Explaining the four basic principles of Nen and the corresponding techniques in great detail, speaking slowly and carefully, Auren looks into the faces of his students, not quite sure what to think.
Meanwhile, the snake is asleep, seemingly uninterested in this lecture.
Do they... understand? Kurapika will understand, Killua as well... but what about those two?
While Kurapika looks calm, with a soft smile on his face, Killua looks almost a little bored, and Leroute is amused as she glances at the clueless-looking Leorio with a devious expression, confirming Auren's doubts. Meanwhile, Gon looks like he's frozen to stone, blankly staring at Auren.
"So... did you get that?" Auren asks the group. "I've got a feeling that something's wrong."
"You can go ahead... this is pretty basic stuff, no need to spend hours on it," Killua says. "Even a child can understand it."
"I like your calm approach; it's commendable that you're simplifying it to this degree, but he is right," Kurapika says. "I already have half a dozen questions, but I'd like to move on first because you will probably answer them on your own. I assume you're keeping it this simple so everyone can understand the basics."
"Simple? Are you joking? This is already way too much," Leorio says, a bead of sweat pouring down his face. "Right, Gon?"
"Uhm... what is Aura again?" Gon wonders, rubbing the back of his head.
"..."
"You can't teach geniuses and dummies at the same time," Leroute comments in a dry voice. "You're trying to do the impossible. This was obvious from the start."
... Does she actually have a point? I thought something similar....
"Fine... I see this isn't quite working. Let's do it a little differently. While Aura is normally invisible, I can use my Hatsu to make it partially visible by creating cold," Auren suggests. "You can 'see' the Aura like that."
Then he performs Ten, Zetsu, and then Ren while repeating his instructions again and again, even Leorio nodding along, now also more than clear.
"I still don't get it..." Gon says, now visibly frustrated.
"Look, with Zetsu you cut off all your Aura; you get that part, right?" Auren asks.
"Yes!" Gon says, nodding.
"Ren is the opposite, where you unleash as much Aura as possible," Auren explains carefully.
"Yeah, but what is Ten then?" Gon asks again. "I don't get it."
"You can imagine Ten as a sort of minimum release of Aura. You do not generate any additional Aura, but you keep the Aura your body normally expels around you, like a bubble, without increasing the output in any way," Auren says. "Imagine three different states: off, half, and full."
"I get it!" Gon says, grinning, while the others look genuinely stumped, but not angry, as they smile at Gon.
"It's nice to learn with Gon," Leorio says. "He'll ask the dumbest questions, so even I can act as if I understand it and everything becomes easy."
Yeah... lower the difficulty enough, and anyone with an average mind feels like it's easy... poor Gon... though he is incredibly sharp sometimes.
"Just one question," Kurapika says. "Hatsu is the personal expression of Nen, right? But there must be rules... or can you just make up whatever you want? It can't be this easy...."
"Of course you are correct. There are so many rules; it's quite difficult to start. Gon, you'll be confused for a while, and we'll revisit this topic when you've reached Ren, but there are six different Nen categories. This means that Nen can be broadly split into these categories. In addition to that, everyone belongs to a single category."
Usually.
"That category is set at birth, but can be changed depending on how you're raised until it finally settles. Though I've heard about rare cases where the Aura can even change later in life." Auren adds. "Now, just a brief introduction. If I go deeper, I fear some of you won't be happy."
"I'm fine!" Gon says, trying to remain optimistic.
"Enhancement," Auren finally starts to list, balling his fist with invisible Aura so heavy that the others can feel the might emanating from it. "I'm enhancing a part of my body, or an object... such as this," Auren says, grabbing a napkin, which immediately becomes fully stretched out and razor-sharp.
"I can behead you all in seconds with this," Auren states. "A certain Jester loves to use this technique on a set of cards. It has a name, but that's for later. Enhancement is the main Nen category that's used here. So even when using that technique, Enhancers will be the best at it, though anyone can learn these basic applications of Nen."
"I see!" Gon yells, smiling, pride on his face. "I get it!!"
"Gon... there really isn't any reason to be proud," Killua says, genuinely stumped.
"Then there is Transmutation," Auren says, his fist now surrounded by a chillingly cold Aura, generated with Biting Cold. "I'm changing the properties of my Aura."
"Now I can see it! It's like your hand was put in Liquid Nitrogen or something," Killua comments.
He's a little childish, but surprisingly well-educated and worldly.
"Emission...." Auren continues, slowly pushing the Aura away from him, towards the group, but in such small quantities that his five students merely feel an incredible chill and no pain. "I'm emitting Aura away from my body. This Aura is not connected to the Aura around my body, yet I'm still maintaining it."
With their bodies shaking, Auren stops producing more Aura, but then manipulates the cold Aura surrounding the five of them and sucks it back towards himself, letting it float just above his palm.
"Manipulation... I'm manipulating an object, a person, or just pure Aura," Auren calmly states.
Auren then turns the Aura, in addition to more of his own, into a frozen Katana accurately resembling Eternity. "Conjuration," Auren says. "I'll conjure an object out of Aura."
Auren then turns the loose cold aura into an actual blade of ice.
"We can see it..." Killua mutters. "You did that with the ice for your snake and the umbrella."
"Interesting," Kurapika notes.
"Of course we can! Duh, ice is visible," Leorio says, looking at the others with mockery.
"Aura is invisible, Leorio! Didn't you listen? We shouldn't be able to see it. It's still Aura, right?" Kurapika asks.
"Yes," Auren confirms. "But Conjuration is the exception. Conjured items are visible, though, with a certain trick...."
