Two months later.
It was hard to imagine that Kisho, who had managed to more or less master a foreign language in just two months, was now squatting behind Shalnark and Feitan, watching the two of them connect a game console to a computer and play video games.
Shalnark: "No, you're supposed to crack the mechanism first."
Feitan: "Who cares about mechanisms? If your destructive power is over 10, you can just blow the gate open directly."
Kisho: "But isn't there a small hole next to it that you can crawl through?"
Shalnark and Feitan said disdainfully: "Who the hell crawls through a little hole to get past a gate!"
Then, the little character in the game took the wrong route and was incinerated by a flame-spewing trap. GAME OVER.
Looking at the blood-red word "DEAD" on the screen, Kisho snorted: "Tch."
Shalnark turned around, grabbed Kisho, and pulled his cheeks outward with both hands: "You tch again, go on, tch again!"
Feitan angrily slammed the controller: "Look at what kind of damn game you brought us!"
Shalnark laughed awkwardly: "It's fine, I brought a lot of other games too. We can just play them one by one."
Kisho muttered: "I think it's impossible to clear. Maybe it's not the game's problem."
Veins bulged on Feitan's forehead: "Have you finished your homework? Get lost and go do it! What business does a kid have playing games!"
Shalnark laughed maliciously: "Yeah, otherwise when the boss comes back, you're dead."
Kisho: "…?"
So annoying. He couldn't get his hands on the controller at all. That stupid rule of "die once and switch players" never applied to him — and that was bad enough, but now he was also being crushed by "homework" on a dimensional level!
He snorted and stood up, walking toward the door outside Shalnark's room.
It was hard to describe his current situation.
On the surface he was free, but only within this strange abandoned building.
On the surface the others seemed to have accepted his existence, but he knew very well that he hadn't truly integrated into this strange place at all.
To this day he still didn't know what these people actually did. He had asked before, but never gotten an answer.
He also couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart — the air was filled with the pressure of "a storm is coming," even though everything was no different from yesterday.
Oh, there was still one small difference. The murderous Chrollo had left one day a week ago, leaving behind a huge pile of homework.
"Well, the boss? It's normal for him to disappear. Honestly, if he stayed at the base longer than two months, that'd be abnormal, right?"
That was the answer Kisho had gotten when he casually asked Shalnark while they were playing games together. At the time, Shalnark had turned to look at him. The smile on his cheerful face somehow made Kisho feel cold all over.
"You'd better not get any funny ideas. Otherwise, when the boss finds out, I'll get scolded too."
So Kisho had no choice but to give up the idea of skipping school while Chrollo was away.
During the week Chrollo was gone, he spent every day reading books and doing homework.
He discovered that Chrollo was also a pretty magical person. On the bookshelf in his room were books including but not limited to: "The Fantastic Adventure of a Hot-Blooded Boy," "A Breeding Manual for the Beast," "Religion and Theology," "Master the Architect Exam in 100 Days," "How to Be a Good Teacher Students Like," and so on. From academic papers to comics, covering astronomy, geography, mathematics, and religion — it felt like no matter what kind of book you found on Chrollo's shelf, it wouldn't seem strange at all.
He had flipped through Chrollo's books before, and since Chrollo hadn't forbidden it, his courage grew. He deliberately picked comics and novels to read. Unfortunately, even in this world, manga artists were still plagued by cliffhangers and hiatus addicts. A novel he especially liked called "All XX People" had been on hiatus for ages. According to Shalnark, it was because the author thought playing poker was more fun than writing novels, so he'd immersed himself in card rooms instead.
Homework wasn't a problem at all. Kisho planned to finish the comics he hadn't finished reading first and only then think about homework. But when he walked out of the room, came to the first-floor hall, and was about to go up to the second floor, he saw Chrollo sitting on the sofa in the first-floor hall.
"Damn!" Kisho blurted out a curse in fright, then immediately thanked his lucky stars that the two worlds' languages didn't overlap.
Chrollo turned his head to look at him and smiled slightly: "Come here."
Kisho walked over to him and stood properly in front of him.
Chrollo looked at him seriously: "Can you pronounce my name now?"
Kisho met his gaze seriously: "Chrollo Lucilfer."
Chrollo stared at his serious expression for a long time. He didn't say anything, as if resigning himself, and stopped pursuing the topic.
Instead, he said: "Release your 'Ren' at full power and show me."
Kisho closed his eyes. A powerful aura burst out from his body.
"Not bad — get ready."
When Kisho heard the words "get ready," the expression on his face suddenly turned grave.
A terrifying aura pressure rolled over him again. Even though this test had been carried out countless times already, every time he was tested, he still felt fear at Chrollo's strength.
