Chapter 9: The Path of Training
"Alright."
Between the small palms of the five-year-old boy, a ball of white light, invisible to the naked eye, formed.
Then this ball of white light, like flowing water, wrapped around his not-so-sturdy arms, shoulders, sweeping down his torso, legs, feet, and up to envelop his head...
These white lights were, of course, "Aura."
And strictly speaking, these Auras had been enveloping the boy's body from the start, but as he became more acutely aware of their presence, it felt as if they "appeared" clearly around him.
Everyone has life energy, or Aura, but ordinary people let it dissipate from the top of their heads.
The first step in Nen training is to stop this dissipation. Gathering and solidifying the naturally dissipating Aura around the body is one of the four major practices of Nen, known as Ten.
Ten, the act of wrapping Aura around the body, is a straightforward concept.
Arthur estimated that, based on his perception, he should have mastered Ten within a minute.
For someone like him, who could already use a Nen ability proficiently, mastering it in a minute might still be considered slow.
He looked up at the scorching midday sun.
This was his first day in the Hunter World, and he didn't expect it to be so hot. Considering the date on the newspaper he found on the ship was late November, he might be in a region close to the tropics, at least further south in the Kakin Empire...
Arthur wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was standing alone in a clearing in the woods, training, while the moon-white tiger Lumin lay nearby, watching him with unblinking eyes, perhaps out of some feline curiosity, not quite understanding what Arthur was doing.
As for the Wild Wolf, he had sent it out on a mission.
He had ridden Lumin for half a day without encountering anyone or finding any villages or towns. He wasn't sure if the area was too vast or if he was simply lost.
Not wanting to waste effort, Arthur stopped aimlessly traveling when the temperature rose.
He improvised in the woods, using cookie crumbs and other snacks as bait to set up a few simple bird traps in different locations, instructing the Wild Wolf to patrol between them. If it found a trap with a caught bird, it was to scratch its leg with its paw.
The Star Mark on the Wild Wolf would activate immediately upon injury, triggering healing. Once the Star Mark was fully activated, it was like a notification popping up in the background, alerting Arthur.
Meanwhile, Arthur began his Nen training on the spot.
After mastering Ten in a minute, Arthur immediately moved on to the next practice, Zetsu.
Zetsu, as the name suggests, is akin to "erasing one's aura" in Dragon Ball, where a Nen user actively closes all their Aura nodes, completely sealing the Aura within. This can completely erase one's presence, avoiding detection by enemies, but it also leaves one completely defenseless, making it extremely dangerous.
Therefore, mastering Zetsu and quickly switching between Zetsu and Ten is an important measure of training success.
It's said that skilled Nen users can even maintain Ten while sleeping, switching between Zetsu and normal states in less than a second.
The four major practices of Nen: Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu.
Hatsu refers to various Nen techniques, such as Arthur's own Manipulation Type Nen ability, "Song of the Earth." Arthur considered himself quite proficient in techniques, but what he lacked was a solid foundation and a greater total amount of Aura, so he focused his training on the latter.
As for the remaining practice, Ren, it involves releasing one's Aura at maximum power, akin to the power-up scenes in Dragon Ball where characters scream and unleash their energy.
In essence, the four major practices revolve around one core concept: how to use Aura.
Arthur calmed his mind, repeatedly switching between Ten and Zetsu, varying the duration each time... He knew his current Aura reserves were limited, and if he focused on Ren training, he might be exhausted in one or two minutes, so he saved Ren for the end of each training session.
As a transmigrator, the greatest advantage was being familiar with the world's settings. Many secrets that were typically only passed down between masters and disciples were known to Arthur.
Even training alone, he could make the right plans, at least avoiding major mistakes.
What constitutes a major mistake?
In the Hunter World, Nen is divided into six major categories: Manipulation Type → Emission Type → Enhancement Type → Transformation Type → Conjuration Type → Specialization Type, forming a hexagon.
Each Nen user belongs to a specific category.
Generally, each Nen user can only achieve 100% efficiency and effectiveness in training within their category, while training in other categories often results in diminishing returns or even lower efficiency.
If someone, unaware of this physiological rule, expends great effort and follows an unprofessional training path to master a type completely different from their category, it not only wastes time and effort but also results in a final ability far weaker than someone naturally belonging to that category.
For example, Arthur is a Manipulation Type user, so his training efficiency in the six categories, or rather his potential, is as follows:
Manipulation Type 100% → Emission Type 80% → Enhancement Type 60% → Transformation Type 40% → Conjuration Type 60% → Specialization Type 0%
(Specialization Type is unique and lacks a specific pattern, so it's treated as 0% for those not born into it.)
In other words, if Arthur and another Transformation Type user started training the same Transformation Type Nen ability at the same time, with equal aptitude, Arthur would need to invest more than twice the effort to master it, and the final ability would only have 40% of the power compared to the other person, purely inefficient.
Based on this rule, the Shingen-ryu, led by Hunter Association Chairman Netero, proposed a "mountain" training philosophy: focus on one's primary category while supplementing with the two adjacent categories. Even if it requires extra effort for abilities with reduced effectiveness, it greatly enriches one's tactical repertoire and diversity in combat, significantly increasing the chances of victory.
Therefore, Manipulation Type users like Arthur and typical Conjuration Type users are at a slight disadvantage. Both categories are adjacent to Specialization Type, which usually cannot be developed or trained voluntarily. Only those born as Specialization Type users or those who undergo significant changes can train in it... It's like being born with one arm tied behind your back.
In light of all this, when a person's Nen attribute is determined, their training path is essentially set.