Terror Infinity Side B

Chapter 11, HxH Greed Island

Day 26/90 of Greed Island.

Today was Team Japan's last day of hunting monsters in the rocky area between Prize City Antokiba and Magic City Masadora. They had spent the last 3-4 weeks steadily collecting Monster Cards that can be exchanged for Jenny Cards for funding.

They had exchanged hundreds of monster cards for a large sum of money. If they now just wanted to live on Greed Island, even with eighteen mouths to feed, as long as they lived modestly, it would be possible to afford housing and food for 2-3 years if they didn't spend any Jenny on Spell Cards.

Team Japan didn't plan to stay so long on Greed Island, so they had enough funds to perfectly provide for the newbies, the core members’ housing, food, and anything else that they may need. They no longer needed to hunt monster for funds, but that was not why they were leaving.

Over the last twenty-six days Team Japan had just about used up all of their luck. They had made it a point to avoid other players and clans, yet recently more and more players would enter into their hunting grounds. They would find players carelessly wandering into their hunting grounds and they disposed of them swiftly, yet those were rare occurrences where the players were randomly lurking through the area in search of easy prey.

It wasn't at a level to be worried about, but the last three days Team Japan had to face off against seven groups of Nen Users looking to kill them. This was a major concern for Team Japan, so while the two newbies were off training under the watchful eye of Connor, the core members of the team met to discuss the problem.

Jin: "It's probably that. We must have killed too many Nen Users belonging to some clan who runs this area. No one would believe it to be a coincidence. The mortality rate is high on Greed Island, but to have so many members disappear in one area you would grow suspicious, correct? I would as a clan leader."

Aqua: "Jin is right. This location is no longer safe for us and we have no more need to hunt monsters. Let's head to a new city as quickly as we can. Also, we haven't been able to find any information on Bomber in Antokiba to date. We've even had Hikari scan the search. He's either in a different city, or lives in the wilderness. Whichever it is we need to move on from Antokiba."

Kampa: "It's highly likely that it's the latter. Remember what Shin said. A large clan leader like Nickes of Moderate Clan doesn't know a man matching Bomber's description. If he was lying, then Bomber, or the whole of Moderate Clan, would have found and killed us by now. We can believe in Nickes, so that means he's out of the public eye of such a large clan of Nen Users."

Hikari: "I agree with Kampa. We should begin searching for Bomber all around the island. No point in staying here. If it's me and Adrasteia, we should be able to track him down if I'm escorted around the island. Also, when Aqua and I were out shopping for supplies one day we heard that he regularly strike all the cities of Greed Island. We can wait for the moment he strike next and I'll immediately use my Persona to locate Bomber as I have his description!"

Shin: "Good. Now let's pack up the newbies and move to the next city. If we wait any longer we may be attacked again, but by a much larger force."

Shuai: "When do we depart from Antokiba for good?"

Shin: "Depends on our method of travel, but I want to do it today. We still have a few hours till sundown and then we can sneak off in the darkness of the night as one large eighteen man group, or as a few small groups can head out alone. With the latter option I, accompanied by at most two more, will head to Masadora. Then we'll buy a Spell Card to come back and then I'll use the "Accompany" that we picked up from day 1 from Latarza to take us all there together."

Shuai: "You want to move in a small group right? You'll think that we’ll be attacked by others if we move in a large group?"

Shin: "Obviously. Also, the Newbies aside from Kisara and Renji can't defend themselves. Also, Greed Island is much larger than it was in the anime and even if I ran the entire way it would take me five to six hours to reach Masadora. With this group it'll take eight to ten hours. With the Newbies... it'll take more than half a day and that's without considering breaks. That's too long. At night, in the darkness, surrounded by Nen Users, I can't count on them to not hold us back. If we decide to move as one group and we're attacked by a large clan I won't hesitate to abandon the Newbies and run with everyone here."

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Shin: "Renji! Kisara! We're about to head back to-"

After discussing plans with the others I walked away to inform the Newbies and Connor, who was watching over them, of our plans. I found the Newbies sitting on the floor training their Aura. I called out to them, but quickly stopped myself realizing that it was pointless.

Kisara and Renji were both meditating with deep concentration and couldn't hear my voice. They couldn't hope to hear, or realize that there was another presence among them as their practiced "Ten". This kind of deep concentration proved that I was right to have Connor watch over them, but more so showed their sincerity towards improving themselves.