Every "exam" was perfectly stuck at his limit. Even using all his strength, he still couldn't see the end of that aura pressure. It was like wild grass facing a hurricane — he could only endure it and try not to be uprooted, but no matter what he did, he couldn't affect the hurricane in the slightest.
Time was stretched both unbearably long and unbelievably short. When the aura pressure finally disappeared, all the clothes on Kisho's body were soaked through with sweat.
But after the aura pressure withdrew, his "Nen" seemed to have increased slightly again. And at that moment, he even felt a faint lightness in his body —
Then, as if struck by sudden inspiration, he thought of something. Feitan and Shalnark — they'd been talking about homework just now. They actually knew Chrollo had come back, didn't they?!
Damn it! They clearly knew and still deliberately spoke vaguely, obviously just wanting to watch the show!
Then Chrollo's evaluation made Kisho so angry he stomped his foot.
"Just barely passable."
Ignoring Kisho's puffed-up bun-like cheeks, Chrollo spoke calmly: "Gather everyone."
His voice wasn't loud, but after he finished speaking, everyone who was still staying at the base gradually came to the hall.
"For this activity, the destination is the Whale Manor, located within the White Light Mountain Range, Golden Province, Republic of Bartochia."
Chrollo's calm voice entered everyone's ears, but on the faces of those who heard it, Kisho saw an emotion called excitement.
Calling it excitement might even be too mild. Their gazes were more like beasts that had discovered prey — bloodthirsty, thrilled, yet forcibly restraining themselves, just waiting for a single order to pounce and bite through the target's throat.
Chrollo's gaze swept across everyone's faces.
"However, participation in this activity is voluntary. Members with personal matters can choose not to come — Number 4 still hasn't returned?"
Machi said: "Yes. He said he still needs some time."
"Alright." Chrollo looked at Bonolenov. "Bonolenov and Franklin will stay behind to guard the base."
The two nodded.
Chrollo looked at the others again: "Does anyone need to take leave?"
No one spoke.
Actually, at that moment, Kisho somewhat wanted to ask for leave. But Chrollo's gaze made him abandon that thought.
"Good. Machi and Pakunoda, go collect any necessary information."
"Okay."
"Mhm."
"Shalnark, you're in charge of transportation."
"Roger~"
"The activity is tentatively scheduled for one week from now. The specific arrangements will be decided then."
Chrollo stood up.
"The assault team can start resting and building up strength."
Uvogin's loud voice was full of happiness: "Great! Finally we can stretch our muscles a bit."
Nobunaga: "Want to have a match when the time comes?"
"Sure. Feitan, you come too." Uvogin said as he looked at Feitan.
Feitan curled his lips: "Sure. Want to bet on something?"
Shalnark leaned over: "Eh, are we opening a betting pool? I'm in, I'm in too."
Ignoring the overly excited, noisy group, Chrollo stood up.
"Kisho."
...
Kisho followed Chrollo upstairs and back to the room. There were clearly empty rooms available, but when he requested his own room, he was mercilessly rejected. The reason was that strict Chrollo needed to keep an eye on his studies.
So he was still miserably squeezed into the corner of the wall.
Chrollo said to him: "How many times can you use your ability in succession now?"
With a thought, Kisho caused one badge after another to appear in his hand. A total of ten appeared, and then he couldn't produce any more.
Chrollo asked him: "Is that your limit?"
Kisho replied: "Mm… it seems ten badges is the upper limit of the ability. It has nothing to do with my Nen. I still have Nen left."
Chrollo picked up one badge and put it on himself. A few seconds later, he took it off. The badge disappeared in his palm.
The improvement compared to last time was slightly greater — which meant that Kisho really could, through training, make his Nen-ability badges more and more practical.
Chrollo said calmly: "This activity will count as your entrance exam for joining the troupe. If you pass the assessment, you can officially join."
"I…" Kisho hesitated a little. He really wanted to know why this group of people had gathered together in the first place, and what kind of activities this "troupe" actually carried out.
He looked at Chrollo and asked softly: "You all… what exactly do you do?"
Chrollo didn't answer. He just looked at him calmly.
"After this activity, you'll know."
"But—"
The words he didn't get to say were swallowed by Chrollo's eyes.
"Have you forgotten? The rules you must obey."
Chrollo said softly. His voice was still calm, but it was a kind of calm that made people feel despair.
"You only need to carry out my orders. If necessary, I will explain things to you. But that doesn't mean you have the right to ask questions."
He turned around, leaving the boy, shrouded in killing intent, standing stiffly in place.
"Remember it. This is the last time I'll repeat it."