Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

Lawliet deliberately turned to face the wall and adjusted his sleeping position so his back was toward Machi. The measure he took was very timely, because Machi woke up a few seconds after he turned over, and she immediately pulled out a thin thread that looked very dangerous.

'Flat chest... ribs…'

Lawliet desperately wanted to rub his slightly throbbing temples, but at this moment, he didn't dare move a muscle. What if Machi suddenly woke up? How would he even begin to explain? So, pretending to sleep seemed like the safest option.

'Who knew what kind of bizarre Nen Ability it was, one that somehow stripped Machi of her clothes upon activation?'

'Moreover, how could Nen be released so easily? Could it be that the rows of data appearing in my head that caused it?'

At this time, Lawliet, who was thinking, had not yet realized that Machi had not only woken up, but was also staring at him.

But he couldn't be blamed for failing to notice, because according to common sense, Machi's first reaction upon discovering her clothes had vanished should have been to scream.

And since Lawliet hadn't heard anything, he assumed Machi was still asleep.

'Fortunately, Machi was not hurt.' After thinking about it, Lawliet felt very fortunate.

When the translucent orb had flown out of his hand and towards Machi, Lawliet panicked.

If he hurt Machi, he would never forgive himself.

Fortunately, he just took off her clothes... 'Just took off her clothes... Ugh.'

Lawliet shook his head slightly, throwing away the inappropriate thoughts in his head. Squinting at the coarse, earthen wall, the image of Machi's skinny figure flashed before his mind, and he sighed softly in his heart.

'She's so thin, practically skin and bones. That must be due to chronic malnutrition, which showed her living conditions were far from ideal. And yet, she brought a stranger like me home and even gave me half of her daily meals.'

When he thought of this, the overlapping images in Lawliet's mind slowly separated.

The Machi from his memories was a member of the Phantom Troupe. She was cold-blooded and killed people without blinking an eye. She was nothing like the kind-hearted little girl Lawliet had spent the past week with.

'Time truly is a butcher's knife… It is capable of turning such a sweet little girl into a merciless villain.'

"Did you do this?"

Machi noticed Lawliet's subconscious shaking of his head. She calmly hopped off the hammock, picked up her clothes on the ground and put them on quickly, then looked at Lawliet's back.

Her reaction was abnormal for a ten-year-old girl, but in Meteor City, such behavior wasn't entirely surprising.

When Machi realized her clothes, including her undergarments, had been removed, her heart skipped a beat. However, she didn't overreact. She was just confused as to how she had been stripped without her noticing.

After all, she knew her sleep wasn't particularly deep. Just now, she was probably in the second stage of sleep and had not yet reached deep sleep. So if someone took off her clothes, she would definitely wake up immediately.

Unable to find a reasonable explanation, her suspicions naturally fell on Lawliet, the only other person in the room.

After hearing Machi's question, Lawliet's body stiffened slightly, and he decisively pretended to be asleep and didn't show any reaction.

Machi raised an eyebrow at this, and after a moment's silence, she climbed back onto the hammock. She closed her eyes and continued to sleep, not insisting on pursuing the matter.

Her intuition told her that her clothes that fell silently to the ground must have something to do with Lawliet, but she didn't know how he did that. After all, if anyone had so much as jostled the hammock, she would've woken up instantly, let alone removed her clothes.

It was just too strange…

Therefore, Machi decided not to press the issue for now. The answer she wanted to know would reveal themselves eventually, as long as Lawliet stayed around.

'That was close...' After not hearing any noise, Lawliet mentally sighed in relief.

After waiting for about ten minutes, Lawliet gave up on the idea of experimenting further with his Nen Ability. Instead, his attention turned to the white smoke text that had appeared in his mindscape earlier.

He couldn't figure out anything about the special jade in his hand, and he just felt that it was something extraordinary.

Subconsciously, Lawliet believed that the white smoke font that appeared in his mindscape was also most likely due to this jade.

Just now, he absorbed the life energy from the jade, which indirectly verified this guess, but he was not sure what effect the white smoke font in his mindscape had.

After Lawliet carefully put away the jade, he closed his eyes to calm his emotions and then focused his thoughts.

In the darkness of his mind, the clear fonts that floated like white smoke suddenly appeared. The neatly arranged words and numbers were very similar to a character stats screen from a video game.

