NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The Path of Training
Chapter 9: The Path of Training
"Alright."
Between the palms of the five-year-old boy, an invisible white glow began to gather.
The glow, like flowing water, spread from his hands to his thin arms, shoulders, torso, legs, feet, and finally enveloped his head.
This glow was, of course, aura—the life energy present in all living beings. As the boy focused, sensing its presence became clearer, giving the illusion of the energy physically manifesting around him.
Every human possesses aura, but ordinary people allow it to dissipate unconsciously. The first step in learning Nen is to prevent this loss by concentrating and solidifying the aura around one's body—a technique called Ten, one of the four major fundamentals of Nen.
"Ten," which means "to wrap," aptly describes the act of surrounding one's body with aura.
Haru estimated that it took him about a minute to master Ten. Given his familiarity with Nen abilities, he figured that was a decent start, though not particularly fast.
He glanced up. The midday sun was scorching.
This was his first day experiencing daylight in the Hunter x Hunter world, and it was unexpectedly hot. Judging from the newspaper he'd found on the ship yesterday—dated late November—it seemed likely he was in a tropical region, possibly somewhere south of the Kakin Kingdom.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Haru stood in a small clearing within a forest. Nearby, Toru, the moon-white tiger without any visible stripes, lay on the ground, watching him intently. Perhaps out of feline curiosity, the tiger seemed puzzled by what Haru was doing.
As for the wolf, Haru had sent it out to patrol.
He'd spent half a day riding Toru without encountering any towns, villages, or even a single person. Either the region was vast, or he was hopelessly lost.
Deciding not to waste energy on aimless wandering, Haru set traps using crumbs from his remaining rations to bait birds. He placed these traps at various points and ordered the wolf to patrol between them. If the wolf found a trapped bird, it was to scratch itself lightly with its claws.
The Star Mark on the wolf would immediately activate upon detecting an injury, healing it instantly. This activation would also send a signal to Haru, alerting him to the capture.
With that arranged, Haru focused on his Nen training.
After mastering Ten in about a minute, he moved on to the next technique: Zetsu.
Zetsu involves closing all the pores of one's body, sealing off the flow of aura entirely. By doing so, a Nen user can erase their presence and aura signature, making them undetectable. However, this also leaves the user completely defenseless, making Zetsu a double-edged sword.
The ability to rapidly switch between Zetsu and Ten is a critical measure of proficiency. Some advanced Nen users are said to be able to maintain Ten even while sleeping, transitioning into Zetsu and back in mere fractions of a second.
Nen fundamentals include four techniques: Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu.
Hatsu refers to a user's unique Nen ability, like Haru's manipulation-type ability, Song of the Earth. While Haru felt reasonably proficient in using his ability, he recognized that his basic Nen capacity was underdeveloped. To remedy this, he focused on strengthening his aura reserves through consistent practice.
As for Ren, which involves maximizing the output of aura, it's akin to the dramatic "powering up" sequences seen in Dragon Ball.
At its core, all four fundamentals revolve around the effective manipulation of aura.
Haru repeatedly practiced switching between Ten and Zetsu, varying the durations each time. Knowing his current aura reserves were limited, he decided to save Ren training for the end of each session to conserve energy for other techniques.
Being a transmigrator offered the unique advantage of foreknowledge. Haru was well-versed in this world's systems and principles, including advanced techniques and strategic insights that even seasoned hunters might not know.
This knowledge allowed him to train efficiently, avoiding major pitfalls.
For example, Nen abilities are divided into six categories: Enhancement, Emission, Manipulation, Conjuration, Transmutation, and Specialization, forming a hexagonal relationship.
Each individual has a natural affinity for one of these categories, which determines their training efficiency.
Typically, a Nen user achieves 100% proficiency in their primary category. However, training in adjacent categories yields diminishing returns, while opposite categories result in the least efficiency.
Take Haru as an example. As a manipulation-type user, his training efficiency across the six categories would be:
Manipulation: 100%
Emission: 80%
Enhancement: 60%
Transmutation: 40%
Conjuration: 60%
Specialization: 0%
This means that if Haru tried to learn a transmutation-based ability, he would need twice the effort compared to a transmutation user to achieve the same results. Even then, his ability's effectiveness would max out at 40% of theirs—a futile endeavor.
To address this limitation, the Shingen-Ryu school of Nen, led by Netero, advocates the "Mountain" approach to training. This strategy focuses on mastering one's primary category while incorporating techniques from the adjacent ones. Although this approach requires more effort, it diversifies a user's abilities, improving their adaptability in combat.
Manipulation users like Haru often face a unique disadvantage. Since manipulation borders the specialization category—an unpredictable and inaccessible category—users in this position effectively lose one potential area of growth.
Despite these constraints, Haru recognized that understanding his natural affinity was the key to optimizing his training path.
For him, the road ahead was clear: master manipulation, strengthen his aura reserves, and strategically develop complementary skills.
And so, he continued his training under the blazing sun, determined to grow stronger.
(End of Chapter)