"Your choice." Roy was an honest child, and he chose to answer truthfully.
Jager glanced at the boy's thick, dark hair, and with a swift hand blade, he cut through a piece of the flying junk.
"Kid, my son isn't as inept as you; you can't even master 'Ren' properly."
The 'Emission' type excels at both 'Ren' and 'Hatsu', especially someone like Grandpa Zeno who can cover the entire East Guoduo Royal City with a single 'Meteor Shower' of the supreme 'Emission' type.
"Buzz..."
The "Nen Shield" was on the verge of collapsing like a bubble under the impact of the Sand Worm's 'Ren'.
Jager wasn't wrong; Roy truly could hardly hold on... one minute and ten seconds was his limit...
"Idiot, that's not how you use 'Ren',"
"Wherever you receive impact, that's where you 'stand' it up, creating a barrier around yourself. It's a good idea but the greatest waste of 'Nen'."
Unfortunately, it was too late... the corpse of a magical beast collided head-on, plunging Roy into darkness as his consciousness detached, disconnecting from the game link, and when he opened his eyes again, unsurprisingly, he found himself in his own cognitive world.
Under his feet was a soft beach, beside it lay the boundless Sea of Cognition. The boy flipped over and lay on the sand, carefully pondering what Jager had just mentioned. It sounded familiar. After repeatedly "chewing" it over, he finally recalled—
It's 'Nen Form Change!'
'Nen' can be stretched or compressed, molded to envelop objects in a thin film, demonstrated as 'Ten,' and naturally, through imagination, the 'ball' can be compressed into a 'plane' for improved efficiency.
Roy, contemplating this, got up once more and pushed open the 'Gate of the Dark Continent.'
"Get down!" A familiar shout came again, and this time, Roy lay flat on the ground, not in a hurry to open all his Acupoints. Instead, he concentrated, channeling the 'Sense' through his soles, knees, abdomen, chest, neck, and finally... Tianling, erupting to form a 'Nen Shield' in front of him.
The 'Nen Shield' compared to the 'Nen Shield' abandoned the other three sides, maintaining only the forward-facing side to block impacts, significantly improving both 'utilization rate' and 'solidity'.
Ten seconds... thirty seconds... one minute, one and a half minutes... Jager glanced at him, "Kid, you've got pretty good intuition..."
Finally, the game reset at one minute and ten seconds, with a slight progress made.
Roy also felt a lot more relaxed, thinking he could hold on longer, smiled, and said, "It's all thanks to your good teaching."
The notes from his great-grandfather, left to gather dust in a drawer, now seemed necessary to pull out for review.
"Don't get too happy; the bigger challenge is coming." In front of Jager, the 'Nen Shield' was thick and wide, showing an eerie 'iron-gray' color, appearing like a piece of refined steel, blocking the flying sand and stones with "ding-ding-dang" sounds.
Prompted by this reminder, Roy fixed his gaze forward...
"Roar!" The sky and earth changed colors, a tail swept in, shattering the landing boat. The towering Sand Worm charged, the fierce wind it stirred and 'Ren' ascending several grades due to its proximity to the ground.
The direct reaction in 'Ren' was—
Roy's newly formed 'Nen Shield' began to waver again, showing faint signs of breaking...
The boy strained to increase the 'Nen' output, turned his head to look at Jager, who was hiding behind the 'Iron Shield', appearing much more at ease than him.
"Why is your shield so thick? Is there a secret?"
Roy humbly asked for guidance.
Jager said mildly, "This shield, twenty years of hard work."
It's all numerical values and sweat...
Roy fell silent, as the 'Nen Shield' shattered instantly, then he was struck by a broken mast, sent flying.
His vision darkened again, and grasping the final strand of consciousness, he couldn't help but think:
'Sweat... that's something that cannot be comprehended through enlightenment...'
This time, he lasted one minute and forty seconds.
Following that,
He traveled in and out of the Dark Continent, back and forth between the world of cognition seven times, reaching a maximum of one minute and forty-five seconds, before leaving the realm of consciousness and returning to reality exhausted.
"Click... click..." The airtight door closed behind him.
Revealing the slightly damp air of the corridor.....
Roy took a deep breath, squatted down, picked a chrysanthemum petal, and chewed it, savoring the bitterness of the juice, aligning his mind and body to unity without confusion, then stood up and left the basement.
Eight o'clock in the evening, the sky had darkened early due to overcast weather, making it somewhat gloomy.
Wutong had specially lit a few candles on the dining table; with the soft candlelight, it made the young master's dining experience somewhat more pleasant.
He was considerate, at least, Roy found this meal quite enjoyable.
The boy skewered a piece of fried pork cutlet, chewing as he browsed through Jager's notes, searching for information about 'Ren', enjoying the pleasure brought by the food. After a moment, he glanced at Wutong, "Wutong, let me see your 'Ren'."
"Huh?" The young butler, while wiping off the candle wax dripping on the table, met Roy's gaze, froze for a moment, then stood straight with a decisive, "Alright."
"Buzz..."
A milky white 'Nen Shield' instantly emerged, enveloping Wutong from head to toe... Roy observed carefully, both "color" and "form" were similar to his, but compared to Grandpa Jager, it was a world apart, and he couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed.
Fortunately, assassins excel at hiding their emotions, and Roy concealed this trace of disappointment well, calmly instructing Wutong to withdraw.
In his mind, he was already considering arranging for Wutong to pursue 'Water Breathing'.
After all, they were his close-knit people; he couldn't be biased, taking care of Hall while neglecting Wutong.
Roy finished his dinner and lay down without changing his clothes. Wutong tidied up the aftermath and blew out the candles. Only the quiet darkness remained...
In this tranquility, the boy stared at the ceiling, contemplating ways to strengthen 'Ren' further, and unknowingly, drowsiness overtook him, leading him into a deep sleep.
The familiar sensation of falling swept in, under his feet was a colorful dream channel, passing through which he arrived at the familiar Sea of Cognition.
Roy didn't linger; he directly pushed open the Demon Slayer's door, entering the Demon Slayer World, and upon opening his eyes, Makomo's beautiful, gleaming eyes greeted him.
"Hey~ I found an issue; Eiichiro Oda is growing so fast!" Makomo compared her height, then eyed Roy from head to toe. In just a few months, the boy had grown significantly taller, truly enviable.
"What's so strange about that?" Shinsuke, perched on the rafter, dangled a leg, "It's the age to eat and drink, nothing out of the ordinary."
Fukuda glanced at him, "Then why are you so short?"
This, indeed, hit a sore spot for someone...
"Whoosh~" In the wooden house, a gust of wind blew again...
Sabito shook his head helplessly, his gaze fixed entirely on Roy, noticing he had gotten up from the bed and was indeed taller than him. The fox boy couldn't help but remark, "That's a genius, strong in every aspect, much like what Giyu said of that 'Rock Hashira'... Gyomei Himejima."
"Pfft, Eiichiro isn't a monk," Makomo defended Roy.
"I never said he was a monk," Sabito clarified.
"You implied it."
"I didn't.... "
In this noisy and snowy morning,
Roy turned his head towards the kitchen, where Urokodaki Sakonji alone was making porridge, his back desolate and lonely. Clearly... the disciple he longed for had always been by his side, yet he remained unaware, enduring solitude in silence.
He spoke up, "Master, the festival season is approaching; I need to make a trip home."
But...
'Before that, I want to give you a precious gift,' Roy glanced at Sabito and Makomo, silently adding in his heart.