Chapter 66: Free Meal Incoming, Boys!
As it happened, after the final phase ended yesterday, Ross had already collected Genkai's exact address and a personally written letter of introduction from Netero.
No surprises there: the location where Master Genkai was stationed turned out to be the same country as Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hanzou. A small island nation.
Showing up to meet a potential master empty-handed was not an option, though. Even if Genkai was not the type to expect formal gifts from a new student, Ross had to be able to cover his own basic costs: food, lodging, and the daily expenses that added up over a proper period of training. There was an old saying that learning came cheap but martial arts did not. Training Nen was training in martial arts, and without money in pocket, the footing was always unstable.
From that angle, the Sky Arena really was the ideal early resource-building destination for where Ross stood right now, whether for money or for items. And in practice, it would not push the visit to Genkai back significantly at all.
The plan: reach the two-hundredth floor, register, and collect up to ninety days of preparation time. Then go to Genkai. Alternatively, decline to register at the two-hundredth floor, run the earnings again, and register on a second pass. For Nen users, anything below the two-hundredth floor was essentially free money.
Either way, studying under Genkai was still something he intended to do.
The Little Tyrant had not made him complacent. He had managed to take down Rando, an opponent who gave professional Hunters real trouble, and he had done it through mechanics and setup rather than raw ability, which was precisely what had made his own gaps clearer to him, not less.
The reason he relied so heavily on playing the systems was that his base numbers were simply not there yet.
Who would not want to be the type where both fists hit hard?
Nen offered almost limitless variety, but raw ability could not be cheated. It could only be built through real, patient work. A good teacher was worth an enormous amount of wasted time not taken.
Ross was also genuinely curious whether, after the world-merge, any familiar faces would show up at the Sky Arena, and what shape the Dark Tournament might take in this version of the world.
Bang.
Just as the three of them had settled happily on their destination, the lecture room doors slammed open from outside. Gon walked in, head bandaged, one arm in a cast, and made a beeline with complete singleness of purpose directly toward Illumi, who was quietly reviewing material for his next assignment.
More entertainment.
That was the instinctive reaction of most of the new Hunters still in the room. It had the secondary effect of functioning as a very effective stimulant after a half-morning of lectures that had been putting people to sleep.
What could be said about it was this: the young really did not fear the things they should. Without Hisoka in the room acting as a hard limiter, Illumi would have killed Gon several times over by now. And it would not have stopped at Gon. Kurapika and Leorio, neither of whom had any real sense of what Illumi was capable of and were both entirely focused on protecting Gon, would also have died. Probably before Gon did.
This was precisely what Ross had been describing earlier: the stubborn type dragged the people close to them into trouble, and the closer the relationship, the heavier the price they paid for it.
Ross himself was not particularly interested in the side show, and continued working through the travel logistics with the two delinquents. The actual time they had known each other amounted to two weeks. Male friendships sometimes formed that fast regardless.
Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio had become a tight-knit unit over the same kind of compressed timeline. In roughly the same way, the understanding between Ross and his two companions had already reached the level where the standard opening line was some variation of "you idiot, you're still breathing?"
Which was why Ross fully intended to freeload shamelessly off these two for his travel expenses. His total assets at present amounted to 1,500 Jenny.
Transit was free with the Hunter license. Basic food and water along the way was not.
A broke hero was still broke.
On the other side of the room, Gon's stubbornness was making progress of a kind. Every time he insisted that he and Killua were close friends, it had the effect of deepening Illumi's desire to have Gon removed from the equation at the earliest opportunity.
Unfortunately, the fruit farmer was present.
Hisoka's undisguised killing intent, combined with his earlier explicit declaration that Gon was his to hunt, had made Gon's value to him abundantly clear. Even if Illumi were to slip away from Hisoka's attention and kill Gon quietly, he would simply acquire an unsatisfied, furious fruit farmer pursuing him at full capacity for the foreseeable future.
Illumi had never been presented with a worse deal in his life.
"Get ready. You still need to catch that unconscious kid up on the material later."
Netero, who had watched enough, patted Beans on the shoulder with the air of a satisfied audience member, then addressed the whole room at full volume.
"That is all for today's session.
When you walk out of this building, you will be Hunters, the same as any of us.
From this point on, we are colleagues and rivals both.
However it goes, I hope each of you finds smooth sailing."
"Dismissed!"
...
Outside the lecture room, Ross found himself holding a business card.
It read: Fog Shadow Style Upper Ninja: Hanzou, with a phone number, and Hunter script written alongside the characters as a thoughtful annotation. Most people in this world did not read them, after all.
"I want to thank you on my senior's behalf for not finishing him. If you ever get the chance to visit my country, I'll take you somewhere off the beaten path."
Hanzou, warm and forthcoming as always, said this with complete sincerity.
"We'll take you up on that."
Ross was not being polite. He genuinely intended to make the trip at some point during whatever time he was in that part of the world. The "ninja" label alone was a significant category in game history. The Famicom had more ninja-themed games than could be easily counted. Even setting aside the combat angle, getting a keyword related to ninjas or anything adjacent would be worth pursuing.
Hanzou seen off, Ross turned to find Bodoro waiting.
"Words are insufficient for a debt like this. Brother Ross, whatever you need from this point on, Bodoro will do it without hesitation and hold nothing back."
The old fighter, who after a night of treatment and rest was already showing signs of a genuine second wind, said this with complete seriousness and handed over a slip of paper with his own phone number written on it.
"Understood. I'll come to you when the time is right."
Ross accepted without any false modesty.
But that was not the end of it. As Ross was heading out, Netero called after him from the doorway.
"Young man. Register a phone number so we can reach you when needed."
"Chairman, I don't have a phone."
Ross answered honestly. His total assets were 1,500 Jenny.
"..."
The hand stroking Netero's beard stopped moving.
Roughly ten minutes later, Ross was holding three brand-new Hunter Association-issue phones.
***
30+advance chapters at patreon.com/Eatinpieces