A flash of light passed, and Sion and Kisho returned to the previous room.
Kisho lowered his head without saying a word.
"What's wrong, kid? You look pretty down." Sion asked while pulling the cartridge out of the game console and carefully putting it away.
"It's nothing. I'm just a bit unconvinced." Kisho said quietly.
"Hahaha, did Ging deal you a blow, kid?" Sion laughed and patted Kisho on the shoulder.
"If I hadn't been restricted by forced Zetsu, maybe I could have proven right in front of him that I'm not as useless as he said."
Kisho said in a low voice, "Compared to when I left Whale Manor, I think I've improved quite a lot. Unfortunately—"
Sion interrupted gently, "A person's strength isn't judged purely by the 'amount of Nen.'"
"Physical fitness, martial skills, combat awareness, the basic four major techniques and advanced application skills, as well as understanding and using your own ability—none of these can be lacking."
"Take a certain annoying guy you're familiar with as an example. He's someone who has trained all of those aspects to the extreme."
Kisho almost immediately understood who Sion was talking about and looked at him with slightly widened eyes.
"His Nen ability might look powerful to outsiders, but it's not actually as easy to use as people imagine."
Sion spoke slowly.
"Stolen Nen abilities aren't like ones you train yourself. He has to study how to use them on his own. Yet he can combine different Nen abilities together and even produce effects beyond what the original owners could do."
"Besides, when he uses them, he must hold an open book in his hand. In combat, losing one hand's use affects martial techniques—something I don't need to explain. Yet he can still perfectly use all kinds of fighting techniques."
"In battle, every move changes in an instant. Whether you can seize the opportunity to defeat your enemy in that moment, or instantly adjust to incoming attacks, are also factors that determine whether your strength is sufficient."
After finishing his long explanation, Sion smiled at Kisho.
"What do you think? If each category were graded separately, how many points would you get?"
Kisho: "..."
"Your Nen ability really is strong. But how much of it can you actually bring out right now?"
"From what I can see, between you and that chestnut-haired little friend of yours, your friend is a bit better. As for you—most of the time you fight purely by instinct. In simpler terms, you just charge in recklessly."
Kisho: "..."
"While that's not necessarily a problem for an Enhancer, 'charging in recklessly' often means you'll end up taking many injuries that were completely unnecessary."
After finishing, Sion saw Kisho looking thoughtful and smiled before continuing.
"And besides, the place we're going to is very terrifying."
The smile faded from Sion's face as he spoke seriously.
"I'm not using an adjective. It really is terrifying."
"...Is it the Dark Continent?" Kisho frowned.
Sion nodded and lowered his voice.
"Don't mention that name in front of others. Also, after you finish your Nen sealing and before you enter Greed Island again, I'll take you somewhere."
Kisho looked at him in confusion.
"Ging set a test for you, so I'll set one for you as well." Sion smiled, then spoke seriously again.
"There's someone there I want you to meet. After you meet him, you'll understand why I said that the little guy living in your body is a 'monster.'"
Sion paused and sighed.
"Maybe he really was human once. But now... he shouldn't be here."
Kisho pressed his lips together and fell silent.
If "Noah Barton" shouldn't be here, then where should he be?
The Dark Continent?
What kind of place... was that exactly?
"It's about time. Let's head back." Sion glanced at the clock on the wall as he spoke, putting an arm around Kisho's shoulder.
Kisho tried to dodge with a look of disgust, but couldn't avoid it, so he ended up being dragged along with an annoyed expression.
After leaving the room, Sion brought Kisho to the front of a large hall, pushed the door open slightly, and looked at him with a smile.
"The chairman is already giving training to the newcomers. Hurry and go."
"Congratulations. Starting today, you're a Hunter."
...
Inside this stepped conference hall, the six examinees who had passed the exam sat scattered around. Chairman Netero stood at the podium, and the screen behind him displayed lines of text. The title at the very top read: "The Ten Rules of Hunters."
"Kisho, over here!"
Kisho spotted Amos immediately. Amos had also been glancing toward the door, and when he saw Kisho, he called out in a low voice.
Netero on the podium was interrupted by Amos's voice—which sounded like it was supposed to be quiet but really wasn't—and coughed, signaling for the brat to show some respect to the old senior who was speaking.
But Amos paid no attention to the old senior and simply stared straight at Kisho as he walked over, examining him.
"Whoa. Did you switch bodies or something? One second you looked half-dead, and the next you're bouncing around again."
Kisho snapped angrily.
"Don't describe me as 'bouncing around,' hey!"
"Looks like you're really fine then." Amos said to himself, patting the chair beside him to signal Kisho to sit down before rolling his eyes.
"When is the old man's speech going to end? It's seriously boring."
"Hey, you're way too loud."
Kisho said cautiously.
"The old man is looking over here!"
"Who cares. Are your injuries healed? What about your Nen ability?"
"The injuries are fine, but it'll take some time before my Nen ability recovers."
"Then—"
"..."
While the two whispered to each other without the slightest attempt to hide it, Netero's speech continued with considerable difficulty before finally coming to a halt.
"Ahem!" Netero tugged at his white beard.
"...That concludes the explanation of the rules for now. Next, we will distribute the licenses to the successful candidates of the 281st Hunter Exam."
Now that the main event had arrived, the two brats finally stopped talking.
As for how much of the rule explanation they had actually heard—that remained a mystery.
Six staff members dressed in black suits solemnly handed black boxes containing Hunter licenses to the examinees in the room.
Among those who received their Hunter licenses, some cheered, some burst into tears, while others remained expressionless as if they had simply completed something trivial.
Kisho took the card out of the box. Under the sunlight, it gleamed brilliantly.
Amos muttered, "After all that work, it was just for this one card. It almost doesn't feel real."
"It's already pretty good. Haven't you seen how many people worked so hard for so long and didn't even get a single card?"
Kisho laughed, tossing the card up and down in his hand.
Amos clicked his tongue.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
He looked at Kisho.
"So what are your plans next?"
Kisho frowned, recalling what Sion had said a few hours earlier.
"I'll probably look for a place where I can train my martial skills and physical condition. After that, I'll enter a game called Greed Island to train my Nen ability."
Amos nodded, thought for a moment, then raised a finger.
"In that case, I know a place that's pretty good. How about you come with me—"
Amos's voice abruptly stopped, and the excited smile on his face turned slightly forced.
Because an annoying guy had walked over with long strides, completely lacking any sense of timing.
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