiance, but in the next glance, he suddenly raised his head and squinted toward the edge of the shattering dream...
Three distant figures stood not far in front of him, separated only by a door, quietly discussing something among themselves...
At a certain moment, noticing his gaze, the youngest of the three pressed his hand down in a calming gesture from afar and said gently, "Do not panic. I am here."
Once again, just like when he was infused with sunlight during his embryonic stage, Gotoh, enveloped within the blood cocoon, recognized Roy at a glance. He then peacefully closed his abruptly opened eyes...
Roy comforted Gotoh with a single gesture and, as usual, glanced at his status panel...
[+1+1+1+1......]
[[First Embrace Nen Ability: Currently Awakening...]]
[[Note: Referencing the Chimera Ants, your believer "Gotoh" has reached the level of a top-tier Chimera Ant Squadron Leader. His current strength is roughly on par with Kite in his prime, and he is advancing toward the B- rank.]]
Roy silently felt the thread of karma connecting him and Gotoh continuing to thicken and strengthen. Suddenly, he heard Netero speak in a faint tone, "This butler of yours is quite perceptive."
The young man maintained his [Heart Drop · Sword Listen], standing shoulder to shoulder with Netero, and smiled. "He has always been a meticulous person. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to serve as a butler."
Netero gave a noncommittal "Hmm." With another glance, he swept his eyes over the peacefully sleeping Gotoh. Faintly, through the reflection of the butler's mind, he witnessed a vigorous and monumental evolution...
It was a transformation from a "fleeting" shooting star, holding the resolve to die and prepared only for a brief moment of glory... unexpectedly evolving into...
A planet with its own fixed orbit, slowly revolving around a central point!
The difference between the two—whether in "mass," "size," "magnetic field," or "vitality"—was practically incomparable to before... And all of this had occurred in a short span of less than two years.
As Netero's thoughts drifted, he discreetly glanced at Roy... For that young butler, whose "upper limit" could once be seen at a single glance, to undergo such a metamorphosis, it was undoubtedly tied to the warmly smiling young man standing before him.
A gentle mountain breeze blew in through the window...
Gotoh slept peacefully... Netero's spirit had left his body, but he did not return just yet. At a certain moment, he reached out a hand and swept it in front of him...
The second-floor hallway transformed in the blink of an eye... It was replaced by a mental projection, a world covered by the mind... a world where only spirits could briefly reside...
*Hum.* The convergence of numerous gazes was instantly interrupted and repelled outward...
Caught in the storm where [Heart Drop · Fist Listen] and [Heart Drop · Sword Listen] clashed, everyone except Maha—including Silva and Zeno—felt their bodies tremble slightly as they were instantly swept away and expelled by Netero's will...
Silva and Zeno both fell silent for a moment, standing still in place, not moving a single step for a long time...
*Tap, tap...* By then, the sun had completely leaped over the horizon. Under the pouring, scorching sunlight, the summer heat began to rise... Inside that dim little room, Maha was still listening to cartoons, rocking in his chair, and happily tapping his fingers on the armrest... He lay there lazily, allowing Netero's consciousness—which intended to shield the area—to sweep over him... yet he remained entirely unmoved.
Within the world of [Heart Drop · Fist Listen],
Netero narrowed his eyes and could only smile helplessly. "The old man is still as stubborn as ever."
Turning his head, he simply let Maha be. With a light wave of his hand, a few small folding stools and a tranquil mental lake shimmering with rippling light slowly emerged, materializing right in front of Roy...
Roy's nose twitched. He keenly caught a familiar scent from the gentle breeze sweeping across the mental lake. Casually sitting down on one of the folding stools, he said, "This lake must be the mental projection that Ging left here back then."
As the young man's gaze swept around, he noticed a fishing rod planted at an angle in front of the empty stool to his right. At the end of the rod, where the fishing line connected to the bobber, it was secured with a red bead... It was exactly the same as the fishing rod Ging had used when fishing by the sea. A scene from the original story suddenly flashed through his mind... Gon holding this very fishing rod, appearing several times, catching the Master of the Swamp... using it to hook a rock while carrying Leorio, soaring over the sea, and landing on the deck of the Sea God.
He opened his right hand, emitting specks of shimmering light. In an instant, he used [Wood Style] to conjure a straight, long stick into his grasp. With a casual flick... a Nen thread flew out... *Plop.* It sank into the lake, splashing up clusters of water droplets...
Netero flicked his large sleeves and chose the empty stool to Roy's left to sit down. Watching the ripples on the mental lake and the faint silhouettes of fish darting through the water, he said leisurely, "Ging is one of the few people I've met who has a particular affinity for nature."
"This lake, the fish swimming in it, the indistinct birds and beasts drinking by the shore on the other side... these are all the profound impressions he once left on me..."
The essence of [Heart Drop · Fist Listen] lay in: a clash of spiritual will!
Words can deceive, and eyes can deceive, but the thoughts and feelings in one's heart, when projected into the mental space in a "conjured" form, cannot deceive anyone at all...
