As the figure slowly disappeared from Roy's sight, a lazy gust of warm wind drifted in through the window frame and swept away the chill lingering in the bedroom...
A faint smile hung on Roy's face as he watched Silva leave. He casually glanced at the sun. There was still half a day and a whole night before tomorrow arrived. Besides continuing to study his Mangekyō Sharingan, he also needed to clear out the accumulated "Life Energy" and "Power of Faith" on his panel...
Roy watched Silva's tall back vanish around the corner, then rose to his feet and turned into the bathroom, switching on the shower...
"Shhh..." Thin streams of water poured down, warm and ticklish against the skin, just like the sunlight outside...
In the training room at the far eastern end of the first floor of the Zoldyck family castle, the sound of a ball being struck rang out again and again...
Zeno was keeping Netero company. The two of them had changed into neat athletic wear, and with a temporary volleyball net rigged up from a clothes rack between them, they were blasting a volleyball back and forth. In the blink of an eye, the ball, wrapped in their aura, had been armed into a "shell," every shot aimed straight at the other's vitals. Even though neither of the two old men was an Emitter, the way they used Shu was not the slightest bit inferior to top-tier Emitter Nen users like Razor or Franklin.
Beans and Luca, who were keeping score nearby, could feel their pupils trembling.
"Ho ho ho... Zeno, looks like I came at just the right time."
His white hair was tied into a skyward braid, and even his long Buddha-like ears had copied the younger generation's fashion, each sporting a stylish stud. Netero leaped into the air, his forehead nearly brushing the ceiling. He raised his right hand high, a single arm of the Hundred-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva faintly appearing behind him, and smashed a vicious spike straight at the incoming volleyball.
Boom!
The air exploded.
The volleyball was struck so hard it visibly flattened, then shot back toward Zeno's face.
The whole exchange took less than a breath.
It was so fast it instantly exceeded the limit of what human vision could track.
"Whether you came at the right time or not, I don't know," Zeno said.
"But I do know this—Roy is even faster than I expected!"
A dragon's roar suddenly rang out.
It burst from Zeno's palm. The long robe he wore year-round, printed with the words "A Kill A Day, Never Retire," had been taken off and set aside... but the skill in his killing hands had not lessened in the slightest. There was no fear in his eyes, and not the slightest intention of dodging. He simply opened both hands toward the volleyball and gave it a deft, guiding pull...
His massive aura transformed into a winding, roaring dragon of Nen. It opened its jaws and bit down on the volleyball, stripping away the force of the impact while curving around Zeno in a half circle before reversing direction and charging straight back at Netero...
Beans had never seen Transmutation used to this degree, not even at the Hunter Association.
The Zoldycks... only they could go back and forth with the Chairman like this...
Wearing a crisp suit, with green skin, a round face, and pea-sized little eyes, Beans looked a little comical. But as he stared blankly at the battle in front of him, he still split part of his attention elsewhere—one glance drifting toward the dim little room at the corner of the first floor, the other following the stairs up to the second floor, toward the bedroom said to belong to Silva Zoldyck, the current head of the Zoldyck family.
Compared with the atmosphere at the Hunter Association, everything here felt noticeably more restrained, both in presence and in mood...
Bang!
The roaring Nen dragon was hit square in the face by one of Netero's gratitude-forged straight punches. It let out a pained cry as both dragon and ball came crashing back toward Zeno. Netero gave a hearty laugh, then slanted a glance at Silva—who had left Roy's room and gone upstairs—and let out a satisfied breath.
"You told me before the two of them had made a one-year agreement. Back then, I only treated it as a joke. I figured Roy was just talking big, and that all he really needed was a proper beating. But now..."
Netero narrowed his old eyes and leisurely watched the Nen dragon. After being punched back, it was wrapped in another layer of aura by Zeno, forcibly stabilizing it in midair. Enraged, it whipped its tail, striking the volleyball and sending it hurtling toward Netero's chest.
A sharp gleam flashed in Netero's eyes.
"My old eyes were blind. That child... has the right!"
"His name is Roy Zoldyck." Zeno's shock of white hair swayed as he said in a deep voice, "A true Zoldyck of the Zoldycks!"
"Ho ho..." Netero raised his right leg high and brought it down hard in a brutal high kick, intercepting the volleyball halfway and sending it back. Slanting a glance at Zeno, he said, "You do have the right to be proud. But you alone... Zeno..."
"I don't recall the great Zoldyck heir being able to exchange a few moves with his grandfather at Roy's age..."
