"Of course, I had no prior contact. Also, Hisoka, I don't want to fight you right now. But once you've learned Armament Haki and still wish to fight, I'd be happy to oblige."
Seeing Hisoka's excited expression, Takeru spoke matter-of-factly.
"Is that so? What a shame," Hisoka said, showing genuine disappointment.
However, he was quite exhausted from helping Takeru open his Aura Nodes. After saying that, he went to a corner to rest...
Takeru glanced at Hisoka calmly before leaving the room. He was very pleased with his newly acquired Nen. Since fully activating it, he could clearly feel his strength had increased significantly once more...
It was an improvement in various aspects, even in his already formidable defense.
Though it was just a guess, Takeru felt that as long as he maintained Ten, even if someone of Netero's caliber attacked him continuously, it would be difficult to inflict serious damage.
In other words, after awakening Nen, Takeru's defense had risen to another level.
Furthermore, possessing Armament Haki allowed Takeru to use both abilities in tandem for defense, making his resilience even more lasting.
After some thought, Takeru quickly fetched a glass of water and placed a leaf on it. He was preparing to test his Nen Affinity.
Nen is divided into six major categories: Enhancement, Emission, Transmutation, Manipulation, Conjuration, and Specialization.
Due to differences in talent, personality, and upbringing, each person belongs to a different category.
People can easily master the Nen Abilities of their own category, while abilities of other categories are harder to learn.
Takeru was currently using the [Water Divination Method] for identification. He placed his hands around the cup and began to release his Aura.
Soon, the water in the cup began to overflow. Just as Takeru thought he might be an Enhancer, the leaf started to move. Then the color of the water changed, and finally, a special crystal formed inside!
Seeing this, Takeru tasted a bit of the overflowed water and found it had a slightly sour taste...
'Specialist!' Almost instantly, Takeru realized his affinity was the rarest type, Specialization. He was well aware that this type, like Kurapika's in his Scarlet Eye state, could potentially utilize all other categories with 100% efficiency...
Upon confirming his affinity, Takeru fell into deep thought, considering what kind of ability he should develop. After all, he could theoretically maximize the power of any category.
He briefly considered ideas: A spiraling energy ball? A shuriken made of energy? Or a Kamehameha-like wave?
He quickly dismissed these thoughts. Now was not the time for that. The most important things were the fundamentals: increasing his Potential Aura and achieving perfect mastery of Ken and Ryu...
Compared to offense, Takeru's foundation was predominantly defense-oriented...
With this in mind, Takeru sat down and began meditating, aiming to make his Nen more practice and increase the quantity of his Aura through meditation.
While Takeru was meditating, in another room, Killua and Gon had been invited by the Chairman for a ball-catching game. Kurapika and Leorio were sleeping exhaustedly.
As for Umaru, she was also contemplating her next steps. To be honest, without Takeru, she would have struggled to pass even the first phase of the Hunter Exam. Coming to this world made her realize just how powerful humans could be.
While she and the others came from entirely different worlds with different worldviews, so not being as strong wasn't surprising, being chosen by the Reincarnation Space gave them a potentially brighter future than the natives. The competitive Umaru was determined to become stronger.
Having always strived for perfection since childhood, she naturally didn't want to fall behind in this reincarnation game, especially in an area she considered herself good at.
Takeru was unaware of Umaru's renewed resolve to grow stronger, but had he known, he would have been happy for her.
…
In the other parallel Hunter Worlds, aside from Ui and Yukino, everyone else had been eliminated. Stranded in a foreign world with no money, they began a rather pitiful struggle for survival.
Although each possessed decent abilities, they weren't the type to harm innocent people recklessly.
Or rather, after realizing most people in this world were far from ordinary, they didn't dare act carelessly.
They could only quickly find jobs or use their points to materialize some supplies they had prepared in their original world for survival.
However they managed, life wasn't easy. Of course, they were ultimately not ordinary people. Though caught off guard initially, they adapted quickly.
As everyone struggled, time swiftly passed...
"Good morning, everyone. My apologies for making you wait. This airship will soon arrive at our destination..."
As the announcement played through the ship, Takeru, who had been meditating, opened his eyes. After a night of sensing and practice, he had become even more familiar with Nen, using it more smoothly than before.
Soon, the airship landed atop an incredibly tall tower. Takeru and the others followed the guide and disembarked.
"Takeru!" Umaru quickly noticed him and waved.
"Morning, Umaru," Takeru replied with a smile.
He then saw Killua, Gon, and the others, exchanging greetings before settling down to wait for the third exam to begin.
"All examinees, the starting point for the third Hunter Exam is here… the top of the tower known to the world as [Trick Tower]. The condition for passing is to descend alive from the top of the tower to the ground. The time limit is 72 hours. The third exam now officially begins. May you all pass smoothly!" Beans quickly announced the rules, signaling the start.
Meanwhile, inside Trick Tower, the examiner for this phase squinted his eyes, munching on potato chips while monitoring Takeru and the others through surveillance devices.
As the airship flew away completely, Gon and the others curiously looked down. Sensing the distance from the top to the bottom was easily a hundred meters or more, they were shocked.
"Don't tell me we have to climb down from here?!" Leorio exclaimed, looking down in shock.
"That's practically suicide!" Hearing Leorio, Kurapika frowned.
"Seems most can't do it, but for a first-class rock climber, this should be a piece of cake!" As they discussed, a confident man walked up behind them with a smile.
He then proceeded to demonstrate his climbing skills, using cracks and imperfections on the tower's sheer surface to descend rapidly. Even on a completely vertical surface, his speed didn't slow.
"So cool!"
"He's really going all the way down!"
Gon and Killua watched in amazement.
"Hmph, looks like the first to pass the third exam will be me!" After descending a fair distance, the man grew even more confident.
However, just as he was feeling triumphant, several strange sounds echoed. To everyone's shock, several monstrous creatures resembling giant babies appeared, snatched the man off the wall in one bite, and swiftly flew away.
"Guess we can't count on climbing down," The man's experience made Gon and the others refocus.
"Takeru, I found a hidden hatch big enough for two people. Should we go down now?" Umaru approached Takeru curiously.
"No, Umaru. Do you trust me?" Takeru glanced around and found about thirty people remained on the tower top. He shook his head and looked seriously at Umaru.
"Of course!" Though slightly puzzled, Umaru answered firmly.
"Good. Then listen to me. I will get you through this." After saying this, Takeru sat cross-legged on the ground and entered a meditative state again.
Hearing Takeru's words and seeing his actions, Umaru was momentarily stunned. But trusting him, she quietly sat down nearby.
As the sun rose higher, the area became increasingly hot. However, none of the present examinees were ordinary, so they weren't bothered by the sun. As time passed, the number of people on the tower top dwindled rapidly.
While Kurapika and Leorio were still analyzing the situation, the number of remaining examinees had already fallen below half.