Isn't This Something Anyone with Hands Can Do?

A raisin-sized ball of aura detached from Jing Yang's fingertip. Like a miniature Spirit Bomb, it hovered silently in the air.

Jing Yang had basically mastered the fundamental Nen techniques like Ten, Zetsu, and Gyo as soon as he tried them. Once he learned them, he became proficient; once proficient, he could use them with ease.

But this time, trying out Emitter techniques took him quite some effort. It took a full ten-plus minutes before he successfully "released" such a tiny clump of aura from his fingertip.

As the name implied, the Emitter type was a category of Nen Abilities that allowed aura to leave the body for attacks and other uses. Only Emitter-type users could retain 100 percent of their aura's power once it left their bodies.

Jing Yang was a Manipulator. His Emitter potential capped out at only 80 percent. That was probably why practicing it had been so difficult.

And in terms of actual power...

As though tossing something away, Jing Yang lightly flicked his index finger toward a tree ahead. The hovering little Nen ball immediately flew out in an arc. After wavering through the air for roughly ten meters, it dispersed on its own before it could even touch the tree.

Naturally, Jing Yang was not satisfied with that result.

He tried again and again. After fiddling around for over half an hour, he finally released a grape-sized Nen bullet from his fingertip. Just as he was about to flick it toward the tree ahead, Jing Yang had a sudden thought.

"...Let's try this."

He turned his palm over and hooked his thumb against his index finger. The Nen bullet outside his body was like a pellet loaded into an invisible slingshot, swaying gently in midair.

He aimed at the tree and charged it for around three seconds before flicking his finger.

Whoosh!

The grape-sized Nen bullet shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow, crossing twenty meters in the blink of an eye. Bang!

The Nen bullet struck the trunk, blasting out a crater half the size of a palm. At the center of that crater was a slightly deeper round hole... That little aura had produced such an effect. The destructive power of Nen Abilities was clear enough.

"Success." Jing Yang smiled. This was the advantage of knowing all the settings.

Whether deliberately or unconsciously, developing Nen Abilities would come with stronger or weaker "restrictions"—limitations imposed on the Nen User in exchange for greater power.

Take Gon's Jajanken, for example. He believed that since it was rock-paper-scissors, he had to stand still and strike a charging pose while shouting "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" That gave it more flair. This was a de facto restriction Gon had established unconsciously, yet it really did multiply Jajanken's power.

In the manga, the first person to mention the "Vow and Restriction" of Nen Abilities was Izunabi, Kurapika's teacher.

According to Izunabi, if an ordinary move was like "addition," where allocating a certain amount of aura produced that amount of power, then setting exceptionally strict and cruel vows and restrictions would provide a "multiplication"-level boost to a Nen Ability.

Vows and restrictions were like pouring oil onto a blazing fire, allowing a move's power to surge dozens or even hundreds of times over. But accordingly, if the vow was broken, the user would suffer a severe backlash.

It was precisely because Jing Yang had thought of these "unspoken rules" of Nen training that he had deliberately "restricted" himself. Though he had not made a particularly strict vow in his heart, he intentionally struck an obvious finger-flicking aiming pose and charged for several seconds. In practical terms, this formed a restriction on his act of firing Nen bullets, and judging by the result, the Nen bullet's power had indeed increased significantly.

Of course, even with that increase in power, it still had to take a twenty percent discount. After all, Jing Yang was not an Emitter but a Manipulator.

"Again!" Jing Yang was delighted. He fired a Nen bullet with a flick, hooked his finger, aimed at a leaf on a branch, and released it one second later.

Whoosh!

With the shorter charging time, its power was indeed greatly reduced, but it still managed to hit that leaf and knock it from the treetop.

"Isn't this something anyone with hands can do? So developing Nen Abilities is this easy."

Jing Yang wanted to play around a few more times, but a wave of weakness swept over him. The aura in his body was nearly drained.

"Too little aura. It doesn't last..."

Mocking himself, Jing Yang flopped down onto the ground.

As he rested, he casually plucked out one of his hairs, released the little aura he had left, and used Song of the Earth to wrap the strand, suspending it before him.

