The next day, early morning.
Hiro woke up.
Stretching deeply, he smiled faintly a smile as if he'd been reborn.
In fact, this kind of smile appeared on his face every single day.
Because every day, Hiro emerged from the Assassination Space having been reborn again and again.
"Today's reward isn't bad," Hiro murmured to himself.
Last night, in the Assassination Space, Hiro faced one of the toughest targets he'd encountered in a while.
A cunning, cold-blooded killer who specialized in illusions and psychological warfare a man who delighted in playing with his victims' minds.
The stage for their battle: a vast, crowded amusement park.
In that chaotic, noisy carnival of lights and laughter, the two of them engaged in a deadly hunt.
They were both hunter and prey.
His opponent could be anyone a clown handing balloons to children, or a nondescript street sweeper blending into the crowd. His identity shifted endlessly.
Hiro had to stay vigilant against constant sneak attacks while simultaneously scanning billions of possible clues to analyze, deduce, and identify the killer's true position to find that one opening for the fatal blow.
It was a thrilling contest of assassins, the kind of game that made Hiro's blood sing.
He died repeatedly but with each death, his technique sharpened.
And finally, at the end of countless attempts, Hiro managed to drive his blade through the man's heart without the killer even realizing he'd been spotted.
Mission complete.
And his reward this time: a new Nen ability.
Psychic Ability: [Scare Doll]
Type: MaterializationEffect: Consume aura to summon an invisible doll. When the target enters its range, the doll manifests with a hideous face to frighten the target, while simultaneously striking them with a deadly blade.
Hiro leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin.
"Interesting enough… but not very practical."
Why did it have to be a doll?
Why invisible?
And scaring the opponent with a hideous face? How hideous? Everyone fears different things. There are people who simply wouldn't be scared at all.
Even for those who were scared the first time what about the second time?
It was just like a horror movie. The first time the ghost appears is terrifying, but the second time? The audience is already used to it, and the fear fades fast.
In short… too situational, too limited.
But it didn't matter Hiro had already thought of a way to improve it.
Through a well-crafted pledge and restriction, he transformed the ability into something much more versatile.
Nen Ability: [Painter's Fear Model]
Type: MaterializationEffect:
Consume aura to create realistic simulation models of any object. These models replicate external attributes such as shape, texture, and weight but lack actual internal functions.
Models are not forced into invisibility. Visibility is decided by the user and remains fixed at the time of creation.
Models can be set to trigger automatically under preset conditions or manually within a limited distance.
When triggered, the model injects a terrifying hallucination directly into the target's mind. The vision can either be randomly generated or specified by the user.
After the model is triggered, the ability [Spur of the Mood] can also be activated.
After triggering, the user can choose whether or not to unleash a deadly blade as a follow-up strike.
Limits of the ability [Painter's Fear Model]
To successfully create a model, the user must first draw its appearance in detail. The more realistic the drawing, the more realistic the model will be. If the realism of the drawing is less than 90%, the model creation fails.(Note: Once a model has been drawn, it is saved permanently there is no need to redraw it in the future. It can be reproduced directly.)
The horrific scene injected into the target's mind must also be drawn by the user beforehand. The more vivid and realistic the scene, the stronger its psychological impact.(Note: Once a scene has been drawn, it is saved permanently there is no need to redraw it in the future. It can be reused directly.)
Hiro was very satisfied with the effect of the modified Nen ability.
It was cunning.It was eerie.It played with people's minds while remaining highly practical in real combat.
Thanks to the unique experience he'd had last night in the Assassination Space hunting a killer who used psychological games and shifting identities Hiro had found inspiration for the modification.
Of course, the limitations of this ability were actually quite strict.
If the user's artistic skill wasn't up to standard, the ability was practically useless. But for Hiro, who possessed god-level painting skill, it was a perfect match.
A perfect weapon, tailor-made for him.
Later that morning, after preparing breakfast in the restaurant, Hiro sat down at the wooden table outside.
In the warm morning sun, he laid out sheets of thick drawing paper, dipped his pen in ink, and began to create.
One by one, scenes of unspeakable horror emerged on the page so vivid, so real they seemed to breathe.
Curious passersby couldn't help but peek at what Hiro was drawing and each one left pale-faced, as if they'd seen a ghost.
The images were too real.
Even Killua, who snuck up from behind to see, felt his little heart skip a beat. He covered his eyes dramatically and yelled:
"Big Brother! You're hurting my young, innocent heart! Pay me compensation for mental damage!"
But Hiro didn't even glance up. His pen moved steadily as he ignored Killua's protests, completely focused on his work.
