Between Two Worlds: Nen and Haki

"Hmm?"

Zane's sudden words jolted Hisoka back to his senses like an electric shock.

He brushed off the dirt covering him, sat halfway up, and stared directly at Zane.

"Why are you looking for Machi?"

"I'm a Crime Hunter. What do you think I want with her?" Zane replied with a faint, knowing smile as he observed the other man's reaction.

Hisoka remained silent.

"A couple of days ago, Machi suddenly mentioned a premonition of danger and left the Heavens Arena," Hisoka said slowly after a brief pause.

A premonition?

Zane's eyes flickered.

'Machi does seem to have a very sharp sixth sense.'

'So her intuition is sharp enough to sense my arrival?'

'If she were still at the Heavens Arena, would I have moved against her?'

'Definitely.'

After all, he had already eliminated two members of the Phantom Troupe: Feitan and Phinks.

Whether to root out the problem entirely or simply because of the nature of the Troupe's members, they were destined to be his prey.

"You aren't just targeting Machi, are you?" Hisoka asked tentatively, noticing Zane's pensive look.

Glancing sideways at him, Zane said playfully, "Don't worry. A fake spider like you isn't on my list."

'He knows everything in such detail.'

Zane's words made Hisoka's heart sink.

'He really does have a deep understanding of the Phantom Troupe.'

'Wait.'

"You were the one who killed Feitan and Phinks?" Hisoka stared straight at Zane.

Although Hisoka, as a fake spider, was always feared and distanced by the other members within the Phantom Troupe...

...the deaths of Feitan and Phinks had clearly been discovered by the Troupe and had caused quite a stir, leading to Hisoka being notified.

"Yeah," Zane nodded candidly, making no attempt to hide it.

It wasn't because he trusted Hisoka, but simply because he didn't care.

If Hisoka told the Phantom Troupe that he killed those two, he would actually be glad.

These people were far too good at hiding.

He hadn't stopped looking for the other members of the Phantom Troupe during this time.

But he had never managed to find any useful leads.

If he could get the Phantom Troupe to come looking for him, it would save him a lot of trouble.

"Leave Chrollo to me!" Upon receiving Zane's confirmation, Hisoka spoke up immediately and decisively.

He wasn't surprised that Zane had killed Feitan and Phinks; after all, Zane had just made it clear that he was a Crime Hunter.

As for strength, there was even less to say; it wasn't as if he hadn't just felt it for himself.

His concern regarding Zane's interest in the Phantom Troupe was entirely about Chrollo—the fruit he had been salivating over for a long time.

'As expected, he's not just interested in Machi; he's targeting the entire Phantom Troupe.'

'How could I allow that?'

'At the very least, Chrollo must be left for me.'

"You've got some nerve. Don't you know that Chrollo, the leader, is the most valuable target in the Phantom Troupe?" Zane raised an eyebrow.

Hisoka fell silent.

'What should I do?'

'This fruit in front of me has matured far too much. Forget eating it; if he wanted to, he could turn me into his fertilizer at any moment.'

"Twenty. I can help you capture ten more criminals." Hisoka's mind raced as he thought back to the stakes Zane had mentioned earlier, offering a solution that might have a chance.

"Hmm... I suppose I could consider it. Let's do this: Chrollo can be yours. If you fight him and lose, that's that. But if you win, you must leave him with one breath left so I can handle him personally."

After squeezing another drop of value out of his pawn, Zane finally agreed with a reluctant air, not forgetting to add one last condition.

'It's just Chrollo.'

Although he was the leader of the Phantom Troupe, since Zane wasn't interested in his Nen ability, Chrollo was essentially no different from the likes of Feitan—perhaps just with higher-quality spiritual energy.

Even if Hisoka won and failed to leave Chrollo alive, Zane would still profit from the ten additional criminals traded for him.

And if Hisoka lost, Zane would collect both the principal and the interest.

"What a perfect pawn!"

Watching the battered Hisoka depart, Zane sighed with genuine appreciation.

With Hisoka's strength, he was capable of handling even average A-rank criminals.

While Zane wouldn't be so harsh as to demand twenty A-rank targets, a mix of mostly B-ranks with a few A-ranks would be perfectly fine.

With such a haul, his clash with Hisoka today hadn't been in vain.

"I almost forgot. I haven't uploaded the data on this hunt yet."

Speaking of criminals, Zane immediately remembered that he hadn't yet uploaded the information on his previous target to the Hunter Association's internal network.

The reason Zane hadn't gone with Killua to find Gon was to finish this hunt.

Specifically, the Floor Master he had come to the Heavens Arena to hunt down.

Like many criminals...

...this man was a Floor Master on the surface, but secretly riddled with crimes and listed as a B-rank criminal.

His strength could only be described as average.

However, his Nen ability was quite good.

Or rather, the reason Zane had targeted this man was because he had his eye on that specific Nen ability.

Indeed.

Through continuous hunting in the Hunter world over the past few days, he had condensed another Imprint Entry.

In terms of nurturing Imprint Entries, while Nen users weren't as effective as Devil Fruits, they were far superior to Sea Kings.

After all, the most valuable things about Sea Kings were their physical attributes, which happened to be exactly what Zane needed to plunder.

Nen users were different.

Besides physical attributes, their other stats were much higher than those of Sea Kings.

Thus, the speed of nurturing an Imprint Entry was by no means slow.

Especially given Zane's current strength, his minimum standard was hunting B-rank criminals.

Having successfully nurtured a new Imprint Entry, the Nen ability he plundered this time was called [KING OF FIGHTERS].

[KING OF FIGHTERS]:

Every time the user fights someone, they gain a certain amount of combat experience. This experience is quantified into data that can be used to improve one's own fighting techniques.

It could be said that this was a very game-like Nen ability.

But being game-like didn't mean it was juvenile.

Take Zane at this moment, for example.

Through [KING OF FIGHTERS], his recent battle with Hisoka had generated some experience points. He could fully invest these points into Way of the Soldier: Killing Fist to enhance his mastery.

'Hmm... it's just that the experience gain was quite small.'

'That can't be helped.'

This involved the Vows and Restrictions of [KING OF FIGHTERS].

The method of leveling up by grinding was actually quite terrifying.

Therefore, developing this type of Nen ability not only required matching talent but also demanded strict Vows and Restrictions.

For every opponent fought, if they are the same person, the experience gained will decrease each time unless the opponent's strength has shown significant progress.

=:

The amount of experience gained depends on the gap between the two parties. The weaker the enemy is compared to the user, the less experience is gained; conversely, the stronger they are, the more is gained. If the disparity is too vast, no experience will be gained.

[ Author's Note : If you're loving the story, a power_stone, review or comment means the world!

Want 40+ chapters ahead right now? patre0n.c0m/Royal_ink ]