Wrapped in a ball of aura, the hair rose and fell, darted left and right, stopped abruptly, then shot backward...

Jing Yang was a Manipulator. On the hexagon formed by the six Nen types, Transmutation sat directly opposite Manipulation. It was the category Manipulators were worst at, with a limit of only 40 percent. Therefore, Jing Yang could not control the shape of the Nen aura wrapped around the strand very well. Yet this ball of aura, imbued with Song of the Earth's Manipulation ability, could effortlessly twist the hair into all sorts of shapes—a Pentagram, a crescent moon, a dancing little person... It obeyed his every command without the slightest delay.

After completing this portion of his Hatsu training in Emitter and Manipulator techniques, Jing Yang's stomach growled loudly. He went to the bottles and bags hanging from Tiger, who had been watching all this time, took out some food and water, and ate on the spot.

"Oh, right, Brother Tiger, you haven't eaten either, have you?" Jing Yang stuffed his mouth with dry bread and biscuits, gulped down a few mouthfuls of mineral water, then pointed deeper into the woods. "This little bit of food probably wouldn't even fill the gaps between your teeth. Go on, hunt for yourself."

But Wu Er did not leave at once, instead letting out a low growl.

"Don't worry about me. Your buddy's a superhuman now!" Jing Yang laughed, hooked his finger and charged up, then released it two seconds later. A small Nen bullet went bang, blasting a palm-sized shallow crater into the nearby ground. "Do I look like I need you worrying about me? Hahaha—go on, and come back early."

Only then did Wu Er nudge Jing Yang's head before turning and leaping away, disappearing into the deeper forest.

Jing Yang had intended to continue his afternoon training... but after filling his stomach, drowsiness came over him. He was simply too lazy to move.

"Jing Yang, Jing Yang, how can you be like this?"

Jing Yang lay flat on the ground. After resting for a few minutes, he directly gave himself an order. "Get up and keep practicing. First, ten sets each of Ten, Zetsu, Gyo, and Ren. Then finish with Ken until all your aura is gone."

As soon as he spoke, the Rose Gold Five-Pointed Star Mark on the back of his neck activated its Nen power in response!

Like a seed falling into the ocean of aura throughout Jing Yang's body... uh, a little puddle.

Move one hair, and the whole body followed. Jing Yang, lying on the ground, sprang upright like a zombie...

After controlling himself, Jing Yang experienced an unusual sensation. He had real physical sensations, yet also the feeling of being unable to control his body, mixed with the detached perspective of an observer.

It was just that kind of profound, indescribable feeling.

Once the mystique faded, though, came the tedious training...

Wu Er did not return until dusk. Jing Yang had already completed who knew how many repeated sets of training. Although the Star Mark had a restorative effect, the amount of aura Jing Yang released every time he practiced Ken had lessened due to a full day of fatigue. Wu Er carried a rabbit that had stopped struggling in his mouth and looked around. Many broken branches and leaves lay scattered over the ground, while the trunks of many trees were pocked with dents.

At night, darkness descended. Only the rabbit's skeleton remained over the campfire. Jing Yang rubbed his belly and leaned comfortably against the tiger's body, feeling utterly content—though it seemed he had forgotten something.

"Where's that wolf?" He remembered at last, turning to look toward the pitch-black woods around them. "It's been a whole day, and it hasn't caught even one Bird? That damn thing..."

The commands he had given the wolf did not seem to include finding food. It would not have spent all its time patrolling between the various bird-catching devices and literally exhausted or starved itself to death, would it?

Probably not...

As Jing Yang thought that, he suddenly felt something strange from diagonally behind him, as though something was watching him.

He abruptly sat up and looked over. After a day of practicing the basics, he naturally and skillfully gathered aura in his eyes. In that dark forest, there seemed to be a blurry human figure quietly watching from afar. But when he focused his gaze, the figure suddenly vanished.

"Why did it look like a little child with skin as white as death..." Jing Yang muttered, casually stroking Tiger's back. "Brother Tiger, this place isn't haunted, is it?"