Because Lawliet had absorbed the jade's energy, the awakening rate of his Specialization Category had skyrocketed to 3%, and the awakening rate of other categories increased from 0% to 0.1%. This synchronization between the data and his body was undeniable.

Lawliet's understanding of Nen is relatively superficial, and he has no clear roadmap to guide his thinking. Therefore, no matter how hard he racked his brain, it will be useless.

Even so, the rapid changes he experienced tonight still gave him many strange ideas. Regardless of what other functions the white smoke text might hold, at least it made the indicators clear so that he would not go the wrong way.

'There are so many rare treasures and artifacts in the Hunter x Hunter World. Maybe there are treasures like this tone. If I can absorb the energy within these treasures, it could be a quick way to boost my strength.'

'And then there are all those bizarre, dangerous creatures. To grow that large or powerful, they must contain abundant life energy. If I could absorb that energy...'

'Even if these two assumptions are not true, I can already feel the Aura in my body, so I have the foundation for training Nen. As long as I practice slowly and steadily, I will definitely become stronger.'

'And if I wanted to learn faster, there is another way. I can just participate in the Hunter Exam. Once I passed the Hunter Exam, the Hunter Association will assign me a mentor to teach me Nen.'

'But the Hunter Exam is very dangerous. The possibility of losing my life is very high. I won't attempt it until I'm confident in my abilities.'

'Which means, for now, I should just learn how to control my Aura. And I absolutely won't accept that my Nen Ability can only be used to strip clothes!'

Lawliet came up with two hypotheses for quickly improving his strength, and also considered the Hunter Exam as a potential path.

But before the hypotheses were verified, he would not easily participate in the Hunter Exam. Only down-to-earth training was the best choice for him now.

As the night deepened and the world grew quiet, Lawliet put aside all distracting thoughts, focused his mind and began to try to control the weak Aura that overflowed from his Aura Nodes.

Sensing the presence of Aura and mentally guiding it felt oddly familiar to Lawliet, as it was akin to the meditation practices he had used on Earth. This familiarity allowed him to adapt quickly and proceed with ease.

Within ten minutes, a tiny amount of the Aura that escaped from his body began to remain on the surface of Lawliet's body instead of dissipating entirely. This was the tangible result of his efforts.

Such rapid progress marked Lawliet as a rare talent among Nen Users.

This small success left Lawliet slightly exhilarated, akin to a lost traveler finally finding the right path. The excitement was inevitable.

Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu…These were the four Foundational Techniques of Nen, and the technique that Lawliet was currently practicing is Ten.

Aura, the life energy within the human body, naturally seeped out in small amounts. Most people couldn't stop this energy loss, which could be likened to the gradual drain of one's lifespan.

And Ten allowed Nen Users to keep their Aura within their bodies.

Those who learned Ten would grow stronger over time and it might even slow the effects of aging.

Time passed quietly, and Lawliet was like a child who had found a new toy. His interest in training became more and more intense. He completely ignored the slow passage of time, and only fell asleep unconsciously when mental fatigue overtook him.

When he was sleeping soundly, a thin wisp of white smoke emerged within his silent, dark mindscape. It shone like a beacon.

The white smoke stretched and flattened like dough, then warped and shifted until rows of text rose from its surface:

[Coordinate shift detected. Initiating calibration]

[Scanning...]

[Conditions met!]

[Host: Low-level organisms]

[Evaluation: Extremely weak]

[Auxiliary functions fully activated]

[Commencing assimilation of host's consciousness…]

[…]

[Assimilation failed]

[Unknown error]

[Control attempt failed... Control attempt failed…]

The constantly changing white smoke texts disappeared in an instant as if they were erased by an eraser.

Unaware of the danger he narrowly avoided, Lawliet remained deep in sleep. Unknown to him, a system carrying autonomous consciousness had somehow implanted itself within his body, akin to a parasite.

Perhaps due to the world's unique nature, the unknown system made the decision to assimilate and control Lawliet's consciousness after calculating various factors. However, for some inexplicable reason, it failed. Then, the autonomous awareness was erased, leaving only pure auxiliary functions.

Thus, in his sleep, Lawliet unknowingly evaded a grave threat and gained potential benefits.

However, without the system's guidance, Lawliet wouldn't know what the so-called auxiliary functions are. He would have to discover them through experience and experimentation.

There is no doubt that this incident, which started calmly and ended calmly, brought unknown and unclear benefits to Lawliet, which will be the capital for him to venture into this world.