The morning passed quietly in this way.
Hiro only stopped drawing when it was time to head out to catch the spaceship.
Before leaving, Shiba found him and stopped him at the gate.
"Ilmi asked you for help?" Shiba asked, his face calm.
"Yes," Hiro replied honestly, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Even you know about it, Dad? That means it must be something tricky."
Shiba grunted faintly.
"I can only say this it's not a simple assassination commission. You'll understand when you see Ilmi. But… if you're not 100% sure, tell him to give it up. Understood?"
Hiro's lips curved faintly into a confident smile.
"Understood."
On the spaceship to Balaril, Hiro sat comfortably in the VIP cabin, a sketchpad open in front of him, his laptop to one side. While his fingers glided across the paper, crafting eerie and chilling scenes, his other hand occasionally tapped through reference materials on the screen.
It wasn't that Hiro was in a hurry to create more material for his new Nen ability.Rather, since he'd already decided to attend the painting exhibition while in Balaril, he'd chosen to set the exhibition's theme as horror and the bizarre.
Whether the gallery's curator agreed or not well, it was decided happily on his end.
Kill two birds with one stone.One effort, double the reward.Awesome.
Since the Republic of Batocchia and the Republic of Minbo were neighboring countries one in the north, the other in the south the flight was short. Within half a day, the airship docked at Balaril.
Balaril was a renowned tourist city, bustling with visitors every day.
It took Hiro nearly half an hour of waiting in line to clear immigration. As he finally stepped through, he let out a faint sigh.
"Having a Hunter License really is more convenient. VIP lanes at all the terminals, discounts everywhere saves so much time and money. Really a must-have for travel and adventure."
He made a mental note to renew his license soon, then walked to the exit gate of the terminal and immediately noticed some commotion at the doors.
"Dad! Please stop wasting all the family's money on that so-called spiritual practice! Mom's already in the hospital because of you! Please wake up!"
A young man, probably in his twenties, was clinging to the sleeve of a thin, pale middle-aged man, his face tight with panic and desperation.
The middle-aged man, however, calmly clutched a suitcase, his expression unsettlingly serene.
"Go back," the man said softly. "Your mother fell ill because she clung to worldly attachments and brought bad karma upon herself. I'm here to ask the Master to cleanse her misfortune. If you stop me… do you want to bear the sin of killing your own mother?"
Hiro watched the scene, as did many passersby. He didn't particularly care about their argument he'd seen many such disputes over scams and cults before.
What did catch his sharp eye, though, was something far more unusual.
The middle-aged man's aura flow was wrong.
Hiro's keen perception, honed by perfecting Nen control and years of experience, caught the anomaly immediately.Most ordinary humans unconsciously leak a small, constant stream of aura from their bodies usually highest at the crown of the head. The amount and rhythm vary slightly between individuals, but always follow certain natural patterns.
But this man… the aura leaking from the crown of his head was minimal. Worse, it fluctuated wildly as though something foreign, something alive, was buried in his brain, devouring his life force.
Narrowing his eyes, Hiro focused and raised the level of [Gyo] even further. And there buried deep in the man's head was a faint but unmistakable clump of external Nen, slowly sucking energy toward itself.
"Heh," Hiro chuckled faintly to himself."So this so-called 'spiritual practice' isn't just your average scam. Interesting."
At that moment, he sensed a familiar presence approaching from behind.Hiro turned his head and greeted the figure with a faint smile.
"I told you not to come pick me up, Illumi."
The second son of the Zoldyck family Illumi stood there, his long black hair cascading to his waist, his expression a cold, unreadable mask.Tall, slim, elegant he looked every bit the quiet, handsome man to outsiders.
"As your little brother, it's only proper for me to come greet you. Please don't take offense, Big Brother," Illumi replied.
His words were polite, but his tone and blank face betrayed nothing.
"Alright, alright, enough of that. Look over there I just found something interesting," Hiro said casually, nodding toward the middle-aged man.
After listening to Hiro's quiet explanation, Illumi only responded with:"That's exactly what this commission is about. But that's not the point…"
And then uncharacteristically Illumi's face twisted into something almost… indecent. A giddy, intoxicated smile spread across his normally stoic features, like a pervert savoring something unspeakable.
"I didn't expect your Gyo skills to have advanced to such a level already, Big Brother. As expected under your leadership, our Zoldyck family will only grow stronger and stronger!"
"Hey hey that's not the point here, alright?! We're in public! Could you please mind your facial expressions, you naughty little brother?!"
Hiro raised a hand to his forehead, thoroughly exasperated.
Some things about Illumi, no matter how much time passed, would never change.