Auren then uses In, hiding the blade, waiting a moment before swinging it over them, making them feel the wind pressure.
"Anything out of Aura can be hidden, but as I mentioned, those Advanced Techniques come later," Auren says.
"Did you understand those five categories?" Auren asks.
Everyone, even Gon and Leorio, nods.
"What's the sixth one?" Killua asks immediately.
"Specialization... the rarest Nen category," Auren says. "These abilities are incredibly unique. They can't be classified like the others. Usually they're so complex that a majority of the other categories are involved. We can talk about it later, and I can give you more information, including examples. But it only truly matters if one of you is a specialist, which I doubt is the case. Anyway, the best way to learn Nen is to learn from the mistakes of others. It's a huge risk and decision to create a Hatsu. I waited years, and I'm glad I did. Once you learn a Hatsu, you lose Potential, or you can call it Nen memory, I suppose. A single mistake can leave you in a situation with an unsuitable Hatsu and no potential to learn another. You can't simply learn a Hatsu and then forget it... you can imagine it as a contract with yourself. You're permanently writing a technique, a Hatsu, onto your Nen memory card. Deleting it is difficult and risky, and if it's full... you can't learn any new technique."
"So I can't just try out a bunch until I find the best ones?" Gon wonders.
"No!" Auren mercilessly cuts down his fantasy.
"But rest easy," Auren immediately reassures him. "I'll give you dozens of examples and my own opinions on what makes a Hatsu good and bad. In the end, it's up to you, but there are many rules and logical assumptions, even secrets. I'll teach you everything I know so you'll be one of the lucky people who can make a fully informed decision. I even offer to judge and rate your ideas, should you decide to show them to me, which is completely up to you."
"Damn, it was the right decision to follow you, Auren," Leorio says. "This is how these rich Doctor-kids felt... getting everything handed to them. Finally I can experience it myself."
"He isn't wrong," Leroute pouts, looking dissatisfied. "Lucky guy...."
"I have a question... despite saying that there are six categories, you easily performed feats using all five common categories; how are you doing it? What does it matter what category you belong to when you can still use all of those abilities?" Kurapika asks.
"Plainly speaking... effectiveness," Auren says. "I'm an Enhancer who also focused heavily on both Transmutation and Emission. You can only truly master your own category. While you can become extremely proficient in others, there are limits, and there will always be waste."
Auren then draws the famous Nen chart, with the six categories: Enhancement on top, with Emission and Manipulation on the left, slowly leading down to Specialization. Of course, Transmutation and Conjuration are on the right side of the diagram, mirroring those on the left, also ending with Specialization.
He then writes 100%, 80%, 60%, and 0% on the chart, with Enhancement having 100% efficiency. "I can learn Enhancement techniques and Hatsus at 100% efficiency. If I were to use a pure Emission technique, it wouldn't just be around 80% as powerful; I'd also have to use additional Aura. People tend to think that's just a 20% difference, but such a thing couldn't be further from the truth."
"I believe I get it," Kurapika says.
"I don't... think... that Gon does," Leorio states, looking a tad embarrassed. "Please dumb it down for m— Gon."
"... Leorio..." Gon mutters, his eyes full of disappointment.
"I have a personal view," Auren explains. "Gon, what's 10 times 10?"
"Uh..." Gon hesitates, slowly counting on his fingers before smiling. "100!! I'm right, aren't I?"
"Yes... Uh, congratulations... so what's 8 times 8?" Auren continues, staring at Gon.
Instead of Gon, Kurapika immediately replies. "64... I see. So the true difference isn't 20... but 36."
"This isn't a game of math," Auren says. "But the 80% is deceptive. Still, the neighboring affinities are always worth considering for your Hatsu. Especially if you want to combine different abilities. Obviously you can combine them. I'll show you some examples of failed Hatsus later down the line."
"I see..." Killua says. "That's good to know! But how do we know which Category we belong to?"
"That can be tested... once you've progressed a little. For now, don't worry about it. All categories need to learn the basics; there are no exceptions and no possible mistakes. You need to master them up to a certain level, so all of you can continue this part together."
"Before we stop and finish this session, just to clarify how it works for other Nen categories," Auren says, drawing one additional diagram onto the whiteboard, this time starting with a 100% next to Manipulation.
"I see... so you should master your own category, with the possibility of using adjacent categories," Kurapika instantly realizes. "But Specialisation still remains at 0, while Emission is only at 40%. It seems to me Enhancers are at an ever so slight disadvantage."
"Yes... Categories with 40% compatibility are almost unusable... though there is one important rule in Nen," Auren warns them. "Any rule has exceptions."
Now confusion appears on everyone's faces, even Kurapika's and Killua's.
"But we'll ignore these exceptions for now," Auren says, everyone looking disappointed. "Just a last tidbit... Conjurers and Manipulators are right next to Specialists, but their compatibility is still 0%. As you said, that gives them fewer options, but... there is an exceptionally small chance to become a Specialist. That chance is the largest for Conjurers and Manipulators. I also feel that Manipulators are particularly good at conjuring and vice versa. So you can view it as an additional lottery ticket, should one of you belong to this category. To be fully honest, despite what I said, your eyes, Kurapika. If they work like... the woman I mentioned, you may have a decent chance at actually being one."
"I... I see," Kurapika replies, the mention of Rakshala depressing him, yet also the possibility clearly something he's looking forward to.
Auren then continues explaining the categories and their efficiency a little more, once again demonstrating each category in more detail.
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