Shin: "Good grief. I'm happy that they are training so hard, but what would they had done if I hadn't left Connor here and an enemy Nen User appeared? So, have they been like this the whole time, Connor?"

Connor: "Yes. They've been at it since you left, but... is there any real point to this training? I understand things like Trion and Demonic Power now, so I can say clearly that they're progress is pitiful when compared to just getting powers from God. I also meditate on my own to cultivate energy. My progress is small, yet compared to theirs it's the difference between heaven and earth."

Shin: "Well... it shouldn't be pointless. Even a small amount of power can be helpful in an emergency."

Saying so, I recalled what happened three weeks ago on day 2 of Greed Island. I consulted with Aqua, the only Nen User of Team Japan, and Jin, who was smart and who also understood Nen from reading the Manga. It was about the possibly of unlocking Renji and Kisara's Aura, their life force, like how it is done in Hunter X Hunter universe.

As I recalled from a wiki, Aura is the life energy produced by all living bodies vital for survival. Aura from all parts of the body has a tendency to flow together, producing one mass of energy. This happens without the individual's awareness, typically resulting in a slow leak of aura continually escaping the body. If one were to lose their entire aura, it would be equivalent to using up all the energy keeping them alive, which would be fatal. The pores or points on the body from which aura flows out from are called "Aura Nodes". Controlling those nodes is the first step to being a user of Nen.

A student learning Nen trains to manually open and close their aura nodes so that they can control the flow of their aura. One typically learns this process slowly and gradually through meditation. The second method, colloquially called Initiation or Baptism, starts by having one receiving an influx of aura from an experienced Nen User that forces these nodes to open.

Despite how quickly it works, the method is typically frowned upon due to its danger to the student if the user is inexperienced or has malicious intent. Initiation via physically attacking another with the use of an enhanced aura typically causes permanent disability or death.

There is, however, a way to initiate that is less harmful to the student's body — gently jolting open another's Aura Nodes forces the student to learn to control their Aura flow, or else risk suffering severe exhaustion or death. This method is called "Gehou". Once one has opened their aura nodes, they will be able to see their own Aura as a shroud surrounding the body due to the nodes of the eyes being opened.

This was the method that I suggested we use. What I wanted was for Aqua, a Nen User who can use "Gyo" to see if there were any traces of Aura/life energy in their bodies. Then if it was confirmed that it was possible, I wanted her to forcefully awaken their Aura so that the two trial members could become Nen Users just like herself.

The reason that I wanted to see if Nen could be learned from regular people without exchanges is because, from what I know, Jin's Mana is poisonous to others in the Witch Hunter universe and could even harm Kisara, as she isn't a woman from that universe.

Connor's Demonic Power might turn them into mutated monsters as they didn't have a demonic bloodline, and his secondary Trion can't be taught but only born with, as far as I know. My own Ki energy was too slow to cultivate even when I have the power and given that Ki itself from many sources are infamously known for how long it takes to reach a practical level, I would not see any immediate results.

From what I knew, only the Nen from Hunter X Hunter had the method to suddenly being able to use Aura if stimulated from another person. It carried a high risk of death even for those born in that universe, but I wanted to try this method out. If it worked then I can have all the core members of Team Japan without special powers, like Kampa, learn it. It could also become an amazing method to strengthen future Newbies when they first arrive to God's Dimension.

Lastly, but still important, Greed Island was the best place in the world to learn the basics of Nen. Biscuit herself confirmed that if one played the game normally, without all of the violence, one's Nen ability would become stronger. I had no intention of sending them to fight Nen Users or members of Team Germany, but collecting Monster Cards would be both good for the team and their training.

Our first test subject was Renji.

Unlike Kisara, who was scouted to become a trial member, or the Newbies who had no voice or responsibility for the Team Japan at this time, Renji was a trial member who volunteered despite not having the qualifications in physical ability or possessed a special skill. This meant that if Renji wanted to stay among the core members of Team Japan team like he has been, that he was required listen to our reasonable orders, or be banished back down to the status of a newbie with no voice when it came to decisions. If Renji refused, he would have been kicked out of the team, but to my surprise he hastily agreed to the experiment if there was even a small chance he could learn Nen.

From there, Aqua examined Renji's body with "Gyo" and discovered that there was a very small amount of life energy present. Aqua didn't know if it was Aura from Hunter X Hunter, or something like Ki Energy, but Aqua believed that by using an Aura without killing intent she could unlock that small power. Jin also commented about the possibility that the life energy in normal humans was faceless till something imprints of it. This was an interesting theory, so we had Aqua examine those with special powers. Almost everyone had what was called the faceless life energy inside them, around the navel, so they could learn Nen, but Misaki, Connor, and I were different.

