Indeed, Roy sensed the Nen aura from Illumi.
This Nen felt "damp" and "cold," giving an uncomfortable sensation—like a venomous snake lurking in a gutter, tongue flicking, ready to strike any prey it had locked onto.
"Congratulations." Roy didn't stop his pace, dropped this single word, and continued running back toward the mountaintop.
Illumi silently watched him from the shadows. The security room's dim yellow light caught only his edges, throwing a diagonal shadow across the ground.
He said nothing until he could no longer see Roy's retreating figure, then expressionlessly lifted his foot to follow.
As for congratulations? He detected no hint of congratulation in Roy's aura.
The aura emitted by Nen users wasn't an unchanging "milky white," but constantly transformed according to current emotions. Red when angry. Black when showing malicious intent toward others. Green when balanced and peaceful.
Neither pleased nor sad, neither caring nor disliking, habitually maintaining a faint sense of detachment, would appear as an exquisite "gray."
What Illumi saw from Roy was gray. This meant the other party had positioned him as a familiar stranger requiring certain distance.
As Illumi judged correctly, opening aura nodes could indeed cause qualitative change in a person. Roy wasn't happy or sad, didn't care, and wouldn't be surprised. Hearing this news was like hearing someone talk about the weather—his heart remained completely calm.
However, Illumi being able to quickly retract his dispersed aura back inside meant he, like Roy himself, had learned and mastered Ten within minutes of opening his aura nodes.
Ten: The technique of preserving aura that disperses outside the body internally. The specific method involves controlling aura nodes' opening and closing and determining aura release and retention.
For example, the "water walking" technique recorded in Jig's notes required closing all body aura nodes while only opening foot nodes, allowing aura to release from this sole exit.
In the original story, learning Ten took Zushi three months—ordinary genius level. Gon and Killua took several minutes—one-in-a-million genius level. Kakin Empire's Fourth Prince Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou took one second—one-in-a-hundred-million genius level.
And he and Illumi, benefiting from Zoldyck bloodline talent, mastering Ten within minutes of opening aura nodes wasn't anything remarkable.
At 4:30 AM, Roy finished his run, took a quick shower, and sat punctually at the dining table.
Gotoh pushed the food cart as usual, knocking on the door to reveal today's breakfast. Beef burger, vegetable salad paired with a large glass of milk had become routine. The only thing that made Roy look twice was a stir-fried dish—minced meat with eggplant.
"The chef saw the young master working in the kitchen last time and tried copying it. Please evaluate, young master." Noticing Roy's gaze, Gotoh specifically explained. "If the young master finds it unpalatable, I'll fire him later."
The Zoldyck family didn't worry about money. A chef was just a chef—fire at will. Roy had become numb to such talk.
He picked up chopsticks to taste it and give a decent evaluation to save the chef's job. But what neither Roy nor Gotoh expected was that a familiar "old wind" blew in.
Someone had already taken a chopstick-full before Roy and was evaluating it in his mouth.
"Hmmm... too salty, sweetness also too high, eggplant texture not soft enough—needs more practice." Maha closed his eyes, smacked his lips, and then opened them again. Chopsticks dropped, he vanished in a flash.
Roy and Gotoh looked at each other bewildered. Those unaware might think the old man couldn't hold his night urination and came out for a stroll—incredibly fast.
"You heard it all—too much salt and sugar, eggplant wasn't blanched, and the heat was too high at the end. Should have used low heat to simmer for minutes until the eggplant softened, then thickened the sauce."
"Understood. I'll dismiss him when I return."
Roy glared at him irritably. "All you know is firing people? Hiring another won't necessarily cook better than this one. I'll write a recipe for him later. You arrange for servants to buy an iron wok. That's settled."
"Yes..." Gotoh nodded, attending to Roy's meal while mentioning recent household events.
"Reportedly, the mistress had been vomiting recently and thought she was pregnant. However, checking with Nen revealed it was food poisoning. That same day, she had the butler responsible for vegetable procurement strung up, beaten, and sent to Meteor City."
Roy knew Kikyo was born in Meteor City. He bit into his beef burger without comment, only thinking his mother was truly crazy wanting Killua—even if anxious, she should wait three or four years.
"Also... Young Master Illumi's eighty-win streak was ended." Gotoh pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, slowly explaining. "The opponent was an Emitter-type Nen user who watched Young Master Illumi's matches and came specifically to snipe him. After nearly an hour of continuous combat, he used a precise Nen bullet to knock Young Master Illumi out of the ring."
The beef in the burger was undercooked—still a little pink in the middle and chewy to eat. Roy barely swallowed it with milk, showing no reaction on his face.
Gotoh cautiously glanced at him and continued. "The young master hasn't been to Heavens Arena for a while. Young Master Illumi was probably aiming to break your eighty-one-win streak when he suffered this setback. Yesterday I heard he asked the master to open his aura nodes. He'll probably soon seek revenge on that Nen user."
That's not revenge—that's murder.
Roy finished his burger and pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth methodically. "Stop the nonsense and tell me today's training plan."
Yukigakure on the sword rack, after a night's moonlight refinement, seemed unable to restrain itself from being unsheathed—just like Roy's current mood, wishing evening would come quickly so he could dream and find Sakonji Urokodaki.
He pushed away from the table and stood, leaving the mess for Gotoh to clean. The young butler reported, "The young master doesn't need to train this morning. The master notified that he'll test your and Young Master Illumi's Nen ability types. Afterward, according to type, arrange subsequent training plans."
Finally remembered this son of his?
Roy grabbed Yukigakure and, without looking back, tossed Gotoh a single sentence.
"I won't go for testing. If Father asks, tell him—no assassin would be stupid enough to expose their trump card to others. That's what he taught me."