Chapter 29
Although Haruto had successfully registered for the exam, he did not allow himself to relax.
Hisoka and Illumi would both be participating this year.
Even with the extraordinary physical abilities granted by his Gourmet Cells, Haruto was far from confident that he could survive an encounter with either of them.
At this point, he probably could not even defeat Killua.
That brought his thoughts to Nen.
If he could learn Nen before the exam began, he would at least have some means of defending himself.
More importantly, Haruto already had a few ideas about the kind of Nen ability he wanted to develop.
Unfortunately, no matter how thoroughly he searched the internet, he could not find any useful information about Nen users.
What he never expected was that, although he could not find one himself, a Nen user would soon come looking for him.
One day, Haruto had just finished sampling the food at an upscale restaurant and was on his way back to his hotel when someone abruptly blocked his path.
"You’re the brat who robbed half the gangs in this city a few days ago, aren’t you? Your scent was all over their hideouts."
The man looked Haruto up and down, and contempt quickly entered his expression.
"You’re barely more than a kid. Those gangsters must be even more useless than I thought."
Not that it made any real difference to him.
No matter how strong Haruto was, the mafia still owed him the promised payment.
Haruto studied the newcomer.
The man was thin, with a protruding mouth filled with sharp, sharklike teeth.
Haruto frowned slightly.
The face looked vaguely familiar, but he could not immediately remember the man’s name.
"Who are you?"
The stranger seemed irritated that Haruto did not recognize him.
After a moment, however, he decided to introduce himself.
"Listen carefully, brat! I’m Rabid Dog of the Shadow Beasts, serving directly under the Ten Dons!"
...
"Rabid Dog..."
Haruto repeated the name before finally remembering him.
Wasn’t this the Shadow Beast who bit Uvogin, only to be killed when Uvogin spat a piece of skull through his head?
The moment Haruto realized he was facing one of the Shadow Beasts, excitement stirred within him.
He had been wondering how to find a Nen user capable of opening his aura nodes, and now one had practically delivered himself to his doorstep.
Those gangsters truly were such generous people.
Of course, Rabid Dog was not going to kindly teach him Nen.
Haruto knew, however, that being struck by an attack infused with Nen could forcibly open a person’s aura nodes, provided they survived the initial impact.
Whether they could then learn to control that aura depended entirely on the individual.
Those who succeeded could survive.
Those who failed were almost certain to die.
At Heavens Arena, this method was known as "baptism" and was often inflicted upon newcomers who reached the 200th floor.
During the Chimera Ant crisis, the ants had also used a similar method to forcibly awaken Nen users.
With his body strengthened by Gourmet Cells and his extensive theoretical knowledge of Nen, Haruto estimated that his chance of surviving a forced awakening was well above ninety percent.
The only thing he needed to avoid was being bitten by Rabid Dog’s poisoned teeth.
Seeing Haruto apparently lost in thought, Rabid Dog’s eyes flashed with murderous intent.
’An opening.’
He kicked off the ground and shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
As soon as he closed the distance, he opened his jaws and lunged for Haruto’s shoulder.
Just before his teeth could connect, Haruto’s fist shot upward and struck him squarely beneath the jaw.
A quiet crack sounded alongside Rabid Dog’s muffled grunt.
His body flew backward and slammed into the wall at the end of the alley before sliding to the ground.
...
"Hey, don’t suddenly rush at people like that!"
Haruto lowered his fist and looked at Rabid Dog sprawled on the ground, sounding genuinely annoyed.
The attack had come so suddenly that, although he had held back, he had still used nearly eighty percent of his strength.
Fortunately, Rabid Dog was a Nen user and could take a beating.
Haruto also seemed to have solved the problem of those poisonous teeth by accident.
Rabid Dog shook his head and forced himself back to his feet.
Agonizing pain tore through his jaw, and the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
When he reached up to examine the injury, he discovered that Haruto’s punch had broken his jaw.
That only enraged him further.
How was he supposed to bite anyone now?
His anger overwhelmed what little reason remained. Ignoring the pain, Rabid Dog charged at Haruto once again with bloodshot eyes.
Haruto quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
At least he had not run away.
Haruto then began deliberately allowing himself to be hit.
One punch.
Two.
Three...
Only after enduring more than a dozen heavy blows infused with Nen did he finally feel a warm energy suddenly awaken within him and begin surging uncontrollably from his body.
’It worked!’
A sharp gleam flashed through Haruto’s eyes.
There was no longer any reason to hold back.
He shifted aside, avoiding Rabid Dog’s next punch, then drove a fist containing all his strength directly into the man’s temple.
Rabid Dog did not even manage to grunt.
He collapsed unconscious on the spot, his condition unknown.
Haruto paid him no further attention.
He sat on the ground, closed his eyes, and began guiding the energy flowing from his body—his aura.
He imagined it emerging from the crown of his head, flowing down through his right shoulder and both feet, then rising through his left shoulder before returning to the top of his head.
As Haruto continued, the aura that had been spilling wildly from his body gradually gathered into a controlled layer around him.
...
Haruto’s eyes snapped open.
He looked down at his hands, feeling as though his entire body had been wrapped in an invisible suit of transparent armor—warm, flexible, and remarkably resilient.
"Nen... I did it!"
Haruto clenched his fists, unable to suppress the exhilarated smile spreading across his face.
He rose, brushed the dust from his clothes, and walked away without sparing the unconscious Rabid Dog another glance.
He did not return to his original hotel.
Now that his location had been exposed, there was no telling whether an ambush might already be waiting there.
Instead, Haruto found another high-end hotel, booked a quiet suite, and threw himself into training.
...
After an entire day and night, he gained a basic grasp of three of Nen’s Four Major Principles: Ten, Ren, and Zetsu.
He did not continue practicing those fundamentals immediately.
There was something far more important he wanted to do next—develop his personal Nen ability.
Before that, however, he first needed to determine his natural Nen category.
Nen was divided into six categories: Enhancement, Emission, Transmutation, Manipulation, Conjuration, and the rarest category, Specialization.
According to the Nen affinity chart, a user could draw out one hundred percent of the power of abilities belonging to their natural category.
They could reach eighty percent proficiency in adjacent categories, sixty percent in categories farther away, and only forty percent in the category directly opposite their own.
Specialization was the exception. Unless someone was naturally a Specialist, they could not deliberately learn Specialist abilities.
Determining his Nen category would not only decide the direction of his future training, but also directly influence what kind of ability he should develop.
Fortunately, identifying one’s category was simple.
All he needed was Water Divination.
Haruto opened a bottle of mineral water and filled a glass to the brim.
He then plucked a fresh green leaf from a potted plant on the windowsill and gently placed it on the surface.
After positioning both hands around the glass, he began releasing his aura.
A short while later, nearly half the water inside the glass vanished without explanation.
At the same time, the once-fresh green leaf visibly shriveled, turning dry and yellow before his eyes.
"Specialization..."
Haruto studied the changes in the glass, deep in thought.