The days after hauling the Lord of the Swamp ashore felt different.
The village treated Akira and Gon like minor legends.
Fishermen slapped their backs harder, children trailed after them asking to see the massive fish again (now gutted, filleted, and distributed across the island), and even the elders who usually kept to themselves nodded with quiet approval when the boys passed.
Mito, though still stern, had softened noticeably. She no longer questioned Akira's place in the house; instead she packed extra rice balls for their training sessions and reminded them—more than once—that the mainland wasn't kind to dreamers.
But Akira knew the clock was ticking
.
Every morning he woke before dawn, slipped outside, and ran the coastal trails alone. Not because he needed the exercise—his Endurance had climbed past thirty thanks to constant adaptation—but because solitude let him push boundaries the others couldn't see.
He stood on the same rocky outcrop where he and Gon had first competed, facing the open sea. The sky was still bruised purple, stars fading one by one.
Status.
The familiar blue panel materialized.
Host: Akira Kurogane
Level: 4
Stats:
Strength: 28
Agility: 34
Endurance: 32
Intelligence: 24
Aura Affinity: Latent (Flickering)
Active Functions:
Infinite Adaptation
Analysis Scanner
Mission Matrix
Passive Growth Aura
Unlimited Inventory (10 slots)
Auto-Regeneration (Minor)
Overload Mode (Preview – 30-second burst)
Current Missions:
Primary: Prepare for the Hunter Exam (Progress: 65%)
Side: Achieve Stable Aura Control (0/100% – Reward: Aura Awakening)
Daily: Train beyond visible limits (0/3 sessions completed)
Akira exhaled slowly. The "Flickering" next to Aura Affinity had appeared after the Swamp Lord fight—like a candle flame caught in the wind. He could feel something stirring inside his chest now, warm and restless, but every time he tried to grasp it the sensation slipped away.
He closed his eyes and focused.
Nothing.
He tried again, this time remembering fragments from the original series: Gon and Killua learning Ten under Wing, the simple act of enveloping the body in aura like wrapping oneself in a blanket.
Envelop…
A faint tingle spread across his skin. For half a second the air around him shimmered—barely noticeable, like heat rising off hot sand—then vanished.
[Progress: 12%]
Akira opened his eyes and clenched his fist.
"Close," he muttered.
He spent the next hour cycling through exercises: push-ups until his arms burned (then adapted the muscle recovery pattern of seabirds that never tired), sprints along the tide line (copying the explosive starts of startled deer), and slow, deliberate breathing while visualizing the aura wrapping tighter.
By the time the sun cleared the horizon, he had pushed the progress bar to 38%.
Not enough.
He needed a trigger—something real, something dangerous.
That afternoon Gon found him near the waterfall pond, the one they'd used for fishing drills.
"You're training without me again?" Gon asked, half-teasing, half-curious. He dropped his fishing rod and stretched. "Thought we were a team."
"We are," Akira said, wiping sweat from his brow. "But some things… I need to figure out alone first."
Gon tilted his head. "Like what?"
Akira hesitated. Revealing the system outright felt wrong—like cheating the friendship they'd built. But hiding everything forever wasn't sustainable either.
"Something inside me," he finally said. "It's waking up. I can feel it, but I can't control it yet."
Gon's eyes widened. "Like… Nen?"
The word hung between them.
Akira nodded slowly. "Maybe. I've heard stories. Villagers talk about Hunters who can do impossible things. Strength, speed, sensing things others can't. I think I'm starting to touch that."
Gon sat down cross-legged on a flat rock. "My dad could do that. Ging. Aunt Mito said he used to disappear into thin air sometimes. Not literally, but… close."
Akira sat beside him. "You ever try to feel it?"
Gon scratched his cheek. "Sometimes. When I'm really focused—like when I'm about to catch a big one—I feel this buzz.
But it's gone as soon as I notice it."
"That's aura," Akira said quietly. "You're close too. Closer than most people ever get without training."
Gon grinned. "Then let's train it together!"
They spent the rest of the day experimenting.
Gon would close his eyes and try to "push" the feeling outward. Akira would watch with Analysis Scanner active.
[Scan: Gon Freecss – Aura Output: Latent but Exceptionally High. Natural Affinity: Enhancement-Type Leanings. Progress Toward Awakening: 41%]
Akira mirrored him, but pushed harder—using Overload Mode in tiny pulses to force the aura to surface.
[Warning: Overuse of Overload in unawakened state may cause backlash.]
He ignored it.
.
By late afternoon, both boys were drenched in sweat. Gon's aura flickered once—bright and wild, like green lightning—then collapsed. He laughed and fell backward onto the grass.
"I saw it!" he shouted. "For a second I really saw it!"
Akira, breathing hard, felt his own aura coil tighter. He stood, walked to the pond's edge, and stared at his reflection.
Now or never.
He remembered the system's earlier ping: [Side Objective: Force Aura Awakening – High Risk / High Reward.]
Risk.
He stepped into the water until it reached his waist, then dove.
The pond was deeper than it looked—fed by underground springs, cold and dark at the bottom. He swam down until his lungs screamed, then stopped moving. Let the pressure crush in.
Panic rose.
He welcomed it.
Come on…
The aura inside him exploded.
Not gently. Not controlled.
A white-hot surge ripped through every nerve. His vision whitened. For an endless heartbeat he felt nothing but raw power—wild, untamed, screaming to be shaped.
Then instinct took over.
He wrapped it around himself like armor.
Ten.
The pressure of the water lessened. His lungs no longer burned quite so badly. He could feel the current, the temperature, the faint life signatures of fish darting away in fear.
He kicked upward.
When he broke the surface, gasping, Gon was already in the shallows, eyes wide.
"Your eyes were glowing!" Gon yelled. "Like… like stars!"
Akira climbed onto the bank and collapsed beside him.
The system chimed.
[Aura Awakening Complete.]
[Function Unlocked: Aura Overdrive (Basic)]
[New Stats Unlocked: Aura Control – 15 (Initial)]
[New Mission: Master the Four Major Principles (Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu) – Reward: Hatsu Slot 1 + Major Stat Boost]
Akira laughed—hoarse, exhausted, triumphant.
"I did it."
Gon punched the air. "We both did! Well… you more. But I felt it too!"
They lay there as the sun dipped lower, watching clouds drift.
That night, after Mito had gone to bed, Akira slipped outside again.
He stood under the stars and extended his palm.
Ren.
He pushed.
A visible ripple of aura burst outward—stronger than before, a pale blue flame licking the air around his hand. It wasn't refined. It wasn't elegant. But it was real.
[Ren Progress: 22%]
[Warning: Uncontrolled Ren drains stamina rapidly.]
He cut it off, breathing hard.
Zetsu next… hide the aura completely.
He focused inward, pulling everything back.
The night sounds sharpened. Crickets. Distant waves. His own heartbeat.
His presence dimmed.
Even Gon, asleep inside, wouldn't sense him now..
[Hidden Talent Unlocked: Stealth Aura (Basic)]
Akira smiled into the darkness.
The boat to the mainland left in three days.
He had three days to refine what he'd just awakened.
Three days before the real test began.
And when it did…
He would no longer be just another applicant.