Love's Practice Session

Late at night, rain poured down in torrents.

Yorknew City, Sewer Street.

Curtains of rain gathered into streams, flowing along the veins of the city streets.

The lights by the roadside flickered uncertainly, yet one antique shop remained brightly lit.

A common electronic display hung above the antique shop, where a line of red text slowly scrolled:

Buying antiques, miscellaneous items, and handmade artworks—June 22, 1997

Inside the antique shop, display cases lined the walls.

Under the orange glow, antique artworks were arranged within, their true nature hard to discern.

At the back of the shop, a solid wood table stood against the wall, with a desk lamp perched at one corner.

Beneath the concentrated beam of light stood a red wooden puppet carving, roughly fifty centimeters tall.

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached into the light and wrapped around the unremarkable puppet carving.

The owner of those hands was a handsome young man in casual clothes, with neat black hair and sharp features.

Crack.

The young man exerted a little force with his fingertips, and cracks immediately appeared across the puppet carving's surface. Strands of faint white light, distinct from the desk lamp's glow, seeped out through the cracks.

Immediately after, the wooden shell shattered and fell away, revealing a jade figure shrouded in the faint glow of Nen.

The transparent surface of the jade figure bore pale green patterns resembling fish scales. They shimmered beneath the lamplight, clearly worth a fortune.

He had smashed open the wooden shell and turned trash into treasure.

This scene was witnessed by a burly man wearing a dog-head mask beside the antique shop's entrance.

However, the man seemed to understand the young man's abilities and was not surprised in the slightest.

With his arms folded, he stared directly at the young man and spoke in a steady, powerful voice. "Moro, why did you refuse the gift Molena prepared for you?"

"A gift?"

The young man called Moro abruptly looked up and met Dog-headed Man's gaze, smiling helplessly.

"Dog Brother, you want me to kill twenty-one people I have nothing to do with. That counts as a gift...?"

"Of course it does. As long as you kill them, you'll immediately rise to Level 21. After that, barring any surprises, you should be able to master another Nen ability suited to your own needs. Even if the final result differs somewhat, you can at least use it to increase your aura reserves."

Dog-headed Man's voice remained steady and forceful. After a brief pause, he continued:

"Moro, Molena needs feedback on her Nen ability's effects as soon as possible, so don't disappoint her. Besides... you can grow stronger just by casually killing a few people. There are only benefits and no drawbacks for you."

"..."

Moro could not help falling silent.

Just casually killing a few people...

That was how the mafia operated.

Or rather, in this world called Hunter x Hunter, disregarding life and trampling on individual existence were hardly uncommon.

Moro had experienced that firsthand when he transmigrated here a year ago...

He silently stared at Dog-headed Man.

As a transmigrator, he knew the plot and characters of Hunter x Hunter well.

Dog-headed Man before him, as well as Molena, who had saved him a year ago, were both mafia family characters who appeared in the Kakin Royal Succession Arc.

Leaving aside Molena's identity as an illegitimate daughter of the Kakin Royal Family, as well as her future status as the mafia boss of the Ai Family, what Moro remembered most clearly...

Was always the Nen ability Molena displayed in the original work.

It was a Nen ability that allowed others to level up and grow stronger by killing people...

"Getting stronger just by killing people. It sounded so easy."

Moro suppressed his thoughts. An indescribable smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were calm, without the slightest ripple.

"Dog Brother, Nen abilities aren't something so shallow. There's a system of Vows and Restrictions... I don't know how Molena developed this ability, but one thing is certain."

At this point, Moro suddenly shifted his gaze and looked down at the jade figure on the table. "That is the risk. A huge and unknown risk."

"..."

This time, Dog-headed Man fell silent after hearing Moro's words.

Sometimes, silence was equivalent to acknowledgment.

However, he did not forget his own position because of it. He quickly broke free of the silence and asked bluntly, "So your answer is refusal?"

"How could it be... Molena gave me this worthless life of mine."

Moro lowered his eyes and smiled self-deprecatingly, while Molena's dark, bottomless eyes flashed through his mind.

After a pause, he looked up at Dog-headed Man again and said softly, "Give me one day."

"Alright. I'll tell Molena."

Dog-headed Man nodded at Moro, then turned and left without hesitation.

Just as he was about to push open the door and leave the antique shop, he seemed to recall something and abruptly stopped.

"Oh, right. Molena said she still hasn't decided on a name for her Nen ability. She wants you to help name it."

"..."

Moro froze for a moment, involuntarily recalling fragments of scenes from the original work.

"Love's Practice Session."

That was the name of Molena's Nen ability in the original work.

As for why a Nen ability filled with the meaning of destruction had such a name...

Moro did not know.

Thinking of this, Moro gave his answer almost without thought or hesitation, relying directly on the information from the original work. "Call it Love's Practice Session, if Molena doesn't hate it..."

"Hm?"

Dog-headed Man was somewhat surprised. He had not expected Moro to come up with such a name.

But he did not think much of it. He waved at Moro, pushed open the door, and strode out into the night rain.

Moro watched Dog-headed Man leave with a calm expression.

Creak—

The front door closed.

Several minutes later, Moro slowly withdrew his gaze and looked at the Transparent Jade Figure standing amid a pile of wooden shell fragments on the table.

"I can only run away..."

There were things he did not want to do, and there was no room for negotiation. Therefore, Moro decided to leave Molena's circle.

