Chapter 3: The First LessonThe First Lesson
The old man's home is tucked away in a forgotten corner of the city, behind a ramen shop that's seen better days. The hideout's men leave Arjun at the alley entrance with a grunt of acknowledgment before disappearing back into the shadows. Arjun hesitates for only a moment before pushing through a weathered door that looks like it might collapse if he breathes too hard on it.
Inside, the space is larger than it should be impossibly larger, as if the building's interior defies the laws of physics. Shelves line every wall, stacked with books so old their spines are barely legible. The smell of aged paper and incense fills the air. In the center of the room, an old man sits cross-legged on a worn mat, his eyes closed.
He doesn't open them when Arjun enters.
"Another one," the old man says, his voice like wind through dead leaves. "The boss sends his ambitious puppets. Sit."
Arjun sits across from him, mirroring his posture. Up close, the old man is impossibly ancient his skin like weathered leather, his hair white as snow. But his presence is immense, pressing down on Arjun like the weight of the entire world. This is someone who understands Nen at a level Arjun can barely fathom.
"What's your name?" the old man asks, finally opening his eyes.
"Darius," Arjun says. It's becoming easier to use the name, though it still feels foreign on his tongue. "The boss said you could teach me Nen."
The old man laughs—a dry, rattling sound. "The boss says many things. Most of them are lies." He settles back, studying Arjun. "But yes, I can teach you. The real question is whether you can learn. Nen is not like other skills. It requires not just physical ability, but mental discipline. It requires you to understand yourself at a fundamental level."
"I'm a quick learner," Arjun says.
"Everyone thinks they are," the old man replies. "Until they realize how much they don't know." He stands with surprising ease for someone of his apparent age. "Come. We'll start with the basics."
The old man leads him to a smaller room off the main chamber. Inside, there's nothing but empty space and wooden flooring worn smooth by countless footsteps. The old man gestures for Arjun to stand in the center.
"First, you must learn to feel your aura," the old man instructs. "Your Nen is the manifestation of your life force. Most people are blind to it. But you you're already awakening. The scar on your neck shows it. Your body is trying to activate its Nen despite your conscious mind's resistance."
Arjun closes his eyes as the old man directs. The instructions are simple: feel inward. Search for the energy that flows through his body. Find the point where life and will intersect.
It should be impossible. It should be difficult.
Instead, it's terrifyingly easy.
The moment Arjun relaxes his mind, he feels it a strange sensation at the base of his spine, a warm current running through his veins. It's like discovering a limb he didn't know he had. The energy responds to his attention, flowing upward through his body, filling him with a strange, intoxicating sensation.
But there's something else. Something that feels almost like memory, but not quite. It's as if another consciousness is stirring in the depths of his mind. Vast. Ancient. Hungry for knowledge.
*Welcome, vessel,* a voice speaks in his mind, and Arjun's eyes snap open.
"What happened?" the old man asks, his ancient eyes sharp as daggers.
"I felt something," Arjun stammers.
"Close your eyes again," the old man commands.
Arjun obeys. This time, he's more careful, more aware. He reaches inward again, searching for that strange current. But he's also listening, waiting for that presence to manifest again.
*Patience, seeker,* the voice comes again, and this time Arjun understands it better. It's not an external voice. It's something inside him. Something that *is* him, and yet distinctly separate. "I am the Demon of Knowledge. I am the keeper of secrets and the revealer of mysteries. Together, we shall ascend."
Images flood Arjun's mind. He sees vast libraries that don't exist in the real world. He sees knowledge written in languages he doesn't recognize, yet somehow understands. He sees pathways of power, sequences of ability, each one building upon the last like the rungs of an infinite ladder.
And he understands, with a clarity that feels almost prophetic, what this is.
The Demon of Knowledge pathway—one of the mystical pathways from *Lord of Mysteries*. The pathway that grants knowledge and revelation, that allows its practitioners to understand the world at deeper and deeper levels. But here, in this world, in this body, it's manifesting as something woven into his Nen itself.
"Fascinating," the old man's voice cuts through the vision. "Your Nen is stabilizing very quickly. Most people take weeks to reach even basic control. But you it's as if your aura was waiting to be awakened."
Arjun opens his eyes. The old man is staring at him with an expression somewhere between curiosity and concern.
"What I felt is that i can control it easily" Arjun said
The old man nods slowly. "Interesting."
For the next three hours, Arjun practices. He learns to channel his aura in simple patterns. He learns to push it outward and pull it inward. He learns that the presence in his mind the Demon of Knowledge grows stronger and more focused with each meditation.
And with each practice session, something extraordinary happens.
The sequences become clearer. The old man doesn't teach him any complex Nen techniques, just the fundamentals—Ren, which is the controlled emission of aura, and Ten, which is the controlled containment of aura. But as he practices, Arjun feels information flowing into him unbidden. Patterns of how to optimize each technique. Understanding of the deeper mechanisms of Nen that he's sure the old man never explained.
By the end of the session, Arjun can feel it: he's at Sequence 9 of the Demon of Knowledge pathway. The lowest rung, the beginning. But it's real, and it's his, and it's only going to get stronger.
"Your development is unusually fast," the old man observes as they conclude. "Whoever you really are beneath that face and name, you're not ordinary."
Arjun meets his gaze steadily. "Will you tell the boss?"
"The boss?" The old man laughs again. "The boss is a child playing with fire. He thinks he understands what's happening in this world, but he comprehends only the smallest fraction." The old man gestures toward a shelf of books. "Sit. Read these. You need to understand the context of what's happening."
Over the next hours, between meditation sessions, Arjun reads. News reports. Underground documents. Fragments of information that the old man has collected. And slowly, a picture emerges.
The Hunter Exam happened weeks ago. Hisoka—a man of monstrous talent and questionable sanity—was disqualified after killing another examinee during the finals. The news sent shockwaves through the Hunter Association and the underground world alike.
"This is the timeline," the old man explains, noticing Arjun's focus. "The moment when everything changes. Hisoka's disqualification was supposed to be contained, kept quiet. But word spread."
"Why?" Arjun asks.
"Fear," the old man says simply. "And opportunity. "
Arjun processes this.
"When should I come back?" Arjun asks as the old man shows him toward the door.
"Tomorrow," the old man says. "And the day after. And every day after that, until you begin to understand what you truly are." He pauses at the threshold. "Fair warning: the more you practice, the more you learn, the better ".
Arjun nods, taking in the warning.
As he walks back through the city streets toward the gang hideout, Arjun feels the Demon of Knowledge stirring in his mind, eager and hungry. He can feel the pathways of power branching out before him, each one leading to greater understanding, greater knowledge, greater strength.
Sequence 9. That's where he starts. But already, he can sense the next sequence forming in the distance, waiting. All he has to do is practice. All he has to do is learn.
All he has to do is survive long enough to climb.
When he returns to the hideout, the boss is waiting.
"Well?" the scarred man demands. "Can you learn or not?"
"Yes," Arjun says simply. And in his mind, the Demon of Knowledge laughs—a sound like pages turning in a library without end.
"Good," the boss says. "Because we're going to need you soon. Very soon. There are movements happening in the city. Hunters are taking notice. And if we're going to survive what's coming, we need people like you."
Arjun nods, and goes to rest. But sleep doesn't come easily. In his dreams, he walks through infinite libraries, reading books that don't exist, learning secrets that the universe has hidden for eons.