"I couldn't. And you could?" Zeno's brows lifted. The Nen dragon stretched out a claw, grabbed the spinning volleyball, stripped away its force, then flung it cleanly over the clothes rack and shot it straight back.
Seeing that, Netero said naturally, "Of course I couldn't either."
The world only knew him as the officially recognized "strongest human," but it didn't know that there was no true "strongest"—only someone stronger.
The old man liked peace, not action. Even though he was also an Enhancer like Netero, his temperament was different, and he rarely liked to make a move without reason. But Netero actually knew very well that if Maha wanted to, he could snatch away his title of "strongest human" at any time.
He simply... disdained it.
Just as Zigg had once told him—
Beneath the gods, all are ants.
The so-called "strongest human" was nothing more than a slightly bigger ant...
Bang!
The volleyball came flying in again and was casually slapped back by Netero with one palm. Just then, the training room door opened, and two pink twin-tails entered their view...
Tsubone slowly pushed a dining cart into sight.
"Master, it's time to eat."
Rumble, rumble...
The cart's wheels rolled softly across the floor.
Zeno waved a hand and dispersed the Nen dragon. Taking advantage of the lingering ripple of aura, he casually flicked upward.
The incoming volleyball instantly lost all its force and dropped lightly into Luca's arms.
"That's enough. Time to eat."
The food covers were lifted, revealing several stir-fried dishes Netero had never seen before. The old man took the towel Beans handed him and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, then glanced at Zeno and said, "This is what you meant when you said Roy came up with these stir-fried dishes himself?"
Heaven help him... he had known Roy for so long, so how had he never realized the boy apparently had the talent to become a Gourmet Hunter too?
So the "Godslayer Hunter" really was planning to turn gods into dishes?
The sudden thought that popped into his head startled even Netero himself. Seeing Zeno say nothing, he picked up his chopsticks and put a slice of twice-cooked pork into his mouth. His old eyes narrowed slightly as he savored it... Then, taking a cue from Zeno, his chopsticks started flying just as fast, and he had no time to speak anymore either...
Chairman...
Beans stood beside the two of them. He had just been about to reach for some food when, right in front of his face, one entire plate of twice-cooked pork vanished in the blink of an eye. His pea-sized eyes stared blankly at Netero. After only a single glance... another plate, tomato scrambled eggs, was gone too.
What the—
Was the Zoldyck family's food really that good?
He refused to believe it.
He had followed Netero all over the world. What lavish meal had he not eaten before?
Seeing that there was still one plate of braised pork left, he hurriedly snatched up a piece with his chopsticks and threw it into his mouth. Instantly, his little green-bean eyes widened into bronze bells, and he cried out in shock inside his heart, This is even better than Linne's cooking.
No... no... not better than Linne's.
It was just that the dishes were fresh, unlike anything he had eaten from her before, so...
Coming back to himself, Beans couldn't help glancing once more toward a bedroom on the western side of the first floor, deeply suspicious.
Had Roy really invented these dishes?
Still dazed, he didn't even get a chance to move his chopsticks a second time before the braised pork was gone too. He beat his chest and stamped his feet in frustration, grumbling inwardly, You really can't eat with Enhancers. Every one of them is a bottomless pit.
Unfortunately, there was no regret medicine in this world. Otherwise, Beans would definitely have bought some and taken it.
Clatter~
The plates were empty. The bowls were empty. The enormous dining cart was bare in an instant, leaving behind only a few pairs of chopsticks tossed on top...
Satisfied, Netero took the napkin Tsubone handed him and smiled at her.
"The little girl who used to love following behind Zigg all those years ago has grown up too."
Tsubone remained expressionless. She pulled out another napkin and handed it to Zeno.
"Chairman, you jest. I haven't grown up. I've grown old."
"I'm ninety and I don't feel old. You're only fifty. You're still young."
Tsubone smiled politely and began clearing away the dishes.
Zeno slowly wiped his mouth, casually tossed the napkin into an empty bowl, then glanced at her and said, "Why are you the one who came?"
He clearly remembered that only a few days ago, Tsubone had been assigned by Silva to serve Roy, filling the gap left by Gotoh's slumber.
No matter who it was, it shouldn't have been her bringing food to him and Netero.
"The young master said he wasn't hungry. He'll eat later."
Zeno's brows lifted. That didn't sound like Roy at all... In daily life, Roy could forget anything, but he never forgot to eat. Without changing expression, Zeno quietly spread out his En, letting it drift toward Roy's bedroom...
Buzz~
The transparent sphere of Nen swept across Netero and covered him too.
He froze slightly.
Then he glanced at Zeno.