It was not that he resisted killing people. It was simply because among the twenty-one people Molena had sent him were infants and children.

That had already crossed his bottom line.

Moreover, he knew better than anyone Molena's true purpose hidden deep in her heart.

Destroy Kakin Nation, destroy humanity, destroy the world, destroy everything...

That was what Molena sought.

So Moro would leave sooner or later. He simply had not expected the day to come so quickly.

Over the past half year, the antique shop he operated had brought Molena considerable profits.

If nothing had changed, he had actually planned to repay Molena's life-saving grace as much as possible through this method.

That should have been enough...

Moro thought silently, then raised his right hand and looked at the back of it.

There was a tattoo pattern resembling Annual Rings, formed from six hollow circular bands of different colors.

From the inside out, from smallest to largest, the colors of the Growth Rings tattoo were white, green, blue, purple, red, and gold.

At the very center of the Annual Rings was a tiny black infinity symbol.

Moro did not know where the Growth Rings tattoo had come from or what it did.

Only a few days after transmigrating here did he notice the outline of the Growth Rings tattoo suddenly appearing on the back of his hand, gradually darkening before taking shape.

The information currently confirmed was that other people could not see the Growth Rings tattoo on the back of his hand, and that the hand covered by it seemed to possess an "indestructible" Vow effect.

Additionally, he could fill the hollow areas of the Annual Rings by absorbing Nen from antiques.

That was also the fundamental reason he had chosen to operate an antique shop in Yorknew City.

Over the past half year, he had absorbed the faint Nen lingering on many antiques and handmade artworks. Now, the innermost White Growth Rings was almost full.

For the moment, Moro stopped thinking about leaving Molena and focused his attention on the jade figure wrapped in faint Nen.

As long as he absorbed the Nen on the jade figure, he should be able to fill the White Growth Rings.

Even if it did not fill completely, the employees he had sent out would bring back some antiques that might be wrapped in Nen tonight.

Inside the silent antique shop, Moro reached out and covered the jade figure.

There was no visible movement or fluctuation, yet the faint Nen on the jade figure flowed into the back of Moro's hand at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The tiny gap in the White Growth Rings was filled as well, making it relatively complete.

It seemed there was no need to wait for his workhorse employees to return.

As Moro thought this, he stared intently at the White Growth Rings on the back of his hand. After half a year of effort, he could not help feeling a trace of anticipation.

Because in his view, the Growth Rings tattoo was very likely the cheat ability transmigrators were said to possess.

If it could provide help at this moment, he would have even more confidence in leaving the Ai Family.

Moro patiently waited for a change, but second by second, the White Growth Rings that had filled like an energy bar showed no unusual phenomenon.

"The worst outcome has appeared."

Seeing that the Growth Rings tattoo remained completely motionless, Moro shook his head slightly.

There were probably only three possibilities in this situation.

One possibility was that all the Annual Rings had to be filled before the still-unknown ability would be revealed.

Another possibility was that the filled Annual Rings required some specific condition before revealing the ability.

The final possibility was that the Growth Rings tattoo was not the cheat ability he had hoped for.

Moro was somewhat disappointed, but he did not care too much.

Even if he gained the cheat ability's power at this moment, it would only be an unexpected delight to him.

His true source of confidence was the Emission-type Nen ability he had painstakingly refined since transmigrating here.

The night grew deeper, and the rain showed no sign of weakening.

Dog-headed Man moved through the downpour and arrived beside a black sedan parked by the roadside.

The rear window of the black sedan rolled down, revealing an elegant and refined woman.

Her brows were like willow leaves, and her eyes were shaped like phoenixes.

However, two parallel, vicious scars marred her beautiful face.

The scars ran from her hairline, across her left eyelid, and down to her cheek, nearly spanning half her face. They were truly shocking to behold.

"Molena."

Dog-headed Man bent down and looked at the woman inside the car.

Molena raised her eyes. "A Quan, what did he say?"

"Moro asked you to give him one day."

Dog-headed Man answered truthfully.

Molena lowered her gaze, seeming to sense something.

Dog-headed Man waited for Molena's response, allowing the heavy rain to lash against his body.

After a while.

Molena habitually raised a hand and stroked the scars on her cheek.

"Forget it."

She murmured softly.

Dog-headed Man was slightly startled.

Molena lowered her hand and looked past Dog-headed Man toward the antique shop.

"A Quan, do you know... there's something about Little Moro that I really dislike."

"What?"

Dog-headed Man asked naturally.

Molena's gaze deepened, and her tone gradually turned cold.

"A bottom line."

"..."

Dog-headed Man did not know what to say.

Molena said coldly, "My people cannot have such a thing."

Dog-headed Man understood Molena's meaning. For an instant, he considered persuading her, but held himself back and asked instead:

"Molena, the Phantom Troupe seems to be tracking someone. Quite a few mafia groups have been caught up in it and massacred. It would be best to notify Moro..."

"No need."

Molena withdrew her gaze. "This is his own choice."

"Understood."

Dog-headed Man sighed inwardly, then told her the name Moro had chosen for her Nen ability.

Love's Practice Session...

When Molena heard the name, a ripple stirred in her eyes. Sure enough, it still was not complete...

Even if she could feel Little Moro's loyalty through a deep kiss, their "purposes" were completely different, making it meaningless.

"Let's go."

Molena lowered her head slightly. Though she could not obtain feedback, she had discovered a flaw in the ability.

A Quan looked at Molena and detected a trace of melancholy in her voice...