Chapter 11: Isn't This Just a Matter of Having Hands?
A grape-sized ball of aura detached from Arthur's finger, floating in the air like a miniature spirit bomb.
Unlike the basic techniques of Ten, Zetsu, and Gyo, which Arthur mastered almost instantly, he struggled with Emission Type skills, taking a full ten minutes to successfully "release" this small ball of aura from his fingertip.
Emission Type, as the name suggests, allows aura to be used and attacked from a distance, and only Emission Type users can exert 100% of their aura's power when it's outside their body.
Arthur, being a Manipulation Type, had an Emission Type limit of only 80%, which likely contributed to the difficulty he faced in training.
Moreover, in terms of actual power...
Arthur flicked his finger lightly, sending the floating Nen Bullet in a parabolic arc towards a tree. It drifted about ten meters before dissipating without hitting the tree.
This result was unsatisfactory to Arthur.
After several attempts and half an hour of effort, he finally managed to release a grape-sized Nen Bullet from his fingertip. Just as he was about to flick it towards the tree, Arthur had a sudden thought.
"...Let's try this."
He flipped his hand, using his thumb to hold his index finger, and the released Nen Bullet floated like a bullet in an invisible slingshot, gently swaying in the air.
Aiming at the tree, he charged for about three seconds before flicking his finger.
Whoosh!
The grape-sized Nen Bullet shot out like an arrow, traveling twenty meters in an instant, "bang!"
The tree trunk was struck by the Nen Bullet, leaving a palm-sized crater, with a slightly deeper hole in the center... With just this little aura, it had such an effect. The destructive power of Nen Ability was evident.
"Success." Arthur smiled, realizing the advantage of knowing various settings.
Nen Ability development, whether intentional or accidental, often involves some form of "restriction," a limitation on the Nen Ability user to enhance the power.
For example, Gon's "Rock-Paper-Scissors" required him to stand still, make a charging gesture, and shout "rock-paper-scissors" for momentum. This was an unconscious restriction Gon imposed on himself, yet it indeed amplified the power of Rock-Paper-Scissors.
In the manga, the first mention of Nen Ability's "Nen Vow and Restriction" came from Izunavi, Kurapika's mentor.
According to Izunavi, if ordinary techniques are like addition, where the amount of aura allocated determines the power, then imposing strict, harsh vows and restrictions on Nen Ability results in a "multiplication" level of enhancement.
Nen Vow and Restriction, like adding fuel to the fire, can exponentially increase the power of techniques by tens or hundreds of times. However, violating the vow results in severe backlash for the ability user.
Recalling these "unspoken rules" of Nen Ability training, Arthur deliberately "restricted" himself. Although he didn't make a solemn vow, he intentionally made a clear aiming gesture with his finger and charged for a few seconds, creating a factual restriction on his Nen Bullet release. The result was a significant increase in the Nen Bullet's power.
Of course, even with the power boost, it still had to be discounted by 20%. After all, Arthur wasn't an Emission Type user but a Manipulation Type.
"Again!" Arthur, delighted, flicked his finger to release another Nen Bullet, aiming at a leaf on a branch, and after a second, flicked it.
Whoosh!
With a shorter charging time, the power was greatly reduced, but he successfully hit the leaf, knocking it from the branch.
"Isn't this just a matter of having hands? Nen Ability development is so simple."
Arthur wanted to play a few more times but felt a wave of fatigue. His aura reserves were nearly depleted.
"Too little aura, not enough to use..."
Self-mocking, Arthur collapsed to the ground.
Resting, he casually pulled out a strand of his hair, releasing the remaining aura to envelop it with "Song of the Earth," floating it before him.
The hair, wrapped in an aura ball, moved up and down, left and right, stopping abruptly, retreating quickly...
Arthur, being a Manipulation Type, couldn't perfectly control the shape of the Nen Aura enveloping the hair, as Transformation Type was directly opposite Manipulation Type on the hexagon, with only a 40% proficiency limit. However, the Nen Aura containing the "Song of the Earth" manipulation ability could easily twist the hair into a Pentagram, crescent, dancing figure, and other shapes... It was completely obedient, with no delay.
Having completed the Emission Type and Manipulation Type Hatsu training, Arthur's stomach growled, prompting him to grab food and water from the bottles and bags on the tiger's back, eating on the spot.
"By the way, Lumin, you haven't eaten either, right?" Arthur, with his mouth full of dry bread and cookies, gulped down some mineral water, pointing towards the depths of the forest, "I doubt my stuff is enough to fill your teeth, so go hunt for yourself."
Lumin didn't leave immediately, growling softly.
"Don't worry about me; I'm a superhero now!" Arthur laughed, flicking his finger to release a Nen Bullet, charging for two seconds before flicking it. A small Nen Bullet "bang" created a palm-sized shallow pit in the ground nearby. "Do I need your concern? Haha, go and come back soon."
Only then did Lumin nudge Arthur with its head before leaping into the deeper forest to hunt. Arthur intended to continue his afternoon training... but after eating, he felt a wave of drowsiness, too lazy to move.
"Arthur, how can you be like this?"
Arthur lay on the ground, resting for a few minutes before giving himself an order, "Get up, continue training, ten sets of Ten, Zetsu, Gyo, Ren, and finish with Ken until you're out of aura."
As he finished speaking, the rose-gold Pentagram mark on his neck activated its Nen power!
Like a seed, it was cast into the ocean of aura... well, the small puddle of aura within Arthur.
With a tug, Arthur shot up like a zombie...
Controlling himself, Arthur experienced the strange sensation of being both present and detached, a mix of real and out-of-body experiences.
It was quite mystical.
After the mysticism came the monotonous training...
Lumin returned at dusk, finding Arthur having completed countless sets of repetitive training. Despite the Star Mark's recovery effect, Arthur's aura output during Ken had diminished due to the day's fatigue. Lumin, with a non-struggling rabbit in its mouth, surveyed the area, noting the many broken branches and leaves on the ground and the pockmarked tree trunks.
In the evening, as night fell, the fire pit contained only rabbit bones. Arthur, rubbing his belly, leaned against the tiger, feeling quite content, though he seemed to have forgotten something.
"Where's that wolf?" he remembered, looking around the dark forest. "All day and not a single bird caught? That unlucky thing..."
He hadn't included foraging in the wolf's instructions. Could it have exhausted itself patrolling the bird traps, starving to death?
Probably not...
Arthur thought, suddenly feeling a strange sensation from behind, as if something was watching him.
He sat up abruptly, looking back, instinctively gathering aura in his eyes after a day of basic training. In the dark forest, he seemed to see a vague figure quietly observing him. But when he focused, the figure vanished.
"Looked like a pale little kid..." Arthur muttered, stroking the tiger's back. "Lumin, is this place haunted?"