Without making a sound, and with a mere thought, his aura rose. Following Zeno's lead, he also released En, intending to see what exactly Zeno was doing...
He never expected—
A cold snort!
It exploded like thunder!
In an instant, both his and Zeno's En, which had been spreading toward Roy's room, were blasted straight back!
The corners of both men's eyes twitched. Then they heard an angry curse:
"Even food can't stop you from snooping?!"
"If you shouldn't be looking, then don't look!"
"That's my precious grandson, not your Beyond!"
Grandpa / the old man!
Their En was forced back. Netero and Zeno exchanged looks, staring at each other in blank amazement...
Maha's words were laced with aura, enough to make a person's scalp go numb.
He hadn't said much, but somehow... he had said everything.
In that instant, both Zeno and Netero realized—
Something had definitely happened to Roy!
Zeno silently withdrew his En. This time, when he looked back at Tsubone, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "When you delivered Roy's meal, what was he doing?"
Tsubone's two pink twin-tails hung behind her back. She quietly glanced toward the dim little room and answered honestly, "I didn't really see. At the time... I only remember that the young master was in the bathroom."
The bathroom?!!!
Zeno's expression changed abruptly.
In an instant, he fell silent...
At the side, Netero noticed this and pretended not to care as he said, "Maybe the boy has an upset stomach."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Zeno shot him a strange look, leaving Netero baffled.
"Ho ho, looks like this old man said the wrong thing."
"Not entirely," Zeno said faintly, looking deeply toward Roy's bedroom. "Expelling filth and welcoming new life—who's to say evolution isn't just another kind of diarrhea?"
Buzz...
A blood-colored pillar of aura suddenly erupted into the heavens!
Using Gyo, Netero's expression changed. He abruptly shoved back his chair and stood up!
This man acknowledged as the strongest human, the supreme superior of hunters all over the world, the one unanimously recognized by both official circles and the public as "humanity's strongest," had a pair of old eyes etched with years and hardship. But at this moment, they burst with razor-sharp light as his gaze pierced through layer after layer of thick walls and shot straight toward Roy's bedroom.
That was the center where the blood-aura pillar had bloomed—
And also... where it had begun!
[Detection: current surplus "Life Energy" 287 points... current surplus "Power of Faith" 508 points...]
[Clear them?]
Inside the first-floor bedroom that belonged to Roy in the Zoldyck family castle, from the very moment he made tomorrow's appointment with Silva, Roy hadn't waited even a second. He had gone straight into the bathroom.
The boy's striking silver hair, its tips flowing with a glazed golden glow, hung wet down his back beneath the shower as water ran over him. He opened his panel, received the prompt, and after only a casual glance—
Immediately started assigning points.
This time was different from before.
Roy had learned from the lesson of his last reckless attempt and slowly warned himself, Don't rush. Do it one wave at a time.
A total of 795 points of "Life Energy" and "Power of Faith" was divided by him into four waves, two hundred points each, to be added one wave after another. And so...
As the boy endured the pain of assigning those points, pillars of blood aura burst above the castle one after another, each arriving almost exactly on cue...
[Notice: "Life Energy" -200... [Constitution] +200...]
[Notice: "Life Energy" -200... [Constitution] +200...]
[Notice: "Life Energy" -200... [Constitution] +200...]
[Notice: ...]
Buzz...
Buzz...
Buzz...
...
Before one wave had even settled, the next had already begun.
Feeling that he could endure it, Roy kept adding more... He became completely immersed in observing the state of his own body, while the panel's notification tones rang out in his ears like an endless string of bells... And suddenly, he forgot—
There were still guests in the house!
One pillar, then two, then three... every so often, another blood-aura column burst forth...
Ordinary people noticed nothing. The Zoldyck butlers and maidservants, people like Luca, only felt that there seemed to be a little more wind today, gust after gust, and that it was pleasantly cool...
Little did they know that, decades after Zigg's death, Netero—who had finally managed to get another chance to visit the Zoldycks—was standing there with a grave expression. The corners of his eyes twitched almost imperceptibly as he inhaled the scent carried by that blood-aura pillar and stared fixedly at Roy's bedroom.
At last—
After the fourth blood-aura pillar bloomed, the fifth never came.
The Chairman of the Hunter Association, the supreme superior of hunters across the world, the man unanimously recognized by both official circles and common folk as "humanity's strongest," quietly let out a breath of relief.
Then he slanted a glance at Zeno and pointed toward Roy's room.
"This is how he usually trains?"
Zeno: "..."
For a moment, he fell silent.
~~~
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