"Dong..."
Four o'clock in the morning, the familiar chime resounded...
Roy opened his eyes again, already back at Kukuroo Mountain, feeling an indescribable exhaustion in his consciousness.
The aftereffects of ten thousand sword swings didn't manifest on his body but worked upon his cerebral cortex. This was the first time since he awakened to "Nenryoku" that such a situation had occurred.
Normally, a Nen user would generally follow the sequence of "Ten" → "Zetsu" → "Ren" → "Hatsu" throughout their training journey. It's only upon reaching the stage of "Hatsu" that they can develop a Nen ability tailored to their own personality and inherent needs.
But... Roy was different,
Thanks to crossing over, the day he opened his Acupoints, he was automatically endowed with the "Gate of Cognition," much like some Specialization Nen users who, due to special circumstances or environments, innately skip the "Ten," "Zetsu," and "Ren" stages, awakening directly to "Hatsu"...
For example, Neon Nosutorado's "Angel's Automatic Notes."
'So, if I get injured in the cognitive world, do I also bring this "negative state" into the real world?'
Roy rubbed his brow, unprecedentedly lying on the bed for an extra five minutes.
These five minutes led him to think of a principle that runs throughout the entire Nenryoku training system —
"Rules" and "Cost," namely... "Restriction" and "Pledge"....
Set rules, vow to abide by them, the more difficult it is, the stronger the explosive power becomes.
In other words...
Since he enjoyed the benefits gained from the "Gate of Cognition," he naturally has to bear the risks experienced inside the "Gate of Cognition."
Roy, somewhat enlightened, with a shiver in his heart, quietly gave himself a suggestion —
No matter whether in the real world or the cognitive world, don't allow yourself to fall into absolute danger!
At four-oh-five in the morning, the lingering "fatigue" in his mind slowly dissipated...
Roy felt somewhat better, turning over and sitting up from the bed, the first thing he did wasn't running but reached out for the Yubashiri placed on the rack...
He wanted to see if after Urokodaki Sakonji corrected his slashing, there was any progress in "Sun Breathing."
"Clang~" a sound of a blade singing... Yubashiri unsheathed,
Roy twirled it single-handedly, accustomed to the weight of the sword, adjusted his stance, and began practicing "Sun Breathing."
At this time, a kid with empty eyes was on his way to the Heavens Arena...
A chubby boy who just started hellish training hadn't recovered from the electric shock training during the day, with a butler beside him helping to apply medicine and rub his body...
In the bedroom on the second floor, a woman engulfed in flames was furiously smashing things, muttering, saying that when he returns, she'll definitely give him a hard time...
At least keep him bedridden for three days...
Hearing her complaint, an old man in a dim little room on the first floor swayed on a rocking chair, listening to cartoons, laughing without a care...
At this moment, his ears seemed to grow a circle, listening carefully for a while, flipped over, his mouth mumbling something incoherent...
"This kid's swordsmanship seems a bit sharper than before..."
Then, his head tilted, and he shrank his ears back.....
"Dance"... "Clear Blue Sky"... "Raging Sun"... "Sun Halo Dragon"....
A glint of sword light illuminated the bedroom...
Once the set of "Sun Breathing" was quickly finished,
Roy controlled his precision, savoring it carefully, indeed detecting differences from before.
Firstly, his sword form was sharper, furthermore, his moves were more fluidly connected than before, it was just that after a night of ten thousand basic swings using the Shallow Strike given by Urokodaki Sakonji... once grasping Yubashiri again, there was a momentary lack of familiarity,
However, these were small issues, the most important thing was... the "Concentration" lasted longer!
The resulting benefit was... after a day of training, Roy's constitution increased by 0.2, compared to yesterday, more by 0.1.
Corresponding "Dark Step: 99/100 (Mastery) transformed to → 1/1000 (Great Success)"
Also "Limb Curvature" and "Snake Life"... both increased with the strengthening of his constitution, even "Snake Life" broke through "Entry Level" directly transforming to the realm of "Mastery."
This could be considered an expected surprise.
By evening,
Roy sheathed the sword, calmly turned off the panel.
He glanced at the clock hanging on the south wall... less than five days remained before his father Silva's test.
According to Wutong, he went to the Azian Continent, which takes at least a week for a round trip, but given his strength, most of the time would likely be wasted on the journey, even if late, wouldn't be much.
Just as well, it gave him more time to improve himself.
'Why not set a small goal, to increase the "Ten Thousand Basic Swings" to "Double Ten Thousand Basic Swings" within five days....'
Since Master Urokodaki instructed him to add two thousand more, he might as well add two thousand every day.
Roy casually tossed Yubashiri to Wutong, turned and pushed open the door to the training room, heading for his bedroom.
As the sun set, compared to the Snow Country in Demon Slayer, the sunset at Kukuroo Mountain was noticeably more splendid.
The young man strolled with earrings of the sun and mountains along a corridor filled with the aura of time, turning the corner, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
A hunched figure approached from the front with hands behind his back... his hair and beard white, the words "One Kill a Day, Currently Active" emblazoned on his chest, upon seeing Roy, also stopped.
"Grandpa." Roy bowed in greeting.
Zeno grunted, scrutinized him up and down, seeing him more robust, frowned and said, "Go back and tell your butler to alter your training clothes, they're short, what kind of sight is this."
The boy was at the age of growth, rapidly shooting up was understandable, but for a butler not to notice the ill-fitting clothes was negligence on the butler's part.
Actually, Wutong had already suggested to Roy earlier, to tailor a few new sets of clothes for him.
But Roy deemed it bothersome and refused, now that Zeno mentioned it, Roy would naturally not pin the blame on Wutong for something clearly his own doing.
"It's my reluctance to change, I'll ask Wutong to alter them tomorrow." Roy simply explained.
Zeno neither approved nor denied, turning his head to face the window, gazing at the sunset, as if having no intention to continue on the topic.
Seeing this, Roy gave a slight nod towards him, proceeded to walk past, about to brush shoulders when Zeno suddenly called out again.
This former Patriarch of the Zoldyck Family, a world-renowned top assassin, admired the reddened skyline, and asked, "Now that you've opened your 'Nen' and officially embarked on training, have you thought about what you want to do in the future?"
Roy was taken aback,
Recalling the night he conversed with Tanjuro across a paper screen, he smiled, "Freedom."
"Grandpa, I want to earn freedom..."
"I want to climb step by step to the highest point, act as I will, fearless and dauntless...."