Misaki's life force was converted already into Haki (Life/Mind energy). Connor's life energy was taken over by Demonic Power (his heart Trion). My life energy had been fully converted into Ki Energy. Jin then made a guess that it was impossible for the two of us to learn Nen unless it was exchanged for and inserted into the body by God.

With it confirmed that it was possible for Renji to gain Nen Aqua preformed "Gehou" on him... and the results were not desirable. For who knows how long, Renji was in intense pain and losing what little life energy that he had as it flowed out of his body. As an emergency measure, when Renji was confirmed all but dead, Hikari hastily casted her Water Spirit (Healing) and Lightning Spirit (Stamina) magic buffs on him.

The end result was that Renji survived, gaining Nen and the power to use Aura, but was in bed for the next five days. This dangerous and inhuman experiment turned away those with ideas to gain Nen for themselves. In the end they weren't Manga and Anime characters, so such powers were dangerous to acquire so quickly without God's assistance. One might, at the very least, need a higher level of the Genetic Constraint to use this method safely.

Even if it was not a lot of power, having Aura could save a person's life, yet no one wanted to us this near lethal method to gain Nen anymore and with the pitiful amount of Aura like was seen in Renji afterwards no one thought that it was worth it... all except Kisara that is. The supermodel level beauty and swordsman Kisara volunteered to have her Aura unlocked as well so that she could help out as much as possible. Some tried to warn her away, yet Kisara was stubborn to the very end, and so I gave Aqua the go ahead.

The result... had a mix of ups and downs. Kisara didn't struggle as hard as Renji to gain control of her Aura after it was released, especially after being buffed by Hikari's magic from the start. Kisara didn't struggle so hard to gain Nen simply because she had a near perfect level of control over her physical body and had a strong mind sharpened by her years of swordsmanship training.

While Kisara and Renji were resting afterwards from unlocking their Aura, it was discovered that Kisara and her family knew of the concept of the Genetic Constraint, but their word for it was 'Enlightenment'. The founder of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu discovered it after partaking in many life and death battles with the sword. He found that Unlocked Mode brought out the best in his swordsmanship, so he thought of training methods to awaken it in his students and own children who would inherited Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.

Very few people in Kisara's family would every reach enlightenment, yet just the training methods strengthened the swordsman's mind that allowed them to consistently fight at their peak ability and gain perfect concentration when preforming complicated attacks. In sports it would be a state like being “in the zone”, a version of it where it could be entered whenever one pleased, but still a state below the Unlocked Mode, which is born from life or death struggles. Hearing this, everyone understood that without that type of hardcore training for years, it would be impossible to learn different types of powers with God's Exchange System. Aura could save their lives, but it could take their lives all the same.

Renji and Kisara rejoined the core members in hunting monsters after recovering, yet they didn't become super humans. A few lectures from Aqua and they could use the basic moves, but their Aura was pitifully low and they could not use their powers for long. Still, I had Kisara and Renji train hard to gain what power they could. I had them practice Ten, Zetsu, and Ren everyday, and through the Hatsu training method Water Divination, the method to discover one's Nen type by executing Ren over a glass of water with a leaf floating on top and watching the resulting reaction, we discovered their Nen types and had them practice that as well. There were no great leaps in progress and I was okay with that, but some of us saw it as pointless.

Connor: "If I had to rank their Nen as it is now... it would be at best 1/10 of what a D tier Low Level Hunter Nen should look like. It has no value in a fight against Nen Users, or Team Germany's enhanced members."

Shin: "I don't argue with you there, but maybe something will be born from this like Skill Mastery. If they reach a certain level maybe when they get back to the Terminal Lobby they can get exchanges for a discount, or free. Skill Mastery is confirmed to exist, so it's a possibility."

Connor: "..."

It was clear as day that Connor thought it was pointless. He might be right, but I didn't believe that it was. Any small amount of power could save their lives, so how could it be a waste? As long as they continue to train and try their best, something will definitely come of this. Still, we couldn't hunt for monsters and train here anymore, so it was time to go. I forcefully woke up the two Newbies from meditation and had them follow me, along with Connor, back to the others.

It was moving day after all.

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Proofread by Hoebagger