Sensing Takeru's burst of energy, Umaru didn't understand what was happening, but she could feel an extremely terrifying presence emanating from him, making her instinctively want to step back.
Unable to comprehend Takeru's actions, Umaru began her own training in stamina and Observation Haki outside...
Meanwhile, the examiner watching through the surveillance monitors showed a grave expression. Even through the screen, he could faintly sense a trace of pressure coming from Takeru...
Takeru paid no mind to this, simply continuing to maintain his Ken. A full thirty-eight minutes passed before he stopped, utterly exhausted and unable to emit any more Aura.
Aura was different from mana. Mana was a special form of energy, while Aura was life energy. The two had no connection...
Takeru remembered from Greed Island when Gon trained with Biscuit. In an exhausted state, Gon could only maintain Ken for two minutes.
Roughly estimating, Takeru felt that even at full strength, Gon at that time probably couldn't maintain Ken for more than fifteen minutes. It was only after a month of arduous training that Gon could sustain Ken for over thirty minutes.
This meant Takeru, having just activated his Aura, being able to maintain Ken for so long was already impressive.
After using up all his Aura, Takeru felt incredibly weary. Clearly, to maintain combat effectiveness under normal circumstances, even without relying on Aura, he couldn't drain his Aura completely at once. Otherwise, even if he had physical strength left, he wouldn't be able to use it effectively...
Once his Aura was depleted, Takeru immediately used Zetsu to speed up his recovery.
He then cast Advanced Heal on himself. However, the effect on Aura recovery was only slightly faster, lasting just a few minutes before returning to normal speed.
Seeing this, Takeru could only let it recover naturally and shifted to tempering his body through physical training.
Umaru, watching Takeru train so diligently, began to understand why his strength far surpassed everyone else's. Aside from his skill at uncovering mission details, there was also his constant daily training...
While Takeru and Umaru trained, the other examinees continued to tackle the Trick Tower. Leorio's group, after learning the rules from the examiner, waited a full two hours for their fifth teammate… the [Rookie Crusher], Tonpa...
The remaining time was now 69 hours and 20 minutes...
Though unhappy about Tonpa's arrival, Gon's group now had the required number to proceed.
Upon hearing the rules, Tonpa instantly grasped the treacherous aspect of the majority rule. To cause trouble from the start, he specifically chose the option not to proceed to the next stage.
Of course, since Leorio and the others chose to proceed, the door still opened. However, it successfully planted a seed in the straightforward Leorio's mind that Tonpa was there to sabotage.
Later, Tonpa frequently played the contrarian. During a five-on-five match against prisoners, after spouting a bunch of nice-sounding words, Tonpa promptly chose to surrender...
As time passed, Takeru felt he had mostly recovered and resumed his Nen Training. This time, he focused on Ryu!
This meant using Ken while simultaneously employing Gyo, allowing his Aura to move swiftly according to his will.
If Ken was considered a value of 100, under normal circumstances, attack might be 50 and defense 50… a balanced distribution. But attacking in this state was highly inefficient, hence the need for Ryu.
It allowed one to swiftly move their Aura according to their will, greatly improving efficiency. For example, one could concentrate 80 towards attack and 80 towards defense...
The remaining 20 served as a buffer against mistakes, preventing one's defenses from becoming too weak. With greater combat proficiency, one could even use Ko for attack.
Ko involved concentrating the full value of 100 on the attack without leaving any for defense.
In this regard, Takeru actually had a significant advantage over others in this world… his innate physical defense. Even without using Aura for defense, ordinary Nen Attacks would struggle to breach it...
If faced with a truly terrifying attack, Takeru could, while maintaining Ken, also activate Armament Haki, further enhancing his defense...
Relying on these skills and continuously increasing his defense, Takeru was confident that before long… as long as he wasn't in a world with utterly 'unfair' powers, he could walk without fear, becoming an existence that no one could break through.
As he trained relentlessly, another four hours passed. By this time, Hisoka was facing his final trial.
His opponent was the examiner he had disliked the previous year. After enduring the examiner's flashy attacks, Hisoka quickly regained the initiative.
He effortlessly caught the knives thrown at him, causing the examiner's mental state to fluctuate greatly, then cleanly sliced off his head.
"Third place. Examinee No. 44, Hisoka. Time elapsed: 6 hours, 17 minutes!"
Takeru noticed the third qualifier had emerged. It was the familiar Hisoka.
"Hey, you're injured?" Noticing the wound on Hisoka's shoulder, Takeru asked in surprise.
"Ah, I ran into an old opponent. I didn't use Nen, so this happened. Though I didn't expect you to come down faster than me, and with that woman too," Hisoka replied calmly.
"You're really something. As for coming down fast, I just used a little trick," Takeru said with a smile before returning to his solo training.
Takeru hadn't expected Hisoka to be so overconfident, facing a Pro Hunter without using Nen for defense, only relying on combat skill...
Seeing Takeru show no interest in further conversation, Hisoka began his own training in Armament Haki.
Unlike Nen, there were no shortcuts with Armament Haki. It could only be acquired step by step, similar to the gradual method of learning Nen.
Though he couldn't use it yet, Hisoka felt he wouldn't have much problem learning Armament Haki before the Hunter Exam ended.
As the three trained diligently, time slowly passed. Soon, over 12 hours had passed since Takeru and Umaru arrived.
After qualifying, they weren't short of food. One of the doors in the room was open, containing prepared meals which they could simply take and eat...
"Fourth place. Examinee No. 301, Gittarackur. Time elapsed: 12 hours, 2 minutes!"
Just as Takeru was still training hard, another announcement sounded. The fourth person had cleared the tower.
"I guessed you would have reached the finish line already," The disguised Illumi said to Hisoka with a slight smile.
Hearing Illumi, Hisoka showed him a faint smile in return and continued trying to activate his Armament Haki...
"Yay! I'm first! Huh? Strange..." The bald Hanzo emerged excitedly, only to freeze upon seeing Hisoka and the recently emerged Illumi beside him.
"Fifth place. Examinee No. 294, Hanzo. Time: 12 hours, 3 minutes..."
Hearing he was fifth, he stared dumbfounded at Takeru, who was training outside, feeling even more confused. He clutched his head: "How could this be? I'm fifth?"
Takeru paid no mind to the bald man's antics. His recent training had made his use of Ryu very smooth, mainly due to his previous experience with psychokinesis.
He had also tried using Ko. Sensing its destructive power, Takeru was startled, not expecting he could unleash such terrifying force.
Besides using Ko, Takeru had also employed Armament Haki. When Takeru tested this attack, Hisoka had been watching thoughtfully from the side.
Meanwhile, Gon's group, though they passed the prisoner obstacle stage, lost fifty hours of time. They were now confined to a special room, unable to leave until fifty hours passed...
"Sixth place. Examinee No. 384, Geretta. Time elapsed: 12 hours, 27 minutes."