Following Netero's gaze, Roy looked at the birds and the beasts. Recalling the day he and Ging broke into the prison to rescue Razor, Ging had displayed a Nen ability that allowed him to temporarily borrow the talents of Magical Beasts through a [Contract]. To call it "nature affinity" was not an overstatement...
"What about that area?" Roy sat peacefully by the lake, fishing without a hook. Sweeping his gaze around, he noticed a patch of shaded grass on the shore emitting a faint, sparkling light, just like gemstones. Under the sunlight, it refracted a myriad of colorful rays...
He vaguely had an answer in his heart—
The first person that came to mind was a certain old woman who loved to act young!
"You guessed correctly. That is the impression Biscuit left on me..."
An [Impression] was tantamount to a [Mental Shock]. Because the impact was strong enough, it became indelible...
Mimicking Roy, Netero willed it and casually picked up a scattered dry branch from the ground to use as a fishing rod, also fishing without a hook. He said with a smiling face, "It's perfectly normal for girls to like gems. This disciple of mine has loved collecting these shiny things ever since she was little."
"Ho ho ho... Sometimes she piled them up so high in the room that I couldn't even find a place to step..."
Indeed, that sounded exactly like something that old woman would do... Roy's gaze swept past the field of gems and continued toward the distance...
Far away, he could see swirling dust, roaring tanks, and bursts of gunfire... Faintly, there were even artillery shells trailing long exhaust flames as they shot into the sky... This time, without waiting for Roy to ask, Netero took the initiative to explain, "That is the impression Botobai left on me."
A one-man army, Botobai... As the widely acknowledged number two in the Hunter Association, second only to Netero in the original story,
It was not surprising that he possessed such strength...
Next, Roy saw jungles, strange rocks, wind-blown flowers, and snow... until a mottled, dilapidated amusement park entered his line of sight...
The young man's body jolted. He keenly noticed that this abandoned amusement park was blocked by a large, rusted iron gate, upon which a sturdy lock was firmly fastened.
Roy abruptly turned his head to look at Netero.
He saw the old man's gaze turn profound, carrying a mix of reminiscence, sorrow, and emotion, as he said faintly, "You guessed correctly. This is the impression your grandfather, Zigg, left on me back in the day."
As expected... Roy silently set down the fishing rod in his hand, stood up tall, and asked directly, "Can I take a look?"
Netero fell silent for a moment. With a flick of his hand, he pulled up a swimming fish and said, "No."
Then, with a toss, he threw the fish back into the mental lake...
"Why?" Roy's beautiful silver hair swayed in the wind, the tips flowing with a glazed golden light, as he asked calmly. "That isn't just your mental projection; it's also Grandpa Zigg's..."
Netero didn't look at Roy, only saying, "It's Zigg who stubbornly guards it and refuses to let anyone in."
Roy: "..."
For a moment, silence fell...
After a long while, a green leaf drifted down and fell into the lake, creating ripples... The young man remained silent for a long time before asking again, "Has my great-grandfather seen it?"
Suddenly, a cold snort traveled leisurely along the mental threads and reached Roy's ears before Netero could answer...
Maha's voice rang out, "This old man couldn't be bothered to look!"
With that single sentence,
Roy and Netero glanced at each other, exchanging a look of dismay, and both fell completely silent...
"Ho ho ho... It seems the old man's anger won't subside anytime soon..." After a long while, Netero forced a laugh. Gripping his wooden stick, he pulled again, catching another swimming fish...
The fish thrashed its tail frantically, splashing a bit of lake water and dampening a corner of Roy's clothes.
The young man followed with a long silence. He took a deep look at the sealed, abandoned amusement park, then another, before withdrawing his gaze. He had largely lost interest in continuing to survey the mental landscape. Turning his head to look at Netero, he was subsequently... stunned once again!
*Dong.* A resonant, lingering bell chime, like the striking of a grand temple bell, rang in Roy's ears.
When he retracted his gaze and cast it upon Netero,
Roy's amber eyes *whoosh* ignited with two streams of divine light, allowing him to clearly see...
Behind the old man—who wore loose robes and a broad sash, with his Buddha-like ears, white eyebrows, and a relaxed posture—sat a towering, majestic Buddhist hall!
This Buddhist hall had its dome supported by dozens of thick pillars. There were no couplets, no Buddhist chants, not even a... wooden fish...
Looking inside through the double doors, there was only a towering, majestic statue of Guanyin. She wore a jeweled crown and a beaded necklace around her neck. With willow-leaf eyebrows, slightly opened eyes, gently pursed lips, plump earlobes, and full cheeks, she bore a faint smile. Her demeanor was dignified as she gazed down from above...
A solemn and majestic appearance!
However, as that faintly smiling gaze cast downward, perhaps because the statue was simply too massive, it looked upon people as if they were mere ants, forcing anyone to look up in awe...
Only by straining one's neck could one see past her shoulders to behold the one hundred arms suddenly extending from behind her back!