Conrad sat down at his desk and prepared several blank sheets of paper. A glass of whiskey rested in the corner of the table while he focused on the task ahead.
"I've been drinking too much lately," he muttered to himself before laughing.
"But there isn't much I can do about it."
He took a deep breath and organized his thoughts.
"I'm going to prepare two Ancient Script papers."
"One will give me a few seconds to react during a sudden attack, similar to Hand of the Future."
"The other will allow me to escape and teleport to a safe location."
Conrad decided to begin with the teleportation script.
"Emitter symbols should be enough for this."
He picked up his pen and started writing the required symbols.
About five minutes later, he moved on to the conditions.
Escape the Hunter
"Escape The Hunter may only be used inside buildings officially owned and controlled by the Hunter Association."
"The Ancient Script paper must be carried on the user's person in order to activate the ability."
"The ability may only be used twice per day."
"Escape The Hunter may only be used by a person whose blood and saliva are attached to the script."
"The ability can only teleport the user to a single preselected location."
"The destination must be chosen beforehand and marked through a separate target script and blood of the Conrad."
After finishing the conditions, Conrad leaned back and examined the paper.
"That should be more than enough."
"As long as Escape The Hunter remains on me, I can leave with a single thought and arrive at my chosen destination."
"It will be almost impossible to trap me."
Satisfied, he placed the paper aside.
Conrad took another deep breath and started thinking.
Counterattack abilities were unnecessary.
He had no intention of starting a fight. It does not make any sense at all.
Even if he wanted to, who exactly could he fight inside Hunter Association Headquarters?
If the Zodiacs were present and Netero decided to intervene, any battle would end immediately.
What he needed was simple.
One second.
Maybe two.
Perhaps three if he were lucky.
Just enough time to activate Escape The Hunter and leave.
Nothing more.
"Alright."
"Then I need some form of neutrality ability."
Conrad grabbed another blank sheet and wrote the title.
Deserved Neutrality
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Deserved Neutrality surrounds the user with a barrier that protects them from nearly all attacks and Nen abilities for three seconds."
"After three seconds, the barrier disappears."
"Deserved Neutrality may only be used within Hunter Association Headquarters or within a one-kilometer radius of the building."
"The ability only activates when the user perceives a threat."
"If the user is directly attacked inside the designated area, the ability will activate automatically."
Conrad stopped writing and considered the structure of the ability.
Anything capable of creating near-complete protection for three seconds would require significant restrictions.
The conditions had to be severe enough to satisfy the balance.
He added another line.
"Deserved Neutrality may only be activated once per day."
Even after writing it, he could tell the ability was still incomplete.
Years of working with ancient scripts had developed a certain instinct.
He could usually sense when a design was unfinished.
The feeling remained.
"It still isn't enough."
He thought for several more seconds.
Then another condition came to mind.
"Deserved Neutrality may only be used by a person who has attached a strand of hair, a drop of blood, a sample of saliva, and a drop of urine to the script."
Conrad added each requirement carefully.
Even then, the familiar feeling of incompleteness remained.
The ability still demanded more.
He frowned.
"Fine."
"You want more."
He continued writing.
"While Deserved Neutrality is active, the user cannot attack any individual."
"The individual responsible for triggering Deserved Neutrality cannot be attacked by the user for twenty-four hours."
"If this condition is violated, the user loses the ability to use Nen for one month."
The moment he finished writing the final line, the feeling disappeared.
Conrad immediately nodded.
"There it is."
"It's complete."
The Ancient Script finally felt stable.
He examined the conditions again.
To obtain three seconds of near-perfect protection, he had effectively granted temporary immunity to whoever triggered the ability.
The usage area was heavily restricted.
The activation conditions were strict.
The DNA requirements were annoying.
And the punishment for violating the contract was severe.
"It really was asking for a lot."
Conrad picked up the whiskey glass and finished the remaining contents.
Afterward, he ordered food from room service.
While eating, his thoughts shifted toward the meeting waiting for him tomorrow.
"What exactly does Mizaistom want to ask?"
Several possibilities crossed his mind.
The Hunter Association could be investigating him.
Or they could simply want information.
None of those possibilities made him comfortable.
Conrad continued eating while considering worst-case scenarios.
"If someone possessed a memory-reading ability like Pakunoda's, things could become dangerous."
A person capable of directly reading his thoughts would uncover far too much.
Fortunately, he quickly dismissed the concern.
"If someone like that existed inside the Association right now, they wouldn't have needed Kurapika during the Succession Contest."
"They could simply verify identities themselves."
That realization eased his worries slightly.
Even so, another name entered his thoughts.
"Pariston."
Conrad frowned.
Negotiating with Netero was one thing.
Dealing with Pariston was something else entirely.
If someone like Pariston started questioning him, there was a good chance he would accidentally reveal more than intended.
Conrad knew he was intelligent.
He was no longer inexperienced either.
But there were individuals who existed on a different level.
People like Ging, Pariston,Chrollo.
Those individuals were dangerous for reasons that had nothing to do with combat strength.
They understood people and it their understanding is not natural.
Among them, Ging and Pariston stood at the top at least he thought they are...
Both possessed an almost unnatural ability to manipulate discussions and read intentions.
Conrad was honest enough with himself to acknowledge the difference.
If one of those two decided to interrogate him seriously, he was not confident he could hide everything. In a sense, it is more than likely that he would be spilling most of the things he said even if he did not want to tell it.
Especially one particular issue.
His hostility toward the Hunter Association.
Most of the time, he concealed it well.
Conrad was willing to cooperate when necessary.
That did not mean he liked them.
Tomorrow would determine whether his concerns were justified or not.
Until then, all he could do was prepare, rest, and make sure that if something went wrong inside Hunter Association Headquarters, he would still have a path out.