The Desire to Grow Stronger

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Following the maze-like, crisscrossing passages of the Odaman Dungeon, Allen continuously cleared elite monsters no higher than level forty. Several times, he had narrowly won with only a sliver of health left, nearly getting killed, and had ultimately survived only by relying on Feign Death and traps.

The deeper he went into the latter half of the Dungeon, the higher the monsters' levels became and the greater their numbers, making the fights exceedingly difficult.

As for those bosses, since he could not exploit steps or walls to block the monsters' Marching Route as he could in an actual game, he did not dare touch a single one.

At least until he learned Nen abilities, doing so would be little different from courting death.

Once he confirmed that what lay ahead was beyond what he could handle at his current stage, he decisively retraced his steps, passed through the vortex-like gate at the Dungeon entrance, and returned to the hospital room.

"Phew... Today's task is finally done!"

After hiding his equipment and weapons again, Allen immediately lay back down on the hospital bed and continued pretending to be sick while silently reviewing the experience he had accumulated over the past few days.

First, before the Hunter class template's health points ran out, he was basically invincible.

He never tired, never got injured, and even a heavy blow to a vital spot would merely cost him a massive amount of health, like taking a critical hit.

But once his health reached zero, any further damage would immediately manifest on his actual body, and for an hour, his health could not recover from zero to one.

This meant that, compared to others, he essentially had two lives. One belonged to the Hunter character, while the other was truly his own.

Second, Shadow Wolf King, Lupos was not merely a pet like in the game, a tool a hunter could use to achieve his goals and casually send off to die.

It possessed independent thoughts and consciousness. It even knew how to communicate with him through Soul Link, warning him of dangerous places and safe ones.

If it died by accident, even after being revived, it would lose one level of loyalty.

Third, because the race Allen had chosen when creating his hunter had been a Night Elf, his body had begun to undergo a series of changes.

For example, his balance, neural reflexes, and movement speed had all increased dramatically. Meanwhile, his height, hair, and nails, which should have been growing rapidly during puberty, had suddenly slowed to an extreme degree.

The most obvious changes were his pair of violet eyes, as well as the purple patterns stretching from both shoulders down his arms to the backs of his hands.

When he activated the Shadowmeld talent, the tattoos seemed to come alive, releasing vast amounts of mysterious energy around his body and allowing him to merge completely with the shadows.

Unless someone observed him from close up, he was almost impossible to distinguish with the Naked Eye alone.

This meant that, in a sense, he was no longer an ordinary human. He had gained the talents, bloodline, and lifespan of a Night Elf—a lifespan extending for Thousands of Years.

Finally, and most importantly.

Allen could transport himself and his pet into Dungeons accessible at his current game level. Whether he could bring other people along remained unknown for now.

Each Dungeon would reset twenty-four hours in the Human World after he left it. Time Flow inside the Dungeon was roughly one-tenth that of the real world, meaning ten hours in a Dungeon equaled only one hour in reality.

All potions, equipment, materials, and money obtained in Dungeons could be brought into the real world. They were not soulbound either; anyone who wore them could receive the corresponding attribute bonuses.

Weapons, armor, necklaces, rings, and accessories could either be displayed or kept hidden.

If hidden, they would only provide attribute values. Only when fully displayed would they offer physical protection—the so-called armor value.

As for the arrows in his quiver, he could spend Gold Coins and Silver Coins earned in the game to purchase them through an unknown, mysterious interface in his mind.

It was not limited to arrows. Most items sold in the game's shops could be found there, and he could also learn Class Skills and Commercial Skills. It even served as a bank, making it something like a special existence that combined all the functions of NPCs.

Unfortunately, as a spendthrift who loved browsing the auction house, Allen had long since spent nearly all the money he had saved while leveling. He did not even have enough to buy a mount at level forty and could only rely on activating Aspect of the Cheetah to run across the map.

"Sigh... If I'd known, I wouldn't have bought things so carelessly. I wonder if this world's currency can be exchanged for Gold Coins. If not, then I'll have to honestly grind Dungeons and sell junk to save money from now on."

As he said this, his entire face twisted in agony.

You must know, as an exploration-focused casual player, what he hated most was mindlessly grinding all day. Otherwise, after playing for so long, he would not have failed to get even a single character to max level.

More precisely, when he opened the login screen, there was not even a level-fifty Game Character in sight. Most were stuck around level thirty to forty, with nearly every class and race represented.

For Allen, the joy of gaming lay in exploration: finding hidden NPCs, completing all kinds of high-difficulty challenges alone, and savoring cleverly designed, unforgettable quest stories—not chasing after so-called gear and power.

But now, fate had played an enormous joke on him.

Although the Hunter World was generally fairly safe, Nen abilities were an unreasonable and miraculous kind of power. Without even the most basic ability to protect himself, if he was accidentally drawn into trouble, he would undoubtedly face certain death.

Grow stronger!

At the very least, become strong enough to confront a madman like Hisoka head-on!

That was the minimum requirement he had set for himself.

With that thought, Allen closed his eyes and began sharing memories with Lupos through Soul Link, continuously replaying every detail of his battle with Hisoka—especially the sensation of fists imbued with Nen abilities striking his body—in an attempt to awaken Nen abilities through this method.

After all, the anime had clearly explained that there were only several ways to acquire Nen abilities. Among them, fighting a Nen user and forcefully stimulating the body to open all of one's aura nodes was undoubtedly the fastest.

Lupos, in particular, possessed powerful wild strength and had already vaguely touched the threshold.

The instant its aura nodes opened throughout its body, Allen would immediately gain the same effect through Soul Link.

Just as the man and wolf continued to linger outside the gates of Nen abilities, a chilling wave of malice suddenly swept through the entire room.

Allen felt goosebumps rapidly spread across his body and wanted to open his eyes to see who had entered.

But in the next second...

Lupos's silver mane suddenly erupted with an astonishing mass of life energy!

Its aura nodes had opened?

Through the Soul Link within the Beast Mastery Talent, Allen's body immediately erupted with an equally astonishing amount of life energy.

There was no time to think. Man and wolf swiftly forced themselves into a calm, relaxed state, slowly gathering the continuously leaking life energy and forming it into a stable layer around their bodies—the first of the four fundamental Nen training techniques, Ten.

As Ten formed, Allen quickly sensed that the life force leaking from his aura nodes was no longer dissipating. He decisively opened his eyes and immediately saw a familiar figure sitting on the windowsill, a nearly sickly smile on his face.

Hisoka, the Toilet God of War!

There was no need to ask. That malicious Nen from earlier had one hundred percent come from him!

And beside that pervert stood a very petite female. Judging by her clothes and appearance, she was most likely a member of the Phantom Troupe—Machi.

PS: Please bookmark and recommend the new book. Thank you very much.